Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1996

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

Joyce E. A. Russell

Committee Members

Michael Rush, John Lounsbury, Dudley Dewhirst, Gregory Dobbins

Abstract

This study examined several factors that were hypothesized to be related to the effectiveness of a career development workshop. Previous literature in the areas of career development and training was used to identify individual difference variables expected to be related to reactions to the workshop, knowledge after the workshop (career insight and knowledge of individual development planning), and behaviors after the workshop (career planning and seeking developmental activities.) It was hypothesized that job involvement and perceived job insecurity would be positively related to participant reactions to the workshop. It was further hypothesized that job involvement, perceived job insecurity, and supervisor support for career development would each be related to knowledge after the workshop with motivation to learn mediating each of the relationships. Similar hypotheses were proposed regarding behaviors after the workshop. Specifically, it was hypothesized that job involvement, perceived job insecurity, and supervisor support for career development would be related to behaviors after the workshop with motivation to transfer mediating the relationships. Finally, locus of control was expected to have a positive relationship with career development behaviors after the workshop, and self- efficacy was expected to moderate that relationship.

Data was collected through a series of three surveys. A pre-test was administered approximately two weeks prior to the workshop, a post-test was administered immediately after the workshop, and a follow-up survey was sent to participants three to six months after the workshop. The sample for the study included 252 workshop participants, 247 of whom completed the pre-test and post-test and 36 of whom completed the pre-test and follow-up survey.

In addition to the hypotheses under question, two research questions were also examined, one related to the effectiveness of the workshop and one related to intercorrelations among criteria for workshop effectiveness. Results indicated that the career development workshop was effective in that participants had positive reactions, reported higher levels of career insight and knowledge of individual development planning after the workshop, and reported higher levels of career planning (though not seeking developmental activities) after the workshop. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between reactions and each of the knowledge measures and between knowledge of individual development planning and each of the behavior measures.

The results related to the hypotheses were generally not supportive. Only one hypothesis was supported by the data, and another received partial support. Perceived job insecurity did have a significant positive correlation with reactions to the workshop. In addition, self-efficacy moderated the relationship between locus of control and one of the career development behavior variables (seeking developmental activities).

The remaining hypotheses were not supported by the data. There was not a significant correlation between job involvement and reactions to the workshop. Motivation to learn did not mediate the relationships between job involvement, perceived job insecurity, and supervisor support and career development knowledge after the workshop. Motivation to transfer also did not have the expected mediated effect between the individual difference variables and the career development behaviors. Finally, there was not a significant correlation between locus of control and the behaviors.

Possible explanations for these results are discussed in Chapter V. Contributions of the study to theory, research and practice are also discussed, as well as limitations and suggestions for future research.

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