University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Factors influencing admissions counselors’ ability to increase the number of African American males in a private college: a gap analysis

(USC Thesis Other)

Factors influencing admissions counselors’ ability to increase the number of African American males in a private college: a gap analysis

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content Running head: INFLUENCING FACTORS 1

Factors Influencing Admissions Counselors’ Ability to Increase the Number of African
American Males in a Private College: A gap Analysis
by

Meghan Brewer

A Dissertation 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

May 2018

Copyright 2018 Meghan Brewer

INFLUENCING FACTORS 2

DEDICATION
To GOD be the Glory – I did it!
There are few people in your life that do not want much from you but to see you
succeed. I have been blessed to have several people in my life like this and thus, this work
is dedicated to: my Mother, Sandra Tate, my rock, my best friend, and my life advisor, my
Father and other Mom, Pastor Rodney and First Lady Lisa Brewer, with my Father being
my personality twin and both who help me with my faith walk, and to my Godmother,
Diane Edwards, the best godmother on this planet and the person who has never asked
anything of me but to earn this doctorate degree.
I also dedicate this work to Mommie and Aunty Roxy, these two ladies loved me like
no other. It’s a mystery why the best of the best are often called home too early but it’s also
no mystery why God calls on his best angels before we are ready. I will forever love and
miss you two.
There are a host of other family members and individuals I would like to dedicate
this work beginning with my sister/mini-me, Cheyenne who keeps me on my toes. My first
cousins also more like my siblings: Taccara, Steven, and Heather. Additionally, this is for
my other siblings I also love and adore: Tara, Niya, Alan, Myles, Devin and Nicholas. Also, to
my Maunty Karen, Earl Cole Jr., and David Tate Jr. for the constant love and support.
Additionally, to my other aunts, unlces, and cousins who have all supported me along the
way, I love you all. To my beloved grandparents, Earl & Shirley Cole, Joan Bowman,
Geraldine Edwards, and Lawrence & Barbara Brewer. Last but not least, I want to thank
my honey for supporting me this last year and for giving me the time to truly focus on
completing this work. I love and adore you.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Melora Sundt for taking the time to guide me through this
writing and research. Thank you for reading every draft along the way and for listening to my
every thought and concern regarding this work. Not only did you chair my committee, but you
chaired for a dozen of other students while still balancing her other work commitments. I
sincerely appreciate the time you took to help develop me as a doctoral student. I could not have
done this without you. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Darnell
Cole and Dr. Kristan Venegas for also taking the time to review my work and give me valuable
feedback. These individuals set aside time out from their busy schedules without any additional
compensation or incentives to help guide me as I put the finishing touches on this dissertation. I
would also like to thank Lucia Munzon, my awesome doctoral advisor for all her help along this
process as well. Finally, I would like to thank a director within the USC Rossier School of
Education who told me I could not get admitted into the Ed.D. program if I applied because I
was too young and should wait a few years to apply. She represents all those people in your life
that doubt you and tell you, you can’t; but little do they know, they only push you further to
greatness!

INFLUENCING FACTORS 4

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication 2
Acknowledgments 3
List of Tables 6
Abstract 7
Chapter One: Introduction 9
Background of the Problem 9
Importance of Addressing the Problem 10
Organizational Context and Mission 11
Organizational Performance Status 11
Organizational Performance Goal 12
Description of Stakeholder Groups 12
Stakeholders’ Performance Goals 13
Stakeholder Group for the Study 14
Purpose of the Project and Questions 15
Conceptual and Methodological Framework 15
Definitions 15
Organization of the Dissertation 16
Chapter Two: A Review of the Literature 17
Societal Stereotypes Affecting African Americans 17
School-to-Prison Pipeline Influences on African American Males 18
Equal Opportunities Affecting African American Males 19
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework 20
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences 21
Conclusion 37
Chapter Three: Methodology 39
Purpose of the Project 39
Conceptual and Methodological Framework 39
Assessment of Performance Influences 43
Participating Stakeholders and Sample Selection 46
Data Collection 49
Data Analysis 51
Role of Investigator 54
Chapter Four: Results and Findings 55
Introduction 55
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes 58
Results and Findings for Motivation Causes 62
Results and Findings for Organization Causes 66
INFLUENCING FACTORS 5

Conclusion 72
Chapter Five: Recommendations 74
Recommendations Discussion 74
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan 86
Limitations and Delimitations 97
Future Research 98
Conclusion 98
References 101
Appendices
Appendix A: Survey Protocol 110
Appendix B: Interview Protocol 112
Appendix C: Evaluation Survey 114
Appendix D: Pre-Recruitment Evaluation Survey 116

INFLUENCING FACTORS 6

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Organizational Mission, Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder
Performance Goal 13
Table 2. Summary of Knowledge Influences on Admission Counselors 27
Table 3. Summary of Motivational Influences on Admission Counselors 31
Table 4. Summary of Influences on Admission Counselors 36
Table 5. Assessment of Assumed Influencers on Admission Counselors 45
Table 6. Validation Explanation 57
Table 7. Knowledge Influencers Survey Results 61
Table 8. Motivation Influencers Survey Results 65
Table 9. Organizational Influencers Survey Results 69
Table 10. Summary of KMO Results and Findings 71
Table 11. Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations 75
Table 12. Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations 79
Table 13. Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations 82
Table 14. Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes 88
Table 15. Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for New Reviewers 89
Table 16. Required Drivers to Support New Reviewers’ Critical Behaviors 90
Table 17. Components of Learning for the Program 94
Table 18. Components to Measure Reactions to the Program 95

INFLUENCING FACTORS 7

ABSTRACT
The underlining issue driving this study was factors that prevent African American males from
earning a college degree. Brown (2008) noted that the disposition of African American males
stem from a long history of racial oppression, discrimination, and legally mandated segregation
and that society must change its negative perceptions of African American males and begin to
create a climate that fosters the academic success of black males. Specifically, this work dove
into the perspective of admission counselors and factors that influence this stakeholder group’s
ability to recruit African American males to college. The purpose of this study was to conduct a
gap analysis to examine the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that interfere
with Los Angeles University (LAU) increasing the African American male four-year college
admission rate. Based on the research, results, and findings, recommendations where given for
causes validated through analyzing triangulated data including that of surveys and interviews of
five admission counselors at a large private university. Results and finding of this study found
that admission counselors do not uniformly understand what factors prevent African American
males from earning a college degree and how to properly attract African American males to the
university. Admission counselors did show to understand the importance of scholarship monies
being allocated to African American male students. In addition, this study found that admission
counselors lack the necessary confidence to effectively recruit African American males to the
university. Finally, this study found that admission counselors lack the proper resources,
support, designated time, and effective communication and recognition from their university to
effectivity recruit African American males to the university. Solutions such as surveying
currently enrolled African American male students to gage challenges this population group
faces in terms of degree attainment, providing a job aid for admission counselors to better recruit
INFLUENCING FACTORS 8

this population group, providing incentives for admission counselors for meeting outlined goals,
and providing resources and support to admission counselors all would help to make this
stakeholder group more successful in meeting their goal of increasing African American male
student enrollment at LAU.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 9

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
In 2015, only 22.5% of African American age twenty-five and older held a bachelor’s
degree compared to 53.9% of Asians and 36.2 of Whites (U.S. Census Bureau, 2015). In 2008,
19.6% of African Americans over the age of twenty-five held a college degree compared to
13.8% in 1996 and 11.3% in 1990 (Ogunwole, 2012). Thus, while the number of African
Americans in higher education has increased over the past few decades, there is still a huge
deficit in African Americans obtaining some form of professional degree. Even more
problematic, is the disproportionate amount of African American men in comparison to African
American women who earn a college degree. In 2012, only 5.5% of African American males
attended college compared to 66% of all high school graduates who attended college (Bureau of
Labor Statistics, 2014). Of that 5.5% of African American males who attend college, only 33.1%
are graduating with a college degree compared to 57.3% of all students who graduate from
college within six years (U.S. Department of Education, 2014). This problem is important to
address because if only 5.5% of students enrolling in college are African American men and only
33.1% of that population group are even graduating from college, there then becomes a huge
deficit of educated African American men in the United States.
Background of the Problem
African Americans still face huge challenges in terms of accessing and completing higher
education. There are many factors that contribute to why African Americans are not entering
college at the rate of other racial groups. Bensimon (2005) suggest that the assumptions some
educators, including K-12 teachers, counselors, college level administrators, specifically college
admission counselors, make about minorities and underrepresented groups lead to the problem of
unequal educational outcomes within the United States. The ways in which these school officials
INFLUENCING FACTORS 10

teach, provide guidance, and connect with students all play a role in how society views and
discourages this group from excelling academically. The researcher’s study detailed how
educators often neglect this theory and do not place enough focus on changing this societal
misconception. In addition, Gorski (2008) discusses the mindsets of people in poverty and how
these groups view education as a function but not a reality partially due to societal structures
designed to limit this population group. Thus, this population group may view higher education
as something other people do but not a reality for them to pursue personally. Other reasons that
contribute to this deficit include the lack of positive father figures in the home, feelings of
inadequacy, low self-esteem, poor college preparation at the high school level; again, partially
due to the perpetual cycle of society misconceptions, racism, low expectations of this group, and
systematic structures like welfare all designed to break down the Black family structure. Finally,
the rising cost of tuition at the college level all while the unemployment rate in the black
community is about double that of the national average is also another factor hindering this
group from successful college degree attainment (Granger, 2011).
Importance of Addressing the Problem
The problem of disproportionally low numbers of African American male students
enrolled in college is important to solve for several reasons. Several studies (Brown, 2008;
McKeemer, 2006; Whitaker, 2011) suggests significant social and mental implications of
African American men not pursuing higher education include but are not limited to: decreased
job opportunities, reduced earning potential, underdeveloped career advancement, and increased
incarceration rates of African American males. As long as educational resources are unequally
distributed amongst all racial and socioeconomic groups, African Americans will remain socially
and financially disadvantaged compared to White and Asian Americans. The U.S. Department
INFLUENCING FACTORS 11

of Education (2014) reported that out of the 39.4% of all students who graduated from a four-
year post-secondary institution, 46.7% were Asian, 43.3% were White, 29.8% were Hispanic,
and 20.8% were Black. With the cursory look, it easy for one to assume that the latter of these
minority groups outlined above bears the sole responsibility for not excelling academically at the
rate of their counterparts. However, Bensimon (2005) suggests that focusing solely on the
student presents too simplistic an explanation for a complicated phenomenon. Focusing on the
student alone does not take in to account factors external to the student such as social factors that
prevent this population group from excelling academically.
Organizational Context and Mission
Los Angeles University (LAU) is a private University located in Los Angeles California.
The mission of LAU is to boost student achievement and global competitiveness by nurturing
educational excellence and equal access. LAU’s goal is to further the development of student
and society as a whole through the refinement and enhancement of the mind and spirit. LAU is
able to execute its mission through effective teaching, research, creative expression, professional
practice and designated forms of public service. LAU is diverse, welcoming accomplished men
and women of every race, belief, and background. LAU is a global institution attracting students
from across the globe. As the institution is private, LAU is strongly committed to academic
freedom and has an entrepreneurial spirit. For the 2016-2017 academic year, LAU currently has
15,000 undergraduate students enrolled and 21,000 graduate students enrolled totaling 36,000
students. In addition, LAU currently employs 3,850 faculty and 14,100 staff members.
Organizational Performance Status
The organizational performance problem at the root of this study was that in 2016, LAU
enrolled a total of only 5.6% of African American students compared to 33.1% Caucasian
INFLUENCING FACTORS 12

students, and 17.6% Asian students (LAU, 2017). In 2015, LAU enrolled 7% African American
students compared to 40% Caucasians students, and 22% Asian students. This two-year
comparison shows a trend of significantly low percentages of African American males enrolled
at LAU compared to other racial groups. More importantly, the national average of African
Americans enrolled in a four-year institution for 2015 is 13.1% (US Census Bureau, 2015).
LAU’s African American student enrollment is significantly lower than the national average.
While LAU has successfully accomplished their mission to enroll diverse men and women of
every race, the numbers speak to the disproportionately low number of African Americans
enrolled compared to other racial groups.
Organizational Performance Goal
The organizational performance goal for the University is that by May 2020, LAU will
increase the African American male four-year college admission rate by 15%. LAU’s Director
of Undergraduate Admission established this goal after reviewing LAU’s internal affirmative
action goals in order to further promote equal access. The achievement of LAU’s goal in this
matter will be measured by the results of the 2019-2020’s academic year’s enrollment
percentages.
Description of Stakeholder Groups
There are several stakeholder groups that contribute to and benefit from the achievement
of the organization’s performance goal. Students, specifically African American male students
benefit from the organization’s goal of increasing African American male student enrollment by
being able to have a greater chance of being accepted for admission. Faculty will help to
support organization’s performance goal by teaching and educating all enrolled students,
including increased percentage of African American male students. LAU’s Director of
INFLUENCING FACTORS 13

Undergraduate Admissions will oversee goal management to ensure admission counselors meet
their goal to increase African American male student enrollment. Staff in student affairs,
specifically admissions counselors are most impactful in supporting the organization’s
performance goal as they are the gatekeepers to the LAU’s student enrollment process. Without
admission counselors, LAU would not have designated individuals to identify prospective
students, get them excited about coming to the university, and shepherding them through the
admission process.
Stakeholders’ Performance Goals
Table 1
Organizational Mission, Organizational Performance Goal and Stakeholder Performance
Goals
Organizational Mission
Los Angeles University’s (LAU) mission is to boost student achievement and global
competitiveness by nurturing educational excellence and equal access.
Organizational Performance Goal
By May 2020, LAU will increase the African American male four-year college admission rate
by 15%.
LAU Director of the
Department of
Undergraduate
Admissions
LAU Admission
Counselors
By June, 2019, 100%
of LAU admissions
counselors will be
Faculty
By August 2019,
LAU will implement
compliance
Students
By August 2019,
African American
students will achieve
INFLUENCING FACTORS 14

Stakeholder Group for the Study
While the joint efforts of all stakeholders will contribute to the achievement of the overall
organizational goal of increasing African American male student enrollment by 15%, it is
important to evaluate where LAU admission counselors currently are in regards to their
performance goal. A complete gap analysis would focus on all stakeholders, but for practical
purposes, the stakeholder group focused on in this analysis was admission counselors because
this group are the gatekeepers to enrolling incoming students to the University. Thus, the
stakeholder’s goal, supported by the Director of Undergraduate Admissions, is that LAU’s
admission counselors will be implementing 100% of the best practices for increasing the
enrollment of African American males 100% of the time. This goal was agreed upon by the
Director of Undergraduate Admissions and admission counselors because it is understood that a
change such as this resulting in the desired goal will require complete participation of admission
counselors and the leadership team. With the requirement of implementing 100% of best
practices 100% of the time, this measurable action item will allow for efficient semester audits.
It is important that stakeholders meet this goal as this is their commitment they have publicly
By January 2019,
LAU Office of
Undergraduate
Admission will
conduct an audit to
determine progress
towards goal
completion.
implementing 100%
of the best practices
for increasing the
enrollment of African
American males
100% of the time.

procedures in their
daily activities.

a 15% increase in
enrollment at LAU.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 15

announced. It is imperative LAU deliver on their commitment in order to remain reputable,
morally conscious, and a respected institution within the field of higher education.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this project was to conduct a gap analysis to examine the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influences that interfere with LAU increasing the African
American male four-year college admission rate by 15% by May 2020. The analysis begun by
generating a list of possible or assumed interfering influences that were examined systematically
to focus on actual or validated interfering influences. The questions that guided the gap analysis
that address knowledge and skills, motivation, and organization causes and solutions for this
dissertation are listed below:
1. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on factors that impact
admissions counselors to achieve their goal of implementing 100% of the best practices
for increasing the enrollment of African American males 100% of the time?
2. What are the knowledge, motivation, and organization recommendations that will help
admissions counselors meet their goal?
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) introduce a framework for analyzing the gap between desired
future goals and current levels of achievement. This framework is called gap analysis. This
framework also allows for one to properly analyze the cause of gaps and provides a roadmap to
help one move from current performance levels to desired performance levels. Once the gap is
identified, this conceptual framework describes three main components that influence
performance: stakeholder knowledge, motivation, and the organizational environment.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 16

Definitions
Disproportionality: Refers to low number of African American males in comparison to other
racial groups.
Gap Analysis: Analyzes the gap between desired future goals and current levels of achievement.
Stakeholder group: Is a group of individuals who directly contribute to and benefit from the
achievement of the organization’s performance goal.
Validation: Refers to confirming a gap in an asset.
Organization of the Dissertation
Three chapters were used to organize this proposal. This chapter provided the reader
with the key concepts and terminology commonly found in a discussion about the
disproportionately low number of African American males enrolled at LAU. The organization’s
mission, goals, and stakeholders, as well as the initial concepts of this gap analysis were
introduced. Chapter 2 provides a review of current literature surrounding the scope of the study.
Topics of factors that prevent African American males from enrolling in college will be
addressed. Chapter 3 details the assumed interfering knowledge, motivation and organizational
elements as well as methodology when it comes to choice of participants, data collection and
analysis. Chapter 4 details the results and finding from the research conducted in this study.
Chapter 5 provides recommendations to address the gaps found in admission counselors’
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact their ability to effectively
recruit African American males to LAU.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 17

CHAPTER TWO: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
This chapter will provide a review of literature that examines societal factors that prevent
African American males from earning a college degree and how these factors impact admissions
counselors from effectively recruiting this population group to LAU. Following the review of
literature, this chapter will look at Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Conceptual Framework
that explains how knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences work together to impact
the stakeholder group in meeting their goal of recruiting African American males to LAU.
Societal Stereotypes Affecting African Americans
Societal stereotypes play a huge role in the successful obtainment of degree completion
among African American males because studies show that students perform to expectations of
others’ (Davis & Haper, 2012; Granger, 2011). Granger (2011) states that African American
men are perceived by society as criminals, hostile, and academically inferior. While
interviewing several prominent African American writers and scholars, the researcher found that
this reinforced perception of black men creates feelings of poor self-efficacy and inadequacy
among this population group. Thus, feelings of anxiousness overcome this population group
causing them to perform poorly and not pursue higher education because of fears of failing.
Furthermore, research by Davis and Harper (2012) showed that most educators halt their efforts
to promote academic achievement among African American men as early as the fourth grade
because this population group is perceived to not care about their education. This qualitative
study consisted of an essay response and interview analysis of 304 black males attending higher
education across the country and their beliefs of the problems associated with America’s
educational system. Findings were consistent in that educational inequities still exist including
disproportionate distribution of resources to school districts. Moreover, this study showed a
INFLUENCING FACTORS 18

sophisticated understanding of educational conditions that perpetuate racial gaps in achievement,
representation, and power within the African American community. Therefore, negative
perceptions of African American males create a climate that fosters inferior academic success of
African American males. Moreover, negative stereotypes play a role in the African American
male psyche that results in low self-efficacy and low academic performance of African American
men.
School-to-Prison Pipeline Influences on African American Males
One of the main reasons urban public schools need more funding in particular is because
several studies suggests that there is a school-to-prison pipeline that funnels African American
men into the prison system by means of inadequate funding into the public school educational
system (Hirschfield, 2008; Hudson, 2011; Muhammad, 2011). There have been several studies
done to speak on the increased incarnation rates of African American males, including that of
Whitaker (2011) who found a heavy correlation between low educational outcomes and
increased incarceration rates among African-American males. Data were collected by using a
mixed-methods approach of surveys and focus groups of 31 and 16 students respectively. In her
findings, she found a strong correlation between the percent of low-performing schools located
in neighborhoods with the highest incarceration rates. Brown’s (2008) study suggested that
society has responded to this problem by building more prisons instead of investing in programs
to address the issue of overrepresentation of African American men in our prison system. As a
result, this study highlights the negative correlation between educational attainment and the
black family structure. Furthermore, this study proposed that dropping out of high school for
African American men is a one-way ticket to prison. In 2011, the U.S Department of Education
(2015) reported having made significant gains addressing issues such as these and poured
INFLUENCING FACTORS 19

significant money into public schools improving the high school graduation rate among
minorities, while decreasing high school dropout rates and increasing the number of minorities
students enrolled in college. However, the department also reported that even with the advances
made to support minority groups there is still a large gap in achievement and opportunity among
minority groups in American. These gaps ultimately affect the country’s economy and future as
the department notes that too many students in poverty lack access to education. Thus, while the
attempts the government has made to address the issue of funding in public schools, they only
scratched the surface of a very prominent issue in America. As the research above details, this
cycle of poorly educated black men not only affects black homes but the county as a whole.
Equal Opportunities Affecting African American Males
Several studies suggest that the cost of higher education has a significant impact on the
accessibility of higher education to low-income groups, including that of African American
males in low socioeconomic regions. In a qualitative study where 350 questionnaires were
administered at a small private college, Lillis and Tian (2008) conclude that financial barriers for
low and middle-income populations need to be removed to ensure equal educational opportunity.
As the median family income has risen only 27% since 1981 and tuition is 100% ahead of the
Consumer Price Index, college education has been priced beyond the means of low and middle-
income families. Findings support this claim in that students reported that the most influencing
factor surrounding picking a college is tuition cost. In a similar study, Capt (2013), analyzed the
results of the Higher Education Act of 1965, based on national statistics where findings showed
that the initial amendments increased accessibility of higher education to all, however recent
enrollment trends indicate that higher education has become less equitable. Specifically,
findings showed that the trend in financial aid policy that supports low-income students is
INFLUENCING FACTORS 20

declining and closing the choice of college gap for low to middle-income families. The study
showed that the decline is a result of increased financial pressure on states budgets, increased
college cost, and criticism regarding effectiveness of postsecondary education. Therefore, with
tuition increases over 36% from 1995 to 2005 (College Board, 2004), tuition has been priced
beyond the means of low and middle-income families, especially that of African Americans who
significantly represent the ranks of the economically disadvantaged in America (Fong, 2006).
The results of this leave a significantly large pool of uneducated, low-income students ready to
enter the workforce without a college degree; which ultimately limits their salary potential and
hinders equal and fair opportunity in America.
The Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework
Clark and Estes (2008) created a framework for improving organizational performance.
It begins by analyzing the gap between the performance goals with current levels of
achievement. This gap analysis allows for one to properly analyze the cause of gaps and
provides a roadmap to help one move from current performance levels to desired performance
levels. Once a gap is identified, this conceptual framework describes three main components
that influence performance including knowledge, motivation, and the organizational
environment. According to Clark and Estes (2008), knowledge influences are the “what” and
“how to” components needed for one to successfully complete job functions while addressing
motivational problems commonly found within an organization. In addition, organizational
influences are those factors that either support or hinder individuals in being successful in their
roles. Krathwohl (2002) introduced four knowledge types including factual, procedural,
conceptual, and metacognitive knowledge which all clarify the type of knowledge needed to
impact performance. Eccles (2009) and Pintrich (2003) found that factors of motivation include
INFLUENCING FACTORS 21

competence, autonomy, and social relatedness. These factors make up components of
motivation to impact performance. Lastly, Clark and Estes’ (2008) conceptual framework
provides factors that explain how organizational influences impact goals including work process,
value chains, culture, and resources.
Each of these knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences will be addressed in
Chapter 3 in terms of LAU’s admission counselors meeting their performance goal of increasing
the African American male college admission rate. Assumed knowledge influences will be
examined to determine performance goals that impact recruiting strategies of admission
counselors at LAU. Assumed motivational influences will be addressed by examining what
factors of motivation are needed for LAU admission counselors to see greater success in meeting
their individual goals of increasing African American male college enrollment rate. Finally,
assumed organizational influences will also be addressed and how these organizational
influences impact LAU admission counselors in meeting their goals.
Stakeholder Knowledge, Motivation and Organizational Influences
Knowledge and Skills
Administrators at LAU have been charged with increasing the African American male
college admission rate. To do so, admission counselors must know what factors prevent African
American males from going to college and implement best practices to improve recruiting.
Grossman and Salas (2011) detailed that ongoing learning leads to relevant changes within the
workplace. Therefore, once admission counselors learn what factors prevent African American
males from earning a college degree, they will begin to change their behavior to meet their goal.
Daly (2006) suggests that rearranging factors within the environment is necessary to establish
more adaptive functional relationships. Therefore, factors must be altered within one’s
INFLUENCING FACTORS 22

environment to produce change. In this case, best practices within the LAU Admission
Department must be altered to focus on this underrepresented group that promotes increased
college admission rates of African American males. Thus, the ultimate goal for the stakeholder
group of focus is for LAU’s Undergraduate Admission Counselors is to implement 100% of the
best practices for increasing the enrollment of African American males 100% of the time.
Therefore, this study focused on knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences that
impact admission counselors to improve the African American male admission rate at LAU.
Knowledge influences. In order for change to occur, admissions counselors must be
able to do several key things, according to the research literature. The following section will
explore these knowledge types that impact admission counselors at LAU to change recruiting
strategies by effective learning. As discussed, Krathwohl (2002) discussed four knowledge types
including factual, procedural, conceptual, and metacognitive knowledge (which will be
explained in detail in following sections). Together, these knowledge types clarify the
knowledge needed for admission counselors to make real change.
Tailored admission communication. Admission counselors know that there are factors
that prevent African American male students from earning a college degree. Knowing these
factors are important so that admission counselors are able to implement the best practices for
increasing the enrollment of African American males. According to Fears-Hackett (2012), the
lack of African Americans earning a college degree is often attributed to this population’s group
lack of intelligence; however, environmental factors that inhibit this group from earning a
college degree are often overlooked, including factors such as discrimination, quality of local job
availability, and self-efficacy. Bensimon (2005) suggested that assumptions educators make
about minorities and underrepresented groups leads to the problem of unequal educational
INFLUENCING FACTORS 23

outcomes within the United States. In addition, Gorski (2008) discussed the mindsets of people
in poverty and how these groups view education as a function but not a reality. This study
details how educators often neglect this theory and do not place enough focus on changing this
societal misconception. Fears-Hackett (2012) further suggested that due to years of
discrimination experienced by African Americans this group has spent decades trying to
overcome these environmental and social barriers. As a result, this group often has to forgo
educational goals to provide for their families financially. Therefore, admission counselors must
learn that earning a college degree for this population group would mean blurring the lines of
separation between the generational chains of poverty, which makes improving communication
tailored around these issues to increase college enrollment for this population group necessary.
Understanding factors that prevent African American male students from earning a
college degree and tailoring admission communication around those factors is pertinent
knowledge admission counselors must know to meet their goal of increasing African American
male student enrollment. According to Krathwohl (2003) factual knowledge is the basic element
that one must know to solve problems. Thus, as admission counselors seek to implement best
practices to recruit African American male students, they must first know the basic factors that
prevent this population group from earning a college degree.
Attracting students to LAU. Admission counselors must know how to attract African
American males to LAU. They must understand how to effectively recruit and retain African
American males to the University. Thus, admission counselors must learn what this population
group is interested in and place emphasis on those attributes to attract this population group.
McKeemer (2006) observed that black males tend to develop self-identity through their peers
when there is a lack of positive male role models directly influencing them. This data from was
INFLUENCING FACTORS 24

collected from a 2002 study by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) that
represented a cohort of 26,432 eighth-graders from across the United States. However, when
self-identity is developed through peers and academic achievement occurs, is can be viewed as
feminine, uncool, or acting “white.” Therefore, black males tend to focus on peer-related
activities including sports, games, or becoming popular instead of academics. Jackson (2007)
conducted a qualitative study of four African American males where findings detailed that when
a teacher of the same ethnicity teaches students, this interaction tends to build a sense of self-
worth. Students can relate to those who they feel understand them and have walked in their
shoes. Thus, one of the main problems affecting this population group is not having enough
positive male role models in the schools that look like them to motivate and push them to earn a
college degree. Therefore, admission counselors must know how to speak to these peer-related
activities that may attract this population group. They must also know how to highlight
reputable African American male professors and administrators who work at the University and
who can be a resource for this population group.
To improve communication surrounding these issues that prevent African American
males from earning a college degree, procedural knowledge is needed. Krathwohl (2002)
concluded that procedural knowledge is useful in determining how and when to use appropriate
procedures. Furthermore, Rueda (2011) described procedural knowledge as knowing how to
apply a theory. Once LAU admission counselors learn and understand what these factors are,
they will be better equipped on how and when to tailor admission communication to begin to
push through some of these hurdles that prevent African Americans males from earning a college
degree.
Allocation of scholarship budget. Admission counselors need to know that specific
INFLUENCING FACTORS 25

monies from scholarship fund should be allocated to incoming African American male students
to boost this group’s enrollment percentage. Research supports that there are several factors
needed for successful degree completion of African American males including adequate funding
(Perna & Redd, 2003). Reports show that 27% of African American students that earned a
bachelor degree owed over $30,000 in debt compared to 16% of White students that owed
$30,000 or more. In addition, 69% of Black students noted that debt was the main reason for
dropping out of college, whereas only 43% of White students noted dropping out because of
debt. In total, 81% of Black students and 67% of Hispanic students finished school with higher
debt than White students (Isaac, 2012). The severity of African Americans not earning a college
degree at the same rate of their White and Asian counterpart’s impacts several factors including
earning potential. Perna and Redd (2003) concluded that individuals with a college degree earn
twice as much as those without a degree. Thus, inequitable financial resources to higher
education for this population groups remains a problem until measures are put in place for all
population groups to ensure proper allocation of scholarship funds are being met.
LAU admission counselors, therefore, must be able to understand how to incorporate
resources available at their disposal to impact increased admission rates of African American
males. Conceptual knowledge helps to do this because this knowledge type helps one to link
interrelationships among elements within a large structure (Krathwohl, 2002). As the frontline
decision makers of determining scholarship allocations, admission counselors need to know that
specific monies from their scholarship budget should be allocated to incoming African American
male students to boost this group’s enrollment percentage. Thus, finding the right correlation
between African American male student enrollment and scholarship allocation is a must.
Assessment of efforts. Admission counselors need to understand how their behavior
INFLUENCING FACTORS 26

impacts the success of his or her individual efforts to recruit African American males. After
taking the time to learn about factors that prevent African American males from earning a
college degree and allocating appropriate resources to support this group in accessing college
admission, admission counselors need to assess the success of his or her own individual efforts.
Grossman and Salas (2011) pointed out that effective assessments measure overall competence,
ability to understand complex ideas, adaption to changing factors, learning from experiences, and
formation of appropriate reasoning from acquired learning. Once LAU admission counselors
have properly assessed their success in factors contributed to helping them reach their goal of
developing an enrollment plan dedicated to increasing the African American male college
admission rate is when they can properly access what more they can do or change to be more
cognitively aware of growth opportunities.
This type of self-assessment falls under metacognitive knowledge. Metacognitive
knowledge is a process where one becomes more responsible for his or her own intellect and
thinking (Rueda, 2011). In addition, Krathwohl (2002) described metacognitive knowledge as
knowledge of one’s own self including self-awareness and one’s own cognition. According to
Grossman and Salas (2011), with proper self-assessment comes learning and understanding,
which gives birth to motivation.
Table 2 below highlights the type of knowledge influence that must be used in order for
admission counselor to implement the best practices for increasing the enrollment of African
American males by June 2019. In addition, Table 2 details the assumed knowledge influences
that each admission counselor needs to have in order to meet their goal.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 27

Table 2
Summary of Knowledge Influences on Admission Counselors
Assumed Needs of Successful Admission Counselors General Literature
Knowledge
Factual Admission counselors know that there are
factors that prevent African American male
students from earning a college degree.

(Bensimon, 2005; Fears-Hackett,
2012; Gorski, 2008)

Procedural

Conceptual
Admission counselors need to know how to
attract African American males to LAU.

Admission counselors need to know that
specific monies from scholarship fund
should be allocated to incoming African
American male students to boost this
group’s enrollment percentage.

(Jackson, 2007; Krathwohl, 2002;
McKeemer, 2006)

(Isaac, 2012; Perna & Redd, 2003)

Metacognitive Admission counselors need to understand
how their behavior impacts the success of
his or her individual efforts to recruit
African American males.
(Grossman and Salas, 2011;
Krathwohl, 2002; Rueda, 2011)

Motivation
Pintrich (2003) described motivation as a direction of behavior. Furthermore, both
Pintrich (2003) and Eccles (2009) found that factors of motivation include competence,
autonomy, and social relatedness. LAU admission counselors who possess these elements of
motivation will see greater success in meeting their individual goal of increasing the African
American male college enrollment rate. For example, competence in this context is the mastery
of information (Eccles, 2009). Admission counselors who master the factors that affect African
American male students will feel more competent in tailoring admission communication around
these factors. Autonomy is feeling personally responsible for meeting goals. Pintrich (2003)
added that autonomy is feelings of wanting to be in control. By effectively conducting
INFLUENCING FACTORS 28

meaningful self-assessments, LAU admission counselors can consistently gage their success that
creates accountability for their efforts. It also allows admission counselors a tool to determine
whether they need to increase or modify their own personal efforts. Social relatedness is the
need to feel valued by groups and/or institutions (Eccles, 2009). By admission counselors
meeting their goal to increase the African American male college enrollment rate, they will begin
to feel social relatedness from the many students they have helped. As each African American
male student successfully matriculates into college, each admission counselor will feel a sense of
pride knowing they have impacted a life, a family, and a community positively. Not only will
they feel gratification in every life they have changed, they will also feel valued by their
organization, as they were a part of a movement that fought for change and equality. Pintrich
(2003) described these needs of competence, autonomy, and social relatedness as innate in all
human beings and that they apply across all circumstances. Furthermore, if these needs are not
met, one’s motivation level will suffer. Thus, LAU admission counselors must feel a sense of
competence, autonomy, and social relatedness in order to boost motivation to increase the
African American male college admission rate.
Self-Efficacy Theory. As discussed, learning on how to increase African American male
enrollment rates is needed within LAU’s Undergraduate Admission’s Department. Grossman
and Salas (2011) found that learning is a fundamental component of any organization. However,
if one does not believe in their capabilities, all the learning achieved will not suffice. Pajares
(2009) defined this concept as self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief about his or
her own capabilities. Thus, self-efficacy is the foundation for motivation. Bandura (2000)
further described self-efficacy as an influencer on one’s thinking whether it is sporadic,
strategic, pessimistic, or optimistic. Self-efficacy also plays a role in what actions one will take,
INFLUENCING FACTORS 29

goals they set forth, how much effort they put into completing a goal, expected outcomes,
perseverance, and resilience in completing goals. If people do not believe their actions will
produce desired results, their motivation to succeed will be low.
Admission Counselor’s Self-Efficacy. Admission counselors need to believe they are
capable of recruiting African American male students to LAU. LAU admission counselors will
experience many challenges in their quest to meet their goals. However, the admission
counselors who show adequate perseverance and enough confidence in their abilities will
succeed. Grossman and Salas (2011) confirmed that those who have high self-efficacy have
more confidence in their ability to learn new concepts and apply those concepts and are thus,
more likely to show perseverance when completing challenging tasks. Therefore, LAU
admission counselors need to have confidence in their abilities to recruit African American male
prospective students to LAU. This concept relates to Eccles (2009) who discussed expectancy-
value theory in where the question posed is if an individual believes he or she can complete a set
task. This research suggested that confidence in one’s own ability is a strong predictor of
achievement. To be successful in completing their outlined goals, admission counselors must
believe they are capable of accomplishing their goals.
Expectancy Value Theory. Expectancy value theory refers to how a task fits into one’s
goals. This type of motivation is typically extrinsic because it is driven by external rewards
including money, praise, career promotions, and other factors. Expectancy value motivation
typically does not result in immediate rewards but to a means to an end. Expectancy value can
resonate with one’s own personal goals and be tied to intrinsic or internal motivations (Cambria
& Wigfield, 2010). Eccles (2009) highlighted for this type of motivation to exist, one must want
to do a task. If one does not particularly want to do a task, it is highly unlikely they will
INFLUENCING FACTORS 30

accomplish set forth goals.
Admission Counselor’s Expectancy Value. Admission counselors need to see the value
of recruiting African American male students to LAU. Eccles (2009) stressed the importance of
will as a key factor in motivation. For admission counselors at LAU to want to succeed in their
goal of increasing the African American male college enrollment rate, as stated in earlier section,
they must first learn the benefits in doing so. In addition, according to Eccles (2009), expectancy
value is a type of motivational theory that explains the value placed on obtaining immediate or
long term external rewards. If Admission counselors do not see the value in recruiting African
American males to the university then the value of taking the time to devote to this group may be
too low to motivate their efforts. This concept reinforces the need for LAU admission
counselors to be trained effectively to understand the factors that prevent African American
males from earning a college degree. When decision makers such as admission counselors and
other school officials do not fully understand these factors, it can lead to negative stereotypes.
Unfortunately, negative stereotypes can lead school officials to communicate low expectations of
minority students resulting in differential interactions, inferior educational support, subpar
encouragement to accomplish educational aspirations, and failure to provide quality educational
experiences that promote self-confidence (Eccles, 2009).
In addition to admission counselors seeing the value in recruiting prospective African
American male students to attend college, admission counselors must also believe that all
students are capable of going to college including African American male students. Brown’s
(2008) study of African American males at a predominantly White higher educational institution
suggest that the disposition of African American men stem from a long history of racial
oppression, discrimination, and legally mandated segregation. When this population group
INFLUENCING FACTORS 31

interacts or takes heed to such stereotypes, behavior can manifest these very expectations. In
addition, these negative stereotypes will continue to play a role in the African American male
psyche that results in low self-efficacy and low academic performance of African American men.
Society must change its negative perceptions of black males and begin to create a climate that
fosters the academic success of black males. Thus, admission counselors must be an entity that
works towards changing these societal misconceptions of African American males. To be
successful in their goal of implementing best practices to recruit and retain African American
males to LAU they must first believe that this population group is capable of going to college.
Table 3 below details the specific motivational assessment used to assess assumed
targeted motivational influence. It also highlights assumed motivational influences admission
counselors must possess in order to meet his or her goal.
Table 3
Summary of Motivational Influences on Admission Counselors
Assumed Needs of Successful Admission Counselors General Literature

Motivation
Self-Efficacy Admission counselors need to believe they
are capable of recruiting African American
male students to LAU.

(Cambria & Wigfield, 2010; Eccles,
2009)

Expectancy
Value

Expectancy
Value
Admission counselors need to see the value
of recruiting African American male
students to LAU.

Admissions counselors need to believe that
all students are capable of going to college.
(Cambria & Wigfield, 2010; Eccles,
2009)

(Cambria & Wigfield, 2010; Eccles,
2009)

INFLUENCING FACTORS 32

Organizational Influences
Organizational influences impact gaps within an organization. Clark and Estes (2008)
described gaps in organizations as barriers in processes or equipment. Furthermore, this study
stressed the importance of having organizational support in order for successful goal
achievement in closing those gaps. Thus, if change is made within the knowledge or
motivational level of an organization, the need for change within the organizational processes
will also need to be made. Agócs (1997) explained that when an organization faces change,
resistance is inevitable. It is often active resistance in the form of denial or repression.
Organizational influences and direct resistance will be explored in the following sections.
General theory. Objectives that create the most change are met with the most resistance
(Agócs, 1997). However, Kezar (2001) described organizational change as a natural and
inevitable part of organizational development. Change occurs because of the need to grow,
learn, and modify behavior. Thus, it is those organizational influences that determine the degree
and success of change. Agócs (1997) explained that the reason change is often so heavily
resisted for individuals is because of formed habits, absence of necessary skills, fear of the
unknown, and fear of lost power. In addition, change within an organization is often resisted
because of apathy, unrecoverable cost, scarce resources, threat to established lines of power,
values and beliefs, and inability to consider other alternatives.
Resistance of Admission Counselors. Admission counselors work in an environment
that lacks resources needed to increase African American male college enrollment. Thus,
available resources will help to minimize admission counselor’s resistance to increasing African
American male college enrollment percentages. According to Brightman and Moran (2000) with
any great change comes resistance because it shakes the foundation of privilege. While LAU
INFLUENCING FACTORS 33

Admission Counselors are accustomed to following set admission criteria when admitting
students, they are not use to giving specific consideration to a particular population group. As
Agócs (1997) described, resistance is often encountered due to a change in formed habits. Thus,
a change in organizational influence can result in an assumed resistance for LAU admission
counselors to meet their goal of increasing the African American male college enrollment rate.
Fear of the unknown also creates resistance. Brightman and Moran (2000) confirm this
by their findings that risk of failure creates resistance. As stated in earlier section, this is why
knowledge influences are so important. LAU admission counselors must understand the benefits
of increasing African American male college enrollment percentages, know how to go about
impacting enrollment, and have the proper organizational support in order to meet goals as
discussed in Brown (2008). With the proper knowledge influences and motivational influences
brought on by organizational support and/or influences, fear of breaking habits and the fear of
the unknown will decrease.
Admission Counselors Assumed Fear. Admission counselors work in an environment
that poorly reinforces effective recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount of African
American male student enrollment compared to other racial groups. In admission counselors’
pursuit to meet their goal, there is assumed fear that their organization does not support a
proportionate amount of African American male student. As discussed above, fear impacts goal
completion. Brightman and Moran (2000) indicated that fear of the unknown impedes goal
completion. As LAU admission counselors are presented with a new organizational goal to
increase African American male college admission rates, there is an assumed fear that they will
not be able to accomplish this goal. Hendry (2006) suggest the best way to tackle fear of goal
completion is to take an educational approach to decrease pressures, in where instruction is
INFLUENCING FACTORS 34

given. In addition, a new value system must be adopted entirely by all attributing parties so
newly formed goals can become attainable.
In LAU admission counselor’s quest to meet their goal and eliminate any fear of failure,
Agócs (1997) also found that the best way to defeat fear is to immerse oneself in education. As
described in the earlier section, this is also a contributing factor of knowledge influences. Senge
(1990) explains that humans are designed to learn and that no one wants to make a mistake.
While LAU admission counselors are uncertain if they will be supported in their efforts to
produce change, new behavior must be learned in order for change to be made and for goals to
be met. However, Brightman and Moran (2000) explain that the best way for change to be met is
for change to align with a person’s sense of purpose. As discussed in motivational theories
above, if change aligns with one’s beliefs, goal attainment becomes more realistic.
Overwhelming Influences on Admission Counselors. LAU lacks procedures such as
reorganizing responsibilities that allow admission counselors to invest time into recruiting
African American male students; thus, helping to eliminate admission counselors’ feelings of
being overwhelmed by other administrative and recruiting responsibilities that keep them from
investing increased effort into recruiting African American male students. With assumed
feelings of being overwhelmed, this aspect also plays a role in LAU admission counselors being
successful in completing their goal of increasing African American male college enrollment
rates. Abbas, Nasir, and Zafar (2014) expressed that commitment to change is one of the most
important factors to implementing change initiatives. Thus, LAU admission counselors must be
commitment to meeting their goal regardless of other assigned responsibilities. Abbas et al.
(2014) also explained that is important for individuals to identify stressors that make it
INFLUENCING FACTORS 35

troublesome to meet set goals and find ways to alleviate stressors to make goal completion more
realistic.
In addition to identifying and addressing stressors, LAU admission counselors must have
a voice in assigned duties and expectations. Brightman and Moran (2000) stressed the
importance of individuals being able to express their fears, hopes, and give their input on
proposed changes. While the goal to increase the African American male college enrollment rate
is an overall organizational goal, LAU admission counselors are the frontline personnel actively
working to achieve this goal. Therefore, they must be able to give their input on how to
accurately accomplish this goal while still meeting all deadlines brought on by their other roles
and responsibilities. As discussed above, Abbas et al. (2014) mandated that individuals must be
committed to meeting particular goals. Thus, studies show communication and commitment is
vital to goal completion.
Support Given to Admission Counselors. Admission counselors lack recognition and
communication in order to support them in meeting their goal to boost African American male
enrollment. There is an assumed influence that LAU admission counselors feel there is a lack of
support given by leaders within the institution that help them outline how they are to meet their
goal of increasing African American male college enrollment rates. Yukl (2008) stated that there
must be participation from all levels of leadership to successfully implement change.
Specifically, all leaders must be flexible and adaptable to change. In this context, LAU leaders
must be able to provide guidance, support, and direction to LAU admission counselors as they
work to meet their goal.
In addition to LAU leaders providing support to admission counselors, they must also be
a leading force in helping to increase the African American male college enrollment rate.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 36

According to Brightman and Moran (2000), leaders must boldly state they are the champion of
change, that they are committed to see change enacted, and that they will personally lead all
change efforts. With any type of organizational change initiative, top down influences are
crucial in leading cultural change initiatives. In addition, Abbas et al. (2014) stated that
organizational leadership must ensure that change initiatives are efficient and effective to the
organization’s development. As Yukl (2008) study showed, when all parties are on board to
meet organizational goals, this is where change is most successful. LAU admission counselors,
in this space, will be most impactful in meeting their goal of increasing African American
college enrollment rates.
Table 4 below highlights the type of organizational influence that must be used in order
for admission counselor to implement the best practices for increasing the enrollment of African
American male students. In addition, Table 4 details the assumed organizational influences that
each admission counselor needs to have in order to meet their goal.
Table 4
Summary of Influences on Admission Counselors
Assumed Needs of Successful Admission Counselors General Literature

Organizational
Cultural
Model
Influence

Cultural
Model
Influence

Admission counselors work in an
environment that lacks resources needed to
increase African American male college
enrollment.

Admission counselors work in an
environment that poorly reinforces
effective recruitment to obtain a
proportionate amount of African American
male student enrollment compared to other
racial groups.

(Austin & Erastus, 2014; Coleman,
2016; Johnson-Elie, 2006; )

(Austin & Erastus, 2014; Brannon,
2015; Fears-Hackett, 2012)

INFLUENCING FACTORS 37

Cultural
Setting
Influence

Cultural
Setting
Influence

LAU lacks procedures such as reorganizing
responsibilities that allow admission
counselors to invest time into recruiting
African American male students.

Admission counselors lack recognition and
communication in order to support them in
meeting their goal to boost African
American male enrollment.

(Abbas et al., 2014; Brightman &
Moran, 2000; Yukl, 2008)

(Brannon, 2015; Handle, 2013;
Johnson-Elie, 2006)
Conclusion
Solving the problem of the disproportionate amount of African American males earning a
college degree would greatly benefit the black community in regards to lower incarnation rates,
increased educational and career success, more positive African American male role models and
better overall self-efficacy of the black community (Matthews-Whetstone & Scott, 2015).
Solving this problem might provide an infrastructure of support for African American males who
would then perceive themselves with higher self-worth where they could begin to undue those
negative stereotypes that still exist in today’s society (Jackson, 2007).
If this problem surrounding African American men is not solved, this group will continue
to be underrepresented across a broad spectrum of high-paying professions, have limited job
opportunities, reduced earning potential, and stunted career growth. Without proper education,
solid incomes, and steady jobs, African American men’s chances for economic advancement are
severely diminished, which makes them less likely to fulfill the “American Dream” of buying a
home, starting a business, and supporting a family. Furthermore, if this problem is not solved,
African American men at large will continue to struggle with the possibility of incarceration and
unable to become positive role models for their children. This perpetuating cycle of negative
self-efficacy, which can cause behavior to mimic that of preconceived notions of unfavorable
INFLUENCING FACTORS 38

stereotypes, can ultimately hinder their success of obtaining a college education (Brown, 2008;
Jackson, 2007; Taylor, 2005).
In conclusion, Clark and Estes (2008) framework was used in the sections above to
identify knowledge, motivation, and organization influences that contribute to the enrollment gap
at LAU. The following sections will strive to validate these assumed causes. In addition, the
subsequent sections will address performance gaps within this organizational context outlined
above.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 39

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Purpose of the Project
This research conducted a gap analysis to look at the knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influences that impact admission counselors at LAU to increase the African
American male four-year college admission rates by implementing 100% best practices 100% of
the time by June 2019. As the literature review outlined specific societal factors that prevent this
population group from earning a college degree, admission counselors must be able to implement
all defined best practices to meet their goal. Otherwise, African American male students will
continue to go underrepresented in higher education. Therefore, this analysis identified assumed
interfering influences.
Conceptual and Methodological Framework
Maxwell (2013) explains the need to develop a conceptual framework when conducting
research in order to address possible discrepancies and/or plausible assumptions. Therefore,
Maxwell (2013) defines the conceptual framework within a study as the key part because it
informs or supports the research. It embodies not only assumptions but concepts, expectations,
beliefs, and theories surrounding one’s research. Maxwell (2013) also supports that the
conceptual framework can either be illustrated graphically or in narrative form and that the
purpose is to highlight relationships amongst key factors, concepts, or variables. Furthermore,
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) highlight the point that the terms, “theoretical framework” and
“conceptual framework” are often interchanged and that these are the frame or structure of one’s
study. Additionally, the conceptual framework identities problems, research questions, data
collection, analysis techniques, and how one should interpret his or her findings within a study.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 40

Given the purpose of a conceptual framework above, the following illustration below will
demonstrate how the stakeholder’s assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences interact with each other to accomplish admission counselor’s goal in recruiting
African American male students. While each influencer is independent of one another, they all
work together to impact the end goal. Therefore, in order to increase the African American male
four-year college admission rate, admission counselors must develop best practices to be
successful in meeting their goal. Specifically, admission counselors must develop a recruitment
plan that focus on what counselors need to know that influences African American males to
attend college, the value in retaining these students, engaging in behaviors known to increase
retention, and they must have the resources and organizational climate that facilitates their ability
to retain these students. Thus, the conceptual framework for this recruitment plan must highlight
this study’s assumed concepts, expectations, beliefs, and theories as Maxwell (2013) describes
one must consider when conducting research.
The conceptual framework below illustrates the relationship between the main categories
of influences; when brought together, these influencers impact admission counselor’s ability to
meet the goal illustrated in the bottom diagram. The first diagram in yellow signifies assumed
knowledge and motivation influences admission counselors can anticipate. Admission
counselors must consider knowledge influences including factual, procedural, conceptual, and
metacognitive knowledge types to be successful in meeting their recruitment goal. Admission
counselors know that there are factors that prevent African American male students from earning
a college degree, they need to know how to attract African American males to LAU, they know
that specific monies from scholarship fund should be allocated to incoming African American
male students to boost this group’s enrollment percentage, and they need to understand how their
INFLUENCING FACTORS 41

behavior impacts the success of his or her individual efforts to recruit African American males.
In conjunction with knowledge influences, admission counselors must be prepared to face
assumed motivational influences that impact them in meeting their goal including self-efficacy
and expectancy value motivational influences. Admission counselors must know they are
capable of recruiting African American male students to LAU, they must see the value in
recruiting African American males to attend college, and they must believe that all students are
capable of going to college. Adjacent to knowledge and motivational influences, organizational
influences are depicted in the blue diagram. Admission counselors must also anticipate assumed
organizational influences including, cultural model and cultural setting influences. They must
work in an environment that has the resources needed to increase African American male college
enrollment, work in an environment that reinforces the idea that African American males are
capable of going to college, have the ability to reorganize responsibilities that allows them time
to recruit African American male students, and they must receive recognition and
communication in order to support them in meeting their goal to boost African American male
enrollment. With both knowledge and motivation influences depicted in the yellow diagram
combined with organizational influences depicted in the blue diagram, together these influences
make the green diagram that signifies the stakeholder’s goal in increasing African American
male enrollment rates.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 42

Illustration 1
Conceptual Framework on Admission Counselors

Organizational Influences
Cultural Settings and Cultural
Models

-Resources
-High expectations
-Responsibilities
-Support

Knowledge and Motivational
Influences
Factual, procedural, conceptual, and
metacognitive knowledge and skills
related to self-efficacy and
expectancy value.
LAU admissions counselors
will be implementing 100%
of the best practices for
increasing the enrollment of
African American males
100% of the time.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 43

Assessment of Performance Influences
Knowledge Assessment
This section will identify assessment approaches that were used in this study to identify
which influences were present at LAU. Furthermore, this section will describe the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational influencer types and explain which strategy was used to assess
each type. Therefore, this study predicted four main knowledge influencers detailed in Table 5
below, which include: admission counselors know that there are factors that prevent African
American male students from earning a college degree, admission counselors need to know how
to attract African American males to LAU, admission counselors need to know that specific
monies from scholarship fund should be allocated to incoming African American male students
to boost this group’s enrollment percentage, and admission counselors need to understand how
their behavior impacts the success of his or hers individual efforts to recruit African American
males. The first knowledge type represents factual knowledge and was assessed through
interview questions asking participants to describe factors they believe influence African
American males to attend college. The second knowledge type represents procedural
knowledge. It was assessed through interview questions asking participants how to attract
African American males to LAU. The third knowledge type represents conceptual knowledge
and was assessed by asking admission counselors what percent of their scholarship budget
should be allocated to African American male students. The fourth knowledge type is
metacognitive knowledge that was assessed by also interviewing the stakeholder group to
determine if they feel they have modified their behavior to increase enrollment of African
American male students. These questions together helped to assess knowledge influencers.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 44

Motivation Assessment
The three main motivation influencers detailed below in levels of evaluation of a training
or intervention 5 include: admission counselors need to believe they are capable of recruiting
African American male students to LAU, admission counselors need to see the value of
recruiting African American male students to LAU, and admission counselors need to believe
that all students are capable of going to college. The first motivational type denotes self-
efficacy. This was assessed by surveying participants to determine if they feel confident in their
abilities to recruit African American males to LAU. The following two motivation types are
expectancy value and was assessed by interviewing admission counselors on their viewpoint on
recruiting African American males to the University. These questions helped to better assess
motivational influences of admission counselors and to what extent they value and prioritize
admitting African American males.
Organization/Culture/Context Assessment
Finally, the four organizational influences detailed below in Table 5 include: admission
counselors work in an environment that lacks resources needed to increase African American
male college enrollment, admission counselors work in an environment that poorly reinforces
effective recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount of African American male student
enrollment compared to other racial groups, LAU lacks procedures such as reorganizing
responsibilities that allow admission counselors to invest time into recruiting African American
male students, and admission counselors lack recognition and communication in order to support
them in meeting their goal to boost African American male enrollment. Thus, the first two
organizational influencers are cultural model influencers. They were assessed by interviewing
participants on what resources would make them more successful in recruiting African American
INFLUENCING FACTORS 45

male students and what communication do they receive from LAU to support them in meeting
their goal. The final two organizational influencers are cultural setting influencers. These types
were assessed by interviewing admission counselors to determine the extent to which their
responsibilities have been modified to allow them sufficient time to recruit African American
male students to LAU and what feedback have they received to support them in meeting their
goal to recruit African American male students. These four questions helped to assess some of
the organizational influencers used in this study.
Table 5
Assessment of Assumed Influencers on Admission Counselors
Assumed Influence How Will It Be Assessed?
Possible Knowledge Influences
Admission counselors know that there are
factors that prevent African American male
students from earning a college degree.
Interview Question: What factors do you
believe influence African American males to
attend college?
Admission counselors need to know how to
attract African American males to LAU.
Interview Question: How do you recruit
African American males to LAU?
Admission counselors need to know that
specific monies from scholarship fund should
be allocated to incoming African American
male students to boost this group’s enrollment
percentage.
Survey Question: Scholarship money should
be allocated should be allocated to African
American male students?
Admission counselors need to understand
how their behavior impacts the success of his
or her individual efforts to recruit African
American males.
Interview Question: What behavior have you
modified to increase enrollment of African
American male students?
Possible Motivation Influences
Admission counselors need to believe they
are capable of recruiting African American
male students to LAU.
Interview Question: Do you feel confident in
your abilities to recruit African American
males to LAU? Why or why not?
Admission counselors need to see the value of
recruiting African American male students to
LAU.
Interview Question: What is your viewpoint
on recruiting African American males to the
University?
Admission counselors need to believe that all
students are capable of going to college.
Interview Question: Why might some
students be incapable of going to college?
Possible Organizational Influences
INFLUENCING FACTORS 46

Admission counselors work in an
environment that lacks resources needed to
increase African American male college
enrollment.
Interview Question: What resources would
make you more successful in recruiting
African American male students?
Admission counselors work in an
environment that poorly reinforces effective
recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount
of African American male student enrollment
compared to other racial groups.
Interview Question: What communication do
you receive from LAU to support you in
meeting your goal?
LAU lacks procedures such as reorganizing
responsibilities that allow admission
counselors to invest time into recruiting
African American male students.
Survey Question: Have your responsibilities
been modified to allow you sufficient time to
recruit African American male students to
LAU?
Admission counselors lack recognition and
communication in order to support them in
meeting their goal to boost African American
male enrollment.
Interview Question: What feedback do you
receive to support you in meeting your goal in
recruiting African American male students?

Participating Stakeholders and Sample Selection
To increase African American male college admission rates, it must be understood what
factors prevent this population group from attending college. This study focused on admission
counselors as the stakeholder group, as they are the frontline ambassadors to college enrollment
and own the college recruitment process. Thus, admission counselors must focus on knowledge
and motivation influences that impact their ability to increase African American male’s college
admission rates. In addition, the recruiting strategy must focus on how admission counselors’
knowledge and motivation influences interact with the university to make admission counselors
successful in meeting their goal. To properly assess admission counselors’ knowledge,
motivational, and organizational influences, surveys and interviews were conducted to target
admission counselors who are responsible for recruiting African American male students at
LAU. Out of the thirty admission counselors responsible for recruiting incoming undergraduate
students, LAU has five admission counselors solely responsible for recruiting diverse students of
color to the institution. Therefore, the sampling strategy focused only on these five
INFLUENCING FACTORS 47

undergraduate admission counselors responsible for recruiting students of colors at LAU. The
reason for focusing only on this select group is because the other admission counselors do not
focus on recruiting ethnically diverse students of color to the university. Other counselors are
assigned to other target groups including but not limited to: athletes, students with particular
educational interests, and students in specific regions. Thus, their knowledge, motivational, and
organizational influences are not relevant to this study.
Sampling
The sampling strategy used for this study was purposeful sampling because this strategy
requires for certain criteria to be met (Maxwell, 2013). As the research questions targeted
admission counselors at a large private institution, undergraduate admission counselors, and
counselors focused on ethnically diverse recruiting, purposeful sampling was the best option for
this study.
Criterion 1. Admission counselors must be employed by the large private university.
As private institutions are not federally funded as public institutions are, they have more
independence to operate according to set institutional goals. Thus, private institutions have more
control on admission procedures than public institutions. In addition, a large university better
accounts for diverse perspectives than a smaller private higher education institution. Therefore,
targeting admission counselors in this setting helped to understand admission counselors’
knowledge, motivational, and organizational influencers when recruiting African American male
students.
Criterion 2. Admission counselors must recruit at the undergraduate level. As this study
is focused only on incoming African American male students at the undergraduate level, this
study focused on undergraduate admission counselor’s stakeholder group.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 48

Criterion 3. Admission counselors must focus on ethnically diverse recruiting. Thus,
this targeted stakeholder group at LAU is responsible for recruiting diverse students of color.
Therefore, they were able to provide rich and relevant perspectives to research questions. Other
admission counselors do not focus on racially diverse recruiting and therefore, were not
considered for the purposes of this this study.
Recruitment
Survey. According to Pazzaglia, Rodriguez, and Stafford (2016), when conducting
surveys, one must consider sample size, sampling procedures, and response rates. In addition,
Fink (2013) explains that when conducting surveys, sampling an entire population is not feasible.
Therefore, this study sought out the five admission counselors dedicated to diversity recruiting to
ensure that data collected was representative of that population. As the conceptual framework
detailed for this study focuses on knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that
impact admission counselors in meeting their goal of increasing African American male college
enrollment rates, targeting the five admission counselors who focus on diversity recruiting gave
accurate facts to assess representative data for admission counselors at LAU. In doing so,
admission counselors emails were collected via phone from each counselor. At the onset of data
collection, survey questions were immediately distributed to admission counselors to allow for
sufficient time for the surveys to be completed and returned for analysis.
Interview. Interviews were conducted with each admission counselor to ensure
triangulation. According to Weiss (1994), interviews help to tell the full story and not just
supply answers to standardized questions. In addition, Merriam (1995) suggests using different
sources of data collection as this helps to ensure validity. Thus, interviews were conducted with
admission counselors individually once all surveys were completed to gain a richer
INFLUENCING FACTORS 49

understanding of each admission counselor’s perspective. Interview questions along with survey
questions were conducted to help answer the research questions guiding this study.
Data Collection
Maxwell (2013) states that conducting relevant research to address a research problem is
necessary to show why research is important. Thus, for this study, two data collection methods
were used to answer research questions including surveys and interviews. These methods were
used because each approach helped to triangulate the research questions and ensure
trustworthiness. Surveys allowed for the data to be quantified while interviews allowed for a
more qualitative understanding of the respondent’s point of view. Details on how the data was
administer and collected for each method will be described below.
Surveys
Surveys were administered in English to admission counselors by emailing them survey
questions designed on Qualtrics. Qualtrics allowed all IP addresses to remain anonymous.
There were detailed survey instructions asking admission counselors to answer each question
honestly and to the best of their ability. Instructions also confirmed that their identities would
remain anonymous and detailed that their IP addresses would not be obtained. In addition,
instructions also detailed that prior permission to conduct research was obtained by the
University of Southern California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). There was a total of
sixteen questions asked that focused on knowledge, motivation, and organization influences that
impact each admission counselor as they recruit and admit students to LAU. The questions were
created by the literature review of assumed influences. A copy of the survey appears in
Appendix A below. The survey included both closed-ended questions as well as open-ended
questions. According to Fink (2013), closed-ended questions allow for ease in scoring and
INFLUENCING FACTORS 50

analysis while open-ended questions give the opportunity for respondents to express their
opinions in their own words. Thus, both question types allowed for rich responses from
participants to ensure both validity and reliability when conducting this survey. Fink (2013)
describes validity as ensuring accuracy of information and reliability to consistency of
information. Thus, a test survey was conducted and administer to colleagues to ensure the
design of the survey was reliable and valid. Once tested, the survey was sent out to admission
counselors. Admission counselors were given approximately two weeks to complete the survey.
After one week, a reminder email was resent to all non-respondents with request to complete the
survey no later than the following week.
Interviews
In addition to surveys, phone interviews with each admission counselor were also
conducted in English. An appointment time was set with each admission counselor to ask them a
total of fourteen questions to address the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
that impact them on meeting their goal of enrolling African American male students to the
University. Interviews took no longer than one hour per participant. Interview style was
ethnographic in nature, allowing for an open-ended interview approach (Patton, 2002). In
addition, the tone of the interviews were informal in nature to create a relaxed environment
where the respondent felt comfortable giving candid responses. While interview approach was
open-ended in nature, a set of standardized questions was used to ensure research questions are
addressed. Detailed interview instructions were given to each participant ensuring freedom to
answer questions without pressure and to make sure each participant understood the purpose of
this study. Each respondent was informed that a copy of their transcript would be provided upon
request. Each participant was also informed that the transcripts of each interview would be
INFLUENCING FACTORS 51

stored in a locked area and that their identities would remain anonymous. Each participant was
informed that prior permission to conduct this research was obtained by the University of
Southern California’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). In addition, Rubin and Rubin (2012)
state that interviewees should not be pressured, interviewees should be provided the purpose of
the research, interviewees should be told what will be asked of them, and that interviewees are
disclosed of any potential risks they may encounter. Thus, attention to recommendations were
given with an explanation of the type of questions that were going to be asked of each
participant. Interview questions were knowledge, motivation, and organizational influencer type
questions. Finally, Rubin and Rubin (2012) also recommend examining the questions that will
be asked to assure that subject matter or manner of questioning is not too intrusive and that they
pose minimal risk to interviewees; which recommendation was also followed during the
interview process. A copy of the interview protocol is provided below in Appendix B.
Data Analysis
Once data was collected, data analysis was performed. Survey data was extracted from
Qualtrics into a Microsoft Excel document to determine commonalities in data. Survey
questions consisted of nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio type questions. From there, the
central tendencies of the data was collected including percentages, mean, and mode. For interval
and ratio data, the range was taken. For the ordinal type questions present in the survey, the
frequency distribution was taken to tabulate the Likert Scale type questions. For interview
questions, detailed analysis was also done. To properly interpret interview data, the first step
that was taken was to code the data to determine emergent codes in the form of in vivo and priori
codes. This allowed for common themes in the stakeholder’s responses to be drawn. The second
step was to assign axial or analytic codes to the common themes found in the open coding phase
INFLUENCING FACTORS 52

of interpreting data. This allowed for grouping of common themes to make better
generalizations or to categorize data. The third and final stage of interpreting the interview data
was to finalize patterns and themes and find assertions and propositions within the participants
responses.
Trustworthiness of data.
Merriam (1995) explains it is important that data collection and reporting are trusted and
believed. Therefore, it was critical that this study maintain validity and reliability. Fink (2013)
describes validity as the accuracy in information and reliability as the consistency in information.
Therefore, this research study took a sound approach to look at a familiar problem, understand
how participants perceive their roles within their organization, addresses the history of this
identified problem, and build theory and/or generalizations (Merriam, 1995).
As the data collection method sought to ensure validity and reliability, Merriam (1995)
suggested several ways to ensure validity including triangulation and researcher’s statement of
experiences, assumptions, and biases. By using two different data collection methods, validity
through triangulation was achieved by using these varying methods to confirm results and
findings. The analysis also conducted member checking by looking to ensure that the
stakeholder groups’ responses on the survey questions aligned with the interview questions that
were being asked of them as well. At the completion of the interviews, member checking was
also used to ensure validity by allowing participants to review the study’s findings to ensure
accuracy. Finally, this study also ensured validity by offering prior assumptions and biases of
the researcher before data collection was conducted so that the reader understands how data may
have been interpreted.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 53

Merriam (1995) described reliability as the extent to which one’s findings could be found
again. This researcher also suggested several ways to ensure reliability including peer
examination and audit trail. Throughout this study, an upward of five peer’s reviews and
critiques on research questions, data collection method, and ways to properly conduct data
analysis had been completed. In addition, faculty from the University of Southern California had
also routinely reviewed and critiqued complete research study from start to finish and approved
final study before it was completed. In addition, this study ensured reliability by keeping a
detailed audit trail of how data was collected, how categories were derived, and how decisions
were made. In addition, Fink (2013), also suggested that to ensure reliability, one must ensure
clarity of questions and general formatting of questions. Thus, one should pilot or test their
survey on a similar population group to anticipate circumstances and how to handle them. Thus,
as an additional measure to ensure reliability, survey questions were administered to a peer group
to ensure questions were clear and to predict obstacles the stakeholder group may have
experienced when taking the survey.
Glesne (2011) stated that ethical conduct places emphasis on informed consent,
avoidance of harm, and confidentiality. In addition to these considerations, this research placed
emphasis on voluntary participation, right to withdraw, right to view transcripts, and storage and
security of data. It is important that these stringent ethical principles were adhered to as this
study collected sensitive information regarding participants’ beliefs, values, and practices.
Glesne (2011) also stressed the importance of participants having trust in their researcher; when
this happens, researchers are in turn, provided candid information surrounding their participants.
Thus, all participants will be given an information sheet. The information sheets highlighted that
participation in the study was strictly voluntary and that all participants had the right to withdraw
INFLUENCING FACTORS 54

from the study at any point without penalty. Given the sensitivity of each participants
professional roles at their University, all identities remained confidential and all data will remain
stored in a locked drawer, in a secure office, unit destroyed. A copy of the transcripts were
provided to the participants upon request to ensure their words were not altered. In addition,
participants were reminded that since involvement in the study was strictly voluntary, they would
not receive any incentives as to coerce their involvement. All potential harm was minimized to
ensure participants felt safe partaking in the study. As an extra layer of protection, this study
was submitted to the University of Southern California’s (USC) Institutional Review Board
(IRB) in addition to a committee of faculty members at USC for their review and approval of all
research concerning human subjects. Following this protocol also helped to ensure that this
study followed ethical guidelines.
Role of Investigator
As the researcher of this study was previously an admission counselor of LAU, prior
working relationship had been established with several of the admission counselors. Thus, this
study relied on pre-established relationships to have a successful response rate. Since current
employment with LAU is far removed, former relationships did not impede admission counselor
responses as their responses had no bearing on their current or future employment with LAU.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 55

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND FINDINGS
Introduction
Assumed causes for knowledge, motivation, and organization challenges were delineated
in Chapter 3 by examining Clark and Estes’ (2008) Gap Analytic Conceptual Framework. This
chapter describes the application of this framework to analyze current levels of achievement and
validate the assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational causes of gaps in performance.
Knowledge influences included the factual, procedural, conceptual, and metacognitive influences
that impact admission counselors in meeting their goal of increasing African American male
student enrollment. The motivational influences that were considered for this study included
self-efficacy and expectancy value theory influences to gage motivation levels of admission
counselors in meeting their goal. Finally, organizational influences were also considered to
assess the influence of cultural models and cultural settings on admission counselors meeting
their goal.
In this study, quantitative and qualitative data were collected to validate the assumed
causes outlined above. Specifically, survey and interview data were collected to understand the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational challenges admission counselors face in meeting their
goal to increase African American male college enrollment. Participants for this study were
selected by their job duties of recruiting diverse students of color to the university. As there
were five admission counselors who focused on recruiting students of color to LAU, these five
admission counselors were asked to participate in this study. Each admission counselor was
asked a total of sixteen questions for the survey portion of this study. There were two knowledge
type questions, five motivation type questions, five organizational type questions, two nominal
type questions, one ratio type question, and one open-ended question. All admission counselors
INFLUENCING FACTORS 56

completed the survey within a two-week time frame. Once all surveys were completed and data
was reviewed, interviews were conducted with each admission counselor. Each participant was
asked a total of fourteen questions. There were three knowledge type questions, four motivation
type questions, and seven organizational type questions. Follow up questions were also asked to
clarify responses of each participant to gain a better understanding of each admission counselor’s
point of view.
Interviews were conducted after the surveys to allow for triangulation of data as well as
member checking of data. By conducting the surveys first, this study was able to gain a
quantitative understanding of admission counselors’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences that impact them in recruiting African American male students to LAU. By reviewing
the survey results, the researcher was more effectively able to fine tune interview questions to
ensure they filled in the gaps of surveys responses obtained from admission counselors.
Participants
All five invited participants completed both survey and interview questions. One of the
participants identified as White or Caucasian, two identified as Black or African American, and
two identified as Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander. Three of the respondents
were male, two were female. Two of the participants had worked as an admission counselor
between one and three years, one participant had worked as an admission counselor between
three and five years, one participant had worked as an admission counselor between five and ten
years, and one participant had worked as an admission counselor for over ten years.
Validation
“Validation” refers to confirming a gap in an asset. The literature in Chapter 3 identified
positive skills, knowledge, beliefs, and organizational conditions that contribute to increasing the
INFLUENCING FACTORS 57

successful recruitment of African American males. The following sections will identify if a gap
was confirmed or “validated” based on the triangulation of the data this study collected through a
survey and interviews. Each influence below was written either as an asset or a barrier. If the
asset was present based on data collection, then the gap was not validated. If the asset was not
present, then a gap was identified. If the influence was written as a barrier and the barrier was
present, then the gap was validated. If the influencer was written as a barrier and there was no
barrier present, then the gap was not validated.
Table 6.
Validation Explanation
Data indicate asset or
barrier is present?
Gap Validated or Not
Influence written
positively, as an asset

Y

Not validated
Influence written
positively, as an asset

N

Validated
Influence written
negatively, as a barrier

Y

Validated
Influence written
negatively, as a barrier

N

Not validated

For survey data, a question provided evidence in support of a gap if at least 60% of
admission counselors either agreed or disagreed on a particular item. For interviews,
commonality was also examined. If 60% or more of admission counselors all shared similar
INFLUENCING FACTORS 58

responses, those findings were considered as evidence. If there was any significant variation in
responses, the findings sections detail the difference in perspectives. If there was an overall
variation between survey and interview responses, the results and findings sections below detail
the difference. Any contradictions between survey and interview responses are explained in the
interview findings sections. Thus, each influence below will clearly indicate the presence or
absence of the related gap.
Results and Findings for Knowledge Causes
Knowledge Influence #1: Admission counselors know that there are factors that prevent
African American male students from earning a college degree
The survey results found that 80% of admission counselors strongly agreed that there are
societal factors that prevent African American males from earning a college degree. Interview
findings showed that there was a consensus amongst admission counselors who all expressed
that there are societal factors that impact African American males from earning a college degree.
Specifically, comments related to this factor included, “lack of support and inclusivity at the
college level and preparation by high schools.” One admission counselor stated that:
“schools over look…[African American males], they are just happy if a black male is not
causing trouble and then they are forgotten about. Counselors often tell African
American students to go to community colleges because they can get in. No one is
helping them flourish. There are so many factors.”
Another admission counselor stated, “Conformation bias, implicit bias, and cultural bias affect
the lens in which professors see students. Many biases go unchecked from K-12 post
baccalaureate.” Other participants also commented that low expectations and stereotypes of
school officials at the K-12 level have a negative impact on African American students. In
INFLUENCING FACTORS 59

addition, participants noted that some African American males that are accepted into college do
not enroll primarily due to the lack of financial resources provided to this group and also because
of the lack of support structures provided to this group.
As all participants identify different factors detailed in the literature review that prevent
many African American males from earning a college degree, it is unclear if there is a uniform
understanding of factors that prevent African American males from earning a college degree,
thus an actionable gap was identified, and this knowledge asset was validated. Of note,
admission counselors did not specifically discuss the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon,
however, they did address the occurrence of low expectations of African American males which
is present in the problem of sending African American males from school to prison.
Knowledge Influence #2: Admission counselors need to know how to attract African
American males to LAU
There were no survey questions to address this influence. Interview findings revealed
inconsistent knowledge about how to attract African American males to attend college.
Interview responses included, “financial leveraging, campus and community support of African
American males, and faculty engagement.” Another counselor commented that “familial
support, desire to improve educational and economic status, and better support from the K-12
school systems is need.” When asked how to attract African American males, another counselor
stated, “I don’t know, hard for me to say. I want to know further.” As participants each gave
different beliefs of how to properly attract African American males to LAU, it is unclear if
admission counselors know, systematically, how to attract African American males to LAU. As
such, this knowledge barrier was validated as knowledge unknown by admission counselors.
Therefore, there is a gap that will be addressed by the recommendations in Chapter 5.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 60

Knowledge Influence #3: Admission counselors know that specific monies from
scholarship funds should be allocated to incoming African American male students to boost
this group’s enrollment percentage
Survey results showed that the majority of admission counselors strongly agreed that
more scholarship money should be allocated to African American males. In addition, interview
findings revealed that admission counselors all commented that designated scholarship funds
should be allocated to boost African American male student enrollment. Admission counselors
also all believed that designated scholarship funds would increase African American male
student enrollment. One participant commented that:
“There should be scholarship funds allocated to African American males….and [that the]
African American culture is not comfortable with debt. Some see colleges as equal, why
pay more for one school over another. They’d rather go to a school that gives them a
better return on their investment. We should offer automatic scholarships if we want them
to come. Look at survey results of who didn’t come, a lot of times it’s because of not
enough scholarship money.”
As survey results and interview findings all support that admissions counselors recognize the
need for scholarship funds to be allocated to African American males, this knowledge asset was
confirmed, and no actionable gap was validated.
Knowledge Influence #4: Admission counselors need to understand how their behavior
impacts the success of his or her individual efforts to recruit African American males
There were no survey questions to address this influence. Interview findings showed that
all admission counselors understood that their behavior impacts their ability to meet their goal.
However, participants all gave different opinions as to how their behavior impacts the success of
INFLUENCING FACTORS 61

his or her individual efforts. One counselor commented, “Yes, I believe my behavior impact my
success but honestly, I feel a lot of counselors are oblivious as to how low the African American
enrollment percentage is.” As admission counselors could not consistently articulate how their
behavior impacts their success, this barrier was confirmed as an actionable gap was validated.
Table 7 below details survey items by knowledge influences analyzed in the data
collection. Survey scale options included strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree.
The mean score from participant responses was averaged to depict responses of strongly
disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree.
Table 7
Knowledge Influencers Survey Results
Item
Strongly
Disagree % Disagree% Agree %
Strongly
Agree % Mean
Mean
Response
There are societal
factors that hinder
African American
males from
earning a college
degree.
20 0 0 80 3.4 Agree
More scholarship
money should be
allocated to
African American
male students.
20 0 20 60 3.2 Agree
Totals (N=100)

Knowledge Causes Summary
Survey results and interview findings relating to knowledge influences overall validated
that there are some assets and some barriers that impact the admission counselors’ ability to meet
INFLUENCING FACTORS 62

their performance goal. While admissions counselors were able to articulate some of the factors
that prevent African American male students from earning a college degree, their knowledge was
not in unison. They were also unable to clearly define how best to attract African American
males to the university. Results and findings, however, did validate the counselors’
understanding that scholarship monies are essential to increasing African American male student
enrollment. Finally, results and findings showed that admission counselors were not able to
uniformly define how their behavior impacts their success in meeting their goal.
As a result of the validated influences above, Chapter 5 will focus on recommendations
that will address the knowledge gap regarding factors that prevent African American males from
earning a college degree and how to attract African American males to enroll in college. While
it is important for admission counselors to understand, collectively, how their behavior impacts
their success in increasing African American male student enrollment, to keep recommendations
manageable and because the admissions counselor all demonstrated they understood the
importance in different ways, this knowledge influence will not be addressed in Chapter 5.
Results and Findings for Motivation Causes
Motivational Influence #1: Admission counselors need to believe they are capable of
recruiting African American male students to LAU
Survey results indicated that the majority of admission counselors agreed that they seek
out additional resources to help them recruit African American male students. However,
interview findings revealed that a majority of admission counselors were not confident in their
abilities to recruit African American male students. While one admission counselor commented
“hell yes” in being confident in abilities to recruit African American students, other counselors
commented, “No,” “Not completely,” and “I don’t know.” Each participant described different
INFLUENCING FACTORS 63

approaches as to how they recruit African American males to LAU. Approaches included,
“using big data…[and] clustering socioeconomic and consumer data…to identify geo-markets to
recruit” and by “asking African American males at the college about their needs to involve them
in the process.” Another admission counselor indicated they, “do not do anything different
specifically to recruit African American male students and…most counselors do not do anything
differently if they do not have a high percentage of African American males in their specific
territories.” Based on a low consensus of participants feeling confident in their abilities to recruit
African American males to LAU and participants all doing something different to specifically
recruit African American males to LAU, this motivation asset was not confirmed, and a
motivation gap was validated.
Motivational Influence #2: Admission counselors need to see the value of recruiting African
American male students to LAU
Survey results showed that the majority of admission counselors disagreed that their
institution enrolls a good amount of African American males. Survey results also indicated that
participants disagreed that they spend enough time recruiting African American male students.
Interview questions explored participants’ viewpoints a bit further. Participants were
questioned about whether or not they believed the institution should put more focus on recruiting
African American males. More than half of the admission counselors agreed more focus should
be put on recruiting African American males. Participants also indicated that focus should be on
other factors including, “expanding one-time scholarships to cover four-year programs…many
African Black students are forced to choose universities that lessen their financial burden.”
Another admission counselor commented that they are, “not data mining to look for African
Americans specifically but just for minorities…and when it comes to athletes, they will go across
INFLUENCING FACTORS 64

country to random schools and will find the money to do it but…[they] don’t look for really
smart black kids.” All admission counselors noted there is value in in recruiting African
American males. However more than half of admission counselors did not clearly articulate
what the value is, such as creating educated African American male figures within the Black
community, improving feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and battling societal
misconceptions of African American men as supported in this study’s literature review. Thus, as
admission counselors collectively disagreed that there is a good amount of African American
males enrolled at their institution but also agreed that they do not spend enough time recruiting
time African American males and could not clearly articulate the value in recruiting African
American males, this motivational asset was validated, and a motivation gap was identified.
Motivational Influence #3: Admission counselors need to believe that all students are
capable of going to college
Survey questions did not address this influence. Interview findings revealed that a
majority of admission counselors agreed that not all students are capable of going to college.
One admission counselor commented, “that only students willing to work hard and put in the
work are capable to going to college.” As the majority of admission counselors did not believe
that all students are capable of going to college, this motivational barrier was validated, and a
motivation gap was identified.
Table 8 below details survey items by motivation influences analyzed in data collection.
Survey scale options included strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree. The mean
score from participant responses was averaged to depict responses of strongly disagree, disagree,
agree, and strongly agree.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 65

Table 8
Motivation Influencers Survey Results
Item
Strongly
Disagree % Disagree% Agree %
Strongly
Agree % Mean
Mean
Response
My institution
currently enrolls a
good amount of
African American
males.
20 60 20 0 2 Disagree
I seek out additional
resources to help
me recruit African
American males.
0 0 80 20 3.2 Agree
I spend enough time
recruiting African
American males to
the university.
20 60 20 0 2 Disagree
Totals (N=100)

Motivation Causes Summary
To summarize, motivation results and findings confirmed what while all admission
counselors sought out additional resources to better recruit African American males, they
collectively did not feel confident in their abilities to effectively recruit African American males.
In addition, results and findings validated that there is a disproportionally low number of African
American males enrolled at LAU and that the university should put more focus on recruiting this
targeted population group. Admission counselors also confirmed that they do not spend enough
time actively recruiting African American males to the university. While admission counselors
confirmed there is value in recruiting African American males, they could not clearly articulate
INFLUENCING FACTORS 66

what that value is. Finally, all admission counselors confirmed they do not believe all students
are capable of going to college.
As a result of validated and not validated motivational influencers listed above, Chapter 5
motivation recommendations will focus on improving admission counselor’s confidence in
recruiting African American male students and for them to better understand the value in
recruiting African American male students. While it is important to value all students going to
college, this motivational influencer will not be addressed in Chapter 5 to help manage
recommendations to the specific target group.
Results and Findings for Organization Causes
Organization Influence #1: Admission counselors lack the resources needed to increase
African American male college enrollment
Survey results showed that a majority of admission counselors disagreed that they receive
resources to help them recruit African American male students. Interview findings confirmed
survey results in that the majority of admission counselors stated they do not receive resources
that specifically help them recruit African American males. When asked during interviews what
resources would make them more successful in their recruiting efforts, the responses varied.
Responses included, “More scholarship money for African American males,” “More African
American male staff representatives,” and “A list of community based organizations that target
specific population groups that could better connect...[them] to prospective African American
male students.” As results and findings both confirm that admission counselors lack the
resources needed to increase African American male enrollment, this influence was validated as
a barrier.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 67

Organization Influence #2: Admission counselors work in an environment that poorly
reinforces effective recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount of African American
male students
Survey results indicated that the majority of admission counselors disagreed that the
entire admission department spends enough time recruiting African American males. Survey
results also showed that the majority of admission counselor disagreed that the university has
sufficient prospective student programs tailored to attract African American males to the
university. Interview findings confirmed there are five admission counselors who focus on
recruiting African American male students out of the over thirty admission counselors within the
department. The majority of interviewed admission counselor expressed that recruiting should
be a joint effort and not limited to specific individuals. Specifically, one admission counselor
stated that all the admission counselors, “should all have this as a part of…[their] goals and
mission within recruiting” and another admission counselor stated, “we only have five diversity
counselors and I do not think they are doing the proper checks and balances to make sure we are
meeting the diversity goals.” As results and findings support that admission counselors disagree
that the university does enough to effectively recruit African American male students, this barrier
was validated.
Organization Influence #3: LAU lacks procedures such as reorganizing responsibilities that
allow admission counselors to invest time into recruiting African American male students
Survey results indicated that the majority of admission counselors strongly agreed that
procedures such as best practices are needed to increase the enrollment of African American
male students. Survey results also indicated the majority of participants agreed that their time is
limited to devote special attention to recruiting African American male students. Regarding
INFLUENCING FACTORS 68

responsibilities being modified to allow for sufficient time to recruit African American male
students, survey results indicated that the majority of participants disagreed that their
responsibilities have been modified. Finally, survey results showed that the majority of
admission counselors disagreed that their organization supports increased attention to recruit
African American males. Interview findings revealed a consensus that responsibilities are not
reorganized to specifically recruit African American males. In addition, one counselor stated
they are “given the autonomy to recruit certain populations within their territories as they see fit
but not to specifically recruit African American males. It is up the individual admission
counselor to prioritize [his or hers] recruiting efforts.” As results and findings support that LAU
lacks procedures such as reorganizing responsibilities that allow admission counselors to invest
time into recruiting African American male students, this barrier was validated.
Organization Influence #4: Admission counselors lack recognition and communication in
order to support them in meeting their goal to boost African American male enrollment
Survey questions did not address this influence. When interviewed, all participants
indicated, “no” or “none” when asked what incentives or recognition is given to boost African
American male enrollment. All participants also indicated they do not receive any feedback or
communication to help increase African American male student enrollment. Respondents either
stated, “no” or “none” when asked if they receive feedback or communication to increase African
American male student enrollment. As interview findings revealed that admission counselors
lack incentives, recognition, and communication in order to support them in meeting their goal,
this barrier was validated.
Table 9 below details survey items by organizational influencers analyzed in data
collection. Survey scale options included strongly disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 69

The mean score from participant responses was averaged to depict responses of strongly
disagree, disagree, agree, and strongly agree.
Table 9
Organizational Influencers Survey Results
Item
Strongly
Disagree % Disagree% Agree %
Strongly
Agree % Mean
Mean
Response
I receive
resources to
recruit African
American
males.
20 60 20 0 2 Disagree
The entire
department
spends enough
time recruiting
African
American
males to the
university.
20 40 40 0 2.2 Disagree
The university
has sufficient
prospective
student
programs
tailored to
attract African
American
males to the
university.
0 80 0 20 2.4 Disagree
Procedures
such as
recruiting best
practices are
needed to
increase
enrollment of
African
American
males.
20 20 0 60 3 Agree
INFLUENCING FACTORS 70

My time is
limited to
devote special
attention to
recruiting
African
American
males.
0 20 60 20 3 Agree
My
responsibilities
been modified
to allow me
sufficient time
to recruit
African
American
males.
20 60 20 0 2 Disagree
My
organization
supports
increased
attention to
recruit African
American
males.
0 80 20 0 2.2 Disagree
Totals (N=100)

Organization Causes Summary
Organizational results and findings validated the need for: resources to better assist
admission counselors in recruiting African American males, an increased amount of admission
counselors who focus on recruiting African American male students, more prospective student
programs tailored to attract African American males to the university, and for best practices to
improve African American male student enrollment. In addition, results and findings indicated
that admission counselors feel their time is limited to devote special attention to recruit African
American males and that their responsibilities have not been modified to allow for sufficient time
INFLUENCING FACTORS 71

to recruit African American males. Admission counselors concluded that they believe their
institution does not support increased attention to specifically recruit African American male
students. Finally, interview findings validated the need for recognition and effective
communication to increase African American male student enrollment.
Based on actionable gaps identified, Chapter 5 recommendations will focus on the four
organizational influencers above. Thus, recommendations will address resources to assist
admission counselors in recruiting African American males, departmental support that reinforces
effective recruitment of African American male students, procedures that allow admission
counselors to invest time to recruit African American male students, and recognition and
effective communication to increase African American male student enrollment.
Table 10 below details the validation achieved for each knowledge, motivation, and
organizational influencer found in this study. In addition, Table 10 below summarizers if a
recommendation for each respected influencer will be addressed in Chapter 5.
Table 10
Summary of KMO Results and Findings

Influencer
Gap
Validated
Addressed
in Chapter
5
Knowledge Influencer #1: Admission counselors know
that there are factors that prevent African American
male students from earning a college degree.
Yes Yes
Knowledge Influencer #2: Admission counselors need
to know how to attract Africa American males to LAU.
Yes Yes
Knowledge Influencer #3: Admission counselors know
that specific monies from scholarship funds should be
allocated to incoming African American male students
to boost this group’s enrollment percentage.
No No
INFLUENCING FACTORS 72

Knowledge Influencer #4: Admission counselors need
to understand how their behavior impacts the success of
his or her individual efforts to recruit African American
males.
Yes No
Motivational Influencer #1: Admission counselors
need to believe they are capable of recruiting African
American male students to LAU.
Yes Yes
Motivational Influencer #2: Admission counselors need
to see the value of recruiting African American male
students to LAU.
Yes Yes
Motivational Influencer #3: Admission counselors need
to believe that all students are capable of going to
college.
Yes No
Organization Influencer #1: Admission counselors lack
the resources needed to increase African American
male college enrollment.
Yes Yes
Organization Influencer #2: Admission counselors
work in an environment that poorly reinforces effective
recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount of African
American male students.
Yes Yes
Organization Influencer #3: LAU lacks procedures such
as reorganizing responsibilities that allow admission
counselors to invest time into recruiting African
American male students.
Yes Yes
Organization Influencer #4: Admission counselors lack
recognition and communication in order to support
them in meeting their goal to boost African American
male enrollment.
Yes Yes

Conclusion
This study validated some of the assumed knowledge, motivation, and organizational
assets and barriers contributing to some of the factors impacting admission counselors from
effectively recruiting African American male students. Chapter 5 will provide recommendations
that will address actionable gaps identified in this chapter to help admission counselors combat
these knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact them in meeting their
INFLUENCING FACTORS 73

goal. Providing these solutions will help to close the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
gaps experienced by admission counselors.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 74

CHAPTER FIVE: RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations Discussion
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. The knowledge influences in Table 11 represent the list of validated
knowledge influences based on the results and findings of this study. Thus, validation was
achieved during the survey and interview data collection process and supported by the literature
review, including Clark and Estes (2008), who suggest that declarative knowledge about
something is often necessary to know before applying it to classify or identify theory to practice.
As such, as indicated in Table 11, it was determined that these influencers were validated and
have a high priority for achieving the stakeholders’ goal in increasing African American male
student enrollment. The theoretical framework used to guide this discussion of knowledge
influencers was Krathwohl’s (2002) guide on knowledge types including factual, procedural,
conceptual, and metacognitive knowledge, which all help to clarify the type of knowledge
needed to impact the stakeholders’ performance goal. Table 11 also shows the recommendations
for these validated influencers based on these theoretical principles.
Table 11 below highlights the validated knowledge influencers, the priority of
influencers, the theoretical principle used to address each influencer, and the recommendation to
address each influencer. In addition, each parenthesis around each assumed knowledge
influencer indicates the knowledge type of each influencer, including factual, procedural,
conceptual, and metacognitive knowledge.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 75

Table 11
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Knowledge
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Admission
counselors know
that there are
factors that prevent
African American
male students from
earning a college
degree. (F)
Y
Information learned
meaningfully and
connected with
prior knowledge is
stored more quickly
and remembered
more accurately
because it is
associated with
prior learning
(Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
Survey a population
of at least 20% of
currently enrolled
African American
male students about
challenges that
impact them from
earning a college
degree.
Admission
counselors need to
know how to attract
African American
males to LAU. (P)
Y
To develop
mastery,
individuals must
acquire component
skills, practice
integrating them,
and know how to
apply what they
have learned
(Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
A job aid with the
necessary steps to
take to attract
African American
males to LAU.

Knowledge solutions, or description of needs or assets
Factual knowledge. According to Krathwohl (2003) factual knowledge is the basic
component that one must know to solve problems. In addition, factual knowledge is knowledge
of specific details and elements. Thus, as admission counselors seek to meet their goal of
increasing African American male student enrollment, they must first know the basic
INFLUENCING FACTORS 76

components that prevent this population group from earning a college degree. Knowing what
factors impact this population group from earning a college degree will help admission
counselors tailor communication to increase African American male student enrollment. The
recommendation is to provide an institutional specific survey to survey a population of at least
20% of currently enrolled African American male students about challenges that impact them
from earning a college degree. In turn, this recommendation is a tool to assist admission
counselors in gaining the factual knowledge needed to be successful in meeting their goal.
In a study conducted by Cress, Kimmerle, Kump, and Moskaliuk (2015), the researchers
found that the active quest for learning may lead to the formation of new factual knowledge. In
this study, research was conducted to analyze socio-cognitive foundations of organizational
learning. Through a qualitative approach within a small private organization of thirty
individuals, the study identified organizational learning by referring to models that consider the
interaction between individuals and collective knowledge related to processes. This study found
that an individual may make a judgement about a procedure at hand and either consciously or
unconsciously find their judgement to be correct or incorrect. If their judgement is found to be
incorrect, this can cause cognitive discomfort. Cress et al. (2015) concluded that cognitive
discomfort causes individuals to reflect and reflection is what triggers the formation of new
factual knowledge. In addition, this study also found that if reflection was verbalized, co-
evaluation of factual knowledge could be formed.
Procedural knowledge. According to Rueda (2011), procedural knowledge is knowing
how to apply a theory. In addition, Krathwohl (2002) concluded that procedural knowledge is
useful in determining how and when to use appropriate procedures. Thus, as admission
counselors learn the factors that prevent African American male students from earning a college
INFLUENCING FACTORS 77

degree, they will need procedural knowledge to determine how to best attract this population
group to LAU. It can be presumed from the results and finding that targeted training has not
been previously implemented because the institution assumed that the shared identity of minority
counselors and minority students served as a proxy for knowledge about how to recruit a
particular population group; however based on these same results and findings, these admission
counselors, even of the same ethnic background, showed to lack the knowledge to properly
recruit African American male students. Furthermore, McCrudden and Schraw (2006) conclude
that individuals must acquire component skills, practice integrating them, and know how to
apply what they have learned. To assist with absorption of procedural knowledge needed for
admission counselors to be successful in meeting their goal, the recommendation is that
admission counselors should receive a job aid with the necessary steps to take to attract African
American males to LAU.
It is important to note that while procedural knowledge is beneficial to holistic learning,
it should not be used alone. Fyfe, Loehr, & Rittle-Johnson (2016) sampled 180 second-grade
children within the United States by using a randomized experiment. In this study, the children
received a classroom lesson on a mathematical application in one of four conditions that varied
in instruction type including conceptual or combined conceptual and procedural instruction.
This study found that children who received two iterations of conceptual instruction had better
retention of conceptual and procedural knowledge than children who received both conceptual and
procedural instruction in the same lesson. Thus, within a single lesson, spending more time on
conceptual instruction showed to be more beneficial than spending time on procedural instruction
alone as the goal was to promote a more dynamic learning of concepts and procedures. Therefore,
while procedural knowledge is beneficial to one’s learning, it should be used as a tool along with
other knowledge approaches for one to holistically master a new concept or idea (Fyfe et al., 2016).
INFLUENCING FACTORS 78

While this study focused on small aged children, the theory surrounding learning can be used across
different demographic groups.
Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. The motivation influences in Table 12 represent the list of validated
motivation influences. Validation was based on the most frequently mentioned motivation
influences to achieving the stakeholders’ goal during survey and interview data collection,
supported by the literature review, and the review of motivation theory. Clark and Estes (2008)
suggest that there are three indicators of motivation in task performance – choice, persistence
and mental effort. Choice is going beyond intention to start something. Persistence is
continuing to pursue a goal in the face of distractions. Mental effort is seeking and applying new
knowledge to solve a novel program or perform a new task. As admission counselors were
tasked with increasing African American male student enrollment, admission counselors need to
understand the value, the persistence, and mental effort needed to make them successful in
meeting their goal. As such, as indicated in Table 12, it was determined that these influencers
were validated and have a high priority for achieving the stakeholders’ goal in increasing African
American male student enrollment. As all of these influencers are of high priority, the order of
these influencers are inapplicable because they each individually have a huge impact on
admission counselors meeting their goal in recruiting African American male students to LAU.
Table 12 also shows the recommendations for these influences based on theoretical principles.
Table 12 below highlights the validated motivation influencers, the priority of
influencers, the theoretical principle used to address each influencer, and the recommendation to
address each influencer. In addition, each parenthesis around each assumed motivation
influencer indicates the motivation type of each influencer, including self-efficacy and
expectancy value theory.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 79

Table 12
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Assumed Motivation
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation Context-
Admission
counselors need to
believe they are
capable of
recruiting African
American male
students to LAU.
(SE)
Y
Self-efficacy is
increased as
individuals succeed
in a task (Bandura,
1997).
Behavior that is
reinforced is
strengthened (Daly,
2009).
Targeted feedback
as admission
counselors
demonstrate how
they tailor
communication to
increase enrollment
of African
American male
students.
Admission
counselors need to
see the value of
recruiting African
American male
students to LAU.
(EV)
Y
Individuals are
more likely to
engage in an
activity when it
provides value to
them (Eccles,
2009).
Task performance
is increased when
rewarded (Skinner,
1957; Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Incentives for
increased African
American male
enrollment
percentages.

Motivation solutions, or description of needs or assets
Self-Efficacy. Admission counselors need to believe they are capable of recruiting
African American male students to LAU. As show in this study, not all admission counselors
where confident in their abilities to recruit African American males. Surprisingly, even
individuals of the same ethnic background did not feel confident in their abilities to successfully
recruit African American males. Without motivation or confidence in one’s ability, performance
INFLUENCING FACTORS 80

becomes weakened without the internal drive or motivation to complete a task. Thus, self-
efficacy is increased as individuals succeed in a task (Bandura, 1997). In addition, behavior that
is reinforced is strengthened (Daly, 2009). Therefore, the recommendation is that admission
counselor should receive targeted feedback as they demonstrate how they tailor communication
to increase enrollment of African American male students.
When one believes they are capable of completing a task, shows that they are capable of
completing a task, and repeats this behavior, positive self-efficacy is achieved. According to
Colak, Meral, & Zereyak (2012) there is a strong correlation between performance and high self-
efficacy. These researchers surveyed 82 sophomore students who attended Instructional
Planning and Evaluation class at the Marmara University Technical Education Faculty. Each
student's final grade was used as a performance measure and self-efficacy was measured by a
motivational strategies scale. The researchers found that the students who showed higher self-
efficacy also showed to have control over their individual's thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Expectancy value. Admission counselors need to see the value of recruiting African
American male students to LAU. Individuals are more likely to engage in an activity when it
provides value to them (Eccles, 2009). Additionally, task performance is increased when
rewarded (Skinner, 1957; Clark & Estes, 2008). Thus, the recommendation is that admission
counselors should be provided incentives for increased African American male enrollment
percentages.
Domangue and Solmon (2010) conducted a study in where they investigated the
relationships among 123 fifth-grade physical education students' response to awards and
achievement goals, intrinsic motivation, and intentions. The students were classified into two
groups: those who received awards and those who did not. Analysis of variance showed that
INFLUENCING FACTORS 81

students who received an award reported higher levels of involvement, competence, effort, and
enjoyment, than those who did not receive an award. Therefore, the results from this study
showed that when individuals are rewarded for performance, motivation levels can be increased.
When motivation increases, desired performance can increase.
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. The organization influences in Table 13 represent the complete list of
validated organization influences based on the most frequently mentioned organization
influences to achieving the stakeholders’ goal during the survey and interview data collection, by
the supported literature review, and the review of organization and culture theory. Clark and
Estes (2008) suggest that organization and stakeholder goals are often not achieved due to a lack
of resources, lack of time and money, and stakeholder goals that are not aligned with the
organization’s mission and goals. Gallimore and Goldenberg (2001) proposed two constructs
about culture including cultural models or the observable beliefs and values shared by
individuals in groups and cultural settings which are activities in which performance occurs.
Thus, both resources and processes within cultural models and cultural settings must align
throughout the organization’s structure to achieve the outlined mission and goals. As such, as
indicated in Table 13, it was determined that these influencers were validated and have a high
priority for achieving the stakeholders’ goal in increasing African American male student
enrollment. As all these influencers are of high priority, the order of these influencers are
inapplicable because they each individually have a huge impact on admission counselors meeting
their goal in recruiting African American male students to LAU. Table 13 also shows the
recommendations for these influencers based on theoretical principles.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 82

Table 13 below highlights the validated organizational influencers, the priority of
influencers, the theoretical principle used to address each influencer, and the recommendation to
address each influencer. In addition, each parenthesis around each validated organizational
influencer indicates the organizational type of each influencer, including cultural model and
model setting.
Table 13
Summary of Organization Influences and Recommendations
Assumed
Organization
Influence: Cause,
Need, or Asset*
Priority
Yes, No
(Y, N)
Principle and Citation
Context-Specific
Recommendation
Admission
counselors work in
an environment that
lacks resources
needed to increase
African American
male college
enrollment. (CM)
Y
Organizational
performance
increases when
processes and
resources are
aligned with goals
established
collaboratively
(Clark & Estes,
2008).
Team meetings
with admission
counselors and with
leadership to
establish what
resources would
make the
stakeholder group
more successful in
recruiting African
American males to
LAU.
Admission
counselors work in
an environment that
poorly reinforces
effective
recruitment to
obtain a
proportionate
amount of African
American male
students. (CM)
Y
Integrating auditory
and visual
information
maximizes
outcomes (Mayer,
2011).
Admission
counselors and the
leadership team to
create and
implement a
prospective student
program tailored to
attract African
American males to
the university.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 83

LAU lacks
procedures such as
reorganizing
responsibilities that
allow admission
counselors to invest
time into recruiting
African American
male students. (CS)
Y
Organizational
performance
increases when
designated
leadership team
continuously assess
responsibilities and
stays involved in
the improvement
process (Clark &
Estes, 2008).
Time set aside for
admission
counselors and
leadership team to
review
responsibilities and
designate specific
time for admission
counselors to focus
on recruiting
African American
male students.
Admission
counselors lack
recognition and
communication in
order to support
them in meeting
their goal to boost
African American
male enrollment.
Y
Link rewards with
progress (Pintrich,
2003).
A recognition
program lead by the
leadership team to
increase African
American male
student enrollment.
Additionally, the
leadership team
should
communicate
learning
opportunities to
assist admission
counselors in
meeting their goals.

Provide accurate
communication and
feedback that
identifies the skills
or knowledge an
individual lacks
followed with the
teaching of these
skills and
knowledge
(Anderman &
Anderman, 2009).

Organizational solutions, or description of needs or assets
Cultural models. Admission counselors lack the resources needed to increase African
American male college enrollment. Clark and Estes, (2008) suggested that organizational
performance increases when processes and resources are aligned with goals established
collaboratively. Thus, the recommendation is that team meetings are conducted with admission
counselors and with leadership to establish what resources would make the stakeholder group
more successful in recruiting African American males to LAU.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 84

The findings also demonstrated that these admission counselors work in an environment
that poorly reinforces effective recruitment to obtain a proportionate amount of African
American male students. Mayer (2011) suggests integrating auditory and visual information to
maximize outcomes. Thus, the recommendation is for admission counselors and the leadership
team to create and implement a prospective student program tailored to attract African American
males to the university. To note, as results and findings supported the need for more admission
counselors to focus on diversity recruiting and not just a selected few, it is crucial that all
admission counselors within the department are aware of and participate in this prospective
student program. In addition, to add to above recommendation, the communication of this
prospective student program should be included as standard information along with all other
admission communication information.
Crafter (2013) conducted a study where 22 parents were interviewed to understand how
cultural models can offer useful insights into parental involvement in their child's achievement
and the resources they use to go about gaining information in culturally diverse learning settings.
This study showed some uncertainty around the interpretation of these resources by the parents,
which was the result of different cultural models held between their homes and the school.
Specifically, minority parents or parents in marginalized positions showed to have difficulties in
interpreting resources or cultural models held by the school which disempowered them to be
involved in the way the school would have liked. This study thus, called for the need of
collaborative brainstorming between parents and school officials to determine programs and/or
resources that would increase targeted parent involvement. Therefore, this study showed the
importance of having cultural models align with goals established collaboratively as Clark and
Estes (2008) suggests.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 85

Cultural settings. LAU lacks procedures such as reorganizing responsibilities that allow
admission counselors to invest time into recruiting African American male students.
Organizational performance increases when designated leadership team continuously assess
responsibilities and stays involved in the improvement process (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Therefore, the recommendation is that specific time be set aside for admission counselors and
leadership team to review responsibilities and designate specific time for admission counselors to
focus on recruiting African American male students.
Admission counselors also lack recognition and communication in order to support them
in meeting their goal to boost African American male enrollment. Pintrich (2003) suggests
linking rewards with progress. In addition, Anderman & Anderman (2009) advise to provide
accurate communication and feedback that identifies the skills or knowledge an individual lacks
followed with the teaching of these skills and knowledge. Therefore, the recommendation is for
admission counselors to participate in a recognition program lead by the leadership team to
increase African American male student enrollment. Additionally, the leadership team should
communicate learning opportunities to assist admission counselors in meeting their goals.
Laihee (2011) conducted a study where 23 staff members from two inner city high
schools were interviewed about their ability to sustain an implementation of comprehensive
school reform efforts at their school. This study examined how knowledge, motivation, and
organizational factors impact reform implementation. The study found a deficiency of district
goal clarity, insufficient systems of accountability, and a need for teacher training and support
suitable to the cultural setting. In addition, the study concluded that by proposing
recommendations based on best practices that can contribute to a desired level of reform
implementation, including creating cultural settings that prioritize classroom goals, these high
INFLUENCING FACTORS 86

schools could more efficiently feed into school reform goals, maintain a narrow and consistent
organizational focus, and connect cultural proficiency to instruction. By reorganizing priorities,
such actions could assist high schools in meeting the student achievement goals outlined by
federal and state mandates. Thus, this study supports the need for continuous involvement of the
leadership team to help prioritize goals to promote student achievement.
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The model that informed this implementation and evaluation plan is the Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick’s (2016) New World Model. This model suggested that proper evaluation starts with
the goals of an organization and then work backwards to drive change. Specifically, there are
four levels in this model that focuses on evaluation of a training including: Level 1, Reactions
which looks at the extent to which participants found the training engaging and relevant to their
job duties, Level 2, Learning, which looks at the degree to which the participants learned the
intended knowledge, skills, confidence, and commitment to fulfill job expectations, Level 3,
Transfer, which looks at how well information learned was transferred to related job duties, and
finally Level 4, Results, which looks at outcomes of trainings. In using this model, the leading
indicators that bridge recommended solutions to the organization’s goals are both easier to
identify and more closely aligned with the organizational goals. Furthermore, this reverse order
of the New World Model allows for a system of three other actions to occur including: the
development of solution outcomes that focus on assessing behaviors, the identification of
indicators that learning occurred during the implementation phase, and finally, the development
of indicators that organizational members are satisfied with the implementation strategies.
Designing the implementation and evaluation plan in this manner forces connections between the
INFLUENCING FACTORS 87

immediate solutions and the larger goal and solicits buy-in to ensure success (Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick, 2016). The use of this model is seen below in the following sections.
Organizational Purpose, Need, and Expectations
The mission of LAU is to boost student achievement and global competitiveness by
nurturing educational excellence and equal access. However, LAU significantly enrolls a
disproportionate amount of African American males to the university every year. Due to the
alarming amount of underrepresented African American males enrolled at LAU, the
organizational performance goal is to increase the African American male four-year college
admission rate by 15%. As admission counselors are the gatekeepers to the LAU’s student
enrollment process, admission counselors were tasked with implementing 100% of the best
practices for increasing the enrollment of African American males 100% of the time. This study
examined the knowledge, motivation, and organizational barriers that prevent admission
counselors from completing their goal to increase African American male student enrollment.
Thus, the proposed solution to increase African American male student enrollment is to
implement 100% best practices to produce desired outcomes which includes but not limited to: a
comprehensive training program, related on-the-job resources and support, and a recognition
program for admission counselors who are successful in meeting their goal.
Level 14: Results and Leading Indicators
Table 14 below shows the proposed Level 4: Result Indicators in the form of outcomes,
metrics, and methods for both external and internal outcomes for LAU admission counselors. If
the internal outcomes are met as expected as a result of the training, organizational support, and
the recognition given to admission counselors for performance on the job, then the external
outcomes should also be realized.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 88

Table 14

Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes

Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
1. Increased number of
African American male
students enrolled at LAU.
The number of African
American male students enrolled
every year.
LAU should solicit yearly
enrollment data of African
American males.
2. Create a proportionate
amount of African
American males enrolled
at LAU compared to other
racial groups.
The number of enrolled African
American males is at least ½ of
greatest enrolled male ethnic
group.
LAU should solicit enrollment
comparison data broken down
by racial and gender differences
every year.
3. Fulfill university
mission of nurturing
educational excellence
and equal access.
The frequency of public
accolades received for diversity
enrollment.
Track frequency that LAU is
mentioned in press.
Internal Outcomes
4. 100% of Admission
counselors receive proper
training on how to
properly recruit African
American males.
The number of admission
counselors that focus on
diversity recruiting will change
from 5 to all.

Admission counselors should
report what they learned after
each training.
5. Admission counselors
will receive timely and
efficient feedback
surrounding recruiting
African American males.
Feedback will be discussed
during quarterly recruiting
meetings.
Admission counselors should
respond verbally understanding
of communicated information.
6. Admission counselors
will receive recognition
for successfully increasing
the African American
male student enrollment
percentage.
Recognition will be given to
admission counselors every year
African American male
enrollment is increased by at
least 2%.
Admission counselors should be
treated to a day of fun team
building activities every year
percentage is increased by at
least 2%.

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. The stakeholders of focus were admission counselors who were
tasked with increasing African American male student enrollment. The first critical behavior is
admission counselors must target African American male prospective student population groups.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 89

The second critical behavior is that they must educate African American male students on the
college admission process. The third critical behavior is that they must correctly direct
prospective students through the application process. The specific metrics, methods, and timing
for each of these outcome behaviors appears below in Table 15.
Table 15

Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for New Reviewers
Critical Behavior Metric(s)
Method(s)
Timing
1. Admissions
counselors target
African American
male prospective
student population
groups.
The number of
contacted African
American population
groups.

1a. Admission
counselors should
track targeted groups
within their recruiting
territories to focus
recruitment efforts on
those targeted areas.
1a. During first 30
days of recruitment
period. Thereafter
monthly, so long
as previously
successful.
2. Admissions
counselors educate
African American
male students on the
college admission
processes.
The number of
admission
presentations
directed towards
African American
males.
1b. Disseminate
admission presentation
information tools to
targeted population
group.
1b. Three times per
year per admission
counselor.
3. Admissions
counselors correctly
direct prospective
African American
male students
through the
application process.
The number of
completed African
American male
applications
submitted and linked
to assigned
admissions
counselors.
2a. Admission
counselors should
track increase in
African American
male applications
submitted by assigned
territory.

.
2a. Weekly during
application review
period.

Required drivers. Increasing African American male student enrollment requires the
support of admission counselors’ direct supervisors and the organization to reinforce what they
have learned in their trainings and to encourage them to apply what they have learned when
INFLUENCING FACTORS 90

actively recruiting. Rewards should be established for achievement of performance goals to
enhance the organizational support of admission counselors. Table 16 below shows the
recommended drivers to support critical behaviors of admission counselors.
Table 16
Required Drivers to Support New Reviewers’ Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical Behaviors
Supported
1, 2, 3 Etc.
Reinforcing
Job aid with the necessary
steps to take to attract
African American males to
LAU.
Yearly 1, 2, 3
Team meetings to establish
what resources would make
the stakeholder group more
successful in recruiting
African American males to
LAU.
Ongoing 1, 2, 3
Team meetings to create and
implement a prospective
student program that will
assist admission counselors
in recruiting African
American males to the
university.
Yearly 1,2,3
Team meetings to review
responsibilities and
designate specific time for
admission counselors to
focus on recruiting African
American male students.
Weekly 1, 2, 3
Encouraging
Targeted feedback as
admission counselors
demonstrate how they tailor
communication to increase
enrollment of African
American male students.
Yearly 1, 2, 3
INFLUENCING FACTORS 91

Collaboration and peer
modeling during team
meetings.
Ongoing 1, 2, 3
Rewarding
Verbal recognition during
team meetings when African
American male student
enrollment is increased.
Yearly 1, 2, 3
Incentives for increased
African American male
enrollment percentages.
Yearly 1, 2, 3

Monitoring
Admission counselors can
share success stories at team
meetings.
Yearly 1, 2, 3
Admission counselors can
self-report their confidence
and self-efficacy in job-
related tasks.
Yearly 1, 2, 3
Admission leaders can
assess the performance of
admission counselors to
monitor progress and make
adjustments if results do not
match expectations.
Yearly 1, 2, 3

Monitoring. Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick (2016) explained that without properly
managing change initiatives, individuals often resort back to old habits. To prevent individuals
from resorting back to old ways of doing things, organizations must implement accountability of
stakeholders. LAU leaders must support desired behaviors that work to achieve the overall
organizational performance goal. Some of the ways LAU can achieve this is by having the
stakeholder group share success stories at team meetings, self-report their confidence and self-
efficacy in job-related tasks, and admission leaders can assess the performance of the stakeholder
group to monitor progress and make adjustments if results do not match expectations.
Organizational support. Organizational support detailed above is key to the
stakeholder’s ability to change current behavior. LAU must support the stakeholders in
INFLUENCING FACTORS 92

achieving their goals by ensuring that proper training and effective communication is in place to
better assist admission counselors in meeting their goal. As a result, LAU will find a greater
level of success in achieving its’ overall mission and goals when the proper support channels are
in place. In addition, admission counselors will be better equipped to integrate new behaviors
into their current job functions, allowing them to successfully accomplish their goal.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. Following completion of the recommended solutions, the stakeholders
should be able to:
1. Apply the steps to effectively attract African American males to LAU. (P)
2. Gain confidence in their ability to recruit African American male students to LAU.
(SE)
3. Value recruiting African American male students to LAU. (EV)
Program. The learning goals listed in the previous section should be achieved with a
training program that focuses on the best practices to effectively recruit African American male
students to LAU. The approach of this recommended program should start with outlining the
changes made to reorganize responsibilities that will allow admission counselors to designate
time to recruit African American male students. The training program should also tackle how to
effectively recruit African American male students. The training program should detail
resources and support that will be provided to admission counselors to help make them more
successful in meeting their goal. In addition, the training program should outline prospective
student programs that will be rolled out to help support African American male student
enrollment. The training program should clarify increased scholarship allocations to African
American male students in need of funds and expected impact of increase. As a result of the
INFLUENCING FACTORS 93

training program, it is expected that admission counselors will achieve confidence in their
abilities to recruit African American male students to LAU and that they will see the value in
increased efforts to recruit African American males to LAU.
To note, this training program should revisit the background of the problem driving this
study which are factors that prevent African American males from earning a college degree
outlined in Chapter 1 of this study, the supporting literature review provided in Chapter 2, and all
the identified knowledge, motivation, and organizational barriers discussed in Chapter 3 of this
study.
Duration. It is recommended that this training program be delivered in two parts per
year. The first training of every new calendar year should be delivered in a three-day session.
The purpose of this first training session should be to roll out changes and level set expectations.
In addition, the first training session should ensure that all information is covered and that all
admission counselors can demonstrate desired learning to execute best practices that will lead to
increased African American male student enrollment. The second training session should be
administered three months prior to the start of each new fall term to address questions, concerns,
and obstacles of executing changes detailed in the first training. This second training should last
for two days to allow enough time to address all concerns associated with initial training. The
reason training should be broken up into two parts is to allow for effective understanding of
changes and proper execution of these changes. It is expected that with the rollout of changes,
there will be issues that will need to be addressed, clarified, or reworked. Allowing for a second
training prior to the start of recruitment season, admission counselors will have a forum to
perfect changes and get clarification on concerns or obstacles before jumping into full
recruitment season.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 94

Components of learning. In an effort to evaluate desired learning, a comprehensive
evaluation method is needed. In addition, demonstrating factual, procedural, conceptual, and
metacognitive knowledge is a necessary precursor to apply learned knowledge to solve
problems. Thus, it is important to evaluate learning for all knowledge types being taught. It is
also important that the stakeholder group value the training as a prerequisite to using their newly
formed knowledge and skills to effectively recruit African American males to LAU. The
stakeholder group must also be confident that they can successfully apply their newly formed
knowledge and be committed to using their new knowledge on the job. Table 17 below lists the
recommended evaluation methods and timing for these components of learning.
Table 17
Components of Learning for the Program
Method(s) or Activity(ies) Timing
Procedural Knowledge “I know it.”
Group activity to demonstrate steps to
effectively recruit African American males.
After the respected module training.
Checks for understanding using fill-in test
questions.
At the end of the first yearly training session
and again at the end of the second yearly
training session.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Share success stories and/or learning
opportunities from previously recruiting
African American male students.
During the respected training module.
Discussion of the value of recruiting African
American male students to the university.
During the respected training module.
Pre and post survey asking stakeholders
about their belief value of recruiting African
American males.
During the respected training module.
Confidence “I think I can do it on the
job.”

Group discussions pertaining to strategy in
recruiting African American male students.
During the respected training module.
Group discussions pertaining to confidence
in recruiting African American male
students.
During the respected training module.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 95

Pre and post discussions confidence check
survey pertaining to recruiting African
American male students.
During the respected training module.
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
Develop individual action plans to
successfully recruit African American males.
At the end of the first yearly training session
and again at the end of the second yearly
training session.
Stakeholders will sign a letter of
commitment stating they will actively
change behavior to increase enrollment of
African American males.
At the end of first training session.

Level 1: Reaction
As training programs are often heavily loaded with new information, concepts, and
expectations, it is important to assess one’s engagement and reaction to training. Kirkpatrick and
Kirkpatrick (2016) described taking pulse checks throughout trainings to strategically gage one’s
feelings about their learning. In doing so, trainers and/or leaders can adjust training materials,
activities, or assessments accordingly. Table 18 below lists the recommended methods to
determine how the stakeholders react to outlined training.
Table 18
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Observation of tasks completion and
participation
Ongoing throughout training
Record of questions asked Ongoing throughout training
Attendance and On-time presence Ongoing throughout training
Training evaluation form At the end of each training day
Relevance
Survey questions to conduct pulse-checks
with stakeholder group
After each module or activity
Training evaluation form At the end of each training day
Customer Satisfaction
INFLUENCING FACTORS 96

Survey to assess satisfaction At the end of each training day
Small group required feedback At the end of each training day

Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. To effectively gage training, it
is also recommended to anonymously survey participants. This tool can be used to gage Level 1
and Level 2 outcomes. The recommended evaluation survey should consist of multiple choice
questions and open-ended questions to allow for qualitative feedback from each participant. The
responses gained from each participant will help leaders understand what was of value to each
admission counselor, what was troublesome for each admission counselors, and any
opportunities to improve training or format of training. A copy of the recommended evaluation
survey is listed below in Appendix C.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. In an effort to gage the
success of the first training program conducted at the beginning of the year, the second training
during pre-recruitment season should be an additional tool to gage outcomes. However, as pre-
recruitment training should also be used to deliver learning tools, this training should also be
evaluated in a similar manner as the first training session shown below in Appendix D. This
evaluation survey should be used to gage individual satisfaction and relevance of the training
(Level 1), perceived confidence and value of applying their training (Level 2), behavioral
changes as a result of outlined training (Level 3), and the extent to which their performance has
become more accurate and timely (Level 4).
Data Analysis and Reporting
The Level 4 goal of admission counselors should be measured by the increase of African
American male student enrollment. During the yearly enrollment period, the Director of
INFLUENCING FACTORS 97

Undergraduate Admissions should track the number of newly enrolled African American males
to determine weekly progress towards goal attainment. The Director should notify each
admission counselor with weekly statuses either detailing progress or deficiencies. Weekly
status updates should guide admission counselors on the need to continue rearranging priorities
to focus on 100% of the best practices to increase African American male student enrollment.
Limitations and Delimitations
Limitations. To note, there were some limitations of this study. One of those being
available sample size. It is important to note that the sample size in this study was significantly
small due to the number of admission counselors focused on diversity recruiting at LAU. This
may be an area of consideration for future studies. Regarding LAU specifically, future studies
could support that not enough focus is being put on diversity recruiting if less than one quarter of
the entire admission staff is focused on recruiting students with ethnically diverse backgrounds.
It is also important to note that future studies should consider sampling participants at multiple
type and size universities. This will help to ensure that the data gathered better represents
admission counselors across the county. In addition to sample size, another limitation to
consider is longitudinal effects. While some researchers can devote years or a lifetime to
studying a single topic, the time available to investigate this research problem and measure
change or stability over time was constrained by the doctoral program’s completion deadlines.
Delimitations. Delimitations of this study was the choice to focus on the particular
stakeholder group of admission counselors and not focus on other stakeholder groups. A
stakeholder group that would have also been useful to study is high school African American
males. Sampling this population group would have also provided useful and relevant
INFLUENCING FACTORS 98

conclusions to help address the underlining issue of this study which is factors that prevent
African American males from earning a college degree.
Future Research
While this study took a holistic approach to examine admission counselors’ ability to
effectively recruit African American males, other studies for student affair officials to review to
help tackle these issues include Bontrager, Hossler, and Tom’s (2015) work on strategic
enrollment management as well as Caroll’s (2013) work on how African American college
students persist, engage, and graduate from selective institutions. Also, to help school officials
better understand factors that impact African American males from earning a college degree,
reviewing Frierson, Pearson, and Wyche’s (2009) study on Black American males in higher
education could also be beneficial. Finally, as this study supported the need for financial
assistance to help recruit and enroll college students, future studies should focus on the impacts
of the rising cost of higher education. Studies to consider include Kimball’s (2014) study on the
rising cost of higher education and the American Council on Education’s (1998) discussion on
college costs and prices.
Conclusion
While this study spoke to several areas of opportunities to address knowledge,
motivation, and organizational recommendations, it is important to conclude with some of the
major learnings this study. As results and findings showed, there were only five admission
counselors within the entire admissions counselor’s staff that specifically focused on diversity
recruiting at LAU, while the other admission counselors focused on general recruiting or other
targeted areas outside of diversity. It can be presumed that the organization believed that only a
small number of admission counselors is needed to handle diversity recruiting. However, the
INFLUENCING FACTORS 99

results and finding showed that even admission counselors of the same ethnic background were
not confident in their abilities to recruit African American male students. As a result, this study
showed a gap in the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that make LAU
successful in increasing African American male student enrollment. Thus, this study supports
that all admission counselors within the department should focus on diversity recruiting. All
admission counselors should be knowledgeable of factors that impact this group from earning a
college degree, how to best recruit this population group, and knowledgeable of all resources,
support, and programs tailored to attract this population group. In addition, all admission
communication should detail programs designed to best attract particular population groups. If
there is pushback from the organization, it could mean the organization is not truly confident in
these initiatives.
Another extremely important factor to conclude with is that, the results and findings of
this study supported the need for financial assistance and/or consideration given to African
American males in the admission process to convert these prospective students to enrolled
students. Several of the participants of this study commented that a reason this population group
does not attend college is because of the cost of education and the lack of financial resources to
help them pay for college. However, this study also addresses the assumptions made my school
officials of African American males. School officials cannot assume that just because an
individual is of a particular population group, he or she cannot afford college tuition. These
biases cannot go unchecked and a deeper look must be taken to clarify why this population group
is not enrolling in college at the same rate of other racial groups. Thus, as recommended above
for the admission team to survey currently enrolled African American male students about the
challenges they face obtaining a college degree, is crucial. However, to take this
INFLUENCING FACTORS 100

recommendation a step further, it may be even more beneficial for this admission team to survey
students in different geographic areas and different socioeconomic groups to better understand
what factors truly impact this group from earning a college degree, without assuming they cannot
afford to go to college. After compiling this information and effectively working with their
financial aid office, then can these admission counselors better provide financial assistance to
those students who truly need the support to attend college.
Finally, the New World Model (Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick, 2016) helped to plan,
implement, and evaluate the recommendations for LAU to optimize achieving the stakeholder’s
goal and the organizational goal of increasing African American male student enrollment. This
framework allowed for a comprehensive approach to guide the outlined training needed
specifically for admission counselors to be successful in meeting their goal. This innovative
model involved reeducating and retraining of admission counselors to help them prioritize their
responsibilities to be able to focus on African American male student recruitment. Although the
recommendations and training outlined above does not address all the areas of needed change, it
does play a critical role in outlining the best practices set forth for the stakeholder group.
Determination of success should be measured through the realization of the stakeholder's
individual goals, the organization's goal, and as a result, an increase in African American male
student enrollment.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 101

References
Abbas, A. F., Nasir, H. M. & Zafar, F. (2014). Four factors to influence organization &
employee commitment to change within pakistan. International Journal of Information,
Business and Management, 6(4), 183-200. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1
552838267?accountid=14749
Agocs, C. (1997). Institutionalized resistance to organizational change: Denial, inaction, and
repression. Journal of Business Ethics, 16, 917-‐931.
American Council on Education. (1998). Straight talk about college costs and prices: Report of
the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education. Phoenix, AZ.: Published at
the request of the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education by the
American Council on Education and the Oryx Press.
Anderman, E., & Anderman, L. (2009). Psychology of classroom learning : An encyclopedia
(001st ed., Macmillan social science library).
Anderson, L., & Krathwohl, D. (2001). A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing (1st
ed.). New York: Longman.
Bandura, A. (2000). Exercise of human agency through collective efficacy. Current Directions in
Psychological Science, 9(3), 75–78.
Bensimon, E. (2005). Closing the achievement gap in higher education: An organizational
learning perspective. New Directions for Higher Education, 131.
Bontrager, B., Hossler, D., & Tom, L. (2015). Handbook of strategic enrollment management.
Retrieved from https://usc-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-
explore/fulldisplay?docid=01USC_ALMA51611506480003731&context=L&vid=01US
INFLUENCING FACTORS 102

C&lang=en_US&search_scope=EVERYTHING&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine
&tab=everything&query=any,contains,Hossler%20%20D.%20%20Bontrager%20%20B.
%20%20&%20Tom%20%20L.%20(2015).%20Handbook%20of%20strategic%20enroll
ment%20management&sortby=rank&mode=Basic
Brightman, B. & Moran, J. (2000). Leading organizational change. Journal of Workplace
Learning: Employee Counseling Today. 12(2), 66‐74.
Brown, R. (2008) Perceived influence of societal dissonance, self-efficacy, african
american male mentorship, and institutional support on the academic success of african
american males in predominantly white institution of higher education: an institutional
case study. Texas A&M University. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.usc.edu/psycinfo/results/13FBB4E05B55402AAD0
/1/$5bqueryType$3dbasic:psycinfo
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014). College Enrollment and Work Activity of
2012 High School Graduates. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.nr0.htm
Cambria, J. &Cm Wigfield, A. (2010). Students’ achievement values, goal orientations, and
interest: Definitions, development, and relations to achievement outcomes.
Developmental Review, 30, 1–35.
Capt, R. L. (2013). Analysis of the higher education act reauthorizations: financial aid
policy influencing college access and choice. Administrative Issues Journal: Education,
Practice, and Research. Retrieved from
http://eric.ed.gov.libproxy2.usc.edu/?q=Contextual+Problem+Defining&pr=on&ft=on&i
d=EJ744031
INFLUENCING FACTORS 103

Caroll, A. (2013). Attaining success: how african american college students persist, engage
and graduate from a moderately selective institution. A Case Study, University of
Southern California.
Cimera, R. E., & Cowan, R. J. (2009). The costs of services and employment outcomes achieved
by adults with autism in the US. Autism, 13(3), 285-302.
Clark, R., & Estes, F. (2008). Turning research into results: A guide to selecting the right
performance solutions. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Crafter, S. (2013). Parental cultural models and resources for understanding mathematical
achievement in culturally diverse school settings. Educational Studies in Mathematics,
82(1), 31+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=usocal_main&v
=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA379089211&asid=94c59fbcaa7ba0026238365fa8465222
Cress, U., Kump, B., Moskaliuk, J. & Kimmerle, J. (2015). Cognitive foundations of
organizational learning: re-introducing the distinction between declarative and non-
declarative knowledge. Front. Psychol. 6:1489. Retrieved from
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01489/full
Daly, E. (2006) Behaviorism. Retrieved from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/behaviorism/.
Davis, C. H., III. & Harper, S. R. (2012). They (don’t) care about education: a
counternarrative on black make student’s responses to inequitable schooling. The Jounral
of Educational Foundations. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/eric/docview/1020696932/fulltext/20B6315
998564943PQ/3?accountid=14749
INFLUENCING FACTORS 104

Department of Developmental Services. (2008). Fact book. Retrieved from
http://www.dds.ca.gov/FactsStats/docs/factbook_11th.pdf
on+&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ728539.
Domangue, E., & Solmon, M. (2010). Motivational responses to fitness testing by award
status and gender. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 81(3), 310-318. Retrieved
from https://usc-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-
explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_tayfranc10.1080%2F02701367.2010.10599679&context=
PC&vid=01USC&lang=en_US&search_scope=EVERYTHING&adaptor=primo_central
_multiple_fe&tab=everything&query=any,contains,expectancy%20value%20theory%20
Eccles, J. (2009). Expectancy value motivational theory. Retrieved from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/expectancy-value-motivational-theory/.
Fears-Hackett, L. (2012). Perceptions, motivations and barriers of earning a high school
diploma and achieving higher education among african american and latino adult
students (Order No. 3547767). ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text; ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global. (1284156457). Retrieved from
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy1.usc.edu/docview/1
284156457?accountid=14749
Fink, A. (2013). Chapter 4: Sampling. In How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide
(5th ed.) (pp. 79-98). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Frierson, H., Wyche, J., & Pearson, W. (2009). Black American males in higher education
research, programs and academe (Diversity in Higher Education, 7). Bingley: Emerald.
Gallimore, R., & Goldenberg, C. (2001). Analyzing Cultural Models and Settings to Connect
INFLUENCING FACTORS 105

Minority Achievement and School Improvement Research. Educational Psychologist,
36(1), 45-56.
Glesne, C. (2011). Chapter 6: But is it ethical? Considering what is “right.” In Becoming
qualitative researchers: An introduction (4th ed.) (pp. 162-183). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Gorski, P. (2008) Peddling poverty for profit: Elements of oppression in ruby payne’s
framework. Equity & Excellence in Education, 41(1), 130-148.
Granger, N. (2011). Perceptions of racial microaggressions among african american
males in higher education: A heuristic inquiry. The University of the Rockies. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com/docview/867672855?accountid=14749
Grossman, R., & Salas, E. (2011). The transfer of training: What really matters. International
Journal of Training and Development, 15(2), 103–120.
Isaac, J. (2012). Minority students have more student loan debt. Loan Org. Retrieved
from http://loans.org/student/news/minorities-have-more-debt-92467
Jackson, T. (2007). An analysis of the factors that influence achievement among african-
american students. Texas A&M University. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview /621730381?accountid=14749
Kezar, A. (2001). Theories and models of organizational change. Understanding and
facilitating organizational change in the 21
st
century: Recent research and
conceptualizations. ASHE. 28(4), 25--‐58.
Kimball, B. (2014). The Rising Cost of Higher Education: Charles Eliot’s “Free Money”
Strategy and the Beginning of Howard Bowen’s “Revenue Theory of Cost,” 1869−1979.
The Journal of Higher Education, 85(6), 886-912.
Kirkpatrick, J. & Kirkpatrick, W. (2016). Kirkpatrick’s four levels of training evaluation.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 106

Alexandria, VA: ATD Press.
Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy: An overview. Theory Into Practice,
41(4), 212–218
Laihee, M. (2011). Examining the implementation of district reforms through gap analysis:
Making two high schools highly effective. Available from Dissertations & Theses @
University of Southern California; Education Database. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.libproxy2.usc.edu/docview/884311861?accountid=14749
Lillis, M. P., & Tian, G. T. (2008). The impact of cost on college choice: beyond the
means of the economically disadvantaged. Journal of College Admission. Retrieved from
http://eric.ed.gov.libproxy2.usc.edu/?q=The+Impact+of+Cost+on+College+Choice%3a+
&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ829466
Matthews-Whetstone, R. & Scott, J. (2015) Factors affecting bachelor’s degree
completion among black males with prior attrition. Research in Higher Education
Journal. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov.libproxy2.usc.edu/?q=african+American
+males+in+higher
+education&pr=on&ft=on&ff1=subHigher+Education&id=EJ1062100
Maxwell, J. A. (2013). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach (3rd ed.). Thousand
Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Mayer, R. (2011). Applying the Science of Learning to Multimedia Instruction. Psychology of
Learning and Motivation, 55, 77-108.
Merriam, S. B. (1995). What can you tell from an n or 1? Issues of validity and reliability in
qualitative research. PAACE Journal of Lifelong Learning.
INFLUENCING FACTORS 107

Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2016). Qualitative research: A guide to design and
implementation (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
McCrudden, M. & Schraw, G. (2006). Information processing theory. Retrieved from http://
www.education.com/reference/article/information-processing-theory/.
Mckeemer, T. (2006). What effect does “second-generation discrimination” have on
african american males pursuit of higher education? The University of Iowa. Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.usc.edu/psycinfo/results
Ogunwole, S. (2012). The population with a bachelor’s degree or higher by race and hispanic
origin: 2006–2010. American Community Survey Briefs. Retrieved from
https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/acsbr10-19.pdf
Pajares, F. (2006). Self-efficacy theory. Retrieved from
http://www.education.com/reference/article/self-efficacy-theory/
Patton, Q. M. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods. Sage Publication. Retrieved
from https://library.usc.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=1935238{CKEY}
Pazzaglia, A. M., Stafford, E. T., & Rodriguez, S. M. (2016). Survey methods for
educators: Selecting samples and administering surveys (part 2 of 3) (REL 2016-160).
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences,
National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational
Laboratory Northeast & Islands. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs.
Perna, L. & Redd, K. (2003). Retaining minority students in higher education: a framework for
success. Wiley Periodicals. Retrieved from http://www.educationalpolicy.org/pdf/Swail_
Retention_Book.pdf
INFLUENCING FACTORS 108

Pintrich, P. (2003). A motivational science perspective on the role of student motivation in
learning and teaching contexts. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(4), 667–686.
Rubin, H., & Rubin, I. (2012). Chapter 6: Conversational partnerships. In Qualitative
interviewing: The art of hearing data (3rd ed.) (pp. 85-92). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications.
Rueda, R. (2011). The 3 dimensions of improving student performance. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Senge, P. (1990). The leader's new work: building learning organizations. Sloan
Management Review, 32(1), 7. Retrieved from
http://libproxy.usc.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libproxy2.usc.edu/docview/2
24967033?accountid=14749
Skinner, B. (1957). Verbal behavior. (The Century psychology series). New York: Appleton-
Century-Crofts.
Taylor, A. (2005). Improving the academic achievement of african american males: A case study
of african american male perceptions of attempted instructional strategies. North
Carolina State University. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview
/621057440?accountid=14749
Toldson, A. I. (2012). Debunking education myths about blacks. Journal of Negro
Education. Retrieved from http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2012/07/
black_education_statistics_separating_fact_from_fiction
U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System. (2014). Graduation rates. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d14/tables/dt14_326.10.asp
INFLUENCING FACTORS 109

U.S. Department of Education. (2015). The president’s 2015 budget proposal for
education. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/budget15045)
Weiss, R. (1994). Learning from strangers: the art and method of qualitative interview studies.
The Free Press. Retreived from
https://library.usc.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=55244{CKEY}
Whitaker, A. (2011) Reducing the risk among the most at-risk determining what
contributes to african-american males in special education having the highest rates of
incarceration and academic failure. University of Southern California. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/914190810?accountid=14749
Yukl, G. (2008). How leaders influence organizational effectiveness. The
Leadership Quarterly. (19)6. Retrieved from
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.09.008.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 110

APPENDIX A
Survey Protocol
Survey Questions
1. There are societal factors that hinder African American males from earning a college
degree.
2. My institution currently enrolls a good amount of African American males.
3. Scholarship money should be allocated to African American male students.
4. I seek out additional resources to help me recruit African American males.
5. Procedures such as recruiting best practices is needed to increase enrollment of African
American males.
6. My time is limited to devote special attention to recruiting African American males.
7. I spend enough time recruiting African American males to the university.
8. The entire department spends enough time recruiting African American males to the
university.
9. My responsibilities been modified to allow me sufficient time to recruit African
American males.
10. I receive resources to recruit African American males.
11. My organization supports increased attention to recruit African American males.
12. The university has sufficient prospective student programs tailored to attract African
American males to the university.
13. I identity most closely to
14. I am (gender).
15. I have worked as an admission counselor for
INFLUENCING FACTORS 111

16. Comments?

INFLUENCING FACTORS 112

APPENDIX B
Interview Protocol
Date/Time_______________
My name is Meghan Brewer and I will be conducting this interview. The goal of this
interview is to address the research questions guiding this study which include: What are the
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on factors that impact admissions
counselors to achieve their goal of implementing 100% of the best practices for increasing the
enrollment of African American males 100% of the time? And what are the knowledge,
motivation, and organization recommendations that will help admissions counselors meet their
goal? As an admission counselor with your institution, I believe you will be able to provide
value and candid feedback about your knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that
impact you in recruiting African American males to the university. Prior to this interview, you
were sent an information sheet with details regarding this interview including your anonymity in
this interview and your right with withdrawal from this study at any time. You were also given
detailed instructions about your verbal consent to record this interview. Are you still okay with
this interview being recorded? Before I being, you have any questions?
I will be asking you a total of fourteen interview questions that again, will help to answer
the research questions I mentioned earlier. If you do not have any further questions, I will begin.
Interview questions
1. Do you think African American men face challenges in regards to college degree
attainment? If not, why? If yes, what do you believe are some of those factors?
2. Do you believe your institution should put more focus on recruiting African American
male students? Is there value in recruiting African American male students?
INFLUENCING FACTORS 113

3. If anything, what do you do differently to recruit African American males to your
institution?
4. What factors do you believe influence African American males to attend college?
5. Do you feel confident in your abilities to recruit African American males to your
institution?
6. Do you feel that all African American men that are accepted to your institution enroll? If
not, why do you think they do not?
7. About how many admission counselors focus on recruiting African American male
students? Do you feel more counselors within the admission department should be
focused on recruiting African American males? Why or why not?
8. What incentives or recognition is given to admission counselors for recruiting African
American males to your institution?
9. Do you receive resources to help you recruit African American males students? What
resources would make you more successful in recruiting African American male
students?
10. What feedback or communication do you receive to help increase enrollment of African
American male students at your institution?
11. Should there be a scholarship budget allocated to incoming African American male
students to boost this group’s enrollment percentage? Why or why not?
12. Do you believe your behavior impacts the success of your individual efforts to
recruit African American males? Why or why not?
13. Do you believe all students are capable of going to college? Why or why not?
14. Are your responsibilities reorganized to recruit African American male students?
INFLUENCING FACTORS 114

APPENDIX C
Evaluation Survey
Level 1: Engagement
1. The information in this training was interesting to me?
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 1: Relevance
2. The information provided in the training will help me to better recruit African American
males?
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 1: Customer Satisfaction
3. The training provided was a good use of my time
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
4. Additional Comments
Level 2: Procedural
Participants will list a minimum of three actions to effectively recruit African American male
students.
Level 2: Attitude
There is value in setting aside time to recruit African American male students.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 2: Confidence
At this time, I feel completely confident in abilities to recruit African American male students?
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 2: Commitment
INFLUENCING FACTORS 115

Participants will create an action plan that details individual commitment to meeting his or her
goal.

INFLUENCING FACTORS 116

APPENDIX D
Pre-Recruitment Evaluation Survey
Level 1 - Reaction
1. This training was a good tool to help me increase African American male student enrollment.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 2 - Learning
2. I know how to effectively recruit African American males to LAU.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 3 - Behavior
3. I have devoted more time to recruiting African American males to LAU since the first training
session.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree
Level 4 - Results
4. I have reached out to more prospective African American male students than this time last
year?
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Disagree d) Strongly Disagree

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The underlining issue driving this study was factors that prevent African American males from earning a college degree. Brown (2008) noted that the disposition of African American males stem from a long history of racial oppression, discrimination, and legally mandated segregation and that society must change its negative perceptions of African American males and begin to create a climate that fosters the academic success of black males. Specifically, this work dove into the perspective of admission counselors and factors that influence this stakeholder group’s ability to recruit African American males to college. The purpose of this study was to conduct a gap analysis to examine the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that interfere with Los Angeles University (LAU) increasing the African American male four-year college admission rate. Based on the research, results, and findings, recommendations where given for causes validated through analyzing triangulated data including that of surveys and interviews of five admission counselors at a large private university. Results and finding of this study found that admission counselors do not uniformly understand what factors prevent African American males from earning a college degree and how to properly attract African American males to the university. Admission counselors did show to understand the importance of scholarship monies being allocated to African American male students. In addition, this study found that admission counselors lack the necessary confidence to effectively recruit African American males to the university. Finally, this study found that admission counselors lack the proper resources, support, designated time, and effective communication and recognition from their university to effectivity recruit African American males to the university. Solutions such as surveying currently enrolled African American male students to gage challenges this population group faces in terms of degree attainment, providing a job aid for admission counselors to better recruit this population group, providing incentives for admission counselors for meeting outlined goals, and providing resources and support to admission counselors all would help to make this stakeholder group more successful in meeting their goal of increasing African American male student enrollment at LAU.

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Cultural competency for academic counselors in the California community college systems to increase African-American male students' success: a gap analysis

PDF

How religious engagement shapes the college experience of African American Christian males at a predominantly White institution: a phenomenlogical approach

PDF

African American engineering students at River City Community College: Factors that improve transfer to four-year engineering degree programs

PDF

The barriers and facilitators of academic success for Black male students at a community college: a gap analysis

PDF

Student engagement experiences of African American males at a California community college

PDF

"A steady drop will wear a hole in the rock": feminism, the John Henry myth, and the black male experience in higher education

PDF

In pursuit of higher education: external and internal factors influencing the decision to attend college among Cambodian-American students

PDF

African American airmen and the CCAF degree: a mixed methods study conducted on joint base Pearl Harbor-Hickam

PDF

The plight of African American males in urban schools: a case study

PDF

Impact of required parental involvement on African American male students and families: a qualitative study of the USC-NAI program

PDF

Toward an understanding of the achievement of African American students at a nationally regarded California public high school through the theoretical lenses of acting white, stereotype threat, a...

PDF

Experiences of African American males accessing the pipeline of higher education through the Neighborhood Academic Initiative

PDF

The “lost boys” of higher education: African American males from basic skills through university transfer

PDF

Bypass for a “leaky” educational pipeline: a case study of the Bridge Program at Punahou School

PDF

African American males matter: closing the discipline gap and increasing engagement

PDF

Bridging the gap: a case study of an African American residential community at a predominantly White institution

PDF

"God has my back": the role of faith-based institutions in preparing African-American students for college success

PDF

Effective services provided to community college student-athletes: a gap analysis

PDF

Diversity and talent: how to identify and recruit classical music students from among underrepresented populations

PDF

Factors influencing the academic persistence of college students with ADHD

Asset Metadata

Creator Brewer, Meghan (author)

Core Title Factors influencing admissions counselors’ ability to increase the number of African American males in a private college: a gap analysis

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 03/16/2018

Defense Date 02/13/2018

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

Tag African American males in higher education,OAI-PMH Harvest,perpetual stereotypes,societal factors impacting African American males from earning a college degree,societal misconceptions,underrepresented African American males in higher education

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Sundt, Melora (committee chair), Cole, Darnell (committee member), Venegas, Kristan (committee member)

Creator Email maymaynb@hotmail.com,mnbrewer@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-486834

Unique identifier UC11266394

Identifier etd-BrewerMegh-6120.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-486834 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BrewerMegh-6120.pdf

Dmrecord 486834

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Brewer, Meghan

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