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Are Business Students Prepared for the World of Business? Self‐interest, Conformity and Conflict Styles
Author(s) -
Petersen Bui K.,
Ford Dianne P.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
canadian journal of administrative sciences / revue canadienne des sciences de l'administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.347
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1936-4490
pISSN - 0825-0383
DOI - 10.1002/cjas.1523
Subject(s) - conformist , conformity , conflict management , socialization , business education , psychology , curriculum , family business , public relations , social psychology , political science , higher education , pedagogy , sociology , marketing , business , social science , politics , law
While conflict management is a central capability in the business world, it gets relatively little attention in most business schools. In a study of undergraduate and graduate students at a Canadian university, we investigate the roles personal values play in the relationship between majoring in business and students' conflict management propensities. We find that business students hold more narrowly self‐interested, as well as more conformist and traditionalist, values than students in other disciplines, with the implication that business students may be more prone to conflict avoidance and less likely than other students to engage with conflict collaboratively. We discuss both self‐selection and socialization as possible explanations, and the implication this has for business education and curriculum development.