Since ‘soft factors’ gain more interest for their relevance for the labour market, this study explores the effect of learning style on labour market entry. Learning style is considered to be a relative stable educational concept representing an individual’s learning preferences. This study links the educational concept of learning style with labour market research. The sample has been composed of graduates in Economics of the Maastricht University who graduated in between 1991 and 1995. They all started their studies in 1986 or 1987, in which years their learning style data were collected. Learning style aspects were tested for their effect on job chances, quality of work and type of job (job match) at the time of the survey one and a half year after graduation. Analyses were applied within a two step model. In the first step only learning style data and control variables were included. In the second step, relevant covariates like study results were included in the analyses in addition to the learning style data. Logistic and normal lineair regression analyses point out that the motivational aspects of learning style tend to have an effect on most of the labour market indicators, whereas the cognitive information processing aspects merely affect the chance of getting an academic job. Results of multinomial logistic regression analyses reveal some effects on entering an accounting job in comparison with a managing job (job match). The learning style aspect ‘holism’ shows a limited, although unexpected positive effect in this respect. For globalism a negative effect on entering an accounting job appeared. Extendedness appeared to have a limited negative effect on entering an accounting job as well. For research jobs in comparison with managing jobs, no effects are found. Altogether, the effects of learning style aspects appear to be more profound than the effects of study results with respect to labour market entry. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Publisher Info
Paper provided by Maastricht : ROA, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market in its series Research Memoranda with number
004.
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)