Effects of college major and its context on 21st century knowledge economy competencies

Using hierarchical linear modeling analysis techniques on a multi-institutional sample of over 14,000 four-year college and university graduates, this study examined the effects of college major and its contextual characteristics on the development of knowledge economy competencies. Drawing on the extant literature of competencies necessary for success in the knowledge economy, the study examined the effects of college major on alumni self-reports of college impact on the development of the following knowledge economy competencies: leading and communicating in groups, cognitive problem solving, intercultural understanding, and lifelong reflective learning.;The study found that a significant amount of the variance in the competencies was attributable to college major. The study tested several sets of contextual characteristics including structural characteristics, the "pure" versus "applied" distinction of academic major, and academic environments defined by Holland in his theory of vocation and careers (1973, 1985, 1997) to ascertain if one set of contextual characteristics best predicted the difference in knowledge economy competency development between majors. The structural characteristics of the major, measured as the proportion men and proportion students of color, explained the greatest amount of between-major variance in the lifelong reflective learning and intercultural understanding competencies while the Holland environments explained the greatest amount of between-major variance in the leading and communicating in groups and cognitive problem solving competencies.;Controlling for individual alumni characteristics, with the exception of cognitive problem solving in which the effect was positive, alumni in majors with higher percentages of men reported lower levels of development in the other three competencies. The proportion students of color positively affected alumni reports of lifelong reflective learning but negatively affected cognitive problem solving. With the exception of cognitive problem solving in which the effect was negative, alumni who majored in Enterprising and Social environments consistently reported advantages in competency development compared to their peers in Investigative environments. In terms of the "pure" versus "applied" dimension, alumni who were in pure disciplines reported lower levels of development in leading and communicating in groups and cognitive problem solving but greater levels of development in lifelong reflective learning compared to those in applied fields.