Despite concerns about the relevance of management education, there is relatively little evidence about whether graduates use the management tools and concepts they are taught. We address this gap with evidence from a survey of business school alumni adoption of tools typically taught in strategic management courses. Our findings show that four educational characteristics—level of formal education, frequency of management training, specificity of strategic management education, and time elapsed since formal education—drive adoption of strategy tools. Specifically, features such as postgraduate over undergraduate qualifications and frequent exposure to management training predispose greater user of strategy tools. However, other factors, such as time elapsed since formal education, are not as great a predictor of variation in use. We conclude with a predictive model of the relative weight and importance of educational and demographic characteristics on strategy tool adoption and discuss our findings in light of the relevance debate.
Academy of Management Journal. (2001). Special research forum: Knowledge transfer between academics and practitioners. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 340-440.
2.
AltmanY.BaruchY. (2008). Strategies for revising and resubmitting papers to refereed journals. British Journal of Management, 19, 89-101.
3.
AntonacopoulouE. P. (2010). Making the business school More “Critical”: Reflexive critique based on phronesis as a foundation for impact. British Journal of Management, 21, s6-s25.
4.
Atuahene-GimaK.MurrayJ. Y. (2004). Antecedents and outcomes of marketing strategy comprehensiveness. Journal of Marketing, 68, 33-46.
5.
BaileyJ.FordC. (1996). Management as science vs management as practice in postgraduate business education. Business Strategy Review, 7, 7-12.
6.
BalabanisG.SpyropoulouS. (2007). Matching modes of export strategy development to different environmental conditions. British Journal of Management, 18, 45-62.
7.
BaldridgeD. C.FloydS. W.MarkóczyL. (2004). Are managers from Mars and academicians from venus? Toward an understanding of the relationship between academic quality and practical relevance. Strategic Management Journal, 25, 1063-1074.
8.
BaldwinT. T.FordJ. K. (1988). Transfer of training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105.
9.
BaruchY.PeiperlM. (2000). The impact of an MBA on graduate careers. Human Resource Management Journal, 10, 69-90.
10.
BowerJ. L. (2008). The teaching of strategy: From general manager to analyst and back again?Journal of Management Inquiry, 17, 269-275.
11.
BrewsP. J.HuntM. R. (1999). Learning to plan and planning to learn: Resolving the planning school/learning school debate. Strategic Management Journal, 20, 889-913.
12.
British Journal of Management. (2001). Special issue in bridging the relevance gap. British Journal of Management, 12, S3-S26.
13.
BrocklehurstM.SturdyA.WinstanleyD.DriverM. (2007). Introduction: Whither the MBA? Factions, fault lines and the future. Management Learning, 38, 379-388.
14.
ChengE. W. L. (2000). Test of the MBA knowledge and skills transfer. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 11, 837-852.
15.
ChristensenR.HansenA. (1981). Teaching and the case method. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
16.
ClarkD. N.ScottJ. L. (1999). Strategic level MS/OR tool usage in the United Kingdom and New Zealand: A comparative survey. Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research, 16, 35.
17.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
18.
CohenJ. (1992). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155-159.
19.
CurrieG.KnightsD.StarkeyK. (2010). Introduction: A post-crisis critical reflection on business schools. British Journal of Management, 21, s1-s5.
20.
DonaldsonL. (2002). Damned by our own theories: Contradictions between theories and management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 1, 96-106.
ElmutiD. (2004). Can management be taught?Management Decision, 42, 439-453.
23.
FieldA. (2005). Discovering statistics using SPSS. London, England: Sage.
24.
FordJ. K.QuiñonesM. A.SegoD. J.SorraJ. S. (1992). Factors affecting the opportunity to perform trained tasks on the job. Personnel Psychology, 45, 511-527.
25.
FrostF. A. (2003). The use of strategic tools by small and medium-sized enterprises: An Australasian study. Strategic Change, 12, 49-62.
26.
GhoshalS. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4, 75-91.
27.
GhoshalS.MoranP. (1996). Bad for practice: A critique of the transaction cost theory. Academy of Management Review, 21, 13-47.
28.
GlaisterK. W.FalshawJ. R. (1999). Strategic planning: Still going strong?Long Range Planning, 32, 107-116.
29.
GoslingJ.MintzbergH. (2006). Management education as if both matter. Management Learning, 37, 419-428.
30.
GrantR. (2008). Why strategy teaching should be theory based. Journal of Management Inquiry, 17, 276-281.
31.
GreinerL. E.BhambriA.CummingsT. G. (2003). Searching for strategy to teach strategy. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2, 402-421.
32.
GreyC. (2004). Reinventing business schools: The contribution of critical management education. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3, 178-186.
33.
GunnR.WilliamsW. (2007). Strategic tools: An empirical investigation into strategy in practice in the UK. Strategic Change, 16, 201-216.
34.
GupB. E.WhiteheadD. D. (1989). Strategic planning in banks—Does it pay?Long Range Planning, 22, 124-130.
35.
HairJ. F.BlackW.BabinB.AndersonR. E. (2009). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
36.
HannahD. R.PeredoA. M. (2011). Rethinking management education and scholarship. Journal of Management Inquiry, 20, 178-179.
37.
HayA.HodgkinsonM. (2008). More success than meets the Eye: A challenge to critiques of the MBA: Possibilities for critical management education?Management Learning, 39, 21-40.
38.
HebbD. O. (1949). The organization of behavior: A neuropsychological study. New York, NY: Wiley Interscience.
39.
HodgkinsonG. P.StarkeyK. (2011). Not simply returning to the same answer over and over again: Reframing relevance. British Journal of Management, 22, 355-369.
40.
HodgkinsonG. P.WhittingtonR.JohnsonG.SchwarzM. (2006). The role of strategy workshops in strategy development processes: Formality, communication, co-ordination and inclusion. Long Range Planning, 39, 479-496.
41.
HoganR.WarrenfeltzR. (2003). Educating the modern manager. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 2, 74-84.
42.
IshidaH. (1997). MBA education in Japan. Journal of Management Development, 16, 185-196.
JarrattD.StilesD. (2010). How are methodologies and tools framing managers’ strategizing practice in competitive strategy development?British Journal of Management, 21, 28-43.
45.
JarzabkowskiP.MohrmanS. A.SchererA. G. (2010). Organization studies as applied science: The generation and use of academic knowledge about organizations introduction to the special issue. Organization Studies, 31, 1189-1207.
46.
JarzabkowskiP.WhittingtonR. (2008). A strategy-as-practice approach to strategy research and education. Journal of Management Inquiry, 17, 282-286.
47.
JarzabkowskiP.WilsonD. C. (2006). Actionable strategy knowledge: A practice perspective. European Management Journal, 24, 348-367.
48.
JohannessenJ.-A.OlsenB. (2003). Knowledge management and sustainable competitive advantages: The impact of dynamic contextual training. International Journal of Information Management, 23, 277-289.
JoshiA. W.SharmaS. (2004). Customer knowledge development: Antecedents and impact on new product performance. Journal of Marketing, 68, 47-59.
51.
KatsikeasC. S.SamieeS.TheodosiouM. (2006). Strategy fit and performance consequences of international marketing standardization. Strategic Management Journal, 27, 867-890.
52.
KeepE.WestwoodA. (2003). Can the UK learn . . . to manage?London, England: The Work Foundation.
53.
KelemenM.BansalP. (2002). The conventions of management research and their relevance to management practice. British Journal of Management, 13, 97-108.
54.
KnowlesM. S. (1990). Andragogy in action (4th ed.). London, England: Jossey-Bass.
KretovicsM. A. (1999). Assessing the MBA. Journal of Management Development, 18, 125-136.
57.
LeggeK.Sullivan-TaylorB.WilsonD. (2007). Management learning and the Corporate MBA: Situated or individual?Management Learning, 38, 440-457.
58.
LenzR. T. (1981). “Determinants” of organizational performance: An interdisciplinary review. Strategic Management Journal, 2, 131-154.
59.
LorschJ. W. (2009). Regaining lost relevance. Journal of Management Inquiry, 18, 108-117.
60.
LynchW. T. (2005). The ghost of Wittgenstein: Forms of life, scientific method, and cultural critique. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 35, 139-174.
61.
MasraniS.WilliamsA. P. O.McKiernanP. (2011). Management education in the UK: The roles of the British Academy of Management and the Association of Business Schools. British Journal of Management, 22, 382-400.
62.
MazzaC.AlvarezJ. L. (2000). Haute Couture and Pret-a-Porter: The popular press and the diffusion of management practices. Organization Studies, 21, 567-588.
63.
MenonA.BharadwajS. G.AdidamP. T.EdisonS. W. (1999). Antecedents and consequences of marketing strategy making: A model and a test. Journal of Marketing, 63, 18-40.
64.
MillerC. C.CardinalL. B. (1994). Strategic planning and firm performance: A synthesis of more than two decades of research. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 1649-1665.
65.
MiltonU. (2008, January). MBA still packs a punch. Financial Times, p. 14.
66.
MintzbergH. (2004). Managers not MBAs: A hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. London, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
67.
MonksK.WalshJ. S. (2001). The role of postgraduate education in management development. Journal of European Industrial Training, 25, 148-156.
68.
MorrisM. G.VenkateshV. (2000). Age differences in technology adoption decisions: Implications for a changing work force. Personnel Psychology, 53, 375-403.
69.
ParnellJ. A. (1997). New evidence in the generic strategy and business performance debate: A research note. British Journal of Management, 8, 175-181.
70.
PearceJ. L. (2007). We are who we teach. Journal of Management Inquiry, 16, 104-110.
71.
PfefferJ.FongC. T. (2002). The end of business schools? Less success than meets the eye. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 1, 78-95.
72.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.Jeong-YeonL.PodsakoffN. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879.
73.
PodsakoffP. M.OrganD. W. (1986). Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12, 531-544.
74.
PrahaladC. K.HamelG. (1994). Strategy as a field of study: Why search for a new paradigm?Strategic Management Journal, 15, 5-16.
75.
PriemR. L.RosensteinJ. (2000). Is organization theory obvious to practitioners? A test of one established theory. Organization Science, 11, 509-524.
76.
QuinonesM. (1995). Pretraining context effects: Training assignment as feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 226-238.
77.
RaelinJ. A. (1995). Reformulating management education: Professional education, action learning, and beyond. Selections, 54, 20-30.
78.
RaelinJ. A. (1997). Action learning and action science: Are they different?Organizational Dynamics, 26, 21-34.
79.
RhodesS. R. (1983). Age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior: A review and conceptual analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 93, 328-367.
80.
RigbyD. (2001). Management tools and techniques: A survey. California Management Review, 43, 139-160.
RigbyD.BilodeauB. (2007). Bain’s global 2007 management tools and trends survey. Strategy & Leadership, 35, 4-16.
83.
RiggioR. E.MayesB. T.SchleicherD. J. (2003). Using assessment center methods for measuring undergraduate business student outcomes. Journal of Management Inquiry, 12, 68-78.
84.
ShareefR. (2007). Want better business theories? Maybe Karl Popper has the answer. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6, 272-280.
85.
ShipperF. (1999). A comparison of managerial skills of middle managers with MBAs, with other masters’ and undergraduate degrees ten years after the Porter and McKibbin report. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 14, 150-164.
86.
SimpsonR. (2006). Masculinity and management education: Feminizing the MBA. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5, 182-193.
87.
SimpsonR.SturgesR.WoodsA.AltmanY. (2005). Gender, age, and the MBA: An analysis of extrinsic and intrinsic career benefits. Journal of Management Education, 29, 218-247.
88.
SnowC. C.HambrickD. C. (1980). Measuring organizational strategies: Some theoretical and methodological problems. Academy of Management Review, 5, 527-538.
89.
StarkeyK.MadanP. (2001). Bridging the relevance gap: Aligning stakeholders in the future of management research. British Journal of Management, 12, S3-S26.
90.
StavrouE.KilaniotisC. (2010). Flexible work and turnover: An empirical investigation across cultures. British Journal of Management, 21, 541-554.
91.
StenforsS.TannerL.SyrjänenM.SeppäläT.HaapalinnaI. (2007). Executive views concerning decision support tools. European Journal of Operational Research, 181, 929-938.
92.
StonehouseG.PembertonJ. (2002). Strategic planning in SMEs: Some empirical findings. Management Decision, 40, 853-861. doi:10.1108/00251740210441072
93.
SturgesJ.SimpsonR.AltmanY. (2003). Capitalising on learning: An exploration of the MBA as a vehicle for developing career competencies. International Journal of Training and Development, 7, 53-66.
94.
TangheJ.WisseB.Van Der FlierH. (2010). The formation of group affect and team effectiveness: The moderating role of identification. British Journal of Management, 21, 340-358.
95.
TharenouP.SaksA. M.MooreC. (2007). A review and critique of research on training and organizational-level outcomes. Human Resource Management Review, 17, 251-273.
96.
ThomasD. C. (2006). Domain and development of cultural intelligence: The importance of mindfulness. Group Organization Management, 31, 78-99.
97.
ThomasH.WilsonA. D. (2011). “Physics envy”, cognitive Legitimacy or practical relevance: Dilemmas in the evolution of management research in the UK. British Journal of Management, 22, 443-456.
98.
WarrenR.TweedaleG. (2002). Business ethics and business history: Neglected dimensions in management education. British Journal of Management, 13, 209-219.
99.
WhittingtonR.JarzabkowskiP.MayerM.MounoudE.NahapietJ.RouleauL. (2003). Taking strategy seriously: Responsibility and reform for an important social practice. Journal of Management Inquiry, 12, 396-406.
100.
WrenD.HalbeslebenJ.BuckleyR. (2007). The theory-application balance in management pedagogy. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 6, 484-492.
101.
ZikmundW. (2003). Business research methods. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.
