Defining conceptual understanding in the international business domain

Many educators use general taxonomies of learning objectives like those of Bloom and Romiszowski to develop curricula. However, in a domain like international business where professional practice is complex, it is not so clear what students need to learn. Business professionals face complex problems on a daily basis, like what to produce, where to manufacture, whether to discount and when to expand. Such problems are complex because they are difficult to define: their causes and effects are unclear, and many approaches and solutions are possible. International business students in higher professional education are expected to develop conceptual understanding to solve complex problems like these but it is not clear what this entails. Therefore, the aim of this study is to define conceptual understanding specific to the domain of international business. Based on literature research, a working definition of conceptual understanding was formulated. Two panels of experts with backgrounds in academic research, education and professional business practice were then asked to identify criteria needed for a definition of conceptual understanding, thus improving and validating the working definition. To explicate criteria, the first panel assessed essays and concept maps produced by final-year bachelor students in an English-language international business programme in the Netherlands. The second panel discussed the resulting criteria. The panels confirmed the need for a domain-specific definition of conceptual understanding in international business. Criteria include articulation, domain-specific factual knowledge, evaluation, explanation, knowledge integration and out-of-the-box thinking. The discussion questions leading from this paper are: (1) To what extent is the final definition domain specific? and (2) To what extent is articulation a component of conceptual understanding?