Chalkboards to Cyber-Courses: A Conceptual Review of the Internet’s Role in Marketing Education

Abstract

From fantasy football to virtual professors, the Internet is a key concept in marketing education — and the learning process. This literature review and gap analysis investigates the recent publications concerning the Internet and marketing education in The Journal of Marketing Education. The authors provide an in-depth review of twenty-four papers, which feature the Internet for the marketing educator/researcher. We gather a contextual literature review on recent JME Publications, with the Internet and marketing education in mind. We analyze the concept-based themes in order to organize and re-account for recent publications. Three 'gaps' in the JME literature are found. Specifically, we: compile recent JME literature that pertains to the Internet, code these 24 manuscripts via axial and open coding, deconstruct into 7 conceptually-based themes (see Figure 1), and reconstruct into three gaps in the research basin re the Internet in higher marketing education. We deconstruct the existing literature into seven themes: active learning, internet marketing degree requirement, marketing department websites, teacher obstacles, student’s perceived value, distance learning courses, and the future of marketing education. We detail the breadth and the depth of each concept. We then find three major gaps, on which future research will benefit. Our conceptual literature review is a much needed summary and time-saver for the marketing researcher, professional, or academic who is profoundly impacted by the transition from the 'chalkboard to the cybercourse'.

Keywords: marketing, internet, education

JEL Classification: M31