The Tournament Concept in Assessment

Abstract

This article reports on two studies that were conducted to determine whether (a) total enterprise simulations are suitable for assessing business skills and (b) the tournament concept can be effectively applied to such simulations. The first study involved 141 senior business students; the second, 74. The results are consistently favorable on both questions. The studies also show that the free-rider problem that may have previously undermined the validity of simulation performance scores can be overcome by incorporating a system of individual performance scores, and that a progressively difficult simulation experience can keep participants challenged for 30 decision periods.