Sample

Undergraduate human resource management (HRM) students in a post-secondary, professional school of higher educational learning participated in the research. Students studied such issues as how to reintegrate the long term unemployed into the workforce, or help employees plan their careers, as well as the legal steps involved in employee termination. The current program used a variety of learning environments such as classroom tuition, group projects, and skills training, which promoted competence-based learning. A large amount of time was devoted to internship training in actual business settings during the second, third, and fourth years, and students were required to write a thesis during the last 6 months of their study.

Students had finished their secondary school education, had entered as first year freshmen, and were generally between 18 and 22 years old. The data came from four cohorts of students. Cohort 1 started their education in 2000 and cohorts 2, 3, and 4 started their educations in 2001, 2002, and 2003, respectively. The entire sample, across all four cohorts, consisted of 174 students. However, 26 students dropped out prematurely and could not be included in the study because the predictor measures were collected at the end of the first year of the program. There were a total of 34 students in the 2000 cohort, of whom four dropped out prematurely; therefore, 88% of the enrolled students participated in the current study. Drop-out and participation figures for the other three cohorts were as follows: 9/79% for the 2001 cohort, 7/88% for the 2002 cohort, and 6/85% for the 2003 cohort. Of the 148 students who participated in the study, a further 11 students were not included because complete predictor and criterion data were unavailable. The distribution of gender favoured females (74%) over males (26%).

A power analysis with a two-tailed significance test, alpha = 0.05, and n = 137 yielded a value of 0.81. An estimated effect size of r = 0.30 was posited, which was based on a review of several studies that had reported incremental validities of the Big Five factors with academic achievement, above and beyond intelligence.

Predictor measures

Intelligence

Student intelligence was measured with the short version of the Multiculturele Capaciteiten Test voor Hoger Niveau (MCT-H; Multicultural Test of Intellectual Ability for Higher Education) by Bleichrodt and Van den Berg (1999). This test was developed especially for students in higher education, is considered a psychometrically sound instrument by the Dutch Testing Committee, the COTAN (Evers et al. 2000), and is used widely in Dutch Higher Education. The COTAN assessed the MCT-H on the following criteria: construct and criterion validity, reliability, principles of test construction, quality of test material, norms, and quality of the manual. As an example of construct validity the correlations between gender and intelligence in this test are alike correlations reported in the manuals of other international intelligence tests. The correlation with age was also examined. Results show a negative correlation for fluid intelligence and a positive correlation for crystallized intelligence, both in line with international research. The following three subtests, listed with their corresponding reliabilities, were used: double-word analogies items such as, shoe is to … as glove is to … (α = 0.95), exclusion items in which two pictures, out of a series of six, were excluded (α = 0.84), and speed and accuracy tests in which word or number pairs were compared (α = 0.96). This shorter version of the MCT-H was used because of time constraints and to minimize test fatigue. The short version has a reliability of 0.91 and has been shown to correlate as high as r = 0.86 with the long version, whose overall reliability is 0.97.

Big Five personality

All students completed the short version of the NEO, the NEO Five-factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) (Costa and McCrae 1992). The NEO-FFI is composed of 60 self-descriptive statements; 12 statements for each of the five factors. Items were rated on a five point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A reference to the Dutch language version can be found in Hoekstra et al. (1996). Cronbach alphas for the current study were as follows: conscientiousness (0.84), neuroticism (0.83), extroversion (0.77), agreeableness (0.64), and openness to experience (0.72). These values coincided closely with reliability values that have been reported in the NEO-FFI manual.

Items for the remaining personality variables of intrinsic motivation and anxiety were taken from the WerkStijlenVragenlijst (Questionnaire About One’s Style of Working) by Akkerman and van der Linden (2000), which in turn was based on the work of Hermans (1967, 1976). Four additional variables: anxiety, need for status, motivation to study, and environmental press, were also taken from the WerkStijlenVragenlijst and were included in the current research on an exploratory basis. Items on all scales were rated on seven point Likert scales, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Intrinsic motivation

The intrinsic motivation subscale consisted of 12 items. Sample items include: ‘I feel that everything I do must be of a high standard’, ‘I often do more than is expected of me’, and ‘People should not put off until tomorrow that which can be done today’. The user manual has reported the following intercorrelations: extroversion (0.27), neuroticism (−0.27), and conscientiousness (0.56). The internal reliability (α), as measured in the current study was 0.79.

Anxiety

Anxiety was defined as underachieving due to uncertainty and stress when tasks are experienced as difficult or must be performed under stressful conditions. Sample items include: ‘I am the type of person who can develop interesting ideas, but who has difficulty acting upon them’ and ‘The thought that a decision might turn out wrong makes me freeze in my tracks’. The scale contained 27 items and registered an internal reliability (α) of 0.86. A high score implied the experience of strong feelings of fear and stress. O’Conner and Paunonen listed anxiety as a variable of interest and studies have shown it to correlate −0.29 with school grades (Hembree 1988), −0.28 with oral exams (Diaz et al. 2001), and −0.29 with scholastic achievement (Chamorro-Premuzic and Furnham 2003). As might be expected, anxiety is also correlated with other predictors of academic achievement such as intelligence, r = −0.33 (Ackerman and Heggestad 1997), and neuroticism, r = 0.53 (Busato et al. 2000).

Environmental press

Environmental press was defined as the need for additional tension and challenging tasks to reach optimal performance. Sample items included: ‘I work a lot better when under pressure’, ‘I am easily distracted when there is no pressure’, and ‘I only really get into gear as a deadline approaches’. The scale contained 13 items and registered an internal reliability (α) of 0.84. A high score implies that additional pressure is needed to motivate an individual to perform.

Need for status

The need-for-status was defined as an internal desire to define success by comparing oneself to others. It consisted of 15 items, such as: ‘What others think of my accomplishments is important to me’, ‘I often compare my accomplishments to those of others’, and ‘I strive for positions in life that provide recognition’. The user manual reported the following correlations: extroversion (0.33), agreeableness (−0.39), and conscientiousness (0.21). The internal reliability (α), as measured in the current study was 0.86.

Motivation to study

Motivation to study was defined as the motivation to learn new knowledge and skills and the desire to study for one’s personal development. Sample items for this 12 item scale included: ‘I would rather read a textbook than watch a movie’ and ‘One needs a good education in order to advance in life’. The scale has shown the following intercorrelations: extroversion (0.27), neuroticism (0.26), conscientiousness (0.46), openness to experience (0.27), and intrinsic motivation (0.52). The internal reliability (α) was 0.76.

Measures of academic achievement

Grades on five different measures of academic achievement were obtained for each student: classroom lectures, skills training, group projects, internship training, and written thesis. Students were graded by their teachers on a scale from 1 to 10, with 6 representing a pass, for each completed course or learning module. Lecture, skills training, team project, and internship training grades were collected throughout the curriculum, and the thesis was graded at the end of the curriculum. Cumulative GPA was included as an overall measure of academic achievement as was time-to-graduation.

Lectures

Teachers graded students on multiple choice and essay exams and the grades reflected how well students had attended to classroom lectures and assigned textbook readings. In total, over the first 3 years of the HRM curriculum students had 25 lecture courses. Therefore, GPA lectures was based on 25 grades.

Skills training

Students learned general skills such as negotiating and debating, as well as curriculum specific skills such as how to conduct an employment interview. Teachers used theoretical presentations, acting, role playing, and videos to help students master the skills and considerable social interaction was required between the students and the teacher. Students wrote short reports after class (e.g. at home) in which they reflected on their training experiences and these reports were graded by the teacher. In total, students were graded on ten different training courses during the 4-year HRM curriculum.

Team projects

Students worked in teams of five over a 10-week period and developed HRM programs (e.g. selection and training) or products such as an HRM handbook or a Health & Safety manual. Students planned their own projects and the teamwork required students to learn how to communicate, plan, and resolve conflicts with one another. The project was scored as a whole; therefore, students were dependent on each others’ contribution and performance. Whereas first year students were assigned to project teams, students chose with whom they wanted to work in all subsequent years. Students were graded on ten different team projects during the 4-year HRM curriculum.

Internship training

Students worked as junior employees in actual business settings in curriculum relevant areas such as recruiting and applying government employment regulations. Students were trained by experienced supervisors and grades were obtained after discussion between the workplace supervisor and the student’s teacher. Students received 6 weeks of training during their second year, and 20 weeks during the third and fourth years.

Thesis

Each student submitted a 30-page thesis towards the end of the curriculum in which practical business problems and solutions were discussed, often stemming from internship experiences. The student’s supervisor, as well as an independent faculty member, rated the thesis and corresponding oral presentation, and agreed to final grades after discussion.

GPA

GPA was the weighted, cumulative average of grades across all subject matter during the student’s entire tenure at school.

Time to graduation

Time-to graduation was the number of months required for a student to complete the curriculum and graduate from the program. The formal curriculum was meant to be completed in 4 years; however, the system was somewhat flexible and a number of students took longer to complete their studies.