Determinants of Skill Levels of Farm Youth with regard to Agripreneurship: A Multinomial Regression Approach

This study investigated various determinants of the differential level of skill as perceivedby farm youth engaged in agripreneurship. The existing agripreneurial skill levels weredelineated by developing a composite index constituting of 5 skill dimensions. Purposivesampling was adopted to select the rural youth belonging to farming background andinvolved in agripreneurship for higher income in five districts of Odisha representing fivedifferent agro-climatic zones. A total of 250 farm youth was sampled from the selected 10blocks. The findings of the study revealed that, annual income from primary occupation,agripreneurial training, social media exposure and agripreneurship experience havesignificantly affected the existing level of skill possessed by farm youth with regard toagripreneurship. The findings affirm the need for extension personnel to understand theexisting skill level, capacities, abilities of farm youth along with the factors determiningthem in order to create awareness and build capacities required for agripreneurship.

Variation of Political Skill Dimensions Across Different Industries

The purpose of this study to ascertain if there is any variation in political skill dimensions ((a) social astuteness, (b) interpersonal influence, (c) networking ability and (d) apparent sincerity) exhibited by employees in India’s seven industry sectors. In this study, the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) is used to examine such variations. Five hundred fifty survey respondents are employed in seven sectors viz. automobile, education, finance, fast moving consumer goods, health, information technology and telecom. The results exemplify that statistically significant differences are exhibited in these political skill dimensions by the employees in different industry sectors chosen for this research. Since these differences are reflected on four dimensions of the political skill, this study makes a unique contribution by developing an understanding of individual dimensions of political skill, thus, enabling greater insight into skill enhancement at various levels. Further, this study contributes by furnishing insights on skills useful for practitioners to understand dominance and lack of industry-specific skills within PSI inventory. The implications of this study could be in the areas such as personnel selection, framing skill development tools and programmes, enhancing job performance, achieving organizational goals and improvising organizational culture.

Flipped learning enhances non-technical skill performance in simulation-based education: a randomised controlled trial

Background Many efforts of the past years aimed to build a safer health care system and hereby, non-technical skills (NTS) have been recognised to be responsible for over 70 % of preventable medical mishaps. In order to counteract those mishaps, several simulation-based trainings have been implemented in health care education to convey NTS. Still, the best and effective way to foster NTS in simulation-based training is not known. Due to the importance of NTS, this gap in knowledge needs to be filled. A possible approach to convey NTS effectively during simulation-based medical education (SBME), might be the use of the flipped learning approach. The benefits of flipped learning regarding the improvement of human factors (NTS), have not been investigated yet. Therefore, the authors introduced flipped learning as an experimental intervention into their SBME emergency trainings and aimed to analyse, whether flipped learning improved students´ NTS performance compared to lecture-based learning (LBL). Methods In a randomized controlled trial, 3rd year medical students participated in a SBME training and then received either a further SBME training with integrated flipped learning on NTS (intervention), or a further SBME training and an accompanying lecture on NTS (control). NTS performance was assessed on three skill dimensions with a validated behavioural marker system. Results The authors analysed NTS performance of 102 students, prior and after their allocation to each teaching method. The baseline NTS performance of both groups did not differ, whereas the intervention group enhanced significantly on all three skill dimensions (t (44) = 5.63, p < .001; t (44) = 4.47, p < .001; t (44) = 4.94, p < .001). Conclusion The integration of flipped learning into SBME yields a significant improvement of NTS performance and therefore medical educators should consider the application of flipped learning to convey complex human factors and skills.

Measuring Distinct Social Skills via Multiple Speed Assessments

Social skills (e.g., persuading others, showing compassion, staying calm) are of key importance in work and education settings. Accordingly, the goal of many selection processes is to identify candidates who excel in desired skills. For this, high-fidelity simulations such as assessment centers (ACs) are regarded as ideal procedures because they can be used to evoke, observe, and evaluate candidates’ actual behavior. However, research has repeatedly shown that observed performance differences in ACs are not sufficiently driven by the specific skill dimensions that are defined for assessment. Building on multiple speed assessments and incorporating insights from behavioral personality science, we offer an alternative approach for the reliable and valid assessment of distinct social skills. We hereby (a) selected skills on the basis of a bottom-up analysis of observable and distinguishable interpersonal behaviors and (b) specifically designed exercises around these skills (i.e., one skill per exercise, multiple exercises per skill). Here, we present the initial results of this newly developed procedure across three samples in a high-stakes selection context ( N = 589). Generalizability theory analyses showed that a substantial amount of variance in assessor ratings could be attributed to the selected skills. This underlines the importance of more behaviorally focused selection procedures.

Measuring Distinct Social Skills via Multiple Speed Assessments – A Behavior-Focused Personnel Selection Approach

Social skills (e.g., persuading others, showing compassion, staying calm) are of key importance in work and education settings. Accordingly, the goal of many selection processes is to identify candidates who excel in desired skills. For this, high-fidelity simulations such as assessment centers (ACs) are regarded as ideal procedures because they can be used to evoke, observe, and evaluate candidates’ actual behavior. However, research has repeatedly shown that observed performance differences in ACs are not sufficiently driven by the specific skill dimensions that are defined for assessment. Building on multiple speed assessments and incorporating insights from behavioral personality science, we offer an alternative approach for the reliable and valid assessment of distinct social skills. We hereby (a) selected skills on the basis of a bottom-up analysis of observable and distinguishable interpersonal behaviors and (b) specifically designed exercises around these skills (i.e., one skill per exercise, multiple exercises per skill). Here, we present initial results of this newly developed procedure across three samples in a high-stakes selection context (N = 589). Generalizability theory analyses showed that a substantial amount of variance in assessor ratings could be attributed to the selected skills. This underlines the importance of more behaviorally focused selection procedures.

Development and validation of a food and nutrition literacy questionnaire for Chinese school-age children

Background This study aimed to develop and validate the Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire for Chinese School-age Children (FNLQ-SC). Methods A comprehensive literature review and qualitative study were initially performed to identify the dimensions and core components of food and nutrition literacy. A cross-sectional survey of 4359 school-age children was conducted, and junior middle school students were used to analyze the reliability and validity of the questionnaire (n = 2452). The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by internal consistency, the construct validity was assessed by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the content validity was assessed by the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results From the literature review and qualitative methods, 19 core components of the FNLQ-SC were developed, including one dimension of food and nutrition knowledge and understanding, and four skill dimensions (ability of access, selection, preparing food and healthy eating). The overall FNLQ-SC questionnaire had acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.698). The EFA of skill components extracted 5 factors that were included in the conceptual framework in a slightly different model, and the cumulative contribution of variance accounted for 50.60% of the overall variance. The CFA of skill components showed an acceptable fit in general and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.070 (between 0.50 to 0.80). The communality was greater than 0.20 for all components. The Pearson correlation coefficients between each dimension and the overall questionnaire ranged from 0.370 to 0.877. The average FNLQ-SC score of all 4395 participants was 61.91 ± 9.22, and the score for the knowledge and understanding dimension was higher than that for the skill dimensions. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that not only social demographic characteristics (being a girl, being an only child, living someplace other than at school, having an urban registered permanent residence status, being from an affluent family, and being cared for by parents/grandparents with a higher education level) but also the home food environment were predictors of food and nutrition literacy in school-age children (R2 = 0.226, F = 81.401, P<0.05). Conclusion The Food and Nutrition Literacy Questionnaire (FNLQ-SC) developed here had good reliability, and it can potentially be a useful instrument for assessing food and nutrition literacy among Chinese school-age children.

Multidimensional Skills, Sorting, and Human Capital Accumulation

We construct a structural model of on-the-job search in which workers differ in skills along several dimensions and sort themselves into jobs with heterogeneous skill requirements along those same dimensions. Skills are accumulated when used, and depreciate when not used. We estimate the model combining data from O*NET with the NLSY79. We use the model to shed light on the origins and costs of mismatch along heterogeneous skill dimensions. We highlight the deficiencies of relying on a unidimensional model of skill when decomposing the sources of variation in the value of lifetime output between initial conditions and career shocks. (JEL J24, J41, J64)

INFORMATION AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR REGARDING HOAXES INDICATORS

Hoaxes have become a common phenomenon in Indonesia. The Indonesian Telematics Society Survey shows that even though Indonesian people understand the way in recognizing hoaxes, they Indonesia are not sure of being able to immediately recognize hoaxes. Based on previous studies, there are two reasons that lead to lack of the assuredness, namely, the idleness in using thinking skills and ignorance of hoax indicators in the news they read. This study aims to find the correlation between avoidance behavior toward information that can indicate hoax, critical skill, and individual perception of easiness in obtaining the information regarding hoaxes. Information Avoidance Scale and the Critical Skill dimensions of the Digital Literacy Scale were adapted to Bahasa Indonesia to measure the tendency of information avoidance and critical skills. Whereas an instrument to measure the perception of the easiness to obtain information was constructed independently. The results indicate that critical skills and perceptions of the easiness to obtain information have a negative correlation with the tendency to avoid information. However, because the correlation is poor, critical skills and perceptions of the easiness to obtain information do not adequately explain a person's tendency to avoid information that can help him to recognize hoaxes.

Do Analysts and Their Employers Value Access to Management? Evidence from Earnings Conference Call Participation

The literature examining analyst activity assumes that access to management is valued by analysts and their employers. We propose a readily observable measure of access: How often an analyst is invited to be among the first to ask questions in the Q&A session of an earnings conference call. These “early participants” are more successful in the labor market than peers from the same brokerage when their brokerages close. Our results show that access is valued by both sell-side and buy-side employers and reflects connectivity to management as well as analyst skill dimensions not captured in traditional measures of performance.