Title: Generative AI for operations management education and learning: a critical assessment and analysis

Authors: Yaojie Li; Johnny C. Ho

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, Henry Bernstein College of Business Administration, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, USA ' Department of Marketing and Management, Turner College of Business and Technology, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA, USA

Abstract: As interest and concerns surrounding the use of generative AI in schools grow, research examining the effects of generative AI in education and learning remains sparse. To that end, this study aims to demystify the potential generative AI by evaluating the performance of ChatGPT in addressing operations management problems and questions, which are classified according to Bloom's taxonomy and grouped as quantitative vs. qualitative, deterministic vs. stochastic groups. Our findings reveal that ChatGPT generally performed well but struggled with Bloom's 'applying' and stochastic questions, suggesting its limitations in higher-order cognitive tasks. This finding underscores the importance of collaboration among educators, learners, and generative AI to enhance educational outcomes. Furthermore, we explore the role of prompt engineering and custom GPTs in improving the education and learning of operations management. Our research thus provides significant insights into operations management education and pedagogy, unveiling many opportunities for future research.

Keywords: generative AI; ChatGPT; emerging technologies; prompt engineering; custom GPT; business education; operations management education; course design; authentic assessment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2024.147738

International Journal of Services and Standards, 2024 Vol.14 No.4, pp.381 - 396

Received: 27 Jun 2024
Accepted: 14 Oct 2024
Published online: 28 Jul 2025 *

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