Remerciez-le!

Remerciez @Admin pour avoir partagé cet document gratuitement, de la manière la plus simple, en partageant sur les réseaux sociaux.

Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance

Vol.:(0123456789) International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2019) 19:257–274 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10775-018-9379-0 1 3 Development and initial validation of a Work‑Study Congruence Scale for university students Moong L. Chu1 · Peter A. Creed1 · Elizabeth G. Conlon1 Received: 18 February 2018 / Accepted: 9 October 2018 / Published online: 26 October 2018 © Springer Nature B.V. 2018 Abstract The 16-item Work Study Congruence Scale was developed to assess self-perceived congruence between work and study roles in university students. Items were based on student interviews and reviews by experts. Responses were subjected to Explora- tory (Sample 1: N = 251, mean age 25 years) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (Sample 2: N = 260, mean age 23 years), and validated against an existing brief congruence measure. The new scale taps four domains: university demands/ resources, occupational goals, family, and leisure. It has the potential to promote research on work-study congruence, which can shed light on factors that promote student engagement and well-being. Keywords Work-study boundary congruence · Well-being · Academic engagement Resumé Développement et validation initiale d’une échelle de congruence travail-études pour les étudiants universitaires L’échelle de congruence travail-études à 16 items a été élaborée pour évaluer la perception des étudiant·e·s universitaires de la congru- ence entre leur travail et leurs études. Les items ont été créés sur la base d’entretiens avec des étudiant·e·s et des revues d’expert·e·s. Les réponses ont été soumises à une analyse exploratoire (échantillon 1 : N = 251, âge moyen = 25 ans), à une analyse factorielle confirmatoire (échantillon 2 : N = 260, âge moyen = 23 ans) ainsi que comparées à une brève échelle de congruence déjà existante. Notre nouvelle échelle comprend quatre domaines : les exigences / ressources universitaires, les objectifs professionnels, la famille et les loisirs. Cet instrument a le potentiel de promouvoir la recherche sur la congruence travail-études et d’ainsi contribuer à mieux comprendre les facteurs qui favorisent l’engagement et le bien-être des étudiant·e·s. Zusammenfassung Entwicklung und erste Validierung einer Arbeits-Studiums-Kongruenz Skala Die 16-Item Arbeits-Studiums-Kongruenz Skala wurde entwickelt, um die selbstein- geschätzte Kongruenz zwischen Arbeits- und Studiums-Rollen von Universitätsstud- Extended author information available on the last page of the article 258 International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2019) 19:257–274 1 3 ierenden zu messen. Die Items basieren auf Interviews mit Studierenden und auf Expertenfeedbacks. Die Fragebogendaten wurden mittels explorativer (Stichprobe 1: N = 251, Durchschnittsalter = 25 Jahre) und konfirmatorischer Faktorenanalyse (Stichprobe 2: N = 260, Durchschnittsalter = 23 Jahre) analysiert und mit Hilfe einer Kongruenz-Kurzskala validiert. Die neue Skala thematisiert vier Bereiche: Univer- sitäre Ansprüche und Ressourcen, berufliche Ziele, Familie und Freizeit. Sie hat das Potential, Forschung zu Arbeits-Studiums-Kongruenz und ursächliche Faktoren im Zusammenhang mit studentischem Engagement und Wohlbefinden in den Fokus der Forschung zu rücken. Resumen Desarrollo y validación inicial de una escala de congruencia estudio-trabajo para estudiantes universitarios Los 16 items de la escala de congruencia estudio- trabajo (WSCS) para estudiantes universitarios fue desarrollada para valorar su au- topercepción sobre la congruencia entre los roles studio y trabajo. Los items se fun- damentaron con entrevistas a los alumnos y revisados por expertos. Las repuestas fueron sometidas a un análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio (ECFA), (Mues- tra exploratoria 1: N = 251 y media de 25 años de edad) (Muestra confirmatoria 2: N = 260 y media de 23 años de edad) y validadas contrastándolas con un documento actual sobre medida de la congruencia. La nueva escala conecta cuatro competencies: demandas universitariias/recursos, objetivos ocupacionales, familia y ocio. Tiene po- tencial para promover la investigación sobre la congruencia trabajo-estudio, la cual saca a la luz factores que fomentan el compromiso y el bienestar de los estudiantes. Introduction Undertaking paid work concurrently with study is an essential commitment for a high proportion of university students worldwide. In the USA, about 78% of univer- sity students work while they study (American Council on Education, 2006), while in the UK the figure is about 75% (National Union of Students, 2008). In Australia, where more than 80% of full-time students work at least part-time while studying (Bexley, Daroesman, Arkoudis, & James, 2013), there has been a gradual increase over the past 30 years in the proportion of fulltime, undergraduate students working part-time during their university education (Darmody & Smyth, 2008; Hall, 2010). Between 2007 and 2010, the percentages ranged from 65% to 69% for first-year uni- versity students, and 71–76% for later year students (Coates, 2015). This need to work while studying is largely the result of governments reducing their financial assistance to students and teaching institutions and increasing the costs of higher education (Devlin, James, & Grigg, 2008; Richardson, Evans, & Gbadamosi, 2014). While students can benefit from paid work (e.g., generic skills development; Curtis & Shani, 2002), engaging in these two competing roles can affect students’ academic performance and well-being (ACER, 2011; Creed, French, & Hood, 2015). Working while studying also can affect students’ longer-term suc- cess and well-being in the labour force, and has financial implications for families 259 1 3 International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2019) 19:257–274 and the community as a result of student under-performance, failure, and drop-out (Schneider & Yin, 2011). It can also affect teaching institutions, which lose funding because of student attrition (e.g., dropping-out costs Australian universities an esti- mated $1.4 billion per year; Hare, 2010). Understanding how students manage their work and study roles (i.e., manage the set of expectations regarding behaviour and responsibilities in these defined social positions; Biddle, 2013), involves understanding how they balance these important roles (i.e., how they distribute their resources to manage competing roles consist- ent with their capacity and preferences; Greenhaus, Collins, & Shaw, 2003). From a role boundary management theory perspective (Kreiner, Hollensbe, & Sheep, 2009), this means understanding the congruence or fit that people experience between these competing roles, as boundary congruence (our focus is on work-study boundary congruence) has implications for both the well-being of individuals and their perfor- mance (Ramarajan & Reid, 2013). While comprehensive scales have been devised to measure boundary congruence in other domains (e.g., work-family congruence; Chen, Powell, & Greenhaus, 2009), there are few existing scales suitable to assess work-study congruence in university students. Existing measures have either been devised for adults in full-time work and are not suitable for use with working students, been generated without reference to theory, or have psychometric weaknesses. To address this gap, this paper reports on the development and validation of a work-study congruence scale that could be used to assess university students’ perceived congruence between their work and study demands and responsibilities. Having a valid and reliable measure will allow researchers to better understand how university students establish and manage their work-study boundaries, and allow testing of the effects of work-study congruence and incongruence on students’ performance and well-being. Boundary management Individuals occupy multiple life roles, which overlap, develop, and change according to the life-span and life-space (cf. life-span, life-space theory; Super, 1994). Conse- quently, it is necessary to not only manage individual roles, but manage how these roles intersect and affect one another. Boundary management refers to the strategies and mental frameworks that individuals use to manage their everyday competing role activities (i.e., how they strive for role congruence and avoid role incongru- ence; Nippert-Eng, 1996). They use these heuristics to give action and meaning to how they engage with, sustain, and confront social challenges inherent in engag- ing with multiple roles. From this perspective, people form, sustain, and adjust their boundaries in order to simplify their role arrangements and reduce the stress asso- ciated with role conflict, in particular, inter-role conflict, which refers to the indi- vidual’s inability to allocate adequate time and resources to meeting multiple role expectations and responsibilities (Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000). As applied to the domains of work and family, boundary management refers to the strategies that people use to facilitate congruence (fit, or correspondence) with the cognitive, physical, and/or behavioural boundaries that exist between their work and family 260 International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (2019) 19:257–274 1 3 domains (Ashforth et al., 2000; Nippert-Eng, 1996). Boundary management strate- gies are focused either on maintaining separation/segmentation among roles (i.e., strategies used to keep competing roles separate), or integration of roles (i.e., strate- gies that facilitate and manage the merging of multiple roles). Considering boundary management strategies in the work and family domains has allowed researchers to investigate a range of issues related to dealing with work and family responsibilities, based on whether roles are largely integrated or seg- mented (Paustian-Underdahl, Halbesleben, Carlson, & Kacmar, 2016). Applied to student work and study domains, integrators would be comfortable with, and even prefer it when their work and study roles overlapped (e.g., being able to talk about study while at work); whereas segmentors would prefer, and try to structure their boundaries so that the different domains were kept separate (e.g., not having to think about work while studying; Kossek & Lautsch, 2012). There are positive and negative consequences for both integration and segmenta- tion: integration, for example, can uploads/Management/ work-study-congruence-scale.pdf