The Use of Non-Cognitive Constructs to Predict Success of First-Year Students in a College of Business

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between academic hardiness, emotional and social competencies, academic success (as measured by grade point average), and persistence, in a sample of 178 first-year College of Business students at North Dakota State University. Students were administered the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory - University Edition (ESCI-U) and the Revised Academic Hardiness Scale (RAHS) within the context of their first year experience course as part of an on-going assurance of learning project at the College. Additional data was collected at the end of the semester relating to the students cumulative GPA as well as persistence data (did students re-enroll the following semester). Regression analysis was conducted to evaluate how well the data from the instruments, separately, predict student GPA and persistence. The outcome of the analyses indicates that all components of academic hardiness (commitment, control-effort, control-affect, challenge; as measured by the RAHS) were predictive of student GPA. Further, the component of commitment was predictive of a student's persistence. Emotional and social competencies (as demonstrated as a composite score of the ESCI-U) were found to be predictive of a student's GPA but not predictive of a student's persistence in this study. The findings of this dissertation study support targeting curriculum specifically to these two constructs, to further develop these skills and attitudes in students. The benefit of this would be the impact that development of these skills and attitudes can have on GPA (and persistence, in the case of RAHS - commitment), but additionally these skills and attitudes are sought out by organizations that are hiring graduates.