Manajemen | Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji joeb.81.4.205-209
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Competencies of Undergraduate Business
Students
Jeffrey Berman & Leah Ritchie
To cite this article: Jeffrey Berman & Leah Ritchie (2006) Competencies of Undergraduate
Business Students, Journal of Education for Business, 81:4, 205-209, DOI: 10.3200/
JOEB.81.4.205-209
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.4.205-209
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 64
View related articles
Citing articles: 9 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji], [UNIVERSITAS MARITIM RA JA ALI HA JI
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Competencies of Undergraduate Business
Students
JEFFREY BERMAN
LEAH RITCHIE
SALEM STATE COLLEGE
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
ABSTRACT. The idea that one’s competencies are as important as one’s qualifications has gained acceptance in both business and academia. Business organizations
have developed sophisticated management
systems around employee competence.
There are education assessment tools that
help ascertain students’ competencies. In
this study, the authors investigated one such
tool entitled Making the Match: Base Competencies and Skill Sets. The authors conducted the study to develop an understanding of the sources of student competence
exclusive of the college curriculum. The
authors found significant correlations
between student personal characteristics,
student background characteristics, and
their work-related competencies.
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications
T
he concept of competence, long a
staple in education, has also
become a standard for excellence in
business. In business, competencies are
used for employee selection, the basis
for compensation, performance measurement, training needs assessment,
training outcomes assessment, and
strategic planning. There are corresponding programs in higher education
where students’ competencies are
assessed and students are given feedback
to guide them in their development.
There are efforts to build competency
development into the curriculum as well.
With regard to college students, an
important issue is the level of workrelated competence students have developed prior to graduation based on their
upbringing and their work experience.
In the case of business students, many
are competent because their presence in
a business education program is based
on self-selection. As part of their preparation for a business career, students
gain work experience. In addition, many
business students come from family
backgrounds from which they have
gained an understanding of business.
In this study, we attempted to ascertain how students’ competencies are
linked to their personal characteristics
and to their background characteristics.
An understanding of these links would
inform the conversation about curriculum development.
Competencies
Evers, Rush, and Berdrow (1998)
were concerned with the match between
what students learn in college programs
and what they need to know and be able
to do in the workplace. They believed
that having knowledge alone is not sufficient in today’s society; students need
to adapt to change and to apply their
knowledge to solving problems. Hence,
Evers et al. believed that education
should impart skills and competencies.
A first step in the development of a
normative measure of student competence was the development of a set of
competencies that were universal
enough so that it could be said that all
college graduates should have them
regardless of their field of study. Evers
et al. (1998) developed a set of base
competencies that they believed every
college graduate should possess; they
derived these base competencies from
an empirical study. As part of their
study, they developed a measurement
instrument. Their study contains quantitative results from 1,610 undergraduates
and graduates of five universities in
which they used the measurement
instrument entitled Making the Match:
Base Competencies and Skill Sets. The
names of the four base competency
scales they developed were: (a) managing self, (b) communicating, (c) managing people and tasks, and (d) managing
March/April 2006
205
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innovation and change. In general, students and graduates consistently rate
themselves higher in skills in the managing self and communicating base
competencies and lower in managing
people and tasks and mobilizing innovation and change base competencies.
Biographical Data
respond, so they are likely to respond
honestly.
Grade Point Average (GPA)
GPA is a familiar statistic. College
GPA is strongly related to a student’s
academic performance in high school.
In college, it differentiates between students’ performance across the entire
range of their coursework. In addition,
its significance goes beyond an individual’s record of academic performance.
GPA has been shown to predict two
important work outcomes—performance ratings and training outcomes.
GPA is a measure of human capital.
The theory of human capital was created by economists’ inquiry into the role
of the human factor in economic
growth. Education and training are
considered investments that people
make in their productive capability and
are the most important investments in
human capital. Many studies have
shown that high school and college
education in the United States greatly
raise a person’s income, even after net-
ting out direct and indirect costs of
schooling, and even after adjusting for
the fact that people with more education tend to have higher IQs and better
educated and richer parents than people do with lower IQs.
Today, GPA is a much-maligned
measure because of the phenomenon of
grade inflation. Variations in GPA at the
high school level are leveled out by college entrance examinations. However,
there are pressures to downplay these
examinations because of their cultural
unfairness. It will be a long time before
a replacement for the SAT exam can
demonstrate the same relationship to
college performance that the SAT has
achieved. This trend is disturbing. If
college GPA loses credibility, there is
no fallback measure. College grades are
often the last objective performance
report to occur before a student’s entry
into the permanent workforce. At this
point, there is no reason to believe that
college GPA has lost its meaning in
terms of ranking students’ academic
performance.
We selected biographical data (biodata) as a means of understanding how
students acquire competence outside of
the curriculum. Bio-data are defined as
information concerning an individual’s
personal life history and experience. Biodata refer to the various sorts of information individuals are frequently required to
provide when writing their curriculum
vitae (résumés), filling out application
forms for jobs, and answering questions
during interviews. One characteristic of
bio-data that is little challenged is their
ability to predict a variety of work-related
criteria. Bio-data tend to be atheoretical.
If anything, theory flows from measurement in the sense that people try to derive
a theory to explain their results. What is
most significant is that
bio-data are a reflection
TABLE 1. Correlation Matrix for Students’ Characteristics and Competencies and the Four
of the past behavior of an
Factors of the Scale “Making the Match: Base Competencies and Skills” (Evers, Rush, &
individual. There is a
Berman, 1998)
strong belief among
employment selection
Variable
M
SD
1
2
3
4
5
experts that past behavior
is the best predictor of
1. Hours worked per week
24.3
10.5
1.0
future behavior. By using
2. SAT mathematics score
5.0a
1.9
.14
1.0
bio-data to validate out3. SAT verbal score
4.7a
1.7
.18*
.67*
1.0
come assessment mea4. Rank in high school class
3.6a
1.2
.08
.22**
.25** 1.0
sures, one can learn
5. Proximity to campus
.22a
.42
–.21**
.17*
.14
.04
1.0
6. Age of first month-long trip
something about their
away from home
2.5a
1.2
.09
.17*
.07
.03
.08
meaning beyond their
7.
Age
of
first
trip
of
100+
miles
face validity. Bio-data
taken alone
2.7a
1.3
.06
–.14
–.18*
–.08
.07
correlates of competency
8. % of class go to college
1.7a
.83
–.02
–.03
–.03
.33**
.09
measures can be viewed
9. Father graduated college
.35a
.48
.06
.14
.19*
.00
.02
10. Risk preference
1.8a
.69
–.08
.02
.07
–.05
.06
as past behavior, but
11. Competitiveness
1.7a
.68
–.03
–.02
–.04
–.09
.01
causality is not implied.
12. Managing Self
4.0a
.58
–.09
–.10
–.07
.17*
.26**
Of course, the relation13. Communicating
4.0a
.62
–.14
–.07
.08
.12
.16*
ship of bio-data to job
14. Managing Others
3.9a
.58
–.03
–.16*
–.01
.12
.13
performance must be
15. Managing Change
3.7a
.59
–.06
–.12
–.01
.08
.13
16. Grade Point Average
2.79
.53
–.21*
.19*
.21*
.31**
.07
demonstrated as well.
The nature of bio-data
a
Mean scores represent responses to scales, not literal values associated with the variable. The number of subjects for each
research is that the biovariable in the correlation analysis follows: hours worked per week, N = 161; SAT mathematics score, N = 149; SAT vergraphical items are diffibal score, N = 148; rank in high school class, N = 184; proximity to college campus, N = 193; age first month away from
cult for respondents to
home, N = 193; age first time away from home, N = 191; per cent of high school class attending college, N = 183; father
attended college, N = 193; risk preference, N = 193; competitiveness, N = 192; Managing Self, N = 192; Communicating,
fake. They cannot easily
N = 192; Managing Others, N = 189; Managing Change, N = 192; college grade point average, N = 156.
determine the socially
*p < .05. **p < .01.
desirable direction to
206
Journal of Education for Business
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Research Proposition
this analysis will have relevance for policy decisions that relate to full-time students.
On the survey, students were required
to rate their competencies (from very
low to very high) on 17 scales. The survey instrument, developed by Evers et
al. (1998), was entitled Making the
Match: Base Competencies and Skill
Sets. The instrument measures 17 skills
included in four factors. Factor 1, Managing Self, consisted of the following
items: (a) learning, (b) personal organization and time management, (c) personal strengths, and (d) problem solving
and analytical skills. Factor 2, Communicating, consisted of (a) interpersonal,
(b) listening, (c) oral communication,
and (d) written communication items.
Factor 3, Managing People and Tasks
(i.e., managing others), consisted of the
following items: (a) decision making,
(b) leadership or influence, (c) risktaking, (d) conflict management, and (e)
planning and organizing. Factor 4,
Mobilizing Innovation and Change (i.e.,
managing change), consisted of items
We proposed that relationships exist
between student personal characteristics, student background characteristics,
and their self-perceived competencies.
Student personal characteristics refer to
intelligence and personality. Student
background characteristics refer to
upbringing, interests and activities, and
work experience.
METHOD
We collected the bio-data in the context of an outcome assessment study
conducted among juniors and seniors of
the school of business at Salem State
College, Salem, Massachusetts, in 2002.
We collected the data by means of a
paper and pencil questionnaire. We
included only day students of the college in the data analysis. These students
represent 77% of the participants. Day
students attend the college full time,
whereas nontraditional students (23%
of the students who participated in the
study) attend part time. The results of
measuring (a) visioning; (b) coordinating; (c) ability to conceptualize; and (d)
creativity, innovation, and change.
To assess the homogeneity of these
factors, we conducted a reliability
analysis. We analyzed the data collected
in the present study; Cronbach’s alpha
for each of the factors was as follows:
Managing Self, α = .70; Communicating, α = .72; Managing People and
Tasks (managing others), α = .82;
Mobilizing Innovation and Change
(managing change), α = .76.
We asked students to complete a biographical index, which included demographic information. Other questions
were college entrance examination
scores, rank in class in high school,
family issues of the adolescent years,
extracurricular activities in high school
and college, and employment history.
We queried students about their interests, extracurricular activities, work
experience, family background, and satisfaction with their educational experience. We obtained college GPA from
college records.
RESULTS
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
.01
–.10
–.10
–.18*
–.02
.02
.10
.16*
–.15
1.0
–.05
.01
.05
.07
.05
.19*
.09
.10
1.0
–.02
.00
.23**
.10
.19*
.03
.00
1.0
.20**
.00
.02
–.01
–.15*
.05
1.0
–.05
–.03
–.06
–.16*
.05
1.0
.51**
.65**
.56**
.23**
1.0
.62**
.49**
.11
1.0
.59**
.05
1.0
.07
1.0
1.0
.31**
.15*
.02
–.20**
–.02
.02
.11
.18*
.18*
.09
We investigated the
research proposition by
means of correlation
analysis. We constructed
a correlation matrix to
show some of the relationships. In the matrix,
we included 13 measures
of personal characteristics
of students and student
competencies. We used
the Pearson correlation
coefficient with the following variables: Hours
worked per week; SAT
mathematics score; SAT
verbal score; rank in high
school class; proximity to
college campus; age first
month away from home;
age first time more than
100 miles away from
home; percentage of high
school class attending
college; risk preference;
competitiveness; managing self; communicating;
March/April 2006
207
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managing others; managing change; and
college GPA. We used point biserial correlation with proximity of residence to
Salem State College and student’s father
attended college. The number of participants in the analysis was not uniform for
each variable. Because some students did
not remember SAT scores, numbers are
lower for these items. Table 1 shows the
correlations we obtained.
Four personal characteristics correlated with the Managing Self factor.
There was a correlation of r = .26 (p <
.01) between proximity to the college
and Managing Self, indicating that students living on campus or on their own
in an apartment are more independent
than students living at home and commuting to college. There was a correlation of r = .23 (p < .01) between student’s father has a college degree and
Managing Self, suggesting that students whose fathers graduated from
college have a different perspective
than those students whose fathers were
not college graduates. There was also a
correlation of r = .17 (p < .05) between
students’ high school class rank and
Managing Self and a correlation of r =
.23 (p < .01) between college GPA and
Managing Self.
Three personal characteristics correlated with Managing Change. The first
was age of first month-long trip away
from home (r = .18, p < .05). Trips taken
at a younger age lead to a perception of
better ability to manage change, and
travel at a young age also gives students
coping skills, which may explain the
correlation. The second characteristic
that correlated with managing change
was age of first trip of more than 100
miles alone (r = .16, p < .05). The
younger the students were at the time of
the trip, the better they perceived themselves at Managing Change. The last
characteristic that correlated with Managing Change was preference for taking
risks (r = −.15, p < .05). Students who
were risk averse as teenagers were more
likely to view themselves as competent
at managing change.
Four personal characteristics correlated with Managing Others. There was
a correlation of r = .19 (p < .05)
between a student’s father graduating
from college and managing others,
indicating that whether a student’s
208
Journal of Education for Business
father graduated from college had an
influence on the student’s perceived
managerial skill. Students whose
fathers graduated from college specifically had greater perceived people management skills. Also, there was a correlation between the percentage of
students’ high school classes going to
college and Managing Others (r = .19,
p < .05). Students who graduated from
high schools that sent a larger proportion of students to college had higher
perceived people management skills
than did students graduating from high
schools that sent fewer graduates to college, which is a reflection of the interpersonal skills acquired during the high
school experience. In addition, there
was a correlation of r = .18 (p < .05)
between students’ ages during their first
month-long trip away from home and
Managing Others. The younger the students were at the time of the trip, the
better they perceived themselves at
managing others.
There was one correlation between
bio-data and Communicating. Proximity to Salem State College correlated
with perceived competence in communication skills (r = .16, p < .05).
Other bio-data measures did not
show any relationship with the study
criteria. Those measures were (a)
whether a student’s mother graduated
from college; (b) whether students
agreed with the ideas presented to them
in college lectures; (c) the source of a
student’s spending money in high
school; (d) the hours a student worked
on a part-time job in high school; (e)
the age at which the student first earned
money; (f) the number of older siblings
the student had; (g) the number of
younger siblings the student had; (h)
whether a student was a member of the
armed forces; (i) the number of hours
of physical exercise a student had as a
teenager; (j) the leadership positions
the student held in high school; (k)
whether a student worked during summer vacations in high school; (l) the age
at which a student graduated from high
school; (m) leadership positions that
the student held in college; (n) whether
a student was included in family activities as a teenager; and (o) a student’s
preferred level of competitiveness as a
teenager.
DISCUSSION
With regard to the issue of common
method variance, there was little overlap between bio-data measures and the
perceived competency scales. We considered bio-data difficult for respondents to fake because they do not know
in which direction to fake. We obtained
the competency measures by means of
Likert scales. These scales were
methodologically very different from
the bio-data questions used in the study.
We addressed the sources of the students’ competence by the correlations
we discovered in this study. The results
indicate that competence is acquired
partially as a result of personal characteristics and experiences outside of the
school environment. The items that were
most correlated with students’ selfperceived competence were: (a) father’s
educational background; (b) rank in high
school class; (c) GPA; (d) quality of high
school; (e) independence as a teenager;
and (f) boarding versus commuting status. However, the results do not indicate
causality because they are based on correlations. The specific relationships
between bio-data measures and competency measures could not have been predicted. However, if they are replicated
they will be very credible indicators of
the relationship of personal characteristics and background characteristics to
students’ competencies.
Using outcome assessment data to
inform faculty decision making is a current topic of interest. On December 28,
2000, The Boston Globe stated that “a
recent national report on higher education decried the lack of educational performance statistics for college students”
(Abel, p. B1). In that article, Bob Zemsky of the University of Pennsylvania
Institute of Research on Higher Education stated, “The quest for reliable outcome measure has become something of
a holy grail for education researchers”
and Arthur Levine, President of Columbia Teachers College, claimed, “We are
spending billions and billions on higher
education, but we don’t know what students are learning or how much they’re
learning” (Abel, p. B1). In The National
Education Association Advocate (2001)
Martha Stassen and Mary Deane Sorcinelli of the University of Massachu-
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji], [UNIVERSITAS MARITIM RAJA ALI HAJI TANJUNGPINANG, KEPULAUAN RIAU] at 17:59 12 January 2016
setts, Amherst, said, “Our offices of
Institutional Assessment and Faculty
Development have been working with
faculty to identify ways to make assessment actually useful in informing the
teaching and learning enterprise.” They
believed that the systematic collection
and analysis of information to improve
student learning is part of that process.
Our study is a step in the direction of
providing concrete data on outcomes for
the purpose of informing debate on
improvement of the teaching and learning process.
NOTE
Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Jeffrey Berman, Professor,
Department of Management, School of Business,
Salem State College, 352 Lafayette Street, Salem,
Massachusetts 01970–5353.
REFERENCES
Abel, D. (2000, December 28). Measuring what
college students learn proves elusive. The
Boston Globe, p. B1.
Evers, F., Rush, J., & Berdrow, I. (1998). The bases
of competence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stassen, M., & Scorcinelli, M. D. (2001, February). Thriving in academe: Making assessment
matter. The National Education Association
Advocate. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from
http://www2.nea.org/he/advo01/advo0102/front
.html
March/April 2006
209
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Competencies of Undergraduate Business
Students
Jeffrey Berman & Leah Ritchie
To cite this article: Jeffrey Berman & Leah Ritchie (2006) Competencies of Undergraduate
Business Students, Journal of Education for Business, 81:4, 205-209, DOI: 10.3200/
JOEB.81.4.205-209
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JOEB.81.4.205-209
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 64
View related articles
Citing articles: 9 View citing articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=vjeb20
Download by: [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji], [UNIVERSITAS MARITIM RA JA ALI HA JI
TANJUNGPINANG, KEPULAUAN RIAU]
Date: 12 January 2016, At: 17:59
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Competencies of Undergraduate Business
Students
JEFFREY BERMAN
LEAH RITCHIE
SALEM STATE COLLEGE
SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS
ABSTRACT. The idea that one’s competencies are as important as one’s qualifications has gained acceptance in both business and academia. Business organizations
have developed sophisticated management
systems around employee competence.
There are education assessment tools that
help ascertain students’ competencies. In
this study, the authors investigated one such
tool entitled Making the Match: Base Competencies and Skill Sets. The authors conducted the study to develop an understanding of the sources of student competence
exclusive of the college curriculum. The
authors found significant correlations
between student personal characteristics,
student background characteristics, and
their work-related competencies.
Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications
T
he concept of competence, long a
staple in education, has also
become a standard for excellence in
business. In business, competencies are
used for employee selection, the basis
for compensation, performance measurement, training needs assessment,
training outcomes assessment, and
strategic planning. There are corresponding programs in higher education
where students’ competencies are
assessed and students are given feedback
to guide them in their development.
There are efforts to build competency
development into the curriculum as well.
With regard to college students, an
important issue is the level of workrelated competence students have developed prior to graduation based on their
upbringing and their work experience.
In the case of business students, many
are competent because their presence in
a business education program is based
on self-selection. As part of their preparation for a business career, students
gain work experience. In addition, many
business students come from family
backgrounds from which they have
gained an understanding of business.
In this study, we attempted to ascertain how students’ competencies are
linked to their personal characteristics
and to their background characteristics.
An understanding of these links would
inform the conversation about curriculum development.
Competencies
Evers, Rush, and Berdrow (1998)
were concerned with the match between
what students learn in college programs
and what they need to know and be able
to do in the workplace. They believed
that having knowledge alone is not sufficient in today’s society; students need
to adapt to change and to apply their
knowledge to solving problems. Hence,
Evers et al. believed that education
should impart skills and competencies.
A first step in the development of a
normative measure of student competence was the development of a set of
competencies that were universal
enough so that it could be said that all
college graduates should have them
regardless of their field of study. Evers
et al. (1998) developed a set of base
competencies that they believed every
college graduate should possess; they
derived these base competencies from
an empirical study. As part of their
study, they developed a measurement
instrument. Their study contains quantitative results from 1,610 undergraduates
and graduates of five universities in
which they used the measurement
instrument entitled Making the Match:
Base Competencies and Skill Sets. The
names of the four base competency
scales they developed were: (a) managing self, (b) communicating, (c) managing people and tasks, and (d) managing
March/April 2006
205
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji], [UNIVERSITAS MARITIM RAJA ALI HAJI TANJUNGPINANG, KEPULAUAN RIAU] at 17:59 12 January 2016
innovation and change. In general, students and graduates consistently rate
themselves higher in skills in the managing self and communicating base
competencies and lower in managing
people and tasks and mobilizing innovation and change base competencies.
Biographical Data
respond, so they are likely to respond
honestly.
Grade Point Average (GPA)
GPA is a familiar statistic. College
GPA is strongly related to a student’s
academic performance in high school.
In college, it differentiates between students’ performance across the entire
range of their coursework. In addition,
its significance goes beyond an individual’s record of academic performance.
GPA has been shown to predict two
important work outcomes—performance ratings and training outcomes.
GPA is a measure of human capital.
The theory of human capital was created by economists’ inquiry into the role
of the human factor in economic
growth. Education and training are
considered investments that people
make in their productive capability and
are the most important investments in
human capital. Many studies have
shown that high school and college
education in the United States greatly
raise a person’s income, even after net-
ting out direct and indirect costs of
schooling, and even after adjusting for
the fact that people with more education tend to have higher IQs and better
educated and richer parents than people do with lower IQs.
Today, GPA is a much-maligned
measure because of the phenomenon of
grade inflation. Variations in GPA at the
high school level are leveled out by college entrance examinations. However,
there are pressures to downplay these
examinations because of their cultural
unfairness. It will be a long time before
a replacement for the SAT exam can
demonstrate the same relationship to
college performance that the SAT has
achieved. This trend is disturbing. If
college GPA loses credibility, there is
no fallback measure. College grades are
often the last objective performance
report to occur before a student’s entry
into the permanent workforce. At this
point, there is no reason to believe that
college GPA has lost its meaning in
terms of ranking students’ academic
performance.
We selected biographical data (biodata) as a means of understanding how
students acquire competence outside of
the curriculum. Bio-data are defined as
information concerning an individual’s
personal life history and experience. Biodata refer to the various sorts of information individuals are frequently required to
provide when writing their curriculum
vitae (résumés), filling out application
forms for jobs, and answering questions
during interviews. One characteristic of
bio-data that is little challenged is their
ability to predict a variety of work-related
criteria. Bio-data tend to be atheoretical.
If anything, theory flows from measurement in the sense that people try to derive
a theory to explain their results. What is
most significant is that
bio-data are a reflection
TABLE 1. Correlation Matrix for Students’ Characteristics and Competencies and the Four
of the past behavior of an
Factors of the Scale “Making the Match: Base Competencies and Skills” (Evers, Rush, &
individual. There is a
Berman, 1998)
strong belief among
employment selection
Variable
M
SD
1
2
3
4
5
experts that past behavior
is the best predictor of
1. Hours worked per week
24.3
10.5
1.0
future behavior. By using
2. SAT mathematics score
5.0a
1.9
.14
1.0
bio-data to validate out3. SAT verbal score
4.7a
1.7
.18*
.67*
1.0
come assessment mea4. Rank in high school class
3.6a
1.2
.08
.22**
.25** 1.0
sures, one can learn
5. Proximity to campus
.22a
.42
–.21**
.17*
.14
.04
1.0
6. Age of first month-long trip
something about their
away from home
2.5a
1.2
.09
.17*
.07
.03
.08
meaning beyond their
7.
Age
of
first
trip
of
100+
miles
face validity. Bio-data
taken alone
2.7a
1.3
.06
–.14
–.18*
–.08
.07
correlates of competency
8. % of class go to college
1.7a
.83
–.02
–.03
–.03
.33**
.09
measures can be viewed
9. Father graduated college
.35a
.48
.06
.14
.19*
.00
.02
10. Risk preference
1.8a
.69
–.08
.02
.07
–.05
.06
as past behavior, but
11. Competitiveness
1.7a
.68
–.03
–.02
–.04
–.09
.01
causality is not implied.
12. Managing Self
4.0a
.58
–.09
–.10
–.07
.17*
.26**
Of course, the relation13. Communicating
4.0a
.62
–.14
–.07
.08
.12
.16*
ship of bio-data to job
14. Managing Others
3.9a
.58
–.03
–.16*
–.01
.12
.13
performance must be
15. Managing Change
3.7a
.59
–.06
–.12
–.01
.08
.13
16. Grade Point Average
2.79
.53
–.21*
.19*
.21*
.31**
.07
demonstrated as well.
The nature of bio-data
a
Mean scores represent responses to scales, not literal values associated with the variable. The number of subjects for each
research is that the biovariable in the correlation analysis follows: hours worked per week, N = 161; SAT mathematics score, N = 149; SAT vergraphical items are diffibal score, N = 148; rank in high school class, N = 184; proximity to college campus, N = 193; age first month away from
cult for respondents to
home, N = 193; age first time away from home, N = 191; per cent of high school class attending college, N = 183; father
attended college, N = 193; risk preference, N = 193; competitiveness, N = 192; Managing Self, N = 192; Communicating,
fake. They cannot easily
N = 192; Managing Others, N = 189; Managing Change, N = 192; college grade point average, N = 156.
determine the socially
*p < .05. **p < .01.
desirable direction to
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Journal of Education for Business
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Research Proposition
this analysis will have relevance for policy decisions that relate to full-time students.
On the survey, students were required
to rate their competencies (from very
low to very high) on 17 scales. The survey instrument, developed by Evers et
al. (1998), was entitled Making the
Match: Base Competencies and Skill
Sets. The instrument measures 17 skills
included in four factors. Factor 1, Managing Self, consisted of the following
items: (a) learning, (b) personal organization and time management, (c) personal strengths, and (d) problem solving
and analytical skills. Factor 2, Communicating, consisted of (a) interpersonal,
(b) listening, (c) oral communication,
and (d) written communication items.
Factor 3, Managing People and Tasks
(i.e., managing others), consisted of the
following items: (a) decision making,
(b) leadership or influence, (c) risktaking, (d) conflict management, and (e)
planning and organizing. Factor 4,
Mobilizing Innovation and Change (i.e.,
managing change), consisted of items
We proposed that relationships exist
between student personal characteristics, student background characteristics,
and their self-perceived competencies.
Student personal characteristics refer to
intelligence and personality. Student
background characteristics refer to
upbringing, interests and activities, and
work experience.
METHOD
We collected the bio-data in the context of an outcome assessment study
conducted among juniors and seniors of
the school of business at Salem State
College, Salem, Massachusetts, in 2002.
We collected the data by means of a
paper and pencil questionnaire. We
included only day students of the college in the data analysis. These students
represent 77% of the participants. Day
students attend the college full time,
whereas nontraditional students (23%
of the students who participated in the
study) attend part time. The results of
measuring (a) visioning; (b) coordinating; (c) ability to conceptualize; and (d)
creativity, innovation, and change.
To assess the homogeneity of these
factors, we conducted a reliability
analysis. We analyzed the data collected
in the present study; Cronbach’s alpha
for each of the factors was as follows:
Managing Self, α = .70; Communicating, α = .72; Managing People and
Tasks (managing others), α = .82;
Mobilizing Innovation and Change
(managing change), α = .76.
We asked students to complete a biographical index, which included demographic information. Other questions
were college entrance examination
scores, rank in class in high school,
family issues of the adolescent years,
extracurricular activities in high school
and college, and employment history.
We queried students about their interests, extracurricular activities, work
experience, family background, and satisfaction with their educational experience. We obtained college GPA from
college records.
RESULTS
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
.01
–.10
–.10
–.18*
–.02
.02
.10
.16*
–.15
1.0
–.05
.01
.05
.07
.05
.19*
.09
.10
1.0
–.02
.00
.23**
.10
.19*
.03
.00
1.0
.20**
.00
.02
–.01
–.15*
.05
1.0
–.05
–.03
–.06
–.16*
.05
1.0
.51**
.65**
.56**
.23**
1.0
.62**
.49**
.11
1.0
.59**
.05
1.0
.07
1.0
1.0
.31**
.15*
.02
–.20**
–.02
.02
.11
.18*
.18*
.09
We investigated the
research proposition by
means of correlation
analysis. We constructed
a correlation matrix to
show some of the relationships. In the matrix,
we included 13 measures
of personal characteristics
of students and student
competencies. We used
the Pearson correlation
coefficient with the following variables: Hours
worked per week; SAT
mathematics score; SAT
verbal score; rank in high
school class; proximity to
college campus; age first
month away from home;
age first time more than
100 miles away from
home; percentage of high
school class attending
college; risk preference;
competitiveness; managing self; communicating;
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managing others; managing change; and
college GPA. We used point biserial correlation with proximity of residence to
Salem State College and student’s father
attended college. The number of participants in the analysis was not uniform for
each variable. Because some students did
not remember SAT scores, numbers are
lower for these items. Table 1 shows the
correlations we obtained.
Four personal characteristics correlated with the Managing Self factor.
There was a correlation of r = .26 (p <
.01) between proximity to the college
and Managing Self, indicating that students living on campus or on their own
in an apartment are more independent
than students living at home and commuting to college. There was a correlation of r = .23 (p < .01) between student’s father has a college degree and
Managing Self, suggesting that students whose fathers graduated from
college have a different perspective
than those students whose fathers were
not college graduates. There was also a
correlation of r = .17 (p < .05) between
students’ high school class rank and
Managing Self and a correlation of r =
.23 (p < .01) between college GPA and
Managing Self.
Three personal characteristics correlated with Managing Change. The first
was age of first month-long trip away
from home (r = .18, p < .05). Trips taken
at a younger age lead to a perception of
better ability to manage change, and
travel at a young age also gives students
coping skills, which may explain the
correlation. The second characteristic
that correlated with managing change
was age of first trip of more than 100
miles alone (r = .16, p < .05). The
younger the students were at the time of
the trip, the better they perceived themselves at Managing Change. The last
characteristic that correlated with Managing Change was preference for taking
risks (r = −.15, p < .05). Students who
were risk averse as teenagers were more
likely to view themselves as competent
at managing change.
Four personal characteristics correlated with Managing Others. There was
a correlation of r = .19 (p < .05)
between a student’s father graduating
from college and managing others,
indicating that whether a student’s
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Journal of Education for Business
father graduated from college had an
influence on the student’s perceived
managerial skill. Students whose
fathers graduated from college specifically had greater perceived people management skills. Also, there was a correlation between the percentage of
students’ high school classes going to
college and Managing Others (r = .19,
p < .05). Students who graduated from
high schools that sent a larger proportion of students to college had higher
perceived people management skills
than did students graduating from high
schools that sent fewer graduates to college, which is a reflection of the interpersonal skills acquired during the high
school experience. In addition, there
was a correlation of r = .18 (p < .05)
between students’ ages during their first
month-long trip away from home and
Managing Others. The younger the students were at the time of the trip, the
better they perceived themselves at
managing others.
There was one correlation between
bio-data and Communicating. Proximity to Salem State College correlated
with perceived competence in communication skills (r = .16, p < .05).
Other bio-data measures did not
show any relationship with the study
criteria. Those measures were (a)
whether a student’s mother graduated
from college; (b) whether students
agreed with the ideas presented to them
in college lectures; (c) the source of a
student’s spending money in high
school; (d) the hours a student worked
on a part-time job in high school; (e)
the age at which the student first earned
money; (f) the number of older siblings
the student had; (g) the number of
younger siblings the student had; (h)
whether a student was a member of the
armed forces; (i) the number of hours
of physical exercise a student had as a
teenager; (j) the leadership positions
the student held in high school; (k)
whether a student worked during summer vacations in high school; (l) the age
at which a student graduated from high
school; (m) leadership positions that
the student held in college; (n) whether
a student was included in family activities as a teenager; and (o) a student’s
preferred level of competitiveness as a
teenager.
DISCUSSION
With regard to the issue of common
method variance, there was little overlap between bio-data measures and the
perceived competency scales. We considered bio-data difficult for respondents to fake because they do not know
in which direction to fake. We obtained
the competency measures by means of
Likert scales. These scales were
methodologically very different from
the bio-data questions used in the study.
We addressed the sources of the students’ competence by the correlations
we discovered in this study. The results
indicate that competence is acquired
partially as a result of personal characteristics and experiences outside of the
school environment. The items that were
most correlated with students’ selfperceived competence were: (a) father’s
educational background; (b) rank in high
school class; (c) GPA; (d) quality of high
school; (e) independence as a teenager;
and (f) boarding versus commuting status. However, the results do not indicate
causality because they are based on correlations. The specific relationships
between bio-data measures and competency measures could not have been predicted. However, if they are replicated
they will be very credible indicators of
the relationship of personal characteristics and background characteristics to
students’ competencies.
Using outcome assessment data to
inform faculty decision making is a current topic of interest. On December 28,
2000, The Boston Globe stated that “a
recent national report on higher education decried the lack of educational performance statistics for college students”
(Abel, p. B1). In that article, Bob Zemsky of the University of Pennsylvania
Institute of Research on Higher Education stated, “The quest for reliable outcome measure has become something of
a holy grail for education researchers”
and Arthur Levine, President of Columbia Teachers College, claimed, “We are
spending billions and billions on higher
education, but we don’t know what students are learning or how much they’re
learning” (Abel, p. B1). In The National
Education Association Advocate (2001)
Martha Stassen and Mary Deane Sorcinelli of the University of Massachu-
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji], [UNIVERSITAS MARITIM RAJA ALI HAJI TANJUNGPINANG, KEPULAUAN RIAU] at 17:59 12 January 2016
setts, Amherst, said, “Our offices of
Institutional Assessment and Faculty
Development have been working with
faculty to identify ways to make assessment actually useful in informing the
teaching and learning enterprise.” They
believed that the systematic collection
and analysis of information to improve
student learning is part of that process.
Our study is a step in the direction of
providing concrete data on outcomes for
the purpose of informing debate on
improvement of the teaching and learning process.
NOTE
Correspondence concerning this article should
be addressed to Jeffrey Berman, Professor,
Department of Management, School of Business,
Salem State College, 352 Lafayette Street, Salem,
Massachusetts 01970–5353.
REFERENCES
Abel, D. (2000, December 28). Measuring what
college students learn proves elusive. The
Boston Globe, p. B1.
Evers, F., Rush, J., & Berdrow, I. (1998). The bases
of competence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Stassen, M., & Scorcinelli, M. D. (2001, February). Thriving in academe: Making assessment
matter. The National Education Association
Advocate. Retrieved February 9, 2006, from
http://www2.nea.org/he/advo01/advo0102/front
.html
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