A case study of future business leaders of America.
this study measured the economic attitudes and values of a random sample of young Americans (high school seniors and future Business Leaders of America members (FBLA)) towards the American Economic System and its essential elements: profits, economic freedom, competition, corporate taxes, business ethics, advertising, and labor unions. The study suggested that the respondents (FBLA members) demonstrated less than affirmative attitudes toward economic and business issues than one would expect based on their training and economic education.
INTRODUCTION
Young Americans’ attitude toward the economic issues is an important determinant of the future of the private enterprise system. In a society where political and economic decision–making is decentralized, the right and responsibility to make decisions rests with individuals. Competent economic policies are, therefore, a function of economic understanding and attitudes of the masses toward profits, economic freedom, competition, government intervention, taxes, business, and the right to work.
Attitudes are widely accepted as a precursor of human behavior. According to Kunkel (1970),
Attitude, thus, is simply a shorthand term for certain abstracted characteristics common to a number of behavior patterns which are frequently repeated whenever certain conditions prevail (p.70).
McClelland (1969) endorses Kunkel’s assertion when he equates attitude with “the probability of recurrence of behavior forms of a given type and direction.” Since attitudes predict actions (particularly in the voting booth), a study of young Americans attitudes may offer some insights into future economic policies and their impact on the American economic system.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies of attitudinal change in the area of economics are limited in number and scope. This shortcoming stems partly from the fact that until recently there was no widely accepted nationally normed attitudinal test instrument available for research. Jackstadt and Brennan (1983) were among the first to study the economic knowledge level and attitude of high school students toward the American Economic System, business and labor unions. They were surprised to find not only a profound lack of understanding of the American system, but also downright hostility toward its important institutions.
Charkins, O’Toole and Wetzel (1985) studied how student learning and attitudes could be improved by matching instructional style with student learning style. Using factor analysis, the authors explored the relationship between student score on attitude and expected grade, hours of study, percentage change in Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE) score and the extent of difference in learning style and teaching style scores. They conclude that the students’ learning and attitudes could be improved by developing instructional strategies that match with students’ learning styles.
Hodgin (1984) developed an econometric model to study how performance information (as reflected in cumulative grade) affected changes in attitude, which in turn determined performance. Hodgin found that there is an interactive relationship between the students’ attitudes and cognitive learning.
Ingels and O’Brien (1985) studied how learner’s attitudes and values were influenced by instruction based on the textbook entitled, Our Economy: How it Works. They used the University of Chicago, Social Science Research Center’s Economic Values Inventory instrument to measure student attitudes (the findings of the study are included in our…