Who they are versus what they want: How dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance profiles can aid in developing employability

Abstract

This paper draws attention to a behavior-based assessment instrument that is frequently utilized in industry settings but less utilized in the academic classroom. The authors argue that this instrument, the dominance, influence, steadiness, and compliance (DISC) profile, can be useful in training and developing soft skills desired by employers. They also examine the effects of gender and work experience on the various DISC patterns to better understand how this instrument may be useful for coaching and mentoring in those academic and organizational contexts. In this study, DISC pattern data were gathered from 1547 undergraduate and graduate students across multiple universities in the USA. A multivariate analysis of variance was performed on the data and the results show males scoring higher on Dominance and females scoring higher on Steadiness, as predicted. Females scored higher on Compliance, contrary to predictions. Graduate students scored higher on Dominance and undergraduates scored higher in Steadiness, as hypothesized. Undergraduates also scored higher on Influence than did graduate students. Such differences in DISC profiles suggest that, as a behavior-based instrument, DISC may be helpful for students in understanding their behavioral tendencies as well as identifying workplace behaviors needed to bridge the gap between the soft skills employers want and the competencies students possess.

Team psychological contracts: Effects of gender and social comparison orientation

“…Results indicate that individuals do not consider motivation to be the responsibility of individual team members. Although somewhat unexpected, this is consistent with findings by Fertig et al (2022) in which undergraduate students exhibited higher compliance competencies than working graduate students, presumably due to learned conformance to expectations in academic classrooms.…”

“…Students’ PCs focused more on implicit and non-promissory expectations of educational experiences versus promises that make up PCs in the employment context. And Fertig et al (2022) found interesting gender and experience differences related to behavioral competencies developed among working graduate students compared to those of undergraduate students.…”

“…Research shows mixed results relative to the effective transfer of skills practiced in college and those needed in the workplace (Fernandez and Liu, 2019). However, research utilizing student teams can yield important professional insights for management (Fertig et al, 2022). Akkermans and colleagues (2019) emphasized the importance of social context in examining team PCs.…”