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Advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students

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Advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students

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Content Running head: IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 1

Advising Strategies to Support High Graduation Rates of Transfer Students
By
Diane Mazzey

A Dissertation Proposal Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2017

Copyright 2017 Diane Mazzey
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 2
Dedication

To my husband, Jimmy, who supported me throughout this journey and encouraged me to start
this journey. Thank you for pushing me to keep going, reading every draft of my dissertation,
and making sure everything else around us did not fall apart.
To my nieces Deanna and Victoria, thank you for your patience and willingness to listen.
To my Mom, Sister, Nancy, Ken, Susan, Family and Friends thank you for all your support and
making sure I could still be part of your lives by rescheduling everything around my schedule.
To my work family Kellee, Kate, Jenny, Dorothy and Harold, thank you for your support and
guidance throughout this journey.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 3
Acknowledgments

My deepest thanks to my dissertation chair, Dr. Jennifer Crawford, for your support,
guidance, and inspiration. We started the program together in the first semester and I am glad to
be completing the program with you by my side. Thank you for all the encouraging words when
I doubted myself.
Thank you to my committee members, Dr. Kim Hirabayashi and Dr. Artineh Samkian,
for agreeing to be on my committee. Both of you are brilliant and your support and feedback has
been invaluable.
Finally, to OCL Cohort 2, thank you to all my colleagues in the program for your
encouragement and friendship. A special thanks to my capstone peeps for your support and all
the feedback: Alexandria (Lexy), Araceli, Adam, Dawn, Dorothy, Edward, Guillermo, Jennifer,
Joel, Kristin, Karla, and Nicole. To those of you who were in class with me thank you for being
their: Alberto, Amanda, Amie, Andrekka, Andrew, Andy, Annie, Arvind, Auleria, Aziza,
Benjamin, Cammeron, Chris, Crystal, Christopher, Drew, Erika, Henryetta, Jacob, Jacqueline,
Jennifer, Jodi, Juan, Juliet, Kiel, Melissa, Michele, Nina, Philip, Quan, Raymond, Ricardo,
Rosanne, Samara, Scott, Stephanie, Tena, Tory, and Vanessa,

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 4
Table of Contents
Dedication 2
Acknowledgments 3
List of Tables 7
List of Figures 8
Abstract 9
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF STUDY 10
Organizational Context and Mission 10
Organizational Goal 11
Related Literature for Advising’s Impact on Retention 12
Importance of the Evaluation 14
Description of Stakeholder Groups 15
Stakeholders’ Performance Goal 16
Stakeholder Group for the Study 16
Purpose of the Project and Project Questions 17
General Conceptual and Methodological Framework 17
Definitions 18
Organization of the Project 19
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 20
Effective Educational Practices in Advising in Higher Education 20
How Advising Impacts Student Persistence in Higher Education 22
Advising Practices that Address Transfer Students’ Transitional Needs 26
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Conceptual Framework 30
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences 30
Knowledge and Skills 32
Knowledge influences 32
Assess needs, abilities, and interests 33
Empowerment through shared responsibility 34
Reflection on advising effectiveness 35
Motivation 37
Organization 43
KMO Assumed Influences 48
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge, Motivation and the
Organizational Context 49
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS 56
Participating Stakeholders 56
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale 59
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale 60
Observation Sampling Criterion and Rationale 60
Observation Sampling (Access) Strategy and Rationale 61
Instrumentation and Data Collection 62
Interviews 63
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 5
Observation 66
Documents 68
Data Analysis 69
Credibility and Trustworthiness 70
Audit Trail 72
Triangulation of Methods 72
Member Checking 73
Ethics 73
Limitations and Delimitations 75
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS 77
Participating Stakeholders 78
Findings for Knowledge Influences 78
Knowledge: How to Assess Academic Abilities 78
Knowledge: How to Assess Professional Interest 80
Knowledge: How to Assess Academic Needs 83
Knowledge: How to Empower Students through a Shared Responsibility 85
Knowledge: Reflect on Advising Effectiveness 88
Findings for Motivational Influences 89
Motivation: Value Developing Relationships 90
Motivation: Belief in Capability of Providing Developmental Advising 91
Findings for Organizational Influences 93
Organization: Supportive Environment of Change 94
Organization: Environment of Trust 96
Organization: Environment that Offers Incentives 98
Organization: Enough Time to Accomplish Goals and Provide Advising 99
Conclusion 102
CHAPTER FIVE: SOLUTIONS, IMPLEMENTATION, AND RECOMMENDATION 103
Organizational Context and Mission 103
Organizational Performance Goal 104
Description of Stakeholder Groups 105
Stakeholders’ Performance Goal 106
Goal of the Stakeholder Group for the Study 106
Purpose of the Project and Questions 107
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences 107
Knowledge Recommendations 107
Motivation Recommendations 111
Organization Recommendations 114
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan 119
Implementation and Evaluation Framework 119
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations 119
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators 120
Level 3: Behavior 122
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 6
Level 2: Learning 123
Level 1: Reaction 127
Evaluation Tools 128
Data Analysis and Reporting 129
Summary 130
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach 131
Future Research 132
Conclusion 133
References 136
APPENDIX A: Interview Protocol 146
APPENDIX B: Reflection Memo 149
APPENDIX C: Document Collection 150
APPENDIX D: Informed Consent 151
APPENDIX E: Survey 154
APPENDIX F: Checklist 155
APPENDIX G: Survey 156

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List of Tables

Table 1: Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goal 16
Table 2: Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Assumed Influences and Related Literature 31
Table 3: Stakeholder Knowledge Influence, Type and Assessment for Knowledge Gap Analysis 37
Table 4: Motivational Influence and Assessment for Motivation Gap Analysis 42
Table 5: Organizational Influence and Assessment for Organizational Gap Analysis 48
Table 6: Conceptual Framework of KMO assumed Influences and Informational, Conceptual, and
Relational Factors 50
Table 7: Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goal 106
Table 8: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations 108
Table 9: Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations 112
Table 10: Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations 115
Table 11: Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for Internal and External Outcomes 121
Table 12: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation 123
Table 13: Components of Learning for the Program. 126
Table 14: Components to Measure Reactions to the Program. 128

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework 55

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Abstract

This study evaluated business advisors at Student Success University using Clark and Estes
(2008) modified gap analysis framework. The advisors' knowledge, motivation as well as the
organizational (KMO) influence were assessed to determine if any gaps existed that would affect
the advisors' ability to provide data on perceived barriers for developing and recommending
advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students. The findings of
this study identified gaps in five out of nine of the KMO influences. This study recommends
additional training on the knowledge influences on how to work with students through a shared
responsibility and how to assess student abilities and professional interests. The findings suggest
for the motivational influences the participants’ belief in their capability to provide
developmental advising as well as their definition of developmental advising will require
additional training and support. Within the organization, recommendations are provided to
increase trust within the organization and to provide enough time to advise and work on
developing and implementing strategies. Finally, using the New World Kirkpatrick Model this
study provides an integrated implementation and evaluation plan to support successful change
for the organization.
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CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF STUDY

Graduation rates are a concern for institutions of higher education. More specifically
transfer students’ graduation rates at four-year public universities. Approximately 72% of
students transfer to a public four-year university (AACC, 2015). The majority of students who
transfer to four-year public universities from a community college are underrepresented minority
(URM) students. The data for the California State University system shows that, of the 49,737
students who transferred in fall 2016, 41% were Hispanic and 4% made up the African American
and Native American student population with 24% of the students being White (CSU website).
The problem that higher education is facing is the disproportionately lower graduation rates of
underrepresented minority (URM) students. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES,
2014) found that the six-year national degree attainment rate at all universities was 59.7% for the
2007 cohort. The data shows that White students are graduating at a 62.9% rate and Asian
American / Pacific Islanders at a 70.0% rate. However, URM students in the same cohort are
graduating at disproportionately lower rates with African Americans graduating at 40.8%,
Hispanic students at 52.5%, and Native American is at 40.6%. Graduation rates are an important
problem of practice because there is a negative impact on funding, reputation, and the impact to
the economy when four-year public universities’ graduation rates are low. While the problem of
practice is a national issue, transfers students’ graduation rates are a challenge for individual
universities, and it is important to describe the mission and context of the organization that is the
focus of this study.
Organizational Context and Mission

In this study, pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of the organization and its
participants. Student Success University (SSU) is a four-year public university. Housed in the
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 11
business college at SSU is the Business Advising Center (BAC). The business college is the
largest college on campus and has the highest number of transfer students. The BAC offers one-
on-one and group advising to support students in the areas of educational planning, major
selection, academic probation, goal setting, and registration. The Business College has a large
population of transfer students on average 58% of the students admitted to the Business College
each semester are transfer students while 41% are first-time freshmen.
The BAC is part of the college’s student success team, which includes the career center
and the tutoring center. The college also requires students who have declared a concentration to
meet with a faculty mentor. The BAC center provides a dual model of advising with 10 full-time
professional staff providing academic advising and over 90 faculties providing career path
advising. Faculties assist students with linking their career goals with course choice. The vision
and mission statement for the business college at SSU is to graduate students who are globally
aware leaders. The BAC staff and faculty work to empower, support, and guide business students
to achieve their academic goals. The mission and context of the organization are connected with
the organizational goal to increase graduation rates for transfer students.
Organizational Goal

The organizational performance problem at the root of this study is graduation rates of
transfer students. In 2008-09 the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2016) found
that 41% of the students who earned an associate’s degree went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree.
Within the business college at SSU over 50% of the students are transfer students. In 2008, the
organization graduated 24% of their transfer students in two years and 68% in four years.
However, within the business college, the four-year graduation rate for transfer students is 10%
below the university average. It was in 2012 that the organization changed direction when the
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 12
new president for SSU arrived. The president embarked on creating a 5-year strategic plan and
developing a mission statement. The strategic planning process included the entire campus and
incorporated prior strategic goals that the campus community felt strongly about keeping.
In the academic year 2013-2014, the university launched the five-year strategic plan. The
president worked with the Vice President of Analytical Studies to establish assessment criteria
and targets for increasing graduation rates for transfer students. SSU is tasked with increasing 2-
year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to
85% by December 2025. The use of High Impact Practices (HIP), such as early interventions,
advising, mentoring, orientation, learning communities, and early engagement in the major is the
focus of SSU to increase graduation rates. The BAC has focused its resources on advising
strategies to enhance business advising, early engagement in the major, and improve orientation.
The related literature provides more background about the advisors’ importance to student
success.
Related Literature for Advising’s Impact on Retention

The creation of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) in 1977
provided advisors with direction and purpose (NACADA, 2016). Established two years later the
Council for Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) published standards to allow
advising and other student affairs areas to assess effectiveness (White, 2006). Today advisors
provide support and guidance to first time freshman, first-generation students, transfer students
and many other student populations. Academic advising plays an important role in student
integration, retention and graduation. A landmark longitudinal study linked advising with student
persistence in 2012 by examining 9,060 students, who graduated high school in 2004, enrolled in
a four-year university and were still matriculated in 2006 (Klepfer & Hull, 2012). The findings
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 13
show that when students meet with an advisor either “sometimes” or “often” their persistence
rate increases as much as 53% for both two- and four-year institutions (Klepfer & Hull, 2012).
Another study found that when students engage in academic advising, they are more successful
in higher education and more likely to graduate (Sweker, Fifolt, & Serby, 2013). According to
Swecker, Fifolt, and Searby (2013), when students engage with academic advisors they increase
their persistence and degree attainment rate by 13%.
The foundation for retention research comes from Tinto’s (1975) attrition model. The
model suggests that students’ attributes, family and academic background, and social integration
have an impact on the students’ retention. In 1993, Tinto addressed and identified three main
causes for student’s departing college: academic difficulties, inability to set and pursue their
goals and failure to become engaged on the campus. Scholars today recognize his research as
“universally” applicable to degree attainment (Folsom, Yoder, Joslin, 2015). By advisors
understanding the students’ needs, being sensitive and being aware of their unique backgrounds
advisors help students persist (Folsom et al., 2015).
The advising profession has grown over the years and advisors play a significant role in
supporting many different populations of students, such as transfer students. Wawrzynski and
Sedlacek (2003) suggest that transfer students are not one homogenous group of students facing
the same experience when they transfer. Instead, transfer students are a diverse group of students
that differ by gender, age, ethnicity, life experiences and require focused and intentional advising
strategies (Wawrzynski & Sedlacek, 2003). The Campaign for College Opportunity (2016) found
that transfer students are a large part of the student population with the majority of students
(70%) enrolled in the California community colleges. With so many transfer students impacted
by lower graduation rates, an evaluation was conducted to determine the advisor’s ability to
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 14
provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support the students.
Importance of the Evaluation

It is important to evaluate the organization’s performance in relation to their performance
goal to increase graduation rates of transfer students to 85% for a variety of reasons. Failure to
graduate transfer students puts them at risk for inadequate paths of mobility (Contreras &
Contreras, 2015) as these paths pertain to employability and increased financial success.
Compared to individuals with a degree transfer students without a degree decrease their ability to
be financially successful and independent (Contreras & Contreras, 2015). The unemployment
rates for young adults without a bachelor’s degree in 2012 was 7% compared to the 4%
unemployment rate of those who earned a degree (OECD, 2014). In addition, when the state
invests in education the students who graduate generally increase their income. An economic
benefit of investing in education is that for every 5% increase in degrees awarded the state sees a
median income increase of $8,000 (ICF, 2010). Furthermore, when a university is unable to
graduate its students, then its rankings and students’ desire to attend that university are
negatively affected. U.S. News and World Report (2017) published the best colleges ranking
criteria. The rankings consist of 15 indicators, which measure the academic quality of
universities. Graduation and retention rates are one of the leading indicators used to rank
university quality. Evaluating the organization’s performance will provide the data on any
performance gaps that exist for transfer student success and allow the organization to determine
initiatives that align with the broader goals of the organization through the 2025 Graduation
Initiative (GI 2025). The GI 2025 charges the organization with increasing graduation rates,
reducing time to degree achievement and eliminating achievement gaps for transfer students and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 15
first-time freshman by the year 2025. While the performance evaluation of the organization is
essential to determine the impact advisors can have on transfer student success it is also
important to explain the roles of the stakeholder groups that play a part in support of the students.
Description of Stakeholder Groups

In institutions of higher education, there are multiple stakeholders such as students,
faculty, and advisors. Transfer students contribute to the achievement of the organizational goal
by utilizing the resources available to them on the campus. Students also graduate at higher rates
when faculties use innovative teaching pedagogy that engages students. In addition, when
faculties participate in mentoring programs and connect with students then retention increases.
Faculties contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goal by engaging students inside
and outside the classroom. Business advisors are one entity on the campus where students can
connect throughout their entire academic career. Advisors’ regular contact with students allows
them to gain insight into the students’ academic, career, and personal aspirations. The insight
gained allows advisors to contribute to the achievement of the organization’s goal by helping
students’ transition into college, persist through college, and graduate. As shown in Table 1, the
key stakeholders’ goal for business advisors is identified.

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Stakeholders’ Performance Goal
Table 1

Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goal

Organizational Mission
SSU’s Business Advising Center uses a collaborative partnership to develop, empower, and
support students to achieve their academic goals.
Organizational Performance Goal
By December 2025, SSU will increase 2-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and
4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 85%.
Business Advisors
By January 2018, SSU’s business advisors will provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for
business transfer students.

Stakeholder Group for the Study

While all stakeholder groups are involved in reaching the university goal to increase 2-
year and 4-year transfer student graduation rates to 44% and 85% at SSU, business advisors play
a significant role in student retention. From admission through graduation, advisors are one
group that students connect with regularly. In addition, when students meet with an advisor in
their first semester their grade point average is 31.5% higher than their peers’ grade point
average, and they are 28% less likely to drop out in their second year (Kot, 2014). Therefore, it is
important to evaluate where the SSUs Business Advisors are currently with regard to their
performance goal.
Thus, the stakeholders of focus for this study will be the advisors in the business college.
The stakeholders’ goal is to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending
advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students. This evaluation will
inform the BAC on the knowledge and motivation advisors possess to support students, which
will guide the center’s focus on the types of strategies to implement. Failure to complete the
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 17
evaluation would affect the advisor's’ ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing
and recommending advising strategies to support transfer students.
Purpose of the Project and Project Questions

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the business advisors’ ability to provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies that will support the
organization’s goal to increase 2-year and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and
85% by the end of December 2025. The analysis focused on knowledge, motivation and
organizational elements related to achieving the organizational goals. While a complete
performance evaluation would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the College’s
Business Advisors will be the stakeholder group of focus.
As such, the following questions that guided this study are:
1. What are the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that affect
the business advisors’ goal to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer
students?
2. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions?
This study used a conceptual framework to identify the gaps in the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that may affect the advisors’ ability to reach their
performance goals.
General Conceptual and Methodological Framework

The conceptual framework used for this study is Clarke and Este’s (2008) gap analysis.
The model focuses on the knowledge and motivation that advisors bring with them to the
institution and the organizational influences that support and/or impede the advisors’ ability to
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 18
provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for transfer students. Clarke and Este’s (2008) gap analysis is a
systematic, analytical framework that helps to clarify university goals and identify the gap
between actual student achievement levels and the preferred student achievement levels within a
university. The purpose of the analysis is to identify whether all business advisors have adequate
knowledge, motivation, and institutional support to achieve the goal to provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for
business transfer students. The methodological approach used was a qualitative evaluation. The
qualitative design of inquiry allowed for an in-depth analysis of the business advisors as well as
the ability to collect detailed information. In addition, a small group of stakeholders allows for a
deeper exploration of the influences business advisors in BAC face that affects their specific
performance. The results of the case study determined if gaps exist for the current business
advisors and if advisors will be able to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for transfer students. The
study used related literature and personal knowledge as the foundation to identify the business
advisors’ knowledge, motivation, and university influences that impact the goal of graduating
transfer students. The literature review was used to frame the study and barriers were assessed
using interviews, observations, and document analysis. Research-based solutions were
recommended and evaluated using the dissertation evaluation model.
Definitions

Developmental Advising: An advising approach that treats students holistically, which allows the
advisor, through a shared responsibility with the student, to develop a caring relationship
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 19
and provide support for the students’ academic, personal and career goals. (Drake,
Jordan, & Miller, 2013).
High Impact Practices: Kuh (2008) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities
identified High Impact Practices (HIP) that are effective educational practices used for
underserved students in teaching and learning. These HIP consist of common intellectual
experiences, first-year experiences, capstone courses, internships, service learning, study
abroad, collaborative research, learning communities, and writing-intensive courses.
Student Success: Broadly defined “includes academic acquisition of desired knowledge, skills,
and competencies, persistence, and attainment of educational objectives and post-college
performance” (Kuh, Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2007, p. 1).
Organization of the Project

Five chapters are used to organize this study. This chapter provided the reader with the
key concepts and terminology commonly found in a discussion about graduation rates of transfer
students. The organization’s mission, goals and stakeholders as well as the initial concepts of gap
analysis were introduced. Chapter two provides a review of the current literature surrounding the
scope of the study. Topics addressed are best advising practices, how advising impacts student
persistence, and advising practices that address transfer student success. Chapter three details the
assumed knowledge, motivation and organizational influence as well as methods when it comes
to choice of participants, data collection and analysis. Chapter four assesses and analyzes the
data and results. Finally, chapter five provides solutions, based on data and literature, for
identifying the perceived gaps as well as recommendations for an implementation and evaluation
plan for the solutions.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 20
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Chapter two provides a literature review and identifies the assumed influence of the
knowledge, motivation and organizational (KMO) gaps that will be examined to determine if any
KMO gaps exist that may affect advisor performance. Chapter two outlines the general research
about factors that influence professional advisors’ ability to provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for transfer
students at four-year universities. The first section focuses on the literature that addresses higher
education’s best practices for advisors’ development, advisors’ impact on persistence, and
advising practices that address transfer students’ low graduation rates. The second section
centers on an examination of the advising and retention literature utilizing the gap analysis
dimension of KMO. The assumed knowledge influences identified for advisors are to know how
to assess the academic abilities, academic needs and professional interests, empower through a
shared responsibility and reflect on advising effectiveness. Next, the assumed motivational
influences identified are the business advisors’ self-efficacy, expectations, and values.
Furthermore, the assumed organizational influences at a state university must consider the
organization’s limited resources, culture, and advising process in place to guide advisors. Finally,
the conceptual framework is presented and described.
Effective Educational Practices in Advising in Higher Education

Professional standards and training programs for advising can be broken down into three
elements: conceptual, informational, and relational. Professional standards and training programs
have been found to increase advisors’ understanding of the students they serve (conceptual),
knowledge about the advisors’ institution (informational), and the advisors’ interpersonal skills
that build relationships (relational) to engage students in the advising process (Alexander,
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 21
Kukowski, & Dexter, 2010; Brown, 2008; CAS, 2015; De Sousa, 2005; Light, 2004). The
Council for Advancement and Standards (CAS) in Higher Education is a group of student affairs
professionals from 40 professional associations. CAS developed 45 functional areas in higher
education with standards and core values that leaders can use to assess the effectiveness of the
functional area based on these standards. Academic advising is one of the functional areas. CAS
(2015) recommends that leaders ensure that training programs for advisors incorporate
conceptual, informational, and relational elements. Specifically, CAS (2015) professionals
suggest that advisors are expected to gather data on their students’ needs, preferences, and
academic status to use with developing initiatives to support students. To increase student
engagement or provide support advisors are expected to develop realistic educational plans,
provide accurate advising, and refer students to resources on campus (CAS, 2015). Finally, CAS
(2015) professional associations recommend advisors engage students in a shared responsibility
that facilitates students’ decision making of academic requirements, career options, and personal
goals.
A study (Brown, 2008) conducted with a sample of 224 educators from universities and
colleges in the United States found three elements effective advisors should possess. The data
analysis revealed that the first conceptual element recommends that advisors need to have a good
understanding of the students they support. Second, the informational element suggests advisors
must have a strong grasp on the policies and programs to provide accurate information. Finally,
the relational element proposes advisors need to build a relationship that allows them to facilitate
goal setting with the students. De Sousa (2005) developed guiding advising principles from data
collected by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). De Sousa (2005) based these
principles from data on 20 four-year universities that have high graduation rates. The data
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suggest that high performing institutions have advisors that are informed about their students,
help students develop an educational plan, and have frequent and quality interactions with the
students.
Research data from students that emerged as preferred characteristics of effective
advisors were conceptual, informational, and relational elements. The interview data from
business students collected by Alexander et al. (2010), found students prefer to have their advisor
know them on a personal level, have a strong grasp of the program requirements, and be friendly.
Light (2004) interviewed 400 undergraduates from Harvard University and discovered students
expected their advisors to develop an understanding of their needs, provide accurate information,
tailor the advising session to their individual needs and make them feel comfortable during the
advising session. While it is important for advisors to participate in professional development
and training on how to engage and connect with students, advisors must also be aware of how
advising affects student persistence.
How Advising Impacts Student Persistence in Higher Education

This section discusses three areas of impact that advising and advisors have on student
persistence. The first area is advisors’ interaction with students. The second area is the
development of strong relationships with advisors. The last area is the advisors’ ability to
provide accurate information to impact student success.
Advisors’ Interaction with Students Increases Persistence
Researchers consistently suggest that academic advising, in higher education, plays a
significant role in student persistence (Kot, 2014; NSSE, 2007; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005;
Swecker, Fifolt, & Searby, 2013). A study by the NSSE found that students surveyed in 2007
who met with an advisor twice a year or more were more likely to be engaged in peer and faculty
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 23
interactions, engaged in educational experiences, and felt more supported than their peers.
Swecker et al. (2013) discovered that there is a 13% increase in retention when students meet
with an advisor. Pascarella and Terenzini’s (2005) research is a synthesis of nearly 2,600 studies
of existing evidence on how college affects student persistence. One synthesis of their research
suggests that the single top predictor of student persistence is the grades earned in the first year.
A study conducted by Kot (2014) examined student persistence and the use of centralized
advising, with staff advisors, at a large public university. Kot (2014) found that by meeting with
an advisor students increase their GPA and are more likely to persist. Kot’s (2014) research
posits that students who meet with an advisor in their first semester earned a GPA 31.5% higher
than peers. Finally, Kot (2014) found that students who met with an advisor were 28% less likely
to drop out in their second year as compared to students who did not meet with an advisor.
While meeting with students’ increases persistence, how the advisor facilitates the
advising session is also essential to the student’s success. During the advising session advisors
need to know how to empower students through a shared responsibility (Allen, Smith, &
Muehleck, 2013; CAS, 2015; Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, & Hawthorne, 2013). When
empowering students through a shared responsibility, CAS standards (2015) recommends that
advisors help students set goals but allow the students to make the final decisions. By
empowering the students to make their own decisions they will increase their self-efficacy,
which in turn increase graduation rates (Young-Jones et al., 2013). In addition, when students are
held responsible for the goals they set they graduate at higher rates (Allen et al., 2013). While
advisors meet with students and work to empower them, it is also important that advisors
develop relationships with their advisee to increase student success.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 24
A Strong Relationship with Advisors Increases Student Success
It is important for advisors to value building relationships with their advisees, which
impacts the advisees’ ability to succeed (Alexander et al., 2010; De Sousa, 2005; Light, 2004).
Alexander et al. (2010) completed two studies on business students that elicited the advisees’
perspectives. A questionnaire was administered to 406 seniors in the business school about their
attitudes and beliefs about advising. The first study suggested that the participants want their
advisors to be friendly and helpful. In the second study, 81% of the business students said that
that the advisor made them feel comfortable and 75% of the students stated that their advisor was
helpful during their advising meeting. This positive relationship, which was described as
students’ believing the advisor was friendly, welcoming, and knew them well led to 73% of
students indicating a positive attitude towards advising (Alexander et al., 2010). Light (2004)
interviewed 400 students and suggested that students are more successful when an advisor builds
a relationship. One student talked about how his advisor knew something about him when he
arrived for his first advising session. He indicated that by the advisor personalizing the first few
advising sessions and asking about his goals, he was more successful. In addition, advisors can
help students develop a sense of belonging. One student who initially met with her advisor was
feeling overwhelmed. When asked about her success she stated that her advisor continued to
push her to get involved. She decided to join the band on her advisor’s recommendation and
stated that by getting involved it “gave her a wonderful sense of identification with a particular
community, a feeling of belonging” (Light, 2004, p.100), which is supported by Tinto’s (1975)
research that suggests that social integration has an impact on students’ retention. While students
look for advisors that are friendly and take an interest in them it is important that the advisor also
enjoy the job, they are doing so that they are motivated to accomplish the task (Eccles, 2006).
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 25
Donnelly (2004) using an online survey, focus group, and interviews looked at the correlation
between advisors job satisfaction and advising standards. The study found that advisors are more
motivated when they value building relationships with students.
De Sousa (2005) found that advisors at institutions with high graduation rates adopt
developmental advising approaches. Developmental advising treats students holistically, which
allows the advisor to provide support for the students’ academic, personal and career goals
(Gordon et al., 2011). The advisors at these high performing institutions are aware of the
student’s background, learning styles, and how to help them. In addition, advisors at high
performing institutions work directly with the students to develop goals and expectations that
will help the students to graduate successfully (De Sousa, 2005). Advisors build stronger
relationships with students by visiting them where they live in the residence halls. De Sousa
(2005) found that in Fayetteville State University where graduation rates are higher than
predicted, the professional advisors met with students in small groups in the on-campus
residence halls. To increase graduation rates it is essential that advisors believe they are capable
of developing relationships with the students to provide developmental advising (Drake et al.,
2013). While relationships are an important to support student success, accurate information
from advisors also impacts student success.
Advisors Ability to Provide Accurate Information Increases Student Success
Advisors must be self-aware and well informed about the programs they are supporting in
order to provide accurate and effective information to increase student success (Alexander et al.,
2010; CAS 205, De Sousa, 2005; Smith & Allen, 2014). Alexander et al. (2010) found that
advisors should be knowledgeable about the degree requirements for graduation. When business
students were asked expectations of their advisors, 85% wanted advice on what to take, and 74%
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 26
were looking for advising on graduation requirements (Alexander et al., 2010). Smith and Allen
(2014) surveyed students online about their knowledge of the institution and graduation
requirements. They found that it was not unusual for students to rely on family and friends for
advising; however, students who met with an advisor scored significantly higher on their
knowledge of campus resources and academic requirements. Advisors must accurately be able to
educate students about program requirements to assist students with mapping out an educational
path to graduation. De Sousa (2005) established that the University of Kansas, a high performing
institution, provides students with information about making the most out of your education and
the degree requirements. The path to graduation may be different for each student, so Wheaton
College created a mix of people throughout the campus community to support students, where
advising is responsible for making sure students get the information they need to graduate and
are aware of the resources on campus to support them (De Sousa, 2005).
Research on traditional students has found that it is important to understand that in order
to build relationships with students advisors must first be knowledgeable about the policies and
procedures at the university. As advisors collaborate with students on the policies and program
requirements, it is also essential for them to build relationships with the students by making them
feel welcome. The more understanding the advisor has of each student’s specific educational
need, the stronger the advisee-advisor relationship. This next section combines academic
advising strategies and the needs of transfer students at four-year universities.
Advising Practices that Address Transfer Students’ Transitional Needs

Compared to other student populations, transfer students require additional support to be
successful. This section details two areas of advising practices that address how to increase
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 27
transfer students’ graduation rates. The first area is personalized advising for transfer students.
The second is the establishment of clear pathways to transfer.
Personalized Advising for Transfer Students
Research suggests that advisors provide personalized advising for transfer students to
increase student satisfaction and connect with the students (Jain, Herrerea, Bernal, & Solorzano,
2011; Allen, Smith & Muehleck, 2013; Allen, Smith & Muehleck, 2014; Townsend & Wilson,
2006; Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013; Miller, & Erisman, 2011). Allen et al. (2013) surveyed
transfer students’ satisfaction about advising functions. The top six responses for advising
functions that are essential for student satisfaction would fit into the conceptual, informational,
and relational elements. In addition, Allen et al. (2014) surveyed pre- and post-transfer students
and discovered that transfer students prefer caring advisors and are concerned that at the larger
university advising would be less personalized. Townsend and Wilson (2006) interviewed 19-
transfer students and established that transfer students feel like a number when they arrive on a
larger campus and find it hard to make friends and become socially integrated. One student
stated that with the large classrooms, it is hard to feel connected when you are just another face
in the crowd (Townsend & Wilson, 2006). Transfer students just as non-transfer students want
advisors to understand who they are, their needs and to be known as an individual (Allen et al.,
2013). Miller and Erisman (2011) suggest that specific services such as transfer-specific advising
be offered to transfer students. Miller and Erisman’s (2011) data came from a mixed methods
approach. A case study approach, institutional data for qualitative analysis, and interviews
guided the qualitative approach. Jain et al. (2011) recommend that advisors build relationships
with transfer students, which takes into consideration their unique background. Jain et al. (2011)
use the critical race theory as their theoretical perspective and the literature review to inform
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 28
their conceptual framework of a transfer receptive culture. Therefore, the relational element of
advising is critical and advisors must make an intentional effort to connect with the transfer
students.
While the relationship is important advisors should also be able to assess transfer students
academic needs, academic abilities, and professional interests using information and resources
specific to their population. Such as what classes transfer, need for remediation and the
difference between the community college environment and the four-year university
environment (Allen et al., 2013; Jain et al., 2011). Furthermore, transferring is a complex
process, and the environment is new to transfer students. It is important that advisors not only
provide accurate information but assist transfer students with navigating their new environment
(Allen et al., 2014; Jain et al., 2011), by providing information on the culture of the university
(how things work) and knowing when and where to refer the students based on their individual
needs and abilities. Thus, transfer students should be looked at like freshman again because they
are starting all over at a new institution, so advisors need to provide the students with
information on resources to help them be successful (Townsend & Wilson, 2006). Chin-Newman
and Shaw (2013) conducted three focus groups of 14 students who recently transferred. The
researchers found that after acceptance transfer students are lacking the knowledge necessary to
navigate the new university. One student stated “for me it was really just the anxiety of change,
trying to figure it all out on a condensed time frame” (Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013, p. 18).
While transfer students and non-transfer students’ need advisors to utilize conceptual,
informational and relational knowledge, transfer students must follow a different academic
pathway than first-time freshmen. It is essential that advisors understand the pathways transfer
students must follow in ensure their success.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 29
Clear Transfer Pathway
To increase student success and integration specialized advisors need to work with
transfer students before and after they transfer and provide streamlined pathways to four-year
institutions (Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013; Miller & Erisman, 2011; Wyner, Deane, Jenkins, &
Fink, 2016). When transfer students transition into a new university it can take up to two
semesters for admission advisors to evaluate which community college units will be accepted
(Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013). One student “explained that he was left in the dark when it came
time to sign up for classes because he was unsure of which units transferred over successfully”
(Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013, p. 19). The focus group participants agreed that this uncertainty
caused extreme stress (Chin-Newman & Shaw, 2013) and that a streamlined process was needed
that reduced the evaluation time. Wyner, Deane, Jenkins, and Fink (2016) using data from the
National Student Clearinghouse used pairs of institutions with high graduation rates to develop
essential practices to increase graduation rates of transfer students. The three recommendations
were to make transfer student success a priority, create a clear transfer pathway, and provide
advising tailored to the needs of the transfer students. Wyner et al. (2016) suggested an advising
strategy at four-year colleges of designating a transfer advisor who can provide accurate
information to transfer students. Miller and Erisman (2011) conducted a mixed methods study
that included data collection, interviews, and focus groups; the findings suggest a seamless
integration of degree requirements between the community college and four-year university will
increase transfer student retention. The data also recommends partnerships should include
housing advisors from four-year universities at the community college (Miller & Erisman, 2011).
A successful partnership will ensure accurate information provided to the students (Miller &
Erisman, 2011) which, will help transfer students choose the appropriate courses for transfer and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 30
reduce the number of courses taken that are not transferrable. The next section shapes the
framework of analysis to determine if advisors have the KMO support to develop and
recommend advising strategies to support transfer students low graduation rates.
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Conceptual Framework

Clark and Estes (2008) suggested a lack of knowledge, lack of motivation, and
organizational barriers cause performance gaps. In this study, Clark and Estes’s gap analysis was
used in determining if business advisors in SSU have the KMO support needed to provide data
on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. First, a gap analysis was used to evaluate the
knowledge and skill level of business advisors in SSU and determine if any types of knowledge
and skill enhancements are needed to ensure advisors are able to accomplish their performance
goal. Second, this study analyzed the business advisors’ motivation. The analysis determined if
the business advisors are motivated to do their jobs or if they are having difficulties actively
choosing to pursue their goal, have too many distractions that affect their persistence, and/or
their confidence level is not, where it needs to be so they are not putting forth enough mental
effort to achieve their performance goal. Finally, this study determined if there are any
organizational barriers in the business advising process or a lack of resources that are preventing
advisors from meeting their goal.
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences

The literature review identified assumed influences of the KMO that will be evaluated to
determine if any gaps exist, that may affect advisor performance. The stakeholder KMO
influence section used the advising and retention literature to explain and outline the KMO
influences that will be evaluated. Table 2 connects the KMO and literature review discussed
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 31
earlier and provides a comprehensive overview of both.
Table 2

Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Assumed Influences and Related Literature

Assumed Influences on Business Advisors’ Performances
Knowledge Motivation Organization
Learning
and
Motivation
Theory
• Need knowledge
on how to assess
the student’s
academic needs,
professional
interests, and
academic abilities
to provide a
supportive
environment and
connect with
personalized
advising.
• Need knowledge
on how to
empower students
through a shared
responsibility.
• Need to reflect on
advising
effectiveness.
• Need to value
developing
relationships
with the
students to
provide data on
perceived
barriers to
developing and
recommending
advising
strategies to
support high
graduation rates
for business
transfer students
• Need to believe
they are capable
of providing
developmental
advising to
address transfer
students’ low
graduation
rates.
• Need an
environment
that supports
change in
advising
practices and
techniques.
• Need an
environment
that includes
trust.
• Need incentives
to change
advising
practices and
techniques.
• Need enough
time to
accommodate
the number of
students who
require advising
and implement
advising
strategies.
Related
Literature
• Need knowledge
of environment
and resources that
provide support.
• Need knowledge
to provide
accurate advising
information.
• Need knowledge
of students’ needs
to provide
effective
advising.
• Need to value
engaging with
students.
• Need to value
each student’s
unique
background and
tailor advising
to the students
needs.
• Need an
environment
that supports
professional
development for
conceptual,
informational
and relational
elements.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 32
Knowledge and Skills

Effective academic advising influences persistence and graduation rates (Pascarella &
Terenzini, 2005). The aim of this knowledge analysis is to determine whether SSU’s business
advisors have the knowledge and skills to provide data on perceived barriers to develop and
recommend strategies to support high graduation rates for transfer students. Clark and Estes
(2008) suggest the accomplishment of a task or goal determines the ability to retrieve
information saved in our long-term memory. The review of the literature is focused on the
knowledge and skills that are essential for SSU business advisors to influence transfer students’
graduation rates. When SSU’s business advisors have or obtain the knowledge and skills that are
essential to influence transfer students’ graduation rates they will be able to provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to the organization. The
aim of this section is to review the literature to determine the knowledge dimensions necessary to
meet the stakeholders’ goals.
Knowledge influences. Krathwohl (2002) proposed that there are four knowledge
dimensions: factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive. The factual and conceptual
dimensions address the what, the procedural dimensions address the how and the metacognitive
dimensions address the self (Krathwohl, 2002). The knowledge influences discussed in this study
will be categorized into a knowledge dimension. Evaluated in this study is the business advisors’
knowledge and skills that influence transfer student graduation rates by addressing the “what”
through the conceptual dimension, the “how” through the procedural dimension, and the “self”
through the metacognitive dimension.
Each dimension is important because it provides a context for what is expected of the
business advisors’ knowledge and skills to influence transfer student’s graduation rates.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 33
Conceptual knowledge allows the business advisors to use the interrelationship of their
foundational knowledge (Krathwohl, 2002) of student success and the students’ needs to develop
a supportive environment. Procedural knowledge provides business advisors with the ability to
decide how to use their skills and determine the appropriate time to implement (Krathwohl,
2002) specific advising techniques. Metacognitive knowledge is important because it allows the
business advisors to assess their level of cognitive awareness of their advising effectiveness
(Krathwohl, 2002).
Assess needs, abilities, and interests. Business Advisors need to know how to assess the
students’ academic needs, professional interests, and academic abilities, which create a
supportive environment that increases student success. Researchers found that students feel
supported when they develop a relationship with their advisor; the advisor is knowledgeable
about the students’ needs, professional interests and abilities, and the advisors is available
(Alexander, Kukowski, & Dexter, 2010; Allen, Smith & Muehleck, 2014; Allen, Smith &
Muehleck, 2013; Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, & Hawthorne, 2013). Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon,
and Hawthorne (2013) identified areas of advising that predicted student persistence and
surveyed 611 college students about their contact with advisors. The researchers found that
students who met with an advisor at least once a semester felt higher levels of support. Shelton
(2003) collected data from thee groups of 458 college nursing students, one group of which had
successfully graduated. Shelton (2003) found that the group of students that graduated perceived
their faculty advisors as supportive by creating a caring environment, referring them to the
appropriate support services, and helping with goal setting. Transfer students also feel more
support when they receive personalized advising and advisors do not rush the students through
the advising session (Allen et al., 2014). Allen, Smith, and Muehleck (2014) found that transfers
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 34
students feel support when their advisor is aware of their professional interests and abilities to
assist with choosing courses. Finally, when advisors know how to make themselves available to
the students for one-on-one advising sessions, the students who meet with an advisor, at least
once a semester, feel more support than students who are unable to consult with an advisor
(Alexander et al., 2010; Allen et al., 2013).
The knowledge type that corresponds with the knowledge influence of knowing what to
assess for students’ abilities, needs, and interest is conceptual knowledge. To develop and
recommend advising strategies the business advisors must assess their foundational knowledge
and determine the interrelationships between what they currently know about student success and
what the research suggests. This assessment will allow the business advisors to develop and
recommend a plan around the advisors’ skills required to build strong relationships with the
students and understanding the student’s academic needs, professional interests and academic
abilities.
Empowerment through shared responsibility. Business Advisors need to know how to
empower students through a shared responsibility between the student and advisor. Academic
advising is a critical part of a student’s educational experience when advisors have the necessary
knowledge and skills to support students their graduation rates are influenced (CAS Standards,
2015). Researchers posited that for students to be successful in higher education, advisors must
know how to empower students and engage them in a shared responsibility of advising (Allen,
Smith, & Muehleck, 2013; CAS, 2015; Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, & Hawthorne, 2013). It is
important for advisors to empower student to set goals and take responsibility for their actions.
Allen, Smith and Muehleck (2013) suggested students expect to be held responsible for their
education and when required to set goals they graduated at higher rates. CAS standards (2015)
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 35
recommended that it is important for advisors to facilitate students with goal setting but
understand that the student must make the final decision to follow through on their goals.
Advisors must also know how to inform students of the shared responsibility between the advisor
and the student. A sense of shared responsibility and decision-making will increase a student’s
self-efficacy, which in turn increases student persistence, retention, and graduation rates (Allen
et al., 2013; Young-Jones et al., 2013).
The knowledge type that corresponds with the knowledge influence, of empowerment
through shared responsibility, is procedural knowledge. To provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies business advisors will need to assess how well
they empower students through a shared responsibility and how well they push the students to
make decisions and take responsibility for their education. In addition, an assessment of the
advisors’ knowledge of when to step in and provide additional support and facilitate the
decision-making process is essential.
Reflection on advising effectiveness. Business Advisors need to reflect on their advising
effectiveness. The knowledge type that corresponds with the knowledge influence, of advisors
reflecting on effectiveness, is metacognitive knowledge, which plays a significant function in
self-reflection. Metacognitive knowledge is the influence of “knowledge about cognition in
general as well as awareness of and knowledge of one’s own cognition” (Krathwohl, 2002, p.
214). In addition, metacognition is when you are able to self-reflect on how you learn and
understand how to control your learning (Mayer, 2011). Finally, when using previous knowledge
in different contexts self-awareness is much higher (Baker, 2006), by knowing how to self-
reflect, by self-reflecting, and increasing self-awareness advisors are able to assess each student’s
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 36
situation and provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending solutions
based on previous experiences.
There is little research on staff advisors’ self-reflection. Instead, research focused on how
advisors can help students self-reflect on their learning. However, Baker (2006) found that when
a person is self-aware they are able to transfer their knowledge from one situation to another and
assess their level of effectiveness. To provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students, business
advisors must reflect on their own advising effectiveness. Advisors’ effectiveness to support
students starts with the advisors’ awareness of what information and requirements to provide to
the students to ensure the students graduate as expected (Allen et al., 2013; Allen et al., 2014;
CAS, 2015). From there students expect advisors to have an understanding of their needs,
interests, and abilities and to help plan for their future endeavors through a supportive
environment of shared responsibility (CAS, 2015). A study of 20 four-year colleges by De Sousa
(2005) determined that the advisors’ role in understanding the students’ goals, needs and abilities
as well as increasing student engagement play a significant part in increasing graduation rates.
Advisors should reflect on the different KMO influences because as individuals increase their
metacognitive awareness they become self-regulated learners and increase their ability to
determine what strategies work for them and when it is appropriate to use these strategies
(Mayer, 2011).
The Business Advising Center’s mission is to use a collaborative partnership to develop,
empower, and support students to achieve their academic goals. These knowledge influences are
essential to the advisors’ ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students by
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 37
January 2018. By developing the advisors’ level of knowledge influences advisors are able to
work towards the organization’s mission to increase 2-year transfer students’ graduation rates to
44% and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 85% by December 2025. As shown in
Table 3, the knowledge influences were identified along with the related knowledge types and
assessments. While knowledge and skill are important, it takes motivation to complete the job
(Clark & Estes, 2008).
Table 3

Stakeholder Knowledge Influence, Type and Assessment for Knowledge Gap Analysis

Knowledge Influence Knowledge
Type

Knowledge Assessment
Business Advisors need to know
how to assess the students’
academic needs, professional
interests, and academic abilities to
provide a supportive environment
and connect with personalized
advising.
Conceptual Advisors will be interviewed and
observed on how to support students
based on their different skills, interests,
and abilities. A pre-existing student
satisfaction survey, created by the
department and distributed after each
advising session, will be used to assess
advisors knowledge.
Business Advisors need to know
how to empower students through
a shared responsibility between the
student and advisor.
Procedural Advisors will be interviewed and
observed while advising.
Business Advisors need to reflect
on their advising effectiveness.
Metacognitive Advisors will be interviewed on their
self-reflection of advising effectiveness.

Motivation

Motivation is why a person is driven to accomplish a goal and how much time a person
will spend on that goal (Clark and Estes, 2008; Mayer, 2011, Pintrich, 2003). There are three
motivational indicators that influence motivation (Clark & Estes, 2008). First, is when people
actively move in the direction of achieving a goal, which is called “active choice.” Second, is the
amount of attention that people are willing to give to a goal, which is called “persistence.” Last,
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 38
is the amount of “mental effort” that people are willing to invest in the goal. Motivation is
important because when an individual is action-oriented, continues in the face of disruptions, and
works toward innovation as well as having the knowledge and skills necessary to reach a goal
their performance increases (Clark & Estes, 2008). The aim of the motivational analysis is to
determine whether SSU’s business advisors are motivated to provide data on perceived barriers
to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates. Generally,
when an individual is interested in an issue or believes they are capable of being successful the
individual will be more motivated to accomplish the task (Mayer, 2011). Therefore, advisors
who are interested in and believe they can increase students’ graduation rates will be more
motivated to provide data to develop and recommend advising strategies to support the students.
There was little research on advisors’ motivation. Most of the research focused on how
advisors can motivate students. The research on advisors mostly focuses on job satisfaction,
which relates to intrinsic motivation (Donnelly, 2004). This section aims to discuss the two
motivational influences that evolved out of the literature review that relates to academic advisor
motivation. The first influence is that business advisors need to see the value of providing data
on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates, which corresponds to the expectancy value theory. Second, business advisors
need to believe they are capable of successfully developing and recommending advising
strategies to provide students with developmental advising which, relates to the self-efficacy
theory.
Expectancy value theory. Eccles (2006) and Pintrich (2003) posited that expectancy-
value theory has four concepts and these concepts increase a person’s motivation: intrinsic
interest, attainment value, utility value, and cost. Intrinsic value is when a person likes the
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 39
assigned task, attainment value has to do with the alignment with one’s personal values, and
utility value is in line with one’s future goals and the cost of participating depends on the
individuals set of beliefs (Eccles, 2006). Such as loss of the amount of energy a person is willing
to exert to engage in the task or fear of failure or anxiety. Eccles (2006) discussed how
expectations and the usefulness of the goal held by people are what motivated them. If people
can do the job and they want to do the job, then their motivation to accomplish the job is higher
(Eccles, 2006). Motivation increases when people see the value of the task and, due to prior
successes, they have confidence in their ability (Eccles, 2006). The expectancy value theory can
also motivate business advisors.
Business advisors’ expectations and values. The research shows that business advisors
need to value developing relationships with students to provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer
students. Advisors who enjoy working with students and feel their work is meaningful have a
higher satisfaction with their job (Donnelly, 2004; Donnelly, 2009; Murray, 1987). Eccles (2006)
found that when individuals’ intrinsic interests are positive and they expect to enjoy the task they
are more motivated to accomplish the task. When advisors find value in their job by supporting
students, they are more motivated (Donnelly, 2004). Eccles (2006) suggests to motivate
individuals they must believe the task will increase ones’ chances of reaching their goals.
Gordon, Habley, and Grites (2011) and Moser and Chong (1995) recommended it is important to
explain the purpose of the task advisors are being asked to accomplish in order to motivate them
to improve and engage in a task such as developing and recommending advising strategies to
influence graduation rates. The strategies that address low graduation rates for transfer students
would support the advisors’ motivation, personal and utility values because the drive required to
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 40
provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students would align with advisors developing
relationships with their students.
Self-Efficacy theory. Pajares (2006) defined self-efficacy as beliefs that people have
about their ability to accomplish or learn a task. Research shows that positive self-efficacy can
increase a persons’ motivation (Bandura, 2000; Pajares, 2006; Pintrich, 2003). Bandura (2000)
suggested that for an individual or team to function effectively is it critical for the individuals to
have high efficacy. Pintrich (2003) found that there are different ways to motivate people but
self-efficacy beliefs allow for continual motivation. Pajares (2006) posits that the self-efficacy
philosophies that people hold are the basis for motivation and as long as they believe that their
actions will result in a positive outcome, they will attempt the task. Business advisors also
experience motivation through the self-efficacy theory. According to Donnelly (2004), advisors
are more motivated and satisfied with their jobs when they are working with students and feel the
job they do has meaning.
Business advisors self-efficacy. The research suggests that advisors need to be capable
of providing development advising to develop strong relationships with their advisees (Donnelly,
2009; Drake et al., 2013; Gordon, Habley, & Grites, 2011; Pajares, 2006). Developmental
advising is an approach that treats students holistically, which allows the advisor to provide
support for the students’ academic, personal and career goals (Drake et al., 2013).
Developmental advisors, through a shared responsibility with the student, assist with developing
an educational plan that is connected to the student’s life goals, empower students with setting
goals, encourage self-direction and provide support through a learning environment that urges
shared decision making (CAS, 2015, Drake Et al., 2013). In contrast, prescriptive advising is
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 41
about information flowing from the advisor to the student by providing information, verifying
degree requirements, and refers students to resources after they run into academic difficulty
(Drake et al., 2013). Pajares (2006) found that when individuals successfully master a task, self-
efficacy increases. Therefore, when advisors master the process of providing students with
developmental advising, the advisors’ self-efficacy should increase. Drake, Jordan, and Miller
(2013) suggest if advisors are going to provide developmental advising, they must be
knowledgeable, compassionate, and skilled and able to assess student academic needs, academic
abilities, and professional interest. During advising sessions when developmental advising is the
approach used advisors job satisfaction was significantly higher than advisors who were only
able to provide prescriptive advising (Donnelly, 2009; Gordon et al., 2011). Donnelly (2009)
surveyed over 4,000 advisors and found that advising styles play a significant role in the
advisors’ job satisfaction.
Drake et al. (2013) suggested that developmental advising is the most holistic advising
approach. Advisors who effectively engage in developmental advising allow the advising session
to emerge based on the needs of the student (Gordon et al., 2011). Advisors must be confident in
their ability to provide developmental advising in order to implement developmental advising as
a strategy. Individuals who doubt themselves tend to avoid difficult responsibilities (Pajares,
2006). As the advisors increase their ability to build relationships and assess students’ needs the
advisors will also gain confidence in their ability to support students. The advisor's self-efficacy
will grow with confidence and their ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing
and recommending advising strategies will be considered a challenge to undertake and not
something to avoid.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 42
The Business Advising Center’s mission is to use a collaborative partnership to develop,
empower, and support students to achieve their academic goals. The motivational influences are
essential to the advisors’ motivation to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students
by January 2018. By increasing the advisors’ level of motivational influences advisors will be
more motivated to work towards the organization’s mission to increase 2-year transfer students’
graduation rates to 44% and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 85% by December
2025. As shown in Table 4, two motivational influences were identified. Knowledge and
motivational influences are important to meeting performance goals; however, the organization
can create additional influences that obstruct employees’ ability to achieve their performance
goals.
Table 4

Motivational Influence and Assessment for Motivation Gap Analysis

Assumed Motivation
Influences

Motivation Construct Motivational Influence
Assessment

Advisors need to value
developing relationships with
the students to provide data on
perceived barriers to
developing and recommending
advising strategies to support
high graduation rates of
transfer students.
Expectancy Value
Theory

Advisors will be observed and
interviewed about how
valuable developing
relationships are to them. A
pre-existing student
satisfaction survey will be used
to assess student-advisors
relationships.
Advisors need to believe they
are capable of providing
developmental advising to
provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer
students.
Self-Efficacy Theory Advisors will be observed and
interviewed about how
comfortable they are providing
developmental advising and
cultivating relationships with
students.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 43
Organization

The organizational structure can create organizational influences that consist of official
and unofficial policies, processes, resource levels, and/or employee interactions that impede
employees’ performance (Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). When employees are faced with
ineffective processes and lack resources to accomplish their jobs an organizational performance
gap is created. To determine the performance gap it is important to understand the culture,
processes, and resources of the organization. The BAC’s environment at SSU consists of a
steady stream of students from the time the advising center opens until closing. The
organizational culture of the advising center is to process students as quickly as possible taking
no more than 20 minutes per student. The current practice is to use prescriptive advising to
answer the students’ questions, help students pick classes and provide an educational plan.
According to Schein (2010), there are three levels of culture: artifacts, espoused beliefs
and values, and basic underlying assumptions. The artifacts are the tangible behaviors and
processes. The espoused beliefs and values often become part of the organization’s belief system
and guide organizations when encountering new situations. The basic underlying assumptions
are the unspoken assumptions that employees use to determine what is important, how to solve a
problem, the appropriate responses, and what to do in a situation. Assumptions are unconscious
and difficult to change. Clark and Estes (2008) suggested that processes used by employees
lessen performance gaps when aligned with the organization's goals, and streamlining the
process allows employees to combine procedures and improve performance. Organizations also
require adequate resources that enable employees to perform their jobs effectively. Organizations
should remember that material resources, as well as sufficient staff resources, are key to ensuring
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 44
performance improvement. These influences can be categorized as either cultural settings or
cultural models.
Organizational influences. The cultural model influences include what is understood as
the usual or correct understanding of an employee’s performance (Rueda, 2011). When
employees respond to situations, the ingrained cultural models in their subconscious are often
invisible to the employees and are what employees pull from to solve a problem (Rueda, 2011).
Cultural models include the values, policies, and procedures of the organization that is the hidden
aspects in which an organization’s structure is shaped (Rueda, 2011). The cultural settings are
the visible characteristics of an organization. The visible characteristics such as emotional
displays, observable rituals, routines and values are developed by the employees and can be seen
as the who, what, when, where, why, and how (Rueda, 2011; Schein, 2010). It is also important
to understand that there is a give-and-take relationship between cultural settings and cultural
models that can influence organizational change over a period of time (Rueda, 2011; Schein,
2010). By understanding, the characteristics of the cultural settings and models organizations can
influence employee behavior or performance. Within SSU, the business advising center is trying
to increase the advisors’ knowledge and skills and motivation to support transfer students so that
the advisors are able to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending
advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students. Two cultural
model influences and two cultural setting influences have been identified to have an assumed
impact on advisors’ performance.
Cultural model. If advisors are going to provide data on perceived barriers to developing
and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer
students the culture in the advising center will need to change to include developmental advising.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 45
There are two cultural model influences that need to be evaluated to encourage this culture
change: 1) is the environment supportive of changing advising practices and techniques and 2) is
there an environment of trust among the advisors. Since, the business advisors will be learning a
new advising technique they may be uncomfortable with this change, which may lead to
resistance.
Gill (2003) proposed that people fight to maintain a feeling of comfort and are
uncomfortable when their practices, how they do things, and relationships change. Research
posited that in the face of change people would try to retain control and look out for their own
interests (Lencioni, 2002; Tagg, 2012). Agocs (1997) found that people resist change in many
different ways such as sabotage, punishment, refusing to engage in problem-solving, and
unwilling to collaborate and come to a compromise. However, for effective organizational
change to happen Langley, Moen, Nolan, Nolan, Norman and Provost (2009) suggested that the
change must produce an improvement in how the job is done and result in a noticeable lasting
impact and as Fernandez & Rainey (2006) hypothesize, the change must be part of the daily
routines. Furthermore, Schein (2010) hypothesized that effective organizational cultures should
revolve in the middle of self-interest and altruism.
To provide data on strategies to support transfer students the advisors must work together
and be able to trust one another. Gill (2003) hypothesized that trust is what holds a group
together. The advisors trust should revolve around open communication and concern for each
other. Korsgaard, Brodt, and Whitener (2002) and Schein (2010) theorized trust includes open
communication and concern for the organization and your fellow employees. Once trust is built
then people can begin to have constructive conflict (Lencioni, 2002; Schein, 2010). The business
advisors should use constructive conflict to debate openly about new strategies. This newfound
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 46
trust will empower the advisors and increase their accountability to provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for
business transfer students. Empowerment is providing employees with the knowledge, skills and
freedom to do what needs to be done and hold them accountable (Gill 2003; Lencioni, 2002).
While the advisors work independently with the students, they will provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies as a team. A team culture gives the
organization a competitive advantage (Lencioni, 2002). The research suggested that to be an
effective organization the employees must have a sense of trust, an ability to engage in
constructive conflict, be committed, be accountable, and think of the team before their interests
(Gill, 2003; Lencioni, 2002, Schein, 2010, Tagg, 2012).
Cultural setting. The business advising center’s goal is to provide students with
developmental advising which will change the department’s culture. The change goes from
prescriptive advising and advising only to developmental advising and a project-oriented
environment that requires advisors to advise the student holistically and to provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. There are two cultural setting influences, which
need to be examined to support this culture change: 1) is the organization providing incentives to
change advising practices and techniques and 2) is there enough time to accommodate the
number of students who need advising and provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies.
To impact change the research suggests organizations must be aware of the incentives
their employees expect that motivate them to change how they accomplish their job (Bandura,
2000; Gill, 2003; Kezar & Eckel, 2002). Kezar and Eckel (2002) suggested that people should
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 47
know that the job they are doing is making a difference and moving the organization forward.
The advising center must ensure that the business advisors are aware of the importance of
changing to a more supportive environment that will make a difference in the transfer students’
ability to be successful. Gill (2003) recommended that people want to believe what they do has
meaning. The advising center will need to find ways of helping the advisors understand that the
developmental advising they will do is valuable and meaningful. Bandura (2000) explained that
people would not change if they believe their actions would create adverse conditions. The
advising center will have to communicate with the advisors about how the changes they are
implementing will have a positive outcome for the student and themselves. Once advisors are
incentivized, it is also important to make sure that they have the resources to do the job.
Advisors need enough time to accommodate the number of students who need advising
and provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students. Clark and Estes (2009) suggested
that even if the advisors have the knowledge and motivation without the organization resources
they would still be unable to accomplish the goals. Work processes need to be supported by the
organization to close the performance gap (Clark & Estes, 2009). By reorganizing the
distribution of resources, Fernandez and Rainey (2006) discussed how organizations could
provide the needed resources. It is also important that the organization empower their employees,
which provides them with the knowledge, motivation, self-confidence, and resources to self-
regulate and be accountable (Clark & Estes, 2009; Gill, 2003). The advisors will provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies by January 2018 to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students. As shown in Table 5, four
organizational influences were identified.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 48
Table 5

Organizational Influence and Assessment for Organizational Gap Analysis

Assumed Organizational Influences

Organization Influence Assessment
Cultural Model Influence 1:
The organization needs to provide an
environment that supports change in advising
practices and techniques.
Interview questions about advisors’
willingness or unwillingness to change.
Cultural Model Influence 2:
Advisors need an environment that includes
trust to provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising
strategies to support high graduation rates of
transfer students.
Interview questions about the advisors’ ability
to ask for help. As well as questions about how
comfortable advisors feel about giving their
opinions.
Cultural Setting Influence 1:
The organization needs to provide incentives to
change advising practices and techniques.

Interview questions about the advisors’
perception of available incentives. As well as
questions about what incentives are important
to the advisors.
Cultural Setting Influence 2:
Advisors need enough time to accommodate
the number of students who need advising and
provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising
strategies to support high graduation rates of
transfer students.
Interview questions about how advisors’ time
is spent during the day. Use existing tracking
sheet to compile the number of students seen
by each advisor.

KMO Assumed Influences

In light of the research on professional development and training programs for advising
effectiveness, it seems safe to conclude that it is important to develop an advising training
program. The program should ensure the advisors provide accurate and effective information,
know how to assess the students’ academic needs, professional interests, and academic abilities,
value building lasting relationships with the students and are capable of providing developmental
advising. Furthermore, the more contact students have with advisors, the more likely it is that the
students will graduate. It is also important for advisors to get to know their students and develop
relationships early to allow students to feel comfortable and seek out academic advising before
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 49
they are in crisis. It is essential that advisors assist students through a shared responsibility
mapping out their education pathway as well as providing accurate information about degree
requirements and resources. Transfer students and non-transfer students in higher education need
their advisors to build relationships, be knowledgeable, and understand the needs, abilities, and
interest of the student populations they serve. Lastly, advisors need to support students and work
collaboratively with community colleges to develop pathways that allow transfer students to
transition into four-year universities seamlessly.
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Stakeholders’ Knowledge, Motivation and the
Organizational Context

The purpose of a conceptual framework, according to Maxwell (2013), is to allow
researchers to construct their own model and explain what they are examining and why it is
happening. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) proposed that the literature forms the foundation of the
research and Maxwell (2013) suggested that the literature explains what is taking place. In
addition, the conceptual framework identifies the topic for the reader (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The literature review revealed informational (I), relational (R) and conceptual (C)
elements that advisors should be trained on to impact their students’ ability to graduate
(Alexander, Kukowski, & Dexter, 2010; Brown, 2008; CAS, 2015; De Sousa, 2005; Light,
2004). The literature review was previously discussed and provides a detailed review of the
factors that advisors need expertise in to support students in higher education and specific
suggestions for transfer student success. These factors are integrated into knowledge and
motivational influences. The KMO conceptual framework is built around the business advisors’
ability provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students. What are the knowledge and skills, motivation,
and organizational influences that affect the business advisors’ goal to provide data on perceived
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 50
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of
transfer students? All three KMO influences are interrelated, and if there is a gap in any part of
the framework then advisors will be unsuccessful in providing data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer
students. Previously, the influences that fall under the KMO context were discussed as separate
areas to provide an in-depth understanding of the assumed influences that can affect the business
advisors’ ability to achieve their goal. It is important to keep in mind that regarding advisor
effectiveness, three influences are necessary for advisors to provide data on perceived barriers to
developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer
students: knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences. As shown in Table 6, the
assumed KMO influences and ICR factors are identified.
Table 6

Conceptual Framework of KMO assumed Influences and Factors

Advising Assumed Influences and
Factors
Literature Assessment

Knowledge
Advisors need to know how
to assess the students’
academic needs,
professional interests, and
academic abilities to provide
a supportive environment
with personalized advising.
(Conceptual)
(Alexander, Kukowski,
& Dexter, 2010; Allen,
Smith & Muehleck,
2014; Allen, Smith &
Muehleck, 2013;
Young-Jones, Burt,
Dixon, & Hawthorne,
2013)
Advisors will be interviewed
and observed on how to
support students based on
their different skills,
interests, and abilities. A pre-
existing student satisfaction
survey will be used to assess
advisors knowledge.

Advisors need to know how
to empower students
through a shared
responsibility between the
student and advisor.
(Procedural)
(Allen, Smith, &
Muehleck, 2013; CAS,
2015; Young-Jones,
Burt, Dixon, &
Hawthorne, 2013)
Advisors will be interviewed
and observed while advising.

Advisors need to reflect on (Allen et al., 2013; Advisors will be interviewed
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 51
their advising effectiveness.
(Metacognitive)

Allen et al., 2014;
Baker, 2006; CAS,
2015)

on their self-reflection of
advising effectiveness.
Advisors need to provide
accurate information.
(Informational)

(Allen, Smith, &
Muehleck, 2013;
Brown, 2008; Light
2004; Wyner, Deane,
Jenkins, & Fink, 2016)

Advisors will be interviewed
and observed while advising.
Advisors need to be able to
refer student to appropriate
resources. (Procedural)

(Brown, 2008; De
Sousa, 2005; Smith &
Allen, 2014)
Advisors will be interviewed
and observed while advising.
Motivation
Advisors need to value
building relationships to
provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer
students.
(Donnelly, 2004;
Donnelly, 2009;
Ecceles, 2006; Moser &
Chong, 1995; Murray,
1987)
Advisors will be observed
and interviewed about how
valuable student centered
advising is to them. A pre-
existing student satisfaction
survey will be used to assess
student-advisors
relationships.

Advisors need to believe
they are capable of
providing developmental
advising provide data on
perceived barriers to
developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer
students.

(Donnelly, 2009; Drake,
Jordan, & Miller, 2013;
Gordon, Habley, &
Grites, 2011; Pajares,
2006)
Advisors will be observed
and interviewed about how
comfortable they are
providing developmental
advising and cultivating
relationships with students.

Advisors need to believe
they are capable of tailoring
advising sessions to transfer
students. (Conceptual)

(Brown, 2008, Light,
2004; Wyner, Deane,
Jenkins, & Fink, 2016)
Advisors will be interviewed
and observed while advising.
Advisors need to value
showing concern for transfer
students. (Relational)
(Alexander, Kukowski,
& Dexter, 2010; Allen,
Smith, & Muehleck,
2013; Light 2004;
Brown, 2008; Kot,
2004; Townsend &
Advisors will be interviewed
and observed while advising.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 52
Wilson, 2006)

Organization

The organization needs to
provide an environment that
supports change in advising
practices and techniques.
(Eccles 2006; Langley,
Moen, Nolan, Nolan,
Norman, & Provost,
2009; Pintrich 2003;
Schein, 2010)
Interview questions about
advisors willingness or
unwillingness to change.

Advisors need an
environment that includes
trust to provide data on
perceived barriers to
developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer
students.
(Bandura, 2000; Pajares,
2006; Pintrich, 2003;
Schein, 2010)
Interview questions about the
advisors ability to ask for
help. As well as questions
about how comfortable
advisors feel about giving
their opinions.

The organization needs to
provide incentives to change
advising practices and
techniques.

(Clark & Estes, 2008;
Eccles, 2006; Schein,
2010)
Interview questions about the
advisors’ perception of
available incentives. As well
as questions about what
incentives are important to
the advisors.

Advisors need enough time
to accommodate the number
of students who need
advising.
(Clark & Estes, 2008;
Mayer, 2011; Waters,
Marzano, & McNulty,
2003)
Interview questions about
how advisors’ time is spent
during the day. Use existing
tracking sheet to compile the
number of students seen by
each advisor.

Conceptual Framework

Introduced here is the conceptual framework for this study. The conceptual framework
illustrates how advisors ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students is
impacted by knowledge, motivational and organizational assumed influences. The framework
illustrates the influences that affect the advisors ability to achieve their performance goals. The
KMO influences are simultaneously assessed for gaps. As illustrated in Figure A if a gap exists
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 53
for the knowledge influence then the “gap path” is followed into the organizational support area
where the advisors are provided with support or resources needed to overcome the gap. After the
support or resources are provided the knowledge influence is reassessed and if no gap is found
then the “no gap path” is followed where knowledge influence enters a holding circle. If the gap
has not been removed the knowledge influences cycle around until the gap has been eliminated.
This same cycle is identical for the motivational and organizational influences. Once all gaps for
the KMO are eliminated then the advisors can move forward with meeting their performance
goals.
Knowledge assumed influences. The knowledge influences evaluate any gaps in the
advisors’ ability 1) to understand how to assess the academic needs, academic abilities, and
professional interests to provide a supportive environment for their students 2) to empower the
students through a shared responsibility and 3) to reflect on their own effectiveness. The
literature review also identified one conceptual and three informational assumed knowledge
factors that advisors need to know how 1) to help transfer students navigate the environment (I)
2) to determine transfer student needs (C) 3) to provide accurate information (I) and 4) to be able
to refer student to appropriate resources (I).
If an advisor has a gap in the knowledge influences, the organization must provide
additional support to allow the advisors to reach their performance goal. The advisor's
knowledge and skills are reassessed, and the influence continues to cycle between assessment
and support until the knowledge gap has been eliminated. Figure 1 illustrates this cycle.
Motivational assumed influences. The motivational influences relate to the gaps
advisors may have in their motivation to value building relationships with students and their
belief in their capability to deliver developmental advising. If advisors value building
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 54
relationships with students, they tend to be more motivated (Donnelly, 2004; Donnelly, 2009;
Murray, 1987). In order to develop strong relationships with students’ advisors must provide a
supportive environment (Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, & Hawthorne, 2013). Developmental
advising suggests advisors treat students holistically (Drake et al., 2013) so that advisors know
the students’ professional interests, academic needs, and academic abilities. When advisors know
how to empower students through a shared responsibility, they increase student success (Allen,
Smith, & Muehleck, 2013; CAS, 2015; Young-Jones et al., 2013) and are applying
developmental advising (Drake et al., 2013). Finally, by providing developmental advising
advisors are more motivated and satisfied with their jobs (Donnelly, 2009; Gordon, Habley, &
Grites, 2011; Moser & Chong 1995). Integrated with the motivational influences the literature
review identified two relational and one conceptual factor that advisors need to 1) believe they
are capable of tailing advising session for students (C) 2) value building relationships with
students (R) and 3) value showing concern for students (R).
If an advisor has a gap in the motivational influences, the organization must provide
additional support to allow the advisors to reach their performance goal. The reassessment of the
advisor's motivation continues to cycle between assessment and support until the elimination of
the motivational gap. Figure 1 illustrates this cycle.
Organizational assumed influences. The organizational influences are related to any
gaps the organization might have when providing support for business advisors’ knowledge and
motivational influences. The organization must provide incentives to change advising practices
and techniques if the organization wants the advisors to utilize developmental advising. Also, the
organization must ensure advisors have the time to both advise and to provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 55
transfer students. In addition, the development of an environment of trust is necessary to ensure
advisors will voice their opinions and feel comfortable trying new advising techniques.
Ultimately, the organization must develop ways to overcome any advisor resistance to the shift
in the advising environment to a developmental approach.
If there is a gap in the organizational influences, the organization must provide additional
support to allow the advisors to reach their performance goal. The reassessment of the
organizational influences continues to cycle between assessment and support until the
elimination of the organizational gap. Figure 1 illustrates this cycle.

Knowledge Motivational Organizational
1. Assess abilities, needs,
interests
2. Empower through shared
responsibility
3. Reflect on advising
effectiveness
1. Value building relationships
with students
2. Believe capable of providing
developmental advising
1. Provide an environment of trust
2. Provide incentives to change
advising practices
3. Provide enough time to advise
and implement strategies
4. Provide an environment that
supports change
Figure 1. Conceptual framework for knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 56
CHAPTER THREE: METHODS

Chapter three provides a description of the research design and methods for data
collection and analysis used to answer two research questions: 1) What are the knowledge and
skills, motivation, and organizational influences that affect the business advisors’ goal to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. 2) What are the recommended knowledge,
motivation, and organizational solutions? The KMO conceptual framework is based on the
research questions and the problem that higher education is facing of disproportionately lower
graduation rates of underrepresented minority (URM) transfer students compared to their peers.
The goal for the advisors is to be able to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students
by January 2018. Chapter three outlines the research methods used to collect data. The first
section describes the participating stakeholders. The second section focuses on the sampling
criteria and recruitment strategies for interviewing and observing the participants. The third
section outlines the specific interview instrument and observation protocol used for the data
collection for the analysis. The fourth section discusses audit trails, triangulation methods, and
member checking used to ensure the study is credible and trustworthy. Last the ethics section
provides details about protecting the participants by addressing researcher bias, coercion, and
confidentiality.
Participating Stakeholders

The stakeholders of focus for this study are business advisors, who advise transfer
students, in the BAC within the business college at SSU. The BAC consists of an Associate
Dean, Assistant Dean, and 10 advisors of which five are general advisors; two are online
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 57
advisors, a senior advisor, a graduation specialist and retention specialist. The advisors in the
college of business are staff members and not faculty advisors. This model is unique on SSU’s
campus. The model in the other colleges consists of the Associate Dean, faculty advisors and the
graduation and retention specialists. While there are faculty advisors, graduation and retention
specialist in other departments on campus as well as staff advisors outside the university, the aim
of this study is to focus on the staff advisors in the BAC, and the KMO influences that influence
their ability to meet their performance goal. The rationale behind choosing the business college
is that the college’s four-year graduation rate for transfer students is 10% below the university
average. Furthermore, the college employs only staff advisors, is the largest college on campus,
has the highest number of transfer students, and the recommendations can be implemented into
this college because I work within the department. Finally, by evaluating the performance gaps
of the staff advisors in business the BAC will be able to use the data to close any performance
gaps that are specific to the business advisors and in turn, theoretically, affect transfer students’
graduation rates.
The sample was purposeful and once there was no new data and saturation occurred, the
sampling was ended (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). This purposeful selection of participants’
consisted of the BAC staff advisors that advise transfer students. Since the advisors work within
the BAC, access was readily available to invite each advisor to participate, and the associate
dean has given permission to reach out to the business advisors and request their participation. A
third party researcher sent out two recruitment emails with the informed consent form and
obtained permission to audio record the interviews. To ensure confidentiality the researcher was
not included in the emails, so as to have no knowledge of who volunteered. There was no
monetary incentive to participate; however, the data will be used to help the advisors become
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 58
more effective at their jobs, so it is anticipated that the advisors will see participation as an
incentive to facilitate their work.
According to Creswell (2008), it is important to inform the group of the purpose of the
study. In the first step of recruitment, I had a staff meeting where I explained the objective of the
study to the advisors. Bogdan and Biklen (2011) recommends describing what the participants
will do, how the researcher will create the least amount of disruptions as possible, what will
happen with the findings, and what the participants will get out of the research. The associate
dean of the business college is the direct supervisor of the advisors and myself. I am the assistant
dean and oversee the BAC strategic direction and operations in the department. I am not the
advisors’ direct supervisor but because I work with them in a leadership capacity, I wanted to
ensure that each participant does not feel pressured into participating. Next, I explained that for
this study, I am a researcher and the advisors’ participation is optional. I also explained that even
though I play a role in the leadership of the department the advisors’ participation is optional and
that there are no adverse consequences if they decide not to participate. I then discussed with the
participants that if they choose to participate their responses would be kept confidential. To keep
their responses confidential a third party conducted interviews and observations to ensure their
confidentiality. This third party is the college’s assessment specialist who has earned a master’s
degree in education, has conducted interviews and observations and is experienced in data
collection. The assessment specialist labeled the participant’s interview with a pseudonym so
that the identity was kept confidential. Further to protect the participants’ identity a third party,
Rev.com, was used to transcribe each interview. Finally, I introduced the third party researcher
to the advisors and explained that the third party researcher would email an informed consent
form asking each advisor if he/she is willing to participate in interviews, observations, and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 59
member checking. The advisors must be willing to participate in both interviews and
observations or they will be excluded from the study. The next section discusses the interview
sampling criteria and rationale for each.
Interview Sampling Criterion and Rationale

This section outlines the criteria, rationale, and sampling procedure for the interview
portion of the study. The criteria describe the participant’s qualifications and the rationale
explains why the participants were chosen for the study. The sampling discusses the recruitment
strategy.
Criterion 1. The participants for this study must be business staff advisors working in the
business college’s advising center at SSU, who advise transfer students.
Rationale 1. The research question that guides the data collection is evaluating the
advisors’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that affect their ability to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. Since the business college’s average graduation
rate is 10% below university average, by interviewing the business advising staff who advise
transfer students, data was collected to evaluate any performance gaps that exist with the current
advising team within the business college.
Criterion 2. The participants will have at least one year of advising experience, have
been with the BAC for at least six months and advise transfer students on a regular basis.
Rationale 2. The research question that guides the data collection is evaluating the
advisors’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that affect their ability to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. By interviewing the business advising staff who
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 60
have experience advising, the participants will have a foundational knowledge about the
department and sufficient experience working with transfer students. This experience will ensure
that the advisors have insight into the business college’s transfer students’ needs.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale

Of the 10 advisors only nine advisors were recruited to participate in the interview
portion of the study. The retention specialist has not been employed with the BAC for six months
and does not fit the criteria to participate. Three advisors volunteered to participate. The study
used a qualitative approach. A case study was used to conduct the qualitative study. A
nonprobability sampling strategy was used for a purposive sampling of the business advisors.
The purposive sampling allows for a more in-depth evaluation to discover and gain
understanding (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) of the business advisors’ knowledge
and motivation as it relates to the goal to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students.
Observation Sampling Criterion and Rationale

This section outlines the criteria, rationale, and sampling procedure for the observation
portion of the study. The criteria describe what will be observed and the rational explains why
these observations were chosen. The sampling discusses the recruitment strategy.
Criterion 1. Observations were of business staff advisors working in the college of
advising center at SSU who conducted a face-to-face advising session with a transfer student.
The advisors must have participated in the interviews. The observations focused on several
attributes: First, was how the student was welcomed and was there an attempt to build a
relationship with the student. Second, did the advisors provide clear and accurate information by
providing an educational plan through a shared responsibility. Third, was if the advisors engaged
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 61
with the student by being supportive, providing words of encouragement and validation. Fourth,
if the session was more prescriptive or developmental. Finally, how the advisor managed their
time.
Rationale 1. The research question that guided the data collection is evaluating the
advisors’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that affect their ability to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. Since the majority of the transfer students are
traditional on campus students the observations of the advising sessions were face to face in the
participant’s cubicle. The attributes observed were chosen based on the KMO influences and
interview questions to allow the researcher to record the behaviors those participants exhibit and
if the behaviors related to the interview responses. The data collected was used to evaluate the
performance gaps that exist with the current advising team. The three participants that
volunteered for the interview also participated in the observation.
Observation Sampling (Access) Strategy and Rationale

For this study, interviewing the business staff advisors first allowed data to be gathered
on each participant, which was then compared to the observations to evaluate if the participants’
actions match their interview answers. Of the 10 business staff advisors nine advisors met the
criterion for observations and three volunteered to participate. The retention specialist has not
been with the BAC for six months and was not be recruited for the observations. Advisors that
participated in the interviews were informed that by volunteering for the interviews they agree to
participate in the observations. The purposive sampling allowed for a more in-depth evaluation
to discover and gain understanding (Maxwell, 2013; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) of the perspective
of the business advisors as it relates to the conceptual framework of the Knowledge and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 62
Motivation performance gaps that exist. Now that criteria and rationale for the participants has
been examined, in the next section instrumentation and data collection is addressed.
Instrumentation and Data Collection

A qualitative approach was used for this study. This approach to inquiry allowed for an
in-depth analysis of the business advisors, as well as the ability to collect detailed information.
This approach also allowed the researcher to directly see the participants’ behavior in their
normal setting. By using a qualitative approach the researcher was able to develop a holistic
interpretation of the issue being studied (Creswell, 2014). In addition, with a small group of
stakeholders the researcher was able to delve deeper into the KMO framework to address the
research questions. Qualitative case studies allow researchers to develop an in-depth
understanding of the event they are studying (Creswell, 2014; Merriam and Tisdell, 2016). With
the qualitative analysis, the researcher was able to examine if gaps exist for the current business
advisors that need to be addressed. Instrumentation in the form of semi-structured interviews,
observations, and already existing documents was used to examine the KMO assumed influences
of the advisors’ goal to develop and recommend strategies to support transfer students. It is a
good idea according to Bogdan and Biklen (2007a) to use qualitative interviews in combination
with observation. In addition, by using triangulation of documents, interviews, and observations,
Maxwell (2013) suggests, the different methods can check one another to reduce the risk of bias
and increase credibility.
The interviews and observations provided in-depth qualitative data of the participants’
opinions and experiences. A current student satisfaction survey is an auxiliary source of
documents that was used to provide the perspective of the students’ satisfaction with the advising
session. Additional documents that were used are the organization’s reports that track the number
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 63
of students seen by advisors on a daily and monthly basis to evaluate the advisor’s workload.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) suggested that documents are a good source of data that provides the
participants perspective that cannot be observed.
Interviews

The interviewer used qualitative semi-structured interviews to collect data to understand
how the participants think and to gather data on their beliefs. Semi-structured interviewing of the
business advisors is important for this study because it provides more flexibility for data
collection, allows the interviewer to gather multiple participants’ perspectives, acquire in-depth
explanations, and descriptions of the advising process (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007a; Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 2002, Weiss, 1994). By using semi-structured interviews Bogdan and
Biklen (2007a) and Patton (2002) explain that interviewers are afforded more flexibility to
explore the topics and the participants are freer to discuss their perspectives and not be controlled
by the interviewer’s structured line of inquiry. In addition, interviewing is used to examine what
is on a person’s mind, what happened previously, or the meaning people attach to experiences
they have encountered (Patton, 2002; Weiss, 1994). Finally, the participants are a small group of
business advisors and Merriam and Tisdell (2016) suggested that interviewing is the best
technique to obtain thorough data from small groups of participants.
Each participant was interviewed one time in person (see Appendix A for the interview
questions). The interview for participant one lasted an hour and 10 minutes, participant two’s
interview was one hour and 40 minutes, and participant three’s interview lasted one hour and 19
minutes, which provided the participants’ enough time to express their views. A third-party
researcher took notes using a computer to ensure that the notes taken are legible. In addition,
each interview was recorded with permission and the interview was fully transcribed by a third
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 64
party (Rev.com). The notes and sections of the recording were saved for maintenance of the raw
data in a secure password protected computer at the researcher’s home and the digital recordings
were saved in the researcher’s dropbox that is also password-protected. After the interview, the
third party researcher checked the recording for any problems. In addition, the third party
researcher organized the notes and added any observations about the interview.
The participants’ area is a cubicle and provides some privacy but probably not enough.
To ensure confidentiality the interviews were held in the third party researcher’s private office.
Glesne (2011) suggests that privacy should be a major concern and the researcher must protect
the participants’ confidentiality and privacy. In addition, the participants have scheduled
appointments during the day and an interview time may be scheduled during the advising
appointments. The associate dean approved blocking out appointments during the time of the
interviews. This allowed the advisors, instead of advising, to interview with the researcher and
did not increase the advisors’ workload or take up any personal time. So that the advisors did not
feel coerced each of the advisors were given the freedom to interview at a time that they choose
and felt most comfortable. Furthermore, if the advisors preferred to interview after work hours
they were given the option to choose a time that fits their personal schedule. Weiss (1994)
recommends the interviewer come to the participant and Rubin (2012) suggest that is wrong to
waste the time of the participant. All three participants interviewed with the third party
researcher in a private office during blocked appointment times.
The semi-structured interview approach guarantees some structured format to ensure that
the KMO influences are explored. The interview questions for the knowledge influences were
focused on assessing students’ academic needs, personal interests, and academic abilities. As
well, as the advisor’s ability to empower students through a shared responsibility, and reflect on
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 65
their own advising effectiveness. For the motivational influences, the interview questions
concentrated on the advisors’ value of building relationships with students and their belief in
their ability to provide developmental advising. Advisors are more motivated and satisfied with
their jobs when they deliver developmental advising that allows them to provide support to the
students (Drake et al., 2013). Lastly, the interview questions were used to evaluate if the advisors
perceive their organizational environment as supportive. By exploring if advisors trust their
colleagues, feel their environment is supportive of change, are provided with incentives to
change and have enough time to meet their performance goal. Patton (2002) suggests using an
interview guide to focus on the topics and allow for flexibility to probe deeper. To obtain a
deeper understanding of how the KMO influence’s the participants flexibility is needed during
the interview. A structured interview without flexibility does not guarantee the researcher more
valid responses (Bogdan & Biklen (2007a). However, the flexibility of a semi-structured
approach permits the researcher to delve deeper into unanticipated areas that may become known
(Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Patton, 2002).
Patton (2002) recommends defining the types of questions to be used in the interview. By
asking questions, relating to the participants’ experiences it allows the researcher to understand a
phenomenon that could not be observed. In addition, the opinion of the participants provides the
researcher with a better understanding of what is going on in the participants’ head. While
feeling questions work to help the researcher evaluate the participants’ emotions to the event;
knowledge questions get to what the participant knows (Patton, 2002). The types of questions
that were used in this study were open-ended questions aimed at getting to the participants’
opinions, feelings, experiences, and knowledge. According to Patton (2002), open-ended
questions allow the interview to flow in the direction of the participants’ responses. While
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 66
interviewing allows for in-depth exploration, it does not allow the interviewer to be present
during past participants’ experiences. Observations are important when the interviewer must
observe behavior or feelings that can be seen as well as how a participant may make sense of
their environment (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Observation

During observations, the third party researcher collected data that focused on the research
question to evaluate any gaps that may exist in the knowledge and motivational influences that
would affect advisors ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students.
Observations were included in the data collection, which allowed the observer to witness the
actual process that the participants used to build relationships, determine needs, and show
concern for students. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) explain how observations take place in the
natural settings and allow for a direct account of the activity being observed. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) suggested triangulation of the data by combining interviews, observations, and
document collection so that the results of the data are more credible and trustworthy. In addition,
observations allow the observer to see the everyday practices used by the participants. Merriam
and Tisdell (2016) found that participants are not always aware of their routine behaviors;
however, an observer can pick up these routines.
Observations were with the three business advisors during face-to-face advising sessions
of transfer students. The observation took place in the advisor’s cubicle during a scheduled
appointment. Since the three-business advisors see a wide range of transfer students by
appointment or walk-in, they provided rich data to answer the knowledge and motivational (KM)
influence of the research question. The observational data was used to describe the KM
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 67
influences and allow the researcher to draw inferences about the three-business advisors’
perspective (Maxwell, 2013). In addition, by observing the advisors and focusing on the KM
influences the data collected shows a more accurate interpretation of advisors views (Maxwell,
2013) of their actual knowledge on how to empower students through a shared responsibility,
assess students’ needs, and their motivation to value building relationships with students and
belief in their ability to provide developmental advising.
The role of the researcher is observer as participant. There was one observation scheduled
for each advisor (see Appendix B for the reflective memo). The observations were scheduled
during an advising session for a transfer student and lasted for approximately 30 minutes. Each
student in the advising session was asked if the third party researcher could observe the advising
session, all students gave verbal consent. According to Merriam and Tisdell (2016), the observer
as participant allows the participants to be aware of the observer and permits the researcher to
observe the activities but participation is secondary. The goal of the observation was to establish
if the participants’ responses to the interview questions about supporting students and the actual
advising process used are reflected in the actual advising session. The third party researcher took
notes with a computer to ensure legible notes and to allow for the least amount of disruption
while observing. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) found that just an observer being present could
affect participants’ behaviors. The computer document was broken into three sections. The first
section was an area to mark down how many times the participant uses language to connect with
the student. The second section was for note taking of the physical environment, participants,
what is going on, the conversations and subtle factors (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Bogdan &
Biklen, 2007b). The third area allowed for the observer’s reflections, speculations and
impressions. The margins were used for notations and coding as suggested by Bogdan and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 68
Biklen (2007b) and Merriam and Tisdell (2016). After each observation, the field notes were
reviewed in a computer to provide descriptive details and a reflection memo was written that
included the observer’s reflections as recommended by Bogdan and Biklen (2007b) and Merriam
and Tisdell (2016). The observations allowed the researcher to witness the participants’ actual
process but both observations and interviews can be intrusive. Documents are a way to collect
data without being intrusive and provide an additional look at an objective source of data.
Documents

Merriam and Tisdell (2016) explain how documents provide the researcher with a
glimpse into the participants’ personal perspective. In addition, document collection is
unobtrusive and does not interfere with the participants. Finally, the content from the documents
is stable and an objective source of data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The BAC advisors ask
students to complete a confidential satisfaction survey after each advising session. The survey is
administered online through software called Qualtrics. Students may fill out the survey
immediately following the advising session on an iPad or at a later time. If the student decides to
take the survey later, the survey link is emailed to student’s university email account.
One question on the survey asks students to rate their advising experience with an advisor
(see Appendix C for the questions). The content of the question would connect with the study’s
conceptual framework of the knowledge and motivational influences. The confidential students’
responses provided an overall student perspective on the accuracy of the information they
believe they are receiving. In addition, the question allowed the students to provide their opinion
on whether or not the advisor was able to assess their needs. Finally, the question delves into the
area of advisor caring and if the students who complete the survey believe the advisor was
attentive and cared about their academic concerns. The confidential survey responses were
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 69
pulled from all student respondents who have completed the data within the last six months. The
advising center also tracks the number of students advised by each business advisor through
advisor self-reported entry in an excel document. The data was used to show how many advising
sessions are completed as part of the organizational influences. During and after data collection it
is important to analyze the information received through interviews and observations.
Data Analysis

For interviews and observations, data analysis began during data collection. Merriam and
Tisdell (2016) suggest that for qualitative research it is important to analyze the data while data
collection is occurring. Data analysis is important because it allows the researcher to organize the
data and come up with findings (Bogdan & Biklen, 2007c). A third party researcher collected the
data. The researcher wrote analytic memos after each interview was transcribed and each
observation completed to document her thoughts, concerns, and initial conclusions about the data
in relation to the conceptual framework and research questions (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Miles,
Huberman and Saldana (2014a) recommend writing memos as soon as the first data is collected,
which will assist the researcher with the coding. When the researcher left the field, interviews
were submitted to a third party (Rev.com) for transcription and I coded and analyzed the data.
In the first phase of analysis, using Atlas.ti, I read through each transcript and highlighted
key concepts that code may fit into based on the conceptual framework (Harding, 2013). This
gave me an indication of the general ideas that were taking shape. I then created a codebook to
consolidate the data (Creswell, 2014). In the second phase of analysis, I open coded, looking for
empirical codes and applying apriori codes from the conceptual framework. Empirical coding
allows the researcher to identify common ideas (Harding, 2013). An apriori coding reflects
categories that were created before data was collected (Harding, 2013) and the codes were
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 70
applied as related to the conceptual framework (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The third phase of
analysis was conducted where I combined the codes from open coding into categories. This was
done when empirical and apriori codes are aggregated into axial codes (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). In the fourth phase of data analysis, I reviewed the categories and looked for pattern codes
and themes that emerge in relation to the conceptual framework and research questions. Harding
(2013) suggests that it is important for the researcher to review the list of categories and figure
out the story the data is telling to develop themes. Finally, I analyzed documents and artifacts for
evidence consistent with the concepts in the conceptual framework. Data analysis provides
findings for the study but it is also important that the findings are credible and trustworthy.
Credibility and Trustworthiness

Since the primary instrument of a qualitative case study is the researcher, it is important
to understand that people have biases that should be monitored and explained (Creswell, 2014;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). This process ensures there is an
awareness of how these biases may help shape the data. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) suggested
researchers explain their biases and assumptions to increase the study’s credibility and
trustworthiness. Patton explains that the trustworthiness of the data is determined by the
trustworthiness of the researcher and his/her competency (as cited in Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I
have worked in higher education as a student affairs professional for 20 years and I currently
oversee the strategic direction and operations of the BAC. While I play a leadership role within
the BAC the associate dean is the direct supervisor of the advising team. A third party researcher
was brought in to conduct interviews and observation. To ensure trustworthiness the researcher
trained the third party researcher. First, the researcher explained Clark and Estes’ gap analysis
and what the KMO influences mean. Second, the researcher described the KMO influences that
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 71
are part of the conceptual framework of the study and provided the third-party researcher with an
outline of these influences. Third, the researcher conducted pilot interviews and the third party
researcher sat in during the interview and observed. After the interview there was a discussion as
to what the researcher was looking for during the interview. Fourth, the third-party researcher
conducted a pilot interview and the researcher observed and provided feedback. Finally, after the
first interview was complete the researcher discussed the data with the third-party researcher and
what to look for during the observations. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) recommend training and
practice for researchers as human instruments to increase trustworthiness. By working with the
advisors I may have a bias, which is why it is important to keep the advisors’ identity
confidential. The lens with which I oversee the strategic direction and operations of the BAC and
advise students focuses on creating a supportive environment for students and staff. It is also
important to create a team that can provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students.
It is the focus of this study to evaluate the assumed influences that may cause barriers and impact
the advisors’ ability to meet their performance goals. In addition, there are a number of concerns
within qualitative research, which Lincoln and Guba (1985) call credibility, consistency, and
transferability that can be addressed with multiple strategies to increase credibility and
trustworthiness that will be discussed in this study.
Credibility and trustworthiness can be said to be strong when it is understood that
qualitative researchers collect data to obtain the participants’ views and opinions and uncover the
perspectives of the participants to present a holistic understanding of their reality (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). In addition, qualitative researchers do not establish reliability in the quantitative
sense; qualitative data can be interpreted differently (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). For consistency
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 72
qualitative researchers’ aim is to provide data, which is consistent with the findings that other
researchers or readers agree, makes sense and is dependable (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Lastly,
to ensure the rigor of the evaluation and increase credibility and trustworthiness the study
included an audit trail, triangulation methods, and member checking (Creswell, 2014; Merriam
& Tisdell, 2016, Miles et al., 2014).
Audit Trail

To improve credibility and trustworthiness, a detailed description of the data collection
process and how themes were developed should be provided, giving the reader the ability to
follow the “audit trail” to ensure the readers can substantiate the findings (Creswell, 2014;
Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The details of the data collection were included to allow the readers to
validate the findings. The interviews were transcribed and quotes and fieldnotes were used as the
sources to build a rich description for the reader to feel like they were present during the data
collection. The observations were typed in chronological order. While a rich description and
audit trail is important, the findings for the data must provide a way to triangulate.
Triangulation of Methods

Triangulation allows the researcher to compare and examine multiple sources of data.
The data is collected from the interviews, observations, and documents and themed with multiple
sources of data to justify the themes (Creswell, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). According to
Creswell (2014), when themes are developed using several data sources the data is more
credible. The study consisted of interviews, observations and document collection. To increase
credibility the interviews were piloted (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) with two advisors in the
graduate programs advising center. In addition, a third party, who is a trained researcher,
administered both the interviews and observations. While triangulation is important for
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 73
credibility and trustworthiness, it important to include member checking to ensure the themes of
the raw data are accurate.
Member Checking

Research suggests that feedback from participants is important to credibility and
trustworthiness (Creswell, 2014; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016; Miles et al., 2014). To ensure that the
participants’ ideas are correct and identify any biases or misunderstandings several of the
participants were asked to review the interview data and asked for their feedback (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). A third party (rev.com) transcribed the first two interviews within a week of the
interview and the data was analyzed over several weeks. Once the transcription was complete
and data analyzed, the researcher sent the data to the participants for their feedback. In addition
Creswell (2014), suggest that credibility will be improved when participants find that the data
accurately reflects their responses. Finally, participants’ feedback will reduce the amount of
misunderstanding between researcher and participant (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Ethics

As a qualitative researcher, I am focusing on understanding how participants interpret
their experiences, make meaning of these experiences and use these experiences to build their
world paradigm (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) that will answer the research questions. The data
collection for the study involves interviews, observations and document collection. It is
important that, as a researcher, I make ethical decisions. These ethical decisions must take into
account that the researcher does no harm, makes sure the participants’ needs are more important
than data collection, and obtains informed consent (Glesne, 2011). According to Glesne (2011),
informed consent ensures that participants are aware that participation is voluntary, they can quit
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 74
at any time, all the discussions will be kept confidential and they will be informed about any part
of the research that could impact their well being (see Appendix D).
To ensure the safety of the participants the study was submitted to the University of
Southern California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and followed the rules and guidelines
regarding the protection and rights and welfare of the participants in this study. All the advisors
were asked to sign informed consent forms, and were reminded that this study is voluntary and
that their identity will be kept confidential. The students in the observations were asked for their
verbal permission to observe the advisor during their advising session.
The participants are employees of the organization and I oversee the strategic direction
and operations of the academic department; however, I am not the immediate supervisor. Due to
the researcher-participant relationship, it was important that the participants did not feel coerced
into participating in the study. To ensure that the participants did not feel coerced into
participating in the study a staff member (assessment specialist) in our college’s assessment
department agreed to administer the interviews and conduct the observations. This assessment
specialist has experience with collecting data and analyzing data. According to Glesne (2011), it
is important to have qualified researchers conduct the study. This staff member does not work
within the participants’ department and the participants have only engaged with this individual
about data collection and college assessment. Prior to the interviews and the observations, in a
staff meeting, I provided the potential participants with an explanation about my research and
introduced the assessment specialist as the third party researcher. In addition, the participants
were reminded that, for the duration of the study, I am a researcher. It is also important that the
participants understand that they can quit the study anytime without any adverse effect to them
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 75
or their job. I will respect the participants’ wishes not to participate or if at anytime they decide
to withdraw from the study.
The participants were able to review the transcripts of the interview and the typed notes
of the observations to allow participants the opportunity to ensure the researcher has not changed
their words. Since I play a leadership role in the department and my previous experiences
working as an advisor I bring a certain bias to this study. I am aware that my bias may shape how
I view the data collected and how I interpret the data. In addition, the participant’s identity was
kept confidential. Participant confidentiality, third party transcriptions and the third party
researcher conducting the interviews and observations were ways to minimize the possibility that
participants felt coerced to participate.
Limitations and Delimitations

There will always be limitations and delimitations for every study conducted. This study
is no different. A limitation of the study was the small sample size with only 4 hours and 9
minutes of interviews and 78 minutes of observations, which does not allow the findings to be
generalized. While it was expected that the majority of the advisors would participate, the actual
participants were below the anticipated goal. Nevertheless, there was a 33% response rate, and
the third party researcher was able to delve deeper into the KMO influences during interviews
and observations and provide a holistic picture of the participant's perspective of their
knowledge, motivation and the support given by the organization. A limitation of the interviews
was the presence of the third party researcher, which may bias the participants’ responses
(Creswell, 2014) as well as the fact that the participants knew I would be reading the confidential
responses may also bias their responses. In addition, when participants are interviewed their
responses are through their own lens and may not be truthful (Creswell, 2014). Furthermore,
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 76
researchers should go to the participants to as to not disrupt the environment; however, to
provide privacy the interviews took place in a private office and not the advisors’ natural setting
(Creswell, 2014). Finally, limitations for the observations were the fact that the third party
researcher may be seen as intrusive (Creswell, 2014).
A delimitation of the study is the research instrument for this qualitative study, which is
the researcher (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). A third-party research stepped in to conduct the
interviews and observation, which means that the researcher did not have the opportunity to
interpret the non-verbal aspects of the interviews and observations. Merriam and Tisdell (2016)
suggest an advantage to interviewing is researchers are able to develop an understanding of the
participants’ responses through nonverbal communication. The interview questions were
reviewed and approved by the dissertation chair and the Intuitional Review Board (IRB) at USC.
The research institution, SSU, did not require the study to go through the organizations IRB, so
SSU did not review the research questions. The semi-structured nature of the interview allowed
for some structure but the third party researcher may not ask the same prompts the researcher
would have based on the participant’s responses. Another advantage to interviewing allows for
immediate clarification of responses and the ability to expand during the session (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016).

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CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS

The purpose of this study, using Clarke and Estes (2008) modified gap analysis, is to
evaluate knowledge, motivational, and organizational (KMO) influences that affect business
advisors ability to support the organizations goal to increase two-year and four-year transfer
students’ graduation rates to 44% and 85% by the end of December 2025. The analysis will
focus on KMO elements related to achieving the organizational goals. While a complete
performance evaluation would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholders
of focus for this analysis are the college’s business advisors.
As such, the following questions that guided this study are:
1. What are the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that affect
the business advisors’ goal to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer
students?
2. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions?
The data collection for this study consisted of document analysis, interviews and
observations of business advisors at SSU. A third party researcher conducted three in person
interviews. Each interview was audio recorded and took approximately an hour and a half to
complete. A third party (rev.com) transcribed the audio recordings to ensure confidentiality.
After the interview, the same participants took part in a 30-minute observation, while the third
party researcher took notes on each of the observations. After the transcription of the interview
data and the observations were conducted, the data were coded and analyzed. Document
analysis, from existing student satisfaction surveys and data on the number of students advised
and supported, was conducted. This chapter presents the findings for the knowledge,
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 78
motivational and organizational influences in relation to the research question and conceptual
framework. The findings are categorized by KMO and each influence is discussed.
Participating Stakeholders

To protect the identity of the organization and its participants pseudonyms have been
used. Also, no identifying demographics were collected on the participants. The participants in
this study are all professional staff with the business college at SSU. All of the participants have
at least three years of experience with the business college. The participants are responsible for
advising current students, prospective students, and transfer students. They also develop and
implement initiatives to increase student retention. Out of nine potential participants, three
volunteered to participate in interviews and observations, yielding a 33% participation rate.
Findings for Knowledge Influences

The collection of data through interviews, observations and document collection were
used to evaluate the knowledge influences. The themes emerged through triangulation of the data
and the relationship to the research question. The themes that will be examined are the advisor's
ability to assess students' academic needs, academic abilities, professional interests, empower
students through a shared responsibility, and reflect on their advising effectiveness to be able to
provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for business transfer students. In the section below the themes will be examined
and identified as an area of competence or an area that needs additional training or support.
Knowledge: How to Assess Academic Abilities

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students, advisors must know how to assess
the students’ academic abilities. During the interviews and observations the participants did not
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demonstrate the ability to assess the deeper issues of the students' academic abilities to be
academically successful. The deeper issues are about understanding the students' goals and the
why and what in the students' lives that are affecting their ability to be academically successful.
This finding was inconsistent with Brown's (2008) findings that effective advisors have a good
understanding of the students they support.
This finding, of academic abilities, was supported during the interview when participant
two stated that with students “we don’t really take the time to get to know each of them
individually because we don’t have the time to do that.” This practice was also demonstrated
during an interview when participant one described how she refers students on academic
probation to the tutoring center. Participant one stated, "Did you know that you have the tutoring
center here and it's free?" However, the discussions with the student did not expand on why the
student went on probation. In a similar example participant two, during an observation, made a
referral without analyzing the students' academic abilities when asked about course difficulty.
The participant explained to the student that the courses "are going to be challenging courses
because they are upper division and they are going to be different than classes you have been
taking at the community college," but they are required so you must take them. The participant
did not lead a deeper discussion that resulted in a moment of silence between the participant and
the student; then the participant asked if there were any further questions. Participant three
during interviews did briefly mention that transfer students are nontraditional students and it is
important to consider what else is going on in their lives when determining how many units to
enroll in for the semester. In addition, an existing student satisfaction survey of 306 students
provided data about the students' advising experience, and if the advisor discussed academic
goals and progress, 79.74% of the students strongly agreed and 15.69% agreed. The data
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suggests that student believe the advisors are assessing their abilities. While it is important to
know that the students agree that their academic goals and progress are discussed, it is unclear
how in depth the students expect advisors to go.
Quotes from interviews and observations indicate that the participants did not assess the
students’ academic ability. The participants did not ask questions about why students were
having difficulties or explore the issues students face. However, only three participants were
interviewed so the skill to assess abilities may not have come through during this particular
interview. During observations, two of the three participants failed to delve deeper when the
opportunity arose. This could be due to the participants’ perceived belief that there was not
enough time to delve deeper and not the participants knowledge and skills to access the students’
abilities. Based on the student survey students believed that the advisors did discuss their
academic goals and progress and were satisfied with the advising session. Yet, it is expected that
during each advising session the advisors delve deeper into the students’ abilities. Nevertheless,
during the interviews and observations the participants focused on answering questions without
delving deeper when supporting students.
Knowledge: How to Assess Professional Interest

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students advisors must know how to assess the
students’ professional interests. The assessment of the professional interests focuses on the
students’ career. While two of the three participants, during interviews, mentioned the
importance of students’ professional interests they did not demonstrate the ability to assess the
student’s professional interests. This finding is inconsistent with research results that suggest
students feel more support when advisors were aware of their career goals (Allen et al., 2014).
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The findings show that participant two and three did discuss professional interests during
the interview, as well as, how the students see education as a means to an end for their career.
However, two of the three participants did not delve deeper into the individual professional
interests of the students. This practice was demonstrated during an observation when a student
asked about joint concentrations and participant two explained the differences. Participant two
asked the student what concentration she was leaning towards and the student indicated a couple
of options. The participant then explained to the student that the concentration could be changed
at any time but did not try to delve deeper either due to perceived time issues or she did not
recognize the opportunity existed to assess the student's professional interests to help the student
make a decision. Participant two, also during an interview, suggested that some students come
into the advising session and are just concerned about getting that “piece of paper.” The
participant states that this type of attitude makes her sad. During these types of advising sessions
the participant thinks what is the student going to do when he/she goes into the real world and
has a career. However, the participant does not express these thoughts to the student or try to
explore career options that may help increase the student’s motivation to earn a degree. Another
example during an observation, participant three, as part of the first time advising session,
encouraged the student to take the first semester to explore the major, concentration and referred
the student to career services. While the participant did not engage in any exploration of
professional interests with the student she did direct the student to the appropriate resources.
Similarly, participant three during an interview stated, “A lot of my students, their priority is
they’re already working. They just need a degree to get to the manger level or something like
that so it’s not really about the degree.” The participant explains how it is important to help the
student “see the light at the end of the tunnel, what comes after and let’s get you their faster.”
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During the interview participant three does not explore how the degree can be integrated with the
students job or explore if the degree choice fits the student’s current career goals. The focus is to
help the student complete the degree faster so the student can focus on the job. In contrast,
participant one during an interview did demonstrate an ability to assess professional interests.
The participant, as students get closer to graduation, starts advising students about the career
center and the importance of internships. Participant one stated:
When you graduate and you start applying for jobs in your field, employers are going to
say how many years experience do you have and you are going to look at them say, I
have been a student. You need internships.
This deeper discussion of how internships will impact a student’s employability demonstrates an
ability to assess professional interests.
Quotes from interviews and observations indicated that two of three participants did not
assess the students’ professional interests. The participants did not ask questions about the
students’ aspirations for their careers. Based on the interview the participants believed students
were not as engaged in their education and only using education as a means to a career.
Furthermore, during observations, the participants failed to explore the students’ professional
interests. For the participants, exploring the students’ professional interests did not go beyond
referring the students to the career center. The participants did not explore the connection
between the students' professional interests and their education. This inability to demonstrate the
ability to assess professional interests may also stem from the participants belief that there is not
enough time to discuss everything so the participants advised students on the issues that they feel
are most vital to the student’s success.

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Knowledge: How to Assess Academic Needs

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students advisors must know how to assess the
students’ academic needs. The assessment of the academic needs of the transfer students’ is
broken down into three areas: helping students choose classes, referring them to the appropriate
resources and providing accurate information. The all three participants' successfully
demonstrated the ability to assess the students' academic needs. These findings are consistent
with research results that suggest advisors must know how to refer students, help students choose
classes, and provide accurate information to increase student success (Alexander et al., 2010;
Allen et al., 2014; Allen et al., 2013; Young-Jones et al., 2013).
Data from interviews and observations suggested that all three participants are effectively
helping students choose classes. All three participants, during the interview, discussed how
important it was to help students develop a class schedule. Participant two gave an example of
how creating a class schedule was not just about telling the students that they need class A, B,
and C but also about the student’s expectations for the first semester. In addition, all three were
observed during an advising session going over the program requirements and assisting students
with developing an educational plan. This practice was demonstrated during an observation
where participant one discussed how to develop a class schedule by teaching the student how to
use the SSU online degree planning software, which provides the student with all the course
requirements for the degree in real time. Furthermore, all participants explained the importance
of pre-requisites and went through the course requirements needed for the degree.
The findings from interviews and observations suggested that the all three participants
were referring students to the appropriate resources. All three participants in interviews
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discussed the importance of referring students to the appropriate resources. Moreover, all three
advisors in an advising session were observed referring students to different resources on campus
such as the International Student Office and other departments. Participant three during the
interview explained that she guides the students to the needed resources based on what the
students disclose during an advising session. The participant discussed how one student
disclosed feelings of anxiety during tests, which opened the door to allow the advisor to refer the
student to the resources on campus that address, issues of anxiety. In addition, through an
existing student satisfaction survey 306 students responded about their advising experience and if
the advisors were able to refer them to the appropriate resources on campus, 74% of the students
strongly agreed and 17% agreed. The survey findings that advisors referred student to the
appropriate resources are consistent with data collected from the interviews and observations.
Finally, data from interviews and observation suggested that the participants were
effective when providing accurate information. Participant one gave an example of this finding
when the participant stated “it is 100% important” and students “need to always receive the most
accurate information.” Participant three commented, “If we're not giving accurate information
then we probably shouldn't be doing what we're doing. It literally will cost students a lot of time
and a lot of money if we don't give the right information.” Furthermore, this practice was
demonstrated during interviews when participant two and three mentioned that, if they were not
100% sure about an answer to a question, they would ask someone to confirm before moving
forward. During the advising sessions, all three participants were observed providing accurate
information to the students. During one observation, participant two was concerned about
providing correct information and told the student "today's session is going to focus primarily on
major requirements because general education has not been entered and I would not want to
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 85
provide misinformation.” Finally, using a pre-existing survey for student satisfaction, 306
students responded about their advising experience and if the advisors provided accurate
information, 83% strongly agreed, and 14% agreed. The survey data suggests that the students
are receiving accurate information from the advisors.
Quotes from interviews, observations, and student surveys indicate that participants were
able to assess the students’ academic needs. The participants developed educational plans with
the students and referred students to the appropriate resources. Finally, they provided students
with accurate information. In addition, the students believed that they were being provided with
accurate information and referred to the appropriate resources.
Knowledge: How to Empower Students through a Shared Responsibility

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students, advisors must know how to
empower students through a shared responsibility between the student and advisor.
Empowerment is about providing the students with the knowledge, skills, and freedom to
accomplish their goals and hold them accountable. While the participants demonstrated the
ability to empower students, they did not engage students through a shared responsibility. These
findings were inconsistent with research results that suggest when advisors know how to inform
students of a shared responsibility between the advisor and student, the student's self-efficacy
will increase, which in turn increases student graduation rates (Allen et al., 2013; Young-Jones et
al., 2013).
The findings suggest that all three participants demonstrated the ability to empower
students during interviews and observations; however, what did not come through in the
interviews and observations was the participants’ ability to work with students through a shared
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 86
responsibility. Each participant described how they educate students on picking classes, the
differences between pre-requisites and co-requisites and how to read the online software as a
way to empower the student. Participant two demonstrated this practice during an interview
where she explained that by educating the students on the process and requirements the hope is
that “I’ve empowered the students to be able to do this process themselves later." During
observations, participant three explained the online software, how to pick classes and ended the
advising session by asking the student "what steps do you need to take, do you remember?" In
addition, during an interview, participant one discussed how advising is "almost like providing
them with guidance, in a way. I'm not giving them an answer. I'm not telling them what to do. I
just help them tap into their own potential and they answer the questions themselves.” Another
example, during an observation, participant one concluded the advising session by asking, "What
do you think about all that? The student replied, I feel good” and the participant responded, “you
feel confident, do you have any other questions for me?” Furthermore, participant two during an
interview described how empowering students is:
What we're trying to do with all of our students, which is not so much put the
responsibility on them but just give them more tools to work with, and encourage them to
use them, and not lean so heavily on us.
One case that was observed is where participant two explained the differences of pre-requisites
and co-requisites. Whereas the participants demonstrated the ability to empower students during
interviews and observations, the participants did not demonstrate their ability to work with
students through a shared responsibility. All three participants felt that by explaining and
teaching the students about the program, they were empowering the students to make their own
decision. However, the participants did not ask the students to demonstrate what was being
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 87
taught or take an active role and share in the development of their schedules. This practice was
demonstrated during observations when participants two and three explained the academic
requirements and how to pick courses by using the online software. The participants then
provided the student with a written course schedule for the upcoming semester. However, the
participants did not ask the student to problem solve and create a schedule together. Conversely,
participant two during the interviews described an advising session where the student and
participant worked together through a shared responsibility. The participant stated "together, we
actually came up with a really good schedule for her for this semester based on where she was at
her limitations with her family obligations and her work schedule and everything. It was so much
a partnership.” However, there was no demonstration of this behavior during observations.
Quotes from interviews and observations indicate that the participants know how to
empower students, but are not doing so through a shared responsibility. The participants
provided the knowledge needed for the students to make their own decisions. However, the
participants did not have the students apply what they were learning. Participants tended to
provide information but did not require the students to critically think about the information and
use it on their own. For the participants, they demonstrated the ability to empower students but
are not doing so through a shared responsibility. The participants’ inability to demonstrate
helping students through a shared responsibility may not have come through in the three
interviews and observations. But it does not mean that the advisors do not have the knowledge
and skills, it just may not have been demonstrated in that particular interview and observation.
However, it is important that in each advising session the advisors empower students through a
shared responsibility.

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Knowledge: Reflect on Advising Effectiveness

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students, advisors need to reflect on their
advising effectiveness. The participants did demonstrate the ability to be pedagogically reflective
(Larrivee, 2008), by showing concern with their advising practices effectiveness to enhance the
students’ advising experience. However, the participants did not demonstrate an ability to reflect
at a broader level of critical reflection (Larrivee, 2008). Where they are reflecting on their values
and beliefs and asking, is what I am doing the right thing to do (Larrivee, 2008). While the
participants were not at the highest level of reflection, they were reflecting at a level that is
consistent with the findings where Baker (2006) suggests that when individuals are self-aware,
they can transfer their knowledge from one situation to another and assess their level of
effectiveness.
The findings during interviews show all three participants mention they regularly reflect
on their advising effectiveness. This practice was demonstrated during an interview with
participant one when she shared that she is a reflective person and “although I never intentionally
reflect, I think it's just my nature. I oftentimes will pick apart certain parts of a scenario and say
what went right? What went wrong?” In addition, during the interview participant two mentioned
that she reflects weekly and believes that personal reflection means:
Having the insight to really reflect on what your role is and being open to changing how
you're approaching life in general. If something's not working, that means that it needs to
change. Even if something is working, is it the right thing to do?
Furthermore, participant three explained that she deliberately reflects on a weekly basis.
However, in many cases, the opportunity to reflect "presents itself and forces you to reflect on
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 89
things. So that happens pretty often just depending on what time of year it is, too." Findings
suggest that the participants reflected in similar ways. Participant one stated that she reflects
mentally but when she becomes frustrated she will go and talk with another advisor for feedback.
Participant two also mentally reflects while sitting in traffic. She stated, "I will think about how I
connected with my students that day because I've been thinking a lot more about that lately."
Finally, participant three also reflects mentally and goes to her colleagues for support, but also
reflects with her significant other about her day. She stated she usually reflects deeper when “I
hit some kind of red tape, like when I hit something where my hands are tied and I'm not able to
be as effective as I want to be.” All the participants discussed how they reflected on their
effectiveness at work and used those reflections to enhance how they do their jobs.
Quotes from interviews signify that the participants do reflect on their advising
effectiveness at a pedagogical level. While the participants did not demonstrate critical
reflection, the level of reflection they are currently demonstrating is effective for meeting their
performance goal. The participants reflected on how well they are serving the students on a
regular basis. The participants relied on feedback from their colleagues as well as outside
individuals. In addition, they reflected in very similar ways to help them make sense of their
effectiveness. The findings suggest that the participants are competent in their ability to reflect
on their advising effectiveness.
Findings for Motivational Influences

The collection of data through interviews, observations and document collection were
used to evaluate the motivational influences. The themes emerged through triangulation of the
data and the relationship to the research question. The themes that will be examined are the
advisors' value of building relationships with students and their belief in their capabilities to
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 90
provide developmental advising to be able to provide data on perceived barriers to develop and
recommend advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students. In
the section below the themes will be examined and identified as an area of competence or an area
that needs additional training or support.
Motivation: Value Developing Relationships

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students advisors must value building
relationships with students. The participants demonstrated that they value building relationships
with the business students. These findings were consistent with Donnelly's (2004) research that
suggests when advisors value their job by supporting students they are more motivated. As well
as, individuals whose intrinsic interests are positive and they expect to enjoy a task, they will be
more motivated to accomplish the task (Eccles, 2006).
The findings from the interviews and observations suggested that all three participants
felt building relationships was important and showed concern about the student’s success. This
practice was demonstrated during an interview when participant two stated that “it is really
motivating when students come back regularly to talk with us to make sure we are monitoring
them.” The participant also described how sometimes she is the only connection a student has
for support, and how one student disclosed that:
He really doesn't have any close family or friends, or coworkers or anybody who is
supportive of his academics besides just the people on campus. He just needs to touch
base once or twice a semester, just because he has nobody else that he can discuss his
academics with, then that's the role that I will play for that student.
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One case was observed where participant one found a way to make the student feel special and
excited about the advising session by saying “I’m going to tell you a secret; down here you have
a set of classes that can double count for your major and your general education." This finding
was supported during an interview when participant three briefly mentioned that being able to
see the students’ success at commencement is motivating. She stated that commencement is:
My favorite time of year I mean, that's awesome, and during commencement, I give
people hugs and do the whole thing. I'm just a major sap about it but to me that is very
motivating, being able to say, Okay, I was able to be a part of someone's life in a really
significant way.
In addition, 306 students responded to a pre-existing student satisfaction survey that is
administered at the end of each advising session about the advising experience. The students’
data showed that 85% strongly agreed and 14% agreed that the advisor listened carefully and
understood their concerns. It is important to students that advisors care about them and by
providing data to advisors on student satisfaction advisors can see how developing relationships
with the student is an important part of their job.
Quotes from interviews, observations, and student surveys indicate that the participants
did value building relationships with students. The participants felt motivated by developing
relationships and seeing the students graduate. For the participants, the data suggests that they
are competent in building relationships with students and it motivates them.
Motivation: Belief in Capability of Providing Developmental Advising

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students, advisors need to believe they are
capable of providing developmental advising. The participants indicated they were capable of
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providing developmental advising based on their definition of the advising approach. However,
their definition and understanding of developmental advising were different from the researcher's
definition and understanding.
The findings show that the participants define developmental advising around the
student’s development. However, developmental advising must revolve around the advisor's
ability to look at the students in a holistic way and assess the student's academic, personal, and
career goals through a shared responsibility (Drake et al., 2013). This finding described during
the interview when participant three explained developmental advising as:
Teaching the student to be self-sufficient, empowering the student to draw upon their
own strengths and ultimately the student achieves their goal based on what they wanted
and how the student intends to achieve that goal based on their own values and their
feelings of accomplishment.
The participant also used the analogy that developmental advising is “helping the students help
themselves. When we advise in a developmental way, it's like that phrase. Instead of giving
someone a fish you teach them how to fish." As with earlier findings in the knowledge area, the
participant did not demonstrate how to delve deeper to assess the student’s goals during the
interview. Similarly, participant one defined developmental advising as “being able to have the
student reflect more on themselves and to focus on themselves." While it is important for the
student to be reflective, the advisor must concentrate on exploring the student's needs holistically
and be able to assess the student's goals. Finally, participant three believed that developmental
advising is “when you can get students to critically think about their program with you and really
understand what they're doing.” Helping the student understand the program is essential but the
advisor will not be able to guide the student if the advisor has not assessed the student's goals. In
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one case, participant two was observed asking the student about different concentrations but did
not try to evaluate the student's needs holistically. Instead, the participant responded with a
general answer that the student could change their concentration at any time. The participant did
not take a holistic view of the student when the opportunity arose to assess the career goals of the
student.
Quotes from interviews and observations indicate that participants did believe they were
capable of providing developmental advising. The participants were asked how comfortable they
are using developmental advising. Participant one stated, “I feel really comfortable,” participant
two explained that “we’re comfortable now because it took a while to get away from prescriptive
advising” and participant three mentioned that “I’m pretty comfortable. It’s not something that’s
strange or awkward to me.” However, the participants’ interpretation of what developmental
advising means was different from the researchers. For the participants, while they believe they
are comfortable in providing developmental advising their definition of the approach was
different than the researchers.
Findings for Organizational Influences

The collection of data through interviews, observations and document collection were
used to evaluate the organizational influences. The themes emerged through triangulation of the
data and the relationship to the research question. The themes that will be examined are the
organization's ability to provide an environment that supports change, includes trust, and if the
organization provides incentives for change and enough time to accommodate the number of
students who need advising and allow the advisors time to provide data on perceived barriers to
develop and recommend advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 94
students. In the section below the themes will be examined and identified as an area of
competence or an area that needs additional training or support.
Organization: Supportive Environment of Change

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students the organization needs to provide an
environment that supports changing advising practices and techniques. The participants did
confirm that the organizational environment supports change. When communicated with about
change and given ample notice of the upcoming change participants indicated that they were
comfortable with change. This finding was consistent with Clark and Estes (2008) findings that
effective change requires continual communication and sufficient knowledge and motivational
support of the stakeholders.
The participants' comfort with change was expressed during an interview when
participant one stated, “I’m comfortable with change. As long as the conversation is there and
there is a plan that's put into place and I know that there's going to be a support team.”
Participant three during interviews did mention that she is very comfortable with change she
stated, “I'm all about it. I'm pretty good with change. I'm pretty flexible with change, especially if
it's something that I can be involved in.” Participant two during the interview mentioned that she
is comfortable with change but does not love it. She went on to say, "change is always going to
be hard but that also means that you’re hopefully moving in the right direction and you're being
challenged to grow and just expand your horizons and hopefully it's for the best.” The finding for
a supportive environment of change was also demonstrated during one interview when
participant one described how, with new leadership, the organizational culture has changed over
the last couple of years to include the advisors in the process. The participant stated the new
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assistant dean “made an effort to bridge the gap and create a more welcoming and opening
environment.” The participant went on to say that the current environment is “more welcoming
and open” and “I'm able to make contributions that are very creative.” Previously all advisors
were not included in the strategic planning process; however, now the entire department is
involved in the planning. Participant two during interviews stated she enjoys:
The strategic goals and challenging myself, and doing research into like, Well, how can
we do this? Or what if we try this? Then just trying it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, then
we just scrap it and try again.” It brings something novel to your job.
All three participants were able to describe a time where they were able to implement change
into the department. This finding was supported when participant one explained how she had
been able to implement change within the department by developing workshops to support
students. She stated "I feel like I'm making an impact and a difference within my workplace, but
also among the students. To see that it's been adopted as a regular practice within the department
is very comforting." Another example was provided during an interview when participant three
explained how she was part of changing the process used to support students with academic
difficulties. She said, that over the years the environment has been “kind of a status quo” but has
changed over the last couple of years and she personally likes the changes because “I love doing
new things. I like change. I like things to move quickly. I like doing new stuff and whenever I
can be a part of something like that, I feel like I'm making a difference.” Similarly, participant
two attributes the cultural environment to the leadership and suggested that switching assistant
deans “was by far the biggest change that we’ve ever faced because it shifted the entire culture of
the office.” The participant described the previous environment as limiting and “the only thing
we were supposed to do was interact with the students, it felt like we were cut off from most of
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what was happening in the office.” The participant went on to explain how under the new
leadership the environment became collaborative and the advisors were able to participate in the
strategic direction and provide input for new initiatives.
Quotes from interviews indicated that the participants did feel comfortable with change
and felt the environment was supportive of change. The participants’ felt comfortable with
change, as long as it was not a surprise. Based on the interviews the participants felt the current
environment supported them when they implemented changes. All the participants mentioned
that under new leadership the environment has changed over the last several years that has
allowed them to become more involved in the planning process of the department. For the
participants, the environment is supportive of change and they are comfortable with change so
the department should be able to implement changes to advising practices and techniques.
Organization: Environment of Trust

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students, advisors need an environment of
trust. The organization does not appear to provide a climate of trust. The participants indicated
they were able to rely on a few colleagues for support but for the most part, a team culture did
not come across in data collected. This finding was consistent with Gill’s (2008) hypothesis that
trust is what holds the team together.
The data suggested that the two out of three participants did not share their opinions, this
finding was described during an interview when participant one stated, "most oftentimes when I
restrain myself from giving an opinion, it's typically because I do not want to create more
conflict in the workplace environment." This practice was demonstrated during an interview
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when participant two described an experience where she did not feel comfortable giving her
opinion in a meeting:
There is definitely one time I can remember where we were talking about something. I
tried to voice my experience. Then somebody else jumped in and just completely shot my
opinion down. Then, I just withdrew and didn't really ... I didn't talk the rest of the
meeting.
The participant felt her opinion was not validated. In contrast, participant three briefly mentioned
that during meetings “I tend to give my opinion a lot because I just have a lot of opinions, I
guess." However, in some instances, she does not feel fully involved in what is going on and
thinks, "Maybe it's not my place to say anything” however sometimes she does not feel included
in what is going on in the office. The data suggested that participants have a few colleagues that
they trust and go to for advice and support. Nevertheless, the participants are not comfortable
seeking support from everyone in the department. This finding was described during the
interview when participant one stated, “I also think that there have been silos created within the
department. While we are able to rely on specific people, we are not able to rely on everybody as
a whole across the board." This practice was exhibited during an interview when participant two
described an experience where she partnered with a team member for the strategic goals but felt
that working with certain team members was a mistake and she stated, "I have in general not
really partnered with anybody.” Participant three did briefly mention that:
I have a colleague that I work really closely with and a lot of times we ask each other for
help on certain things. But I don’t feel that way about everybody. The group dynamics, I
think we are kind of in a place where we're not really operating as a team very well and I
don't like that part of my job right now.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 98
Quotes from interviews indicate that the participants did not feel that there was an
environment of trust. Based on interviews the participants had one or two colleagues they could
count on for support in the department but not the entire team. In addition, the majority of the
participants felt uncomfortable in meetings giving their opinions. Trust includes open
communication and concern for your fellow team members (Korsgaard et al., 2002; Schein,
2010). For the participants, the organization should look into ways of changing the environment
and increasing trust and teamwork within the culture of the department.
Organization: Environment that Offers Incentives

To provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend advising strategies to
support high graduation rates for business transfer students; advisors need an environment that
provides incentives. The findings suggests that the organization does offer an environment that
provides incentives that are important to the participants. The participants mentioned recognition
and support from their supervisor as important incentives. This finding was consistent with Gill’s
(2008) findings that people want to believe what they do has meaning.
All participants felt a significant incentive was recognition and support for their
accomplishments. Participant three offered an example of how recognition is an important
incentive in the workplace by stating, "I don't mean praise. I don't need someone to tell me like,
good job, you did really well, but recognition in the sense that if I do something that does make a
difference or does make an impact, it's recognized that I was the one that helped that process."
This participant felt that for the most part, she received recognition. During an interview
participant one also noted how she does receive verbal feedback and recognition. She stated, “I
feel like I do receive a lot of support from my supervisors, and that's incredibly important for me.
I do get the verbal feedback." She went on to explain how she has received support and been
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 99
given the flexibility to increase her professional educational skills. In another case, participant
two mentions that recognition for her is receiving feedback that she is doing a good job. She
indicated she receives support on her goals but would like support for her professional growth.
An incentive for her would be to receive more one-on-one conversations about her professional
development.
Quotes from interviews indicate that the participants did feel that their organization
provides incentives that are important to them. Based on interviews all participants were looking
for recognition and support as an incentive. While incentives of recognition are important to this
group of three participants this may not be reflective of the entire department. For the
participants, their expectations of incentives have been met by the organization.
Organization: Enough Time to Accomplish Goals and Provide Advising

Advisors need an environment that provides sufficient time to accommodate the number
of students who need advising and provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend
advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students. With the
volume of students in the college, the organization is unable to provide an environment that
supports the advisors' ability to accommodate the number of students who need advising and
allow advisors the time to meet their performance goal. This finding is consistent with Clark and
Estes (2009) research that even if individuals have the knowledge and motivation without the
organization resources they would still be unable to accomplish their goals.
The advising center maintains data on the number of students advised, emails sent out,
and workshops hosted each month. On average, the business advising team meets one-on-one
with 900 students a month and responds to almost 700 emails. In addition, last year they hosted
over 150 workshops with over 4,000 attendees. Plus this year from January – July, the advisors
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 100
connected with over 10,000 students through proactive email and phone campaigns. The high
volume of students makes it difficult to advise and work on projects. This finding was confirmed
during the interview when participant one stated, “the biggest challenge I face is the high volume
of students. Every student has a unique circumstance and individual need, and sometimes it
requires additional time to be spent and focused on them.” Participant one and two during
interviews mentioned that the 30 minutes allotted for the first time advising appointments was a
major challenge in the advising session. Participant two during the interview describes how the
limited time and the volume of students detracts from her ability to build a relationship with the
students, she stated:
We don't really take the time to get to know each of the students individually because we
don't have the time to do that. I mean we do the best that we can in presenting
information that might be applicable across the board to everybody. Like I said, unless
the student brings out something specific and opens up that conversation, then, I just
follow through with what I'm doing and just stick to my normal routine.
During the interview, participant one went so far as to say that the least favorite part of her job
"goes back to the high volume of students and so you really don't ever feel like you can just sit
down and take a deep breath." Finally, participant three, in the interviews, mentions how she is
unable to get her work done in the eight hour work day and she described her challenges for the
day by saying:
I think time is really the main challenging thing. Being able to balance making sure that
I'm responding to students in a timely manner, making sure I get their emails through,
process any paperwork, respond to their questions, meet with them and all that. But also I
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 101
get all the other projects and administrative stuff that I need to get done within that day.
It's usually more than eight hours.
The participants indicated that time is an issue; however, two cases were observed where the
participants did not use the allotted 30 minutes for the advising session. Participant one's
advising session lasted 22 minutes. In the advising session it was observed that the student was
anxious about taking a finance course; however, the participant did not explore the root of the
student's anxiety for finance. Instead, the participant provided words of encouragement by
stating, “you got this.” Then continued to read the list of required courses and discuss how to
declare the concentration. The participant at the end of the session checked in asking what the
student thought about everything and the student appeared to be satisfied responding I feel good.
However, with eight minutes left in the session there appeared to be enough time to delve a little
deeper into the student’s academic abilities. An observation of participant two showed that the
advising session took 24.30 minutes. In this advising session, the student was confused about
what concentration to choose and participant two explained the difference between the
concentrations but did not encourage the student to explore any professional interests. In
contrast, participant three was observed using the entire 30 minutes for the advising session; the
session lasted 32.37 minutes. The advisor was observed providing more developmental advising
and encouraging the student to explore her interest in the first semester and referred the student
to career services.
Quotes from interviews indicate that the participants do not believe they have enough
time to provide advising that allows them to build relationships with the students and work on
providing data to develop and recommend advising strategies to support high graduation rates for
business transfer students. The observations suggested that the majority of participants did have
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 102
additional time to expand during the advising session to build relationships. However, the
advisor that did expand went over the 30 minutes for the advising session. Nevertheless, the data
showing the volume of students suggests that for the participants their belief that adding to their
jobs to develop and recommend advising strategies would be a challenge without additional
resources.
Conclusion

The findings of this study identified gaps in five out of nine of the KMO influences. The
participants in this study will need additional training in the knowledge influences on how to
work with students through a shared responsibility and how to assess student abilities and
professional interests. The motivational influences for the advisors' belief of their capability to
provide developmental advising as well as their definition of developmental advising will require
additional training and support. Within the organization, improvements need to be made to
provide an environment of trust and to allow for enough time to advise and work on developing
and implementing strategies. Chapter five discusses solutions, implementation, and
recommendations based on theoretical principles that provide guidelines for a training program
to eliminate the gaps found in this chapter. As well as an integrated evaluation and
implementation plan, that will provide the needed support for successful change.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 103
CHAPTER FIVE: SOLUTIONS, IMPLEMENTATION, AND RECOMMENDATION

In Chapter Four, the knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences were
evaluated and data was collected through interviews, observations, and document collection. The
data gathered was analyzed, and five of the nine KMO influences identified through this study
were found to have gaps. A triangulation of the data was used to answer research question 1,
what are the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that effect the
business advisors' goal to provide data on perceived barriers to develop and recommend
strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students?
In this chapter, similarly to Chapter 4, the themes are organized by knowledge,
motivational, and organizational influences as validated or not-validated. This section will
answer research question two, what are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and
organizational solutions? A short overview of the organizational context and mission,
performance goal, stakeholder groups, the goal of the study, and purpose of the research
questions is discussed. Then this section includes recommendations for practice on each of the
validated influences. Provided next, is an integrated implementation and evaluation plan using
the New World Kirkpatrick Model. An examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the
approach follows. After that, a discussion about the limitations and delimitations. Then,
recommendations for future research, and finally, a summary will be provided.
Organizational Context and Mission

In this study, pseudonyms are used to protect the identity of the organization and its
participants. Housed in the Business College at Student Success University (SSU) is the Business
Advising Center (BAC). Student Success University is a four-year public university. The BAC
offers one-on-one advising to support students in the areas of educational planning, major
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 104
selection, academic probation, goal setting, and registration. The BAC is part of the college's
student success team, which includes the business career center and the tutoring center. In
addition, the college requires students who have declared a concentration to meet with a faculty
mentor. The BAC center provides a dual model of advising with 10 full-time professional staff
providing academic advising and over 90 faculties providing career path advising to assist
students in choosing the appropriate courses linked to their career goals. The vision and mission
statement for the College of Business at SSU is to graduate students who are globally aware
leaders. The BAC staff and faculty work to empower, support, and guide business students to
achieve their academic goals. The mission and context of the organization are connected with the
organizational goal to increase graduation rates for transfer students.
Organizational Performance Goal

The organizational performance problem at the root of this study is graduation rates of
transfer students. In 2008-09 the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (2016) found
that 41% of the students who earned an associate's degree went on to earn a bachelor’s degree.
Within the business college at SSU over 50% of the students are transfer students. In 2008 the
organization graduated 24% of their transfer students in two years and 68% in four years.
Success for students is at the heart of SSU’s commitment. In the academic year 2013-2014, the
university launched a five-year strategic plan. The president worked with Analytical Studies to
establish assessment criteria and targets for increasing graduation rates for transfer students. By
December 2025, SSU is tasked with increasing 2-year transfer students' graduation rates to 44%
and 4-year transfer students' graduation rates to 85%. For SSU to increase graduation rates, the
university is focused on High Impact Practices (HIP) such as early interventions, advising,
mentoring, orientation, learning communities, and early engagement in the major. The BAC has
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 105
focused its resources on strategies to enhance business advising, early engagement in the major,
and improve orientation.
Description of Stakeholder Groups

In institutions of higher education, there are multiple stakeholders such as students,
faculty and advisors. Transfer students contribute to the achievement of the organizational goal
by utilizing the resources available to them on the campus. Students also graduate at higher rates
when faculties use innovative teaching pedagogy that engages students. In addition, when
faculties participate in mentoring programs and connect with students then retention increases.
Faculties contribute to the achievement of the organization's goal by engaging students inside
and outside the classroom. Business advisors are one entity on the campus where students can
connect throughout their entire academic career. Advisors' regular contact with students allows
them to gain insight into the students' academic, career, and personal aspirations. The insight
gained allows advisors to contribute to the achievement of the organization's goal by helping
students' transition into college, persist through college, and graduate. As shown in Table 7, the
key stakeholders' goal for business advisors is identified.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 106
Stakeholders’ Performance Goal

Table 7

Organizational Mission, Global Goal and Stakeholder Performance Goal

Organizational Mission

SSU’s Business Advising Center uses a collaborative partnership to develop, empower, and
support students to achieve their academic goals.

Organizational Performance Goal

By December 2025, SSU will increase 2-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and
4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 85%.

Business Advisors
By January 2018, business advisors will provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students.

Goal of the Stakeholder Group for the Study

While all stakeholder groups are involved in reaching the university goal to increase 2-
year and 4-year transfer student graduation rates to 44% and 85% at SSU, business advisors play
a significant role in student retention. Advisors are one group that students connect with from
admission through graduation. Therefore, the stakeholders of focus for this study will be the
advisors in the Business College. The stakeholders’ goal is to provide data on perceived barriers
to developing and recommending strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students.
This evaluation will inform the BAC on the knowledge and motivation advisors should possess
to support students, which will guide the center’s focus on the types of strategies to implement.
Failure to complete the evaluation would impact the advisor's’ ability to provide data on
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 107
perceived barriers to developing and recommending strategies to support transfer students and
address the low graduation rates of transfer students.
Purpose of the Project and Questions

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the degree to which the organization is meeting
its goal to increase 2-year and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and 85% by the
end of December 2025. The analysis will focus on knowledge, motivation and organizational
elements related to achieving the organizational goals. While a complete performance evaluation
would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes the stakeholders of focus for this analysis
are the College's Business Advisors.
As such, the following questions that will guide this study are:
1. What are the knowledge and skills, motivation, and organizational influences that affect
the business advisors' goal to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students?
2. What are the recommended knowledge, motivation, and organizational solutions?
Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences

Knowledge Recommendations

Introduction. The knowledge influences in Table 8 include all assumed knowledge
influences and their validity. The knowledge influences used to achieve the advisors’ goal were
validated based on the most frequently mentioned conceptual, procedural and motivational
knowledge influences to achieving the advisors' goal during semi-structured interviews,
observations, and supported by student surveys, and the literature review. The conceptual
framework for this study is Clark and Estes (2008) gap analysis. The knowledge influences
include the conceptual dimension that addresses the what, the procedural dimensions that address
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 108
the how and the metacognitive dimensions that address the self (Karthwohl, 2002). As indicated
in Table 8, the findings indicate the influences that were validated and have a high priority for
achieving the advisors’ goal. Table 8 also shows the recommendation for these validated
influence based on theoretical principles.
Table 8
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations

Assumed Knowledge
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*

Validated
Yes, High
Probability
, or No
(V, HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and
Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Advisors need to know
how to assess the
students’ academic
abilities and
professional interests to
provide a supportive
environment with
personalized advising.
(C)
YES Y Conceptual
knowledge allows the
individual to use the
interrelationship of
their foundational
knowledge
(Krathwohl, 2002).

Job aids are used to
provide self-help
information to
individuals who need
“how to” information
without guided
practice (Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Collaboratively
advisors will
create a job aid
chart to connect
previous
experiences
assessing students’
needs with current
situations.
Advisors need to know
how to empower
students through a
shared responsibility
between the student and
advisor. (P)
YES Y Procedural
knowledge provides
individuals with the
ability to decide how
to use their skills and
determine the
appropriate time to
implement
(Krathwohl, 2002).

Training individuals
with the “how to”
knowledge and
providing guided
Provide training to
advisors on how to
advise students
through a shared
responsibility
using
developmental
advising.

Include mock
developmental
advising sessions
as guided practice
to allow advisors
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 109
practice and feedback
helps individuals
achieve their goal
(Clark & Estes,
2008).
to practice “how
to” advise through
a shared
responsibility and
provide feedback.
Advisors need to know
how to assess the
students’ academic
needs to provide a
supportive environment
with personalized
advising. (C)
NO N

Advisors need to reflect
on their advising
effectiveness. (M)
NO N
*Indicate knowledge type for each influence listed using these abbreviations: (D)eclarative =
(C)onceptual & (F)actual; (P)rocedural; (M)etacognitive

Declarative: (Conceptual) knowledge solutions, or description of needs or assets.
Advisors need to know how to assess students' professional interests and academic abilities to
provide a supportive environment with personalized advising (C). Krathwohl (2002) discusses
how conceptual knowledge allows the individual to use the interrelationship of their foundational
knowledge. Job aids are used to provide self-help information to individuals who need "how to"
information, without guided practice (Clark & Estes, 2008). Therefore, it is recommended that
advisors will work in groups to discuss past situations with students where the advisor assessed
the students' academic abilities and professional interests successfully. The team will create a job
aid with the scenarios to use as a "how to" guide as they encounter similar advising situations in
the future.
Schraw and McCrudden (2006) discuss information processing theory and suggest that
when individuals use their prior knowledge, they increase their learning. People often have
problems recognizing when it is appropriate to use past experience to handle a new challenge
(Clark & Estes 2008). Scott and Palinscars’ (2006) principle of sociocultural theory suggests, it
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 110
is important that the creation of new knowledge occurs when individuals engage in social
interaction, cooperative learning, and teaching. In addition, creating a job aid that connects to
previous knowledge Schraw and McCrudden (2006) suggests individuals will be able to retrieve
and transfer the knowledge to a current situation easily. Grossman and Salas (2011) research
suggests job aids decrease the cognitive load for individuals, which makes it easier to transfer the
knowledge to the workplace. From a theoretical perspective, it would appear that by advisors
learning together and creating job aids as teaching tools they will develop the knowledge
necessary to achieve their performance goal as such it is recommended that advisors work in
groups to discuss previous experiences to create a job aid.
Procedural knowledge solutions, or description of needs or assets. Advisors need to
know how to advise students through a shared responsibility between the student and advisor (P).
Krathwohl (2002) suggests that procedural knowledge provides individuals with the ability to
decide how to use their skills and determine the appropriate time to implement. Clark and Estes
(2008) proposed that by training individuals with the "how to" knowledge and providing guided
practice and feedback they are better able to achieve their goal. Therefore, it is recommended
that the organization first, provide training to advisors on how to advise students through a
shared responsibility using developmental advising. Clark and Estes (2008) suggest that the
effective training must be detailed and sequenced as performed on the job. Thus, it is
recommended that mock developmental advising sessions be provided as guided practice to
allow advisors to practice "how to" advise through a shared responsibility. Clark and Estes
(2008) suggest that successful training includes demonstrations and practice. Finally, provide
feedback on advisors’ knowledge and skills. The feedback should be used to correct performance
mistakes (Clark & Estes, 2008).
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 111
According to Mayer (2011) by practicing tasks individuals will be able to do the task
better and encounter specific transfer. To successfully master what is taught Schraw and
McCrudden (2006) suggests that individuals must first acquire the knowledge, practice the skill,
then apply it as necessary. Researchers posited that for students to be successful in higher
education, advisors must know how to engage students in a shared responsibility of advising
(Allen, Smith, & Muehleck, 2013; CAS, 2015; Young-Jones, Burt, Dixon, & Hawthorne, 2013).
A sense of shared responsibility and decision-making will increase a student's self-efficacy,
which in turn increases students' graduation rates (Allen et al., 2013; Young-Jones et al., 2013).
From a theoretical perspective it would appear that training advisors on how to engage students
through a shared responsibility using developmental advising would allow the advisors to reach
their performance goal as such it is recommended that advisors be trained on the skills needed to
advise through a shared responsibility and participate in mock developmental advising sessions.
Motivation Recommendations

Introduction. The motivation influences in Table 3 includes all assumed motivation
influences and their validity. The motivation influences of value and self-efficacy used to
achieve the advisors’ goal were validated based on the most frequently mentioned motivational
influences to achieving their goal during semi-structured interviews, observations, and supported
by student surveys, and the literature review. Clark and Estes (2008) suggests that individuals
make a choice, use mental effort, and persist in undertakings that make a difference. The
business advisors motivation to value building relationships with students and their belief that
they can provide developmental advising was evaluated to determine any gaps in their
motivation. As indicated in Table 9, the findings indicate that the influences that were validated
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 112
have a high priority for achieving the advisors’ goal. Table 9 also shows the recommendations
for these validated influences based on theoretical principles.
Table 9
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations

Assumed Motivation
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*

Validated
Yes, High
Probability
, No
(V, HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and
Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Advisors need to
believe they are capable
of providing
developmental advising
to provide data on
perceived barriers to
developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support
high graduation rates of
transfer students. (Self-
Efficacy)
YES Y Bandura (2000)
suggested that for a
person or team to
function effectively
is it critical for the
individuals to have
high efficacy.

Pajares (2006) posits
that the self-efficacy
philosophies that
people hold are the
basis for motivation
and as long as they
believe that their
actions will result in
a positive outcome
they will attempt the
task at hand.

Pajares (2006) found
that when
individuals are able
to successfully
master a task, self-
efficacy increases.
Supervisors and
peer advisors will
sit in with the
advisors during an
advising session
and observe. After
each session, the
supervisor and
peer advisor will
focus on offering
corrective
feedback and
providing positive
encouragement on
the advisor's ability
to provide
developmental
advising.

Advisors will
journal weekly and
receive
supervisory
feedback on how
well they assess
the students’
academic abilities
and professional
interests and how
well they provide
developmental
advising through a
shared
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 113
responsibility.
Advisors need to value
building relationships
with the students.
(Expectancy Value
Theory)
NO N
Self-Efficacy. Advisors need to believe they are capable of providing developmental
advising to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising
strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students. Bandura (2000) suggests that for a
person or team to function effectively, it is critical for the individuals to have high self-efficacy.
Pajares (2006) posits that the self-efficacy philosophies that people hold are the basis for
motivation and as long as they believe that their actions will result in positive outcomes they will
attempt the task at hand. In addition, Pajares (2006) suggests it is also important for individuals
to master a task to increase their self-efficacy. This would suggest that providing individuals
with feedback and the ability to observe their colleagues would increase their self-efficacy.
Therefore, it is recommended that the advisors be observed, watch their colleagues advise and
provide feedback. In addition, a supervisor will also sit in during an advising session and
observe. After each session, the supervisor will focus on offering corrective feedback and
providing positive encouragement on the advisor's ability to provide developmental advising. It
is also recommended that advisors journal weekly and receive supervisory feedback on how well
they assess the students' academic abilities and professional interests and how well they provide
developmental advising through a shared responsibility. Journals will be discussed in one-on-one
meetings with a supervisor to raise the advisors' self-efficacy further.
Clark and Estes (2008) state that the skills needed to succeed are the most important
factor in the amount of mental effort an individual will assert for a task. If individuals do not
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 114
believe they are capable of accomplishing the task, they will avoid the task altogether (Clark &
Estes, 2008). According to Pajares (2006) when providing individuals with an opportunity to
observe peers they find credible, self-efficacy will increase. Furthermore, when credible peers
model behaviors it is more likely that the individual will adopt the behavior (Denler, Wolters, &
Benzon, 2009). Finally, by providing detailed feedback, during one-on-one meetings an
individual's performance may be improved (Shute, 2008). From a theoretical perspective, it
would appear that by journaling, providing modeling and constructive criticism, advisors’ self-
efficacy would increase, as well as their, beliefs about their ability to offer developmental
advising. As such it is recommended that advisors journal, observe peers and receive corrective
feedback from supervisors to positively influence motivation.
Organization Recommendations

Introduction. The organizational influences in Table 10 include all assumed
organizational influences validity. The organizational influences used to achieve the advisors’
goal were validated based on the most frequently mentioned organizational influences to
achieving the advisors' goal during semi-structured interviews, observations, and supported by
student surveys, and the literature review. Even when stakeholders have the knowledge and skills
and are motivated, Clark and Estes (2008) suggest that a lack of effective organizational
resources, policies and procedures, and cultural settings/models may prevent stakeholders from
achieving their performance goals. According to Rueda (2011) cultural settings are the visible
characteristics of the who, what, when, where, why and how of the daily workings of an
organization. While the cultural models are often invisible and a shared mental representation of
the organization's structures, values, practices, and policies that develop in the specific work
settings. The cultural model influence of the organization's ability to provide an environment that
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 115
supports change, and includes an environment that includes trust. The cultural setting influence
of the organization's ability to provide advising with enough time to provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates of
transfer students will be evaluated to determine any organizational gaps. As indicated in Table
10, the findings indicate the influences that were validated and have a high priority for achieving
the advisors’ goal. Table 10 also shows the recommendation for these validated influence based
on theoretical principles.
Table 10

Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations

Assumed
Organization
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*

Validated
Yes, High
Probability
, No
(V, HP, N)
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and
Citation

Context-Specific
Recommendation
Cultural Model
Influence 2:
Advisors need an
environment that
includes trust to provide
data on perceived
barrier to developing
and recommending
advising strategies to
support high graduation
rates of transfer
students.
YES Y Organizational
performance
increases and trust
is promoted when
individuals and
leaders
communicate
openly and
constantly about
plans and progress
(Clark & Estes,
2008).

Open
communication and
concern for fellow
colleagues builds
trust (Korsgaard,
Brodt, & Whitener,
2002; Schein,
2010)

Once trust is built
Time will be set-
aside in regularly
scheduled staff
meetings to allow
staff and
administration the
opportunity to
openly
communicate their
plans, progress, and
support for one
another to foster an
environment of
trust.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 116
then people can
begin to have
constructive
conflict (Lencioni,
2002; Schein,
2010).
Cultural Setting
Influence 2:
Advisors need enough
time to accommodate
the number of students
who need advising and
provide data on
perceived barriers to
developing and
recommending advising
strategies to support
high graduation rates of
transfer students.
YES Y Organizational
effectiveness
increases when
leaders ensure that
employees have the
resources needed to
achieve the
organization’s
goals (Clark &
Estes, 2008).

Organizational
effectiveness
decreases if the
workload increases
more than 10%
when adopting
change (Sirkin,
Keenan, &
Jackson, 2005).
Review of the
current workload
and resources to
collaboratively
develop a plan to
redesign the work
process, which will
take into account the
organization's goals
and additional time
advisors will need to
develop strategies
while continuing to
advise students.
Cultural Model
Influence 1:
The organization needs
to provide an
environment that
supports change in
advising practices and
techniques.
NO N
Cultural Setting
Influence 1:
The organization needs
to provide incentives to
change advising
practices and
techniques.
NO N
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 117
Cultural models. This influence was chosen because the advisors will be unable to work
as a team if they are incapable of trusting one another. The advisors need an environment of trust
to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students. Clark and Estes (2008) suggest that to increase
organizational performance and promote trust individuals must openly communicate about plans
and progress. Trust for each other is increased by openly communicating and showing concern
for one another (Korsgaard, Brodt, & Whitener, 2002; Schein, 2010), which will allow the team
to begin to have a constructive conflict (Lencioni, 2002; Schein, 2010). This would suggest that
allowing stakeholders to communicate openly would improve organizational effectiveness.
Therefore, it is recommended that time be set-aside in regularly scheduled staff meetings to
enable individuals and leaders the opportunity to openly communicate their plans, progress, and
support for one another to foster an environment of trust.
Strebel (1996) states that through a psychological dimension of personal compact
individuals will be more committed to the organization when they have feelings of trust. Thus it
is recommended that transformational leaders will create an environment of trust when they
communicate a direction and consistently implement that direction (Northouse, 2016). In
addition, Clark and Estes (2008) suggests when trust is increased individuals will change their
performance to meet the expectations of the organization. Finally, organizational effectiveness
increases when open communication is encouraged (Clark & Estes, 2008). From a theoretical
perspective, it would appear that by promoting open communication advisors would increase
their feelings of trust for each other, their leaders, and the organization as such is it
recommended that advisors meet regularly to share their progress on projects and requests for
support.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 118
Cultural settings. Advisors need enough time to accommodate the number of students
who need advising and to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending
advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students. When implementing
change and the workload increases more than 10% there will be a decrease in organizational
effectiveness (Sirkin et al., 2005). Thus, Clark and Estes (2008) suggest that leaders must
provide employees with the resources needed to achieve their performance goals. This would
suggest when implementing change providing resources to support the stakeholders is a
necessity. Therefore, it is recommended that a review of the current workload and resources be
completed to collaboratively develop a plan to redesign the work process, which will take into
account the organization's goals and additional time advisors will need to provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies while continuing to
advise students.
Advisors will need additional time to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending advising strategies on top of their advising duties. Fernandez and Rainey (2006)
suggest that the successful implementation of change, such as developing a new process, requires
the organization to provide the needed resources. Resources can either be added or restructured,
Clark and Estes (2008) stated that when work processes were redesigned organizational
effectiveness increased. In addition, when increasing employee effort, for transformation to be
successful Sirkin, et al., (2005) suggest leaders consider removing unnecessary "regular" work.
From a theoretical perspective, it would appear that by redesigning the work processes currently
followed by advisors the organization would increase its effectiveness. As such it is
recommended that a review of the current workload be completed and a plan developed to
accommodate the additional effort needed for the change.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 119
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan

Implementation and Evaluation Framework

The New World Kirkpatrick Model informs the implementation and evaluation plan of
this study (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). This model is based on Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick's four levels of training and evaluation. This New World Kirkpatrick Model
recommends that the four levels of training and evaluation be implemented in reverse order
starting with: Level 4 (Results), Level 3 (Behavior), Level 2 (Learning), and Level 1 (Reaction).
This model suggests that Level 4 measures the results of the targeted outcomes by using leading
indicators to ensure that critical behaviors are on track to achieve the desired results. Through
Level 3 the organization can evaluate how much the individuals transfer what they learned in
training once they are back in the department. Level 3 consists of critical behaviors, required
drivers, and on-the-job learning (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The critical behaviors are the
key behaviors that the individuals must consistently be able to perform and required drivers are
ways to monitor, encourage, reinforce and reward the continued use of the critical behaviors.
With Level 2 participants are evaluated on the degree of the knowledge, skills, attitude,
confidence, and commitment they learned from training. Finally, with Level 1 the organization
can evaluate the participants' reaction to the training, such as satisfaction, engagement and
relevance (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). Creating the implementation and evaluation
framework using this model requires the organizational goal to be integrated with the
recommendations for solutions and to increase the support needed to implement change
successfully (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations

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The goal of SSU is to increase 2-year transfer students' graduation rates to 44% and 4-
year transfer students' graduation rates to 85% by December 2025. The business advisors' goal is
to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students by January 2018. Business advisors play a
significant role in student retention. Advisors are one group that students connect with from
admission through graduation, so it is important for the organization and advisors to be aware of
any barriers that exist to developing and recommending advising strategies. This study examined
the knowledge and skills, motivational, and organizational barriers that affect business advisors'
abilities to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising
strategies. The proposed solution is to provide training, job aids, and one-on-one support. The
proposed solutions for internal outcomes will allow advisors to 1) increase knowledge about how
to access transfer students' professional interests and academic abilities, 2) increase
understanding on how to create a collaborative advising session, 3) increase use of
developmental advising, 4) increase trust for one another, and 5) increase time for developing
and recommending advising strategies. The proposed solution for external outcomes is to
increase graduation rates of transfer students.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators

The leading indicators are used to measure accomplishments and undesirable outcomes
by tracking the critical behaviors impact on the desired outcomes (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016). The proposed leading indicators external and internal outcomes, metrics, and methods are
shown in Table 11 that indicates advisors are achieving their desired results. It is expected that
with training, job aids, and organizational support the internal outcomes will be met. The
external outcomes should also be met as the internal outcomes are accomplished.
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Table 11

Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for Internal and External Outcomes

Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
Internal Outcomes
1) Increased advisors
knowledge about how to
access transfer students’
professional interests and
academic abilities.
One to two Positive/Negative
examples, per advisor, of
experiences of current
advising situations and student
satisfaction survey.

Compare annual student
satisfaction survey and advisors
examples of advising situations.
2) Increased advisors
understanding of how to
advise through a shared
responsibility.
One to two Positive/Negative
feedback comments from
supervisor and senior advisors.

Set aside regular time to
practice mock developmental
advising through a shared
responsibility and feedback
between the advisor and the
supervisor or senior advisor.
3) Increased use of
developmental advising.
One to two Positive/Negative
feedback comments from
peers and supervisors during
observations and journaling.
Set aside regular time for 1:1
conversations between peers
and supervisor.
4) Increased advisors trust
of one another.
Monthly each advisor will
describe one advising situation
and request support. Each
advisor will provide at least
one form of Feedback in
meetings to support one
another.
On a monthly basis during a
staff meeting, all attendees will
share requests for support.
5) Increased time for
developing and
recommending advising
strategies.
One day a week during the fall
determine the workload and
one day a week during the
spring semester develop a
collaborative plan to redesign
the work process.
Set aside regular time to
develop a plan to redesign
work. Set aside time to
implement the plan.
External Outcomes
6) Increased graduation
rates of transfer student.
Collect data annually from
analytical studies on the
percentage of students
graduating.
Compare annual university
reports.
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Level 3: Behavior

Critical behaviors. The stakeholders of focus are the business advisors responsible for
supporting transfer students. The first critical behavior is that advisors will meet to develop job
aids to document their experiences assessing student academic abilities and professional
interests. The second critical behavior is to conduct observations during advising sessions that
include peer and supervisor feedback on the advisor's ability to use developmental advising
through a shared responsibility. The third critical behavior is that advisors will reflect by
journaling and receive feedback on their reflections from a supervisor about how well they assess
the students’ academic abilities and professional interests and how well they use developmental
advising through a shared responsibility. The specific metrics, methods, and timing for each
outcome behaviors appear in Table 12.

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Table 12
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation

Critical Behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
1) Advisors will meet to
develop jobs aids to
document their experiences
assessing student academic
abilities and professional
interests.
The number of
positive
experiences
where a
student’s
abilities and
interests were
met by each
advisor.
The Senior Advisor
will compare student
satisfaction surveys
with advisors self
reported positive
experiences and
provide a report and
feedback to the team.
Monthly for the first
six months,
thereafter, at the end
of the fall and spring
semester; so long as
each advisor is able
to provide positive
examples.
2) Peers and Supervisors
will conduct observations
of advising sessions that
include feedback on the
advisor’s ability to provide
developmental advising
through a shared
responsibility.
The number of
issues observed
while assessing
advising
sessions.

The Supervisors and
Peer Advisors will
provide feedback
during advising
sessions.

Weekly for three
months, thereafter,
annually so long as
successful.
3) Advisors will reflect by
journaling about how well
they assess the students
academic abilities and
professional interests, and
how well they use
developmental advising
through a shared
responsibility.
The number of
entries about
shared
responsibility in
the journal.
Monthly the
supervisor will read
journals and provide
feedback in 1:1
meetings.
Journal Entries are
done weekly.
Feedback from
supervisors will be
provided monthly.

Level 2: Learning

Learning goals. Upon completion of the recommended solutions the business advisors
will be able to:
1. Evaluate students’ professional interest, and academic abilities to accurately refer them to
the appropriate resources. (C)
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 124
2. Demonstrate advising skills that encourage a shared responsibility between the advisor
and the student during advising sessions. (P)
3. Monitor their advising effectiveness through journaling and peer feedback. (M)
4. Value building relationships with students through student feedback. (Value)
5. Demonstrate self-confidence that they can provide developmental advising. (Confidence)
6. Show self-efficacy that they can provide data on perceived barriers to developing and
recommending strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students.
(Confidence)
7. Value open communication with their colleagues. (Attitude).
Program. The learning goals provided in the previous section will be achieved through
training and exercises that will increase the knowledge and motivation of the learners, business
advisors, to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students. To develop advisors' knowledge and skills
they will be provided with training, develop job aids, journal and participate in peer
observations. Since advisors stay in their positions for about 2-4 years, the program will be
ongoing. First, each semester advisors will work together to develop job aids in tabling groups
discussing key experiences where students' needs were assessed and met which, allowed the
advisors to provide a supportive environment and provide personalized advising. Next, advisors
will go through an in-depth one-week training on shared responsibility. After the first training,
refresher training for current and new advisors will take place every two years. Following, the
training, through a guided practice and on a regular basis advisors will participate in mock
advising sessions, as well as observations where they receive feedback. Furthermore, the
advisors will be asked to journal weekly about their effectiveness to assess student abilities and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 125
professional interests and their use of developmental advising through a shared responsibility.
Finally, monthly, these journals will be utilized, by the supervisor, to assess how often and well
the advisor is supporting the students.
The advisors, on an ongoing basis, will also learn topics that will increase their
motivation to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students. To increase advisors' motivation they will
participate in advising observations and provide data on their value as advisors. First, advisors
will take part in observations once a week for two hours over a six-month period. After that,
observations will be held annually for one week during four advising sessions, as long as the
advisors are demonstrating the necessary motivation and skills. During each advising session, the
supervisor or peer will complete a checklist to evaluate the advisor's effectiveness. Following
each advising session, the supervisor/peer will provide corrective feedback and provide positive
encouragement, from the checklist, about the advisor's ability to provide the student with
developmental advising through a shared responsibility.
Components of learning. To apply what is learned to solve problems and meet
performance goals the advisors must have the knowledge and skills and motivation to achieve
their goals. Therefore, it is important to assess learning for both the conceptual and procedural
knowledge. It is also important that the advisors' value training, are committed, and confident so
that they can apply what they have learned on a daily basis. As such, Table 13 lists the evaluation
methods and timing for these learning components.

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Table 13

Components of Learning for the Program.

Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”
Knowledge checks through discussion
during group tabling.
Periodically in the fall and spring during group
meetings and documented via job aid chart.
Report out on table discussions. Throughout the training tracking to ensure that all
attendees are participating and reporting out.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right
now.”

Feedback from peers during mock
developmental advising session.
After the learning event.
Use real scenarios in group tabling and role
play an advising session.
During the learning event.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Pre- and Post-test assessment survey to
determine if the self-efficacy has increased
to advise through a shared responsibility
with students.
At the end of workshop.
Brainstorm the positive and negative
outcomes of open communication.
During the learning event.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the
job.”

Feedback from peer and supervisor during
observations
After the learning event.
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Dedicated time to discuss the advisors
concerns about providing developmental
advising.
During the learning event.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
1:1 discussions following observations After the learning event.
Ask the attendees to write down and share
how they will implement what they have
learned on the job.
After the learning event.

Level 1: Reaction

It is important to determine how the participants react to the learning event. Thus, it is
essential to confirm that the quality of the learning event was acceptable by the participants. As
such, Table 14 lists the reactions of the participants to the learning event being favorable,
engaging, and relevant.

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Table 14

Components to Measure Reactions to the Program

Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Checklist rating observation completed by peers
and supervisor
Ongoing after training event.
Workshop Evaluation Two weeks after the workshop.
Relevance
Pulse Check with advisors via 1:1 discussion After every observation.
Workshop Evaluation Two weeks after the workshop.
Customer Satisfaction
Pulse check with advisors via satisfaction survey After each training event.
Workshop Evaluation Two weeks after the workshop.

Evaluation Tools

Immediately following the program implementation. Following the learning event, the
participants will complete a survey (see Appendix E for the survey questions). During the
observations, the supervisor or peer will fill out a checklist (see Appendix F for the checklist).
The survey will indicate relevance of the material to the job, participant satisfaction,
commitment, attitude, and confidence in applying what was learned.
For Level 1 and Level 2, during the observations, the supervisor will fill out a checklist
that rates the effectiveness of the advisors in several areas and then will provide feedback.
During in person learning events, the instructor will conduct pulse checks by asking the
participants if the content is relevant to their work and addressing practical issues. The instructor
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 129
will ask about the training environment and if it created any barriers to the participants’ learning.
Level 2 will include checks for understanding what is presented. Level 2 will also use group
discussions and report out on the topics being discussed to gauge participant understanding.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. Approximately 90 days after
the learning event the organization will administer a survey (see Appendix G for survey
questions) containing open and scaled items. The survey uses a blended evaluation approach to
measure, from the advisor's perspective, satisfaction and relevance of the training to the advisor
ability to provide data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending strategies to
support high graduation rates of transfer students (Level 1). As well as measuring knowledge,
skills, confidence, attitude, commitment and value of applying their training (Level 2). Plus
assessing the application of the learning event to the advisor's ability to assess students’ ability
and interests through a shared responsibility with the students (Level 3), and the extent to which
they can provide developmental advising on a regular basis (Level 4).
Data Analysis and Reporting

The Level 4 goal for business advisors is measured by how connected the students are
with their advisors during their advising experience and the transfer students’ graduation rates.
The business advisors’ must have the knowledge and skills and motivation to provide data on
perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer students. Each semester, the reviewer will compile the data from
advisors journals and track the number of entries for supporting the students in a way that has
made an impact on the students’ graduation to demonstrate progress to the advisors. Annually,
the reviewer will track the graduation rates to see if there has been an increase in transfer student
graduation rates. To monitor the progress and hold the participants accountable dashboards will
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 130
be created to report the data on these measures. Similar dashboards will be created to monitor
Levels 1, 2, and 3.
Summary

The New World Kirkpatrick Model informs the implementation and evaluation plan of
this study (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). The four levels of training and evaluation are used
to ensure that advisors have the knowledge, motivation, and organizational support to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates of transfer students. As with this model, this training program starts with the
identification of the outcomes, metrics and methods to measure the results of the targeted
outcomes that are integrated with the organization's goals. Next, the program establishes the
critical behaviors to assess if the participants are using what they have learned once they are back
on the job. Furthermore, the program identifies the participants' learning outcomes and evaluates
their learning, knowledge, attitude, commitment, and confidence during the training. Finally,
methods to assess how the participants are reacting to training were developed to determine the
participants' satisfaction, engagement, and the relevance of the training. To implement change
and maximize the program results it is important to evaluate and analyze data collection during
program implementation. For the levels of training evaluation, this section will answer the
questions: "Does the level of ….. meet expectations? If so, then why? and If not, then why not?”
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
During training when the level of reaction and learning does not meet expectations then
the trainer needs to identify the issue and changes need to be made to the program. If the
advisors are not learning or reacting as expected, it is recommended that the trainer do a pulse
check and ask the participants their thoughts on how to address the issues raised (Kirkpatrick &
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 131
Kirkpatrick, 2016). When the level of reaction and learning meets expectations, the trainer may
want to stop and do a pulse check to discuss what increased engagement (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016).
After training when the level of behavior and results does not meet expectations then it is
important to communicate with the participants to find out what are the issues with the required
drivers and critical behaviors, for level 3, that are not being applied. As well as, asking why the
leading indicators and desired results, for level 4, are not moving forward (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The trainer can solicit feedback through surveys or interviews and ask the
participants what behaviors would allow them to move forward to achieve their performance
goals. When the levels of behavior and results meet expectations it is recommended that
participants that are high achieving employees be recruited to identify what they are doing to
increase their performance and share with the organization (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Finally, it is important to provide a final report on the training outcomes to the
participants and managers. Organizational support is a component that also determines the
success of any training program (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016). To drive performance and
results Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) recommend providing reports and creating touch
points throughout the implementation process. To engage managers in topics that are important
to them for evaluation the reports should address the relevance, credibility, be compelling, and
address the efficiency of the program (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016).
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach

The conceptual framework of the study revolved around Clark and Estes (2008) Gap
Analysis model that evaluated the performance gaps of the business advisors knowledge,
motivational, and organizational (KMO) influences. The evaluation of these three critical factors
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 132
revealed the performance gaps that were affecting the advisers’ ability to reach their performance
goal. The weakness of the Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis model is that it defines the
performance gaps but does not provide any guidance on how to move forward to solve the
performance gaps. Which, is where the use of the Kirkpatrick New World Model (2016)
operationalized the data into a valid framework for evaluating the recommended solutions to
ensure that the stakeholders meet their performance goals.
The combination of Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis model and Kirkpatrick’s four
levels of evaluation offer a strong approach that provides an understanding of where the
stakeholders are and how to assess the recommended solutions. As they relate to the advisors'
knowledge of how to empower students through a shared responsibility, how to assess student’s
academic needs, academic abilities, and their ability to reflect on their effectiveness. At the same
time, the model evaluated the advisors’ motivation through their value of developing
relationships with students and their belief in their ability to provide developmental advising.
The final factor evaluated the organization’s support of the advisors.
Future Research

The purpose of conducting the qualitative study was to evaluate the KMO influences of
the business advisors at SSU in the business college and determine if any gaps existed. To
acquire in-depth explanations and witness the actual processes used by advisors interviews and
observations were conducted. The researcher conducted three interviews and observations; while
this was a small group, they provided a wealth of information and rich descriptions that
uncovered several performance gaps within the Business Advising Center.
It is recommended to generalize the findings that further research builds on the
qualitative findings using the KMO conceptual framework to explore a larger population of
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 133
advisors. The educational organizations consist of state universities, non-profit universities, and
for-profit universities throughout the country that all have different visions and goals. It is
recommended that a quantitative study be conducted on the California State University (CSU),
University of California (UC) systems and the California community colleges. The research
would provide the organizations with a better understanding of the advisors' ability to provide
data on perceived barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies to support high
graduation rates for transfer students throughout the CSU and UC systems as well as the
California community colleges. It is also recommended that additional research be conducted at
California community colleges. The research could provide a better understanding of what
counselors at the community colleges need to know to assist students in a successful transition to
a four-year university. Using the quantitative data the research could be generalized throughout
the entire community college, CSU and UC systems as well as to improve transfer student’s
graduation rates.
Conclusion

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, motivation and organizational
influences that support or impede the business advisors’ ability to provide data on perceived
barriers to developing and recommending advising strategies that will support the organization’s
goal to increase 2-year and 4-year transfer students’ graduation rates to 44% and 85% by the end
of December 2025. The evaluation of professional advisors in this study provided the
organization with a better understanding of the performance gaps that exist for this group. The
conceptual framework for this study was Clark and Este’s (2008) gap analysis. The model
focused on the knowledge, motivation and organizational influence that impacted the individuals
and organizations ability to meet their performance goal. Using Clark and Estes (2008) gap
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 134
analysis this study identified whether the advisors had adequate knowledge, motivation, and
institutional support to achieve their performance goal.
Through a literature review and data collection of interviews, observations, and existing
documents the research shows that the organization will need to provide additional support in
several areas:
• Providing an environment of trust.
• Providing enough time to accomplish goals and advise.
In addition, the data shows that the advisors in the business-advising center will need additional
training and support for the following influences:
• Assessing the students’ academic abilities.
• Engaging students through a shared responsibility.
• Capability of providing developmental advising.
The New World Kirkpatrick Model is used to integrate and implement a training program to
address the performance gaps. Some recommended solutions were to:
• Require mock advising and observations with feedback on their ability to deliver
developmental advising through a shared responsibility.
• Work together in round table discussions to develop job aids to discuss advising issues
and provide support to one another.
• Journal about experiences providing developmental advising through a shared
responsibility and discuss one on one with supervisor.
This study looks at professional advisors and the knowledge and motivational influences that are
essential to increase graduation rates successfully. As well as the organizational influences
needed to support advisors in achieving their goals. This study using the KMO framework and
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 135
the Kirkpatrick evaluation model provides a template for other institutions to perform a gap
analysis on their unit to determine if any performance gaps exist. The study then provides
suggested solutions based on research to implement and remove existing gaps for advising
centers that may experience similar performance gaps. As more advising centers perform
evaluations on their departments and professional staff the data on advisors ability to increase
graduation rates will increase. This data, for professional advisors, can be used to lead the
development and implementation of initiatives throughout higher education to impact our
students’ success.

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IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 146
APPENDIX A

Interview Protocol

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to interview with me. I am the research
assistant and will be conducting all of the interviews to ensure your confidentiality. You answers
to the questions will be kept confidential and I will assign a pseudonym to the interview to keep
your identity confidential from the primary researcher.

Today I have a series of questions that may take 1 ½ - 2 hours to complete. The aim of these
questions are to evaluate the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that may
impact your ability to recommend and develop advising strategies to support transfer students.
The data will be used to help us develop strategies to support you and the transfer students and
enable you to accomplish your professional goals.

In the informed consent you agreed to audio recording, please keep in mind that the digital
recording will be transcribed by a third part and destroyed to keep your identity confidential. Are
you still o.k. with being recorded today?

I will start out with questions about knowledge influences.

(Knowledge Influence Questions)
1. Talk to me about a typical advising session with a newly admitted transfer student.
2. Can you walk me through your last advising session with a transfer student that you found
challenging.
a. How did the conversation sound?
b. What was the outcome?
i. Is there anything you would do differently today?
c. How did you feel after this advising session?
3. What are the techniques you use in a transfer student advising session to learn about your
advisees’ needs, abilities and interests?
4. How do you know what information to provide to the transfer students during an advising
session?
a. How do you determine the student’s Academic needs?
b. How do you determine the student’s Academic abilities?
c. How do you determine the student’s Professional interests?
5. Can you discuss what empowering transfers students means to you?
6. Can you walk me through an advising session where you were able to help a transfer student
feel more confident in making academic decisions?
a. How did you feel after the meeting?
7. What does it look like when the transfer student and you work together to achieve the
student’s educational goals?
a. How does that make you feel?
8. What does personal reflection mean to you?
a. How valuable do you believe personal reflection is?
9. Tell me about the last time you reflected on your effectiveness as an advisor.
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 147
a. How did you reflect on your effectiveness?
i. (journal, think about, had a discussion, on the car ride home, etc.)
b. How often do you reflect on your advising sessions?
10. How important to you is it to provide accurate advising information to transfer students?
a. How have you reflected on the accuracy of information you provide the student?
I would like to now transition into questions related to motivational influences.

(Motivational Influence Questions)
11. Would you explain what student centered advising means to you?
12. Would you talk to me about a time, with a transfer student, when you used a student centered
advising approach, if at all?
a. How did the conversation sound?
b. How did you feel after that advising session?
13. Would you explain what developmental advising means to you?
14. Would you describe a time developmental advising worked well during a transfer advising
session, if at all.
a. How did the conversation sound?
b. How did that experience make you feel?
15. How comfortable are you providing developmental advising?
a. What experiences have influenced your comfort level (or uncomfort level) with
developmental advising?
16. Can you describe an advising session where you were able to establish rapport with a transfer
student?
a. How did you know you established rapport
b. Please tell me what the conversation sounded like.
17. What has or would motivate you to cultivate strong relationships with your transfer students?

Now we are going to discuss the organizational influences

(Organizational Influence Questions)
18. What are the core values of your department?
a. How do or don’t these values align with your values?
19. Tell me about the last time you felt that you made a difference in your department or
organization?
20. Talk about the last change implemented in your department or organization?
a. How did you feel about this change?
21. Can you tell me about the last time you were involved in policy change in your department or
organization.
a. What did you do during the change process?
22. How comfortable are you with change?
23. Please describe the last time you voiced your opinion in a meeting, if at all.
a. If yes, why do you think you were able to voice your opinion?
24. Please describe the last time you did not voice your opinion in a meeting?
a. What stopped you from voicing your opinion?
25. Can you talk about the last time you asked a colleague for help?
a. What did/didn’t your colleague do to support you?
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 148
26. Can you describe the type of work incentives that are important to you?
a. Are any of these incentives available to you in your current position?
27. Can you walk me through a typical workday during non-registration times?
a. How do you manage the tasks on your to do list?
28. What are some challenges, if any, you face when trying to accommodate the students’ needs
and completing your projects?
29. What do you like most and least about your position?
30. Can you think back to when you were hired and describe the training your received?
a. How useful was the provided training to support your ability to advise students
effectively?
b. What additional training might you recommend to support you in your current
position?
31. What are some ways the organization can support you in meeting your professional goals?
I would now like to ask you about your opinion and some recommendations on some topics:

(Recommendations)
32. How helpful do you think advising is with increasing transfer students graduation rates?
a. Talk to me about your opinion on the relationship of advising and student graduation
rates.
33. What recommendation would you suggest to increase graduation rates for transfer students?
34. What would you suggest to increase the motivation of advisors in your department?
35. What type of professional development would you recommend to better understand the needs
of transfer students?
I have one final question for you today -
36. Is there anything else you would like to add or comment on that was not addressed in the
previous questions?
Thank you for time. If you have any questions or think of anything you would like to add please
feel free to contact me directly. Once the audio recording is transcribed if the primary researcher
has any further questions may contact you with any follow-up questions?

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 149
APPENDIX B

Reflection Memo
The goal of the observation is to determine any gaps between the participants’ responses to the
interview questions about supporting students and the actual processes being used during the
advising session. The researcher will use the narrative notes to answer the protocol questions.

1. Are the advisors using prescriptive and/or developmental advising? (M)
2. Did the advisor greet the student appropriately? (KM)
a. Greeting the student: Hi my name is: XXXX. Congratulations on your admission.
3. During the session the advisor has the student create a semester class schedule on his or
her own. (KM)
4. During the session the advisor creates a semester class schedule for the student. (K)
5. Track the number of times the advisor uses language to connect with the student. (M)
a. What to look for: Using words of affirmation. Listening and providing feedback.
Validating student’s feelings.
6. Track the number of times the advisor uses techniques to validate student’s feelings. (M)
7. Advisor was able to answer the student’s academic questions. (K)
8. Advisor was able to address the student’s personal interests. (K)
a. Joining Clubs, financial aid, career services, honors program, ect.
9. Advisor was able to assess the student’s academic abilities. (K)
10. Did the advisor end the advising session appropriately? (KM)
a. Ending the Advising Session: Thank you for coming in. It was pleasure meeting
you. Please be sure to come back if you have any questions.
11. Observer’s interpretation of the relationship of the advisor to the student upon meeting
and upon ending the session. Was a relationship developed? (KM)
12. Observer’s interpretation of how the advisor manages his/her time. (O)

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 150
APPENDIX C

Document Collection
Q.9 Please indicate the level to which you agree with the following statements about your
advising experience with this advisor.

Statement
Strongly
Agree Agree
Disagre
e
Strongly
Disagre
e N/A
My advisor provided accurate
information on degree requirements (K)
My advisor was knowledgeable about
academic policies and procedures (K)
My advisor referred me to other campus
resources when appropriate (K)
My advisor listened carefully and
understood my concerns (KM)
This advisor discussed my academic
goals and progress with me (KM)
This overall advising experience met or
exceeded my needs (M)
My advisor demonstrated respect for me
(K)

Note: This is pre-existing survey that is confidential and is used by the organization to gather
data on student satisfaction for the business advising center.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 151
APPENDIX D

Informed Consent

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway, Los Angeles, CA 90089

INFORMED CONSENT FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

Advising Strategies to Support High Graduation Rates of Transfer Students
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Diane Mazzey under the
supervision of Dr. Jenifer Crawford at the University of Southern California, because you are a
business advisor for transfer students. Your participation is voluntary. You should read the
information below, and ask questions about anything you do not understand, before deciding
whether to participate. Please take as much time as you need to read the consent form. You may
also decide to discuss participation with your family or friends. If you decide to participate, you
will be asked to sign this form. You will be given a copy of this form.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study aims to understand the knowledge advisors need to support transfer
students. What motivates advisors to develop and recommend strategies to support transfer
students. The organizational resources needed to enable advisors to achieve the organization’s
goals. The results of this study will provide direction for the implementation of advisor
initiatives to achieve the organizations goal to increase graduation rates of transfer students to
78% by the end of December 2017.

STUDY PROCEDURES AND BENEFITS
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will be asked to participate in both interviews
and observations. The potential benefits of this study are contingent on the results. As a
participant the study will provide direction to your organization on the resources needed for you
to successfully meet your performance goals. The study will benefit society by adding to the
current body of literature.

• PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT – INTERVIEW
o If you agree to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in a two-
hour interview that will be audio recorded. You do not have to answer any
questions you don’t want to. No potential risks to participants have been
identified; however, you will have an on-going option to stop participating at any
time.

• PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT – OBSERVATION
o At the end of the interview, you will have an option to volunteer to participate in a
one-hour observation during an advising session. Five participants who directly
advise transfer students will be selected from the interview volunteers. Like the
interview, you do not have to answer any questions you do not want to. No
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 152
potential risks to participants have been identified; however, you will have an on-
going option to stop participating at any time.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
You will not be compensated for your interview or observation participation.

CONFIDENTIALITY
Your decision to participate in the study will be kept confidential. All interviews and
observations will be kept confidential. The data will be stored on a password-protected computer
in the researcher’s home for three years after the study has been completed and then destroyed.
Handwritten observation notes will be scanned into the computer and then destroyed. Digital
recordings will be transcribed by and outside third party to protect your identity then destroyed.

We will keep your records for this study confidential as far as permitted by law. However, if we
are required to do so by law, we will disclose confidential information about you. The members
of the research team and the University of Southern California’s Human Subjects Protection
Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP reviews and monitors research studies to
protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or
remedies because of your participation in this research study.

INVESTIGATOR CONTACT INFORMATION
You may contact the Principal Investigator via email at Mazzey@usc.edu or phone at 714-396-
8095, or Faculty Advisor Dr. Jenifer Crawford at jenifer.crawford@usc.eud or 530-519-4085.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant or the
research in general and are unable to contact the research team, or if you want to talk to someone
independent of the research team, please contact the University Park Institutional Review Board
(UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street #301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or
upirb@usc.edu

SIGNATURE OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT
I have read the information provided above. I have been given a chance to ask questions. My
questions have been answered to my satisfaction, and I agree to participate in this study. I
understand that the interview will consist of audio recording. I have been given a copy of this
form.
☐ I consent to participate and be audio recorded.

☐ I do not consent to participate and be audio recorded.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 153

Name of Participant

Signature of Participant Date

SIGNATURE OF INVESTIGATOR
I have explained the research to the participant and answered all of his/her questions. I believe
that he/she understands the information described in this document and freely consents to
participate.

Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Signature of Person Obtaining Consent Date

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 154
APPENDIX E

Survey

For each of the questions below, circle the response that best characterized how you feel about
the statement.

Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
1. The training held my interest 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. During training we discussed how to
apply what was learned.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. I will recommend this program to other
advisors.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. I believe it will be worthwhile for me
to advise students through a shared
responsibility when I return to my job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. The feedback has given me the
confidence to apply what I learned when I
return to my job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. I am committed to applying what I
learned during my discussions.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. I found the feedback during mock
session valuable for utilizing
developmental advising.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. I was satisfied with the training on
developmental advising through a shared
responsibility with the students.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please provide feedback for the following questions:
1. What part of the training did you find irrelevant for your advising needs?

2. What were the major concepts you learned today?
IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 155
APPENDIX F

Checklist

Context: This is a checklist that supervisors and/or peers will use when observing advisors
during advising sessions to rate the advisors skills and ability to connect with students.

Rating Scale
1 = Effective Use of targeted behavior
2 = Moderately effective use of targeted behavior
3 = Ineffective use of targeted behavior

Feedback comments may include specific observations that will support the rating, as well as
feedback to help the advisor be more effective when assessing students academic needs,
academic abilities, and professional interests and connecting with students through
developmental advising.

Target Behavior Rating Feedback Comments
Advisor engaged the student in a shared
responsibility and had the student apply
what was taught during the session.

Advisor asked open-ended questions
about students’ academic abilities.

Advisor asked open-ended questions
about students’ professional interests.

Advisor clarified with follow-up
questions about the students abilities and
interests.

Advisor recommended the appropriate
resource based on the students’ responses.

Advisor worked collaboratively with the
student to resolve his/her academic
issues.

Advisor used developmental advising
techniques during the advising session.

Advisor was able to resolve the students’
questions.

IMPROVING TRANSFER GRADUATION RATES 156
APPENDIX G

Survey

For each of the questions below, circle the response that best characterized how you feel about
the statement.

Strongly
Disagree
Strongly
Agree
1. I have had the opportunity to use what I learned
on the job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. Looking back on the training I believe that the
training was a good use of my time.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. I have successfully applied what I learned on the
job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. I have received support to apply what I have
learned on the job.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. I am seeing positive results from the training. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. This program has positively impacted advisors
interactions with students.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Please provide feedback for the following questions:

1. Describe any challenges you are facing implementing what you learned and possible
solutions to overcome the challenges.

2. Looking back on this program how could it have been improved?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This study evaluated business advisors at Student Success University using Clark and Estes (2008) modified gap analysis framework. The advisors' knowledge, motivation as well as the organizational (KMO) influence were assessed to determine if any gaps existed that would affect the advisors' ability to provide data on perceived barriers for developing and recommending advising strategies to support high graduation rates for business transfer students. The findings of this study identified gaps in five out of nine of the KMO influences. This study recommends additional training on the knowledge influences on how to work with students through a shared responsibility and how to assess student abilities and professional interests. The findings suggest for the motivational influences the participants’ belief in their capability to provide developmental advising as well as their definition of developmental advising will require additional training and support. Within the organization, recommendations are provided to increase trust within the organization and to provide enough time to advise and work on developing and implementing strategies. Finally, using the New World Kirkpatrick Model this study provides an integrated implementation and evaluation plan to support successful change for the organization.

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University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

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Asset Metadata

Creator Mazzey, Diane (author)

Core Title Advising strategies to support high graduation rates of transfer students

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 10/19/2017

Defense Date 10/19/2017

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag advising,advisors,graduation rates,OAI-PMH Harvest,retention,transfer students

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Crawford, Jenifer (committee chair), Hirabayashi, Kimberly (committee member), Samkian, Artineh (committee member)

Creator Email dgmazzey@gmail.com,mazzey@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-446073

Unique identifier UC11265106

Identifier etd-MazzeyDian-5849.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-446073 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-MazzeyDian-5849.pdf

Dmrecord 446073

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Mazzey, Diane

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA