Social Media and Reflective Thinking: a Case Study of Generation Y Business Students
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2014 Social Media and Reflective Thinking: A Case Study of Generation Y Business Students Stacy Neier Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Neier, Stacy, "Social Media and Reflective Thinking: A Case Study of Generation Y Business Students" (2014). Dissertations. 1295. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1295 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2014 Stacy Neier LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO SOCIAL MEDIA AND REFLECTIVE THINKING: A CASE STUDY OF GENERATION Y BUSINESS STUDENTS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN RESEARCH METHODS BY STACY NEIER CHICAGO, IL DECEMBER 2014 Copyright by Stacy B. Neier, 2014 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express the deepest gratitude for all the people who supported my dissertation process. My committee showed extraordinary dedication to my progress and invested so much to guide me. First, Dr. Terri Pigott showed me what it means to be a methodologist. She helped me to realize how common ground truly exists amongst the many types of research designs available within social sciences. Her appreciation for and practical approach to research motivated me during coursework and dissertation, and I am confident I am a better educator because of her encouragement. Next, Dr. Leanne Kallemeyn helped me to realize how powerful case study can be. Her presentation of the method instantly intrigued me during Fall Semester 2012, and it was an honor to have her expertise to guide this study. Finally, Dr. Linda Tuncay Zayer has been a mentor to me since 2005. Her approach to scholarship embodies such exemplary vision, inquiry, and empathy. I admire Linda as a researcher, educator, and leader. In short, I had a dream committee. Additionally, I express gratitude for friends and colleagues who influenced my complete experience as a PhD student. The Department of Marketing and the Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago were instrumental in my completion of this project. Further, Dr. Kitty Dickerson, Professor Emerita at the Department of Textile and Apparel Management at the University of Missouri, first sparked my interest in academics as an undergraduate. I would not have considered a PhD in education if it weren’t first her investment in my time at Mizzou. Dr. Raymond Benton, Jr., Professor of iii Marketing at Loyola University Chicago, supported my dual role as a Clinical Instructor and PhD student. His support of this project made it possible for me to balance teaching with coursework, and his unyielding push for quality inquiry motivates me to be a better educator for my own students. Mike Welch, Senior Executive Lecturer, also supplied constant wisdom, advice, and reinforcement when I simply needed to look at the big picture. As this project finishes, my marriage to Matt begins. Matt was with me from the very start of the program and moved through any twist and turn to cheer me through to this finish line. As much as I adored being a PhD student, I am grateful for the opportunity to, with near simultaneous timing, close dissertation to open our marriage. Adequate words do not exist to describe Matt’s contribution to this project. Finally, Dr. Leigh Neier, my twin sister, stands as the most compelling and energetic figure that underscored my desire to pursue a PhD. If I can share a fraction of the influence with my students that Leigh shares with hers, I’ll be overjoyed. I look forward to working with Leigh as a collaborator and colleague because when we are together, all is well. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES ix LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER ONE: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1 Purpose of the Study 4 Theoretical Framework 6 Research Questions 10 Significance of this Study 10 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 18 Social Media 19 Characteristics of Generation Y Social Media Users 29 Cognitive Development and Social Media 32 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 45 Research Design 45 Sample Selection 49 Instrumentation 52 Procedures for Data Collection 58 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS 66 CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions and Implications 105 Recommendations for Practice 117 Recommendations for Research Methods 131 Recommendation for Research Topic: Ignatian Pedagogy Paradigm 138 Closing Remarks 141 APPENDIX A: DESCRIPTION OF MARK 310 STUDENTS’ FALL 2013 SEMESTER PROJECT 143 APPENDIX B: COURSE SCHEDULE/OUTLINE 147 APPENDIX C: CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE IN RESEARCH FORM 150 APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW RECRUITMENT EMAIL 154 APPENDIX E: INTERVIEW PROTOCOL 156 v APPENDIX F: CODING GUIDE 161 APPENDIX G: MY SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTIONS WITH MARK 310 PRIOR TO CIR PROJECTS 163 APPENDIX H: ARCHIAVAL DATA REPRESENTATIVE OF THEME 1 172 REFERENCES 176 VITA 184 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Coding Guide with Interview and Archival Data 69 Table 2. Examples of Ill-structured Problems from Fall 2013 Consumer Insights 73 Table 3. Interview and Social Media Archival Data per Reflective Judgment Model Stage 74 Table 4. Social Media Archival Data per Reflective Judgment Model Stage for Theme 1 77 Table 5. Social Media Archival Data per Reflective Judgment Model Stage for Theme 2 91 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. King & Kitchener’s (1994) Reflective Judgment Model Stages 8/110 Figure 2. Conceptual Framework 49/67/107 Figure 3. Archival data 79 Figure 4. Archival data 80 Figure 5. Archival data 81 Figure 6. Interview tweet 82 Figure 7. Interview tweet 83 Figure 8. Archival data 84 Figure 9. Archival data 85 Figure 10. Interview tweet 86 Figure 11. Archival data 87/88 Figure 12. Archival data 89 Figure 13. Archival data 93 Figure 14. Archival data 94 Figure 15. Archival data 95 Figure 16. Archival data 96 Figure 17. Archival data 97 Figure 18. Archival data 98 Figure 19. Archival data 98 x Figure 20. Interview tweet 99 Figure 21. Archival data 100 Figure 22. Archival data 102 Figure 23. Recommendations for practice 119 Figure 24. Archival data 128 Figure 25. Ignatian Pedagogy Paradigm (IPP) 141 xii CHAPTER ONE STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Preparing Generation Y students to recognize complex issues in realistic contexts presents responsibilities and challenges for higher education faculties. These educators collaborate with Generation Y students as the Information Age (Leidner & Jarvenpaa, 1993) continuously builds boundless layers of information into online applications. The need to understand how to guide students’ interactions with these complex, ambiguous online environments may help explain students’ capacities to practice reasoned, reflective thinking. As noted by Peltier, Hay, and Drago (2005), “Students entering the business world often lack reflective thinking skills necessary for discovering insights through experience, necessary requisites to becoming lifelong learners” (p. 250). When educators can anticipate how Generation Y develops reflective thinking skills in an online environment, they may oversee ways to effectively help students extract relevant online evidence to support the development of their ways of knowing. However, educators’ decisions to incorporate appropriate online tools for students’ interactions challenges these students’ attempts to construct knowledge claims through online interactions. The decision about which online tools to integrate into courses brings the requirement to expose students to relevant, complex issues to properly support personal epistemology development (Baxter Magolda, 2004; Schommer, 1990). 1 2 Moreover, students are also challenged to recognize tentative evidence as appropriate to develop their ways of knowing given the uncertainty inherent to online environments. In particular, the current environment for business educators also shows shifting challenges and responsibilities regarding how to effectively represent realistic, complex issues for Generation Y students’ consideration. Business educators meet requirements of accreditation bodies like the Association for Advancement of Schools and Colleges of Business (AASCB) to primarily demonstrate the achievement of structured learning outcomes. The achievement of learning outcomes, however, does not address the quality of thinking or students’ concepts of justification when facing unstructured problems not easily formatted for accreditation purposes and assessment instruments. In this environment, Generation Y students express uncertainty about the meaning and value of traditional education (Owens & Price, 2010) yet seek classroom environments that emphasize business fundamentals through real time application (Clark & Nelson, 2012; Welch & Bonnan-White, 2012). As a business discipline, marketing in particular simultaneously trials use of upgraded online environments as industry practitioners adjust goals and tactics of marketing strategies through trial usage of these same online tools (Granitz & Koernig, 2011; Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011). Marketing curriculum adopts technology advances at a slower rate compared to industry practice