Attributes of Hong Kong Construction Engineering Student Learning Approaches: Investigation of Chinese and Western Personal Values

Abstract

Members of the construction engineering profession require developing not only technical knowledge but also various personal attitudes and values to enable them to keep abreast of an ever-changing body of knowledge and solve construction dilemmas. However, construction engineering education in Hong Kong emphasizes students’ professional and technical training and pays less attention to their personal development, despite previous studies having identified that personal values have a significant effect on learning. Inappropriate personal values in education can result in students becoming surface learners whose only aim is to achieve a pass or a particular grade. A student’s learning approaches will not only affect his or her academic performance but also shape further personal and professional development when working in the construction industry after graduation. For these reasons, it is essential to investigate the complicated relationships between the personal values and learning approaches of construction students so that educators can develop and refine their programs so as to help students cultivate appropriate personal value systems and hence, develop proper learning approaches. Nevertheless, no study yet has looked at the personal values and learning approaches of construction engineering students in Hong Kong. This paper aims to investigate the relationships between construction engineering students’ personal values and their learning approaches, which involve both motivation to learn and the learning strategies subsequently selected. An anonymous survey of all students studying construction engineering-related programs at four universities in Hong Kong was conducted, and the data were analyzed by using factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The study identified five value factors, including work competence, intra-personal integration, openness to others, ideal life, and social conservatism. Work competence and openness to others may induce students to adopt deep learning and discourage them to use surface learning; in contrast, ideal life and social conservatism are associated positively with surface learning and negatively with deep learning. To enhance the learning approaches of each student group, construction educators should not only focus on technical knowledge and skills but also foster the development of appropriate personal value systems to help instill a positive, deep learning approach over the longterm.