Professionalism as proxy for business education: Considering Arts and Science majors pursuing business minors. Issue 2 (April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Way, Amy K; Marinelli, Samantha; Jaworski, Kasia; Diment, Ashley; Buterbaugh, Kaitlyn; Ventura, Vincent
• Is Part Of: Management learning. Volume 48:Issue 2(2017:Apr.)
• Page Start: 158
• Page End: 173
• Publication Date: 2017-04
• Subjects: Business education -- discourse -- higher education -- occupational socialization -- professionalism -- worker identity; Industrial management -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Executives -- Training of -- Periodicals; Organizational learning -- Periodicals; Knowledge management -- Periodicals; 302.35
• DOI: 10.1177/1350507616668479
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-7307

Abstract

With increased scrutiny over the value and promise of higher education, liberal arts degrees face criticism, in favor of professional degrees like business that position students for a linear career path to lucrative work. Research for this article is based on 20 interviews with college students majoring in Arts and Sciences, who completed a summer program to obtain a business minor. Our findings demonstrate that participants talk about the business minor as a key factor in 'selling themselves' to potential employers by (1) highlighting the discipline required to complete the program, (2) acting as a conversation starter with potential employees, and (3) emphasizing the broad applicability of a business minor. Implications demonstrate the power of professionalism to render specialized knowledge (like business knowledge) insignificant while offering an extension of Williams' ideal-worker norm to young people.