Transition from the college classroom to the workplace requires certain job knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs). How and where the New Employee acquires these KSAs is mired in the transition between education and the world-of-work. This dissertation informs the college-to-work transition process through the experiences of college graduate liberal arts majors and of those responsible for integrating the new employees into the organization. Three new employees and two managers working on information technology products and services in a major corporation were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was used to discover patterns in the data. This method allowed the researcher to inform the complexity of the college-to-work transition process. The researcher discovered a naturally evolving process dominated by informal learning that new employees used to learn about the culture and the specific job skills need in the corporation. In many ways, the participants had evolved a process similar to the apprenticeship system of the middle ages. / Ed. D.

American democracy fosters the common good of society by allowing citizen involvement in government. Sustaining American democracy depends on civic involvement among citizens. Civic involvement, which consists of citizens' informed involvement in government, politics, and community life, is a desired behavior among adult citizens in the United States and it is a desired outcome of higher education. However, people in the latter part of the twentieth century have questioned the extent to which higher education makes a difference in civic involvement among adults in the United States. College educators are challenged to explain the relationship between higher education and civic involvement among adults in the 1990s. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between higher education and civic involvement. The researcher approached this issue by examining relationships between measures of civic involvement and personal characteristics such as education level, race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status among adults in the United States. The researcher compared joint relationships between civic involvement and personal characteristics among college graduates with the joint relationships between civic involvement and personal characteristics among adults with some college education and adults with no college education. Data from the Adult Civic Involvement component of the National Household Education Survey of 1996 (NHES:96) were analyzed. This survey was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Using list-assisted, random digit dialing methods and computer assisted telephone interviewing techniques, data were collected from a nationally representative sample of non-institutionalized civilians who were eighteen years of age or older at the time of the survey. Data were collected regarding respondents' (a) personal characteristics, (b) use of information sources, (c) knowledge of government, (d) community participation, and (e) political participation. The selected technique for analyzing data was canonical correlation analysis (CCA), which is a form of multivariate analysis that subsumes multiple regression, multivariate analysis of variance, and discriminant analysis. The results revealed that civic involvement among adults in the United States is moderate at best. Low to moderate civic involvement among adults is mostly attributed to the absence of civic behaviors among adults with no college education. Among adults, overall civic involvement has strong relationships with education level, race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status. While the relationship between higher education and civic involvement is strong, there are significant differences in civic involvement among college graduates when grouped according to race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status. White male college graduates with high incomes tend to demonstrate the attributes of civic involvement to a greater extent than other groups. Among adults with some college education, overall civic involvement is characteristic of older males.Similarly, older adults with no college education demonstrate civic involvement to a greater extent than younger adults with no college education. These findings are consistent with the results of previous studies. The findings also extend the results of previous studies by explaining the relationships between civic involvement and multiple personal characteristics when analyzed simultaneously. The findings suggest a need for ongoing analyses of civic involvement among adult citizens and among college students. The results further imply a need for college personnel to identify and implement strategies that will improve the civic outcomes of higher education for minorities and females in various age and income categories. / Ph. D.

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of each of the production typewriting factors of keystroking, planning, and error correction on proficiency at typing business letters at two levels of instruction, at three levels of difficulty, and under three conditions. The conditions were designed to isolate the effect of each of the three factors on proficiency in typing business letters. A secondary purpose was to estimate the relationship between straight copy and letters, between letter conditions, and between speed and accuracy for straight copy and letters. The study involved 107 beginning typewriting students and 84 advanced typewriting students who were enrolled in six suburban high schools in Virginia. The same straight-copy timed writings and business letters were used in both the beginning and the advanced typewriting classes. The two 3- minute timed writings consisted of paragraph materials that had a stroke intensity of 6.0. The nine business letters also had a stroke intensity of 6.0 and consisted of three 150-word letters at low, medium, and high difficulty levels. The primary data analysis of mean performance scores for speed and accuracy on letters was carried out via repeated measures ANOVAS. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to compute the relationship between variables. Some of the major findings of the study were as follows: 1. Keystroking accounted for a little less than half of total production time, planning accounted for a third of production time, and error correction accounted for approximately a fifth of production time. 2. Keystroking and error correction were greatest for low difficulty letters; planning was greatest for high difficulty letters. 3. At the advanced instructional level, the percentages of production time used for keystroking and planning increased, while the percentage of production time used for error correction decreased. 4. The correlation between straight copy and letters for speed was moderate to high; the correlation between straight copy and letters for accuracy was low. 5. The correlations between letter conditions were high for speed and moderate for errors. 6. For straight copy, the correlations between speed and accuracy were not significantly different from zero. For letters there was a weak negative relationship between speed and accuracy. / Ed. D.

In Ghana, the transition from school to the labour market has been extremely difficult for graduates, especially in securing jobs. It is estimated that the tertiary institutions in Ghana produce an annual graduate turnout of 300,000 students. This thesis seeks to understand the extent to which social capital and networks act as a resource-opportunity structure in obtaining or depriving employment opportunities. The research findings were obtained by the application of qualitative methods. This study argues that graduate unemployment in Ghana is not as a result of lack of employability skills and incompetence of the graduates, but rather the issue of limited employment opportunities and favouritism, often called ‘whom you know’ in the labour market. Informal job search methods reflect jobseekers’ activation and use of social networks or ties, such as acquaintances, friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, and peers. Particularly, an individual’s family and friends (strong ties) are not only important sources of job information but also means of securing jobs. Attitudinal and behavioural traits and the kind of interactions between graduates and their contacts enabled the author to group social networks into three categories: formal social networks (employee referral), informal social networks (family and friends) and linking referrals (third-party or intermediary). The key to understanding why both employers and jobseekers are resorting to informal networks is due to the limited job opportunities in the labour market. The pervasiveness of informal channels means that without having a relative or a friend to connect you to a vacancy, securing a job would be difficult. This means that intrinsic and extrinsic factors underpinning the graduates’ aspirations are being shaped by social support and barriers in the labour market. The seemly widespread and ‘general acceptance’ of informal channels in the labour market has led to favouritism and discrimination. Specifically, it has led to the constant redirecting of jobs toward a certain class of people; institutional closure for some people; occupational segregation and immobility leading to limit status attainment; deliberate favouring of one’s family members and friends (nepotism and cronyism). In addition, informal channels have opened the floodgate for referee opportunism, agents and agent scammers to flourish in the job market.

This dissertation provides an economic explanation for Ph.D. unemployment. The discussion begins with a theoretical investigation of policy making in nonprofit colleges. The predictions of this analysis are that colleges will operate less efficiently than for-profit firms; that faculty salaries will exceed market-clearing levels (in most disciplines); and that faculty salaries will tend to equalize across disciplines (while market-clearing salaries will probably vary across disciplines). The theory of rent-seeking unemployment is then presented. When the academic wage exceeds the nonacademic wage, those gaining faculty positions receive rents; so some individual will refuse nonacademic jobs (accept unemployment) and search for rent-yielding academic jobs. The hypothesis is that unemployment rates will be highest in those disciplines where the intersectoral wage differential is greatest. Empirical evidence is presented which supports the major hypotheses of this study. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the selected students' characteristics, participation in vocational education, and the labor market achievement (job satisfactoriness, income, job satisfaction) of 1983/84 graduates of a comprehensive high school in S.W. Virginia. Data were collected from students, their academic records (transcripts and test records), the students and their employer follow-up. The selected student characteristic variables used were: ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT VARIABLES: Grade Point Average (GPA), Virginia Competency Test scores in Reading and Mathematics (VCT-Reading, VCT-Math); ACADEMIC APTITUDE VARIABLES: Science Research Associate scores in Language and Applied Science (SRA-Lang., SRA-App. Sci.); SOCIOECONOMIC VARIABLES: Educational level of head of household (HEAD-ED); OTHER VARIABLES: the number of vocational education credits taken (VTE-Credit), Sex, Job Satisfactoriness (Boss-Sat) of the graduates, job performance, income earned per hour, and Job . Satisfaction. The data collected were analyzed by using the stepwise regression to predict the labor market achievement variables. A partial correlation was used to investigate the relationship between overall labor market achievement variables and each of the independent variables while the effect of others were controlled. Cohen's criteria were used to investigate the strength of relationship (practical importance) between variables. The coefficient of determination and the partial correlation of the findings outlined below were too small to be of practical importance in the investigation of high school graduates' labor market achievement. However, the results of the analyses of graduates' job satisfactoriness showed that male graduates with high academic achievement, low socioeconomic status, low aptitude tended to have higher job satisfactoriness. Females with high degree of participation in vocational education tended to experience higher job satisfactoriness. In terms of income earned by male graduates, academic achievement (GPA) was the best predictor. Analysis showed that females with low socioeconomic status (SES) tended to earn higher income. Those females with high degree of participation in vocational education tended to earn higher income. For job satisfaction of males, those with low SES tended to be more satisfied with their job, while females with high aptitude and high degree of participation in vocational education tended to be more satisfied with their jobs. For overall job satisfaction, without sex differentiation, individuals with high academic achievement tended to have low job satisfaction. High aptitude in English language tended to make graduates more satisfied with their jobs. In terms of income, graduates with high achievement tended to earn low income. On job satisfactoriness, graduates with high achievement tended to have higher job satisfactoriness. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

This study determined and compared the views of New River Community College graduates and leavers of occupational programs on the optimal amount and importance of general education. Data were collected via mail and telephone surveys from a random sample of 400 New River Community College occupational graduates and leavers. Specifically, subjects were asked to provide information pertaining to: actual proportions of general education taken, optimal amount of general education desired, importance of general education competencies, importance and number of general education classes taken, and demographic variables influencing program completion. Results suggested that actual amounts of general education differed from the optimal amount desired. All AAS and certificate graduates and leavers had taken proportionately more general education than desired, in particular certificate leavers. Analysis of the importance of general education competencies revealed that communication skills, critical thinking skills, mathematics skills, and vocational adjustment were rated high by all groups. Knowledge of arts and literature, knowledge of health and fitness, and ethical perspectives were rated as least important. Low correlations were common between importance and number of general education courses taken. The study identified sufficient consciousness among the groups surveyed to suggest that community college administrators should reevaluate required proportions of the general education component in the occupational curriculum. Focus should be placed on the amount of general education required in occupational programs, necessary outcomes of general education, and need of general education courses for occupational students. / Ed. D.

The purposes of this study are to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program at Arlington State College; to evaluate the curricula of the Semi-Professional Engineering Program at Arlington State College; and if needed, suggest improvements in the Semi-Professional Engineering curriculum at Arlington State College.

The purpose of this study is to make a survey of the opportunities in the business world for the woman college graduate. Attention has been given to the general status of women workers, the training given by colleges in business administration, and the opportunities for the employment and advancement in the business world.

The problem of this study is to make a comparative analysis of the success, based on wages and increases in wages, of 209 students. There were 103 students who had completed Type "B" vocational training and 106 high school graduates who had not completed or taken Type "B" vocational training in the Houston Public Schools.