Predicting the performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative methods courses: The case of a private university in the UAE

Purpose: The paper aims to explore the academic performance (measured by quality points (QP)) of undergraduate business students in introductory courses of quantitative methods at a private university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It also examines the impact of a number of academic and demographic factors pertinent to the performance of the business students in the courses concerned. Design/methodology/approach: A random sample of 250 students drawn from the Faculty of Business Administration was chosen. Descriptive statistics were used to present the main characteristics of the participants. The study relied on one-way ANOVA, independent-samples t-test, and correlation to analyse the data collected. Findings: The results generated revealed that the means of quality points (QP) for Business Statistics-1 (Stat. 1), Business Statistics-2 (Stat. 2) and Quantitative Methods (QM) for Business were slightly below 3. The results also showed significant correlations among quantitative courses' QP and overall grade point average (GPA). The results of one-way ANOVA and independent-samples t-test suggested that the performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative methods courses differs significantly across business majors (except for QM for Business), nationality, high school major (except for QM for Business), gender and age. Research limitations/implications: There are a number of limitations associated with this study. First, the findings of the study are based on data from only one private university. Second, this study focuses on business students, and in turn it excludes students of other colleges (e.g. engineering) who also take quantitative courses and might have different experiences. On the other hand, it has a number of implications for the curriculum planners and the instructors. Originality/value: The present study is the first attempt to explore the performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative methods courses and to examine the impact of a number of factors on the performance in such courses in a private university setting in the UAE.