Culture clash : teaching Western-based management education to mainland Chinese students in Singapore

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate a new trend of training mainland Chinese students in Western‐style business education in Singapore. The paper examines the influence of the inferred learning effectiveness and cultural dislocation variables when measured across ten commonly used instructional techniques. Design/methodology/approach – The use of consensual qualitative research allowed the data to be qualitatively analysed. The random selection of 20 participants represents mainland Chinese students, from the northern, southern, eastern and western regions. The study reports the level of knowledge acquisition, the relationship between comfort and knowledge acquired and the differences between the active and passive instructional techniques on students' learning effectiveness. Findings – Rote‐learning styles of instructional techniques may not be the Chinese students' only preferred choice in terms of acquisition of knowledge and how they learn most effectively. Research limitations/implications – The present exploratory study provides a starting‐point for further research into understanding how to teach Western‐based business education to mainland Chinese students in Singapore. Practical implications – The findings will give institutions conducting Western‐based education programs in Singapore an advantage in providing effective learning pedagogies, and will assist in increasing their quality, which will enable them to nurture well‐qualified business professionals. Social implications – The quality of the educational standard and its compatibility with the Asian client base are further enhanced both in terms of contents' intensity and educational services provided to students. Originality/value – The paper offers practical help from the perspective of the curriculum design and development of an effective business educational framework to sustain profitability by offering tailor‐made, superior quality course programs