Search results
1 – 10 of over 1000Katherine N. Vela, Rachelle M. Pedersen and Macie N. Baucum
This paper investigated the impact a camp on informal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) had on students' perceptions of STEM fields and careers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigated the impact a camp on informal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) had on students' perceptions of STEM fields and careers.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasiexperimental design was used to assess students' perceptions toward STEM fields and careers. Secondary students (n = 57) who participated in the STEM summer camp completed STEM projects, went on lab tours and attended panels during the one- or two-week residential camps. Students completed a STEM Semantics survey to assess their perceptions prior to and after attending the camp. Descriptive statistics, Cohen's d effect sizes, paired sample t-tests and Pearson's correlation were conducted to analyze the data.
Findings
Results suggested that although there was no significant change in students' dispositions toward each individual STEM field, there was a statistically significant improvement of students' perceptions of STEM careers (p = 0.04; d = 0.25). Furthermore, the results of the Pearson's correlation indicated that there was a statistically significant positive association between perceptions of a STEM career and perceptions in science, mathematics and engineering.
Research limitations/implications
This suggests that various components of the informal learning environment positively contributed to students' perceptions toward STEM careers. Implications from the study indicate that when students are engaged in hands-on science or STEM PBL activities and have opportunities to be exposed to various STEM careers, their perceptions of STEM pathways will improve.
Originality/value
These results may influence future curriculum and the organization of future STEM camps by encouraging teachers and camp directors to integrate practical hands-on STEM projects and expose students to potential STEM pathways through lab tours and panels of STEM professionals.
Details
Keywords
Macie N. Baucum and Robert M. Capraro
The purpose of this paper is to report the change in students' STEM perceptions in two different informal learning environments: an online STEM camp and a face-to-face (FTF) STEM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the change in students' STEM perceptions in two different informal learning environments: an online STEM camp and a face-to-face (FTF) STEM camp.
Design/methodology/approach
For this quasi-experimental study, 26 students participated in an online STEM summer camp and another 26 students participated in the FTF STEM camp. Students from each group took the same pre- and post-STEM Semantics Survey documenting their perceptions of the individual STEM fields and of STEM careers. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests, Mann–Whitney U tests and corresponding effect sizes were used to compare the pre- and post-scores within and between the camps.
Findings
Results indicate that both camps produce similar outcomes regarding STEM field and career perceptions. However, analysis of all statistical values indicates that the online STEM camp can produce a larger positive influence on STEM field perceptions and the FTF camp can produce a larger positive influence on STEM career perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
This suggests that STEM camps, both online and in-person, can improve students' perceptions of the STEM fields and of STEM careers. Implications from this study indicate that modifications of informal learning environments should be based on the type of learning environment.
Originality/value
This manuscript discusses the development and impact of an online STEM camp to accommodate for the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability to hold an in-person STEM camp. These results may influence the curriculum and organization of future online and FTF STEM camps.
Details
Keywords
Nicola Cobelli, Ludovico Bullini Orlandi and Roberto Burro
The authors investigate the role of people-related Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, specifically metaperceptions, in hearing care students' vocational decision-making. In…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors investigate the role of people-related Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, specifically metaperceptions, in hearing care students' vocational decision-making. In Italy, audiologists are health professionals and must hold a degree in hearing care. They operate according to clinical principles but must also develop marketing and commercial skills. While employers take these aspects for granted, the expectations of hearing care students often differ from reality. Thus, the authors aim to investigate the vocational expectations of hearing care students.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was distributed to 600 hearing care students. Multiple regression analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals was employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Students who perceived audiology as their calling were more interested in the clinical aspects than the marketing and commercial aspects of audiology. Moreover, those desiring a meaningful career path in audiology were more interested in becoming a store owner or franchisee.
Social implications
Universities and recruiters should consider the influence of relevant others' metaperceptions on students' self-perceptions of their aptitudes for different careers. Universities should assist students to identify aptitudes that are relevant to career-related decision-making. In this context, people-related TQM can help students avoid incorrect aspirations and expectations.
Originality/value
This study is the first to investigate the role of metaperceptions from a people-related TQM perspective. Metaperceptions play a crucial role in determining the correct course of study as well as job satisfaction and expectations.
Details
Keywords
Elza Veloso, Rodrigo Cunha da Silva, Leonardo Trevisan and Joel Dutra
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship of career anchors with three aspects: the millennials’ professional skills, the millennials’ awareness of the replacement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship of career anchors with three aspects: the millennials’ professional skills, the millennials’ awareness of the replacement of jobs with new technologies and the technological stress in the millennials’ working environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The responses of 200 questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive and variance analysis techniques.
Findings
Among the three hypotheses raised, two were confirmed, showing that these young people recognize the development of professional skills through new technologies, but are not highly sensitive to the stress associated with technological innovations.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a recent debate, which emphasizes the impact of the application of new technologies on the nature of study and employment levels.
Details
Keywords
Johanna Innerhofer, Luigi Nasta and Anita Zehrer
Although the role of human capital in the hospitality sector is critical, the industry faces challenges in attracting workers with a poor industry image frequently mentioned…
Abstract
Purpose
Although the role of human capital in the hospitality sector is critical, the industry faces challenges in attracting workers with a poor industry image frequently mentioned regarding labor shortages. This research paper attempts to investigate the factors influencing labor shortages by presenting the perspectives of employees and employers.
Design/methodology/approach
Precisely 232 rural hospitality industry employees (n = 128) and employers (n = 104) in Northern Italy were surveyed using a written close-ended online survey and a quantitative research design as part of a convenience sampling approach. For hypotheses testing, Spearman's rho was used.
Findings
A relationship between the shortage of professional workers and a variety of factors was found, including professional, digital, social and green skills, industry-intrinsic characteristics and symbolic image attributes of the industry. The findings show that some factors are more important for employees, while others are more significant for employers.
Practical implications
This study demonstrates several practical implications for the hospitality sector by addressing the under-researched stakeholder group of existing hospitality employees, e.g. improving working conditions, reduction of manual operations through digital technologies, realistic career planning, employer branding, identification of skill deficiencies and provision of specialized trainings.
Originality/value
Most research on labor shortages in the hospitality industry has focused on the perspective of either employees or employers. This study compares both perspectives, including the industry image, to gain a realistic picture of the relevant factors for a rural tourism destination in Northern Italy.
Details
Keywords
K.G. Priyashantha, W.E. Dahanayake and M.N. Maduwanthi
Research has been conducted to investigate the factors that influence career indecision. This study attempted to synthesize empirical research on career indecision to (1) find the…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has been conducted to investigate the factors that influence career indecision. This study attempted to synthesize empirical research on career indecision to (1) find the common determinants over the last two decades and (2) find the factors/areas that need to be addressed for future research on career indecision.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Following the predetermined inclusion criteria, 118 articles from the Scopus database were included for review.
Findings
From this research, the authors found four main determinants for career indecision, namely (1) career-related decision-making difficulties, (2) adolescent differences, (3) individual and situational career decision-making profiles (CDMPs) and (4) level of individual readiness for career choice, which have been researched in the last two decades. Additionally, eight factors/areas were found to be addressed in future research on career indecision which include those four common determinants, the other three determinants, namely (1) individual differences, (2) contextual/environmental factors, (3) social factors, and one outcome, subjective well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The study had limitations in conducting this research, and the findings of the study provide some theoretical and future research implications.
Practical implications
The seven determinants and the only outcome provide some implications for practitioners and policymakers.
Originality/value
The study found seven determinants and one outcome of career indecision derived from empirical studies conducted during 2000–2021.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings from an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded research project into the heritage culture of British folk tales. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss findings from an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded research project into the heritage culture of British folk tales. The project investigated how such archival source material might be made relevant to contemporary audience via processes of artistic remediation. The research considered artists as “cultural intermediaries”, i.e. as actors occupying the conceptual space between production and consumption in an artistic process.
Design/methodology/approach
Interview data is drawn from a range of 1‐2‐1 and group interviews with the artists. These interviews took place throughout the duration of the project.
Findings
When artists are engaged in a process of remediation which has a distinct arts marketing/audience development focus, they begin to intermediate between themselves and the audience/consumer. Artist perceptions of their role as “professionals of qualification” is determined by the subjective disposition required by the market context in operation at the time (in the case of this project, as commissioned artists working to a brief). Artists’ ability (and indeed willingness) to engage in this process is to a great extent proscribed by their “sense-of-self-as-artist” and an engagement with Romantic ideas of artistic autonomy.
Originality/value
A consideration of the relationship between cultural intermediation and both cultural policy and arts marketing. The artist-as-intermediary role, undertaking creative processes to mediate how goods are perceived by others, enables value-adding processes to be undertaken at the point of remediation, rather than at the stage of intermediation.
Details
Keywords
Kornélia Anna Kerti, Marloes Van Engen, Orsolya Szabó, Brigitte Kroon, Inge Bleijenbergh and Charissa Freese
The authors conducted 22 in-depth longitudinal interviews with 11 Hungarian migrant workers in the Dutch logistics sector, before and during the COVID-19 crisis, using thematic…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors conducted 22 in-depth longitudinal interviews with 11 Hungarian migrant workers in the Dutch logistics sector, before and during the COVID-19 crisis, using thematic analysis and visual life diagrams to interpret them.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to contribute to conservation of resources theory, by exploring how global crises influence the perceived employability of migrant workers in low-wage, precarious work.
Findings
The authors find that resources are key in how migrants experience the valence of global crises in their careers and perceive their employability. When unforeseen consequences of the COVID-19 crisis coincided with migrants' resource gain spirals, this instigated a positively valenced career shock, leading to positive perceptions of employability. Coincidence with loss spirals led to negative perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
The authors contribute to careers literature by showing that resources do not only help migrants cope with the impact of career shocks but also directly influence the valence of global crises in their perceived employability and careers.
Originality/value
Interestingly, when the COVID-19 crisis did not co-occur with migrants' resource gain and loss spirals, migrants experienced resource stress (psychological strain induced by the threat or actual loss of resources) and no significant change in their perceptions of employability.
Details
Keywords
Roberto Brazileiro Paixão and Márcio Arcanjo de Souza
This paper aims to evaluate the impact of Federal University of Bahia’s Business Administration graduate programs on graduates’ competency, career and income development.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evaluate the impact of Federal University of Bahia’s Business Administration graduate programs on graduates’ competency, career and income development.
Design/methodology/approach
It is a descriptive study, for which a survey was applied and the data were analyzed using quantitative techniques (descriptive analysis, factorial analysis, t-test, Mann–Whitney test and regression analysis). Data collection was conducted through an electronic questionnaire sent to the graduates in the period between 1998 and 2012.
Findings
The results show that in general, the research participants perceive competency, career and income development after the course. At the same time, a comparison between the graduates of academic and professional axes (courses) was carried out, and in general, there is a certain similarity between perceptions.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the theoretical field on evaluation of graduates, both from a methodological point of view, because of conducted statistical analysis that is complementary to other methods used, and from a practical point of view, as it offers redesign and improvement elements to the program’s curricula and teaching-learning methodologies so that it can maximize competency development, career and income of graduates.
Details
Keywords
Lindsay Portnoy, Ash Sadler and Elizabeth Zulick
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century…
Abstract
Purpose
Amidst continued calls for the democratization of access to higher education for historically underrepresented populations alongside the first global health crisis in a century lies the opportunity to address persistent societal needs: increasing access for underrepresented minority students to educational pathways that lead to careers in lucrative fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Design/methodology/approach
Student participants enrolled in the biotechnology pathway Associates, Bachelors and Masters programs share programmatic experience in an accelerated biotechnology program through a bi-annual survey grounded in the central tenets of social-cognitive career theory aimed at understanding requisite academic, social and financial support for student success.
Findings
The pathway program described in this paper emerged to address the need to support underrepresented students in degree attainment and taking on roles in the growing field of biotechnology through a novel, multi-degree, multi-institutional pathway to STEM degree attainment and career success.
Social implications
This work has advanced understanding about how to effectively align higher education institutions with each other and with evolving STEM labor market demands while documenting the impact of essential academic, career and social supports recognized in the literature as high impact practices in broadening participation and increasing retention of underrepresented minority students in lucrative STEM careers.
Originality/value
Pathway programs which best support student success include robust mentoring, experiential learning and robust student scholarship support, part of the design of this unique pathway program. The authors share how this program utilizes high impact practices to provide low-income, underrepresented minority students with supportive, accelerated biotechnology degrees in preparation for success in the job market. What's more, of all our BS-level graduates thus far, 100% are employed and 93% within the biotechnology field. For many, the opportunity to raise their family out of poverty via a stable, high paying job is directly tied to their successes within this program.
Details