Innovativeness and communication behavior of vocational administrators in middle-size school districts in Texas --A correlational study

Abstract

This study sought to answer four main questions. (1) Is there a relationship between the level of innovativeness of the director of vocational programs in a school district and the level of innovativeness of the vocational programs in that district as perceived by state education agency personnel? (2) Is there a relationship between the level of innovativeness of the vocational director and his professional interpersonal communication behavior? (3) Is there a relationship between the level of innovativeness of the vocational director in his professional role and in his role as a private citizen? (4) Is there a relationship between the level of innovativeness of the school district vocational program and the communication behavior of the vocational director? Included in the study were all Texas school districts that had a high school average daily attendance between 800 and 3000 during the 1971-1972 school year and were authorized a vocational administrative unit by the state education agency prior to the 1972-1973 school year. Fifty-three such districts were identified. Data related to the innovativeness of the vocational program in each district were obtained by a questionnaire-type instrument from a jury of vocational administrators in the state education agency. Data related to four general classes of independent variables were collected by mailed questionnaire from the vocational director in forty-three of the fifty-three districts. These classes were: (1) the vocational director's professional experience, (2) his adoption of a number of innovations, (3) his response to a situational type item, (4) his professional communication behavior and his perceptions of sources of influence to modify district vocational programs..