Testing a New Measure of Perceived Professional Development Engagement for Undergraduates

Abstract

Professional development engagement (PDE) is the level of undergraduate engagement in professional development. Professional development (PD) is defined as “activities designed to help students prepare for a successful college-to-work transition.” This study tested a new 12-item measure of PDE for a complete-data sample of 437 undergraduate business students. The “did not use” response to an activity for each of the 10 CPDC items resulted in a surprisingly high aggregated loss of respondents. Results indicated that students who either never joined a student professional organization or never lived on or near Main Campus had a higher “did not use” response percentage.

Exploring the Relationships of Two Curriculum-improved Abilities Scales, Professional Development and Quantitative Skills, to Business Student Satisfaction and Employment Preparedness

“…Business student satisfaction research (Blau et al, 2019) has also tested the relationships of demographic (e.g., gender, in-state resident) to satisfaction. Prior research on college student professional development engagement (Blau, Snell, Campbell, Viswanathan, Andersson & Lopez, 2014;Blau& Snell, 2013) suggested studying demographics (e.g., gender) and school-related variables (e.g., transfer status, GPA) in their model of college student professional development engagement.…”

Agriculture Student Perceptions of Career Success Factors: Ranking Attributes of Collegiate Experiences

“…Perhaps this financial situation makes PREVET students less inclined to pursue (paid) internships and relevant work experience than their peers. This is a potentially concerning situation because PREVET students are prone to changing their career intention during their undergraduate years and because of the importance of gaining relevant work experience during this period (Blau et al, 2014(Blau et al, , 2017Robinson & Mulvaney, 2018).…”

“…Internships can serve as an avenue for employment offers by the sponsoring organization (Lyvers Peffer, 2012). Unsurprisingly then, work experience and internships are linked to career success factors such as expedited post-graduation job placement, employment in a role consistent with one's college major, and larger starting salary (Blau et al, 2014(Blau et al, , 2017. However, students may or may not perceive these benefits if they are engaging in part-time work during college for financial reasons, a circumstance which students believe encumbers their involvement in collegiate activities and academic achievement (Furr & Elling, 2000).…”

“…Integration of coursework and college life through living/learning communities or Freshmen Interest Groups has been shown to improve the graduation rate among agricultural students (Purdie, Williams, & Ellersieck, 2007). Students who do not live on campus are less engaged especially in university-based career and professional development opportunities (Blau et al, 2014;Kuh, Gonyea, & Palmer, 2001). Conversely, campus life provides opportunities for stronger community and mentoring connections such as those derived from participation in Greek letter organizations (Hale, 2015).…”