The effect of supervisors interpersonal style on postgraduate students skill development, research satisfaction, and quality of life, evidence from vietnam

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Thi Ha

THE EFFECTS OF SUPERVISOR'S
INTERPERSONAL STYLE ON
POSTGRADUATE STUDENT'S SKILL

DEVELOPMENT, RESEARCH
SATISFACTION, AND QUALITY OF
LIFE: EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM
MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Thi Ha
THE EFFECTS OF SUPERVISOR'S
INTERPERSONAL STYLE ON POSTGRADUATE
STUDENT'S SKILL DEVELOPMENT, RESEARCH

SATISFACTION, AND QUALITY OF LIFE:

EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM
ID: 22130018

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)
SUPERVISOR: Dr. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this study represents a significant milestone in my life.
It has been a long time when I come back the academic journal and it demands
plenty effort. This thesis could not have been completed without the valuable
support and kind encouragement of many people.
Firstly, I would like to express my genuine appreciation to my supervisor, Dr.
Nguyen Thi Mai Trang for her precious time, countless advice, professional
guidance, as well as her valuable comments in every stage of doing my research. I
could not have completed this research without her teaching and assistance.
I would also like to express my great gratitude to the committee members, Dr.
Nguyen Dinh Tho, Dr. Tran Ha Minh Quan, Dr. Nguyen Thi Nguyet Que and Dr.
Nguyen Thi Mai Trang. Their valuable comments and constructive suggestions
contributed significantly for me to complete this thesis with best results.
My special thank is extended to all instructors and staffs of School International School
of Business – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their great support and experience
sharing during the last two years. In addition, lots of other professors, classmates, friends, and
bosses motivated me in the long journey of postgraduate program.

Finally, the deepest and most sincere gratitude are for my beloved family
and my husband who always facilitate great conditions and kindly encourage me
to pursue and complete MBA program.

ABSTRACT
The concern about postgraduate non-completion and time taken to completion has
attracted to explore recently and supervisor is designated to facilitate the student’s academic
development either in terms of coursework or research projects. To address this problem, the
purpose of this study is to examine the effects of supervisor’s interpersonal style on research
skill development and subsequently, on research satisfaction and quality of life in the context
of Vietnam postgraduate studies. Additionally, it investigates the moderating role of student’s
intrinsic motivation in the relationship between supervisor’s interpersonal style and skill
development. Qualitative research by in-depth interview is managed to make the adopted
scales to be appropriate for the context of the study. Following, quantitative research or main
survey is conducted to test the measurement models and the hypothesized model. With
Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach, the research findings indicate that supervisor’s
interpersonal style has a strongly positive impact on student’s skill development, research
satisfaction, and eventually happiness in life. In addition, intrinsic motivation is highlighted to
moderate the relationship of supervisor’s interpersonal style and skill development during
supervisory process. Thus, these findings will be useful for universities, or scientific research
institutions to identify and address implementation issues related to effective supervision in
enhancing postgraduate research studies.

Keywords:

effective

supervision,

supervisor’s

development, quality of life, intrinsic motivation

interpersonal

style,

skill


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION----------------------------------------------------------------------6
1.1 Research background -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6
1.2 Research gap ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8
1.3 Research objectives -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
1.4 Research scope ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10
1.5 Research significance ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 11
1.6 Research Structure --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES ------------------------------ 13
2.1 Quality of life and research satisfaction --------------------------------------------------------- 13

2.2 Skill development ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14
2.3 Supervisor’s interpersonal style ------------------------------------------------------------------ 15
2.4 Moderating effect of intrinsic motivation ------------------------------------------------------- 17

2.5 Conceptual model ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19

CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY------------------------------------------------------------------- 21
3.1 Research design ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21
3.1.1 Research process -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 21

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3.1.2Measurement scales -

3.2Qualitative study -----------------------------------------------------------------

3.2.1The purpose of qualita

3.2.2Sample of qualitative r

3.2.3The conduct of qualita

3.2.4The outcome of qualita

3.3Quantitative study ---------------------------------------------------------------3.3.1Questionnaire design

3.3.2The purpose of quantit

3.3.3Sampling ----------------

3.3.4Data analysis method
CHAPTER 4 – DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ---------------------------------------------

4.1Data collection --------------------------------------------------------------------

4.2Sample characteristics ----------------------------------------------------------

4.3Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of reliability test -----------------------------

4.4Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) -------------------------------------------

4.5Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) ----------------------------------------

4.5.1Model Fit -----------------

4.5.2Reliability and Validity

4.5.2.1 Reliability -------------------------------------------------------------

4.5.2.2 Convergent validity -------------------------------------------------

4.5.2.3 Discriminant Validity -----------------------------------------------Page | 2


4.6 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) ----------------------------------------------------------- 45
4.7 Testing the moderating effect of intrinsic motivation ----------------------------------------- 48

CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS, AND LIMITATIONS ----------------- 50
5.1 Conclusions and discussion of the findings ----------------------------------------------------- 50

5.2 Managerial implications --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54
5.3 Limitations and future research ------------------------------------------------------------------ 56

REFERENCES ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57
Appendix A: Guidelines for in-depth interview --------------------------------------------------- 62
Appendix B: Final measurement scales ------------------------------------------------------------- 68
Appendix C: Questionnaire (English version) ----------------------------------------------------- 70
Appendix D: Questionnaire (Vietnamese Version) ----------------------------------------------- 73
Appendix E: KMO and Bartlett's Test and Total Variance Explained ---------------------- 76

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1 Conceptual model --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19
Figure 3.1 Research process ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 22
Figure 4.5 Confirmatory factor analysis (Standardized estimates) -------------------------------- 43
Figure 4.6 Structural results (Standardized estimates) ---------------------------------------------- 46

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Scale items of supervisor’s interpersonal style.............................................. 23
Table 3.2 Scale items of skill development............................................................................... 24
Table 3.3 Scale items of intrinsic motivation........................................................................... 24
Table 3.4 Scale items of research satisfaction....................................................................... 25
Table 3.5 Scale items of quality of lify.......................................................................................... 25
Table 3.6 Removed items....................................................................................................................... 28
Table 4.1 Source of data collection................................................................................................. 33
Table 4.2 Respondents’ characteristics....................................................................................... 35
Table 4.3 Cronbach’s Alpha Rule of thumb............................................................................... 36
Table 4.4 Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for each measurement scale – first round 37

Table 4.5 Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for each measurement scale – final round 39

Table 4.6 Pattern Matrix........................................................................................................................... 41
Table 4.7 Key goodness-of-fit indices........................................................................................... 42
Table 4.8 Construct correlations, squared correlations and AVE.............................45
Table 4.9 Fitness of conceptualized Model............................................................................... 45
Table 4.10 Unstandardized Regression Weights (SEM)................................................... 46
Table 4.11 Summary of hypotheses testing result............................................................... 47
Table 4.12 Difference between variance and partial invariance model.................48
Table 4.13 Estimating for moderating effects of intrinsic motivation....................49
Table D1 KMO and Barlett’s Test...................................................................................................... 76
Table D2 Total Variance Explained in Exploratory Factor Analysis......................... 76

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CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research background
The relationship between research students and supervisors plays a critical role in
the success of postgraduate thesis. Doing research or thesis is the process involving
selecting a research topic, planning the research, identifying the necessary resources,
managing the project, actively conducting the research, carrying out the literature review,
data analysis and interpretation of the data, writing the thesis, and defending it (Ismail,
Abiddin & Hassan, 2011). Obviously, students’ commitments with their studies and their
endurance in pursuing academic path have been addressed as key factors in ensuring
completion of their postgraduate program (Sakurai, Pyhältö & Lindblom-Ylänne, 2012).
Postgraduate students can be listed into three main programs including research,
coursework and research - coursework. Thus, the concern about higher degree noncompletion and time taken to completion has attracted many scholars to explore, especially in
overseas, for example in Canada, Australia and Malaysia. Recent research on postgraduate
study experience has shown that stress, frustration and attrition rates among students are

high and the number of postgraduate students leaving their programs is alarming, ranging
from 40% to 70% (Gardner, 2007). The study by Elga (2003) in Canada indicates that the
completion rates vary from 45% to 77% in subject to the major (Arts and humanities: masters
67.9%, doctoral 44.7%; Social sciences: masters 72.6%, doctoral 48.5%; Natural & Applied
sciences: masters 74.5%, doctoral 66.7%; Life sciences: masters 77.1%, doctoral 70.4%). In
Australia, the completion rates for research degrees have increased remarkably since the
1980s to between 80% and 90% in the mid 1990s (Colebatch, as cited in Ismail et al., 2011).
Further, based on the data gathered by Graduate School of Studies (GSO) of one public
university in Malaysia, graduate students with thesis (research and coursework) complete
their Masters averagely within 2.69 years and Ph.D student complete their Ph.D within 4.84
years averagely in 2005 whereas they can complete it earlier than that (Abiddin & Ismail, 2011).
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In Vietnam, since the economic liberalization “ doi moi” in 1986, the higher education
system has expanded in both scale and scope - driven by strong household and labor market
demand. By the early 90s of XX century, it has an outbreak that the postgraduate enrollment
and training numbers have increased remarkably, which creates a leap in Vietnam
postgraduate program. Especially, in recent years, the scale postgraduate training has
increased speedily. In the period 2000 - 2005, the number of master students increased by
51.9%/ year and doctoral students increased by 61.1%/ year and by early 2014, there are more
than 130 institutions for doctoral degree and 150 training facilities for master's degrees (Đỗ
Đức Minh, 2014). Not only public universities or scientific research institutions specialize in
postgraduate training task, but also the private universities with qualified quality assurance
are tasked with postgraduate training. Yearly, the higher education sector provides 20,00025,000 masters and thousands of doctoral (Đỗ Đức Minh, 2014).
In addition to the achieved results, the postgraduate training in Vietnam also reveals
some challenges to address. Firstly, the efficiency and scale of postgraduate program are not
in conjunction with the quality of training. According to many experts, the quality of
postgraduate training is worrying and far from expectation. Hence, the quality of thesis and
research is low, not yet meets international standard in both content and form, especially

reference, data analysis and students neither perform independent research capability
expectedly nor keep up with the development level of science, technology and not associated
with life (Đỗ Đức Minh, 2014). Secondly, very few faculties appear actively engaged in research
and publications. Students are limited to associate with scientific research, self-study
capacity, self-practice and research skill development. The World Bank (2008) reported that
there seem very few publications in Vietnam, but the majority of these are published
domestically, rather than in international peer-reviewed scientific journals while publishing in
international peer reviewed journals is an important test of the quality of research, and an
important tool for improving quality. Thirdly, research projects at many universities are behind
schedule or postponed, with about 70 percent of research projects yet to be evaluated one to
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seven years after their stipulated duration completion, as shown in the report
(The World Bank, 2008).
Likewise, numerous research findings have pointed out variables that affect
postgraduate studies completion within the stimulated timeframe and the major problem tends
to approach the research and supervision process (Hammick & Acker, 1998; Ssegawa &
Rwelamila, 2009; Ezebilo, 2012; Sakurai et al., 2012; Ngozi & Kayode, 2014). Correspondingly,
supervision is interpreted as a complex social encounter and a two-way interaction that
requires both the student and the supervisor to consciously engage each other within the
spirit of professionalism, respect, and open-mindedness (Ismail et al., 2011). An empirical
study by Hammick and Acker (1998) revealed that the supervisor gender affects upon the
supervision of research through its influence on the knowledge flow and power between
student and supervisor. Further, major reasons for high postgraduate attrition rate include
student research deficiencies, particularly lacking of research skills and failure to develop a
credible and sound research definition and design (Ssegawa & Rwelamila, 2009), challenges
associated with research process and student’s confidence in presenting research works to
the scientific community (Ezebilo, 2012) or supervision process and departmental issues
(Sakurai et al., 2012). Research also shows that supervision schedule, students' interest, and

predisposition towards research work as well as student's skill in conduct of research and
availability of needed research resources are major attributive variables to delay research or
thesis completion (Ngozi & Kayode, 2014) . However, majority of research focus on the
supervisor-student interpersonal relationship and supervisor’s interpersonal style plays the
vital role for the success of postgraduate program (Marsh, Rowe & Martin, 2002; Armstrong,
2004; Allen, Day & Lentz, 2005; Mainhard, Rijst, Tartwijk & Wubbels, 2009; Ruhani, 2012).

1.2 Research gap
In Vietnam, research about the relationship between supervisor’s interpersonal style and
postgraduate student’s skill development and research satisfaction is still limited. So far, the

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research of Tran (2013) showed that there is limitation on the skill development in higher
education in Vietnam and it appears the need to develop soft skills, the central-controlled
curriculum, the traditional teaching method, the popularity of students’ passivity to close
the gap between studying and workplace. Furthermore, another empirical research by
Tran and Swierczek (2009) identified factors influencing the graduate skill development in
the workplace via the perspective of employer’s need as well as skill delivery and graduate
competencies in the lens of students only. Meanwhile, Marsh at al. (2002) perceived skill
development during supervisory process as development of generic skills.
Although many researches worldwide have been conducted to investigate the
determinants of postgraduate quality, very few studies specifically explore the relationship of
supervisor’s interpersonal style on postgraduate student’s research skill development and its
consequences in research satisfaction and quality of life. Most of the researches show these
concepts separately (Marsh et al., 2002; Mainhard et al., 2009; Y.K. Lee, Kim, K.H. Lee & Li,
2012; Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012). Further, the role and the degree of students’ self-determination
and autonomous motivation during the period of doing thesis seem to be overlooked in the
supervisory process. In Vietnam, the number of studies about this issue is still scare. Even the

studies of Tran (2013), Tran and Swierczek (2009) showed that school activities and part-time
experiences effectively enhancing students’ skill development but they concentrate on a
different construct, that is the linkage between postgraduate skill-developments in workplace
and focus on the competencies applicable in working environment. Moreover, these above
research examine university students and employers as respondents instead of postgraduate
students. What remains to be explored, however, is how postgraduate students perceive to
achieve learning outcome of research skill development and research satisfaction from doing
postgraduate thesis.

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1.3 Research objectives
In order to fulfill this gap and in an effort to identify the key factors affecting student’s skill
development during supervision process, the overall objective of this study is to examine the effects of
supervisor’s interpersonal style on research skill development and subsequently, on research
satisfaction and quality of life in the context of Vietnam postgraduate studies. In addition, it investigates
the moderating role of student’s intrinsic motivation in the relationship between supervisor’s
interpersonal style and skill development. Specifically, it investigates:

1. The relationship between research satisfaction and quality of life
2. The relationship between skill development and research satisfaction
3. The relationship between supervisor’s interpersonal style and skill development
4. The relationship between supervisor’s interpersonal style and research satisfaction
5. The impact of supervisor’s interpersonal style on skill development is

stronger for group with a high level of intrinsic motivation than that of
group with a low level of intrinsic motivation
1.4 Research scope
This thesis concentrates on Master’s students who are under doing the

postgraduate thesis and already completed the MBA program because they have deep
experience in supervisory process and research completion. Ho Chi Minh City is
chosen to conduct the survey for this study since it is one of the biggest cities in
Vietnam and most of universities and scientific research institutions centralize here.
The survey examines MBA’s students mainly at four universities in Ho Chi Minh city,
Vietnam including University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, University of Economics
and Law, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Open University.

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1.5 Research significance
This thesis about the relationship between postgraduate students with their supervisors and the
supervisory styles to be most effective in terms of students’ satisfaction with the supervision in their
learning journey is practical for several reasons. First, the author hopes to provide a general outlook
about students’ feedback at their supervisors’ interpersonal styles with the goal to improve the quality
of supervision. Although communication between research students and supervisors frequently will be
open, the research accommodates the instrument to discuss the relationship and the data will add
insights that not always reflect in unregulated discussion between postgraduate student and
supervisor. Second, analyzing what postgraduate students’ preferred style and what supervisor’s ideal
would help in the matching of supervisors and supervisees. Third, this study is significant for
universities or scientific research institutions specializing in postgraduate training for future program
development in order to enhance or create a climate where evaluation of postgraduate students’
experiences is common practice. Finally, by having an insight understanding about factors that
influence student’s kill development, research satisfaction, and happiness in life, universities, or
scientific research institutions can have appropriate strategies or specific activities to release the
nature tension of the relationship between supervisors and supervisees and increase the quality of
research supervision in postgraduate education.

1.6 Research Structure

This thesis includes five chapters:
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the research background of this study as well as the research
gap, research objectives, research scope, research significance, and research structure.

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Chapter 2: Literature review and hypotheses
This chapter describes a conceptual model. Additionally, this chapter
reviews and synthesizes the theories in the literature of five constructs including
quality of life, research satisfaction, skill development, supervisor’s interpersonal
styles, and intrinsic motivation. Thus, the definition and the literature review of the
above constructs are presented, and hypotheses are proposed respectively.

Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter introduces research design, research methodology, and the processes of
conducting the research to test the hypotheses. In addition, the research procedure is
implemented through a combination between qualitative research and quantitative research.

Chapter 4: Data analysis and results
This chapter is designed to present the data analysis progress and
findings of data analysis. Accordingly, this chapter includes three main parts:
descriptive analysis, measurement assessment, and hypotheses testing.
Chapter 5: Conclusions, Implications, and Limitations
The last chapter discusses main conclusions, discussion of the findings
and implications based on the results of the previous chapters. Lastly, the
limitations are identified to recommend for further research in the future.

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CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES
This chapter mainly introduces the theories, which are proposed by many scholars in
academic field, relating to all concepts, and research model of the study. Respectively, the
author introduces the definitions of quality of life, research satisfaction, skill development,
supervisor’s interpersonal styles, and intrinsic motivation. The related theories of each
construct are alternatively discussed. Finally, based on theories and the relation of previous
research, its constructs and relationship hypothesized among these constructs are proposed.

2.1 Quality of life and research satisfaction
Quality of life is a complex concept and it has been evaluated in a variety of ways.
Veenhoven (as cited in Aydin, 2012) defines overall happiness as the extent to which an
individual judges the overall quality of his life as “whole favorably”. Further, Khoshnam,
Ghamari, and Gendavani (2013) argued that happiness is the positive emotion consisting
of two dimensions: social behaviors and inner satisfaction and can show a sense of joy
and that happiness is affective in creating a mental health and helps the person be
successful on social relations and achieve individual goal. In the context of this study,
quality of life can be defined as overall satisfaction with life (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012).
Likewise, satisfaction has been largely defined and measured in different ways over
the years. The concept of satisfaction is understood differently in individual relative
context. Respectively, job satisfaction is defined as “a pleasurable or positive emotional
state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experiences” (Locke, as cited in Lee
et al., 2012). Meanwhile, learning satisfaction is perceived as the extent of satisfaction of
learners towards the learning process and the results of performance and achievement
(Ko, 2012). In general, satisfaction is the level to which the individual's needs and
aspiration are met (Küskü, 2001). In the context of this study, following Lee et al. (2012),
research satisfaction is perceived as enjoyable status of emotion deriving from the
achievement of research skill development during the supervisory process.
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Thus, a number of studies have found the relationship between job satisfaction
and quality of life (Iverson & Maguire, 2000; Gavin & Mason, 2004). People who enjoy
their jobs tend to perceive greater overall satisfaction with their lives because life
satisfaction is impacted by satisfaction with life domains, including work (Sirgy, as
cited in Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012). In addition, it has also found that there is a link
between satisfaction and long- standing happiness or quality of life (Khoshnam et al.,
2013). Hence, in the context of this study, the author hypothesizes that:

Hypothesis 1: Research satisfaction has a positive impact on
quality of life. 2.2 Skill development
Skill development has been measured as a part of academic achievement and defined as
development of generic skills (Marsh et al., 2002) or soft skills to be efficient for workplace (Tran &
Swierczek, 2009). Actually, there are numerous definitions of skill development (Tran, 2013). These skills
are named variety such as transferable skills, soft skills, core skills, key skills, generic skills, basic
skills, cross-curricular skills, or more recently employability skills (Hager & Holland, 2006). Additionally,
skills are also referred to as ‘competencies’, ‘capacities’, or ‘abilities’ rather than skills and in general,
these terms are widely used “to refer to a range of qualities and capacities that are viewed as
increasingly important in contemporary life” (Tran, 2013, p.633). In the context of this study, following
Marsh et al., (2002), the author perceives skill development as a set of generic skills to develop research
ability of the student.

Indeed, research shows that the development of generic skills such as
problem solving, analysis, communication, application, collaboration, selfregulation are predictors to the outcome of student’s reported level of course
satisfaction at university (Lizzio, Wilson & Simons, 2002). Moreover, Zeng, Webster,
and Ginns (2013) found that students' perceived skill development along with their
research degree experiences during postgraduate supervision tends to achieve
overall satisfaction in doing research. Accordingly, the author proposes:
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Hypothesis 2: Skill development has a positive impact on research
satisfaction. 2.3 Supervisor’s interpersonal style
Interpersonal style has been widely studied in education (Frymier & Houser, 2000;
Marsh et al., 2002; Armstrong, 2004; Perry, Fisher & Koul, 2005). Interpersonal style originates
from the concept of interpersonal relationships or interpersonal relations in psychology,
where interpersonal style is defined as a systems approach to communication (Watzlawick,
Beavin & Jackson, as cited in Perry et al., 2005). Accordingly, the systems approach to
communication mainly focuses on the pragmatic aspect that is the affect of communication of
the persons involved. In the context of education, the conceptualization of the interpersonal
perspective concentrates on the perceptions of the students toward the behavior of their
teachers (Perry et al., 2005) and the communication between teachers and students is
relational as well as content driven (Frymier & Houser, 2000) .

Interpersonal perspective indicates that supervisor behavior not only conveys the
content of the words being used, but also implies an intrinsic relationship communication
(Mainhard et al., 2009). This concept evaluates supervision in terms of the relationship
between the supervisor and students. Respectively, there are two features central to this
perspective: the communicative systems approach and a model to describe the
relationship aspect of supervisor behavior. To describe this relationship-aspect of the
supervisor behavior, researchers have applied Leary’s general model for interpersonal
relationships (Marsh et al., 2002; Perry et al., 2005; Wubbels, Brekelmans, Brok & Tartwijk,
2006) in the context of higher education in which the relationship aspect of behavior is
described in two dimensions and structured in smaller segments. Mainhard et al. (2009)
developing from a model by Wubbels et al. (2006) analyze two dimensions of the model for
interpersonal supervisor behavior: Influence and Proximity underlining in eight types of
behavior: leadership, helpful/friendly, understanding, giving students freedom and
responsibility, uncertain, dissatisfied, admonishing and strict.
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In fact, Gatfield (as cited in Mainhard et al., 2009) outlines four supervisory styles
consisting five items by combining the two poles of the dimensions: structure and support.
The laissez faire type (low structure and low support) generally offers students responsibility
and freedom. The pastoral type (high on support and low on structure) combines
understanding and helpful/friendly behavior. The contractual style (high on support and high
on structure), the emphasis is on leadership and helpful/friendly behavioral aspects. Finally,
Gatfield’s directorial type (high structure, low support) conveys strict and leadership behavior.
In the context of this study, following Gatfield’s research and adopting from Mainhard et al.
(2009), the author applies only five types of behavior which is believed having direct impact to
research

skill

development

of

the

students

including:

leadership,

helpful/friendly,

understanding, giving students freedom and responsibility, and strict.

Teachers vary in the interpersonal styles they reply on to teach and motivate students.
Kyriakides, Creemers, and Antoniou (2009) found that teachers who use advanced types of
behaviour are presented more effective for students’ achievement towards different subjects.
The finding from the study of contextual supervision model with classroom cooperating
teachers and their teacher-interns in an extended-practicum program in Western Canada also
reveals a recognizable improvement between cooperating teachers’ mentorship styles with
their supervisees’ or teacher-interns’ skill- specific developmental levels in teaching (Ralph,
2003). At the postgraduate level, students’ reported benefits in mentoring relationships have
included development of research skills, collaboration, and shared decision-making on
research projects (Koro-Ljungberg & Hayes, 2006). Research also shows that skill
development has high correlation with supervisor’s interpersonal styles and one of the most
prominent elements associated with the supervisors’ role (Marsh et al., 2002; Mainhard et al.,
2009). Therefore, the author suggests that:

Hypothesis 3: Supervisor’s interpersonal style has a positive impact on
student’s skill development
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Positive associations have been demonstrated between teachers’s interpersonal styles
and students’ subject-related attitudes of enjoyment (Henderson, as cited in Perry et al., 2005;
Perry et al., 2005). For example, Henderson found in the study of Biology classes in Australia
that teachers’ interpersonal styles explained 33% in students’ enjoyment, either uniquely or in
combination with other learning environment variables. Perry et al. (2005) also found that
teacher’s interpersonal behavior has a strong effect on student’s attitude of enjoyment in
secondary science in India. In addition, good interpersonal working relationship between
supervisors and students is more likely to be associated with good progress and student
satisfaction (Ives & Rowley, 2005). Accordingly, the author also proposes that:

Hypothesis 4 : Supervisor’s interpersonal style has a positive impact on

student’s research satisfaction.
2.4 Moderating effect of intrinsic motivation
Motivation is a significant factor in explaining human behavior. Ryan and Deci (2000)
judge that motivation can be evaluated either in quantitative measure as one’s enthusiasm for
a particular task or qualitative judgment as the beliefs that give rise to a task being
undertaken. Correspondingly, intrinsic motivation reflects the natural human tendency to learn
and confront. Vallerand (as cited in Areepattamannil, Freeman & Klinger, 2011) describes
intrinsic motivation in three categories. Respectively, intrinsic motivation to know reflects the
aspiration to perform an activity in a pleasure and satisfactory manner while one perceives
during learning, exploring, or trying to understand something new. Intrinsic motivation to
accomplish, on the other hand, reflects the aspiration to perform an activity in a pleasure and
satisfactory manner while one receives from creating new things. Finally, intrinsic motivation
to experience refers the individuals’ pleasurable intellectual or physical sensations in an
activity for the pleasure and satisfaction obtained. Thus, intrinsic motivation is also referred
as a partial part self-determination theory, which has received wide attention in the sport,
education, work, and health care fields. Accordingly, this research bases on the study of
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Karatepe (2014) that describes intrinsic motivation as a part self-determination
theory of which intrinsically motivated individuals tend to have an internal locus of
control, are driven to accomplish, and are enthusiastic about learning new things.
Actually, advantages of intrinsic motivation have been demonstrated (Gagné & Deci,
2005; Hon, 2012; Khoshnam et al., 2013). For example, Gagné and Deci (2005) found that when
individuals are autonomously motivated, they find their work absorbing and delightful. In
addition, their decision toward work completion is voluntary. Moreover, intrinsically motivated
employees seem to be more unprejudiced, flexible and more willing to assimilate new
knowledge or more willing to bring about innovative approaches in decision- making
processes (Hon, 2012). In the context of learning, intrinsically motivated students tend to have
higher academic success because students with intrinsic motivation seek challenge and

competition in studying (Komarraju, Karau & Schmeck, 2009) as well as determine goals and
attempt with creactivity to reach their goals (Khoshnam et al., 2013). Further, Ferrer -Caja and
Weiss (2000) found that students in high school physical education classes who perceive
higher learning climate in their classes would foster their higher level of self-determination
and subsequently translate to their higher intrinsic motivation, effort, and persistence.
Areepattamannil et al. (2011) also found that intrinsic motivation has a positive predictive
effect on academic achievement for both the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada and the
Indian adolescents in India; however, the Indian immigrant adolescents in Canada trend to
have better school performance as compared to the Indian adolescents in India because of
their higher intrinsic motivation. In the context of this study, the author also hypothesizes:

Hypothesis 5: The impact of supervisor’s interpersonal style on skill
development is stronger for group with a high level of intrinsic motivation than
that of group with a low level of intrinsic motivation.

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2.5 Conceptual model

There
H1
H2
H3
development
H4
satisfaction
H5
group with a
motivation.

In summary, this chapter presents theoretical background of each construct in the
model. Based on discussions in the literature review, supervisor’s interpersional style has
a high impact on student’s skill development and student’s research satisfaction.
Consequently,

student’s

skill

development

positively

affects

student’s

research

satisfaction as well as quality of life. Further, the moderating role of intrinsic motivation
during supervisory process is also considered. Totally, there are five hypotheses
proposed for this research. The next chapter discusses about methodology to be applied
for data analysis and testing hypotheses of the research model.

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CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY

This chapter introduced the methods to do research in order to obtain data
for analysing those concepts and the model. It included three sections: research
design including research process and measurement scales, qualitative research,
and quantitative research. The two important parts in this chapter were details of
qualitative research and quantitative research in which the result of qualitative
research led to the final questionnaire to be used in the main survey of this study.

3.1 Research design
3.1.1 Research process
This research consisted of two phases: a qualitative study and a quantitative
study. In-depth interview was applied in the qualitative study. The main survey was
conveyed by quantitative method. The entire procedure was illustrated in Figure 3.1.

3.1.2 Measurement scales
The draft questionnaire was designed based on previous measurement
scales. One second-order construct (supervisor’s interpersonal style) and four
first -order constructs (skill development, intrinsic motivation, research
satisfaction and quality of life) were used in this study.

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