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Title: The much-discussed gap between employers' demands and business school graduates' competence: an intriguing finding

Authors: Anders Örtenblad; Riina Koris; Katri Kerem

Addresses: Department of Management and Innovation, School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Norway ' Department of Marketing and Communication, Estonian Business School, Estonia ' Department of Marketing and Communication, Estonian Business School, Estonia

Abstract: Previous employability studies point at a gap between employers' expectations of business school graduates and what business schools produce. The majority of such studies identify individual employability skills that are the most important for employers and compare these with what business schools teach. This study takes a more holistic approach and identifies the types of business school graduates whom employers are looking for. Based on interviews with employers in Estonia, our findings give rise to three rationales as to why there is little (if any) reason for business schools to reconsider what they teach. First, there seems to be an overlap between what employers ask for and what business schools produce. Second, employees tend to regard the bachelor degree per se as a proxy for employability. Third, employers suggest that new hires can learn what they need to conduct their work tasks on-the-job.

Keywords: employability; business school graduates; employability skills; business school; business education; degree as a proxy; on-the-job learning; types of graduates; critique of business schools; the replacer; the effectiveness increaser; the pragmatic world improver; the radical world improver; the reflectionist.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2026.151273

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2026 Vol.19 No.5, pp.1 - 20

Received: 09 Mar 2025
Accepted: 06 Jun 2025
Published online: 20 Jan 2026 *