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Journal of
Business and Economics
Volume 6, Number 5, May 2015
Contents
Health, Education, and Welfare
Assurance of Honesty (AoH) in Traditional and Online Business Programs in an
AACSB-Accredited Business School: Insights from Experience 855
Gerry Nkombo Muuka, Timothy Todd, Bellarmine A. Ezumah
Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting
“Making Marketing Connections” (MMC) to Enhance Student Learning 871
Gwendolyn Catchings
Understanding Inter-firm Trust from Business Ecosystem Perspective: Cases from the Current
Chinese Animation Industry 879
Zheng Liu
The Level of Emotional Intelligence among Administrators: A Case of Malaysian
Public Universities 891
Abdul Shukor Shamsudin, Abd. Rahim Romle, Azizi Haji Halipa
The Holistic Vision of Customer Relationship Management 899
Pierluigi Passaro
The Factors Influencing Academic Affairs Services Management Systems at the National
University of Laos and “Lucian Blaga” 908
Sounieng Vongkhamchanh

International Economics
Empirical Analysis of the Essential Drivers that Influence the Factors for Measuring the
Performance of International Financial Institutions 920
Joseph Agholor
International Trade Finance 927
Ali ihsan Ozeroglu
Impact and Response of Asian Economic Crisis and Global Imbalances of Emerging
Market Economies 937
Thanet Wattanakul
Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth
External Debt, Growth and Poverty Reduction in a Failing State: Nigeria, 1970-2011 944
Akpan H. Ekpo, Elijah Udo
Reality of Some Indicators about the Technological Cooperation in the Biopharmaceutical
Sector in Mexico 958
Rodolfo García Galván
Necroeconomics of Post-Soviet Post-Industrialism and the Model of Economic Development
of Georgia and Russia 976
Vladimer Papava
Strategic Management of Finance Theory: Use Balanced Scorecard in Finance Theory 984
Gürhan Uysal, Yusuf Katipoglu
Microeconomics and Financial Economics
Psychologic Types and Decision Making Study Case in Logistics Management at Danone Morocco 988
Ouafae Zerouali Ouarit, Hicham Mohammed Hamri, Soukaina Ibenrissoul
Top Management Team Group Structure as a Determinant of Company Performance:
Empirical Evidence from Poland 996
Małgorzata Marchewka
Law and Economics
The Dubai World Islamic Finance Arbitration Center and the Dubai World Islamic Finance
Arbitration Center Jurisprudence Office as the Dispute Resolution Center and Mechanism
for the Islamic Finance Industry: Issues and a Proposed Framework 1003
Camille Paldi

Journal of Business and Economics, ISSN 2155-7950, USA
May 2015, Volume 6, No. 5, pp. 855-870
DOI: 10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/05.06.2015/001
 Academic Star Publishing Company, 2015
http://www.academicstar.us
855
Assurance of Honesty (AoH) in Traditional and Online Business Programs
in an AACSB-Accredited Business School: Insights from Experience
Gerry Nkombo Muuka, Timothy Todd, Bellarmine A. Ezumah
(Murray State University, Murray, KY 42071, USA)
Abstract: Universities worldwide have one unifying core mission and moral imperative: teaching, in such a
way that our national and international students can learn relevant content knowledge and skills necessary for
them to be confident and competent professional citizens of the world. In pursuit of this overarching goal, students,
for their part, have a moral, professional and economic obligation to exhibit academic behaviors that are beyond
reproach. This paper discusses one of the most consequential academic issues of our time: academic dishonesty
among university students, citing the case of one long-standing AACSB-accredited College of Business in the
Ohio Valley Conference. The paper details the school’s Academic Dishonesty Policy (ADP), and sheds light on
the additional dishonesty challenges encountered in 100% online programs. Key findings include the fact that 351
students have cheated over a 9-year period, most of them disproportionately male; that international students cheat
in numbers that are disproportionate to their low enrollment profiles on campus; that a preponderance of cases
involve freshmen; and that undergraduates account for the bulk of cheating incidents. The school has dealt with
these cases in a variety of ways including warnings; failing students on exams, quizzes and in entire courses; and
the dismissal of one undergraduate student in 2007. It includes a warning that if cheating among students is not
aggressively addressed by universities, the long-term consequences could be a major moral and ethical failure that
would make the 2001 Enron Scandal look like a minor slap on the world’s professional and economic conscience.
The paper ends with a major recommendation by way of a 10-point framework for dealing with academic
dishonesty in colleges and universities. This includes the need for an effective assurance of honesty policy and
honor code, ethics education, rehabilitative teaching moments, a customized honor code orientation for
international students, and a comprehensive campus-wide all inclusive effort aimed at tackling one of the most
consequential issues of our time.
Key words: assurance of honesty; academic dishonesty; plagiarism, cheating incidents; online business
courses; undergraduate students; graduate students; assurance of honesty strategy
JEL codes: I210
Gerry Nkombo Muuka, Ph.D., Professor and Interim Dean, Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business, Murray State University;
research areas/interests: business strategy, AACSB-accreditation. E-mail: nmuuka@murraystate.edu.
Timothy Todd, Ed.D., Professor and Interim Provost, Murray State University; research areas/interests: quality measures and
institutional effectiveness. E-mail: ttodd@murraystate.edu.
Bellarmine A. Ezumah, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Arthur J. Bauernfeind College of Business, Murray State University; research
areas/interests: emergent technologies and social media networks and their impact on learning and communication, media effects and
news analysis, accreditation. E-mail: bezumah@murraystate.edu.

Assurance of Honesty (AoH) in Traditional and Online Business Programs in an AACSB-Accredited Business School:
Insights from Experience
856
1. Introduction
This paper deals with one of the most consequential education-related issues of our time: academic
dishonesty — commonly referred to as cheating — among students in colleges and universities. The premise of
the paper is perhaps a logical one, and invites no real debate: university students should have more pride in
accomplishing their academic pursuits the right way, rather than being rewarded for accomplishments soiled by
wrong-doing. Universities worldwide have one unifying core mission and moral imperative: teaching, in such a
way that our national and international students can learn relevant content knowledge and skills necessary for
them to be confident and competent professional citizens of the world. In pursuit of this overarching goal, students,
for their part, have a moral, professional and economic obligation to exhibit academic behaviors that are beyond
reproach. The need to prevent and potentially eliminate student cheating is perhaps self-evident. There is wide
spread agreement, in the literature, that strategies utilized by students in pursuit of a degree are a persuasive
predictor of the actions they will take after graduation (Callahan, 2008, among others). In other words, there is a
commonsense nexus that students who cheat to get good grades while at the university are more likely to follow
unethical paths later in their careers. That is a major reason why such behaviors should be aggressively
discouraged in favor of moral and ethical uprightness while the students are still in school.
In the paper, we detail the Assurance of Honesty (AoH) policy and practices in use at one long-standing
AACSB-accredited College of Business in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). The OVC comprises 12 different
universities, namely: Belmont University, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, Tennessee
Tech University, Tennessee State University, Jacksonville State University, Murray State University, Southeast
Missouri State University, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, Eastern Illinois University, Austin Peay
State University, and the University of Tennessee-Martin. The Ohio Valley Conference College of Business
(OVC-COB) has an overall enrollment of some 2,000 students, accounting for 18% of the 11,200 students
enrolled at the parent university in Fall 2014. The College has 6 departments, 7 graduate programs, and offers
both traditional and some 100% online undergraduate and graduate programs.
Paper Objectives: The paper is unambiguous in its aims and objectives, because it sets out to answer the
following important academic-dishonesty related questions:
(a) How many students have been caught cheating (as opposed to the perception of cheating) in the
OVC-COB in a specified time frame? The question is vital in getting a glimpse of the magnitude of academic
dishonesty in the business school.
(b) What is the nature and profile of offenses committed by students, and what consequences did this
unethical behavior bring about? The importance of these twin questions cannot be overemphasized, because
detection of student wrongdoing without any corresponding sanctions and penalties would only serve to worsen
an already unacceptable state of affairs.
(c) Finally, the paper aims to provide the gender profile of students caught cheating in the College of
Business, in addition to providing a breakdown of the offenders by level (undergraduate versus graduate) as well
as by nationality — American versus International students.
We believe that answers to the foregoing questions do indeed encapsulate the bulk of the academic
dishonesty debate. An attempt is made, ultimately, to provide a checklist of best practices and implications for
other business schools and universities generally.

857
2. Literature Review
Academic dishonesty — commonly called cheating — is a minefield of student negligence, deliberate
wrongdoing, unethical promiscuity, and sometimes breathtaking and insufferable inattention to the values and
tenets of higher education. Mwamwenda and Monyooe (2000), for instance, go so far as to say that academic
dishonesty is not only incompatible with the principles of learning and education, it actually erodes the integrity of
the whole educational process.
Two useful questions logically arise at this stage, namely: what accounts for the prevalence of cheating
among business students and other students generally? Second, what are the mechanisms and manifestations of
this unethical conduct? The literature is both broad and deep with answers to both of these questions. There are
suggestions (by, among others, Callahan, 2008) that business students in fact cheat more than other majors. In
AACSB’s July/August 2011 edition of the BizEd Magazine is an article on the “cheating pandemic” in business
schools. Written by Steve Williams, Margaret Tanner and Jim Beard, the article alludes to as many as 87% of
undergraduate business students admitting to cheating on exams. “The issue of academic dishonesty is critical for
business schools because those who cheat in college are more likely to cheat on the job”, the three authors argue.
The motivations for cheating are varied. There are students who blame external variables for their unethical
behavior. McCabe and Pavela (2000) for instance say that some students justify or rationalize cheating by citing
other students who cheat; faculty who do a poor job in the classroom; institutional indifference to cheating; and a
society that supplies few positive role models when it comes to personal integrity. A core rationale by students
who emulate others in unethical conduct is their perceived need to “level the playing field” by cheating as well.
Callahan (2008) advances other reasons why business students cheat — ranging from the increased time
pressures experienced by working MBA students, procrastination, low chances of being caught,
“professor-unfairness” and peer-pressure, all the way to the impact of business curricula that emphasize
shareholder wealth above all else. Callahan (2008) characterizes these students as having a “bottom-line mentality”
that leads them to give greater weight to the potential benefits of cheating including, but not limited to: higher
grades, admission to better graduate schools, and more financially rewarding employment opportunities. There is,
additionally, a huge literature on student perceptions of cheating. Premeaux (2005), for instance, surveyed 1,116
students from Tier 1 AACSB Schools and a further 1,251 from Tier 2 AACSB Schools to see what their
perceptions are on various cheating-related issues including — but not limited to — what they feel about cheating,
their perceptions about cheating penalties, and whether or not cheating is problematic in their respective schools.
A major finding was that cheating is fairly common at both Tier 1 and 2 AACSB accredited business schools.
Prominent universities are not immune to the cheating scourge. Jack Stripling, writing for the Chronicle of Higher
Education (2014), recounts the happenings at the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill where, among other
illegal practices, student athletes frequently enrolled in “no-show classes” where they were given course credit for
writing a single paper. Stripling (2014) goes on to quote James G. Martin — who was governor of North Carolina
in 2012 at the height of the scandal — as characterizing the UNC incident to be an academic scandal as opposed
to the perceived lesser label of an athletics scandal.
The second key question that needs to be addressed centers around the manifestations or mechanisms that
students use to cheat. The list of types of dishonesty behaviors can never be complete, since students always come
up with new ways of circumventing laid down academic procedures. The following list — compiled from a
multiplicity of sources including the OVC University Board of Regents’ 2012 academic honor document, McCabe

858
(2005), Mwamwenda and Monyooe (2000), and Callahan (2008) among others — is but a glimpse of the many
forms of academic dishonesty:
 Cheating: that is, intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized information such as books, notes,
study aids, or other electronic, online, or digital devices in any academic exercise; unauthorized communication of
information by any means to or from others during any academic exercise; or doing work for another person for
academic credit.
 Plagiarism: which is characterized as intentionally or knowingly representing the words, ideas, creative work,
or data of someone else as one’s own in any academic exercise, without due and proper acknowledgement — in
essence stealing the words or ideas of another and passing them off as one’s own.
 Fabrication and Falsification: defined variously as intentional alteration or invention of any information or
citation in an academic exercise. Falsification involves changing information whereas fabrication involves
inventing or counterfeiting information.
 Multiple Submissions: the submission of substantial portions of the same academic work, including oral
reports, for credit more than once without authorization from the instructor — a practice called “double dipping”.
 Online Cheating: this takes many forms including, but not limited to: the use of smartphones to hide
formulas, notes, or take pictures of online questions for later use by friends; cut and paste plagiarism from internet
sources; submitting papers purchased or downloaded from a term-paper mill or website (McCabe, 2005); having
one student take an exam or quiz on behalf of another; texting answers to others during the exam; as well as
saving notes in cellphones for use during the exam.
Contribution to the body of knowledge: The current study is different from other studies in many important
respects. We describe an actual academic dishonesty process in use at one Ohio Valley Conference College of
Business (OVC-COB). This is vital because all faculties in the College are asked to take the issue of academic
dishonesty seriously. The study then proceeds to report and analyze the number of academic dishonesty cases in
the business school for the 9 years from 2006 to 2014; the types of student infringements that triggered the faculty
reports; the types of penalties, sanctions or punishments attending these infringements; as well as the trend-line of
reported cases during the nine-year timeframe. Another contribution of the current study is that we address two
further questions, and that is: what is the gender balance among the academically dishonesty students, and can
these be further broken down into American versus International Students? The study therefore deals with actual
incidents — as opposed to perceptions about cheating — doing so at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
3. Methodology
At its most basic level, this methodology section addresses the key question: how did we gather the data that
informs this study? The data upon which the bulk of the current study is based was obtained over a period of nine
years — from Spring 2006 to the middle of Fall 2014 — using a clear and consistent academic dishonesty process.
The OVC-COB has a long and proud tradition of “catching and rehabilitating” student culprits of academic
dishonesty. How does the school do this? A three-pronged approach is utilized, namely:
(a) Academic Dishonesty Policy: The school has, since the 1990s, implemented an honor code that has made
a difference in student behaviors, attitudes and beliefs. The academic dishonesty policy is part of every course
syllabus (graduate and undergraduate) in all 6 departments of the College. In other words, students are educated
about the appropriate academic conduct on exams and assignments, including discussion of plagiarism and the

859
unacceptable tech-savvy methods some students try to use in order to cheat. In short, the school has an assurance
of honesty (AoH) policy that abhors dishonesty, specifies unacceptable academic conduct, specifies penalties, and
explains appeal procedures available to students in case they believe they are innocent of any wrongdoing.
(b) All faculties in the College are asked and encouraged, without exception, to report all cases of academic
dishonesty to the Associate Dean.
(c) The College gives students a second chance. In other words, an attempt is made to try to rehabilitate
first-time offenders into becoming more ethical and honest citizens of the world.
Figure 1 presents the step by step process used to handle cheating cases in the College. The key elements of
Figure 1 are as follows:
(a) Mission Statement and Assurance of Learning Goals: the very first place that students come across our
academic expectations and standards of ethical behavior is in our Mission Statement, which is the logical trigger
for Assurance of Learning (AoL) goals and expectations. Our AoL goals at both the undergraduate and graduate
levels are explicit on the need for ethical student conduct. It is only when cheating occurs that Figure 1 comes into
play.
Student
Cheats
Academic
Dishonesty
Detected by
Faculty
Faculty Member
Informs Student
Faculty Member
Reports Case to
Associate Dean*
Does
Student
Dispute/
Appeal
Case?
Case Reviewed by
Faculty Appeals
and Grievance
Committee**
Case goes to
Penalty Phase
Penalty Phase
Yes
No First Offender
Penalty1
Second Offender
Penalty2
Multiple Offender
Penalty3
First,
Second, or
Multiple
Offender?
Assurance of
Future Honest
Behavior
Feedback to Improve Future Student Behavior
(1) Student receives "zero" on assignment/exam.
Student meets with and receives warning letter from Associate Dean
(2) Student receives failing grade of "E" for the course.
Student receives second warning and meeting with Associate Dean.
(3) Student is dismissed from the College of Business.
Recommenation is made for student's dismissal from MSU entirely.
NOTE: In the period 2003-2011 a total of 4 students have been dismissed from the College.
* All cases are reported on an "Academic Dishonesty Report Form," Appendix A
** Faculty only report cases when they have strong evidence of cheating. In the 12 years from
2000-2012, only about 8 of 200+ cases of cheating have been appealed by students. All 8 appeals
have failed.
Penalty Process
Figure 1 Assurance of Honesty (AoH) Process — How the OVC-COB handles Academic Dishonesty among Students
(b) Essentially, a faculty member informs the cheating student that they have been caught, and immediately
submits an official report (with evidence) to the Associate Dean of the College. If the student does not dispute the
charge, the case goes to the penalty phase. If they are first offenders, they receive a zero on the exam, quiz, or
assignment. But depending on the severity of the first offence, the student could be made to fail the entire course.
There is a chance that the student will plead innocent of any wrong-doing, in which case they are made aware (or
reminded) of the official appeals process. The appeals process has the Associate Dean convening a meeting of the
standing “Faculty Appeals and Grievances Committee” to hear the student’s case. If they win the appeal — which

860
has only happened once since 1999 — then their exam/quiz/assignment grade is reinstated. Otherwise, they fail
the said exam or quiz.
(c) Second time offenders fail the entire course in which they are currently registered, which amounts to a
grade of “E”.
(d) Multiple offenses: In cases where a student is caught cheating on more than two occasions, the Associate
Dean will trigger “dismissal from the OVC College of Business” proceedings, as appropriate.
(e) Feedback Loop: Figure 1 has a logical and necessary feedback loop, which is appropriately labelled
“improvement of future student behavior”. This labeling is not coincidental. Our intent is to rehabilitate cheating
students into better citizens of the world by improving the likelihood that they will be more ethically and morally
upright participants in world affairs from that point forward.
Table 1 Reported Cases of Academic Dishonesty in the OVC College of Business for
the Period Spring 2006 to September 2014
2006

2007

2008

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Totals

Overall
U G U G U G U G U G U G U G U G U G U G # %
Action Taken
(a) Warning 2 1 1 1 4 1 5 1.4%
(b) Failed
Assignment
34 26 17 4 20 1 38 2 19 4 27 2 34 1 13 9 228 23 251 71.5%
(c) Failed the
Exam
5 2 1 8 2 5 7 1 2 1 30 4 34 9.6%
(d) Failed the
Course
6 9 1 2 4 3 5 6 1 31 6 37 11%
(a) Points
Deducted
1 1 2 6 4 1 4 14 5 19 5.4%
(b) Dropped
Course
2 1 1 3 1 4 1.2%
(c) Dismissed 1 1 1 0.2%
Totals 45 2 38 2 19 5 30 5 43 3 34 4 43 2 43 7 15 11 310 41 351 100%
Table 2 Percentage Breakdown of the 2006-2014 Academic Dishonesty Cases among
Undergraduate (U) and Graduate (G) Students
YEAR Grand Totals U-Total U-% G-Total G-%

Overall
2006 47 44 94% 3 6% 100%
2007 40 38 95% 2 5% 100%
2008 24 19 79% 5 21% 100%
2009 35 30 86% 5 14% 100%
2010 46 43 93% 3 7% 100%
2011 38 34 89% 4 11% 100%
2012 45 43 96% 2 4% 100%
2013 50 43 86% 7 14% 100%
2014 26 16 62% 10 38% 100%
351 310 88% 41 12% 100%
Where: U = Undergraduate Students, G = Graduate Students
4. Results and Analysis
Table 1 presents summary statistics of all reported cases of academic dishonesty in the OVC College of
Business (OVC-COB) for the 9 years from Spring 2006 to September/middle of Fall 2014. The table reveals that

861
the OVC College of Business has had a total of 351 cases of academic dishonesty in the 9 years in question. One
cannot but observe that a single case of academic dishonesty at any University level is bad enough. 351 of them
points to a clear moral and ethical hazard among students that needs to be addressed with the aggression it clearly
deserves.
The following are some of the key results arising directly from — or as a derivative of — Table 1:
(a) Of the 351 cases of cheating, 310 (88%) have involved undergraduate students, while the balance of 41
(12%) have been graduate students.
(b) CSC 199 — Introduction to Information Technology: Not shown in Table 1 but available in the role data
is the fact that of the 351 cases, a total of 173 (49%) have been offenses committed by freshmen in the CSC 199
Course. All freshmen at the constituent University take CSC 199 as part of the general studies core. The course
covers introductory technology topics such as file management, word processing, spreadsheets, database
management and presentation graphics software.
(c) Supplemented by — and reconstituted into — Table 2 and Figure 2 (showing the breakdown of cheating
incidents) as well as Figure 3 (representing the trend-line of cheating incidents), Table 1 reveals that the
OVC-COB has had 40 or more cases of cheating in 5 of the 9 years under review — that is, in 2006 (47), 2007
(40), 2010 (46), 2012 (45) and the highest of 50 cases reported in 2013. At 26 cases already reported midway
through the Fall 2014 semester, it is possible that 2014 could see 40 or more cases of cheating as well.
A logical question, at this point, is: why are the numbers of cheating incidents at consistently high and
unacceptable levels over time? Is this an indication that the OVC-COB school’s assurance of honesty (AoH)
policy is in fact ineffective and is not working? A useful explanation is to be found in four key places.
First, we have already alluded to the fact that a preponderance of all the cases — that is, 173 or 49% of the
351 total — have occurred in the freshman CSC 199 course. Further to the 173 cases that have occurred in CSC
199, an additional 32 cases have been reported in other freshmen courses during the period under consideration.
This brings the overall freshman incidence level to 205, or 58% of the grand total. Since we have new freshmen
every year who are not yet exposed to our rigorous and vigorous code of ethics and academic standards, it makes
sense that the numbers do not show an appreciable downward trend due to the “Freshman Factor”. In order to
judge the effectiveness of our assurance of honesty policy, a logical place to look is the progression of reported
cases from freshman level (when students are first sensitized to our honor code) to the sophomore level. By their
sophomore year, it is reasonable to expect that students will in fact have “learned their lesson”. Additional data
that is not shown in Table 1 reveals two important comparative statistics on this key performance indicator (KPI),
and that is:
 The 205 freshmen cases over 9 years point to an annual incidence average of 23 freshman cases per year.
 In the 9 years under consideration, there were a total of 79 cases involving sophomores only. While this is
still unacceptably high, the incidence rate has in fact dropped from 23 a year among freshmen to 9 per year among
sophomores. This is not a perfect measure of our assurance of honesty effectiveness and efficiency, by any stretch.
However the downward trend from freshmen to sophomores — and even further among juniors/seniors (7 cases
per year) and graduate students (averaging 5 cheating cases per year) is a helpful sign that progress on the
assurance of honesty front is being made, albeit at a slower pace than the situation clearly demands. An alternative
explanation for the lower incidence rate among senior classmen is the natural fear, among some, of jeopardizing
their graduation if they are caught cheating.

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Table 3 Breakdown by Offense of the 2011-2014 Academic Dishonesty Cases among
Undergraduate (U) and Graduate (G) Students
Nature of Offense
Grand Totals U-Total U% G-Total G% Overall
# %
Using unauthorized source 5 3% 5 100% 0 0% 100%
Cheating during examination/test/quiz 19 12% 12 63% 7 37% 100%
Non-attribution of sources 49 31% 32 65% 17 35% 100%
Use of other students’ work 63 40% 60 95% 3 5% 100%
Unlawfully obtained copy of graded materials 3 2% 3 100% 0 0% 100%
Unauthorized collaboration 10 6% 10 100% 0 0% 100%
Tampering with university computing system 1 1% 1 100% 0 0% 100%
Online Course cheating 9 5% 0 0% 9 100% 100%
Total 159 100%
4.1 Types of Academic Dishonesty Offenses by Students — 2011 to 2014
A relevant question, at this point, is: what exact offenses have been committed by these students? Table 3
provides the types of offences committed in the four years from 2011 to 2014. A total of 159 offences were
committed in this timeframe, with the following characteristics:
(a) Some 40% have been caught using another student’s work as either their own or with insufferably minor
adjustments.
(b) In 31% of the cases, a prima facie case has been made of either improper or completely non-existent
attribution of utilized material to external sources, commonly known as plagiarism. Together, using another
student’s work and plagiarism have accounted for a preponderance of all offenses, at 71%.
(c) Other high percentage incidents have involved outright cheating on exams, assignments and quizzes using
smartphones, cellphones, and notes (12%), unauthorized collaboration with other students (6%), and cheating in
online courses (5%). One student even tempered with the entire university’s computing system to try and gain an
undue advantage.
4.2 Nature of Actions Taken by the OVC College of Business
As important as it is to build prima facie evidence against student cheating, it is equally important to identify
and analyze the actions taken by faculty and the Business Dean’s Office in light of such offenses. We again turn to
Table 1, which reveals that of the 351 total students:
(a) Some 71.5%, the clear majority, were given a failing grade on the particular quiz or assignment. A further
9.6% were made to fail the exam in question. When combined, failure of the exam or assignment accounted for 81%
of official penalties aimed at punishing current behavior, with the clear intent that future student behavior will
change and be in tandem with high academic and ethical standards.
(b) Points were deducted from either exams or assignments in 5.4% of the cases, while 11% were made to
fail the entire course because their actions were clearly deemed to be egregiously defiant of acceptable academic
behavior.
(c) One undergraduate student who was in the final semester of their undergraduate degree was dismissed
from both the OVC-COB and the parent University, entirely, in 2007. This happened after three severe warnings
were given to the student in person and in writing, after dishonesty by the student was both documented and
proven. The student had the audacity to cheat yet again. It has to be noted that between 2003 and 2005 (a period
that is outside the current frame of reference), three other students had already been dismissed for repeat offences:

864
one was an undergraduate, while the other two were both MBA students.
4.3 Dishonesty Trends by Gender and Nationality
Both Table 2 and Figures 2 and 3 are unambiguous about undergraduate students cheating at a higher rate
than their graduate counterparts. In fact the only time that the proportion of graduate incidents has exceeded the 20%
mark was in 2008 and 2014. In terms of gender profiles, there are suggestions in the literature — by, among others,
McCabe (2005), Jones (2011), Mwamwenda and Monyooe (2000) — that male University students tend to cheat
more than their female counterparts. This assertion is borne out by the current study, which finds that of the 351
cheating incidents, only 114 (32%) were committed by female students. The preponderance of cases — that is,
237 (68%) — involved male students. This study utilizes the traditional, long-held definition of gender, as
opposed to its newer variants.
What is the cheating profile by nationality, specifically between American students and non-American
(International) students? Of the 351 total cases of academic dishonesty reported between 2006 and Fall 2014, a
total of 178 (or 51%) have been committed by American students, while the remaining 49% have been
international students. Given that international students only constitute between 5-8% of total student enrollment
in the entire OVC University, the case can be made that international students tend to cheat in numbers that are
disproportionate to their low overall enrollments at the University.
4.4 Online Business Classes: Additional Academic Dishonesty Perspectives
This paper would be incomplete if it did not address the emergent subject of cheating in online classes.
Although little has been said thus far about online cheating, Table 3 in fact reveals that in the 2011-2014 time
frame, it accounted for 5% of the 159 cases of cheating in the OVC College of Business. All the cases, incidentally,
involved only graduate students. The OVC-COB offers online courses in three of its seven graduate programs: the
MBA Program (AACSB accredited), the Master of Science in Information Systems (AACSB accredited) and the
Master of Science in Telecommunications Systems Management (TSM). It is a fact that technological
advancements in recent years have triggered new and “innovative” ways of cheating among students who take
online courses. Online forms of cheating can take many forms, including (a) the use of smartphones to hide
formulas, notes, or take pictures of online questions for later use by friends, (b) cut and paste plagiarism from
internet sources, (c) submitting papers purchased or downloaded from a term-paper mill or website (McCabe,
2005), (d) having another student take an exam or quiz on behalf of the rightful member of the online class or
section of the same course, (e) texting answers to others during the exam, and finally (f) saving notes in
cellphones for use during the exam. As enrollments in online programs increase over time, the problem of online
cheating will get correspondingly worse. It goes without saying that greater attention should be paid to online
cheating.
4.5 Repeat Offenders
The academic dishonesty records in the College were updated in September 2014. At this point, a total of 21
repeat offenders were discovered. Of these, 52% are international students, with the balance of 48% being
Americans. These 21 repeat offenders fall into two categories:
Those who have since graduated: Of the 21, a total of 9 have already graduated. It goes without saying that as
a College, we should have been more diligent in identifying this group before they graduated. Not much can be
done to and for this group at this point. When contacted by the Associate Dean of the College in Fall 2014, one of
these students sent the following response: “I am unable to come to your office. I do not attend the OVC
University anymore and do not live in the area”.

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Those who are still students: On October 10, 2014, the Associate Dean of the OVC College of Business sent
a red alert to each of the 12 repeat offenders who are still students. This was by way of a warning letter — for
which their official signatures of acknowledgement and understanding were required — telling them that they
would be dismissed from the College and the constituent University if they ever cheat again. Appendix A presents
the “Academic Dishonesty Student Statement of Understanding and Agreement Form” that each student had to
sign.
Any incident of dishonesty — whether at the national or international level — represents a black mark on our
students and on humanity generally. When a preponderance of offenders — including repeat offenders — are
international students (in relation to their low overall proportion of the entire student body), this raises the specter
of an “international army of cheaters” being unleashed on to the global economic stage. That is not good for
anybody. This is especially worrisome because a number of the students caught cheating are from one of the
largest economies and most populous countries in the world. The negative multiplier effects of this scenario are
only too obvious.
5. Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations
This paper discusses one of the most consequential academic issues of our time: academic dishonesty among
university students. It uses the example of an AACSB-accredited College of Business in the Ohio Valley
Conference of schools in the United States. It details the school’s Academic Dishonesty Policy (ADP), and
identifies the number of student cheating cases and sanctions from 2006 to 2014. Key findings include the fact
that 351 students have cheated over the 9-year period, most of them disproportionately male, and that international
students cheat in numbers that are disproportionate to their low enrollment profiles on campus. Additionally, a
preponderance of cases involve freshmen, while undergraduates account for the bulk of cheating incidents (88%,
to be more specific). The school has dealt with these cases in a variety of ways including warnings, failing
students on exams, failing students in the entire course, as well as the dismissal of one undergraduate student in
2007.
It is fair to suggest, based on these findings and a literature that is rich in additional data, that if cheating
among business students in universities is not aggressively addressed, the long-term consequences could be a
major moral and ethical failure that would make the 2001 Enron Scandal look like a minor slap on the world’s
professional and economic conscience. For the reader’s elucidation, Enron was an energy company — now out of
business — where fraudulent accounting practices led to America’s biggest moral and ethical corporate failure.
Student academic dishonesty has the clear potential to breed corporate malfeasance later on — the types of illegal
actions, moral and ethical failures whose partial genesis in academic dishonesty needs to be effectively addressed
early at the university level.
We advance, suggest, and recommend, by way of conclusion and significant contribution to the body of
knowledge on academic dishonesty, a 10-point framework for dealing with this consequential issue on college
campuses.
Towards A 10-Point Assurance of Honesty Strategy
We offer the following ten-point strategy and best practices as a comprehensive recommendation to be used
by Universities worldwide to aggressively deal with academic dishonesty among students generally.
(1) Assurance of Honesty Policy: Establish a visible, comprehensive, faculty-driven and enforceable

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assurance of honesty (AoH) policy that reduces — and ideally eliminates — academic dishonesty among business
students and other university students generally. The OVC-COB, the basis of this study, provides the framework
for precisely such a policy. There is solid support in the literature for such an institutionalized ethical honor code.
McCabe and Pavela (2000) for instance found empirical confirmation of a link between the presence of a student
honor code and lower levels of student cheating. McCabe and Pavela (2000) go on to make the useful argument
that university campuses with honor codes actively communicate to students the importance of academic integrity
as a core institutional value, and point out the role students must play in attaining this institutional goal.
(2) Ethics Education: Academic dishonesty originates from the broader area of ethics — or, in this particular
case, the specific lack or shortage thereof. It is not a stretch to suggest, therefore, that ethics education in business
schools needs to be part of the business core needing constant revision, reinforcement, and integration throughout
the business curriculum. Premeaux (2005) makes the useful assertion that teaching business ethics requires that
professors provide clear distinctions between right and wrong, and illustrate the ramifications of unethical
behavior — as well as the inherent benefits of behaving ethically. ACSB-International, the premier accrediting
agency for business schools in the world, feels so strongly about ethics education that in 2004 it issued its widely
cited report: “Ethics Education in Business Schools.” This was against the backdrop of corporate scandals at
major firms such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco. In the report, AACSB (2004) called on business schools to
“make the world a better place” by equipping their students with skills to be ethical and successful managers and
leaders. In the latest accreditation standards issued in 2013, AACSB (2013) renews this call and commitment to
ethics education in Standard 9. The standard calls for curriculum content to be appropriate to the general
expectations of degree programs and their assurance of learning (AoL), and goes on to require student competence
and skills in ethical understanding and reasoning.
(3) Rehabilitative, Teaching Moments: In reviewing the results presented in Tables 1, 2 and 3, the reader may
be tempted to ask the not so illogical question: “Well, why have you not dismissed at least 5% of the 351 cheaters
between 2006 and 2014?” There is a logical explanation for this. It has to do with a sincere desire, on our part, to
“rehabilitate” students, by providing “teaching moments”. Our approach has solid support in the literature.
McCabe (2005) for instance makes the point that while strong punitive measures against students are clearly
appropriate for more serious forms of cheating, it’s also clear that most student cheating is far less egregious.
What — McCabe (2005) asks — is an appropriate sanction for a student who cuts and pastes a few sentences from
a source on the internet without attribution? It may well be that the student is genuinely ignorant about citation
etiquette. If the student is a first offender — the 58% “Freshman Factor” we alluded to in the results from Table 1
— what is the educational value of a strong sanction? We take the logical view that most students learn from their
mistakes, hence our first reaction calls for “rehabilitation” rather than, necessarily, aggressive punitive action such
as expulsion/dismissal.
(4) Executives on Campus Programs: As part of Executives on Campus (EoC) or Executives in Residence
(EiR) programs, there is a clear need to encourage visiting industry executives to speak strongly and forcefully
about the values/virtues of good ethical conduct, and the consequent perils to personal careers and the broader
world economy generally if ethical misconduct becomes pervasive.
(5) Customized Orientation for International Students: Of the 26 cases in Fall 2014 alone, 17 (71%) are
international students. Of these 17, a total of 8 (47%) are all graduate students from the same country in Asia.
They are from two graduate programs: the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) and the Master of
Science in Telecommunications Systems Management (TSM). The 8 Students copied an answer from a student’s

867
file from 2012. All of them were awarded a zero for the assignment. The material they copied from 2012 has since
been updated in the book, a fact they were not aware of. Going forward, the OVC-COB intends to work with the
university’s Institute for International Studies (IIS) so that an “Ethics Orientation” becomes a visible and
permanent feature for all international students when they arrive on campus. If additional, country-specific
orientation sessions are warranted for countries with large numbers of incoming students, the College of Business
will take the lead in getting this done as well.
(6) Online Programs and Technology-Aided Impediments to Cheating: The number of online courses and 100%
online graduate and undergraduate programs in the U.S. has seen phenomenal growth in recent years, with some
estimates putting internet usage growth at 152% since 2000 (Jones, 2011). This growth is expected to continue for
many years to come, what with the “convenience factor” offered by online instruction and the fact that students
increasingly do everything else online anyway. The OVC College of Business, for instance, began offering online
MBA courses in 2005. By Fall 2013, its 100% online enrollment accounted for 55% of the 300 students on the
MBA program. With this technology-driven shift in instruction comes a corresponding shift in the nature of
student academic dishonesty. It seems logical, therefore, that at least two things ought to happen in order to
combat online cheating.
(a) Faculty must keep abreast of the new, creative ways in which online students try to cheat.
(b) The central university administration must improve and update the overall infrastructure for detecting
online cheating. The OVC University, for instance, pays $72,105 a year for the Turnitin.com license, which
enables faculty to detect some aspects of both on-campus and online cheating. Jones (2011) goes so far as to argue
that student cheating methods have gone “viral”, and that educators must be proactive and develop instructional
strategies that integrate all facets of appropriate digital citizenship.
(7) People Process, more than a Paper Process: The argument here is a fairly straight forward one: the
assurance of honesty (AoH) policy must be seen to be a “people” process that is actually followed, as opposed to
being a mere “paper” process where the honor code is written in university mission statements and strategic plans
without being “actualized” in practice.
(8) Develop Fair, Prompt, and Efficient Due Process Procedures: McCabe and Pavela (2000) are convincing
in making the “fair due process” argument. While students involved in cheating deserve a timely and fair hearing
— especially if they appeal their cases — faculty, too, deserve fundamental fairness, and not what the authors
characterize as “procedural complexity.” The two authors are of the correct view that active faculty participation
in the assurance of honesty (AoH) process is enhanced if individual faculty have discretion in resolving less
serious first offenses after meeting with accused students. This, indeed, is the attendant approach in the Ohio
Valley Conference College of Business that informs this paper.
(9) Benchmark with Peer, Competitive, and Aspirant Schools: The continuous improvement paradigm
demands that colleges of business review the prevailing honor code practices in place at other schools, with a
view to making comparative improvements. Using phraseology that is common among AACSB-accredited
programs, the best schools to do this against are the peer, competitive, and aspirant schools. For the OVC-COB,
comparable peers would be schools in states contiguous to the Southeast region (but not close enough to be
directly competitive to the OVC-COB), and have similarity of mission. The competitive schools represent those
institutions with which the OVC-COB competes on a number of levels including, but not limited to: students,
faculty, and financial resources as well as outreach programs and research funding. Finally, the aspirant group is
just that: in this case, these would be schools whose academic integrity practices one would aspire to emulate

868
because they are rooted in a long tradition of excellence in minimizing unethical student conduct.
(10) Campus-wide, All-Inclusive Effort: Academic and student honor codes are most likely to succeed — and
cases of student cheating are likely to be lower — when all constituent units on campus pursue assurance of
honesty among students with equal vigor and interest. In an era when our university students take courses across
disciplines, those taking business and music classes, for instance, should be exposed to the same expectations
about academic integrity, even though business and music courses are domiciled in two different colleges on the
university campus. Stated differently, there must be a faculty-led “full-court press” against academic dishonesty
that permeates the entire campus community. Admittedly, this is a weakness found at the parent campus of the
Ohio Valley Conference University. While the OVC-COB has a long-standing, credible and vigorous student
dishonesty detection and sanction regime, other colleges within the same university are discernibly less so.
Going forward, an important contribution of this paper will be to hopefully influence change away
from this status quo. Such a comprehensive, multifaceted approach to student cheating (that is, “it takes a
village”) has the additional advantage that no campus constituency will shift the “blame” for cheating elsewhere,
since everyone will be operating with the same stringent academic and honor standards. This will involve, inter
alia, keeping senior members of the university central administration abreast of the holistic profile, record, and
sanctions of student cheating campus-wide. An OVC University Honor Code Database will be developed, led by
the College of Business, where names of all offending students will be kept for at least 6-year period. Six years is
long enough to get any undergraduate or graduate student matriculated through the system. The database will be
accessible to all academic deans and assistant/associate deans so that every time there is a reported and proven
case of dishonesty, two things will happen: respective units will enter the name of the student in the database, as
well as check to see whether the student in question is a multiple offender. Appropriate action will then follow
from there.
The framework for such a student dishonesty database has already been developed by the College of
Business. Its current database — which is the empirical basis for this paper — has the following data entry criteria:
name of the student, year during which the cheating occurred, the nature of the incident, the course venue of the
incident, as well as the nature of the punishment or sanction by the administration. We believe that such a database
— and the ensuing data and information sharing among constituent units on campus — will engender a robust
culture of aggressively molding student ethical conduct campus-wide.
Acknowledgements
We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge — with gratitude — the research assistance of Mariam
McLain (MBA Student) and Robert McLain (MBA Graduate), both of whom are from the AACSSB-Accredited
College of Business. Debbie Nesbitt, Manager in the Dean’s Office, as well as student workers Miranda Bivins,
Lauren Vaughn and Hannah Cochran provided critical assistance, for which we are grateful.
References:
AACSB (2013). “2013 Standards: A bold evolution for the global business revolution”, retrieved September 22, 2014, available
online at: http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards/2013-standards.aspx.
AACSB (2004). “Ethics education in business schools”, Report of the ethics education task force to AACSB International’s Board of
Directors.
Callahan E. S. (2008). “Beyond the ethics course: Making conduct count”, McGeorge Law Review, Vol. 39, pp. 757-762.

869
Jones D. L. R. (2011). “Academic dishonesty: Are more students cheating?”, Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. 2, pp.
141-150.
McCabe D. L. (2005). “It takes a village: Academic dishonesty”, Liberal Education, Summer/fall, pp. 26-31.
McCabe D. L. and Pavela G. (2000). “Some good news about academic integrity”, Change, September/October, pp. 32-38.
Mwamwenda T. S. and Monyooe L. A. (2000). “Cheating among university of Transkei students”, Psychological Reports, Vol. 87,
No. 1, pp. 148-150.
Premeaux S. R. (2005). “Undergraduate student perceptions regarding cheating: Tier 1 versus tier 2 AACSB accredited business
schools”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 62, pp. 407-418.
Stripling J. (2004, September 8). “A Chapel Hill, a scandal that won’t die: The chronicle of higher education”, retrieved September
15, 2014, available online at: http://chronicle.com/article/At-Chapel-Hill-a-Scandal-That/148665.
Williams S., Beard J. and Tanner M. (2011 July/August). “Coping with millennials”, BizEd, retrieved October 1, 2014, available
online at: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/72038.
Appendix A: Academic Dishonesty Student Statement of Understanding and Agreement Form
This serves to confirm that the student whose name and signature appear below does understand and agree to all of the
following statements, in their entirety:
That the Ohio Valley Conference College of Business is intolerant of all forms of academic dishonesty, and there will be severe
consequences for all students who are caught cheating.
That the student was involved in more than one case of academic dishonesty.
That said dishonesty was duly reported by a faculty member, or someone designated on behalf of a faculty member, in the Ohio
Valley Conference College of Business or a constituent unit within the OVC University.
That if this student is EVER again involved in another case of academic dishonesty, the consequences will be
expulsion/dismissal from the OVC-COB with the potential of exclusion from all other academic programs at the OVC University.
This understanding is not negotiable, since the case of cheating is proven.
That this, in fact, is their FINAL WARNING against cheating.
Full Name of Student: ID#:
Signature: Date:
Witness: Associate Dean of the OVC College of Business
Vision and Mission Statements
Vision: The College of Business aspires to be one of the best regional business schools in the nation.
Mission: The Ohio Valley Conference College of Business (OVC-COB) prepares students for careers in the dynamic
environments of business, information technology, public and private organizations, and mass communications. With a domestic
student population drawn primarily from Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois; and a substantial international student
population; the OVC-COB strives for excellence by:
 Engaging students in the acquisition of fundamental knowledge; mastery of professional skills (including oral and written
communication, problem solving and critical thinking); and the application of knowledge and skills to emerging issues, technologies,
and professional practices in a student-centered learning environment.
 Providing students with quality undergraduate and master’s degree programs embodied in relevant curricula and innovative
learning environments.
 Encouraging students in intellectual and social development by providing a high degree of student and faculty interaction both
inside and outside the classroom, cultivating leadership, and developing an appreciation for ethical issues and diversity in the global
market place.
 Providing students with global perspectives in the classroom, while also encouraging both students and faculty to pursue
opportunities for international travel and learning.
 Developing and encouraging academic outreach, collaborative relationships with alumni, business and industry, public schools,
government agencies and non-profit organizations, as well as colleges and universities at home and abroad.
 Supporting a faculty commitment to quality teaching, service and continuous improvement that is enhanced by a 50% to 65%
focus on Discipline Based Scholarship (DBS), with secondary emphasis on both Contributions to Practice (CP) and Learning and
Pedagogical Scholarship (LPS).

870
Values and Guiding Principles: Emphasizing teaching, research and broad-based service (in that order), the College espouses
and embraces the same values as Murray State University — the parent institution — namely: Accessibility, Academic Freedom,
Accountability, Diversity, Excellence, Integrity, Nurturing Environment, Shared Governance, and Student-Centered Learning.
Major Vision and Mission revisions and broad-based stakeholder affirmations were made in: Fall 2000; Fall 2003; Summer
2007, Summer 2008, Summer 2011 and Fall 2011.
Assurance of Learning Goals for Various Programs in the OVC College of Business
Assurance of Learning Goals for the Undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Business (BSB) Program:
Graduates of the BSB programs shall be able to:
Courses Where Assessed
Goal 1: Fundamental Knowledge: Demonstrate a fundamental knowledge of the core business
disciplines.
MGT 590
Goal 2: Problem-Solving and Decision-making: Demonstrate effective problem solving and decision
making skills in business situations.
FIN 330, MGT 443
Goal 3: Information Technology: Apply information technology tools appropriately in the analysis of
business problems.
BPA 355, CIS 307
Goal 4: Ethical Issues: Perform a structured analysis of ethical issues in business. BPA 442
Goal 5: Global and Multicultural Dimensions: Demonstrate knowledge of the global and multicultural
dimensions of the modern business environment.
ECO 310
Goal 6 (a): Effective Oral Communication: Communicate effectively in oral formats. MGT 590
Goal 6 (b): Effective Written Communication: Communicate effectively in written formats. BPA 215
Assurance of Learning Goals for all MBA Programs: MBA Graduates will: Where Assessed
Goal 1: Core Business Knowledge: Possess the current working body of knowledge in the business
disciplines of Management, Marketing, Managerial Accounting, Managerial Economics, Corporate
Finance, and Quantitative Management Science.
MGT 656
Goal 2: Strategic Problem Solving and Decision Making: Be able to incorporate a strategic perspective
into their decision making and problem solving processes after identifying, analyzing, and applying
relevant data and information.
ECO 625
Goal 3: Effective Written Communication: Students will be able to effectively communicate ideas in
written professional reports.
MGT 656
Goal 4: Ethical Issues: Students will be able to incorporate the various ethical perspectives into their
decision making and problem solving processes after identifying, analyzing, and applying relevant data
and information.
MKT 667
ACC 604
Goal 5: Technology Awareness and Usage: Students will apply information technology tools
appropriately in the analysis of business problems.
FIN 602
Goal 6: Global Awareness and Diversity Issues: Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding
of the impact of internationalization on businesses.
FIN 602
AoL Goals for the Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) Program Where Assessed
Goal 1: Core IS Knowledge: Students will possess the current working body of knowledge in the
Information Systems field.
CIS 650, CIS 609, CIS 645
Goal 2: Students will have knowledge of Business Intelligence and Decision Support and Quantitative
Financial Controls.
CIS 695, CIS 609, CIS 645
Goal 3: Students will have adequate interpersonal skills to be effective in business world. CIS 650, CIS 695
Goal 4: Students will have adequate communication skills to be effective in business world. CIS 650, CIS 695
Goal 5: Students will have adequate awareness of ethical, global and multi-cultural issues in
information systems.
CIS 650

May 2015, Volume 6, No. 5, pp. 871-878
DOI: 10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/05.06.2015/002
 Academic Star Publishing Company, 2015
871
“Making Marketing Connections” (MMC) to Enhance Student Learning
Gwendolyn Catchings
(Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA)
Abstract: AACSB Standard 8-Curriculum Management and Assurance of Learning (AoL) has a major
impact on business program development. It allows for the use of direct measures which include projects,
presentations and portfolios as evidence of learning. The consensus is that direct measures that prepare students
for real-world experiences will increase learning and aid in their ability to secure employment. The challenge is to
“close-the-loop” between what students learn and what the marketing profession needs. Unfortunately, most
marketing students see their marketing program as a series of independent marketing courses, and fail to see the
interrelationship among the courses and cumulative effect of the knowledge to be gained, thus limiting their
understanding of the comprehensiveness of the marketing profession. Like the “running case” found in some
textbooks, “Making Marketing Connections” (MMC) seeks to overcome this challenge by using a case and related
projects to connect major marketing courses, enhance learning, and increase the employability of the students.
This integrated learning approach has application not only for undergraduate marketing programs but for every
business program.
Key words: critical thinking; AACSB; case studies; project-based learning; portfolios
JEL code: M39
1. Introduction
Adopted by the Council in April 2013, AACSB Standard 8-Curriculum Management and Assurance of Learning
(AoL) has a major impact on business program development (Weldy & Turnipseed, 2010). This Standard allows for
the use of direct measures as evidence of learning (Martell, 2007) and includes projects, presentations and portfolios
(Luescher & Sinn, 2003; Helle, Tynjala & Olkinuora, 2006; Pringle & Michel, 2007; Savage, Chen & Vanasupa,
2007; Weldy & Turnipseed, 2010). Direct measures that prepare students for real-world experiences increase
learning (Anselmi & Frankel, 2004; Weldy & Turnipseed, 2010) and aid in their ability to secure employment. The
goal is to “close-the-loop” by eliminating the gap between what students learn and what business needs (Marquand,
1985; Clarke, 2007; Buttermore, 2011). Unfortunately, most marketing students see each course in their major in
isolation (i.e., a series of independent courses) and fail to see the interrelationship among the courses, and their
synergy and cumulative effect of the knowledge to be gained, especially relative to the marketing profession (Bobbitt,
Inks, Kemp, & Mayo, 2000; Anselmi & Frankel, 2004). Business schools continue to face challenges in meeting the
requirements of AACSB Standard 8-Curriculum Management and Assurance of Learning (AoL), and innovative
pedagogies are needed to solve the problem (AACSB, 2013).
Gwendolyn Catchings, DBA, Assistant Professor, Jackson State University; research areas/interests: coaching, social media,
pedagogy. E-mail: gwendolyn.c.catchings@jsums.edu, gcatchme@aol.com.

872
2. The Innovation: “Making Marketing Connections”
“Making Marketing Connections” (MMC) is a teaching innovation that attempts to address the problem
business schools face. It serves a vital function in explaining the comprehensiveness of business by integrating the
various marketing activities (Athavale, Davis & Myring, 2008). MMC can have a major impact on AoL by
directing activities to the major level (considered more effective) than the degree level (Marshall, 2007). It
connects courses in the marketing curriculum using related class projects to enhance learning and increase the
employability of the students. MMC focuses on addressing two major business school concerns:
(1) The challenges in meeting AACSB Standard 8-Curriculum Management and Assurance of Learning (AoL)
(by using cases, class projects, presentations and portfolios to provide proof of the marketing programs’
compliance), and
(2) The need to enhance and reinforce student learning in preparation for their marketing careers (by using
related projects to connect major marketing courses and the compilation of their projects into student portfolios).
As to student learning, the goal of MMC is to:
(1) Help students understand the interconnectedness of and think holistically about the various marketing
courses in their program;
(2) Enhance student learning from each course as the foundation for the capstone course (giving it more
meaning);
(3) Give students an opportunity to enjoy a comprehensive real-world marketing experience in preparation
for their marketing careers; and
(4) Help support compliance with AACSB Standard 8.
Thus, MMC will not only connect the various marketing courses to enhance student learning and meet
AACSB requirements, it will also connect students with the marketing profession.
3. Justification for Using MMC
In justification for using MMC, the marketing profession offers majors a variety of employment options.
Regardless of the option the student chooses, there is a need for a high degree of proficiency in all aspects of
marketing because:
(1) Once employed, the student will be working with individuals from other marketing areas (i.e., advertising,
marketing research, consumer behavior, sales), and
(2) Students must understand the interconnectedness of the various marketing areas in order to fully
understand the profession.
The core problem is that many students are challenged to remember concepts learned in prior courses and
apply those concepts in future courses. In addition, they rarely focus on the course objectives (what they should
learn). Instead they tend to look more to the course requirements (graded assignments) for each course in hopes
that they can do well enough to “pass the class”. Although admirable, this approach overlooks the need to connect
the knowledge to be learned in each of the marketing courses as the courses are taken. Therefore, students fail to
see the “big picture”. The marketing capstone course, Marketing Policies & Strategies, attempts to make the
connection by integrating all areas of marketing. However, this course is taken as a stand-alone course in the last
semester of their marketing program. Not only is there an assumption that students remember what was taught

873
(learned) in each prior course, but that they understand the interconnectedness of the courses as they were taken.
MMC was developed with the idea that this assumption may not hold true.
Based on observation of students in two earlier classes, students conducted a consumer research project and
wrote an advertising plan, with each course and project treated independently. Although students may have
understood consumer behavior concepts, they did not fully grasp the need to apply those concepts in the
Advertising course. Instead, in writing the advertising plan they would attempt to address each item in the outline,
choose a couple of media forms and create a few advertisements. When asked to explain the target market used for
the advertisements, and their motivation and/or justification for using various media forms and creative work, they
struggled to explain.
4. Implementation of MMC
In addition to marketing management as a foundation course, marketing majors are required to take eight (8)
marketing courses: Advertising, Retail Management, Marketing Research, Consumer Behavior, Marketing
Channels, Personal Selling, International Marketing and Marketing Policies & Strategies. Each course has a set of
course objectives (learning outcomes) as developed by faculty and mandated by AACSB. The objectives are
well-established and are generated as part of the program development process. However, professors are free to
develop their own course requirements as long as they comply with the course objectives. Although each of the
eight marketing courses is taught in isolation, it is valuable to student learning if each course is linked as they are
taken (so students will understand their interrelatedness).
4.1 Case
The best way to link courses is by first developing a comprehensive case, one that encompasses the learning
objectives of each course. Lawrence (1953) offers a case study definition:
A good case is the vehicle by which a chunk of reality is brought into the classroom to be worked over by the class and
the instructor. A good case keeps the class discussion grounded upon some of the stubborn facts that must be faced in real life
situations. It is the anchor on academic flights of speculation. It is the record of complex situations that must be literally
pulled apart and put together again before the situations can be understood. It is the target for the expression of attitudes or
ways of thinking brought into the classroom. (p. 215)
An excellent example is a case study that was developed by DePaul University’s Center for Sales Leadership.
Although written to teach the CRM technology course, it could also be used to teach Marketing Research,
Consumer Behavior, and Sales Management (and with a little creativity Advertising, International Marketing and
Retail Management). According to Millar (1999), case studies help develop students’ skills in the follow areas:
(1) Identifying and recognizing problems,
(2) Understanding and interpreting data,
(3) Understanding and recognizing assumptions and inferences, as opposed to concrete facts,
(4) Thinking analytically and critically,
(5) Understanding and assessing interpersonal relationships,
(6) Exercising and making judgments,
(7) Communicating ideas and opinions, and
(8) Making and defending decisions. (p. 13)
Of critical importance is the quality of the case used. Therefore when attempting to write a case study, Millar

874
(1999) further specifies the following elements:
(1) Introduction — defines the problem; explains the parameters or limitations.
(2) Overview/Analysis — provides a scenario of the situation including key issues, graphics and visuals (i.e.,
budgets, organizational charts, mission statements or technical specifications); offers details about various players.
(3) Status report — describes the organization’s current situation; includes statements from employees about
actions and intentions; results in one or two key problems.
(4) Case problems — May either: (1) Give a situation and ask learners what they would do, (2) Set a task like
preparing a recommendation for higher level review, or (3) Illustrate a scenario for analysis of flaws and
recommendations.
(5) Appendices — additional information, i.e., documents, charts, technical specifications, etc. (p. 19)
4.2 Course Projects
A second step in linking courses is in developing course projects. College students are often required to
complete a course project (as explained in their course syllabus). Early work by Gardner (1993) established that
students benefit from learning strategies and processes for writing, problem solving, researching, analyzing
information and documenting their observations. The new term for this pedagogy is “project-based learning”
(PBL). With #1 and #3 as key, Adderley et al. (1975) provide a still widely accepted description of PBL as:
(1) Involves the solution to a problem.
(2) Requires initiative and includes a variety of educational activities.
(3) Results in an end product.
(4) Work continues for a considerable length of time.
(5) Professors serve as advisors (versus authoritarians) throughout all of the stages — initiation, conduct and
conclusion (p. 1).
Heitman (1996) offered four motives for using PBL. Included in the four are the professional (based on
practice), to foster critical thinking, and pedagogic (for a better understanding of the subject matter). ll are
valuable to the MMC process. The continuous call for students to meet professional requirements and possess
professional skills elevates the “professional” motive to the highest status (Foster and Stevenson 1998; Ma¨kinen,
Olkinuora, and Tynja¨ la¨, 1999). More specifically, research by Helle, Tynja La and Olkinuora (2006) identified
the benefits of PBL to the student as: (1) a concrete and holistic experience, (2) the integration and application of
subject material, and (3) guided discovery learning (for deep-level learning).
In writing course projects, the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) has developed a list of essential elements
as:
 Significant Content — focused on required course knowledge and skills.
 21st century competencies — problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and
creativity/innovation.
 In-Depth Inquiry — requires rigor in asking questions, using resources, and developing answers.
 Driving Question — focused by an open-ended intriguing question; captures their task or frames their
exploration.
 Need to Know — students desire to gain knowledge, understand concepts, and apply skills.
 Voice and Choice — students make some choices about the products to be created, how they work, and how
they use their time; teacher as guide only.
 Critique and Revision — continuous feedback on quality of their work; allow for additional inquiry and

875
revisions.
 Public Audience — Oral and written work presented to others.
Including course projects should have a positive rather than a negative effect on students’ success. Although
projects take time to complete, their value outweighs the cost. For maximum value, in all cases there should be
oral and written components. On the other hand, faculty will have to devote time to the development of innovative
and creative course projects (and monitoring and grading them) to ensure that they will connect and address their
various course objectives, and reflect real-world experiences in the profession. For example, the following are
projects for four marketing courses:
(1) International Marketing: Analyze the international marketing opportunity and develop a marketing
strategy for the product.
(2) Consumer Behavior: Develop a consumer profile (target markets) for the product.
(3) Advertising: Develop an advertising plan and budget for the product.
(4) Personal Selling: Develop a B2B strategy to sell the product.
4.3 Portfolios
A third step is the development of student portfolios to demonstrate the successful completion of their
projects in each course (Syre & Pesa, 2001; Campbell & Brummett, 2002). Unlike the resume, Luescher and Sinn
(2003) describe the student portfolio as hard evidence of what students can do; a visual document that
demonstrates rather than discusses. They further identify four checkpoints in student portfolio development: (1)
Initial phase (collect and organize work); (2) Portfolio assessment (planning and evaluation); (3) Portfolio
refinement (design and production); (4) Graduation (present the professional portfolio).
Either via hard copy or e-portfolios, students can use them in seeking employment (to demonstrate their
proficiency in the various marketing areas). However, it is important to continue updating the portfolio as
additional class projects are completed. On the other hand, according to Luescher and Sinn (2003) academic
institutions are using student portfolios as administrative tools for assessing whether they are meeting institutional
goals, accountability reporting, and program evaluation. In addition they can be displayed during the AACSB site
visit as a direct measure of student learning.
5. Pilot Study
The courses that were used for the pilot study are taught by the author and included Consumer Behavior (Fall
2013) and Advertising (Spring 2014), and the problem was identified by observing marketing majors in those
prior courses. There were 20 students in the Consumer Behavior course and 20 in the Advertising course.
However, only half of the students in the Spring course were in the Fall course. Using the MMC concept, each
student-team was assigned a foreign product in Consumer Behavior class and required to develop a
comprehensive consumer profile (primary and secondary target markets) using data from the DDB Life Style
Study (as found in the Consumer Behavior textbook by Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, published by McGraw-Hill).
Unfortunately, only two team profiles were sufficient enough for further use. In the Advertising course the
following semester, students were placed in 2-person teams and the two profiles were distributed. Although there
was a duplication of profiles, the creative nature of the project made it difficult to justify any two plans being the
same. For those who were not in the Fall course, a brief presentation on the Consumer Behavior project was given
by the students who were. Results showed that students who were in the Consumer Behavior course (and

876
completed the consumer profile project) showed an increase in comfort level, accuracy and success in writing the
advertising plans. This was attributed to their familiarity with the scenario, product and consumer profile
development process. More importantly, they had a better understanding of the interrelatedness between
Consumer Behavior and Advertising, and saw the advertising plan as the “next step” in the marketing process and
profession. With these positive results, the second phase of the pilot study will include International Marketing
and Personal Selling. Although MMC’s effect on the capstone course has not been tested, students’ performance
should be enhanced due to the thoroughness and connectedness of the projects (and discussions) in prior courses.
6. Challenges, Concerns and Solutions
Like any new innovation in teaching, there are challenges and concerns. However, it only takes a little effort
to find viable solutions for each. A MMC challenge is in developing a comprehensive case, and meaningful and
challenging course projects that incorporate the learning objectives from each course. Faculty may need assistance
in both areas and there are numerous online and publisher resources that can be used. Most noteworthy are the
collection of cases from Harvard Business School. Another MMC challenge is in coordinating class projects
across multiple sections of a course. Given AACSB’s requirement of a “common syllabi”, this should not be a
major issue. Although using the same case, faculty will not have to sacrifice their “academic freedom” relative to
course requirements. They are still at liberty to develop their own class projects (understanding the value of these
projects to enhancing student learning). However, MMC will probably work best in smaller programs which will
require less coordination among faculty. Its true value is for those first generation and underrepresented groups
who may not have exposure to and/or a grasp of the marketing profession as a whole.
A major concern, as with all course requirements, is in getting students in each course to do the work. For
example, if students do not get a good grasp of the concepts and/or complete the project in a prior course, they
will be handicapped in future marketing courses. As a solution, it is critical that courses be seen as a “collective”
and that the importance of their connectivity is thoroughly and continuously discussed in each course. A second
concern centers on the products to be used for the class projects. They should be innovative foreign consumer
products that have never been sold in the U.S. This limits the amount of existing marketing information that
students can find and use in completing their projects. A third concern is that more than one marketing course is
taken during a given semester, and/or that students do not take marketing courses in any particular sequence. For
this innovation to work best, International Marketing should be the first course in the sequence. Preferably,
Consumer Behavior, Advertising and Personal Selling would follow (in this order). However, with a little
creativity, MMC can still work regardless of the sequence by modifying the projects. Lastly, there may be students
in a latter marketing course who have not taken a prior course. An excellent and simple solution is to have
students who were in the prior course give an overview of that course and their project (at the beginning of the
semester). In addition to enlightening those students who were not in the course, it will reinforce the learning for
those students who were.
7. Example of Case Theme and Integrated Course Projects
Case Theme: While traveling in Japan you observed numerous consumer products that were selling well
there but unknown to the U.S. market. You are considering the possibility of entering into a deal with the foreign
manufacturers to import and market their products to the U.S. There are a myriad of issues to be addressed and

877
this will require thorough research and analysis focused on international marketing challenges. In addition, the
potential U.S. consumer markets, and advertising and sales strategies for the products must be identified and
developed.
Table 1 Integrated Course Projects
Course Objectives Course Projects
International
Marketing
1. Understand the differences between marketing in the
U.S. versus in a foreign country.
2. Identify sociocultural, governmental/legal, political,
ecological, technological and diversity and ethical
strategic decision making issues.
Each student will be assigned a foreign country and will
identify a foreign product that has the potential to be
successfully marketed in the U.S. You will conduct
research, and discuss/justify your proposed marketing
strategy (product, price, promotion, distribution),
identifying environment issues and challenges. Compare
and evaluate the effectiveness of the foreign marketing
strategy for the product with your proposed U.S. strategy.
Consumer
Behavior
1. Discuss the role of internal and external influences on
buyer behavior.
2. Explain how consumer behavior affects marketing
strategy, i.e., advertising, pricing, personal selling,
distribution, product development.
3. Compile and analyze profiles for target market/s using
demographic and lifestyle databases.
Develop a comprehensive consumer profile for the primary
and secondary target markets for your product in the U.S.
Using the DDB Life Style Study, gather information on the
groups and explain their behavior in comparison to others
in the study. Address the internal and external influences,
i.e., why they will or will not purchase the product; and
how their behavior affects the marketing strategy (product,
price, promotion, distribution).
Advertising
1. Write an advertising plan with storyboard, media plan,
budget and creative samples for various types of media.
2. Conduct research on the U.S. advertising
environment.
Research and write an advertising plan to include a
storyboard, media plan (for TV, radio, print and digital),
budget and samples of creative work for promoting your
product to the U.S. market. Plans should demonstrate that
sales, revenue and market share will increase.
Personal
Selling
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the steps in the sales
process applying questioning and objection handling
techniques.
2. Develop supplementary sales materials.
3. Make a sales call presentation using questioning and
objection handling techniques.
Working in 2-person teams and assuming the role of
salespeople, students will prepare and present a B2B sales
call presentation. Supplementary materials must be
gathered and developed for the sales call, i.e., the telephone
script, introductory letter, sample sales scripts with
questions and objections, sales agreements and a pitchbook
which may be electronic. Professional dress required.
8. Adaptability to Other Marketing Courses
Other marketing courses can be included into the overall MMC concept by simply expanding the case to
include material relevant to those courses, and developing appropriate class projects. For example, the same
product selected for International Marketing can be used for an assignment to write a retail management plan for
the Retail Management course or a channel management/logistics plan for the Marketing Channels course. Rather
than require a separate project, Marketing Policies and Strategies could develop a course project that will
encompass or extend projects from the prior marketing courses. The same MMC concept can be applied to other
business programs (i.e., finance, accounting, economics, management, entrepreneurship). The challenge for
faculty will always be in writing the comprehensive case and in developing creative and interesting class project
that will facilitate integrated learning.
References:
Adderley K. et al. (1975). Project Methods in Higher Education, SRHE working party on teaching methods: Techniques group,
Guildford, Survey: Society for research into higher education.
Anselmi K. and Frankel R. (2004). “Modular experiential learning for business-to-business marketing courses”, Journal of Education
for Business, Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 169-175.

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Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International (2013). “Eligibility procedures and accreditation standards for
business accreditation”, retrieved May 20, 2013, available online at: http://aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/standards/2013.
Athavale M., Davis R. and Myring M. (2008). “The integrated business curriculum: An examination of perceptions and practices”,
Journal of Education for Business, May/June, pp. 295-301.
Bobbitt L. M., Inks S. A., Kemp K. J. and Mayo D. T. (2000). “Integrating marketing courses to enhance team-based experiential
learning”, Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 15-24.
Buttermore J. A. (2011). “The team-taught cross-functional core: Insights from a long-term undergraduate program”, Journal of
Education for Business, Vol. 86, pp. 240-247, doi: 10.1080/08832323.2010.498843.
Campbell M. R. and Brummett V. M. (2002, November). “Professional teaching portfolios: For pros and preservice teachers alike”,
Music Educators Journal, Vol. 89, No. 2, pp. 25-30, 57.
Clarke B. G. (2007). “Introducing students to professional practice in civil engineering”, Journal of Professional Issues in
Engineering Education & Practice, Vol. 133, No. 2, pp. 107-115.
Foster E. and Stephenson J. (1998). “Work-based learning and universities in the U.K.: A review of current practice and trends”,
Higher Education Research and Development, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 155-170.
Gardner H. (1993). Multiple Intelligences: The Theory in Practice, New York: Basic Books.
Heitman G. (1996). “Project-oriented study and project-organized curricula: A brief review of intentions and solutions”, European
Journal of Engineering Education, Vol. 21, pp. 121-132.
Helle L., Tynjala P. and Olkinuora E. (2006). “Project-based learning in post-secondary education — Theory, practice and rubber
sling shots”, Higher Education, Vol. 51, pp. 287-314, doi: 10.1007/s10734-004-6386-5.
Lawrence P. R. (1953). “The preparation of case Material”, in: Kenneth R. Andrews (Ed.), The Case Method of Teaching Human
Relations and Administration, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 215.
Luescher A. and Sinn J. W. (2003). “Portfolios: Conceptual foundations and functional implications”, Journal of Technology Studies,
Vol. 29, No. 2.
Marquand E. (1985). How to Prepare Your Portfolio, New York: Art Direction.
Marshall L. L. (2007). “Measuring assurance of learning at the degree program and academic major levels”, Journal of Education for
Business, Vol. 83, No. 2, pp. 101-109.
Martell K. (2007). “Assessing student learning: Are business schools making the grade?”, Journal of Education for Business, Vol. 82,
No. 4, pp. 189-195.
Ma¨kinen J., Olkinuora E. and Tynja¨la¨ P. (1999). “Growing demands of skills and knowledge-learning and the development of
expertise in information society”, Analytic Teaching, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 19-28.
Millar L. (1999). Writing Case Studies: A Manual, International Records Management Trust.
Pringle C. and Michel M. (2007). “Assessment practices in AACSB accredited business schools”, Journal of Education for Business,
Vol. 82, pp. 202-211.
Savage R. N., Chen D. C. and Vanasupa L. (2007). “Integrating project-based learning throughout the undergraduate engineering
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Syre T. R. and Pesa J. A. (2001). “Teaching portfolios: Suggested contents”, College Student Journal, Vol. 2, No. 35, pp. 163-165.
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May2015, Volume 6, No. 5, pp. 879-890
DOI: 10.15341/jbe(2155-7950)/05.06.2015/003
 Academic Star Publishing Company, 2015
879
Understanding Inter-firm Trust from Business Ecosystem Perspective:
Cases from the Current Chinese Animation Industry
Zheng Liu
The Chinese animation industry first started in the 1940s when the movie “princess iron fan” was released. In
the 1970s there was a blooming period of Chinese animation industry with many movies produced according to
(Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou 215123, China)
Abstract: This paper aims to unveil the development process of trust in business ecosystem. As business
grows from individual company operations towards collaboration cross functions with diversity of products, there
is a requirement for companies to co-develop with the environment. This business ecosystem (BE) phenomenon is
observed not only in mature industries, but also in emerging sectors such as the creative industry. The current
rapidly growing Chinese animation industry provides a typical case. Key roles in the BE including initiator,
adopter, and specialist can be identified in a collaborative animation product development. In-depth case studies
are carried out into the relationship within the business ecosystem. Activities related to inter-firm trust are
highlighted following the stages of trust formation, development and continuation. A proposed model of the
forming of trust along with business ecosystem is generated from data analysis. Further research areas are also
addressed at the end of the paper.
Key words: business ecosystem; trust; inter-firm relationship; supply chain, Chinese animation industry
JEL codes: M110, M190
1. Introduction
Manufacturing system now has increasingly extended from traditional in-house production towards network
and globalization. Different companies are involved in collaboration, bringing news social and management issues.
A new type of network, business ecosystem (BE), is created based on the co-evolution between firms and business
environment (Moore, 1996). This concept has combined the features of strategic alliance, open innovation, supply
chain management with more diverse system of products and broader collaboration range. Different companies,
industry associations, policy makers also play important roles in the system. BE can be described as a repeating
process starting from existing collaboration network to expansion, convergence and renewal stages (Moore, 1996).
While the growth of mobile computing industry already demonstrates the emerging of BE, other sectors such as
the Chinese animation industry in the recent 15 years also witness business model changes, increasingly more
inter-firm collaboration, and the active involvement of different parties (such as industrial clusters), all-together
nurturing a completely new business sector.
Zheng Liu, Ph.D., International Business School Suzhou, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University; research areas/interests: culture,
inter-firm relationship, trust. E-mail: zheng.liu01@xjtlu.edu.cn.

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