The relationship between selected personality factors of unskilled, skilled, and professional workers in Waco, Texas : and their participation in continuing education

Abstract

This study was developed to determine whether there are certain personality characteristics which can be used as predictors of an employee's willingness to participate in various forms of continuing education. One hundred seventy-one employees in the General Services Division of the James Connally Campus of Texas State Technical Institute were administered the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire developed by Cattell and Eber and the Leisure Activity Survey developed by Litchfield. Their scores were subjected to discriminant analysis to determine whether certain personality factors were more apparent in those individuals who engaged regularly in leisure time activities deemed to be educative in nature. Post hoc analyses were performed to determine if the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire significantly discriminated between any two groups of employees (unskilled, skilled, professional), ignoring the third. The analysis revealed that there was no relationship between the personality factors tested on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the extent of participation in educative behavior activities at either the .05 or the .01 level of significance within any of the three groups. Although the relationship was not significant at the .05 level, different trends were found in the relationship between certain personality factors and the amount an individual participates in continuing education activities. The secondary data revealed that the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire discriminated between the three categories. Specifically, it discriminated between the unskilled and skilled employees and between the unskilled and professional employees. It was concluded that the evaluation of such tests should be made on an individual basis since an averaging effect occurred when such evaluation was made on a group basis..