Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing ... · incorporated marketing certifications (i.e., HubSpot certification program) as a course requirement, and compare student

Running Head: INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 1

Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing Course:

The Effect of Learning Style on Student Responses

INCORPORATING CERTIFCATIONS INTO A MARKETING COURSE 2

Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing Course:

The Effect of Learning Style on Student Responses

Abstract

In recent years, responding to growing uses of marketing technologies, marketing scholars have

suggested incorporating third-party certifications in interactive/digital marketing into their

courses. The present study reports a case of an undergraduate interactive marketing course that

incorporated marketing certifications (i.e., HubSpot certification program) as a course

requirement, and compare student responses using the Felder-Silverman Index of Learning

Styles. The study found that, in general, students responded positively to the requirement of the

certifications. In specific, sensing and sequential learners showed more positive responses on the

certifications than intuitive and global learners. Pedagogical implications and the agenda for

future research are discussed.

Keywords: certification, certificate, learning style, self-directed learning


The growing nexus between marketing, information technology, and management information

systems has created an explosion of third-party certification and training programs that target

practitioners seeking to refine and expand job-related skills. Many digital marketing platforms,

in particular, offer extensive tutorials and mini-courses that aim for mastery of theoretical topics

and application of platform tools (Zahay-Blatz 2016). Accessible online and on-demand, third-

party certification and training programs offer flexible self-directed learning opportunities that

lead to new skills and credentials (Rob 2014).

For marketing educators, there are several compelling reasons to incorporate certification

programing into a course of study or curriculum (Staton 2016). As a supplemental component of a

course, it can re-enforce content presented in a core knowledge area, supporting learning outcomes

in the fundamentals of the marketing discipline, as well as provide context to introduce new

techniques and problem-solving tools (Granitz and Koernig 2011). Furthermore, by introducing

and contextualizing the different types of credentials available to practitioners, educators can

encourage student self-efficacy and autonomy as it relates to professional development and the

commitment for lifetime learning (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis, and Fleming, 2014).

The online delivery-method and asynchronous nature of instruction typical of so many

certification programs also raise questions about the role of student learning styles for

certification-completion and certification-course-interest. Does, for example, the format of

certification programs appeal principally to some learning modalities and not others? And

further, how might the format of a certification program, and its inclusion into a traditional

marketing course, impact students’ overall assessment of their educational experience?

This paper aims to assess how learning styles relate to attitudes about embedding a

required certification program as a self-directed learning activity within a traditional face-to-face


marketing class. In our empirical study, the authors surveyed 65 enrolled students (junior

marketing majors) on items related to certificate programs (both general and specific), learning

style preferences, and overall educational experience/satisfaction. Results indicate that inclusion

of the HubSpot certificate program positively influenced and enhanced the enrolled marketing

course. Statistically significant results were found with students who perceive certifications as

‘highly relevant’ also found inclusion of the certification program in the course to be a ‘positive

experience.’ Significant differences among learning styles on the Felder Learning Style Index

[LSI] were also noted with two groups (the ‘Sensing-Intuitive’ and ‘Sequential-Global’ learning

modalities) who both reported positive experiences and who reported experienced enhanced

course learning (Felder and Solomon 2017).

Overview of Marketing Certifications

Certification and professional training programs are certainly not new to business professional

curriculums. Voluntary certification programs are well established and prevalent in IT and MIS

area. These programs also occupy the fields of operations management (with APIC for careers in

purchasing and inventory), human resources (e.g., HRCI, PHR and SPHR), health care (with

CALA, CNHA, and ACHCA), and finance (e.g., Bloomberg, the Claritas Investment

Certification) to name just a few (Lester and Dwyer 2012; Rob 2014).

Within the field of marketing, several influential trade organizations have developed

certification and training programs, designed to meet the changing and innovative nature of the

industry. The Data and Marketing Association offers the ‘DMA Certified Marketing

Professional’ program (both online and on-demand as well as in-person courses); the American

Marketing Association offers the ‘Professional Certified Marketer Program’ for digital and for


marketing management (fees apply for a certificate exam and study materials); and the Word of

Mouth Marketing Association (with its WOMMA University) offers fee based courses in social

media marketing. Whereas trade group certification programs may play an obvious role for

practitioners who seek professional development and a commitment to currency, given the

included fees, they are not likely candidates for marketing educators to include with coursework

or a formal curriculum. One exception, perhaps, is that through collegiate-chapter trade group

membership, there may be opportunities for discounted certificate programs, where marketing

educators could then explore the role of certifications for students as an extra-curricular activity.

Another emerging type of marketing certification program is one that is separate from

formal coursework and a degree but still resides within a university or institution of higher

learning. Here, there are two basic models at work: (1) the ‘free and open’ model and (2) ‘paid

with access’ model. Examples of the ‘free and open’ model include programs at The University

of Texas San Antonio (UTSA), Emory University, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and

Florida State University (Arguello 2013). In each case, certifications in either marketing or

business more generally are offered through the institution’s library. In some cases, it is a series

of online modules, and in others, it is a handful of 50-minute hands-on sessions that leads to an

informal certificate but proof of completion does not appear on the student’s diploma or

transcript (Arguello 2013).

The alternative institutional model, ‘paid with access’ is similar to the ‘free and open’

model in that it leads to informal recognition of training received but it is fee based and carries

with it an opportunity to interact with featured (industry) experts. In traditional parlance, these

programs are sometimes referred to as executive and professional education (EPE) programs

(Daniels 2011). In more recent years, as the reach of EPE programs have extended to online and


partially on-demand formats several high-quality (content rich) university certification programs

have emerged to service the growing market (e.g., eCornell and NYU Stern’s ‘Advanced

Professional Certificate’ in marketing, both considered for-profit entities). (eCornel 2017 &

Stern NYU 2017).

Another category or type of certification program relevant for marketing educators is

offered by for-profit providers, such as Lynda.com (recently purchased by LinkedIn) and

Coursera (originally started by a pair of Stanford University professors). Whereas Lynda.com

utilizes a subscription based fee structure, it offers users unlimited access to a library of

thousands of on-demand courses that span twelve broad topic categories: 3D+animation; audio +

music; business; CAD; design; developer; education + learning; IT; marketing; photography;

video; and web (Lynda 2017). While there is some overlap of content courses in each category,

each course is regularly audited for accuracy and relevance. In fact, many universities and

business programs and departments have invested in Lynda.com by purchasing institutional

subscriptions to support program goals and its staff. Coursera, in contrast, is a for-profit

company that offers courses and content from top Global Universities, such as Penn, Duke and

the University of Virginia. Its business model relies on providing access and high-quality

content to end-users while charging a fee for a non-credit certificate after successful online

completion of specified content areas. Benefits of completion include increased knowledge of a

specialized area, a sense of personal accomplishment, and proof of self-directed learning. In one

relevant sense, the information/knowledge sharing model of Coursera and Lynda pose a

challenge, if not a threat, to traditional vocational training (prevalent in an associate degree

program or community college).


The last type of certification program to mention for marketing educators is the platform

and services category. This is a group of third-party companies and organizations that typically

offer free and low-cost training of a branded platform or technology. For marketing educators

looking to integrate a tools-based experiential module into formal course work, this category of

programs has a lot to offer. (See Table 1). Providers such as Google, Hootsuite, HubSpot, Code

Academy, Facebook, LinkedIN, and Twitter provide training on highly relevant and useful

platforms that prove to be valuable across a myriad of industries. In addition, at least for the

short-term, as marketing practitioners are forced to ‘learn on the job’ while adapting to new

social platform platforms, vocational practice-based outcomes appear to place seasoned-veterans

in direct competition with recent and soon-to-graduate college students.

-----Insert Table 1 about here-----

Finding a balance between theory and practice based outcomes is deemed essential for success in

a knowledge based economy (Petkus 2007). Over attention or too much focused attention in a

course on one platform or IT service will likely be a disservice to students after graduation. A

broad exposure to a variety of tools and trending platforms will likely better prepare the next

generation of marketing practitioners for active learning and intellectual resilience. Moreover, a

blended (theory + practice) outcomes approach that emphasizes professional development

alongside abstract problem solving and critical thinking is needed to fully prepare students for

dynamic and quickly changing business environments (Schibrowsky, Peltier, and Boyt 2002;

Petkus 2007). The commitment to exploring third party certifications, therefore, should be

aligned with the exposure to new content and techniques, contextual learning opportunities that

emphasize problem solving and creative application, as well as a commitment to professional


development. Insofar the integration of certification programs within marketing courses can

accommodate both theory and practice based learning outcomes, the structure and presentation

of external third party content will likely be best positioned, if farmed in the context of a self-

directed learning opportunity (Boyer, Edmondson, Artis, and Fleming, 2014).

Learning Styles

In an effort to access the instrumentality of a learning goal, many researchers have turned to

learning styles to profit context for presentation and format. One learning style inventories

widely adopted in pedagogical research is the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) (Kolb, 1984).

Drawn upon experiential learning theory, Kolb’s LSI consists of twelve rank-order items that

measure two bipolar continuums of Concrete Experience/Reflective Observation and Abstract

Conceptualization/Active Experimentation. Then, the combination of scores from the two

continuums provides scores of four learning characteristics: Diverger, Assimilator, Converger,

and Accommodator (Kolb, 2005). The other measure used frequently in learning style studies is

the Felder Index of Learning Styles (ILS) (Felder and Silverman, 1988). Felder’s ILS asks 44

dichotomous questions related to four learning dimensions: active-reflective, sensing-intuitive,

visual-verbal, and sequential-global. In a study of marketing education, Karns (2006) measured

both LSI and ILS to assess effectiveness of diverse learning activities. Hawk and Shah (2007)

reviewed several prominent learning style indexes including LSI and ILS and emphasized the

right selections of learning style measures that reflect the characteristics of the course activities.

Following Carver, However and Lane (1999) who analyze student learning in the context

of hypermedia (multimedia and hyperlinks), we employ the Felder -Silverman Index of Learning


Styles (ILS) to assess student learning preferences and modalities. This index is well suited for

online marketing certification platforms because each certification program has its own

particular learning module, it is mostly online and asynchronous, and the environment has the

potential to affect to students with different learning styles (Canzer, 1997; Morrison and

Heffernan, 2003). The Felder ILS is also convenient because it offers users/learners the

opportunity to complete (fill in the blank) form to assess learning preferences (Felder and

Sliverman 2017).

In active/reflective dimension, according to Felder and Silverman (1988), an active

learner is the one who prefers and performs better at active experimentation than reflective

observation. Conversely, a reflective learner feels more comfortable with reflective observation

over active experimentation. Most of the current certification programs require students to watch

series of video clips and follow instructions rather than active experimentation of different

questions and ideas. Thus, we can expect that reflective learners will reveal more positive

responses to the certifications required in a marketing class.

H1: Reflective learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing

certifications more positively than will active learners

ILS distinguishes sensing/intuitive dimension based on the ways that people perceive the world

(Felder and Silverman, 1988). Sensing learners prefer to use direct senses to observe and gather

information to perceive the world. However, in the case of intuitive learners, they tend to

perceive the world through speculation, imagination, and hunches. The topics of many marketing

certification deal with marketing technologies such for search engine optimization, tools for e-


mail and social media management, and keyword marketing. Rather than providing chances for

speculation and imagination, the certification programs in the current time mostly present

information and method to operate the technical tools. Therefore, it is logical to expect that

sensing learners will show more positive responses to the certification program than intuitive

learners will.

H2: Sensing learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing

certifications more positively than will intuitive learners

As in many other learning style inventories (e.g., Dunn and Dunn, 1989; Fleming, 2001),

visual/verbal consists of one of four ILS dimensions. As labeled, visual learners learn best

through seeing pictures, figures, diagrams, and other graphical images (Felder and Spurlin, 2005).

Verbal learners prefer reading textual information and listening spoken explanation to learn a

subject. Most of the current certification programs require students to watch series of video clips

and listen to verbal explanations regarding the operations of marketing technologies. In spite of

this dual modality (visual and verbal) of the current certification program, we follow the finding

in a previous study (Karns, 2006) that visual learners rated the effectiveness of watching videos

as teaching activities more highly than do verbal learners. In fact, the videos for marketing

certification programs present visual dashboards of marketing tools, showcases of campaign

examples, and conceptual diagrams that may favors visual learning rather than traditional text

based learning. Thus, we hypothesized as follow:


H3: Visual learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing certifications

more positively than will verbal learners

Lastly, in ILS, sequential learners refer to people who are strong in learning through linear

thinking and systematic process. Contrarily, global learners like to learn through holistic

thinking and intuitive leaps rather than focusing on small pieces of information. Learning

marketing technologies using the current platform of most certification programs is based

primarily on following multi-stage conceptual procedures in sequence and sequential steps of

technical operations. In this reason, we predict more positive responses of sequential learners to

the certification programs than global learners.

H4: Sequential learners will respond to the course requirement of the marketing

certifications more positively than will global learners

The following section describes the certification program used in the present study in detail and

the method for testing the proposed hypotheses.

Method

The courses tested in the present study were two sections of a junior-level course on interactive

marketing offered in a business school at a mid-size university in the Southeast, United States.

We required students to complete online programs and take exams for marketing certificates.


Afterward, the students participated in a survey with questions about their experiences and

perceptions regarding the certification program.

Certification Program

Among several options of marketing certifications (Staton, 2016), the certification incorporated

into the courses of the present study were from the programs offered by HubSpot, which is a

company that sells software products for marketing and sales. At the time of this writing, it offers

10 different certification programs (HubSpot, 2017). Each program consisted of series of the

video clip for 3 to 4 hours long in total. When someone takes an online exam on the topic area of

the certification and answer more than 75 percent of questions correctly, they provide a printable

electronic document of the certificate.

Among many marketing certifications, we chose the HubSpot certifications for several

reasons. The certification programs were relevant to the course topics of interactive marketing

and had 10 different certifications that enabled students to select ones in their interests. Also, its

simple process of certifications composed with watching series of online videos and taking a test

did not impose an extra burden on students (Staton, 2016). Another merit was that seven out of

10 certification programs were free and did not require learning and using a HubSpot software

program, and it increased student accessibility to the program. The course required students to

complete two certification programs among four different options: Inbound Certification, Email

Marketing, Inbound Sales, and Content Marketing. In completing the certifications, students

watched the videos and took the tests at their convenience during the semester, and this

requirement of two certifications substituted the final exam as suggested by Zahay-Blatz (2016).


Participants

At the end of the semester, 55 students (40 females and 15 males) out of 65 enrolled students

completed the online survey in exchange for extra credits. All respondents were junior majoring

in marketing. Among the survey respondents, thirty-four of them (61.8%) successfully passed

two exams and received two certificates. Eighteen students (32.7%) passed one exam but failed

the other exam, so ended up acquiring one certificate. Three students (5.5%) failed both exams

and did not get any certificate.

Measures

Measures for learning style, we used the Index of Learning Style (ILS) (Felder and Solomon,

2017) to identify and compare students with different learning styles. Participants answered 44

dichotomous (a or b) questions of sentence completions, and each question represents one of

four dimensions of learning styles: sensing-intuitive; visual-verbal; active-reflective; sequential-

global. For example, the question, “I understand something better after I ______,” has two

choices of “a. try it out” that reflects the active learning and “b. think it through” for the

reflective learning. Based on the guide in the previous literature (Felder and Spurlin, 2005;

Morrison et al. 2003), we obtained individual scores of four learning styles with the possible

range of -11 to 11 by subtracting the ‘b’ responses from the ‘a’ responses. Then, we compared

students with a positive score and a negative score for each of four dimensions of ILS in turn.

The dependent measures included student acceptance, experience, and perceived value of

the certification programs together with the outcomes of the certification tests (see Appendix A

for the questions and measures). The acceptance of the idea to adopt certification as a class

project was assessed using three 7-point items (inappropriate/appropriate;


unreasonable/reasonable; a bad idea/a good idea) (α = .93). Then, we asked the overall

experience of studying for the certifications by using four 7-point items (negative/positive;

bad/good; unfavorable/favorable; unpleasant/pleasant) (α = .97). To measure the perceived value

of the certification programs in learning the course subject, which was interactive marketing, we

asked another set of four 7-point items (did not enhance at all/significantly enhanced; was not

helpful at all for/was very helpful for; did not added any value at all to/added a lot of value to;

did not complement at all/significantly complemented) (α = .96). Lastly, student performances

were computed based on the test results that each student received. We assigned different values

for each result: 3 for students who passed two tests and received two certificates; 2 for students

who passed one test and failed to pass the other test so received one certificate; 1 for students

who failed both tests and did not receive any certificate.

Results

Descriptive Statistics

In general, positive responses dominated student responses toward adopting the certification

programs into the marketing class. One sample t-tests with the neutral value in the scales (4) as

the test value showed the significantly positive responses in all three dependents measures:

acceptance (M = 6.51, SD = .87, t(1,54) = 21.28, p < .001), experience (M = 5.68, SD = 1.41,

t(1,54) = 8.79, p < .001), and perceived value (M = 5.98, SD = 1.08, t(1,54) = 13.61, p < .001).

There was no gender difference in these results.


Learning Styles

To test H1 to H4, we conducted t-tests to compare each pair of four ILS dimensions on the

responses to the certifications. As in Table 2, the significant differences in responses toward the

certifications among students with different learning styles occurred only in two dimensions of

Sensing-Intuitive and Sequential-Global. In the other two dimensions of the Active-Reflective

and the Visual-Verbal, there was no significant effect of different learning styles.

Specifically, students with the Sensing learning style (n =40), in other words, who are

concrete thinkers, accepted the certification programs more positively than other students with

Intuitive learning style (n =15) who are abstract thinkers (t(1, 53) = 2.17, p < .05). Also, the

Sensing learners valued the certification programs more highly in enhancing the course learning

than the Intuitive learners (t(1, 53) = 2.01, p < .05). However, the Sensing-Intuitive differences in

the experience and the actual performance were not significant (p > .05).

In the Sequential-Global dimension, the sequential learners (n =34) who prefer linear

thinking process reported more positive experience with the certification program than the global

learners (n = 21) who prefer holistic thinking process (t(1, 53) = 2.87, p < .01). The sequential

learners also responded more positively for the value of the certification programs to enhance the

course learning than the global learners (t(1, 53) = 2.01, p < .05). The acceptance and

performance, however, were not different significantly between the sequential and global

learners (p > .05). It is noteworthy that none of the learning style dimensions affected the actual

performance in the certification tests.



Additional Analyses

Besides the measurement scales to test the hypotheses, several open-ended questions in the

survey explored student responses for using the certifications in the course. In a question what

the best thing was with completing the HubSpot certification programs, many numbers of

students noted its usefulness for a future career. They liked to gain a tangible certificate to build

their resumes, and expected it made themselves more appealing to future employers. Several

students thought to study the certification program enhanced the learning of the course that they

were taking. In the opposite question regarding the worst thing with completing the certification

programs, the majority pointed out the time taken to watch the videos. Several students noted

specific features of the HubSpot program as the worst thing such as exam questions, the time

delay for retaking the exam, and the certification duration. Table 3 presents examples of the

verbatim comments for the best and worst things to complete the certification program. In sum,

the key benefits of the certification students perceived were related to career development, and

the negative comments were mostly related to the platform and features of the particular

certification program we chose in the present study.


Lastly, each student wrote three words that each completed the sentences of "Studying for the

certificates was ____________." Figure 1 presents the word cloud of the terms that student used

to complete the sentence. There was a mixed valence of positive and negative words. The most

frequent word was “time-consuming, ” which described the nature of merely watching series of

videos, which was already pointed out as the worst part of the certification program. Also time-

consuming. Other words appeared frequently were helpful (19), interesting (11), long (10), worth


(8), challenging (6), relevant (6), tedious (6), beneficial (5), easy (5), informative (5), and

rewarding (5).

-----Insert Figure 1 about here-----

Discussion

To the extent of the knowledge of the authors, the present paper is the first empirical study that

examines student responses on incorporating certifications into a marketing class. Overall, it

turned out students appreciated using certification programs in the marketing course. Especially,

when they think the certification is relevant to their future job, student responses are significantly

more positive.

We observed several effects of the learning style in the sensing-intuitive and the

sequential-global dimensions but not in the active-reflective and the visual-verbal dimensions. In

specific, sensing and sequential learners revealed more positive responses over each counterpart.

These results are logically sound when we consider the modalities of many marketing

certification programs. Including the HubSpot certification programs used in the present study,

most of the certification programs provide online training and courses for the certificate that

mostly asked learners to watch series of short video clips sequentially. The examples include

Google Analytics Academy courses for Google Analytics Individual Qualification test and

Hootsuite’s online Social Marketing Training course for the test of HootSuite Certified

Professional. This nature of the certification programs maps nicely with the type of information

that the sensing learners prefer and the understanding process that the sequential learners feel

comfortable (Felder and Silverman, 1988). Otherwise, at the time of writing, these certification

programs including the HubSpot seems not to provide many features that favored the intuitive


learners who cared more about symbols and imaginations. Likewise, even though the global

learners incline to interpret and solve problems in their own way, the current programs may be

limited to serve this approach. This result is consistent with a finding in a study of distance

education that revealed the outperformance of sequential learners over global learners in an

online course with a similar setting to the online certification program (Battalio, 2009).

Therefore, the formats of many current marketing certifications based on online courses favor to

the sensing and sequential learners over the intuitive and global learners. Another interesting

aspect is that these significant findings in these two dimensions of sensing-intuitive and

sequential-global may not be an accidental result. A factor analysis in a prior study showed that

the factor loadings of the measurement items in the sequential/global dimension overlapped with

the sensing/intuitive items, and the sensing/intuitive factor was significantly correlated with the

sequential/global factor (Zywno, 2003).

Characteristics mentioned above of the online certification programs also can explain the

lack of significant difference in the active-reflective dimension. It is presumable that the passive

watching videos may not appeal to both active and reflective learners. For the visual-verbal

dimension, besides of non-existing difference in any of student responses, another incidental

finding was that the majority of marketing students in the present classes were visual learners

(91%) and only five students (9%) in the samples were verbal learners. This insufficient number

of the verbal learners hindered the adequate statistical analysis and result interpretations, so we

inevitably leave the effects of the visual-verbal learning on the responses to the certifications

unanswered. In fact, this unbalanced number between visual and verbal learners has been

reported in many other studies. For instance, Felder and Spurlin (2005) analyzed 29 studies using

ILS, and found that, in average, only 22% of students were verbal learners. In a sampling of a


marketing study, there were 95 visual learners compared to only 16 verbal learners (Morrison et

al., 2003). This implies that marketing certification programs can be benefited by producing

features and content oriented toward visual learners.

Another interesting finding of the present study was that none of the learning style

differences affected to the student performance on the certification tests. In describing the

learning style, Felder and Spurlin (2005) noted that the learning style is not a one’s capability of

learning only with a particular style but just a personal preference of a learning modality. Thus,

the scores of any learning style dimension should not be considered as the indicators of one’s

learning strengths and weaknesses for the task with a certain learning modality. In particular,

even though the certification program was not matched with one’s preferred learning modality,

students can success in earning the certificate through putting their endeavors dealing with the

less preferred way of the learning. In addition, even though the present study tested the

hypothesis through labeling individuals with a particular learning style (e.g., sensing learners),

the actual measures of the learning style is the continuum rather than the discrete categorizations.

Therefore, a learner classified with a particular learning style can possess considerable or similar

levels of preference for the opposite learning style. These reasons may explain our finding that

the learning style did not affect the performance in the certification test.

Pedagogical Implications

As an early study regarding incorporating marketing certifications into the classroom, the present

study brings many significant implications to marketing professors, especially who are teaching

the area of interactive marketing and thinking about bringing practical values in their classes.

First, based on the empirical findings, we can conclude that undergraduate marketing students


are positive for incorporating a marketing certification in their marketing classes. As Staton

(2016) provided several anecdotal cases, many students were also expecting that the certificate

could help them to find and get competent job positions in marketing fields.

Second, the certification program used in the present study, which asked learners to

watch series of video clips, was especially preferred by students with the sensing and sequential

learning styles over the intuitive and global learning styles. Therefore, this type of the

certification programs will be an appropriate addition particularly for classes with many students

with the sensing and sequential learning styles. Interestingly, a study applying ILS to

undergraduate business students in a British university (Vita, 2001) found that 86% of the

students in its survey were the sensing learners and 76% were the sequential learners. Therefore,

the current formats of many certifications for interactive/digital marketing seem to be appropriate

to bring into the marketing courses.

Third, the current paradigm of learning style research in marketing recommends

marketing professors providing diverse modalities of the learning experience rather than chasing

a particular student learning style with tools limited to a particular modality of learning (Karns,

2006; Morrison, Sweeney, & Heffernan, 2006). This is not just because to be fair to students

with different learning styles but also because to stimulate students to experience different

learning modalities and foster their capabilities to learn successfully through both their preferred

and less preferred methods. In this sense, marketing academics can expose students to multiple

certification programs with methods appealing to different learning styles (see, for example,

Staton, 2016 ; Tuten and Spiller, 2016 for reviews of marketing certifications).


Limitations and Suggestions for Future Studies

One limitation of the present study is that we only used one program (HubSpot) to understand

student responses toward marketing certifications. In truth, marketing certifications are different

in their topic area, a required level of expertise, exam price for certificate, industry recognition,

and many other aspects. Hence, we cannot generalize the findings from the present study to

student responses toward all kinds of marketing certifications. Future studies can compare

responses toward different marketing certificate and investigate factors that affect to possible

differences in student responses.

The small sample size of the present study is also a limitation. Not only it might fail to

detect other potential significant results (e.g. the effect of the sensing/intuitive style on the

experience where the p-value was .07), but also it limited the applications of statistical methods

that investigate relations among variables. Future studies with an appropriate sample size can

conduct a path analysis or structural equation modeling to examine relationships and the

direction of the effect among the dependent variables of the present study. For example, we may

study the path from the certification acceptance to the perceived value and performance.

Lastly, the ultimate goal of adopting marketing certification in the class should be to

prepare students to be competent as marketing job candidates and critically thinking marketing

professionals who are adaptive to an innovative industry. The present study cannot answer the

question of how this certification program affects to the actual job placements of students with

the certificates and performances at work, however. A follow-up study with the students in the

present study after their graduation will be highly valuable to confirm the actual benefits of the

certification to the student life and career.


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Table 1 Digital Certification Programs (Sample)

Brand of Digital Certification Type of Certification Offered

American Marketing Association (AMA) Professional Certified Marketer Digital Marketing Certification

Bing Bing Ads Accredited Professional

Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization

Data & Marketing Association (DMA) DMA Certified Marketing Professional

Data & Marketing Association (DMA) Search Engine Marketing Certification

Digital Marketer Multiple (not comprehensive certificate)

Google Google Adwords Certificate

Google Google Analytics

Hootsuite Social Marketing Certification

Hootsuite Hootsuite Platform Certification

HubSpot Inbound Certification

IAB IAB Professional Certifications (3 variants)

Market Motive Digital Marketing Certified Associate (DMCA)

Mediabistro Courses (no comprehensive certificate)

Online Marketing Institute Multiple (no comprehensive certificate)

Splash Media U. Social Media Marketing Master Certification

Coursera Digital Marketing Specialization

Table 2

The Effects of Learning Styles on Student Responses

Acceptance Experience Value Performance

Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig. Mean t Sig.

Learning Styles

Active-Reflective Active learners (n = 43) Reflective learners (n = 12)

6.45 6.72

.95

.34

5.61 5.92

.66

.51

6.02 5.85

.46

.65

2.56 2.58

.13

.90

Sensing-Intuitive Sensing learners (n = 40) Intuitive learners (n = 15)

6.72 5.96

2.17

.05*

5.93 5.00

1.92

.07

6.16

5.52

2.01

.05*

2.55 2.60

.27

.79

Visual-Verbal Visual learners (n = 50) Verbal learners (n = 5)

6.48 6.80

.78

.44

5.72 5.30

.62

.54

5.96 6.20

.47

.64

2.60 2.20

1.43

.16

Sequential-Global Sequential learners (n = 34) Global learners (n = 21)

6.68 6.24

1.58

.13

6.08

5.02

2.87

.01

6.21

5.62

2.01

.05*

2.53 2.62

.53

.60

* The p-values rounded to two decimal places were smaller than .05.


Table 3

Students’ Comments on the Certification Program

Best things Worst things

Being able to add the certification to my LinkedIn profile

Being able to connect what we learned in class with pretty cool.

It provided many resources to help you learn.

I think it will look great on a resume!

It will help set me aside from other job candidates.

It furthered my knowledge of the topics of direct/indirect marketing

Having something tangible to put on my resume

Having something to put on my resume in order to show employers I have more than just classroom experience in the field of marketing.

Gaining knowledge and relating it back to the coursework.

It forced me to study for something other than the class.

Feel that i gained relevant experience that will help me greatly in the future (even now!!!)

We were able to complete the certifications when our schedules allowed the time.

Having to watch all the videos was very time consuming.

The videos were redundant, and took a long time

The fact that some people didn't watch the videos at all and took the test and still passed

Things being repeated.

The tests had hard questions.

They were quite extensive and I think having the due dates split up between the semester would be better than having them both due at the end.

The only thing I found to be frustrating was if you did not pass, it would block you from retaking the test for 24 hours.

The people talking were very boring and didn't do much more than repeat what was on the PowerPoint slides.

You had to be very careful about how you budgeted your time throughout the semester

They were sometimes not as relevant to class topics and too focused on hubspot.

It will not help in future job seeking due to the certification expiring in a year

Figure 1

Word cloud on the completions of “Studying for the certificates was ______.”


APPENDIX A

Measurement Items and Scales

Acceptance

Requiring a certificate as a mandatory item in a marketing class is ____________.

a bad idea: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :a good idea

unreasonable: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :reasonable

inappropriate: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :appropriate

Experience

Please indicate your overall experience of studying for the certifications.

negative: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :positive

bad: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :good

unfavorable: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :favorable

unpleasant: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :pleasant

Value

Studying for the certifications ____________ my learning of the course subjects in

interactive marketing.

did not enhance at all: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :significantly enhanced

was not helpful at all for: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :was very helpful for

did not add any value at all to: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 :added a lot of value to

did not complement at all: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 : significantly complemented

Performance

What was the result of the two certification exams that you took?

a. I passed both exams (3)

b. I passed one exam (2)

c. I didn’t pass either exam (1)

Documents

Incorporating Third-Party Certifications into a Marketing ... · incorporated marketing certifications (i.e., HubSpot certification program) as a course requirement, and compare student