Effects of business school student’s study time on the learning process
Journal of International Education in Business
ISSN: 2046-469X
Article publication date: 7 November 2016
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to clarify the relationship between the student’s study time and the learning process in the higher education system by adapting the total quality management (TQM) principles-process approach. Contrary to Deming’s (1982) constancy of purpose to improve the learning process, some students in higher education postpone their studies till the last few weeks of an examination.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for an experimental study with three different classes of business school students. The experimental research question was “Do student’s study time (massed or distributed spacing) has an impact on the learning process?”
Findings
Results indicated that students in the “Strictly supervised study time” group improved on their learning process more than the “Not Strictly Supervised study time” and the control group. It is important for students to manage their own learning activities and follow a regular study time and constantly improve their learning process as proposed by Deming (1982).
Research limitations/implications
This study used restricted to undergraduate business school students in a university in Ghana, and may not necessarily be applicable universally. One other limitation was that the authors did not control for lecturer’s expectancies and how these may have influenced the students’ learning process. Another potential limitation was that TQM was the only subject area used for this study.
Practical implications
This objective of the study is to use the TQM principles of process approach, the Learning Theory and the Learning Strategies from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) – Pintrich et al. (1991) – to support theoretical and practical implications of the relationship between the student’s study time and the learning process. The results imply that students must take a more active role in their learning by having a regular study time.
Originality/value
Currently, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are not many experiment-based studies on a student’s study time using the MSLQ-Pintrich et al. (1991) approach. This study contributes to the literature by examining how a student’s study time (massed or distributed spacing) has an impact on the learning process.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to express sincere gratitude to Prof Kwasi Amoako, Gyampah of University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA, for proof-reading this manuscript, and to Prof Franklyn Manu (GIMPA –Rector), for his motivation and support. The author dedicates this manuscript to his late father, Mr Frederick Tettey-Okoh Tetteh, who passed on to glory on July 15, 2016. The author thanks all the readers.
Citation
Tetteh, G.A. (2016), "Effects of business school student’s study time on the learning process", Journal of International Education in Business, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 90-110. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIEB-06-2016-0012
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited