Ellen R. Peeters, Marjolein C.J. Caniëls and Marijke Verbruggen
To deepen the understanding of the process of growth and development of career resilience, this study aims to investigate the impact of career history and openness to change as…
Abstract
Purpose
To deepen the understanding of the process of growth and development of career resilience, this study aims to investigate the impact of career history and openness to change as antecedents of career resilience and the effect of career resilience on career self-management and career outcomes (salary and career satisfaction) over time using the Career Construction Theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied structural equation modeling with cross-lagged associations between career characteristics (number of employees, job seniority and missed promotions), openness to change, career resilience, individual career management (ICM) and career success (salary and career satisfaction) using three-wave data of 872 employees.
Findings
Openness to change had cross-lagged positive relationships with career resilience. The number of (previous) employers and missed promotions had a positive effect on career resilience, whereas job seniority was related negatively to career resilience. Furthermore, career resilience had a positive effect on individual career self-management in terms of networking, practical things and drawing attention over time. No effect was found on the individual career self-management dimension of mobility-oriented behavior over time. Finally, ICM had a positive effect on salary and career satisfaction over time.
Originality/value
Altogether these results suggest that career resilience is not only a way to stay active as an employee and cope with career changes, but it also enhances employees’ chances to achieve objective and subjective career success.
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David M. Rosch, Scott J. Allen, Daniel M. Jenkins and Meghan L. Pickett
We conducted a national study of the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC), which since inception in 2015, has included over 75 higher education institutions. The CLC brings…
Abstract
We conducted a national study of the Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC), which since inception in 2015, has included over 75 higher education institutions. The CLC brings students together in collaborative institution-based teams to compete with other teams in competitions to achieve goals and practice effective leadership skills. Our goal was to assess leadership capacity growth over the course of a four-month team practice period through the daylong inter-team competition and evaluate participant leadership assessed several months later. Results suggested students made significant and sustainable gains in leader-self-efficacy and short-term gains in leadership skill and motivation to lead. Our results also indicated the team’s coach played a significant role in student leadership development.
Leadership development programs for students in educational settings are proliferating in number and design. Curricular programs range from academic minors and certificates to doctoral programs in a variety of academic homes (e.g., education, business, healthcare). Co-curricular programs often take the form of drop-in workshops, day-long experiences, alternative spring breaks, service-learning trips, and other programs housed in student affairs and administrative offices (Guthrie & Jenkins, 2018). Moreover, the number of programs has steadily increased over the last 15 years from just under 1,000 in 2006 (Brungardt, et al., 2006) to more than 2,000 (ILA Program Directory, 2021). And while there is some commonality among the approach of these leadership programs in terms of content and delivery (see Harvey & Jenkins, 2014), vast differences exist in the structure and learning goals of student leadership programs compared to other social science disciplines. A potentially fruitful area in which to explore its effectiveness in supporting leadership development is the environment of competitive teams, where individuals work together as a group to compete against other teams. The purpose of our research was to investigate the degree to which such a competitive environment might support or detract from student leadership group, employing a potentially effective example of a formal program that utilizes the innovative approach of team competitions to motivate learning (the CLC).
Ilke Grosemans, Anneleen Forrier and Nele De Cuyper
The purpose of this paper is to examine career engagement and perceived employability during the school-to-work transition. We studied within-person changes in career engagement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine career engagement and perceived employability during the school-to-work transition. We studied within-person changes in career engagement and perceived employability in the transition from higher education to the labor market. We investigated their dynamic reciprocal relationship to unravel whether career engagement or perceived employability is the leading indicator in the relationship in view of providing adequate support for students during the school-to-work transition.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted latent change score (LCS) analyses on a three-wave sample of 701 graduates in Flanders (Belgium). We collected data in July (right before graduation), November and May. LCS is a novel method allowing to simultaneously test change and reciprocal relationships.
Findings
Our findings demonstrated how both career engagement and perceived employability changed (within-person) non-linearly during the school-to-work transition. As for their relationship, we found that perceived employability is the driving force in the relationship. Perceived employability fueled subsequent positive changes in career engagement, whereas career engagement did not lead to subsequent changes in perceived employability.
Originality/value
Our study connects the career development and the graduate employability literature, and examines the school-to-work transition from preparation for the labor market to ten months after graduation. We also make an important methodological contribution, demonstrating the added value of LCS for studying employability in higher education. Our findings provide insights in how higher education institutions may support students in the school-to-work transition.
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Michał T. Tomczak, Paweł Ziemiański and Małgorzata Gawrycka
The study aims to examine the digital competence of young employees (under 30 years of age) who graduated from the technical university. Self-assessment of selected digital…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to examine the digital competence of young employees (under 30 years of age) who graduated from the technical university. Self-assessment of selected digital competencies was examined along with the determination of a self-efficacy level in the area of using digital competencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative research was conducted using the computer-assisted web interview method on a sample of 4532 respondents.
Findings
Young employees' self-assessment of digital competencies and self-efficacy in the area of using them is high, and it can be assumed that they perceive themselves as digitally competent. Both digital self-efficacy and assessed digital competencies have a positive impact on satisfaction with the university.
Research limitations/implications
The research sample consisted only of employees who graduated from the technical university, but the results may provide feedback on the demand for digital competencies sought in the labor market and constitute valuable information useful in university curriculum development and in vocational education and training.
Originality/value
This is the first study that focuses on the Kozanoglu and Abedin approach to the concept of digital literacy in the context of research on self-assessment and self-efficacy in using digital competencies among technical university graduates, adapting the creative self-efficacy scale by Tierney and Farmer, for measuring digital self-efficacy.
Highlights/value
Young employees' digital competencies self-assessment is high.
Young employees' self-efficacy of using digital competencies is high.
Graduating from a DT-focused department has a positive impact on satisfaction.
Digital self-efficacy has a positive impact on satisfaction with the university.
Assessed digital competencies have a positive impact on satisfaction.
Young employees' digital competencies self-assessment is high.
Young employees' self-efficacy of using digital competencies is high.
Graduating from a DT-focused department has a positive impact on satisfaction.
Digital self-efficacy has a positive impact on satisfaction with the university.
Assessed digital competencies have a positive impact on satisfaction.
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Nurgul Arslan, Jiyan Aslan Ceylan and Abdulkerim Hatipoğlu
University students are one of the vulnerable groups in terms of having nutritional problems due to their lifestyle and social environment. This study aims to determine the…
Abstract
Purpose
University students are one of the vulnerable groups in terms of having nutritional problems due to their lifestyle and social environment. This study aims to determine the consumption of fast food among university students and evaluate factors that may impact it, such as sociodemographic factors, body mass index (BMI) or nutritional habits.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was conducted among a random sample of 184 university students (47.8% men and 52.2% women) with a mean age of 21.1 ± 2.0 years. The survey included students’ sociodemographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, nutritional habits and fast-food consumption. Chi-square test, t-test and binary logistic regression analysis were used depending on the characteristics of the data.
Findings
Results indicated that 39.7% of the students consumed fast food at least once in 15 days and preferred these foods for taste, workload and social activity. Consumption of fast food occurred at an earlier age in men (%13.6) and the portions were higher than portions of vegetables (p = 0.001). By using regression analysis, a statistically significant relationship was found between the frequency of fast-food consumption and age, gender, economic status, BMI, the amount of vegetables consumed daily and the habit of eating breakfast (p < 0.05).
Research limitations/implications
It is planned to reach more students in the study. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation to students became difficult or could not be reached.
Originality/value
This study is one of the rare studies examining students’ orientation to fast food. The number of studies in this field in Turkey is limited.
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The purpose of this paper is to establish the mediating role of students’ engagement to their classes, for the conventional relationship between teachers’ efforts and students’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the mediating role of students’ engagement to their classes, for the conventional relationship between teachers’ efforts and students’ development, for a better understanding of the instruction-based classroom learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The investigation is made using a mult-istage-stratified-systematic sample of 500 students from business and engineering schools with an almost equal representation of both the genders and the type of schools’ ownership. A structural equation modeling is used for this mediation analysis.
Findings
The mediating role of students’ engagement is identically established both for business and engineering schools and for both genders. However, in public sector universities, this mediation is insignificant.
Research limitations/implications
The investigation is limited only to business and engineering schools, and this limitation may conceal some factor(s) more important for other schools. Further, the investigation is reading data from Lahore, a metropolitan, which may hide some factor(s) some appropriate for smaller cities.
Originality/value
The data are gathered, analyzed and discussed through the lens of the socio-cultural theory, allowing for a comprehensive understanding to emerge for students’ engagement to their classes.
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Luke van der Laan, Gail Ormsby, Lee Fergusson and Peter McIlveen
The purpose of the study was to specify the perceived outdated nature and lack of definitional clarity associated with the concept of work and further to outline that the nature…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study was to specify the perceived outdated nature and lack of definitional clarity associated with the concept of work and further to outline that the nature of work has dramatically changed in the 21st century, while definitions of work referenced in research remain those that were dominant in the previous century. Lastly, the study aimed to propose an updated conceptualisation and definition of work to aid future research.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping literature review was adopted as the methodology guiding the study. A scoping review is particularly suited to identifying the conceptual boundaries on a given multi-disciplinary topic and is used to map the key concepts underpinning a research area as well as to clarify working definitions.
Findings
Nine main themes underpinning the concept of work were extracted from the extant literature. These were assimilated with contemporary literature across multiple disciplines. Contexts of work as they relate to dimensions of work and workspace are developed and visualised. A proposed contemporary definition of work is presented.
Research limitations/implications
The aim of the study was to address the problem with current and future research continuing to refer to traditional conceptualisations of work, while the nature of work has dramatically changed. The findings are preliminary and intended to stimulate further discourse towards a greater consensus of a definition. The implications of proposing an updated definition of work is that it is intended to better inform future research reflective of its multi-disciplinary and significantly changed nature.
Practical implications
The implications to practice are the main impetus of this study. The authors found that research associated with work was being confounded by traditional and outdated interpretations, excluding alternative forms of work or not recognising its multi-dimensionality. It is proposed by the paper that an updated conceptualisation of the nature of work in this era, as it is reflected across disciplines and practice, would positively contribute to the understanding, management and conceptualisation of work in practice.
Originality/value
A systematic literature review across disciplines of the definition of work will reveal the outdated nature and disparate interpretation of the concept of work. An inclusive, multi-disciplinary and contemporary definition of work has not been suggested. This scoping review was conducted to address this problem and gap in the literature. Further, this paper presents a multi-dimensional and spatial conceptualisation of work that is proposed to better inform future research and practice associated with work.