The association of intellectual styles, personality traits, and learning environment with academic achievement and career satisfaction among adult learners

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to determine the association of intellectual styles, personality traits, and learning environment with academic achievement and career satisfaction among Chinese adult learners. The two main objectives of the research were 1) to determine the predictive relationships of intellectual styles, personality traits, and learning environment to academic achievement and career satisfaction, and 2) to investigate the mediating effects of intellectual styles in the predictive relationships of learning environment and personality traits to academic achievement and career satisfaction. To achieve the above objectives, two studies were carried out. A pilot study was conducted to test the instruments and explore various relationships. The study was conducted among 304 part-time adult learners taking evening continuing education courses in a Hong Kong institution. Acceptable reliability and validity data were obtained for most of the instruments. Most of the demographic variables were found to be significantly related to intellectual styles and career satisfaction. Personality traits were stronger in predicting career satisfaction than were intellectual styles. It was also found that personality traits had statistically significant predictive power with respect to different types of intellectual styles. The main study was a longitudinal experimental study in which a revised questionnaire, based on the results of the pilot study, was administered to a sample of 459 part-time adult learners in both control and experimental groups in the first (pre-test) and the last (post-test) lessons. A student-centered teaching style, which has been shown to facilitate creativity-generating learning styles, was adopted in the experimental group as an intervention. Data analyses focused on comparing the differences and associations between the afore-mentioned variables in the pre-test and the post-test, the differences between the control group and the experimental group, and the mediating function of styles in the predictive relationships of personality traits and perceived teaching styles to career satisfaction and academic achievement. Follow-up interviews with 15 students who showed greatest changes in intellectual styles provided qualitative data. Results of the present research generally supported the research hypotheses. First, intellectual styles (thinking styles and career personality types) were malleable and were shaped by both personality traits and environmental factors to various degrees. Second, all three types of intellectual styles (particularly Type I styles) were positively associated with higher Type I academic achievement scores and greater career satisfaction. Third, the two style constructs, thinking styles and career personality types, overlapped to some extent, although each possessed its own unique features. Fourth, both thinking styles and career personality types mediated the relationships between personality traits and career satisfaction, and between perceived teaching styles and career satisfaction. In other words, personality traits and perceived teaching styles influenced learners’ career satisfaction, mainly through the influence of learners’ Type I and Type III styles. This is the first research to measure perceived teaching styles and to investigate the intellectual styles of Chinese adult learners. Equally importantly, the present research contributes theoretically to the literature in three ways: 1) by further clarifying controversial issues concerning intellectual styles; 2) by providing empirical support for Biggs’ (1990) 3P model; and 3) by modifying and validating the inventories for further use in relevant research. In addition to enriching the literature and research on styles, the present research has practical implications for educational and vocational purposes.