Effectiveness of Mobile-phone Career Competencies Intervention for Malaysian Public Sector Managers

Sequential Exploratory Mixed Method in Developing and Evaluating the Effectiveness of Mobile-phone Career Competencies Intervention for Malaysian Public Sector Managers

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a user and expert centric mobile phone-based career intervention program of career competencies among Malaysian public managers.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Competence; Competency-Based Education
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Mobile Career Competencies Intervention

Detailed Description

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a user and expert centric mobile phone-based career intervention program of career competencies among Malaysian public managers. In this study, the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is adopted as the framework to develop mobile phone-based intervention for career competencies. There is two phases in the study whereby in Phase 1, a qualitative approach developing the components in the career intervention module and mobile phone application features. Phase 2 that evaluates the mobile phone-based career intervention program. Validation will be conducted to meet the objectives of (i) the usability of the mobile communication career intervention application (survey), and (ii) evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention program for career competencies delivered through mobile phone application (randomized controlled trial). The primary outcome of this study is career competencies. The career competencies score will be compared between participants in the intervention and control group at the baseline, and follow-ups at week four and week 12 respectively, using mixed design ANOVA.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 70
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Malaysia
  • Putrajaya, Malaysia, 62510
    • Public Service Department Malaysia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Must be Administrative and Diplomatic Officers (ADO) who use mobile application (Android)
• Must be in Grade 41
• Informed consent obtained

Exclusion Criteria:

• The officer that use IPhone
• The officer that involved in disciplinary issues

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Mobile Career Competencies Intervention; The intervention protocol has five main components and is designed in English language. The first component consists of an educational session. The second component focuses on one's reflection on motivation and qualities. The third component assists users in working out strategies with others. The fourth component prompts users to reflect on and narrate their emerging career stories through goal-setting identification activities. The fifth component includes the government's human resource practices, training programs offered, and policies. The fourth and fifth component require users to reflect on their work exploration and career control career competencies.	Behavioral: Mobile Career Competencies Intervention; Mobile career competencies intervention aim to enhance the career competencies (career behavioral action) among the participants
No Intervention: Waitlist control; Waitlist control group attended work and basic training from the organization as usual. They only receive the mobile intervention after the intervention group completing of the intervention.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Effectiveness of Career Competencies	assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low career competencies & 5=high career competencies	12 weeks
Validation of Mobile Career Competencies Intervention	Assessed by USE Questionnaire - 1 Very Not Useful & 5 Very Useful; Usefulness; Ease of Use; Ease of Learning; System Satisfaction	1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Reflection on motivation	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low reflection on motivation & 5=high reflection on motivation	12 weeks
Reflection on qualities	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low reflection on qualities& 5=high reflection on qualities	12 weeks
Networking	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low networking & 5=high networking	12 weeks
Self-profiling	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low self-profiling & 5=high self-profiling	12 weeks
Work exploration	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low work exploration & 5=high work exploration	12 weeks
Career control	subscale of career competencies and assessed by Career Competencies Questionnaire - 1=low career control & 5=high career control	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universiti Putra Malaysia
• Collaborators: Public Service Department Malaysia
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Hsin Hung Ho, Master, Public Service Department Malaysia

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Hsin Hung, H., & Roziah, M. R. (2019). A Systematic Literature Review on the Competencies fo Public Services. International Conference on Educational Research and Practice 2019 (ICERP 2019), UPM, 57.
• Ho, H. H., Foo, C. N., & Baki, R. (2019). Training but no Training. International Journal of Academic Research in Business & Social Sciences, 9(7), 77-87.
• Ho HH, Mohd Rasdi R, Ibrahim R, Md Khambari MN. Developing and evaluating the effectiveness of mobile phone-based career intervention for career competencies of Malaysian public managers: Protocol for a mixed method study. Internet Interv. 2020 Sep 3;22:100349. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2020.100349. eCollection 2020 Dec.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 3, 2020
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 23, 2020
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2020

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 25, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 25, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): March 30, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 2, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 30, 2021
• Last Verified: March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: career competencies; mobile career intervention; career behavioral action
• Other Study ID Numbers: UPM

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No