Assessing Critical is Knowledge and Skills Requirements for MBAs: How Similar are Different Respondent Groups?

In a rapidly changing information systems (IS) field the pressure to maintain currency in the curriculum is ever present. The responsibility of making periodic revisions to IS curriculum rests with both academia and industry. In conducting periodic assessment of necessary curriculum changes it is important to get inputs from relevant respondent groups. However, the overuse of respondent groups could result in less useful assessments. It is conceivable that the perceptions (i.e., the input) of some respondent groups may be quite similar and in that case we will be able to use them interchangeably thus avoiding the overuse of the respondent groups. This research studied the similarities among six respondent groups that are typically used in curriculum research - (1) students about to graduate, (2) recent alumni, (3) supervisors of the graduates, (4) IS faculty, (5) non-IS faculty, and (6) program directors/coordinators. We found significant similarities among respondent groups. Our research findings will help future researchers to design their assessments more efficiently.