Businesses are confronting continuous and unparalleled changes. For organizations to assist employees in being motivated

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Scales to measure control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies based on social comparisons were developed for adult females in the four life roles of occupation, parenting, marriage, and economic management. Internal consistency and construct validity of the scales were examined in two studies. Internal consistency estimates of six of the eight scales exceeded .70. A factor analysis within each role supported the distinction between control-of-outcome expectancies and self-efficacy expectancies. Construct validity was supported by finding the hypothesized relations between the developed scales and standard measures of self-esteem, depression,and locus of control. As hypothesized, the developed scales accounted for unique portions of the variance in role-specific coping orientation and role stress. Specifically, control-of-outcome expectancies predicted active or passive coping orientation in the personal roles of parenting and marriage. It was concluded that the developed scales might have utility for understanding coping and experienced stress in various life roles.

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Executive SummaryStakeholders, such as future employers, parents, and educators, have raised their expectations of college graduates in the area of computer literacy. Computer skills and understanding are especially critical for business management graduates, who are expected to use computer technology as a tool in every aspect of their career. Business students should be able to show an enhanced understanding of computer literacy as they progress through each year of their college experience. An ideal final assessment should show that these students are able to make use of their computer skills in high-level problem solving situations.At the institution in this study, Utah Valley State College (UVSC), business management majors are required to complete a computer competency requirement early in their program by either taking a comprehensive computer applications course or by passing a state-wide computer proficiency exam. Later in their junior or senior year, these business students take a Management Information Systems (MIS) course where they are again expected to complete targeted business problems using spreadsheet, database, word processing, or presentation applications. These assigned business problems begin to approach the level of problem-solving expected by future employers. Instructors of the MIS course were seeing a lack of preparation and understanding as business management majors attempted to complete the assigned problems.Objective and subjective computer competency evaluations were given to business management students during their freshman, junior, and senior years. The result of these evaluations showed a decrease in students' skill level and confidence level in some of the key computer literacy areas by graduation. When current or future employers were asked what computer literacy skills were most needed in business graduates, they ranked word processing and spreadsheet skills highest. In order to narrow the focus of this case study, spreadsheet use and confidence was singled out because this was the area in which our students seemed to need the most reinforcement and was highly valued by our local employers. At a future time, the participants of this study plan to extend this evaluation into other computer competency areas.