Learning Efficacy Among Executives and Students of an Organizational Growth Game

Abstract

Business games are used for organizational performance interventions as well as for educational purposes. The authors study the learning efficacy of a game originally designed to support the implementation of the growth strategy for a client organization , a Dutch SME operating on the global market. Data was collected systematically through surveys before and after the game; one session with twenty-five executives from the client company, and two sessions with thirty-nine students of entrepreneur-ship. The findings indicate that although the learning efficacy, game quality and enjoyment among both groups is good on average, the differences between the groups are significant. The conclusion is that although business games in general are an effective intervention and educational tool, the influence of contextual factors on learning among students may be more pronounced than it is among the executives for which the game has originally been designed