The Role of Theoretical Breadth and Student Engagement in the Use of Case Methods in Marketing Pedagogy

The case study is a very popular pedagogical tool in management education, especially in international business, marketing and strategy courses. Substantial literature exists about the effectiveness of case studies, but there is a lack of studies on empirical evaluation of their effectiveness in the classroom and subsequent contribution to learning. This study explores how case studies perform in meeting the twin deliverables of providing a theoretical framework and also student engagement. This study evaluates the role of Theoretical Breadth (TB) and Student Engagement (SE) in contributing to learning in a case-based pedagogy. The paper argues that the TB and SE leads to perceptions of learning and influences learning effectiveness. Using data collected from 176 MBA students, the paper conducts a PLS-SEM analysis to investigate these effects. Results indicate that TB and SE are critical course design elements, which influence the overall learning of marketing courses using case methods. Instructors must aim to provide greater TB and better opportunities for SE in order to make marketing courses more fruitful to students.