Weekend business school degrees: Levelling the playing field?

Abstract

Using a sample of 6001 students in the traditional Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme and 228 students in the weekend BBA programme, this study considers whether undergraduate students who participate in a weekend bachelor degree programme at an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)-accredited business school perform as well as students who attend the traditional programme at the same university as measured by their final Grade Point Averages (GPAs). The results of this study demonstrate that some demographic factors that are correlated with the level of overall academic performance in the weekend programme significantly differ from the demographic factors that are correlated with students' performances in the traditional programme. Although the mean performances of students in the traditional and weekend programmes differ only slightly (2.95 GPA and 3.00 GPA, respectively), gender and age were a factor only in the traditional programme as females and older students outperform males and younger students. Underperformance by minority students is consistent in both programmes.