Designing a Human Resource Management Simulation to Engage Students

Management educators employ a variety of learning and teaching tools in order to engage students, with online business simulations being one of these tools. While many business simulations are available to management educators, they do not always fit the needs of the educator or have evidence to support their efficacy for achieving student outcomes such as engagement. In this article, we illustrate how a human resource management (HRM) simulation was designed, developed, and tested using design science principles to show how student engagement can be achieved with such digital tools. The findings of the testing process show that the type of Learning Management System used is less important than the novelty and perceived authenticity of the tasks. This article offers practical suggestions to create and test similar online-simulated environments using the design science process, as well as guidelines for those who wish to use the HRM simulation that was developed by the authors for this project.