Threshold Concept': Reflections on Education in Marketing

Abstract

Teaching is a very personal process that combines the personality, experiences and communication capability of the teacher with their knowledge of the subject material to engage in an interaction with a body of students to facilitate each student’s individual learning experience. Marketing education literature is prolific and our understanding of teaching and learning has moved from content, through structure to engaging students in a personal learning experience. Recently a seminal paper on ‘threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge’ (Meyer and Land, 2003) has triggered debate and research on how we approach the process of teaching and how to bring transformational knowledge to the student. In response, this theoretical paper reflects on ‘threshold concept’ within the marketing discipline and proposes some challenges to our understanding of teaching marketing and creating a transformational learning environment for our students. Pursuing a threshold concept approach to teaching marketing implies significant research and changes to our current practices.