Business communication education in MBA programs: The influence of faculty perception, program rankings and accreditation

This study explored the influence of faculty perception, program rankings and accreditation on the emphasis of business communication education (BCE) in Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. The emphasis of BCE was operationalized by building four indexes: Strategy-in-Business, Strategy-in-Communication, Skill-in-Business and Skill-in-Communication. A mail survey was sent to 573 graduate business schools nationwide.; Analysis of 215 usable responses (38%) found that all three factors had some impact on BCE: The emphasis of BCE was greater in the MBA programs where faculty members perceived BCE as important; MBA program rankings influenced the BCE development in communication courses in the top MBA programs, and in business courses in the non-ranked MBA programs; Accreditation stimulated the non-accreditation schools to integrate communication topics to preexisting business courses rather than to develop new communication courses.; Compared to the 1991 survey results, faculty perception of BCE importance, as well as strategy and skill emphasis in business courses have increased.