Management education through e‐learning in India: an empirical study

Abstract

Purpose

E‐learning is emerging as a potential delivery medium for education and training. This is evident from the increasing number of educational institutions and organizations adopting e‐learning. In India, there has been an upsurge in the number of students going for management education. But, before management institutes embark on this e‐learning journey, it is important to assess student readiness for this medium. The purpose of this paper is to examine the awareness levels, degree of familiarity and readiness to accept e‐learning environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Exploratory study and personal interviews were conducted to design the instrument which was administered to 240 students pursuing management education at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM‐A), which is a premier business school in India. A total of 154 duly filled questionnaires were used for data analysis. Factor analysis, cluster analysis and chi‐square test were carried out to meet the objectives of the study.

Findings

Factor analysis resulted in identification of five factors which were given names. Further, two clusters were identified among the respondents. To examine if the cluster profile varied in demographic variables, a chi‐square test showed that none of the demographic variables are statistically related to the clusters.

Research limitations/implications

The sample was comprised of students of a business school and therefore it may not be representative of all students studying business management. Second, since the sample comprised only 17 female students, generalization of results is difficult.

Practical implications

The research holds relevance, as an assessment of prior exposure to technology and comfort level, attitude, behavior and motivation may determine the e‐learners’ readiness to adopt or not adopt this medium.

Originality/value

The paper brings forth student readiness for e‐learning as a medium of education in India. This may serve as a guide to those business schools which have started delivering management education or plan to deliver online education in future.

Citation

Chawla, D. and Joshi, H. (2012), "Management education through e‐learning in India: an empirical study", Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 380-393. https://doi.org/10.1108/10650741211275134