Group Learning in Marketing: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of its Usefulness

Group projects are often assigned in business schools to improve student comprehension of course content and build teamwork skills. Although the literature examining the usefulness of group projects is extensive, the link between cooperative leaning, group performance and skills transfer in workplace contexts, remains unclear. In addition, group-learning research within the marketing discipline in Australian higher education institutions is limited. Focus groups were conducted with a sample of 107 postgraduate and undergraduate marketing students. Results confirm that group work facilitates the development of interpersonal skills and higher-level learning. In addition, there is the promise of transfer of learning to other situations. However, students appear to be negatively disposed to group work at the start of a teaching semester, signaling the need for instructors to prepare, coach and debrief students as to the expected benefits associated with participation in group exercises throughout teaching periods.