International Business Matters: Investigating Conceptual Understanding as Knowledge Synthesis Among Students in Higher Professional Education

Higher professional education aims to prepare graduates for the complexity of professional practices. The development of conceptual understanding is important to deal adequately with this complexity, especially in an unstructured professional domain such as international business. This dissertation investigates the definition of conceptual understanding in this professional domain, how it can be measured, what it looks like, how it changes, and in what ways it differs between students. It comprises five empirical studies conducted within one university of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Students’ conceptual understanding of international business can be defined in terms of knowledge components and professional characteristics that have to do with global and local contexts, general and specific business practices and theoretical concepts. Essays are found useful for measuring conceptual understanding, and the studies also show that the appearance and development of conceptual understanding differ from student to student. This dissertation leads to three general conclusions. The first is that the development of conceptual understanding of international business students involves knowledge synthesis, involving integration of different knowledge types. The second general conclusion is that students develop conceptual understanding in different ways. The third suggests that students’ conceptual understanding develops in breadth rather than depth. These general conclusions pose several challenges for teaching with regard to stimulating the development of conceptual understanding of students in higher professional education. This dissertation provides a practical tool for teachers in the form of a rubric to provide insight into students’ conceptual understanding and to align their professional practice accordingly.