Critical_thinking_in_business_education.pdf - Studies in...

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
Studies in Higher Education
ISSN: 0307-5079 (Print) 1470-174X (Online) Journal homepage:
Critical thinking in business education: current
outlook and future prospects
Angelito Calma & Martin Davies
To cite this article: Angelito Calma & Martin Davies (2020): Critical thinking in business
education: current outlook and future prospects, Studies in Higher Education, DOI:
10.1080/03075079.2020.1716324
To link to this article:
Published online: 06 Feb 2020.
Submit your article to this journal
View related articles
View Crossmark data

Critical thinking in business education: current outlook and future
prospects
Angelito Calma
a
and Martin Davies
b
a
Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Australia;
b
Melbourne Graduate School of
Education, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Australia
ABSTRACT
This study investigates all available literature related to critical thinking in
business education in a survey of publications in the fi eld produced from
1990 – 2019. It conducts a thematic analysis of 787 articles found in Web of
Science and Google Scholar , including a speci fi c focus on 55 highly-cited
articles. The aim is to investigate the importance of critical thinking in
business education, how it is conceptualised in business education
research, the business contexts in which critical thinking is situated, and
the key and more marginal themes related to critical thinking outlined
in the business and business education literature. The paper outlines six
key areas and topics associated with those areas. It suggests future
directions for further scholarly work in the area of critical thinking in
business education.
KEYWORDS
Critical thinking; business;
business education; higher-
order skills; systematic
review; literature review
Introduction
Critical thinking is an increasingly important skill needed in a changing, challenging world replete
with ‘ fake news ’ (Khidhir 2018 ). It is seen as an important part of a repertoire of skills that students
require in both academic and professional domains. This includes being successful in business in
an increasingly globalised economy (Kirby 2004 ). A 2016 report claims that demand for critical think-
ing skills has risen 158 percent (Foundation for Young Australians 2016 ). Surveys by Forbes using data
from CareerBuilder and O*Net — the US clearinghouse of occupational information — identi fi ed critical
thinking as the fi rst-listed in a list of top ten skills that help people get hired. In a major 2006 report, a
consortium of US organisations surveyed ranked ‘ critical thinking ’ higher than ‘ innovation ’ and ‘ appli-
cation of information technology ’ as a skill (Casner-Lotto and Benner 2006 ). Other documents that call
for the importance of critical thinking skills include the National Association of Colleges and Employ-
ers ’ 2018 Job Outlook (NACE 2019 ) survey, the Foundation for Young Australians ’ report (FYA 2017 ),