Browsing by Subject "competence"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Reflections on the Development of Intercultural Competence: A Mixed Methods Study with Undergraduate Seniors at the University of California, Santa Cruz
    (2022-08) Swaim, Lisa
    This mixed-methods study sampled students in the transitional and intercultural orientation stages of the Intercultural Development Continuum, using the Intercultural Development Inventory, and then sought to understand each participant’s self-analysis of what intercultural competence development meant to them and what contributed most to their intercultural development. Student participants in this study acknowledged the importance to their intercultural development of the following university experiences and practices: curriculum, programs and organizations, living and learning communities, and leadership development programs. They highlighted the importance of intense shared experiences including high-impact educational practices such as short-term study abroad programs, field work, and internships. Students also credited mentorship and naturalistic engagement with others from different cultural backgrounds, both in childhood and within university life. Several students also discussed how their identity as part of a minoritized group within their community helped them to empathize with other minoritized individuals and reflect on intercultural learning more broadly. Those who scored in Acceptance and Adaptation had intense interpersonal experiences that forced them to engage and reflect in certain ways—even if they were uncomfortable. These experiences, however, were supported by mentors and guided reflection activities that allowed for students to sit with and learn from their discomfort. The lived experiences of students in this study demonstrate that students who scored further along the developmental continuum were characterized by their repeated seeking out challenging intercultural experiences, and a desire to engage with intercultural learning and growth. For students positioned further on the Intercultural Development Continuum, intercultural engagement was both challenging and fulfilling. The discovery of high-impact, high-intensity intercultural practices at home is important to intercultural development, as reported by students who score in transitional or intercultural positions on the Intercultural Development Continuum. Findings from this study may encourage educators to develop and encourage participation in these types of practices on and near U.S. campuses. These local high-impact, high-intensity program opportunities may broaden the availability of intercultural learning opportunities for all students, not just those who can afford to study, research, or intern abroad. These programs, however, appear to be most effective when they are interpersonally intense and provide support and mentoring for students.
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    The Relationship Between Psychological Needs Satisfaction and Professional Commitment of Minnesota School-Based Agricultural Education Teachers
    (2023-03) Rada, Lavyne
    Teachers must be retained in the profession to meet the ever-growing demand for SBAE teachers across the United States. Although the literature has identified several factors which influence SBAE teacher retention, previous research has not examined the psychological needs satisfaction of Minnesota SBAE teachers. While critical to retention, professional commitment remains a needed area within SBAE research. This study viewed psychological needs through the lens of SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2002), recognizing that the psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are universal and innate needs essential for psychological functioning (Ryan & Deci, 2020). Given that people are drawn to environments that foster needs satisfaction and that needs satisfaction influences beliefs and behaviors (Collie et al., 2016; Lee & Nie, 2014; Mabekoje et al., 2016), teacher’s psychological needs satisfaction influences a teacher's professional commitment. This study aimed to examine if and to what extent psychological needs satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness was related to and could predict SBAE teachers’ professional commitment. Hypothesized connections were tested simultaneously with a conceptual model where SBAE teacher’s psychological needs satisfaction and professional commitment was examined. Overall, the results revealed that psychological needs satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness (independently and collectively) have a significant and negative impact on turnover intention, which was used to measure professional commitment. According to the data, competence and autonomy are the primary predictors of professional commitment. These results align with previous research on teachers that indicated autonomy (Collie et al., 2016) and competence (Palmer, 2020) were indicators of professional commitment. It was concluded that satisfying SBAE teachers' psychological needs, especially the need for autonomy and competence, are an essential component of Minnesota SBAE teacher retention. If leaders in SBAE want to reduce attrition, more must be done to support SBAE teacher’s psychological needs satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Furthermore, special effort should be made to identify the distinctive needs of the majority of current SBAE teachers with up to ten years teaching experience, who tend to have lower psychological needs fulfillment.
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    Unintended Negative Effects of the Warmth Advertising Appeal on Brand Competence and Brand Attitude: A Compensation Effect between Brand Warmth and Competence
    (2016-07) Kim, Taemin
    Recently, the warmth appeal in advertisements has drawn much attention. This study seeks to examine the widely used warm creative approaches in advertising and to examine unintended negative effects of the warmth appeal by applying two fundamental dimensions of social perceptions, warmth and competence, and a compensation effect between the two to the advertising and branding context. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine: 1) under what conditions a warmth appeal can attenuate perceived competence of a brand; 2) how the potential negative effects of a warmth appeal on brand competence affects overall brand evaluation (brand attitudes); and 3) a mechanism of these unintended negative effects of a warmth appeal on brand attitudes. To investigate the effects of the warmth advertising appeal, this study focuses on several specific variables: 1) advertising warmth, 2) perceptions of a product category, 3) perceived competence of a brand, and 4) attitude toward the advertised brand. Particularly, this study seeks to demonstrate an interaction effect on brand competence between the warmth appeal and the product category. To demonstrate the interaction effect, this study uses two different product categories: a high strength-related product category and a high gentleness-related product category. Based on this categorization, this study posits that the warmth advertising appeal can attenuate competence perceptions of a brand in the high strength-related product category, which would lead to a negative effect on brand attitude. On the other hand, this study proposes that warmth appeals could enhance competence perceptions of a brand in the high gentleness-related product category and it would result in more positive brand attitude. The problems of this study were examined by considering consumers’ categorization mental activity and inferential processes of warm advertisements against a product category of the advertised brand. In the high strength-related product category which is perceived as low warm, when the warmth appeal is used in an ad, a compensation effect would occur and perceived brand competence would be lowered, which will lead to decrease in brand attitude. On the other hand, in the high gentleness-related product category, when the warmth appeal is used, perceived brand competence will be enhanced, which would lead to increase in brand attitude. Additionally, considering that perceived brand competence has more impact on brand attitude, lowered brand competence would function as a mediating variable in relationship between the warmth appeal and brand attitude in a high strength-related product category. To test these hypotheses, this study employed a 2 (a warmth advertising appeal: presence vs. absence) x 2 (a product category based on the type of benefit: when gentleness-related attributes are highly valued vs. when strength-related attributes are highly valued) between-subjects factorial design. However, the results did not support the study hypotheses. Instead, ads with warmth appeals enhanced perceived brand competence and attitude toward the brand rather than they attenuated them. The Discussion Chapter explains why the experiment failed to support hypotheses by focusing on the methodological and theoretical issues in this study.