Marketing Miseducation and the MBA Mind: Bullshit Happens

Abstract

Using the definitional framework developed by Frankfurt (2005) in his provocative philosophical treatise On Bullshit, this article explores the appropriateness and wisdom of allowing students and administrators to determine the content of business courses in higher education. The prevalence of Harvard case studies, the use of executive guest lecturers, and the employment of “bullshit” to make course content more palatable to students tend toward limiting the freedom of individual scholars to select pedagogical methods and course content in ways that cohere with their own beliefs and professional orientation. In fact, these and other trends discussed in the article force professors to engage in the active practice of “humbug” to attain organizational cost objectives and desired levels of student satisfaction. In the end - no matter whether you call it bullshit, humbug, or horse manure - the broader implication of these trends in higher education is the “miseducation” of business students at the expense of the integrity and honesty of the professoriate. The purpose of the article is to spur open discussion of these trends in higher learning and to encourage an investigation of the deeper implications of our actions and decisions with regard to the future of business education.

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