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EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION OF GENERAL EMPLOYABILITY BEHAVIORS RELATED TO SUCCESSFUL VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION
Abstract
Employment success of disabled and non-disabled persons is dependent upon demonstrating acceptable levels of technical and social skills. Yet rehabilitation counselors and employers have little information about what social behaviors are important for job success. This study's purpose was to show that diverse employers, representing different jobs and settings, could identify a group of social behaviors necessary for success in all jobs. It was hypothesized that: (1) the majority of identified behaviors would be independently and coincidentally generated by employers of each of the jobs and settings represented, hence, the name general employability behaviors; (2) the rank-order importance of the behaviors would correspond more closely with similar jobs than with similar settings; and (3) employer and rehabilitation counselor rankings of the behaviors, for the same job, would differ significantly. The Delphi fact-finding methodology required that subjects complete a first questionnaire to generate a list of behaviors and two subsequent questionnaires to obtain rankings of the behaviors' relative importance for each job. Three study groups included two equal groups of custodial and clerical supervisors (n = 18 for each group) representing the services and manufacturing Standard Industrial Classification Divisions (SIDs). Each of the SIDs included three sub-groups representing different employers. The third study group (n = 9) was comprised of rehabilitation counselors who participated only on questionnaire three. The nominal and rank-order data were analyzed using visual scan, median tests, Spearman rank-order correlation, chi square and contingency coefficient analyses. The findings confirmed the existence of a group of general employability behaviors relevant to all jobs and all settings. Results concerning the rank-order importance of the different behaviors were intermixed, and showed no well-defined correspondence within or between jobs or SIDs. Rehabilitation counselor and employer rankings did not differ significantly. Discussion focused on methodological refinements pertaining to the Delphi technique and the relationship of these results to the findings of other pertinent studies. Also discussed was the importance of attending to general employability behaviors in the practice of all aspects of vocational rehabilitation and career planning services. Numerous areas for additional research were suggested.
Subject Area
Vocational education
Recommended Citation
DYKSTERHUIS, JERRY EDSKO, "EMPLOYER IDENTIFICATION OF GENERAL EMPLOYABILITY BEHAVIORS RELATED TO SUCCESSFUL VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION" (1981). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8208348.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8208348