This study examines the career choices of MBA students in Saudi Arabia. Despite the government’s efforts in reducing unemployment by encouraging young Saudis, including managers, to work in the private sector, the number of jobless educated Saudis is on the rise. The public sector seems to be more attractive despite its limited job opportunities. While most career choice theories are concerned with personal choices, this study aims to address the underlying reasons for the preference towards the public sector by investigating the influence of institutional factors (Saudization, Wasta, social status, parental obedience, and religion) and personal motivational factors (intrinsic and extrinsic). Convenience sampling was employed and, overall, 273 Saudi MBA students (157 males and 116 females) responded to self-administered questionnaires. Data was analysed and the research hypotheses were tested by using descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression and independent samples t-tests. Findings showed that Wasta (networks), parental obedience (family), Islamic religion and extrinsic factors were significant predictors of the career choices of Saudi MBA students, with a preference towards work in the public sector. Saudization (i.e. replacing foreign workers with Saudis), social status, and intrinsic factors did not significantly predict the career choices. Cultural cognitive factors (parental obedience and religion) were found to be the strongest predictors within the institutional dimension compared to the normative factors (Wasta and social status) and the regulative factor (Saudization). Female participants considered Wasta, parental obedience and intrinsic motivations more important in their career choices compared to their male counterparts. The findings suggest that the career choices of Saudi MBA students are not determined solely by the individuals’ personal needs and that one should take into account the wider social and cultural factors which are more influential in non-Western contexts such as Saudi Arabia. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are of interest to researchers, policymakers and employers in public and private organisations in Saudi Arabia. Keywords: Career choice, Saudization, Wasta, religion, intrinsic and extrinsic, Saudi Arabia, MBA students, gender.

The present study makes use of several assumptions. It was considered that the cultural heritage of a group can be classified into two broad categories: the intrinsic culture, which includes the basic cultural traits and constitutes the core of a group's identity, and the extrinsic culture which includes the more peripheral traits. Assimilation takes place when the basic cultural traits are lost or substituted by others under conditions of culture contact. It was assumed that in order to understand the process of assimilation of a particular group of second-generation immigrants in a particular country, the basic cultural background of their parents must be taken into account. Further, it was assumed that the adults of the minority among whom the child is growing up must be placed into their historical context and their experiences as members of a particular time have to be taken into consideration. Finally, it was considered that unless the second-generation immigrants. are studies as members of a particular social network, the understanding of their course of assimilation will be incomplete. The group chosen for this research was the Ukrainian minority in Britain. Since the Ukrainians have been a minority nation in their own country without, however, losing their ethnic identity, some basic factors of their political and social history are provided as a possible explanation for this phenomenon. In addition, a summary of the social and psychological effects of the Second World War on the Ukrainian group is provided. Some of the basic social problems encountered by Ukrainians in their initial years in Britain, and their way of coping with them are described. The contemporary social structure and the distinctive Ukrainian way of organizing their ethnic life is discussed in detail. Particular attention is given to the institutions designed to promote the retention of ethnicity among young Ukrainians. Further, the extent to whtch second-generation Ukrainians adhere to their basic ethnic patterns of behaviour and the extent to which they identify themselves with their group, was stud~d inasample of children and adolescents. In addition, several hypotheses regarding the factors which promote the retention of ethnicity were tested. Among the factors found to be significantly associated with the retention of ethnicity are the following: absence of intermarriage with the natives, provision of an ethnically meaningful environment in the family, and organized ethnic education and recreation. Finally, parent-child relations, attitudes towards the ethnic group, and attitudes towards the majority were explored and studied in relation to the factors responsible for the retention of an ethnic identity.

The Purbeck Review of Schools, initiated by Dorset County Council in 2008, resulted in the closure of the middle school in Swanage, leaving the town bereft of secondary education by July 2013. A community-led group, Education Swanage, founded a new school in the town, which opened in September 2013 as a free school, with a humanscale ethos. Although there was controversy about free schools at the time, there is no research to date about how personal values influence the founding of such a school. This research answers the question how did values influence the founding of The Swanage School? This inductive research was informed by literature on the conceptualization of ‘values’ and the ‘sacred’ and delimited by theoretical insights from practical theology, living theory and human-scale education. The action research strategy, set within a paradigm of praxis, addressed how values influenced action in founding the school. Semistructured interviews, an online survey and a validation group were used to discover how values influenced practice. The data revealed a variety of interpretations of the term ‘values’, which were most commonly alluded to as being central in guiding and informing everyday interaction in the world and relating to how humans respond to others whilst also being a reflection of personal identity. The research identified areas of practice where the interplay of intrinsic and extrinsic values was influential when operating in contradiction and congruence to affect change. Analysis of the findings enabled conclusions and propositions to be developed, which focused on how values influenced the process of moving from contradiction to congruence in order to enact change. Values were a significant influence in the founding of The Swanage School. When values were contradicted they acted as standards of judgement and formed the basis of conversations which led to problems being solved and decisions being made. Concepts from the wider literature and the field of practical theology provided insight into how values can be defined and how their influence on action can be interpreted as an encounter with the sacred. The conclusion of this study and its contribution to knowledge is the explanation of how values influenced the founding of The Swanage School in the form of a living educational theory.

In the public education accountability movement, politicians and corporate reformers claim that student performance on standardized tests is an appropriate and reliable measure of a teacher's ability to educate. Given the process of holding K-12 classroom teachers directly accountable for individual student achievement based on standardized testing results, the teachers at XYZ Elementary School are currently motivated to change only through externally controlled factors or extrinsic motivation. The purpose of this research was to explore processes other than extrinsic motivation that motivate teachers to engage in strategies and methods that indirectly influence students to learn over the long term. The purpose of the mixed transformative emancipatory design focused on change orientation and the social injustice inflicted upon professional educators (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). The study took place at a single-site elementary location with 19 volunteer teachers. The qualitative and quantitative data included 2 assessments, 1 experiment, 1 activity, and individual interviews. Data analysis of this transformative, mixed-methods, emancipatory design revealed the participants of XYZ Elementary School were ready and willing to change, felt low levels of autonomy in the workplace, experienced levels of flow (intrinsic motivation) in the classroom, and experienced low levels of support or appreciation from political leaders and the business community. The implication for local social change is the reexamining of current extrinsic motivation and management techniques to help educators become more effective. Broader social implications of this study are that teachers who experience higher degrees of autonomy and sense of purpose also feel a greater amount of intrinsic motivation to teach and learn.

This study investigated the perceived locus of causality of motivation in high school football players. The Sports Motivation Scale (SMS) was used to study seven motivation subscales (IM to know, IM to accomplish, IM stimulation, EM identified, EM introjected, EM external and Amotivation) with respect to motivation among high school football players. This indicated that IM to know, IM to accomplish, EM identified and EM introjected were the best predictors of the participants? perceived locus of causality of motivation. The results indicate that when using perceived locus of causality for motivation, position played could be predicted 62 percent of the time. The study also speculates on ways in which communication could be used to affect motivation.

Feedback sign (positive, negative, or no feedback sign) and feedback style (autonomous, controlling, or no feedback style) were manipulated in a 3x3 repeated measures design. Two hundred thirty-three undergraduate students from introductory psychology classes completed measures of perceived competence, perceived choice, and interest over four time periods. Interest was regressed on perceived competence, perceived choice, and a moderation analysis revealed that perceived choice moderated the effect of perceived competence on interest. Creative answers to open-ended problems were assessed after time 2 (before feedback), and after time 3 (after feedback). Feedback style (autonomous, controlled, and neutral) and Feedback sign (positive, negative, and neutral) manipulations were analyzed using a 3x3 ANOVA, revealing no effect of feedback. Post-hoc analyses using perceived difficulty of the first creative problem as a covariate revealed an interaction of feedback style and difficulty, limiting between subjects analyses. Creativity was also regressed on interest. Pre-feedback interest predicted creativity according to expectations, but post-feedback interest did not predict creativity. Creativity did predict post-performance interest, possibly implying that interest is not a valid proxy for intrinsic motivation in within-subjects designs. Future studies should test the proposition that feedback affects intrinsic motivation, which in turn affects creative performance, and creative performance affects interest.

Denna kvalitativa motivationsstudie utfördes på åtta svenska toppsäljare och utgick i från Vallerands hierarkiska modell om inre och yttre motivation (1997) och även från Czikszentmihalyis teori om flow (1990). Syftet med studien var att ta reda på vilka motivationsfaktorer som förenar toppsäljare. Toppsäljarna intervjuades enskilt genom en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. En tematisk analys utfördes på utskrifterna från intervjuerna och analysen undersöktes utifrån tre huvudkategorier: inre motivation, yttre motivation, och flow. Resultatet visade att toppsäljarna hade en stark inre drivkraft att utvecklas, att nå egna mål och uppnå positiva känslotillstånd av själva utförandet. Den yttre motivationen skiljde sig mellan toppsäljarna, då vissa drevs mer av yttre stimuli såsom pengar och beröm än andra. Resultatet visade att toppsäljarnas drivs till största delen av inre motivationsfaktorer, då de var starkt framträdande hos samtliga. Det är därmed viktigt att skapa en arbetsmiljö- och situation som främjar säljarnas möjlighet att sätta egna mål och autonomi.

<p>This investigation explored the conditions that minimize the negative effects of lacking choice and maximize the positive effects of having choice. Four experimental studies were conducted with college students as participants. Four aspects of this issue were addressed: (a) whether the saliency of not having a choice moderates the detrimental effects of lacking choice, (b) whether having choice is more beneficial when the type of choice is less costly in terms of self-regulatory effort, (c) whether the effect of choice on motivation is influenced by the number of choices an individual must make, and (d) whether perceived competence mediates of the relationships between choice, motivation and performance. Overall, this investigation failed to provide substantial support for the hypotheses regarding factors that might moderate the effects of choice on motivation. Null results are proposed to be largely attributable to the strength of the choice manipulations, the nature of the tasks used, and characteristics of participants. The results of two studies provided partial support for hypotheses showing that participants in no-choice conditions experienced a decrease in perceived competence or intrinsic motivation for the task, while participants who received a choice experienced no such decrease. This in conjunction with evidence showing that the participants found the task to be more difficult than expected suggested that choice may serve a protective function for difficult tasks. Further, exploratory analyses revealed that that the effect of choice may be more beneficial for individuals with low perceived or actual competence and that restricting choice may be more detrimental to individuals with high perceived or actual competence. Ways in which future studies may address the limitations of the present investigation and build on exploratory findings are discussed.</p> / Dissertation

Feedback sign (positive, negative, or no feedback sign) and feedback style (autonomous, controlling, or no feedback style) were manipulated in a 3x3 repeated measures design. Two hundred thirty-three undergraduate students from introductory psychology classes completed measures of perceived competence, perceived choice, and interest over four time periods. Interest was regressed on perceived competence, perceived choice, and a moderation analysis revealed that perceived choice moderated the effect of perceived competence on interest. Creative answers to open-ended problems were assessed after time 2 (before feedback), and after time 3 (after feedback). Feedback style (autonomous, controlled, and neutral) and Feedback sign (positive, negative, and neutral) manipulations were analyzed using a 3x3 ANOVA, revealing no effect of feedback. Post-hoc analyses using perceived difficulty of the first creative problem as a covariate revealed an interaction of feedback style and difficulty, limiting between subjects analyses. Creativity was also regressed on interest. Pre-feedback interest predicted creativity according to expectations, but post-feedback interest did not predict creativity. Creativity did predict post-performance interest, possibly implying that interest is not a valid proxy for intrinsic motivation in within-subjects designs. Future studies should test the proposition that feedback affects intrinsic motivation, which in turn affects creative performance, and creative performance affects interest.

Blood is a complex mixture of formed cellular elements, proteins, and ions dissolved in a solution. It is a difficult fluid to model because it is a shear-thinning, viscoelastic fluid that stress- relaxes. In this study, a new mathematical model for whole blood is developed from a general equation for a fluid with a shear dependent viscosity. The model is then used as a backdrop for 28 different biochemical factors interacting to form a clot. The full intrinsic and extrinsic pathways are both used in the simulation; the inclusion of the full intrinsic pathway is something that had not been done prior to this work. The model is executed in one spatial direction in an infinite domain as well as within a rigid walled cylinder using a finite volume scheme. The rigid wall, similar to the new mathematical equation for blood, is an oversimplification of actual in-vitro conditions. The results of both simulations show the formation and dissolution of the clot. Sensitivity analysis is then performed in the finite domain model by adjusting the initial levels of factors Va and Xa. The results show that by increasing the initial level of one or both of these factors leads to the quicker formation of a clot.