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Correlates of motivational orientations in employer funded education

University of British Columbia

People who participate in adult education do so for a variety of reasons. The British Columbia Telephone Company (B.C. Tel) reimburses employees who take courses, and does so because it is assumed that employees participate in education for job-related reasons. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which employees utilizing B.C. Tel's "Financial Assistance Plan" take courses for "job" or "non job" reasons and to determine the extent to which different "motivational types" (derived from contrasting job with non job motivational orientation scores) possessed different socio-demographic characteristics. Boshier's Education participation Scale (EPS), along with Helmreich and Spence's Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire (WOFO), were assembled in a questionnaire that also measured the socio-demographic characteristics of employees utilizing the B.C. Tel Financial Assistance Plan in 1985. EPS items were subjected to a judging process that identified those deemed to be "job" and those deemed to be "non job" oriented. Of the 250 questionnaires distributed through B.C. Tel's internal mail system, 159 useable ones were returned. A total EPS "job" score was derived by calculating the mean over the relevant items, a total "non job" score was derived using the same method for items in this category. Respondents with the highest "job" scores (i.e. most likely enrolled for job-related reasons) were younger employees, those with shorter periods of employment with B.C. Tel, and union employees. Those with the highest "non job" scores were older employees, respondents with children, and management employees in staff positions. Although the first phase of the analysis revealed significant relationships between socio-demographic and EPS variables, a multivariate analysis which simultaneously considered both "job" and "non job" scores was needed because many participants were enrolled for both reasons. Job motivation is not the opposite of, or does not exclude, non job motivation. Thus, a discriminant analysis was performed where the dependent variables were four motivational types. TYPE I respondents were high job/high non job motivated, TYPE II were high job/low non job motivated, TYPE III were low job/low non job motivated, and TYPE IV were low job/high non job motivated. It was concluded that predicting participant type was possible using only two socio-demographic variables, age and employment function. TYPE I participants were younger than TYPE III and IV, and were more likely to be union employees. TYPE II participants were similar in age to TYPE I, but were more likely to be in management. TYPE III participants were mostly management and were older than TYPE I and II. TYPE IV were similar in age to TYPE III, but were evenly split between union and management. Further research is needed concerning the application of the EPS in a business setting. The judging process used to determine "job" and "non job" scores is worthy of further examination in a larger context. As well, it would be useful to examine if other categories exist. Finally, construct validation of the typology of participants developed in this study through in-depth interviews conducted with representative respondents of a similar sample could ratify or refine the classifications used in this thesis.

Text

2010-07-27

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26940

Administrative, Adult and Higher Education

University of British Columbia

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