2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Exploring the Role of Self-Efficacy in Entrepreneurial Decision-Making: An Action Research Study [WIP]

Presented at Decision-Making in Engineering Ethics Education

The aim of this study is to investigate how ethical dilemma case studies constructed with entrepreneurial mindset constructs in upper-level chemical engineering courses influence the development of the ethical decision-making process and how this complexity of the human factor and self-efficacy can be reflected in pre and post assessment via a Likert scale survey and reflective journals.
The development of abilities for societal decision-making has received little attention from engineering educators, who have prioritized teaching technical skills. Educators must choose the best content, methodology, curricular models, and outcome evaluation techniques to integrate ethics into the curriculum. Conversations on ethics in engineering are typically guided by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics but they are often not realistic to the workplace where an individual faces contrasting demands. Entrepreneurial mindset (EM) and ethical dilemmas are more commonly associated with other fields like business, philosophy, and medicine (especially the latter) however, they hold much value in engineering education and practice. Students learn and develop ethical decision making through active thinking about ethical dilemmas; progressing from preconventional (least developed), to conventional, to post-conventional (most developed) levels of moral reasoning. An ethical dilemma is a conflict between alternatives, where choosing any of them will lead to a compromise of some ethical principle and lead to an ethical violation. Entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility, which are closely tied to entrepreneurial mindset, analyze common needs, economic issues, and social issues to improve society's quality. The introduction of the EM framework in an ethical decision-making dilemma suggests a pluralistic framework for structuring the chemical engineering curriculum by adapting concepts and situations studied in business and social studies degrees to an engineering setting to create an applicable, critical interdisciplinary and reflective curriculum.
In this study, upper-level chemical engineering students' written reflections on ethical dilemmas (250 words per reflection) will be grouped according to three types of possible outcomes: client-based, company-based, and innovative based on their answers to corporate social dilemmas. Students will have a pre/post survey to determine what type of moral reasoning they adopt when they face an ethical dilemma. Students will be presented with an ethical decision-making scenario and answer it based on their own individuality. In class, they will discuss in groups and decide based on the group's consent. The reflections will be compared to verify any changes in perspective in addressing the dilemma. The EM component to this activity is not only mimicking decision-making situations as entrepreneurs, but it also includes the discussion of the entrepreneurial mindset framework to either encourage or solidify their self-efficacy. Their self-efficacy can be determined by a focus interview with 2-3 upper-level students from each of the collaborating chemical engineering institutions.
We are particularly interested in knowing the percentage of students who demonstrated post-conventional reasoning. This study is expected to close this ethical decision-making development gap by introducing concepts and situations studied in business and social studies degrees and adapted to an engineering setting as part of the chemical engineering curriculum. The impact of this study could shape the discussion in ethics and ethical decision making used by chemical engineering educators and chemical engineering employees other than simply engineering economics and quality control optional courses. The introduction of entrepreneurial mindset learning strategies to the chemical engineering curriculum can be seamless and have a great impact on student’s self-efficacy.

Authors

Mr. Tim Ransom http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0357-5427 Clemson University
Alysa Rose Lozano University of Kentucky
Dr. Betul Bilgin The University of Illinois Chicago [biography]

Betul Bilgin is a Clinical Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). With a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University, Dr. Bilgin has extensive experience in both biotechnology research and engineering education. Since joining UIC, she has developed and taught various undergraduate courses, integrating innovative teaching methods and industry-relevant content to enhance student learning and engagement.

Dr. Bilgin's research focuses on engineering education, particularly in fostering professional identity among engineering students and integrating data science into the chemical engineering curriculum. She has received multiple awards for her contributions to teaching and mentoring, including the ASEE Ray Fahien Award and the UIC COE Harold Simon Award. Dr. Bilgin is also actively involved in professional service, currently serving as the Director of the Chemical Engineering Division for ASEE and participating in various initiatives to improve engineering education and student success.
Dr. Courtney Pfluger Northeastern University [biography]

Dr. Courtney Pfluger is an Associate Teaching Professor at Northeastern University. In 2011, began as an Assistant Teaching Professor in First-year Engineering Program where she redesigned the curriculum and developed courses with sustainability and clean water themes. In 2017, she moved to ChE Department where she has taught core courses and redesigned the Capstone design course with inclusion pedagogy practices.
She has also developed and ran 9 faculty-led, international programs to Brazil focused on Sustainable Energy. She has won several teaching awards including ChE Sioui Award for Excellence in Teaching, COE Essigmann Outstanding Teaching Award, and AIChE Innovation in ChE Education Award. She also won best paper at the Annual ASEE conference in both Design in Engineering Education Division and the Professional Interest Council 5 (PIC V) for her research in Inclusive Team-based learning. In 2023, she won the Northeastern Inaugural Global Educator Award for her impactful work developing and running international educational programs.
Dr. Sindia M. Rivera-Jiménez University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Rivera-Jiménez is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Engineering Education (EED) and an affiliate faculty to the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on understanding the role of engineering communities while enacting their agency in participatory and transformational change. She is particularly interested in broadening the participation of minoritized communities by studying the role of professional development in shaping organizational cultures. As an education practitioner, she also looks at evidence-based practices to incorporate social responsibility skills and collaborative and inclusive teams into the curriculum. Dr. Rivera-Jiménez graduated from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez with a B.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. She earned an NSF RIEF award recognizing her effort in transitioning from a meaningful ten-year teaching faculty career into engineering education research. Before her current role, she taught STEM courses at diverse institutions such as HSI, community college, and R1 public university.
Dr. Katie Cadwell Syracuse University [biography]

Katie Cadwell is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University, where she has taught Chemical Engineering core courses since 2011. After receiving Chemical Engineering degrees from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (BS) and University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD) she pursued an engineering education and outreach post-doc and taught at Madison College for several years.
Dr. Gisella R Lamas Samanamud http://orcid.org/https://0000-0001-9907-4381 University of Kentucky [biography]

Dr. Gisella Lamas is a Brazilian/Peruvian environmental engineer. She works as a Lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the University of Kentucky – Paducah. She is a visiting scholar at the graduate school of UFSJ – Brazil. Her technical research experience focuses on water and wastewater treatment, statistical methods and biofilms applied to engineering. She also studies the application of SoTL to the chemical engineering curriculum. She is passionate about DEIB, outreach opportunities and mentoring. She has been awarded the 2022 Engaged advocate award. She has completed the Global Diplomacy Initiative course from UNITAR and she is a STEM PEER academy fellow 2023.

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