Business Students' Perceptions of Employment in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Versus Multinational Corporations: Investing the Moderating Effects of Accademic Major, Gender, and Personality

Authors

  • W. Lee Grubb III East Carolina University
  • Michael L. Harris East Carolina University
  • William I. MacKenzie, Jr. University of South Carolina

Abstract

Research suggests that students are likely to seek out employment opportunities within large organizations first and often view small businesses as a second choice (Teo & Poon, 1994; Moy & Lee, 2002). The purpose of this paper was to compare U.S. undergraduate business students' perceptions towards employment with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and multinational corporations (MNCs) and to determine if academic major, gender, or personality influenced these perceptions. The results indicated that accounting, finance, and marketing students preferred employment with MNCs, while the primary employment choice for management students was SMEs. In addition, males preferred employment with SMEs and females favored MNCs. No significant relationships were found between personality dimensions and employment preference. Findings did, however, indicate that several of job factors were significantly related to gender.

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Published

2006-05-20

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 2 (2006)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

Business Students’ Perceptions of Employment in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Versus Multinational Corporations: Investing the Moderating Effects of Accademic Major, Gender, and Personality. (2006). Journal of Small Business Strategy (archive Only), 17(2), 27-36. https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/jsbs/article/view/69