An analysis of the reading prowess and its relationship to academic performance of executive MBA student in South Africa

Abstract

This study evaluates the correlations between academic performance and the reading prowess of executive MBA students in South Africa. The analysis peruses reading ability and academic performance of the first-year students from 2012 to 2015 of an Association of MBAs business school. A total of 63 students voluntarily participated in having their reading ability tested. The results showed that South African MBA students do not read as well as their international counterparts. Strong correlations were identified between the reading ability and the academic performance of South African MBA students. The analyses showed that not only does good reading ability correlate positively with academic performance, but that poor reading ability does also correlate positively with poor academic performance. In addition, the study found that although academic modules may differ in nature (such as financial versus theoretical content), they are strongly positive correlated, indicating that academic performance in one module should indicate success in other modules.