Exploring Deficiencies in the Professional Capabilities of Novice Practitioners to Reshape the Undergraduate Human Resource Development Curriculum in South Korea

Hee-Jun Choi and Ji-Hye Park ()
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Hee-Jun Choi: Department of Education, Hongik University, Seoul 04066, Korea
Ji-Hye Park: Department of Education, Kookmin University, Seoul 02707, Korea

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: At a time of global economic crisis, professional programs in universities are demanded to make continuous improvements based on new information on performance gaps of novice incumbents, in order to make their graduates more competitive, which ultimately leads to their job security and decent work. Accordingly, this study aimed to assess discrepancies in the importance and performance levels of professional capabilities required of novice Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners and priorities in instructional needs, as perceived by immediate superiors as an initial effort to improve the curricula of undergraduate HRD courses. Data were collected from 193 HRD supervisors in organizations in South Korea and were analyzed using paired t -test and the ranked discrepancy model. These findings indicated that instructional needs in terms of professional capabilities were high in the following order: instructional design, learning science, career and leadership development, coaching, training delivery and facilitation, knowledge management, and technology application. The results implied that most undergraduate courses developed for the education of prospective HRD practitioners need to be updated and improved. This study also proposed an idiosyncratic and periodic formative evaluation process for the ongoing improvement of professional programs in universities as a part of efforts to sustain the global economic growth.

Keywords: sustainable development; higher education; novice human resource development practitioners; professional capabilities; undergraduate human resource development curriculum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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