Developmental styles and strategies (DSS) are preferences and repeated patterns in intentional self-development. A taxonomy of DSS based on the convergence of talent development and Sternberg's Triarchic Model of Intelligences was proposed to distinguish school learners, street learners, talent developers (specialists), and all-knowers (generalists). This study explored the reliability of the researcher-developed Educational Developmental Style and Strategy Scale, the relationships of age, gender, birth order, ethnicity, and SES to developmental DSS adoption, and the characteristics of five types of DSS adopters (i.e., street learning specialists, street learning generalists, school learning specialists, school learning generalists, the neutral group). Eighty out of 160 students at a governor's school for science and technology completed the survey.;The major findings were the following. (1) The reliability coefficient for the Specialist-Generalist Subscale (SGS) was .79, and that for the Street Learning-School Learning Subscale (SLSLS) was .76. (2) There were no statistically significant differences among the five types of DSS adopters in age, gender, ethnicity, number of siblings, birth order, and parental education. (3) There were no statistically significant differences across five groups in most measures in the questionnaire. The five groups did not differ significantly in books at home and amount of reading, strengths during childhood, Holland personality types, educational aspirations, developmental ideals and parental expectations, contributors to educational growth, contributors to strength development, source of influence on students' development, amount of time spent on activities weekly, taking private lessons, parents' ability to give good advice on students' development, parents' knowledge in students' areas of interest, the freedom to make decisions on one's own development, having different values from peers, have interests different from peers, not following the crowd, grade-orientation, importance of schooling, diversification strategy, opportunity-orientation, spending efforts on the nearest goal, basing their career choices on their missions rather than on competences and interests, having private projects, considering school as an extra burden, ability to learn on one's own, and having highly developed talents.;There were some significant differences found in some areas. Generalists had more books at home than specialists had. Generalists were more likely to have military, political, and sports books. School learners were more likely to have science books and less likely to have social science books. School learners' mean school rank in percentile was significantly higher than that of street learners. School learning generalists were different from street learning generalists and school learning specialists in perceiving whether their interests were shared by their classmates.

Mindfulness has been found to enhance romantic relationships through the practice of remaining open, calm, and emotionally regulated during times of struggle. There was a gap in the literature, however, related to how the practice of mindfulness is subjectively experienced in women's romantic relationships. The purpose of this heuristic study was to understand how women's practice of mindfulness effects their romantic relationships. The conceptual framework for this study was mindfulness-to-meaning theory, which highlights that wellbeing is supported through 2 main mechanisms of mindfulness: savoring and reappraisal. The nature of this study was a qualitative approach using Moustakas's heuristic method. After the data were collected through semistructured interviews, 6 themes were identified. The themes were (a) heightened presence in the relationship; (b) enhanced emotional regulation within the relationship; (c) expanded awareness in the relationship; (d) stronger connection to self and partner; (e) increased gratitude for self, partner, and their shared life; and (f) continued growth in the relationship. Women identified feeling a sense of enhanced emotional regulation within the relationship which enables them to remain calm, less reactive, and better able to communicate with their partners during times of difficulty. The findings from this study confirmed and expanded previous research. This study may enhance understanding of how mindfulness may lead to deeper connection and stability in romantic relationships. By doing so, this study may also contribute to positive social change by informing the work of those in the wellness industry who provide support to women.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors involved in successful second-generation legacy perpetuation in independent insurance agencies. This study examined the role of parent and child throughout the process in an effort to thwart the current high failure rates. This research aims to promote healthy business activity, improve success and sustainability, and add positive social stewardship in communities. Education and preparation of successor, timing of transition, financial considerations, and processes of succession were addressed. Two frameworks guided this study: Bertalanffy's systems theory and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy. Nonrandom, purposeful samples of 3 profitable, second-generation agency owners of 10 years or more in Pennsylvania provided information rich, in-depth interviews. Interviews were transcribed for patterns and cross-case analysis helped reveal commonalities. Themes identified suggested that successful agencies hired professional consultants. A key finding was having a written plans detailing payoff considerations. The primary recommendation from the study is to hire a professional to guide the process. This study has implications for positive social change as it contributes to the education of legacy-perpetuated transition and prevention of failure. Helping to keep family businesses thriving can, in turn, promote positive social change within communities.

Organizations need to constantly innovate to be relevant in a highly competitive market. Intrapreneurship, defined as entrepreneurship within the organization, is one method to bring about this constant innovation. The purpose of this study was to explore intrapreneurship, through a multiple case study, to gain a better understanding of which business strategies can foster successful intrapreneurship initiatives. The theories of Pinchot and Porter on intrapreneurship and organizational competitiveness formed the theoretical lens for this study. The sample for this study consisted of 5 business leaders in Atlanta, Georgia who had demonstrated intrapreneurship in their organization by encouraging their employees to pursue this method of innovation. Interviews took place with the leaders, and their collected narratives were analyzed for recurring themes. Additional pertinent financial data analysis was included for triangulation purposes. Emergent themes included the need for transformational leadership, the need for innovation at all levels of the organization, acceptance of failure and risk, facilitating empowerment, the beneficial link between intrapreneurship and operations management, recognition and rewards for employees expressing their creativity, company culture versus multicultural employees, and the need for creativity and competitiveness. These findings could bring about social change for employees through employee engagement and self-satisfaction. Employees have an opportunity to express their creativity through intrapreneurship initiatives.

In 2013, military leadership took action to lift the ban on women participating in combat roles, thus creating a vital need to understand protective cognitive factors in women veterans exposed to combat. There is no prior research examining the relationship between resilience and thinking styles in this population. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to examine the predictive relationship between resilience, measured with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and thinking styles, measured with the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised 2, on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scores, measured by PCL-5, in women with combat exposure (CE). A cross-sectional design was used. A convenience sample size of 130 female veterans ages 30 to 55 who had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan with a spectrum of PTSD scores and CE was recruited through Facebook's various women veterans organizations. The theoretical framework for this study was Sternberg's theory of mental self-government, which suggests there are different ways individuals will organize, govern their lives, and complete tasks. A Pearson's correlation analysis found significant relationships between the criterion (PSTD scores) and predictor variables (resilience, hierarchical, and liberal thinking styles). A multiple regression analysis found only resilience significantly predicted PTSD symptom scores. The results contribute to social change by adding to the limited research on resilience and thinking styles, which may further cognitive treatment for women veterans and, as the military female population increases, promote additional training for women veterans to increase resilience and enhance positive thinking styles.

Lack of employee engagement in the workplace is one of the leading causes of lost productivity in the United States, estimated to cost organizations between $450 to $550 billion per year. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the strategies that some business managers in the chemical industry use to engage employees and increase productivity. The population for the study consisted of 5 small chemical business managers of a chemical company in the northeastern United States that demonstrated success in engaging employees. The conceptual framework for the study was social exchange theory. Data were collected from small business managers via semistructured interviews detailing participants' strategies in engaging employees in the workplace and from company physical artifacts such as website, posters, bulletins, and signage. The collected data were transcribed, and member checking was completed to validate the credibility and trustworthiness. Yin's 5-step data analysis process for a case study and the main words in context analysis were used to analyze data. Three themes discovered in the study were: leadership support, effective communication, and recognition and reward. The findings from this study revealed that chemical business managers used strategies to influence employee engagement in the workplace. The impact of positive social change includes providing insights for managers on strategy implementation for employee engagement in the workplace to increase organizational productivity and stability, which could lead to a healthy economy in the community and employees contributing positively to communities and supporting their families.

The public sector is the largest employer that requires a background check. When African-American male ex-offenders return to their communities, they are often unable to find work in local government because of their criminal record. The central research question for this phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of African-American male ex-offenders regarding their employability in the local government sector. Guided by Sampson and Laub's life course perspective theory, a purposeful sample of 5 African-American male ex-offenders who applied for work or who currently work for local government entities in the state of Georgia was selected for this study. A three-interview approach was employed to include life history, details of experience, and reflection on the meaning of experiences. The Van Kaam method of analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Eleven central themes emerged that included the importance of employment, limited knowledge of employment, background and hiring process, stigma of a criminal record, lack of available resources, attitudes and biases of hiring managers, good support system, and limited opportunity for a second chance. It is recommended that local government agency officials use positions classified as 'hard to fill' as training opportunities in an apprenticeship program to help ex-offenders learn new skills to help them secure employment. The findings and recommendations have implications for positive social change in local government agencies. Local government entities may modify organizational policy and practices including recruitment strategies that eliminate discrimination against African-American ex-offenders to help improve their quality of life and become contributing citizens within the community.

Perception of fairness is a key construct affecting job performance, and perceptions of promotional processes are related to employees' sense of justice in private organizations. In police departments, negative perceptions of procedures can be detrimental to departmental effectiveness. The purpose of this quantitative quasiexperimental study was to compare Louisiana officers' perceptions of fairness of a seniority-based promotion system in relation to Louisiana deputies' perceptions of fairness of a merit-based promotion system. Organizational justice theory, including procedural justice, was the theoretical foundation. The research questions were designed to examine whether seniority, transparency, knowledge of the promotion systems, gender, and race predicted levels of perceived fairness. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test, a MANOVA, and a multiple linear regression. Participants in the seniority-based system perceived it as being fairer than participants in the merit-based system viewed their merit-based system. There were significant differences in knowledge of promotion systems and perceived fairness for rank and system type, but not race and gender. Collectively, predictor variables correlated with perceived fairness. Type of promotion system was not significant when examined with other variables suggesting confounding of predictor variables. Human resources should make employees aware of promotion procedures. Hybrid systems might help address both employee fairness and the promotion of qualified individuals. Officers viewing promotion as fair could lead to positive social change by motivating officers and positively influencing how they serve the public.

One of the most important decisions to make when performing an exploratory factor or principal component analysis regards the number of factors to retain. Parallel analysis is considered to be the best course of action in these circumstances as it consistently outperforms other factor extraction methods (Zwick & Velicer, 1986). Even so, parallel analysis could benefit from further research and refinement to improve its accuracy. Characteristics such as factor loadings, correlations between factors, and number of variables per factor all have been shown to adversely impact the effectiveness of parallel analysis as a means of identifying the number of factors (Pearson, Mundfrom, & Piccone, 2013). Critically, even the choice of criteria on which to evaluate factors (such as the eigenvalue at the 50th or 95th percentile) can have deleterious effects on the number of factors extracted (Peres-Neto, Jackson, & Somers, 2004). One area of parallel analysis yet to be researched is the magnitude of the difference between the actual eigenvalue and the random data-based eigenvalue. Currently, even if the margin between the actual eigenvalue and the random data-based eigenvalue is nominal, the factor is considered to be meaningful. As such, it may behoove researchers to enforce a higher standard, such as a greater margin between the two eigenvalues than just a simple difference. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 10% margin criterion as compared to an absolute margin. These margins were evaluated in conjunction with the 50th, 90th, 95th, and 99th percentile eigenvalue criteria on a population correlation matrix designed to engender underextraction. Previous research (Matsumoto & Brown, 2017) explored the same conditions on a population correlation matrix designed to elicit overextraction. They found that the most stringent standard (99th percentile eigenvalue plus a 10% margin) was the most accurate. For the present study however, it was hypothesized that the most accurate results would be obtained from a standard less stringent than the 99th percentile eigenvalue plus a 10% margin. The results suggest that when a correlation matrix has properties which may illicit underextraction, the use of less stringent criteria may lead to greater accuracy in identifying the number of factors and that the incorporation of an additional margin criterion may not improve the accuracy of the analysis.

This quantitative longitudinal study sought to highlight the difference between the proportion of men and women who planned to pursue a STEM major in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences as freshmen, as well as to determine the proportion of men and women who changed their major choice by their senior year. In addition, the researcher sought to identify women students’ unique background characteristics and college experiences that have taken place over the course of their undergraduate college career that may have predicted their declared major choice (STEM versus non-STEM) as seniors. A review of the literature, along with Astin’s Involvement Theory, encouraged the hypothesis that college experiences influence women’s college major choice: STEM versus non-STEM. Secondary data obtained from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the higher Education Research Institute was used. The sample was delimitated to include only full-time undergraduate students who were graduating in 2012 or 2013. Five research questions were addressed in this study. Astin’s (1993) Input-Environment-Outcome Model was used as a conceptual framework. Descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (chi-square test and discriminant analysis) statistics were used to analyze the data. The results found a statistically significant difference between the proportion of men and women who planned to pursue a STEM major as freshmen as well as the proportion of men and women who changed their major choice from STEM to non-STEM. Discriminant analysis was used to predict group membership of STEM versus non-STEM major choice among women. It was found that many variables had an impact on predicting STEM group membership among women: satisfaction with college math and science courses, high school GPA, SAT score, high self-ratings of problem-solving skills and mathematical ability, and participating in undergraduate research. There were also variables that had a greater ability of predicting non-STEM group membership. The findings from this study will hopefully inform policy and practice. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are included. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection