Beyond the bundle in business education: Self-reported 21st-century skills, perceived learning, student satisfaction, and final grades

This study examines associations between self-reported 21st-century skill dimensions, perceived learning, student satisfaction, and instructor-assigned final grades in business education. Data from 341 undergraduate strategy students combined survey responses with administrative grade records. Hierarchical regressions showed that new knowledge creation had the largest positive unique association with perceived learning and satisfaction, while the skill dimensions added little explanatory variance to final grades. These were more closely associated with prior achievement and group size. Exploratory indirect-association analyses produced theory-consistent patterns involving creativity, authentic learning, and new knowledge creation. Because survey-based predictors and subjective outcomes were measured simultaneously, the findings do not establish causality and may partly reflect shared method effects.