Factors Explaining Business Student Attitudes Towards Mathematics: Does Gender Still Matter?

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that can explain the attitudes of business students towards mathematics, using data from a business school in Norway. This article focusses on gender, personality traits (Big Five Model) and mathematical background. The independent variables were investigated simultaneously using a linear regression model. Mathematical abilities are important for success in business studies, and therefore, attitudes towards mathematics matter, since they will affect students’ effort and their choice of further studies. It was found that mathematical background has the strongest effect on student attitudes towards mathematics. Personal characteristics also explain the variation in the attitudes towards mathematics to some degree. Gender has little or no impact on the dependent variable. If there is any gender difference it is in favour of female students.