Examining the impacts of out-of-class student engagement on student competencies in the context of business students in Vietnam – evidence from universities in Hanoi

PurposeThe topic of student engagement (SE) has received considerable attention in the literature for its robust correlation with many positive educational outcomes in higher education (HE). However, among these desirable outcomes, student competencies have rarely been examined despite their importa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied research in higher education 2024-03, Vol.16 (2), p.446-468
Main Author: Trinh, Giang Thi Thu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult learning
Behavior
Educational Environment
Experiential learning
Extracurricular activities
Learner Engagement
Learning Theories
Outcomes of Education
School Holding Power
Student participation
Student retention
Teaching Methods
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Summary:PurposeThe topic of student engagement (SE) has received considerable attention in the literature for its robust correlation with many positive educational outcomes in higher education (HE). However, among these desirable outcomes, student competencies have rarely been examined despite their importance in employability. While universities are expected to improve graduates' competencies and prepare them to adapt in an uncertain and complex workplace, the results are still limited. Therefore, this study attempts to examine the impacts of SE on student competencies in HE in Vietnam, focusing on the out-of-class environment. It also aims at developing a measurement instrument for out-of-class SE.Design/methodology/approachBased on student self-reports, this study collected two different datasets of 492 and 490 undergraduate business students in Hanoi to implement separate exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The measurement instrument of out-of-class engagement was adapted from the literature review and developed based on qualitative research, which combined the four subconstructs of participatory, emotional, cognitive and agentic engagement.FindingsFindings confirms four subconstructs of SE in the out-of-class context where agentic engagement is a valid and distinct aspect. Findings further show that, among these four subconstructs, cognitive and agentic engagement have significant impacts on all four important student competencies for business students, while participatory and emotional engagement do not.Research limitations/implicationsThis study confirmed out-of-class SE has significant positive impacts on student competencies in HE, especially with out-of-class cognitive and agentic engagement. The findings show evidence of different impacts between participatory and agentic engagement, in which while participatory has no impacts on student competencies, agentic engagement significantly contributes to competencies of managing self, communicating and managing people and tasks. This implies different outcomes can be expected from different levels of engagement.Practical implicationsFrom a managerial point of view, the findings of this study strongly suggest that higher education institutions (HEIs) should view the out-of-class environment as an important extended learning context for students' complete development. Besides, as student out-of-class participatory engagement is not sufficient to the formation of student competencies, HEIs should stren
ISSN:2050-7003
1758-1184
DOI:10.1108/JARHE-09-2022-0297