Assessing the effect of management education on vocational behaviour

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of post-graduate management education, viz., Master of Business Administration, Master of Business Leadership and Specialised Master’s programmes, on the vocational behaviour of candidates. Vocational behaviour was operationalised by five indicators, viz., career decision-making self-efficacy, vocational identity, work identity, career commitment and vocational interest/personality. These indicators fit into the categories of vocational choice e.g., theories of occupational interest and their measurement, and vocational decision-making process; and vocational adjustment e.g., career commitment, all of which underpin vocational behaviour research. This study used Holland’s Typology (1985) as the theoretical model. A prospective causal-comparative design was used to address the research questions. Phase One of the research entailed a cross-sectional study involving post-graduate management students in various programmes. A within- and between-subjects design was employed. Discriminant Function Analysis (DA) established that the Enterprising personality type was the best predictor of both the Enterprising type (E-type) and Social type (S-type) environments in South Africa. Holland’s (1985) fourth working assumption, “Behaviour is determined by an interaction between personality and environment” (p. 4), was not fully supported by the current study. Person-Environment fit (P-E fit) did not predict vocational behaviour; however, t-test results established significant within and between group differences in vocational behaviour as a function of P-E fit. Moreover, it was established that incongruence is not always associated with negative outcomes; similarly, congruence is not always linked to positive outcomes. The Phase Two study was intended to examine whether management education could catalyse psychological behaviour change. However, exposure to management education did not lead to changes in students’ vocational behaviour. Furthermore, congruence (P-E fit) did not moderate the effect of the academic environment on the vocational behaviour of the students. In this regard, the hypothesised model for Phase Two study was not supported. However, the Phase Two study hypothesized model is an original model which could benefit from being tested using a large sample (more specifically an identical sample at Time 1 and Time 2 data collection phases). Furthermore, this longitudinal research should be carried out on a national level across all universities, business and governance schools. Research funding would be required to execute this project on a large scale.