Factors Explaining Business Students’ Success in Business Statistics: A Case from a Scandinavian Business School

Abstract

Statistical skills are strongly linked success in business studies, especially in analyzing risk and in the financial sciences. Therefore, it is useful to acquire more knowledge about factors that can explain the grades achieved in Business Statistics. The objective of this study is to identify variables that are related to performance in Business Statistics among a cohort of business school students in Norway. By using linear regression models, this study tries to identify the relationship between achievement in Business Statistics and several independent variables, including gender, grade point average (GPA) from high school, mathematical background, Big Five personality traits, and attitudes towards statistics (SATS-36). Only attitudes towards statistics were significantly associated with the performance. There is a positive correlation between success in Business Statistics and the two Cognitive Competence and Effort (from SATS-36) dimensions. This is useful knowledge to ensure good results in Business Statistics.