Participation, Appreciation, and Learning Effectiveness of the University of Antique’s Market Day Activity: A Mediation Analysis

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: Traditional business education methods are insufficient for developing competent future business leaders and successful entrepreneurs. It has been observed that current academic practices in business programs emphasize theories more than real-world application. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED), a Philippine government agency that regulates and governs higher educational institutions, has instituted many programs and initiatives to improve the quality of marketing education, ensuring that business schools sufficiently equip students for a dynamic and continually changing corporate landscape. In close collaboration with industry partners, CHED formulated a curriculum for the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management (BSBA-MM) Program that emphasizes experiential learning activities and encourages business schools to integrate marketing education with other disciplines, promoting a comprehensive grasp of the sector and developing versatile abilities. Because of the need to bridge the gap between theory and practice, the BSBA-MM Program at the University of Antique, Philippines, introduced a Market Day Activity on a simulation platform. The interactions between participation in, appreciation of, and the effectiveness of these learning styles led to the formulation of the study’s research questions.

Introduction/Background: This study investigated the interplay among Activity Participation (AP), Activity Appreciation (AA), and Learning Effectiveness (LE). It has been observed by some researchers that active student engagement in learning activities promotes better understanding and retention. Furthermore, they have established that active student engagement in their activities leads students to appreciate their learning activities, resulting in enhanced learning outcomes, and some believe that this appreciation of their learning activities influences their motivation (Samad et al., 2021).

Methodology: The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Marketing Management (BSBA-MM) Program under the College of Business and Accountancy accommodates approximately 350 students across all academic year levels. Using a quantitative research design and employing simple random sampling, data were gathered from 252 BSBA-MM students who joined the 2023-2024 2^nd semester Market Day Activity. A researcher-developed instrument was used in this study. An F-test power analysis indicated that the minimum sample size to yield a statistical power of 95 percent with an alpha of .05 and an effect size of (d=.30) was 252. A mediation analysis approach was employed to measure the interrelationships between student activity appreciation, participation, and learning effectiveness within the context of the BSBA-MM Program's Market Day Activity.

Findings: The results showed that Activity Participation (AP) significantly and positively affected Activity Appreciation (AA) (β = .676, t = 11.652, p < .000), while AP had a moderately positive influence on Learning Effectiveness (LE) (β = .542, t = 7.749, p < .000). This indicated that respondents with higher levels of participation (AP) showed more appreciation (AA) for Market Day Activity. Participation also had a significant direct and positive influence on learning effectiveness (β = .138, t = .080, p < .042). Meanwhile, the indirect effect of activity participation (AP) on learning effectiveness (LE) (β = .366, t = 6.018, p < .000) was partially mediated. Furthermore, these results revealed that AP impacted learning effectiveness, suggesting that encouraging students to actively participate in the Market Day Activity can lead to a stronger appreciation of and perceived importance of it, which may eventually be converted into positive learning outcomes. This emphasizes the idea that when such activities are embraced by students, one benefit of such active engagement is positive learning experiences.

Contribution/Impact on Society: By understanding the interplay among variables, educators and program administrators of the BSBA-MM Program may consider introducing policies that are based on the study's conclusions. It further suggests that in addition to student participation, other factors such as activity appreciation and learning effectiveness can drive positive educational outcomes and contribute to the overall success of the programs. Instructors should implement activities that encourage active participation, which leads to increased appreciation for the activity and contributes to students' overall academic success. These interplays will eventually translate into creating competent and effective workers, marketers, or entrepreneurs.

Recommendations: Program administrators, educators and other stakeholders of higher educational institutions should develop strategies to foster a supportive climate that encourages student participation and appreciation, as this in turn can enhance overall learning outcomes. By promoting participatory programs and active academic activities, college instructors can foster deeper student appreciation of activities, thereby producing graduates who are competent and effective business administrators and entrepreneurs. These factors are needed to succeed in the marketing industry.

Research Limitation: The research was conducted within a single program, and the findings may not be applicable to other academic programs, either within the university or elsewhere. Follow-up research on the relationships analyzed in this study across various academic programs or institutions would improve the generalizability of the results.

Future Research: Future research may integrate objective assessments of learning outcomes to validate these results. If causal inference methods were employed in future studies, this would enhance the robustness of these findings, as the cross-sectional nature of the data restricts the capacity to establish such relationships.