تاثیر دانش موضوع قبل، توانایی قبل و سابقه کار بر روی خوداثربخشی

The factors that might enhance the learning achieved by students from a business simulation are examined to determine the extent to which prior ability, and knowledge gained through prior studies and/or work experience impact on self-efficacy. Immediately prior to their participation in a Hotel Operations Tactics and Strategy (HOTS) business simulation course, 326 international students’ prior subject knowledge, prior ability and self-efficacy were measured via an on-line survey. The findings indicate that self-efficacy is influenced positively by prior knowledge and prior ability. Further, it is revealed that work experience does not have any significant moderating effect between either prior knowledge or prior ability and self-efficacy.

The taxonomy of learning developed by Bloom, Engelhart, Furst, Hill, and Krathwohl (1956) presented educators with a structured plan for creating learning goals for which a strategy of instruction could be developed (Lowe & Holten, 2005). The desire of educators may be to take students in a given programme of study through a cognitive path designed to develop their ability to process information in order to achieve pre-specified educational outcomes. In vocational education, such as hospitality, it is imperative as part of the learning process that as realistic an impression of the hospitality industry as possible is created (Chen & Downing, 2006). This ‘realism’ can be achieved, in part, by linking it to the students’ educational and work experiences. Computer technology is designed to stimulate learning and to promote a higher level of understanding in students within a particular subject area or discipline, than traditional lectures or even case studies (Tompson & Dass, 2000). The advent of new technology has therefore had a great influence on education, instructional delivery and the ways in which students learn (Lowe & Holten, 2005). As such, increasing demands are thus placed upon educators to not only to keep abreast of technological developments, but also to incorporate them within the classroom environment. Computer based business simulations are tools that bridge the gap between learned information and experiential learning and they help to achieve the desired higher level learning outcomes (application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation) identified by Bloom et al. (1956). Benefits noted in early studies using hospitality management simulations included high levels of student motivation, development of technical and interpersonal skills, experiential motivation and leadership development (Chase, 1983). Later studies suggested that simulations have been shown to improve students’ self-efficacy (Tompson & Dass, 2000). Thus, more organisations are bringing simulations into their curricula to improve both effectiveness and appeal of formal lecture programmes (Aldrich, 2006). Apart from realism, there is a number of contributory factors that influence the learning achieved by students from a business simulation. The present paper is part of a larger study that attempts to measure the experiential learning achieved through the use of a business simulation and subsequently will determine the impacts of both self-efficacy, prior knowledge and ability, and work experience on experiential learning. Here, the focus is on determining the extent to which prior ability, and knowledge gained through prior studies and/or work experience impact on self-efficacy, which determines how people think, feel, motivate themselves and behave, all measured prior to the commencement of the business simulation.

Interestingly, although the students’ perceptions of their prior knowledge and prior ability in relation to marketing, business and management revealed a statistically significant positive effect on their self-efficacy, the findings with regard to prior financial knowledge and ability were not so clear cut. Although there was a statistically significant relationship for financial ability (Cash Flow; Balance Sheet; Profit & Loss; Break Even Point; Ability: Cost Volume Profit; and Spreadsheets), neither overall prior knowledge of finance, nor ability in relation to the applied financial factors (Liquidity & Solvency; and Operating Ratios), was associated significantly with self-efficacy. These findings suggest that, although the students may judge themselves to be well prepared in terms of marketing business and management, they may lack confidence in their financial knowledge and ability prior to taking a HOTS course. It appears that work experience has no moderating effect between prior knowledge and self-efficacy, confirming the previous literature (for example, Barron, 2008), which means that work experience acts as a relatively independent factor which has a positive influence on self-efficacy rather than moderating factor. There seem to be two options in terms of taking these results forward: First, as it does not influence or contribute to building self efficacy, there should not be too much focus on the applied financial factors within HOTS, particularly if it is employed in the first year of study. It would seem prudent to focus on the marketing, business and management areas, and, ideally encouraging students to acquire some financial-related pre-entry work experience. Second, HOTS could be introduced later on in the course, perhaps following an applied finance course, or re-introduced with a strong focus on the financial aspects of the simulation. The present paper is part of a larger study to measure the students’ experiential learning using a hospitality business simulation. A post-test questionnaire was conducted at the conclusion of the simulation period in each institution; phase 2 of this study combines the pre- and post-data. The focus for the current paper was to measure the influences on learning prior to the simulation period in relation to students’ self-efficacy and to determine the extent to which work experience and prior knowledge influenced this learning. The addition of the NGSE scale (Chen et al., 2001) to the self efficacy framework proposed by Tompson and Dass (2000) was an attempt to separate general efficacy beliefs in a broad context, with efficacy beliefs for fixed skills being measured through current knowledge of a concept and generative skills measured through self ability to apply the concept. The results suggest that whilst students perceived themselves to be generally efficacious, their perceptions of their knowledge and ability in finance were relatively lower. It is also noted that students’ ages had no significant impact on any of the measures used in the study. On the basis of these findings a revision of the initial model (Fig. 1) is presented in Fig. 2. One of the limitations to the study is that the NGSE scale is a self-assessed 5-point scale whilst the scale used for knowledge and ability is a 10-point scale. Bandura (1997) suggests that having too few scale points loses information useful for the purpose of differentiation because “people who use the same response category would differ if intermediate steps were included” (p.44). However the fairly large sample size, coupled with a high internal reliability of the data means, indicates that realistic conclusions can be drawn from the data. Bandura (1997) also suggested that minimising “evaluative concerns over possible social reactions to one’s self appraisal” (p.45) leads to an enhanced accuracy of self-efficacy measures. In the present study, students were instructed that their answers to the questionnaire would have no bearing on their grades and, for questions requiring the use of the rating scales; they were advised that there were no right or wrong answers. The research presented here sets the scene for the ongoing study which looks at the enhancement in learning achieved using the HOTS business simulation by comparing pre and post test scores for knowledge and ability and looking specifically at the gap difference and what factors have influenced this difference. Following on from Cioffi (1991), it might be argued that the emotional and physical demands of the hospitality industry (cf. Li and Wang Leung, 2001 and Lucas and Lammont, 1998) could have a negative impact on self-efficacy development in certain individuals. It would be of interest to examine coping strategies and retention in this context. In further support of the development of the present research in a subsequent paper, Bandura (2006) reported that self-efficacy can play a mediating role between certain determinants of competence including knowledge, ability and former achievement and subsequent performance.