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Graduate employability skills have become one of the most important topics on the higher education agenda in the first decade of the 21st century. In the United States, and throughout the world, global competition, growth of a knowledge-based economy, technological advances, and the multigenerational workforce have combined to substantially alter the contemporary workplace (Gedye & Chalkey, 2006). Whether by choice or circumstance, the expectation of a secure lifelong position with one employer and the opportunity for linear career progression are no longer typical nor practical in the contemporary workplace (Harvey, Locke, & Morey, 2002). Employability skills are those skills, attributes, and behaviors, e.g., communication skills, problem-solving, organization, and planning, that bridge most disciplines, industries, and employing organizations. They have the greatest impact on the sustained, productive, successful employment of graduates (Cranmer, 2006; Gedye, Fender, & Chalkey, 2004). The purpose of this study was to (a) identify the employability skills employers perceive to be important for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry, (b) to establish employability skills competency levels employers expect for these positions, and (c) to garner employer perceptions of Rosen College of Hospitality Management (RCHM) interns’ and new graduates’ employability skills competence for entry-level management/management-in-training positions in the hospitality industry. The findings add to the body of literature and provide insight into the need for further employability skills development of students prior to graduation and entrance into iv the workforce. Additionally, the study provides information and insight for faculty, career services, and experiential learning professionals regarding the skills students currently possess, the need for further skills development, and those skills employers deem most important

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between religiosity, marital satisfaction, sexual behaviors, and sexual satisfaction of married persons who attended a church affiliated university. Data were collected from 56 married individuals who attended a conservative, church-affiliated university located in the south-central United States. The sample was mostly caucasian, heterosexual, upper-middle income, college educated, divided equally by gender, and ranged. in age from 27 to 83 (M=age 46). Participants had been married between 4 and 54 years (M=22 years), and most (90%) participants were in their first and only marriage. Religiosity was operationalized by Rohrbaugh and Jessor's (1975) religiosity scale. Marital satisfaction was operationalized using the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (Hatch, James, & Schumm, 1986). Sexual satisfaction was operationalized from global sexual satisfaction questions (Darling & Davidson, 1987). / Ph. D.

The following dissertation is a series of three essays in behavioral/experimental and labor economics: (1) Information Asymmetry in Job Search, (2) Minority Turnout and Representation under Cumulative Voting. An Experiment, and (3) Networks and Labor Mobility: A Study of LinkedIn Profiles in the Biotechnology Sector. Standard models of rational job search assume agents know the distribution of offered wages when deciding which jobs to accept. In Chapter 1, coauthored with Kai Zen, I test if incorrect beliefs about wages affect real-world job search behavior in a field experiment with 1100 senior-year undergraduate students in the graduating Class of 2023 at the University of California, Berkeley. Partnering with the Career Center, we present personalized information graphics on school-and-major-specific salary distributions to students in the treatment group. We first document novel evidence that even prior to labor market entry, errors exist in wage beliefs – some students overestimate the available distribution, while others underestimate the available distribution. Post-treatment, we find that students treated with correct information update their beliefs towards the truth, and this is reflected in changes in reservation wages. At the end of the school year, we find that in comparison to the control group, students who increased their reservation wage after treatment had higher total and base salaries conditional on employment, a result significant at the 5% level. However, these same students had a lower, but imprecisely estimated likelihood of being employed by June post-graduation. An opposite but symmetric effect occurred for students who decreased their reservation wage. Our results are consistent with job search models where workers with more optimistic expectations wait longer to accept a job, but accept higher wages. We compare our experimental estimates to simulated moments from the model and find that the mean experimental effect is close to the model in magnitude under reasonable parameters. Our paper suggests an economically important role for errors in beliefs about labor market conditions and shows the effectiveness of a light-touch information intervention on employment and earnings for first-time job seekers. Chapter 2, coauthored with Alessandra Casella and Jeffrey Guo, asks how an alternative voting system can increase the voter turnout and representation of minorities. Under majoritarian election systems, securing the participation and representation of minorities remains an open problem, made salient in the US by its history of voter suppression. One remedy recommended by the courts is the adoption of Cumulative Voting (CV) in multi-member districts: each voter has as many votes as open positions but can cumulate votes on as few candidates as desired. Historical experiences are promising but also reflect episodes of minority activism. We present the results of a controlled lab experiment that isolates the role of the voting rule from other confounds. Although each voter is treated equally, theory predicts that CV should increase the minority's turnout relative to the majority and the minority's share of seats won. Our experimental results strongly support both theoretical predictions. In Chapter 3, using LinkedIn profiles data on the biotechnology sector, it is possible to construct a measure of individuals' networks based on coworkers within the same firm and location. Exploiting such a measure, I intend to test the impact of network size on future employment in the biotechnology sector, which has frequent employee turnover due to unanticipated clinical trial failures. In doing so, I seek to answer the following question: Do larger or higher-quality networks cushion against negative employment shocks? According to preliminary evidence, connections help workers find jobs more quickly. Currently, the network measure is imperfect, the data set on which the preliminary results are based is small, and the assumptions underlying the statistical analysis can be questioned. However, all three limitations can be overcome. I highlight in this chapter the steps to be taken to do so.

This study explored both the relationship between coping resources (as measured by the Coping Resources Inventory) and psychological career resources (as measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and also whether individuals from different gender and employment status groups (part-time work experience versus no work experience) differ significantly regarding their coping resources and psychological career resources. A cross-sectional survey design and quantitative statistical procedures were used to analyse the data which was obtained from a purposive non-probability sample of N = 197 early career unemployed, black graduates. The results showed significant positive associations between psychological career resources and coping resources. It also emerged that the male and female participants differed significantly with regard to their emotional, spiritual and physical coping resources and the psychological career resources of career harmonisers and career drivers. In addition, it was found that those participants who had part-time work experience displayed a significantly higher need for career venturing and also manifested higher behavioural adaptability than those who had no work experience. Recommendations for future research and practice were made. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree MAGISTER TECHNOLOGIAE in Quality Faculty of Engineering CAPE PENINSULA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, 2012 / Post apartheid South Africa experienced major economic turbulence with poverty, unemployment and skills shortage, with most manufacturing and other key economic sectors affected by poor productivity and a subsequent downsizing of their labour work force. At the same time, many economic opportunities arose, including the full impact of globalisation, the emergence of China and Africa as economic partners and becoming a full member of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) economic development group by the year 2010. The government and business communities at large realised the necessity for skills augmentation in order to expedite economic development and alleviate the scarcity of employment opportunities and growth across the major economic sectors. The backdrop of the economic upheaval of 2008 and 2009 placed manufacturing firms under pressure to reconsider their current operational strategies by streamlining their organisations and adopting aggressive lean and cost saving approaches in order to remain competitive. There is a perceived lack of alignment between industry and institutions alike, sometimes resulting in a perception that graduating industrial engineers do not entirely match industry expectations. Thus, it is imperative to explore the articulation and relationship between those industries that rely on the skills of industrial engineering technologists and the graduate industrial engineers with emphasis on the skills expectations as stressed by the national priorities and the academic capacity to meet these skills expectation in today’s competitive professional arena. This perceived lack of alignment between end user requirements and the service provided falls within the ambit of the field of quality management. This study focuses on two main sample groups within two areas of interest: • The industrial engineering student community and their respective academic environments; and • the relevant industrial engineering industry and its working environment. A self-administered questionnaire coupled with a number of interviews is employed in order to gather the required data. Grouped samples, involve the relevant industry employers, students and academic institutions. The research explores the pertinent roles and responsibilities expected of industrial engineers and industrial engineering technologists on entry into the working environment, as compared to the current level of training offered by various institutional bodies as expressed by the South African qualifications authority (SAQA) and the national qualifications framework (NQF). The validation of the analysis and outcomes of the study culminates through the exploration of the following: • The influence of skills levels on productivity within the relevant industrial engineering industries. • The demand and supply of industrial engineering skills. • Skilling industrial engineering graduates for their required roles and responsibilities. • Governing bodies responsible for the curriculation of industrial engineering programmes, offered by institutions of higher learning. The study aims to proffer valuable knowledge by identifying better opportunities for employment in the industrial engineering field, the addition of value towards better industrial engineering schooling and output quality of students emerging from institutions, and lastly superseding earlier misconceived perceptions of industrial engineering.

This investigation was a post-hoc, quantitative analysis of secondary academic performance and participation choices of Hispanic students. Three years of longitudinal student-level data was collected to examine the likelihood of college enrollment based on college and career readiness (CCR) factors. At the time of the study, CCR was defined as qualifying exam scores, credit for at least two advanced/dual enrollment courses, or enrollment in a career and technology education (CTE) coherent sequence of courses. Research participants (N = 803) consisted solely of Hispanic high school graduates from the 2014 cohort. Frequency statistics indicate 45.5% (n = 365) attended an institute of higher education (IHE) within 2 years of high school graduation. Findings reveal Hispanic females were more likely than Hispanic males to meet CCR indicators as well as postsecondary resiliency outcomes. Analysis of chi-square tests of independence suggests a moderately strong association exists between CCR indicators and postsecondary participation among high school graduates. Differences were found in terms of gender and postsecondary enrollment, x^2(6) = 24.538, p < .001. Differences were also found in terms of type of IHE and postsecondary resiliency, x^2(3) = 34.373, p < .001. More Hispanic CCR graduates enrolled at 2-year and 4-year IHE than expected by chance. While non-CCR graduates enrolled in IHE, they were less likely to meet postsecondary resiliency outcomes. CCR graduates who initially enrolled at 2-year IHE were also less likely to persist. Furthermore, the greatest contribution to differences in resiliency existed for Hispanic CCR graduates who enroll at 4-year IHE.

This study explored both the relationship between coping resources (as measured by the Coping Resources Inventory) and psychological career resources (as measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and also whether individuals from different gender and employment status groups (part-time work experience versus no work experience) differ significantly regarding their coping resources and psychological career resources. A cross-sectional survey design and quantitative statistical procedures were used to analyse the data which was obtained from a purposive non-probability sample of N = 197 early career unemployed, black graduates. The results showed significant positive associations between psychological career resources and coping resources. It also emerged that the male and female participants differed significantly with regard to their emotional, spiritual and physical coping resources and the psychological career resources of career harmonisers and career drivers. In addition, it was found that those participants who had part-time work experience displayed a significantly higher need for career venturing and also manifested higher behavioural adaptability than those who had no work experience. Recommendations for future research and practice were made. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Technology Degree in Library and Information Studies in the Department of Information and Corporate Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2008. / This study investigated the job functions of university and university of technology graduates and diplomates in the staff structures of special libraries and engineering firms in KwaZulu-Natal. The objective of the study was to draw on possible trends and best practices in the latter for the Library and Information Services (LIS) work environment, as engineering like LIS draws its personnel from both traditional universities and universities of technology (UoT). Hence, the main target population for the study was university and UoT graduates and diplomates in special libraries and engineering firms in KZN. Graduates and diplomates were chosen for inclusion in the study using a census because of the smallness of the staff complements in these organizations. Two sets of self-administered questionnaires were distributed, one to graduates/diplomates and the other to employers in the selected organizations. Data collected was analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. Findings of the study revealed inconsistencies with the National Diploma: Library and Information Studies (ND: LIS) where these diplomates occupy paraprofessional as well as professional positions in special libraries whilst engineering graduates and diplomates tend to occupy job titles according to their highest academic qualifications. In both special libraries as well as in the engineering environment there is much task overlap and downshifting of job functions between paraprofessional and professional university and UoT graduates and diplomates. This study has revealed a valuable best practice from the engineering discipline for the LIS profession, which is that of professional registration. Professional registration of engineering staff with the Engineering Council of South Africa is a statutory requirement in the engineering profession and allows for the growth and development of those in the profession. It is recommended that the LIS profession, and the Library and Information Association of South Africa (LIASA) specifically, investigate a mechanism for professional registration of library and information workers.