An Investigation of the Relationship Between University Students’ Innovativeness Profile and Their Academic Success in the Project Development Course

Year 2018, Volume: 7 Issue: 2, 79 - 95, 01.12.2018

Ibrahim Arpacı

Abstract

Purpose: Positive contributions of the innovation capability on the academic success of the students and development of the personal innovation competence by applying up-to-date pedagogies and activities have recently become a significant research topic. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between students’ individual innovativeness profiles and their academic success in the project development course in a sample of 120 undergraduate students. Methodology: The study adapted into Turkish and applied the “Individual Innovativeness Scale” IIS developed by Hurt, Joseph and Cook 1977 to identify the innovativeness profiles of the participants. Findings: The results suggested a statistically significant and positive relationship between the students’ individual innovativeness profiles and their academic success in the project development course. Further, the results indicated a statistically significant difference between female and male students in their academic success of the project development course. Practical Implications: The quantity and quality of research and development lectures that support innovative thinking should be improved. Further, innovative instructional methods could be employed to provide students with reasoning, analytical thinking, critical thinking, reflective thinking, and problem solving skills. Originality: This study was conducted in an authentic learning environment during the 14-week lecture period and the significant relationship between the participants’ innovation profiles and their academic achievement in the project development course was revealed.

Keywords

Project development, project management, innovation, individual differences

Üniversite Öğrencilerinin İnovasyon Profilleri ile Proje Geliştirme Dersindeki Akademik Başarıları Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesi

Abstract

Amaç: İnovasyon yeteneğinin öğrencilerin akademik başarısına olan müspet katkısı ve bireysel inovasyon yeteneğinin güncel pedagoji ve uygulamalarla nasıl geliştirileceği oldukça mühim bir araştırma konusudur. Binaenaleyh, bu çalışmada öğrencilerin bireysel inovasyon profilleri ile proje geliştirme dersindeki akademik başarıları arasındaki ilişki Eğitim Fakültesi’nde verilen Proje Geliştirme ve Yönetimi dersini alan 120 üniversite öğrencisi örnekleminde incelenmiştir. Yöntem: Katılımcıların inovasyon profillerini belirlemek için Hurt vd. 1977 tarafından geliştirilen ve bu çalışmada Türkçe’ye uyarlanan “bireysel inovasyon ölçeği” kullanılmıştır. Bulgular: Araştırma bulguları, katılımcıların inovasyon profilleri ile proje geliştirme dersindeki akademik başarıları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı ve pozitif yönlü bir ilişki olduğunu göstermektedir. Bununla birlikte, kadın ve erkek öğrencilerin proje geliştirme dersindeki akademik başarıları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir fark tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç ve Öneriler: Yenilikçi düşünmeyi destekleyen, araştırma ve geliştirmeye yönelik derslerin sayısının ve niteliğinin arttırılması önerilmektedir. Bununla beraber, öğrencilere akıl yürütme, analitik düşünme, eleştirel düşünme, yansıtıcı düşünme ve problem çözme becerileri kazandırmak için yenilikçi öğretim yöntemlerinin işe koşulması önerilebilir. Özgün Değer: Bu çalışma 14 haftalık ders sürecinde otantik bir öğrenme ortamında gerçekleştirilmiş ve katılımcıların inovasyon profilleri ile proje geliştirme dersindeki akademik başarıları arasındaki anlamlı ilişki ortaya konulmuştur.

Keywords

Proje Geliştirme, Proje Yönetimi, İnovasyon, Bireysel Farklılıklar

References

• Akgün, A. E., Erdil, O., Keskin, H. ve Muceldilli, B. (2016), “The relationship among gratitude, hope, connections, and innovativeness”, The Service Industries Journal, 36(3- 4), 102-123.
• Arpaci, I. (2009), “Technological Innovation Model for Public Sector (MSc Thesis). Department of Information System, School of Informatics, Middle East Technical University. Arpaci, I. (2010), “E-government and technological innovation in Turkey: Case studies on governmental organizations”, Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 4(1), 37-53. Doi: 10.1108/17506161011028795.
• Arpacı, I. (2011), “Kamu kurumlarında teknolojik inovasyon ve inovasyon politikası”, METU Studies in Development, 38(2), 111-123.
• Arpaci, I. (2013), “Organizational adoption of mobile communication technologies”, (Doctoral dissertation), Department of Information System, School of Informatics, Middle East Technical University.
• Arpaci, I. (2015), “A comparative study of the effects of cultural differences on the adoption of mobile learning”, British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(4), 699-712. Doi: 10.1111/bjet.12160.
• Arpacı, I. (2015), “Eğitim fakültesinde verilen girişimcilik dersinin öğretim etkinliğinin öğrenciler tarafından değerlendirilmesi”, Sakarya Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 30, 138-154.
• Arpaci, I. ve Arifoğlu, A. (2009), “E-transformation and technological innovation in Turkey”, Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS) (pp. 13-14).
• Arpaci, I. ve Gürbüz, T. (2011), “Innovation in learning: Innovative tools and techniques for learning”, International Journal of E-Adoption, 3(1), 29-37. Doi: 10.4018/ jea.2011010104.
• Arpaci, I., Yardimci Cetin, Y. ve Turetken, O. (2015a), “A cross-cultural analysis of smartphone adoption by Canadian and Turkish organizations”, Journal of Global Information Technology Management, 18(3), 214-238. Doi:10.1080/1097198X.2015.1080052.
• Arpaci, I., Yardimci Cetin, Y. ve Turetken, O. (2015b), “Impact of perceived security on organizational adoption of smartphones”, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(10), 602-608. Doi:10.1089/cyber.2015.0243.
• Bartlett, M. S. (1951), “The effect of standardization on a χ2 approximation in factor analysis”, Biometrika, 38(3/4), 337-344.
• Bryman, A. ve Cramer, D. (2011), Quantitative data analysis with SPSS 17, 18 and 19: A guide for social scientists, Hove, East Sussex, UK: Routledge.
• Büyüköztürk, Ş. (2003), Sosyal bilimler için veri analizi el kitabı, Ankara: Pegem Yayıncılık. Cho, H. J. ve Pucik, V. (2005), “Relationship between innovativeness, quality, growth, profitability, and market value”, Strategic Management Journal, 26(6), 555-575.
• Costa, P. T. ve McCrae, R. R. (1988), “Personality in adulthood: A six-year longitudinal study of self-reports and spouse ratings on the NEO Personality Inventory”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(5), 853-863.
• DPT (1996), Kamu yatırım projelerinin planlaması ve analizi, Ankara: DPT Yayınları. Field, A. (2005), Discovering statistics using SPSS, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Goldsmith, R. E. ve Foxall, G. R. (2003), The measurement of innovativeness. Shavinina, L. V. (Ed), The international handbook on innovation içinde. Oxford: Pergamon, 321-330. Goldsmith, R. E. ve Hofacker, C. F. (1991), “Measuring consumer innovativeness”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 19(3), 209-221.
• Gur-Erdogan, D., Eksioglu, S., Zafer-Gunes, D. ve Sezen-Gultekin, G. (2014), “The relationship between social entrepreneurship characteristics and the personal innovativeness of prospective teachers”, Anthropologist, 18(3), 727-733.
• Hofstede, G. (2001), Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Hurt, H. T., Joseph, K. ve Cook, C. D. (1977), “Scales for the measurement of innovativeness”, Human Communication Research, 4(1), 58-65.
• Işık, C. (2015), “Geleneksel ürün arzının inovasyon belirleyicileri: Erzurum civil peynir örneği”, Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, 46(1), 57-67.
• Işık, C. ve Meriç, S. (2015), “Otel yöneticilerinin bireysel yenilikçi kapsamında değerlendirilmesi: Van ili örneği”, Girişimcilik ve İnovasyon Yönetimi Dergisi, 4(1), 1-16.
• Işık, C., Işık, Z. ve Tırak, L. (2016), “Turizm amaçlı konaklama işletmelerinde duygusal emek ile bireysel yenilikçilik ilişkisi: Palandöken örneği”, Uluslararası Ekonomi ve Yenilik Dergisi, 2(2), 117-133.
• Jackson, D. N. (1977), “Reliability of the Jackson personality inventory”, Psychological Reports, 40(2), 613-614.
• Kaiser, H. F. (1970), “A second generation little jiffy”, Psychometrika, 35(4), 401- 415.
• Kirton, M. J. ve De Ciantis, S. M. (1986), “Cognitive style and personality: The Kirton adaption-innovation and Cattell’s sixteen personality factor inventories”, Personality and Individual Differences, 7(2), 141-146.
• Kline, R. B. (2005), Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (2nd Ed.), New York: The Guilford Press.
• Konaklı, T. ve Solmaz, İ. (2015), Relationship between the individual innovativeness levels and the techno-pedagogical training competencies of teachers’ from the schools subjected to Fatih project, Koleva, I., Efe, R., Kostova, Z. B. ve Atasoy, E. Education in the 21st Century: Theory and Practice, (pp. 128-138). St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, Sofia.
• Midgley, D. F. ve Dowling, G. R. (1978), “Innovativeness: The concept and its measurement”, Journal of Consumer Research, 4(4), 229-242.
• Pallister, J. ve Foxall, G. R. (1998), “Psychometric properties of the Hurt-Joseph-Cook scales for the measurement of innovativeness” Technovation, 18(11), 663-675.
• Riivari, E. ve Lämsä, A. M. (2014), “Does it pay to be ethical? Examining the relationship between organisations’ ethical culture and innovativeness”, Journal of Business Ethics, 124(1), 1-17.
• Rogers, E. M. (2010), Diffusion of Innovations, New York: Simon and Schuster. Rogers, E. M. ve Shoemaker, F. F. (1971), “Communication of Innovations: A Cross-Cultural Approach”, New York: Free Press.
• Scherer, R. F. Wiebe, F. A., Luther, D. C. ve Adams, J. S. (1988), “Dimensionality of coping: Factor stability using the ways of coping questionnaire”, Psychological Reports, 62(3), 763-770.
• Semerci, A. B. (2018), “The mediator role of individual innovativeness between social value of innovation and entrepreneurial intention: A longitudinal study”, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 7(1), 1-24.
• Simonson, M. (2000), “Personal innovativeness, perceived organizational innovativeness, and computer anxiety: Updates scales”, The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 1(1), 69-76. Yentürk, N. ve Aksakoğlu, Y. (2006), Proje döngüsü yönetimi I: Proje teklifi yazma, izleme ve değerlendirme, İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
• Yigit, S. ve Aksay, K. (2015), “A comparison between generation X and generation Y in terms of individual innovativeness behavior: The case of Turkish health professionals”, International Journal of Business Administration, 6(2), 106-117.