Relational Learning in Marketing Empowering Women Business Graduates, a Tapestry from the East
Giovanna defended her doctoral thesis in Education Sciences at the 玉美人传媒 on August 30, 2024. The topic of her thesis is "Relational Learning in Marketing Empowering Women Business Graduates, a Tapestry from the East". This participative action research was conducted in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), an emirate located in the Northern part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The research reveals the experiences and insights of the Ras Al Khaimah Women’s College (RKWC) business graduates on relational learning in marketing.
In her research, Giovanna explores how her relational learning initiatives and approaches, namely her dialogic classrooms, and linked projects with industries in the marketing courses she has facilitated, have impacted young Emirati women graduates, who were her students and have now graduated. The research aimed to discover if and how these relational teaching approaches helped the students learn, change and transform during their college time and beyond in their job interviews, starting positions, managerial positions and career paths.
Using in-depth interviews, the researcher interviewed 25 women business graduates, 5 graduates from each consecutive class year, from 2008 to 2012, who experienced relational learning in her marketing courses during these years. She also used in-depth interviews seeking the insights of 3 industry representatives in the research context (RAK) who had helped many of these women in their industry-linked projects the researcher had initiated between 2008 and 2012. Moreover, the researcher triangulated the data and organised focus groups, gathered students’ feedback and stories from different classes. Self-reflexivity and transparency of the positionality of the researcher are critical in this research.
This research has resulted in a rich description of the stories of these graduates and industry representatives. The researcher analyzes the dominant discourses on relational learning in marketing, and its foreseen impact on the learning and growth of these women.
Some of the emerging themes are that relational learning in marketing is an education innovation in the research context, the relational learning in marketing is an education application, the relational learning in marketing leads to heightened 21st century competencies, and the relational learning in marketing may empower women in the research context.
This research could inform a number of different stakeholders who can act as change agents, helping women students and graduates learn, change and transform. The research indicates what the implications are for the women students/graduates themselves, as well as for educators, employers, college administrators, policy makers, and the research community.