What factors contribute to higher grades in a first-year undergraduate management unit: an exploratory study at an Australian university

There are multiple challenges associated with participating in a first-year undergraduate management unit at the university level. Students’ performance in such units is a critical milestone in their learning journey and can create positive/negative inertia for their future performance and continuation in a program. Through exploratory abductive analysis of 990 undergraduate students’ performance in a first-year, first-semester management unit at an Australian university, we find that tutor’s qualification, tutor’s gender, student’s age, entry score, number of simultaneous degrees undertaken, and number of tutorials attended are critical factors for success. Our data indicates tutor’s experience, student’s gender, and engagement with the learning management system and discussion forum do not have a statistically significant influence. As the massification of higher education has led to a growing body of international students in Australian universities, we also compare and contrast the effect of these factors between international and domestic cohorts. Our results indicate that critical factors influence domestic and international undergraduate students differently (positive vs. negative vs. non-linear). We propose a theoretical model by connecting empirical constructs, current theories, and emerging theoretical constructs. The practical implications relevant to business school leadership teams and faculty members in Australian and other similar universities are also discussed.