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Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

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<strong>Challenges</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Era</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Globalization</strong><br />

Edited by Emmanuel Obuah<br />

developed EI competencies ( Pool & Sewell, 2007), s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>in</strong>dividuals with a high level <strong>of</strong> EI motivate<br />

<strong>the</strong>mselves and o<strong>the</strong>rs to achieve more, enjoy more career success, have better health and build<br />

stronger personal relationships than those with lower levels <strong>of</strong> emotional <strong>in</strong>telligence (Cooper, 1997).<br />

In light <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> above discussion, <strong>the</strong> follow<strong>in</strong>g hypo<strong>the</strong>ses are now advanced:<br />

H1: Women students will be rated as hav<strong>in</strong>g more employability skills than men students<br />

H2: There is no difference <strong>in</strong> trait EI scores between men and women students.<br />

H3: EI will predict more employability <strong>in</strong> a high trait EI student group than <strong>in</strong> a low trait EI student<br />

group.<br />

Method: The study was carried out <strong>in</strong> two phases:<br />

Phase 1<br />

At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> second year <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Faculty at UCU, students are required to undergo <strong>in</strong>ternship<br />

for two months as part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir course work. Students develop l<strong>in</strong>ks with employers by look<strong>in</strong>g for<br />

placements <strong>in</strong> various organisations where <strong>the</strong>y work <strong>in</strong> various capacities under <strong>the</strong> guidance <strong>of</strong> a<br />

supervisor with<strong>in</strong> that organisation. This enables <strong>the</strong>m to apply <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>the</strong>y have <strong>in</strong>to a work<strong>in</strong>g<br />

context. A Lecturer visits <strong>the</strong> organisation one month after <strong>the</strong> student has commenced <strong>the</strong> exercise to<br />

assess <strong>the</strong> progress <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> student. At <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> two months, <strong>the</strong> agency supervisor is requested to fill<br />

out a questionnaire provided by <strong>the</strong> university, <strong>in</strong> which he /she evaluates <strong>the</strong> technical and non technical<br />

skills <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> student, besides o<strong>the</strong>r relevant questions perta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g to <strong>the</strong> exercise. It is <strong>the</strong>se supervisor<br />

evaluations that are used to gauge student possession <strong>of</strong> employability skills <strong>in</strong> this study.<br />

Measures<br />

Different skill types <strong>in</strong> this study were obta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> literature. Three generic skills were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from<br />

Dev<strong>in</strong>s et al. (2004), four th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g skills were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from Jacoba and Ruurd (2003), six social skills<br />

were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from Burke and Coll<strong>in</strong>s (2004), Jacoba and Ruurd (2003), Dench (1997), while four<br />

personal skills were obta<strong>in</strong>ed from Sail and Alavi (2010) and Jacoba and Ruurd (2003). Supervisors were<br />

requested to <strong>in</strong>dicate <strong>the</strong> level to which a student exhibited a particular skill on a scale <strong>of</strong> “1” very low,<br />

“2” low, “3” average, “4” high, and “5” very high. The questionnaire also <strong>in</strong>cluded a s<strong>in</strong>gle item (see<br />

James et al., 1984) for <strong>the</strong> supervisor to rate <strong>the</strong> extent to which he/she was satisfied with <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong><br />

<strong>the</strong> student: “On <strong>the</strong> whole how satisfied are you with <strong>the</strong> quality <strong>of</strong> this student?” us<strong>in</strong>g a scale <strong>of</strong> “1”<br />

very dissatisfied, “2” Dissatisfied, “3” Nei<strong>the</strong>r satisfied nor satisfied, “4” Satisfied, “5” Very satisfied.<br />

L<strong>in</strong>ear regression was carried out to gauge <strong>the</strong> extent to which each <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> skill dimensions predicts <strong>the</strong><br />

overall quality <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> student.<br />

Result<br />

Descriptive statistics<br />

A total <strong>of</strong> 267 usable questionnaires were returned from <strong>the</strong> supervisors. In all 47.8% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> students<br />

were male, while 52.2% were female, <strong>the</strong>ir age rang<strong>in</strong>g from 20-45 with a mean <strong>of</strong> 24.2 (SD 4.29), and a<br />

mode <strong>of</strong> 22. Most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m (79.7%) were s<strong>in</strong>gle, while <strong>the</strong> rest were married. By course, Bachelor <strong>of</strong><br />

Bus<strong>in</strong>ess Adm<strong>in</strong>istration (BBA) students formed 80% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> total sample, while Bachelor <strong>of</strong><br />

Entrepreneurship and Project Plann<strong>in</strong>g (BEPP) students formed <strong>the</strong> rest <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sample. The table below<br />

presents <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> supervisor evaluations.<br />

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