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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PARTICIPATION OF THE CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL SECRETARY IN CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected personal, professional, and geographical factors in the participation of the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) in continuing professional education (CPE). A secondary purpose of this study was to determine what self-perceived continuing professional education would meet the professional needs and life circumstances of the CPS; i.e., what topics the CPS would most like to see and least like to see included in CPE events and what delivery systems would best fit the life circumstances of the CPS. The population of secretaries holding the CPS rating numbered 12,064 in 1978; the sample size needed for reliability of this study for a 95 percent confidence interval with 1 degree of freedom was 372. A return of 462 questionnaires (77 percent) was achieved, of which 30 questionnaires were not used in the study for various reasons; the adjusted return used in the study was 432 questionnaires. Statistical procedures used in this study were frequency counts of all factors investigated through the questionnaire and chi square analysis of selected factors. A significance level of .01 was observed as a basis for conclusions made with the chi square analysis. Primary conclusions of this study were the following: (1) Of the approximately 70 percent of the CPS respondents who had participated in CPE, the relevancy of CPE experiences was a factor influencing the frequency--but not the recency--of participation by the CPS in CPE. However, the relevancy of meetings as perceived by the CPS was not an influencing factor in CPS participation in local-level and state level meetings sponsored by professional associations. (2) The relevancy of CPE experiences as perceived by the CPS was not influenced by the number of years the CPS rating has been held by the CPS respondents, the years of education possessed by the CPS, or the number of years since the secretaries had completed their secretarial training. (3) The primary reason listed by secretaries for having attended CPE was for personal growth and development, while primary causes indicated by the CPS for nonparticipation in past CPE events of which the CPS had been aware were time constraints, employment responsibilities, and finances. Employment responsibilities was influenced by the number of years the CPS had been in the same position and the number of years the CPS had been the same company. Finances was influenced by the total family income of the CPS. (4) Selected employer recognition plans reflecting employer attitudes toward CPE secretaries influenced the participation of the CPS in CPE. (5) Spending attitudes of the CPS toward CPE events were not influenced by either employers' policies regarding payment of all or part of the expenses for CPE or the total family income level of the CPS. (6) Attitudes of the CPS toward spending vacation time for CPE were not influenced by the employers' attitudes toward allowing compensatory time off for secretaries participating in CPE. (7) Commuting time to a college/university was found not to be an influencing factor in the participation of the CPS in CPE. (8) Travel attitudes of the CPS for CPE were not influenced by the total family income level of the CPS. (9) Seminars, short courses, and workshops were left to be the most desirable CPE delivery systems, followed by professional meetings, independent study, and weekend programs. (10) Topics the CPS respondents indicated they would most like to see offered in CPE programs were career development, coping with stress, managment, professional growth, assertiveness, communications, human relations, business knowledges, and office procedures.
Subject Area
Business education
Recommended Citation
ARMSTRONG, GUYLA RAE HARRISON, "FACTORS INFLUENCING THE PARTICIPATION OF THE CERTIFIED PROFESSIONAL SECRETARY IN CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION" (1980). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8018679.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8018679