Person-environment fit: Does it matter for tourism students’ career outcomes in an era of crisis?

This study aims to examine the relationship of personal interest (P), the environment (E) (i.e., pandemic, social unrest, international disputes) and P-E fit, with the five selected career-related outcomes (i.e., intent to join tourism industry, lifelong commitment, leadership self-efficacy, resilience, and anxiety). Structural equation modelling was used to analyse 380 data from tourism students in Hong Kong higher education institutions. The results show that P strongly predict Intent, Lifelong, Leadership self-efficacy, and Resilience, while E strongly predicted Anxiety. Tourism educators and employers should facilitate a healthy match of P and E to attract new employees to the industry

Career choice of tourism students in a triple-whammy crisis

Hong Kong hospitality and tourism industry has been battered by the triple whammy of social unrest, Sino-US trade war and COVID-19 pandemic in recent years. To understand how vulnerable tourism students may be in terms of career shock when facing the three major challenges, 407 tourism students in Hong Kong were surveyed. Structural equation modelling found a positive correlation between affect (an intrinsic, motivating factor) and extraneous events (an extrinsic, demotivating factor), indicating that motivation and demotivating factors may co-exist. Affect was more positively correlated with three career choice outcomes (intent to join the industry, desire for a lifelong career, and resilience in face of unfavourable circumstances) than was Extraneous. In face of career shock arising from extraneous events, tourism students still tend to have a strong intent to join the workforce, take it as a lifelong career, and remain resilient despite the hardship. However, the career shock was a greater concern for those in hotel-related disciplines and for students aged over 20 than younger ones. The findings offer an empirical basis to guide policy makers, academia and the industry in strategy formulation to ensure sustainable quality and manpower supply in the post-crisis future

Teachers' self-concept and valuing of learning: Relations with teaching approaches and beliefs about students

One’s self-concept and value perceptions can significantly influence one’s behaviors and beliefs. Australian teachers from urban and rural areas of the state of New South Wales were asked to respond to survey items on two predictors (teacher self-concept, valuing of learning) and 3 outcomes (2 immediate: student-centered and teacher-centered teaching; 1 long-term: beliefs in ability constraints). Confirmatory factor analysis established the five latent factors. Structural equation modeling found significant paths from teacher self-concept to both student-centered and teacher-centered approaches but not beliefs about student ability. The positive path from valuing of learning to student-centered teaching was statistically significant but the path to teacher-centered teaching was not. The significant path from valuing of learning to beliefs about student ability was negative indicating that teachers who value student learning were less likely to believe in ability constraints. The significant influences of teacher self-concept and valuing of learning on short-term and long-term outcomes have significant implications for teacher education. Teacher preparation programs should enhance self-concept together with teaching skills and facilitate an advocacy for students’ learning rather than the teacher’s teaching

The role of self-concept in medical education

Much research has acknowledged the importance of self-concept for adolescents’ academic behaviour, motivation, and aspiration, but little is known about the role of self-concept that underpins the motivation and aspiration of higher education students in a specialised field such as medical education. This article draws upon a programme of research over the last three years examining the psychosocial determinants of success for educating home-grown doctors for regional communities. Interviews conducted with Australian medical students found that self-concept is a dynamic and multidimensional phenomenon that emerges through social activity, and plays a crucial role in shaping their motivation and aspirations. For these students in a specialised field in higher education, self-concept not only influences their study performance, but also forms part of their personal and career development. Because of the significant interaction between the self and the social environment, the development of self-concept through a holistic and systemic facilitation of essential psychosocial drivers of success is essential in higher education

Competence self-perceptions

This chapter discusses the different operationalizations of competence self-perceptions and the implications for advancing theory, research, and practice

Reconsidering the measurement of student self-concept : use and misuse in a Chinese context

For many countries, self-concept is stated to be an important educational outcome in documents about the school curriculum at all levels (e.g., Curriculum Development Council, Hong Kong, 2001; Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 1999). Thus, to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and learning, the measurement of self-concept is a major concern of educators and educational researchers (Dante, 1995; Faubert, Locke, Sprinthall, & Howland, 1996; Flay, Allred, & Ordway, 2001; Kirkland-Holmes & Federlein, 1990; Schirduan, 2000). However, different researchers may use different instruments to measure self-concept changes. The choice of instruments can seriously influence the validity of findings of studies. Unless the measuring instrument has strong theoretical underpinnings and has been validated as showing strong psychometric properties for the sample under consideration, the use of an inappropriate instrument can result in misleading conclusions. Even if an appropriate instrument is used, the results derived from an analysis of the data based on the instrument can be misinterpreted. Therefore, it is essential to consider carefully the appropriate use and potential misuse of self-concept measurement instruments. One consideration in terms of the appropriateness of measurement is related to the specificity of the sample in question. Thus even the best self-concept instrument can have problems when used with students of a specific cultural background. The present chapter discusses issues of self-concept measurement with particular relevance to samples of Chinese students. In particular, the complexity of cognitive representations of Chinese students' self-concept is discussed in terms of recent theories of self-concept measurement and intervention

Student self-concept and effort : gender and grade differences

Students' self-concept and effort in schoolwork are known to have significant influences on essential academic outcomes, but self-concept and effort may decline as students grow up. Students from 16 schools in Sydney (N = 2200) were asked to rate on two self-concept components (competency and affect) and effort in schoolwork. Based on measures established in confirmatory factor analysis, a 5 (grade: 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th) x 2 (gender: boys, girls) x 3 (measure: competency, affect, effort) repeated-measures ANOVA found that: (a) for all variables, scores were lower for higher grade levels; (b) boys were lower in affect and effort; (c) particularly for effort, gender differences favouring girls in primary became negligible in higher secondary; and (d) differences between primary and secondary tended to be greater for girls. Educators and curriculum designers need to consider the self-concept and effort of boys in the primary and girls in the secondary

Fostering analogical transfer: The multiple components approach to algebra word problem solving in a chemistry context

Holyoak and Koh (1987) and Holyoak (1984) propose four critical tasks for analogical transfer to occur in problem solving. A study was conducted to test this hypothesis by comparing a multiple components (MC) approach against worked examples (WE) in helping students to solve algebra word problems in chemistry classes. The MC approach incorporated multiple components (symbolic equations, symbols, categorization, hint) in the source, or target, or both, to address the four analogical tasks. Different combinations of the components were tested in a series of four experiments. Symbolic equations (main component) fostered a mental construction of the problem in its solution mode. Categorization enabled an identification of the problem category. A hint in the target directed the learners to the source problem. The interaction between these components facilitated the mapping of the symbolic equations in the source onto the target, resulting in the superiority of the MC approach in fostering analogical transfer. Neither the main component alone nor the main component plus one sub-component was sufficient for analogical transfer. Hence for analogical transfer to occur, at least the main component (symbolic equations) and two sub-components (categorization and hint) are required. However, symbols may not have additional effects for transfer to occur