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The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 was used to investigate the longitudinal influence of select demographic and latent variables on the development of adolescents’ occupational aspirations at three critical points in the career development process-early, mid-, and late adolescence. Linear structural equation (LISREL) analysis examined the contributions of family status, academic achievement, and social psychological variables. Occupational aspirations of adolescents were relatively stable across the 4-year time period. Further, earlier aspirations offered significant predictive power for subsequent ones. Structural coefficients for social demographic variables indicated that socioeconomic status (SES) had significant effects on adolescents’ aspirations. In contrast, two latent variables, academic achievement and self-evaluation, initially represented only modest effects on aspirations which then decreased consistently over time.

The master’s of business administration (MBA) program is one of the most popular approaches to management education. This study investigates the impacts of several precedent variables on the academic performance in an accredited MBA program. A prediction model was developed with multiple regression, and results showed that undergraduate grade point average and scores on the Graduate Management Admissions Test had significant impacts. Implications for management education are discussed.

Purpose -This study aims to investigate the psychometric characteristics of a Chinese version of the Dimensions of Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ@). Design/methodology/approach – The DLOQ@, developed by Watkins and Marsick in 1997, assessed the characteristics of a learning organization. This study employed a survey validate utility of the DLOQ@ for the Taiwanese context. Findings -Psychometric analyses revealed that the Chinese DLOQ@ has reasonable reliability, and that the seven-dimensional factor structure was appropriate for the Taiwanese context. Study results also revealed that the seven dimensions of a learning organization can classify different organization types successfully and demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between organization type and perceptual measures of organizational performance. Research limitations/ implications -This study has implications for both research and practice in HRD. It offers preliminary evidence of reliability and validity for the Chinese DLOQ@. The positive evidence supporting the psychometric properties of the Chinese DLOQ@ indicates the potential for particular cross-cultural applications. Experimental results also suggest that the Chinese DLOQ@ can be utilized to determine cultural differences in building a learning organization. Further studies are required to investigate the relationships between the concept of a learning organization and its antecedent and outcomes variables, such as organizational structure, culture, and performance. Originality/value-This study confirms that the validity of applying the seven dimensions as determinants of a learning organization in the Taiwanese context and, in particular, supports the cross-validity of the DLOQ@ in this context. This study also offers practical help to understand the concept of organizational learning and developing learning organizations.

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The concept of the learning organization has received considerable attention in the scholarly literature because superior learning processes have been heralded as a source of competitive advantage. Organizations that embrace strategies consistent with the learning organization are thought to achieve improved performance. Yet few empirical studies have examined the relationship between the learning organization concept and firms’ financial performance. To assess this association, the authors obtained managerial responses to the Watkins and Marsick Dimensions of the Learning Organization Questionnaire (DLOQ©) instrument along with both perceptual and objective measures of firms’ financial performance. Results suggest a positive association between the learning organization concept and firms’ financial performance. The article discusses implications for research and practice.

Objectives. This study evaluated the effects of a major federal immunization continuing education course, delivered in both traditional classroom and satellite broadcast versions, on public health professionals’ knowledge, agreement, self-efficacy, and adherence in practice to recommendations. Methods. The study used a comparative time series design to determine whether the course influenced participants’ knowledge, agreement, self-efficacy, and adherence in practice to general and polio-specific recommendations as measured immediately and 3 months after the course. It also compared the effects of the classroom and satellite broadcast versions and used path analysis to show how the outcomes were related to one another. Results. Both versions significantly improved knowledge, agreement, selfefficacy, and adherence. Knowledge and agreement were significant predictors of self-efficacy, which directly predicted adherence. Vaccine availability and supportive clinic policies were also important adherence predictors. Conclusions. A well-designed training update can change provider knowledge, agreement, self-efficacy, and adherence. Traditional classroom and distance training can have comparable effects. The findings support incorporation of distance learning in national public health training, if the distance learning is used wisely in relation to training needs, goals, and practice contexts. (Am J Public Health. 2000;90:1218–1224)