Enhancing student empathy through the taxonomy of significant learning Theresa Billiot Department of Marketing, Woodbury University, Burbank, California, USA, and Lukas P. Forbes Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use Fink’s (2013) taxonomy of significant learning in a retail marketing class to help rural, price-sensitive students develop empathy toward high-end urban customers while becoming self-directed learners. Design/methodology/approach – Using a 16-week pilot course, students developed a gaming prototype and learned about the challenges of targeting those from a higher socioeconomic status. Findings – Results indicate that educators using Fisk’ s taxonomy of signi ficant learning might be able to positively influence the empathy that individuals on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum might feel toward higher-end customers. In addition, qualitative data reflects how a majority of students acknowledged empathy as their weakness but data also reveals how students plan to become continuous learners to improve their empathy in the future. Originality/value – This paper has two key contributions. First, it shows how using a creative style of teaching within a marketing classroom can influence a key characteristic that buyers would need to successfully engage with higher-end clients. Second, it uses a new technique (gaming) in which to do so. Keywords Empathy, Experiential learning, Gaming, Luxury retailing, AACSB, Employer needs Paper type Research paper Introduction As the income inequality gap continues to grow in the USA (Hwang and Lee, 2017), an interesting scenario could emerge where students do not understand shoppers from a different socioeconomic threshold. Imagine, for instance, price-conscious college graduates working for a marketing firm where they must develop marketing strategies targeting high- end consumers who indulge in conspicuous consumption with luxury brands. These new hires may resist creating this strategy because they do not understand these shoppers or they may have a negative perception toward those who belong to higher socioeconomic groups. This socioeconomic gap, therefore, could possibly stimulate negative feelings and biases toward those with higher buying power. Because this economic gap continues to increase in the USA (Da Costa, 2019), marketing educators must consider this type of situation and design experiential courses where students can learn to become more open- minded about consistently learning and targeting customers who are different from them, especially if they desire successful marketing careers. To pilot this concept, the current research study positions retail marketing students enrolled at a rural university in an active learning environment where they design gaming prototypes for luxury brands that target high-end urban customers. To support students with understanding and connecting with dissimilar people, we designed this course by applying the six tenets of Fink’s (2013) taxonomy of significant learning (TSL): JIEB 14,1 130 Received 26 April 2020 Revised 22 July 2020 Accepted 5 August 2020 Journal of International Education in Business Vol. 14 No. 1, 2021 pp. 130-143 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2046-469X DOI 10.1108/JIEB-04-2020-0033 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2046-469X.htm