The Effect of Self-Directedness in Learing on Employment Readiness of Undergraduates in South Korea

Hee Yeong Kim,Gi Un Kim

doi:10.5539/jel.v7n3p125

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether self-directedness in learning has positive effects on employment readiness of undergraduates. The subject of this study has little precedent research and we generated a research model. This study shows the following results: First, intrinsic motivation factor of self-directedness in learning has a positive effect on employment readiness directly. Task-solving abilities in self-directedness in learning indirectly have positive effects on employment readiness through the mediating effect of intrinsic motivation. Second, the higher the achievment orientation undergraduates have, the more negatively affected the employment readiness of undergraduates is. It means that higher achievement orientation may encourage them to explore new career paths such as graduate school or youth startup not normal employment of companies. Third, this study has the following significance: We set up and proved the relationship between subordinate variables in self-directedness in learning of undergraduates and subordinate varibles in employment readiness. We proved that the intrinsic motivation of self-directedness in learning is the most important factor to have a positive effect on the employment readiness of undergraduates.

Highlights

Undergraduates begin to take responsibility for their own lives during their university days
This study investigated the structural relationship between undergraduates’ self-directedness and their employment readiness
Adult learners’ self-directedness has a strong significance to their employability attributes (Botha, Coetzee, & Coetzee, 2015) and this study showed that undergraduates’ self-directedness in learning has a positive relationship with employment readiness

Summary

Introduction

Undergraduates begin to take responsibility for their own lives during their university days. Korean undergraduates have to earn high GPA at their majors and to learn foreign languages in private educational institutes, sometimes they have to acquire information technology-related certifications to improve their employability, but company HR personnels consider another. They require candidates to have competences like interpersonal skill, problem-solving skill, self-directedness, etc (Lee & Park, 2015). According to Knowles (1975), self-directed learning is “a process in which learners take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes”. The terms of self-directed learning have been used variously: independent learning, self-teaching, inquiry learning, autonomous learning, self-education, self-regulated learning, etc. Brookfield (1985) argued that the terms related to self-directed learning were used diversely in order to account for several phenomena in the field of self-directed learning. Long (1992) synthesized the opinions of many scholars on self-directed learning and defined it as a cognitive process which carries out a series of meta-cognitive behavior to engage in, focus on, raise questions of, compare and contrast certain learning by learners’ controlling and managing for themselves

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Conclusion