ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEES ...libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/trsimage/hp/02006499.pdfANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEES’ PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY BY YU Wing Yan

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ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEES’ PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

BY

YU Wing Yan 02006499

Human Resources Management Option

An Honours Degree Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfilment

of the Graduation Requirement for the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (Honours)

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong

April, 2005

PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................. iii

CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES.................................................................4

2.1 Theoretical Framework ..........................................................................................................................4 2.2 Employee Development Activity ............................................................................................................7 2.3 Antecedents of Employee’s Participation in Development Activity..........................................................8 2.4 Outcomes of Employee’s Participation in Development Activity ...........................................................14

CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY ...........................................................................................................16

3.1 Sample and Procedure ..........................................................................................................................16 3.2 Measures..............................................................................................................................................17

CHAPTER IV – RESULT............................................................................................................................22

4.1 Factor Analysis ....................................................................................................................................22 4.2 Means, Standard Deviations and Zero-order Correlations......................................................................23 4.3 Regression Analysis .............................................................................................................................23

CHAPTER V – DISCUSSION .....................................................................................................................26

5.1 Discussion ...........................................................................................................................................26 5.2 Study Limitations.................................................................................................................................28 5.3 Suggestions for Future Researches........................................................................................................29 5.4 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................30

REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................31

APPENDICES ..............................................................................................................................................40

(A) Tables..................................................................................................................................................40 Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Demographics Characteristics .............................................................40 Table 2: Result of Factor Analyzing Career Success Items......................................................................41 Table 3: Means, Standard Deviations and Zero-order Correlations..........................................................42 Table 4: Results of Regression Analysis of Antecedents of Participation in Development Activity...........43 Table 5: Results of Regression Analysis of Outcomes of Participation in Development Activity..............44

(B) Questionnaire ......................................................................................................................................45

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my truthful gratitude to my project supervisor –

Professor Samuel Aryee, for his valuable and insightful advice on this project. I am

grateful for his patience and support throughout this project.

I would also like to thank Ziqi and my classmates who have provided encouragement

throughout the whole research process. Also, I would like to thank all my friends and

relatives who have spent their precious time in helping me to distribute the questionnaire.

Finally, I would like to express my sincere thank to all of the respondents who have

spent their valuable time to complete the questionnaires.

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ABSTRACT

Data obtained form a sample of Hong Kong employees (N = 152) were used to

examine the antecedents and outcomes of employees’ participation in development activity.

Results of regression analysis revealed that career commitment mediated the influence of

organizational continuous learning culture and proactive personality on participation in

development activity. Contrary to the predicted relationship, job characteristics was not

related to participation in development activity. Furthermore, the results revealed that

participation in development activity was not related to perceived employability and career

satisfaction.

iii


CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION

The workplace is ever-changing. Globalization of markets, increasing competition,

increasing quality orientation of customers and technological advancements raise a need for

both individuals and organizations to learn continuously and respond proactively to these

changing conditions (London and Smither, 1999; Maurer & Tarulli, 1994). In the

workplace, continuous learning is no doubt a key of success for both individuals and

organizations. This highlights the importance of workplace continuous learning as a topic

for us to study. A key aspect of continuous learning is that employees must actively

participate in development activity (Rosow & Zagar, 2003).

The role played by employees in their learning and development process has been

changed. Traditionally, organizational career has been conceptualized as a single straight

road where an individual advance hierarchically within one organization over the course of

his/ her career (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Eby, Butts & Lockwood, 2003). Stable

relationship between employers and employees made organizations to assume their

responsibility for the development of employees. However, given today’s increasing

chaotic and unstable organizational environment, individuals can no longer expect lifetime

employment within one organization (Eby et al., 2003; King, 2004). Increasingly,

individuals are experiencing frequent transitions during their working lives (Goffee & Jones,

2000; Peiperl, Arthur & Anand, 2002). This new form of employment relationship means

1


that the original active role played by organizations in employees’ development needs to be

replaced by the employees themselves. Facing the increasingly boundaryless career

environment, individuals need to take responsibility for charting and navigating their

development paths. Against this background, it has become important to understand the

factors that motivate employees to participate in development activity.

There is a relatively small amount of research on employee involvement in development

activities. Prior researches (Birdi, Allan & Warr, 1997; Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Maurer,

Weiss & Barbeite, 2003; Noe & Wilk, 1993) have focused on examining the factors that

predict involvement in development activity. Researches have found that both individual

factors and situational factors are determined in motivating employees to participate in

development activity. However, the factors which have been shown to have relationship

with participation in development activity are limited. Perceived work support is the only

situational factor which has been shown to be predictive to participation in development

activity (Maurer et al., 2003). For the individual factors, predictors like self-efficacy,

perceived need, job involvement and perceived benefits have been explored empirically in

the previous researches (Birdi et al., 1997; Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Maurer et al., 2003; Noe

& Wilk, 1993). But there should be more relevant variables that might affect participation

in development activity (Maurer & Tarulli, 1994). Secondly, much of the prior researches

(Birdi et al., 1997; Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Noe and Wilk, 1991) focused on employees in a

2


narrow or limited number of occupations making it difficult to ascertain the generalizability

of the reported findings. Lastly, while researches (Hall and Mirvis, 1995; Senge, 1990)

have explained the influence of employees’ involvement in learning and development

activities on organizational effectiveness and employee success, there is a limited number of

research on the outcomes of involvement in learning and development activities particularly

employee perceptions of career success. This research aims to contribute to literature of

employees’ participation in development activity by examining some relevant antecedents

and outcomes which have not been explored empirically by using a broad sample of Hong

Kong workforce. Accordingly, the objectives of this research are:

(1) To investigate the influence of individual and situational factors (job

characteristics, organizational learning culture, proactive personality and career

commitment) as antecedents of employees’ participation in skill development

activity.

(2) To investigate the mediating effect of career commitment on the above

relationships.

(3) To investigate perceived internal employability, perceived external employability

and career satisfaction as outcomes of employees’ participation in skill

development activity.

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CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES

2.1 Theoretical Framework

The hypothesized model of this research is based on the theoretical and empirical work

of Birdi et al. (1997) and Noe and Wilk (1993) which emphasized that individual motivation

and work environment are the key determinants of the employees’ participation in

development activity, and consequently, employees’ career outcomes.

Four antecedents of employees’ participation in development activity were suggested in

this model, with two situational factors and two individual factors. Job characteristics was

one of the two situational factors. It is no doubt that the nature of work is closely related to

employees’ learning and development. The most fundamental purpose of participating in

development activity is to acquire knowledge and skills which can fulfill the requirements of

the job as well as expectations of the employer (London and Smither, 1999). Thus, job

characteristics was considered as one important determinant of involvement in development

activity. Secondly, organizational continuous learning culture was chosen to be the second

situational factors of participation in development activity because of its multiple dimensions.

Environmental factors such as management and co-workers support for development,

resources allocation on development and job assignments are embraced in a continuous

learning culture. Therefore, showing the relationship between a continuous learning culture

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and employees’ involvement in development activity would provide a whole picture for

organizations in how to motivate employees to learn and develop themselves. Furthermore,

while proactive personality was chosen to be an individual factor in order to highlight the

proactive role of employees in their development in the present workplace, career

commitment was chosen as an individual factor following the research of Aryee and Tan

(1992).

The outcomes of employee’s participation in development activity are defined in terms

of psychological career success of employees. Psychological career success captures

feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment in one’s career (Seibert et al., 1999). This

research focused on the perceived career outcomes rather than objective outcomes. While

objective career success had been shown to be a predictable result of employees’ participation

in development activity (Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Noe and Wilk, 1993), the importance of

psychological success as a criterion by which to judge career achievement is newly suggested

by scholars (Hall, 1976; Hall & Mavis, 1996; Marvis & Hall, 1994, 1996; Parker & Arthur,

2000). In this research, the psychological career success was divided into three dimensions.

They are perceived internal employability, external employability and career satisfaction.

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Antecedents Outcomes

Situational Factors

Fig. 1: Hypothesized Research Model of Antecedents and Outcomes of Employee’s Participation in Development Activity

Figure 1 depicts the hypothesized model of employees’ participation in development

activity to be tested in this study. Job characteristics, organizational learning culture and

proactive personality with the mediating effect of career commitment were suggested to be

the predictors of employees’ participation in development activity while perceived internal

employability, perceived external employability and career satisfaction were the outcomes of

employees’ involvement in development activity.

Continuous

Learning Culture

Proactive

Personality

Career

Commitment Development

Activity

Perceived External

Employability

Career

Satisfaction

Job

Characteristics

+ +Individual Factor

Perceived Internal

Employability + ++

++ Individual Factor

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2.2 Employee Development Activity

Development activity may include job experience, interpersonal relationships, courses

or seminars that help employees maintain or improve competencies (London, 1989). They

involve many forms of learning and training at the same time. They can be job-related or

non-job-related, carried out on work time or non-work time, formal or informal,

current-oriented or future-oriented, and required or voluntary (Birdi et al., 1997).

In this research, it is focused on the voluntary nature of development activity because it

reflects the active role of employees in their career development. It is suggested by many

commentators (Savickas, 2001; Sullivan, Carden & Martin, 1998) that employees need to

take responsibility for navigating their careers in order to remain competent in an

increasingly chaotic organizational environment. Voluntarily participating in development

activity can be regarded as a tool used by employees to remain competent in workplace and

denotes a career initiative behavior. Voluntary employee development activity, noted by

Maurer and Tarulli (1194) involves participation of employees in learning experiences that

are not mandated or required by the organization.

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2.3 Antecedents of Employee’s Participation in Development Activity

(a) Job Characteristics

The Job Characteristics Theory (Hackman and Oldham, 1976, 1980) has been

recognized as a useful theory for defining the nature of jobs and facilitating the job design

processes. According to this theory, there are five core job characteristics, namely skill

variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback from the job itself. Skill

variety is the degree to which a job allows employees to have a wide range of options in their

work; Task Identity refers to the extent to which employees do an entire piece of work and

can identify with the results of their efforts; Autonomy is the extent to which employees have

freedom in scheduling their work and to do what they want on the job; Task significance

refers to the degree to which a job is regarded by employees as meaningful and important to

the relevant people and the organization as a whole; and feedback addresses the degree to

which employees receive information on how well they are performing on the job (Bhuian &

Menguc, 2002).

The nature of work is continuously changing. It has now become more complex and

challenging due to the increase in organization’s expectations of their employees (London

and Smither, 1999). Challenging and complex jobs tend to stretch the knowledge and skills

of employees. This leads them to become aware of the need to update their skill and

knowledge leading to participation in development activity (Kohn & Schooler, 1978; Wall,

8


Jackson & Davids, 1992). Few empirical studies have investigated the relationship between

job characteristics and employees’ participation in development activities. Kohn and

Schooler (1978) reported that job autonomy leads to employees’ learning and development.

So, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1: Job characteristics positively influence employee’s participation in development activity.

(b) Organizational Continuous Learning Culture

Organizational culture defines values, beliefs and work systems. Culture is a primary

determinant of change and improvement (Ahmed, Loh & Zairi, 1999). A continuous

learning culture is one that embraces change through continuous improvement and learning

(Ahmed et al., 1999). Organizational learning culture describes both the structural and

process dimensions of learning within an organizational context (Egan, Yang & Bartlett,

2004). Watkins and Marsick (1993, 2003) suggested that a learning organization is viewed as

one that has capacity for integrating people and structure to move an organization in the

direction of continuous learning and change. As organizational culture is the pattern of

arrangement, material or behavior which has been adopted by all organization members

(Egan et al., 2004), employees in a learning culture will actively develop themselves as they

believe that it is necessary for them to learn.

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Organizational continuous learning culture can be reflected by the behaviors of the

members in an organization. Management and coworker support to employees’

development and learning are some of the elements of continuous learning culture (Birdi et

al., 1997). These two elements of continuous learning culture have been suggested to have a

positive influence on employees’ participation in development activity (Birdi et al., 1997).

Employees are more motivated to engage in development activities when their managers and

coworkers encourage discussions related to development issues and assist them in setting

development goals (Birdi et al., 1997).

H2: Organizational continuous learning culture positively influences employee’s

participation in development activity.

(c) Proactive Personality

Proactive personality is considered a stable disposition to take personal initiative in a

broad range of activities and situations (Seibert, Kraimer & Crant, 2001). Employees with a

proactive personality tend to demonstrate proactive behaviors (Seibert et al., 2001). Crant

(2000) define proactive behaviors as “taking initiatives in improving current circumstances or

creating new ones; it involves challenging the status quo rather than passively adapting to

present situation”. Individuals with proactive personality tend to take initiative.

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Awareness of a need to update skills in the fast-changing workplace, individuals high in

proactive personality will engage in skill development activity – a form of career initiative

behavior.

Although it is intuitively possible that proactive personality will be related to participation

in skill development activity, it has not been empirically examined.

H3: Proactive personality positively influences employee’s participation

in development activity.

(d) Career Commitment

Career commitment is defined as “one’s attitude towards one’s vocation, including a

profession” (Blau, 1989) or as “one’s motivation to work in a chosen vocation” (Carson &

Bedeian, 1994). Career commitment affects individuals’ behaviors (Chang, 1999).

Individuals high in career commitment tend to develop and pursue their personal career goals

(Goulet & Singh, 2002). They identify with and value their profession or vocation and tend

to invest more time and effort to acquire relevant knowledge relating to their profession or

vocation (Chang, 1999). Aryee and Tan (1992) have empirically shown that individuals

who are highly committed to their careers tend to spend more time in developing skills.

Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:

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H4: Career commitment positively influences employee’s participation

in development activity.

It is also suggested that career commitment mediates the relationship of job

characteristics, organizational continuous learning culture, and proactive personality with

employees’ participation in development activity. Job design has been shown to have direct

influence on career commitment. Employees whose job are aligned with their overall career

aspirations are likely to have greater career commitment (Bowen, Ledford & Nathan, 1991;

Powell, 1998) because they can grow on their job and are likely to be more pleased with their

work environment. So, the hypothesis is proposed as follows:

H5a: Career commitment mediates the relationship between job characteristics and

employee’s participation in development activity.

Cooperation and cohesion among employees and managers are encouraged under a

continuous learning culture (Tracey, Tannenbaum & Kavanagh; 1995). Employees in a

continuous learning culture receive more support in personal development from other

members in the organization which motivates employees to pursue their own career

development goal. Furthermore, supervisor support and consideration, as one element of

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organizational continuous learning culture, has been empirically shown to have a positive

relationship with career commitment (Blau, 1985). Therefore, it is believed that a

continuous learning culture is positively related to career commitment and the following

hypothesis is submitted:

H5b: Career commitment mediates the relationship between organizational continuous

learning culture and employee’s participation in development activity.

In addition, a person with proactive personality attempts to promote his or her career

rather than a passive response to the job situation as given (Crant, 2000; Fryer & Payne,

1984). In other words, individuals with proactive personality will take the initiative to

manage and shape their career (Bell & Staw, 1989; Serbert et al., 1999). Thus, individuals

high in proactive personality tend to commit more to their career by way of actively planning

and promoting advancement in their career. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H5c: Career commitment mediates the relationship between proactive personality and

employee’s participation in development activity.

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2.4 Outcomes of Employee’s Participation in Development Activity

(a) Perceived Internal and External Employability

Employability is a psychosocial construct that embodies individual characteristics that

foster adaptive cognition, behavior, and affect, and enhance the individual-work interface

(Fugate, Kinicki & Ashforth, 2004). Employability enhances an individual’s likelihood of

gaining employment (Fugate et al., 2004). Arthur and Rousseau (1996) suggested the

importance of employability as a criterion of career success. Perceived internal

employability is the belief that one is valuable to his or her current employer while perceived

external employability is the belief that one is valuable to other employers (Eby, Butts &

Lockwood, 2003). Employees who remain value-added to their present employers are

viewed as valuable resources to their present organization and marketable by other

organizations (Bird, 1994; Sullivan, Carden & Martin, 1998). As continuous development

or skill upgrading activities is one of the means for employees to acquire knowledge and skill,

and therefore, remain “value-added”, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H6: Employee’s participation in development activity positively influences

perceived internal employability.


perceived external employability.

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(b) Career Satisfaction

Career satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive state resulting from the appraisal of one’s

career. As Super (1994) noted, feelings of being in control of one’s present and future

career should lead to career satisfaction. Participating in development activities helps

employees to acquire skills which are needed in navigating their own careers. With better

mastery in one’s career, individuals are more likely to approach their objective career

outcomes like increasing salary and promotion. Therefore, they tend to have higher career

satisfaction. So, the hypothesis is proposed as follows:


career satisfaction.

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CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY

3.1 Sample and Procedure

The target population chosen for this study was the general workforce in Hong Kong.

Convenience sampling of full-time employees in Hong Kong was used as a method to

distribute the questionnaires. Half of the questionnaires were distributed personally in

my part-time company and half of the questionnaires were distributed with the help of

relatives and friends.

Questionnaires in both English and Chinese were used in order to encourage

respondents to participate in the survey. A cover letter was used to explain the purpose of

the study and to guarantee the confidentiality of the responses. The questionnaires were

sent and collected personally. A total of 152 out of the 200 questionnaires distributed were

returned, yielding a response rate of 76%.

Table 1 shows the demographics of the respondents (Refer to Appendices (A), Table 1).

Of the observed sample, male and female respondents were nearly evenly distributed, with

44.7 % of males and 55.3% of females. A large proportion of the respondents were single

(68.4%) and the married respondents accounted for nearly one-third of the respondents

(31.6%). Over half of the respondents aged below 30 years (55.3%) and over one-fourth

of respondents aged 30 to 39 years (26.3%). Nearly half of the respondents had an

16


educational level of matriculation and below while one-third of them were undergraduate

degree holders (33.6%). The number of respondents who work in professional field and

that work in administrative/ clerical field were nearly the same, in which 37.5% of them

work in professional field and 35.5% of them worked in administrative/ clerical field.

More than half of the respondents have worked with their present organizations for between

1 to 5 year(s) (56.6%) while 18.4 % of them have worked with their present organization for

between 6 to 10 years and 13.8 % worked with their present organization for less than 1

year. Only 4 % of the respondents have worked more than 15 years with their present

organization.

3.2 Measures

Employees’ Participation in Development Activity

The measure developed by London and Smither (1999) was used in this study.

Respondents were asked to describe their level of voluntary participation in 10 separate

development activities (i.e., attending career or personal development fair, initiating a career

planning discussion with your supervisors, etc.) over the preceding 12-month period. The

items were measured on a 5-point scale ranging from (1) “never” to (5) “four times or

more”. The alpha reliability for this scale is .84.

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Job Characteristics

Job characteristics were measured by the revised Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) by

Idaszak and Drasgow (1987). The measure includes separate subscales that describe

employee perceptions of the five core job characteristics. Respondents indicated on a

7-point scale ranging from (1) “very inaccurate” to (5) “very accurate”. A sample item is

“After I finish a job, I know whether I performed well”. The alpha reliability for this scale

is .92.

Organizational Continuous Learning Culture

Organizational continuous learning culture was assessed by using a 10-item

abbreviated version of the scale developed by Tracey et al. (1995). The culture items

describe salient characteristics, values and norms of the work environment. The items

were measured on a 5-point scale ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (7) “strongly

agree”. A sample item is “In my organization, coworkers are willing to listen to new

ideas”. The alpha reliability for this scale is .90.

Proactive Personality

Proactive personality was assessed with a 10-item shortened version of Bateman and

Crant’s (1993) 17-item Proactive Personality Scale. The shortened version of this scale is

18


comprised of the 10 items with the highest average factor loadings based on results reported

by Bateman and Crant (1993). Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (7)

“strongly agree”. Seibert et al. (1999) presented evidence for the validity and reliability of

the shortened scale. A sample item is “I am always looking for better ways to do things”.

The alpha reliability for this scale is .88.

Career Commitment

Career commitment was measured by a 12-item scale developed by Carson and Bedeian

(1994). Response options ranged from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree”. A

sample item is “My line of work/career is an important part of who I am”. The alpha

reliability for this scale is .84.

Perceived Internal Employability

Perceived internal employability was measured with 3 items adapted from Johnson

(unpublished, University of Georgia, 2001) reported in Eby et al. (2003) A sample item is

‘My company views me as an asset to the organization. The measure was rated on a

5-point scale ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree”. The alpha

reliability for this scale is .81.

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Perceived External Employability

Perceived external employability was measured with 3 items adapted similarly from

Johnson (unpublished, University of Georgia, 2001) reported in Eby et al. (2003). A sample

item is ‘Given my skills and experience, other organizations view me as a value-added

resource’. The measure was rated on a 5-point scale, ranging from (1) “strongly disagree”

to (5) “strongly agree”. The alpha reliability for this scale is .89.

Career Satisfaction

Career satisfaction was assessed by a 5-item scale developed by Greenhaus,

Parasuraman and Wormley (1990). Respondents were asked to indicate their level of

satisfaction with their careers on a scale ranging from (1)”strongly disagree” to (5)”strongly

agree”. A sample item is “I am satisfied with the success I have achieved in my career”.

The alpha reliability for this scale is .89.

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Control Variables

Four control variables were used in this study. Prior studies (Cleveland & Shore, 1992;

Maurer T., Weiss E. & Barbeite, 2003; Rosen, Williams & Foltman, 1965) found that a

number of demographic variables like age influence employees’ participation in development

activity. Furthermore, organization tenure was found to have a significant relationship with

development activity (Kozlowski & Farr, 1988; Kozlowski & Hults, 1987). Therefore,

variables like age, gender, educational level and organization tenure were controlled in the

analysis.

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CHAPTER IV – RESULT

4.1 Factor Analysis

A factor analysis of the perceived career success items was conducted on the observed

sample (N = 152) to examine their distinctiveness.

Table 2 (Refer to Appendices (A), Table 2) presents the result of factor analyzing the

career success items. The factors were extracted using principal components and the

resulting factor structure was rotated using VARIMAX. The factor analysis produced a

solution with two factors. As shown in Table 2, items of internal employability and

external employability loaded on one factor while the items of career satisfaction clearly

loaded onto its factor. This reflects that the respondents regarded the items of perceived

internal employability and perceived external employability as a measure of the same factor.

Therefore, perceived internal employability and perceived external employability was

combined as one construct, namely perceived employability. The two factors explained

63.97% of the variance.

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4.2 Means, Standard Deviations and Zero-order Correlations

The means, standard deviations and zero-order correlations of all variables involved in

this study are presented in Table 3(Refer to Appendices (A), Table 3). As shown in the

table, job characteristics (r = .28, p < .01), continuous learning culture (r = .34, p < .01),

proactive personality (r = .39, p < .01) and career commitment (r = .40, p < .01) were

significantly positively related to employees’ participation in development activity.

Furthermore, perceived employability (r = .26, p < .01) and career satisfaction (r = .18, p

< .05) were also shown to be related to employees’ participation in development activity.

These results provide preliminary support for the hypotheses.

4.3 Regression Analysis

(a) Antecedents of Participation in Development Activity

Following Baron and Kenny (1986), three separate regression analysis were conducted

in order to test the mediation effect of career commitment on employees’ participation in

development activity and its antecedents (Refer to Appendices (A), Table 4).

Equation 1 examines the influence of the independent variables on the mediator. Career

commitment was regressed on the control variables as well as the independent variables.

As shown in Table 4, both organizational continuous learning culture (beta = .25, p <.01)

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and proactive personality (beta = .42, p <.001) were positively related to career commitment.

However, job characteristics (beta = .10) was shown to have no significant relationship with

career commitment.

Equation 2 examines the influence of the independent variables on the dependent

variable. Employees’ participation in development activity was regressed on the control

variables and the three independent variables. From the table, organizational continuous

learning culture (beta = .20, p < .05) and proactive personality (beta. = .27, p > .001) were

significantly and positively related to employees’ participation in development activity

while job characteristics (beta = .04) was shown to have no direct relationship with

employees’ participation in development activity. Therefore, this result supported

hypotheses 2 and 3 and rejected hypothesis 1.

Equation 3 examines the mediating effect of career commitment on the relationship

between employees’ participation in development activity and its three antecedents – job

characteristics, organizational continuous learning culture, and proactive personality.

Employees’ participation in development activity was regressed on the control variables,

independent variables, and the mediator. Career commitment was significantly and

positively related to employees’ participation in development activity (beta = .18, p <.05).

Thus, hypothesis 4 was supported. Furthermore, as shown in Table 4, the previously

significant relationship between participation in development activity and continuous

24


learning culture ceased to be significant when career commitment was introduced into the

regression equation. Also, the previously significant relationship between participation in

development activity and proactive personality became less significant when career

commitment was introduced into the regression equation. This pattern of results indicates

that career commitment fully mediated the relationship between continuous learning culture

and participation in development activity but partially mediated the relationship between

proactive personality and participation in development activity partially. So, hypotheses

5b and 5c were supported and hypothesis 5a was rejected.

(b) Outcomes of Participation in Development Activity

To examine the relationship between employees’ participation in development activity

and its outcomes, perceived employability and career satisfaction were separately regressed

on the control variables, independent variables and participation in development activity.

As shown in Table 5 (Refer to Appendices (A), Table 5), perceived employability (beta

= .06) and career satisfaction (beta = .12) were found to have no significant relationship

with participation in development activity. Therefore, hypothesis 6, 7 and 8 were rejected.

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CHAPTER V – DISCUSSION

5.1 Discussion

This study contributed to the existing employee development literatures by exploring

the new antecedents of participation in development activity. The findings revealed that

organizational continuous learning culture, proactive personality and career commitment are

related to employees’ participation in development activity. The positive relationship

between organizational continuous learning culture and participation in development

activity suggested a lot for organizations in motivating employees to voluntarily participate

in development activity. In order to create a continuous learning culture that encourages

employees to participate in development activity, organizations can improve the work

environment in several aspects. Examples include designing job assignments which are

challenging and promoting personal development (Dubin, 1990), supporting knowledge and

skill acquisition through social interaction and work relationship (Dubin, 1990), and

developing formal systems that reinforce achievement and provide opportunities for

personal development (Dubin, 1990). Furthermore, consistent with prior studies (Birdi et

al., 1997; Maurer & Tarulli, 1994; Noe & Wilk, 1993), the findings revealed a significant

relationship between individual factors and participation in development activity.

Specifically, proactive personality and career commitment are both predictive of

participation. However, the role of job characteristics as a predictor of employees’

26


participation in development activity was rejected in this study. This revealed that the

design of work may not be a crucial determinant of employees’ motivation to participate in


Career commitment was shown to mediate the relationship of continuous learning

culture and proactive personality with employees’ participation in development activity.

This suggested that career commitment motivates employees to participate in development

activity. “Career” takes a significant position in employees’ mind when they are deciding

to participate in development activity or not. Employees who involve in development

activity may regard development activity as a tool for them to make advancement in their

career.

This study contributed to the existing employee development literature by examining

some possible outcomes of employees’ participation in development activity. Contrary to

our prediction, the two indicators of psychological career success were unrelated to

participation in development activity. The failure to support this relationship may be due

to Hong Kong’s poor economic climate in last few years. The psychological state of

employees might have been greatly affected. In this poor economic climate, employees

might have thought that it is difficult to master their career and they might have lacked

confidence to find a job in the market even if they had acquired a lot of skills and

knowledge from development activity.

27


5.2 Study Limitations

This study has several limitations that should be noted.

First, the development activities that constituted the measure of employees’

participation in development activity were borrowed from the Western literature and may

not accurately reflect development activities in Hong Kong.

Second, this study used self-reports from employees as the source of data. It is

possible that common-method variance arising from reliance on a single data source might

have affected the findings in some ways. However, studies (Birdi et al., 1997; Maurer &

Tarulli, 1994) noted that self-report data are not a major problem for the measurement of

participation in development activity. Birdi et al. (1997) suggested that archival data from

personnel files may not be objective and reliable indicators of development activity because

firms may not systematically collect information regarding development activity of

employees, or employees may not report participation to their employers.

Third, the cross-sectional data, which are the sample data collected in one point of time,

precludes inferences about the causal status of the relationships examined in this study.

For example, it can be an increase in career satisfaction makes the individual choose to

participate in development activity rather then vice versa.

28


5.3 Suggestions for Future Researches

As noted by Maurer and Tarulli (1994), no single variable alone will account for

participation in development activity and it is difficult to examine all variables in any one

study. Therefore, research might continue to identify some important determinants of this

topic in order to improve our understanding of employee participation in development

activity. It is suggested to focus on the individual determinants of employees’ involvement

in development activity given by today’s proactive role taken by employees in development

activity. Individual determinants like career motivation and extravert can be some relevant

variables on this topic.

Secondly, shown by this study as well as prior studies (Cleveland & Shore, 1992;

Maurer et al., 2003; Rosen et al., 1965), demographic information like age and individual

background information like job tenure have significant effect on employees’ participation.

Future research might focus more attention on individual differences in order to understand

the type of individuals who participate in development activity.

Finally, to avoid the problem raised by cross-sectional data, longitudinal study which

gathered information in different time may be carried out. Antecedents can be collected at

one point in time and outcomes can be collected in later point in time (Maurer et al., 2003).

29


5.4 Conclusion

This study examined the antecedents and outcomes of employees’ participation in


For the antecedents of participation in development activity, organizational continuous

learning culture was shown to have significant relationship with participation of

development activity. It is suggested that organizations need to create a continuous

learning culture in order to encourage employees to participate in development activity

voluntarily. Then, individual factors like proactive personality and career commitment

were also shown to have significant relationship with employees’ participation in

development activity in which career commitment mediates the relationship of continuous

learning culture and proactive personality with participation in development activity. Job

characteristics was shown to be unrelated to participation in development activity.

For the outcomes of participation in development activity, it was shown that

participating in development activity was unrelated to perceived employability and career

satisfaction in the presence of the independent variables.

30


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APPENDICES

(A) Tables

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of Demographics Characteristics (N = 152)

Demographic Variable Frequency Percentage Gender

Male Female

68 84

44.7 % 55.3 %

Marital Status Single Married

104 48

68.4 % 31.6 %

Age Under 30 years old 30 to 39 years old 40 to 49 years old 50 years old and above

84 40 23 5

55.3 % 26.3 % 15.1 % 3.3 %

Educational LevelMatriculation or below Polytechnic diploma/ Associate degree Undergraduate degree Postgraduate degree

67 23 51 11

44.1 % 15.1 % 33.6 % 7.2 %

Job Status Managerial Professional Technical Administrative/ Clerical

15 57 26 54

9.9 % 37.5 % 17.1 % 35.5 %

Organization Tenure Less than 1 year 1 to 5 year (s) 6 to 10 years 11 to 15 years More than 15 years

21 86 28 11 6

13.8 % 56.6 % 18.4 % 7.2 % 4 %

40


Table 2: Result of Factor Analyzing Career Success Items (N = 152)

Factor Loadings Items 1 2

My company views me as an asset to the organization. .64 .45 Given my skills and experience, the organization that I work for views me as a value-added resource.

.62 .44 Perceived Internal Employability

There are many opportunities available for me in my organization.

.60 .38

I could easily obtain a comparable job with another employer.

.80 .12

There are many jobs available for me given my skills and experience.

.84 .26

Perceived External Employability

Given my skills and experience, other organizations view me as a value-added resource.

.81 .35

I am satisfied with the success I have achieved in my career.

.42 .67

I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my overall career goals.

.32 .78

I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for income.

.25 .68

I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for advancement.

.24 .80

Career Satisfaction

I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for the development of new skills.

.20 .74

Eigenvalue 5.93 1.10 Percentage of variance explained 53.96 10.01

41


Table 3: Means, Standard Deviations and Zero-order Correlations (N = 152)

Variables Mean S.D. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 111) Gender a — — 1

2) Age b 1.66

.85 -.04 1

3) Educational Level c — — -.13 -.17* 1

4) Organization Tenure 4.72 4.56 -.07 .70** -.23** 1

5) Job Characteristics 4.63 1.09 -.01 .32** .11 .24** 1

6) Continuous Learning Culture

3.12 .79 .10 .31** .18* .12 .60** 1

7) Proactive Personality 4.40 .85 -.04 .14 .15 .16 .43** .35** 1

8) Career Commitment 3.23 .56 -.03 .15 .16* .08 .43** .46** .58** 1

9) Participation in Development Activity

1.48 .87 -.05 -.004 .36** -29 .28** .34** .39** .40** 1

10) Perceived Employability

3.05 .82 -.02 .15 .28** -.06 .53** .52** .44** .37** .26** 1

11) Career Satisfaction 2.94 .80 -.02 .42** .22** .26** .53** .50** .38** .44** .18* .64** 1

Notes: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). a. Male = 1, Female = 2 b. Under 30 years old = 1; 30 to 39 years old = 2; 40 to 49 years old = 3; 50 years old and above = 4 c. Matriculation or below = 1; Polytechnic diploma/ Associate degree = 2; Undergraduate degree = 3; Postgraduate degree = 4

42


Table 4: Results of Regression Analysis of Antecedents of Participation in Development

Activity with the Mediating Effect of Career Commitment (N = 152) EQUATION 1 EQUATION 2 EQUATION 3 Dependent Variable Career

Commitment Participation in

Development Activity

Participation in Development

Activity Variables Beta Beta Beta Controls Gender -.002 -.02 -.02 Age .19 -.08 -.08 Educational Level .19* .27*** .26*** Organization Tenure -.01 .01 .02 Main Effects Job Characteristics .10 .04 .03 Continuous Learning Culture

.25** .20* .15

Proactive Personality .42*** .27*** .09* Career Commitment — — .18* Adjusted R2 .33, F = 13.11 .24, F = 7.9 .26, F = 7.6 Notes: *p > .05

**p > .01 ***p >.001

43


Table 5: Results of Regression Analysis of Outcomes of Participation in Development

Activity (N = 152) Dependent Variable Perceived Employability Career Satisfaction Variables Beta Beta Controls Gender -.03 .10 Age .16 .31 Educational Level .15* .21 Organization Tenure -.28** -.02 Main Effects Job Characteristics .30*** .22** Continuous Learning Culture .24** .15 Proactive Personality .25** .11 Career Commitment .00 .20* Participation in Development Activity

.06 .12

Adjusted R2 .42, F = 13.05 .44, F = 13.91 Notes: *p > .05

**p > .01 ***p >.001

44


(B) Questionnaire

45

March 4, 2005

Dear Respondent,

Re: Survey of Employees’ Participation in Professional/Skill Development Activity in Hong Kong

I am a final year student majoring in Human Resources Management at Hong Kong Baptist University. This study is a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) Degree offered by Hong Kong Baptist University. The objective of the study is to examine employees’ participation in skill development activity.

Please take a few minutes to complete the attached questionnaire. Upon completion, please check to make sure that all questions have been answered. Data will be used for academic purposes ONLY. Your responses will be held in the strictest confidence.

Thank you very much for your time and kind participation. If you have any query, please feel free to contact me at 94127733 or [email protected].

Yours faithfully,

_____________________Yu Wing Yan, YanFinal Year StudentBBA (Hons) Human Resources Management OptionHong Kong Baptist University______________________________________________________________________________________________________

敬啟者：

有關僱員參與香港專業技能發展活動之問卷調查

本人為香港浸會大學人力資源管理系的三年級生。此調查乃香港浸會大學工商管理學士（榮譽）學位課程要求學生實踐的其中一環，旨在研究僱員參與技能發展活動之情況。

請花數分鐘時間填妥隨附問卷。完成後，煩請　閣下覆查問卷，以確保所有答案均已填妥。所有資料只會用作學術研究，閣下之所有答覆均會絕對保密。

本人謹為　閣下所獻出之寶貴時間及參與衷心致謝。如有任何疑問，請隨時致電9 4 1 2 7 7 3 3或發送電郵至[email protected]聯絡本人。

香港浸會大學工商管理學士（榮譽）人力資源管理系三年級生

　　　　　　　（余詠欣）謹啟

二零零五年三月四日

PART I

The statements below describe participation or involvement in development or skill upgrading activities. For each statement, indicate the frequency with which you have voluntarily participated in each of these activities in the past twelve (12) months.以下句子描述有關參與或參加有關於技能發展或提升之活動。請就每句句子圈出閣下於過去十二個月內自願參與之各項活動之頻率。0 = Never從不1 = Once一次2 = Twice兩次3 = Three times三次4 = Four times or more四次或以上

In the past twelve (12) months, how often have you. . .在過去十二個月中，　閣下有否…

Never從不

Four times or more四次或以上

1) ...enrolled in a college or university course that offered a qualification relevant to your line of work/career?

! …就讀能為　閣下之工作／職業提供相關資格之學院或大學課程？

0 1 2 3 4

2) ...attended a career or personal development fair?! …出席職業或個人發展展覽？

0 1 2 3 4

3) ...attended a seminar/ workshop to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to your line of work/career?

! …出席座談會／工作坊，以取得與　閣下之工作／職業有關之知識及技能？

0 1 2 3 4

4) ...read books or articles to help develop skills or acquire business knowledge?

! …閱讀書籍或文章，以促進技能發展或取得商業知識？

0 1 2 3 4

5). ..used computer-based training software (e.g. videos, audio tapes)?　　! …使用以電腦為基礎之培訓軟件（如錄像、錄音帶）？

0 1 2 3 4

6) ...read business publications and newspapers to acquire knowledge and skills relevant to your line of work/career?

　　! …閱讀商業刊物及報章，以取得與　閣下之工作／職業有關之知識及技能？

0 1 2 3 4

7) ...asked for assignments that will help develop skills (including task force or committee assignment)?

　　! …要求獲分派可促進技能發展之工作（包括特別任務或委員會工作）？

0 1 2 3 4

8) ...initiated a career planning discussion with your supervisors?! …主動與主管討論事業發展?

0 1 2 3 4

9) ...spoke to individuals who are generally considered experts in your line of work/career to learn about developments and required skills and knowledge?

! …與被公認為　閣下之工作／職業中之專家傾談，從而取得有關發展及所需之技能及知識方面之資訊？

0 1 2 3 4

10) ...kept up-to-date on industry practices or professional developments?　　! …保持取得行業慣例或專業發展之最新資訊？

0 1 2 3 4

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________1

PART II

Listed below are statements describing employees’ perceptions of their work environment. For each statement, please circle one response to indicate your level of agreement.以下句子描述員工對其工作環境之看法。請就每句句子圈出能反映　閣下之同意程度之數字。1 = Strongly Disagree非常不同意 2 = Disagree不同意 3 = Neutral中立

4 = Agree同意 5 = Strongly Agree非常同意

In my organization, . . .在我的機構裏，…

Strongly Disagree非常不同意

Strongly Agree非常同意

1) ! ...job assignments are challenges that stretch employees’ knowledge to the limit.

! …工作充滿挑戰性，能充分利用員工之知識。

1 2 3 4 5

2) ...supervisors give recognition and credit to those who apply new knowledge and skills to their work.

! …管理人員對那些能於工作中應用新知識及技能之員工表示認同及嘉許。

1 2 3 4 5

3) ...there is a performance appraisal system that ties financial rewards to technical competence.

! …有一個工作表現評估制度，讓在技術上更有競爭力的員工得到金錢上之相應回報。

1 2 3 4 5

4) ...job assignments consistently expose employees to new technical information.

! …工作令員工經常有機會獲得新的技術性資料。

1 2 3 4 5

5). ..coworkers tell each other about new information that can be used to increase job performance.

! …同事會告訴其他同事能用以提升工作表現之最新資訊。

1 2 3 4 5

6) ...there is an excellent on-the-job training.! …有出色之在職培訓。

1 2 3 4 5

7) ...independent and innovative thinking are encouraged by supervisors.! …管理人員鼓勵員工作出獨立及創新之思考。

1 2 3 4 5

8) ...supervisors ask for ideas about how to solve technical, work-related problems.

! …管理人員會諮詢員工意見，以解決技術上及與工作有關之問題。

1 2 3 4 5

9) ...coworkers are willing to listen to new ideas.! …同事均願意聽最新意見。

1 2 3 4 5

10) ...supervisors openly express their support of continuous learning.! …管理人員公開地鼓勵持續進修。

1 2 3 4 5

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________2

PART III

Listed below are statements describing employees’ perceptions of their job. For each statement, please circle one response to indicate whether it is an accurate or an inaccurate description of your job.以下句子描述員工對其工作之看法。請就每句句子圈出一個數字，以顯示句子是否能準確形容　閣下之工作。1 = Very Inaccurate非常不準確2 = Mostly Inaccurate不太準確 3 = Slightly Inaccurate稍為不準確 4 = Uncertain不肯定 5 = Slightly Accurate稍為準確 6 = Mostly Accurate大部份準確 7 = Very Accurate非常準確

Very Inaccurate非常不準確

Very Accurate非常準確

1) My job requires me to use a number of complex or high-level skills.! 我的工作需要我用到若干複雜或高層次的技術。

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2) My job is arranged so that I can do an entire piece of work from beginning to end.

! 我的工作已安排妥善，故我能從頭至尾完成整份工作。

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3) Just doing the work required by my job provides many chances for me to figure out how well I am doing.

! 光完成我的工作所要求我完成的職責就能令我有很多機會得知自己做得有多好。

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4) My job requires me to do many different things at work using a variety of skills.

! 我的工作需要我應用多種不同技巧完成多種不同工作。

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5) My job is one where a lot of other people can be affected by how well the work gets done.

! 就我的工作而言，工作完成得好與壞會對很多人造成影響。

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6) My job gives me a chance to use my personal initiative or judgment in carrying out the work.

! 我的工作令我有機會憑個人自發性或判斷進行工作。

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7) My job provides me the chance to completely finish the pieces of work I begin.

! 我的工作令我有機會完成整份由我開始的工作。

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8) After I finish a job, I know whether I performed well.! 待我完成工作後，我會知道我表現得好與壞。

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9) My job gives me considerable opportunity for independence and freedom in how I do the work.

! 我的工作給予我很大的自主性及自由度，讓我選擇工作的方式。

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10) My job itself is very significant and important in the broader scheme of things.

! 在更廣闊的層面而言，我的工作確實非常有意義及重要。

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PART IV

Listed below are statements describing one’s perception of oneself. For each statement, please circle one response to indicate your level of agreement or disagreement.以下句子描述某人自身之觀點。請就每句句子圈出一個能反映　閣下之同意或不同意程度之數字。1 = Strongly Disagree非常不同意 2 = Disagree不同意 3 = Slightly Disagree稍為不同意

4 = Undecided未能決定 5 = Slightly Agree稍為同意 6 = Agree同意 7 = Strongly Agree非常同意



1) I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to improve my life.! 我經常尋找可以改善生活的新方法。

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2) Wherever I have been, I have been a powerful force for constructive change.

! 在我所到之處，我皆能發揮重大力量，為該地方帶來有建設性的改變。

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3) Nothing is more exciting than seeing my ideas turn into reality.! 沒有其他事情比看見自己的理念成真更令人興奮。

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4) ! If I see something I don’t like, I fix it.! 當我見到不合意的事情時，我會出手撥亂反正。

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5) No matter what the odds, if I believe in something I will make it happen.

! 無論機率大小，只要我相信一件事情，我就會令它成真。

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6) ! I love being a champion for my ideas, even against other’s opposition.

! 即使其他人反對，我仍喜歡為我的理念而奮鬥。

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7) I excel at identifying opportunities.! 我較別人更能辨識機會所在。

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8) I am always looking for better ways to do things.! 我一直在尋求更好的處事方式。

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9) If I believe in an idea, no obstacle will prevent me from making it happen.

! 當我相信一個理念時，沒有東西可阻止我令它成真。

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10) I can spot a good opportunity long before others can.! 我能比其他人更早發現好機會。

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PART V

Listed below are statements describing employees’ attitudes to their line of work or career. For each statement, please circle one response to indicate your level of agreement or disagreement.以下句子描述員工對其工作或事業之態度。請就每句句子圈出一個能反映　閣下之同意或不同意程度之數字。1 = Strongly Disagree非常不同意 2 = Disagree不同意 3 = Neutral中立 4 = Agree同意 5 = Strongly Agree非常同意



1) My line of work/career is an important part of who I am.! 我的工作／事業是我人生重要的一部份。

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2) This line of work/career has a great deal of personal meaning to me.! 這工作／事業對我有著重大的個人意義。

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3) ! I feel “emotionally attached” to this line of work/career.! 我對這工作／事業有著“感情”。

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4) I strongly identify with my chosen line of work/career.! 我非常認同我所選擇的工作／事業。

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5) I have a strategy for achieving my goal in this line of work/career.! 為了在這工作／事業中達成自己的目標，我已訂下了一個策略。

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6) I have created a plan for my development in this line of work/career.! 為了在這工作／事業中發展，我已擬定了一個計劃。

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7) I have identified a specific goal for my development in this line of work/career.

! 為了在這工作／事業中發展，我已確立了一個特定的目標。

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8) I often think about my personal development in this line of work/career.

! 有些時候我會慮及我在這工作／事業的個人發展。

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9) The costs associated with this line of work/career sometimes seem too great.

! 這工作／事業所牽涉的代價有時顯得太大。

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10) Given the problems I encounter in this line of work/career, I sometimes wonder if I get enough out of it.

! 我在這工作／事業所遇到的問題有時會令我想到自己是否已能從中汲取足夠的教訓。

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11) Given the problems in this line of work/career, I sometimes wonder if the personal burden is worth it.

! 我在這工作／事業所遇到的問題有時會令我想到我所承擔的個人責任是否值得。

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12) The discomforts associated with my line of work/career sometimes seem too great.

! 我這工作／事業所帶來的不安感有時顯得過大。

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PART VI

Listed below are statements describing employees’ feelings towards their career. For each statement, please circle one response to indicate your level of agreement or disagreement.以下句子描述員工對其事業之感覺。請就每句句子圈出一個能反映　閣下之同意或不同意程度之數字。1 = Strongly Disagree非常不同意 2 = Disagree to Some Extent 某程度上不同意 3 = Uncertain 不肯定 4 = Agree to Some Extent某程度上同意 5 = Strongly Agree非常同意



1) My company views me as an asset to the organization.! 我的公司視我為機構的資產。

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2) Given my skills and experience, the organization that I work for views me as a value-added resource.

! 鑑於我的技能及經驗，我所工作的機構視我為增值資源。

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3) There are many opportunities available for me in my organization.! 我的機構裏有很多適合我的機會。

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4) I could easily obtain a comparable job with another employer.! 我能輕易從另一位僱主手中取得一份類似的工作。

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5) There are many jobs available for me given my skills and experience.! 憑藉我的技術及經驗，我可以選擇的工作有很多。

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6) Given my skills and experience, other organizations view me as a value-added resource.

! 鑑於我的技能及經驗，其他機構視我為增值資源。

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7) I am satisfied with the success I have achieved in my career.! 我對我的事業成就感到滿足。

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8) I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my overall career goals.

! 我對達成整體事業目標的進度感到滿足。

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9) I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for income.

! 我對達成收入目標的進度感到滿足。

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10) I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for advancement.

! 我對達成進步目標的進度感到滿足。

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11) I am satisfied with the progress I have made toward meeting my goals for the development of new skills.

! 我對達成發展新技能目標的進度感到滿足。

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PART VII Personal Information個人資料The information will be used for research purposes only. Please be assured that your personal information will be treated as strictly CONFIDENTIAL.資料謹作調查之用。我們會確保　閣下之個人資料將會絕對保密。

1) ! Gender性別: Male 男 Female女

2) ! Marital Status婚姻狀況: Single單身 Married已婚

3) ! Age年齡: Under 30三十歲以下 30 – 39三十至三十九 40 – 49四十至四十九 50 and above五十歲及以上

4) ! Educational Level教育程度: Matriculation or below預科程度或以下

Polytechnic diploma/ Associate degree理工證書／副學士學位

Undergraduate degree (e.g., B.A., B.Sc, etc.) 學位本科生（如文學學士、理學學士等）

Postgraduate degree (e.g., M.A., MSc, etc.)學位研究生（如文學碩士、理學碩士等）

5) ! Job Status工作狀況: Managerial管理人員 Professional專業人員 Technical技術人員 Administrative/Clerical行政／文職人員

6) Length of employment with present organization:! 於現時任職機構之任職年期:

_________year(s) 年

7) Length of employment since completing full-time education:! 完成全日制教育後之任職年期:

_________year(s)年

-End of Questionnaire--問卷完-

Thank you for your time and participation!多謝你抽空參與!

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Documents

ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEES ...libproject.hkbu.edu.hk/trsimage/hp/02006499.pdfANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF EMPLOYEES’ PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY BY YU Wing Yan