Editorial: International education in business context and research

Citation

Michael, B. (2025), "Editorial: International education in business context and research", Journal of International Education in Business, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-01-2025-113

The threat of deglobalization, trade barriers, capital controls and workforce restrictions leading to the path of decreasing global integration (Witt, 2019), is also accompanied by countervailing aspiration for sustainable development, digital convergence, infrastructural integration and workforce mobility within regional, bilateral and preferential agreements (Gaikwad et al., 2019). The coexistence of these countervailing forces and projected increases in global trade (UNCTAD, 2024; WTO, 2023) has heightened the need to include content on international imperatives in business programs to meet the human capital development needs of multi-national corporations. Higher education is experiencing an increased infusion of content on imperatives framed by the international context crosscutting with core business function curricula (Kwok et al., 2022).

Projections of international student enrollments reaching 7.5 million by 2025 (Marklein, 2007) have been surpassed and is now projected to reach 10 million by 2030 (Goodman and Martel, 2024; ICEF Monitor, 2024; NAFSA, 2023). According to this projection, USA will account for a fifth of the enrollments and continue to be the leading destination for international students. Three other destinations projected to be preferred by international students are UK, Australia and Canada. The economic activity associated with international education and student enrollments is projected to be in excess of $100bn.

Imparting international business knowledge and skills in business schools is as relevant today as it has been since the early days of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and therefore continues to be an important facet of teaching and learning scholarship.

International education in business context

A joint survey by the Academy of International Business (AIB) and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) of 192 business schools across six continents indicates that internationalization of business education programs and cross-cultural interactions continue to grow (Kwok et al., 2022). Specifically, course offerings and the infusion of international business content at the undergraduate and graduate levels had increased between 1990 and 2020. Courses in Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, Marketing, Policy and Strategy were core business functional courses infused with international business content.

Given the continued internationalization of education in business, educators continue to adopt pedagogical innovations that draw on students’ social experiences and cognitive capacities to learn and build knowledge, skills and abilities. Teaching and learning for international education in business is also increasingly being undertaken through the integration of technology such as videoconferencing, virtual reality and artificial intelligence using research-based and future-ready course materials with traditional methods and that accommodate ethnorelativism, diversity of perspectives and support critical thinking (Liou et al., 2021). Learning conditions in which traditional face-to-face, innovative technology-enabled or blended instructional modalities are matched to explicit knowledge and yield student learning sought by employers for their human capital development needs (Michael et al., 2021).

In addition, accreditation criteria such as those of AACSB or the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) expect business school curriculum to expose learners to cross-cultural practices, foster a global mindset among graduates and internationalization of education in business (Klarin et al., 2021). Reaccreditation and program integration through the adoption of Global Mindset and participation by administrators and faculty from business schools internationally also implicates the accreditation expectations and processes into to the ongoing relevance of international education in business (Michael, 2019). For higher education institutions seeking international alliances for cross-cultural educational experiences in business for students, accreditation and ratings play an important role too in the identification and selection process of international partners (Kwok et al., 2022; Zhao and Ferran, 2016).

Overall stand-alone international business courses and infusing international content into core business function courses continue to be necessary for organizations and future managers to succeed in international business. The continued relevance of international business and internationalization of education in business implies a continued need to research teaching pedagogies and student learning. Since its initial publication in 2008, JIEB is concerned with this theoretical and pedagogical aspects of international education in business schools and its flow-on implications for the workplace.

International education in business research

Research published in JIEB has been guided by four research agendas detailed by Crossman and Bordia (2008) in the initial issue: the internationalization of education in business, international educational experiences and student learning, cultural identity and inter-cultural encounters and spiritual education in secular culturally diverse business schools. Since then, JIEB has published research that has significantly advanced that research agenda in international education in business.

One of these research focus areas on intercultural and experiential learning has experienced a consistent increase especially at the graduate level through study abroad experiences. The survey jointly conducted by AIB and AACSB (Kwok et al., 2022) finds that immersive experiences such as study abroad are associated with increased student learning of international business content. JIEB has published studies on study abroad and developed a niche in study abroad research over the years. Study abroad leads to a blended learning experience for students (Slotkin et al., 2012) and has been found to be transformational for varying durations. Learning is enhanced through coordination by staff in faculty-led short-term study abroad programs (Feldman Barr, 2013). The context within which students and faculty undertake these immersive experiences, such as safe in-country experiences and mitigation of risks are also important for students to achieve their intended learning outcomes. Even when students were unable to travel, such as during the pandemic, immersive international education in business may be undertaken through virtual study abroad (Upson and Bergiel, 2023) or through collaborative online international learning modalities (Garcia et al., 2023).

International students’ experiences that draw them to enroll in an institution and the extent to which their learning expectations are met in the classroom predict their satisfaction and formation of psychological contracts (Crossman and Bordia, 2008). The adoption of digital and virtual technologies by institutions in the classroom has added to student intentions to join an institution and the consequences of learning conditions on student motivation, learning, burnout, loneliness or intention to return to an institution (Chelliah et al., 2019; Singh et al., 2021). For example, JIEB has published research that investigates service quality experienced by students, technology-enabled instruction methods, learning management systems and self-regulated learning (Choi et al., 2024; Eom, 2012); effective faculty attributes perceived by students (Alfraih and Alanezi, 2016); and group work and intercultural competence (Burdett, 2014).

Another research agenda item on social sustainability through plurality in which culturally diverse students may learn about “developing tolerance, empathy and respect thereby fostering intercultural intimacy, meaning and relevance in human and professional relationships.” (Crossman and Bordia, 2008, p. 9) also continues to be relevant today. For example, JIEB has published research on neurodiverse faculty development (Alstete et al., 2024), closing the learning gender gap in the business classroom (Ramirez and Lofgren, 2023) and underrepresented minorities trends and placements in business doctoral programs (Jackson et al., 2024).

Research on the adoption of a system thinking perspective among students and faculty to address the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to teach virtuous relationships (Pilato and Voss, 2024) is also on JIEB’s research agenda. Sustainability imperatives such as the SDGs have raised the need for research on innovative teaching and learning scholarship. For example, a recent study in JIEB explored this link between teaching and learning using enquiry and problem-based learning for different learner groups (Randles et al., 2022) published in a special issue on Best Sustainability Teaching Practices.

Since its first volume in 2008, JIEB has published research using qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods based on seminal theoretical frameworks and offering best practices that contribute to international business education teaching and learning scholarship. This published research has included interdisciplinary research on teaching and learning of international education in business that intersects with other disciplines such as entrepreneurship, supply chain management, engineering and rural management. Published research has undertaken empirical investigations, conceptual reviews and offered best-practice teaching frameworks and case studies. A review of this varied research methods, merits of infusion of international education in business, interdisciplinary teaching and learning scholarship compared with stand-along international business courses will be a topic for another editorial.

In this issue for JIEB’s readers

The studies in this volume continue to advance JIEB’s research agenda. The papers published in this volume draws on seminal theoretical and pedagogical frameworks, contemporary research and are based on qualitative, quantitative and mixed research methods, including one using artificial neural network (ANN) analysis. The studies reflect an intersection of education with core business disciplines within an international context that span four continents and contribute to the field of international education in business for teachers and adult learners.

The paper by McKee and Morgan titled “Revising AACSB-Accredited BBA and MBA Core Curricula: Kotter’s 8 Steps in Action” uses action research to investigate undergraduate and graduate business curricular revisions in a college of business of a state university in a metropolitan city in the USA. This action research details change agents collecting data to support the initiative, surveys, meetings and interviews with stakeholder groups, and benchmarking with peer, competitor and aspirant institutions. Drawing on Kotter’s organizational change lens this study provides a theoretically aligned roadmap for undertaking comprehensive business curriculum revisions by administrators and faculty. The proposed model will benefit curricular change initiatives for meeting AACSB accreditation standards.

The paper by Luo and Adelopo titled “Exploring pedagogies, opportunities, and challenges of teaching and learning programming in business school” draws on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to investigate teaching and learning machine language and python programming in business schools in UK (UK). In this study, learning effects using business pedagogies such as problem-based learning and active-instructional methods integrated with computer science pedagogies, such as scaffolding and spiral learning are investigated using observations of students from Africa, Asia and UK, and content analysis of their reflective diaries. This integrated pedagogy offers a stepwise and easy to implement pedagogy for teaching technical programming skills to business students for data manipulation rather than understanding algorithms and creating an encouraging and inclusive learning environment.

Zainuba et al.’s paper titled “Measuring Learning Outcomes in Cross-Cultural Relations Courses: The Case for Experiential Learning” adopts Kolb’s experiential learning framework to investigate learning among students enrolled in a regional university in the USA. The authors use quantitative methods to analyze assessment data to compare learning in two cross cultural relations courses that adopted experiential learning methods with an introductory international business course, both in the international business program. The study finds that assessment of learning outcomes integrated from experiential learning methods such as reflective learning, directed reading, global issues portfolio, case analysis, critical incidents, student assessment and peer evaluation surveys are associated with in-depth learning.

Seethalakshmi et al.’s study titled “Integration of Experiential Learning and Conversational Framework in Curriculum Development- Role of 4C’s and student Engagement in Rural Management Education” investigates the inclusion of student voice in curriculum development in rural management in India. Integrating Kolb’s experiential learning with Laurillard’s conversational framework and using content analysis of focus group discussions and interviews with rural management experts, this study investigates drawing on student experiences and voice in rural management curriculum development. This approach in rural management education fosters critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity, enhances student engagement and provides quality education as envisioned by the SDGs.

Vega Chica’s paper titled, “Influence of the COIL Methodology on the Development of Intercultural Competence and Sustainability in Latin American Business students” investigates collaborative online international learning (COIL) methodology for building intercultural competencies, course satisfaction and sustainability awareness among graduate students. The respondents in this study were enrolled in organizational behavior and corporate social responsibility courses in COIL projects from different universities in Chile, Colombia Ecuador, Mexico and Peru. Analyzing students’ responses to survey items adapted from prior research on intercultural competencies, satisfaction and sustainability the study finds significant increases in students’ intercultural competencies among the different nationalities, and awareness and commitment to sustainability practices based on experiences with COIL methodologies.

Mathur et al.’s paper titled, “An Integrated Model to Predict students’ Online Learning Behavior in Emerging Economies: A Hybrid SEM - ANN Approach” uses the theory of planned behavior and technology acceptance model to investigate students’ behaviors in online business courses and their readiness to learn. Business student responses to a structured questionnaire were subject to a hybrid structural equation modeling (SEM) and ANN analysis. For researchers of international education in business, this study illuminates online learning readiness and behaviors through the integration of attitudes and subjective norms with perceptions of usefulness and ease of use within facilitative conditions of perceived ubiquity and mobility.

The paper by Frolova and Mahmood titled “Proactive Decision-Making: Does It Matter for Academic Motivation and Career Calling?” extends the theoretical lens of proactive personality traits and proactive cognitive skills to investigate proactive decision-making shaping academic motivation including amotivation, mediated by career calling among business students from Kazakhstan in Central Asia. Survey data using measures validated in prior research point to Kazakhstani business students who incorporate career values prevent disengagement from academic pursuits with proactive decision-making and academic motivation with some aspects of proactive personality traits and proactive cognitive skills.

These research papers make meaningful contributions to the field of international education in business and offer implications for student learning, pedagogy and administrative decision-making. They also offer prospective authors opportunities for future research.

For prospective authors

JIEB’s scope intersects educational theories, pedagogies and best practices within an international context with business sub-domains. This requires a deliberate infusion of international imperatives within teaching and learning scholarship with core business sub-domains. Only drawing on data from a general higher-educational setting or focusing a study on business sub-domains within a higher-educational setting based on general business theoretical lens and empirical research are not guaranteed indicators that a manuscript falls within JIEB’s scope.

A manuscript’s contribution, conceptual basis, methodology, data, analysis and findings all need to consistently and coherently intersect with education in business institutional contexts, learning conditions, pedagogies with learners’ knowledge, skills and competencies for human capital development. Some examples that this could include are education in private sector university partnerships, continuing adult education in business, study abroad type of innovative learning experiences and the established scholarship of teaching and learning associated with business schools all within an international context.

Concluding acknowledgements

I’d like to end this editorial with an expression of gratitude to our founding editors, Joanna Crossman and Sarbari Bordia and previous coeditor, Mike Slotkin for raising JIEB’s reputation to the standard that it has achieved today. I would also like to thank JIEB’s past associate editors, editorial board members, special issue guest editors and current Managing Editor, Rashmi Michael for their efforts in contributing to JIEB’s expansion. Through their networking and engaging scholars as guest editors, authors and reviewers they have created a robust JIEB community. Finally, thank you to Emerald Publishing for assigning an effective editorial team to JIEB. Specifically, the Commissioning Editor Kiara Quinlan, Journal Editorial Office Aman Bhamani, Supplier Project Manager Meghan McDonagh, Sonali Durge and their respective teams.

I am hopeful this volume will be enlightening to JIEB’s readers and inspire scholars to submit manuscripts and support prospective authors’ research that contributes to the field of international education in business. With best wishes for the New Year from all of us at JIEB, keep those submissions coming.