Brockman, T M (2008) Personality factors influencing Bemidji State University industrial technology majors making heavy industrial construction career choices. PhD thesis, University of North Dakota, USA.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to apply Holland's theory and gather information about Bemidji State University (BSU) construction management (CM) students, CM graduates, CM faculty, and the heavy industrial construction workforce for a greater understanding of students, the academic environment, and the heavy industrial construction environment. A secondary purpose was to help increase recruitment and retention of students within the CM emphasis of the Industrial Technology major at BSU, and provide support for development of curricula within the CM emphasis as it meets needs of the construction industry. The study examined five research questions using Holland's Self-Directed Search (SDS) Form - R. : (1) What are the descriptors of the SDS summary codes of the present CM students? (2) What are the descriptors of the SDS summary codes of the CM graduates? (3) What are the descriptors of the SDS summary codes of the CM faculty? (4) What are the descriptors of the SDS summary codes of a similarly employed, non-BSU-affiliated group? And, (5) what if any, were the correlations between the groups? The foundation of these descriptive analyses consisted of aggregated scores of SDS summary codes indicating the top three letter scores of Holland's RIASEC hexagonal categories for each individual participating in the study. Three-letter codes were computed for each of the subgroup's constituents. Aggregates of subgroup results were also examined for category-letter dominance within the three-letter code yielded for each subgroup participant. Primary emphasis was given to letters in the first position, which received the largest number of positive endorsements in a participant's results. Finally, an average coefficient of differentiation was computed for each subgroup. The primary conclusion was the results of the Group Measures of Score Differentiation in which the Current BSU Students and the BSU Graduates in Industry had similar differentiation mean scores. While the BSU Faculty and Staff and the Non-BSU Graduates in Industry had similar differentiation mean scores. It was noted in the results that all subgroups were strong Realistic personalities as defined by Holland. Recommendations were generated applying this information to the CM learning environments and for future workforce development in the heavy industrial construction industry.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Helgeson, L |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | differentiation; learning; recruitment; workforce |
| Index terms: | recruitment, industrial construction, construction industry, retention, personality, aggregate, subgroup, workforce development, career, differentiation |
| Subjects: | materials science, organization, behavioral psychology, building construction, research management, industry analysis, professional development, management |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Information Management, Organizational Design, Human Resources, Engineering Principles, Education |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here