Abstract:

Forming student teams is a common phenomenon in European Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). Students, who participate in teams share certain characteristics. According to O’Neil et al. (2020) teamwork refers to the performance or effectiveness as a whole and to a team’s collective success.

We present insights on student teams and students’ perception of teamwork. The student sample belongs to 1st semester students from international business course as part of a bachelor of business administration degree programme in a Finnish HEI. This study focuses on students’ characteristics that affect team composition, team structure and team task completion. For the purpose of data collection, a survey was developed. Empirical data was collected at the beginning of the course. This study follows a quantitative research methodology. First, student profiling is achieved using four variables. Further, students’ perception of team composition is explored using four variables, further team structure and task completion were examined using three variables for each. Our analysis provides insights pertaining to student teams and students’ perception of teamwork. The results indicate that the students’ profile influence their perception of teams and teamwork in the courses. This study contributes in providing insights into the practice of student leaning business education in HEI.

Keywords:

Teams, teamwork, international business, exchange students, higher education.