The competency gaps between the workplace and the classroom have become an increasingly relevant issue in Taiwanese society. The solution to this problem requires a reexamination of the different perceptions of workplace competencies performed by graduates. Through a quantitative comparative study, the researchers compared the differences between Taiwanese business teachers and business managers in their perceptions of the business graduates' actual performance of competencies applied in workplaces. An amended survey questionnaire adapted from the research tool used by Hodges and Burchell (2003) was administered to 402 business teachers of colleges and universities, and to 550 managers of business organizations in Taichung city, Taiwan. After the distribution, 205 copies of the questionnaires returned by teachers were usable for data analysis and 296 copies returned by managers were usable. The independent-samples t-test was used to identify the differences between the participant groups. The results revealed that there were significant differences in many surveyed items between the two participant groups and consequently were supply-demand gaps in business graduate competency levels between the world of school and the world of work. The findings from this study suggest that employers, educators, and graduates all have responsibilities to improve the gaps between the workplace and the classroom.
