Quality Reform: Personality type, preferred learning style and majors in a business school

Abstract

The quality reform of higher education in Norway has generally recommended a substitution of classroom teaching with more active forms of learning in higher education. This study reveals that ignoring the student’s personality type may be in conflict with the purpose of the reform. The student’s personality type affects both the most effective mode of learning and even the student’s selection of major areas of study. The most dominant personality type among business students is the sensing and judging (SJ) student. Because SJ students select a majority of majors where facts, procedures and sequential learning are the usual mode of learning, implementation of the recommended substitution of classroom teaching with more active forms of learning may lead to lower academic achievement and a need for more resources. The conclusion from this study is that personality type counts both when it comes to a preferred mode of learning and selection of a major in a business school. Further research may reveal whether this conclusion is valid in higher education overall.

Keywords:

• business school
• classroom teaching
• learning style
• majors
• personality type
• quality reform

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Knut Sivertsen for his constructive comments on an earlier draft, and participants at a research seminar on quality in business education at Trondheim Business School in 2006.

Notes

[1] The first English edition was published in 1923.

[2] The concepts ‘rational’ and ‘irrational’ in Jung’s theory are not concurrent with the way we use these concepts in economic theory.