Investigation into the effectiveness of blended learning as a means of supporting management development in MBA programmes

Alokluk, Jamilah Abdulhadi

Abstract

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of blended learning as a means of delivering management development in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes. This research followed an interpretivist and qualitative approach, utilising multiple case study as a research method to explore the MBA programmes of three UK universities. The three case universities offered MBA programmes that were marketed as online learning, distance teaching, and face-to-face learning. Building this study around the theoretical learning models of Cookson (2000); Wilde et al. (2000) and Khan (2001), and their missing dimensions, data were collected by online questionnaires and semi-structured interviews from students and module leaders respectively. The collected data were further triangulated using document analysis to enhance the internal validity of the research. Based on the three theoretical frameworks and the missing dimensions, data analysis for interviews involved coding using a classification scheme, while data from the online questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics.

Among many others, findings in this study show that; there is a difference between marketing, education and academic language when the language used in the marketing of MBA programmes is investigated; all the programmes in all three Universities were, in practice, blended learning programmes despite the fact that they were marketed as fully online learning, distance teaching, and face-to-face learning, respectively; and MBA pedagogy in the three case study Universities includes different pedagogies in full-time and part-time MBA programmes, i.e., more didactic on full-time and more experiential on part-time programmes. Based on these findings, this research developed a theoretical framework for MBA programmes, with new dimensions that strongly reflect the need for a clearly defined meaning of MBA pedagogy for institutions in the UK.

Citation

Alokluk, J. A. Investigation into the effectiveness of blended learning as a means of supporting management development in MBA programmes. (Thesis). University of Hull. https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4219127

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Apr 20, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 23, 2023
• Keywords: Business
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4219127
• Additional Information: Business School, The University of Hull
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2016