Synthetic case studies in management education: The support of Generative AI

This article examines the potential of Generative AI (GenAI), particularly ChatGPT, in creating synthetic case studies for management education. Using Zero-shot, Few-shot, Chain of Thought (CoT), and Tree of Thought (ToT) prompting, the study demonstrates AI’s ability to generate dynamic and pedagogically sound cases. Synthetic cases offer flexibility, adapting to emerging business challenges and diverse educational needs. Findings show they enhance efficiency, foster critical thinking, and increase engagement by simulating multi-path decision-making. Workshops with educators confirmed their practicality in reducing workload while maintaining depth. The study advances active learning methodologies and positions GenAI as a collaborative tool. Practical contributions include scalable, real-time case creation aligned with market trends. Public policy implications support AI integration into curricula to democratise education. Limitations involve synthetic cases’ inability to fully capture real-world nuances, requiring further validation. Future research should explore hybrid methods, long-term effects, and cross-disciplinary applications.