This paper presents an empirical study which explored how deans at German universities accept their new role as manager, and which factors influence the acceptance of this role. Within a framework referring to Locke and Latham's goal setting theory, the acceptance of operative goals implemented in the faculties served as an indicator of how well…

Introduction: The topic of self-regulated learning has provided very important information about students' acquisition of knowledge and competences. Traditional research has described the importance of several cognitive, metacognitive, resource control and motivational strategies. Nevertheless, motivational strategies have received less attention…

Increasing diversity on college campuses combined with economic globalization challenge colleges and universities to prepare their students to thrive in a diverse society. There are mixed effects from increasing diversity on campuses. Thus, providing multiculturally competent counseling is a necessary and indispensable prerequisite for college…

Problem behavior theory posits that tolerance of deviance is an antecedent to antisocial behavior and substance use. In contrast, cognitive dissonance theory implies that acceptability of a behavior may increase after experiencing the behavior. Using structural equation modeling, this investigation tested whether changes in tolerance of deviance…

Purpose: After reviewing previous research, this study found that few school or educational studies have simultaneously explored both internal marketing and organizational commitment, and of those that have, only direct effects were examined. This study clarifies the relationship between school organization's internal marketing and teachers'…

This article presents a theoretical argument for assuming that schools have an orientation to learning that influences both whether teachers learn and also whether they change professionally as a result of the learning. This school-level orientation to learning is hypothesized to consist of beliefs and practices about learning. Results from a…

The topic of this article is the interpretation of structural equation modeling (SEM) solutions. Its purpose is to augment structural modeling's metatheoretic resources while enhancing awareness of how problematic is the causal significance of SEM-parameter solutions. Part I focuses on the nonuniqueness and consequent dubious interpretability of…

The graphical presentation of any scientific finding enhances its description, interpretation, and evaluation. Research involving latent variables is no exception, especially when potential nonlinear effects are suspect. This article has multiple aims. First, it provides a nontechnical overview of a semiparametric approach to modeling nonlinear…

A well-known ad-hoc approach to conducting structural equation modeling with missing data is to obtain a saturated maximum likelihood (ML) estimate of the population covariance matrix and then to use this estimate in the complete data ML fitting function to obtain parameter estimates. This 2-stage (TS) approach is appealing because it minimizes a…

Generalized structured component analysis (GSCA) has been proposed as a component-based approach to structural equation modeling. In practice, GSCA may suffer from multi-collinearity, i.e., high correlations among exogenous variables. GSCA has yet no remedy for this problem. Thus, a regularized extension of GSCA is proposed that integrates a ridge…

When data are not missing at random (NMAR), maximum likelihood (ML) procedure will not generate consistent parameter estimates unless the missing data mechanism is correctly modeled. Understanding NMAR mechanism in a data set would allow one to better use the ML methodology. A survey or questionnaire may contain many items; certain items may be…

Students' motivation is known to be influenced by both internally referenced and externally referenced factors. Internally referenced factors include self-processes (sense of competence and affect), whereas externally referenced factors include significant others (parents, peers and teachers). Using the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire, the…

This research explores communicative influences on cognitive learning and educational affect in online and offline courses limited to only enrolled students. A survey was conducted of students (N = 147) enrolled in online and offline courses within a single department during Summer, 2013. Respondents were asked about their classroom communication…

Many researchers have examined the effect of formal mentoring on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there has been little or no focus on an employee's intent to participate in a formal mentoring program based upon an employee's perceived organizational support, and/or affective reaction (job satisfaction and…

Investigating students' perceptions of their classroom environment is one of the ways researchers and educators can effectively determine what factors may benefit students' learning. Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality (SPOCQ; Gentry & Owen, 2004) was used with a group of Chinese gifted and general secondary students in the study. SPOCQ…