A Comparison of Values of Board Chairmen and Educational Administrators in Seventh-day Adventist Residential Academies, Colleges, and Universities in the United States of America and Canada
Authors:   ,   Andrews University, Birkenstock David 
Published: June 2023

Problem. An important concern of administrators is assessing the role of values in education. A high degree of values congruency between board chairmen and educational administrators seems essential for educational institutions to function effectively. The purpose of the study was to assess the degree of values congruency between Seventh- day Adventist board chairmen and educational administrators. Method. The Allport, Vernon, and Lindzey Study of Values scale, which furnished relative scores for six value classifications— aesthetic, economic, political, religious, social, and theoretical— was selected for the study. A personal data sheet was developed for the subjects of the study. Ten hypotheses were developed for the study. The first six hypotheses related to the major purpose of the study and held that there is a significant difference between the six value scores of board chairmen and educational administrators as measured by the Study of Values scale. The four hypotheses for the corollary purposes of the study held that there is a significant difference between the six value scores of board chairmen and educational administrators based on the independent variables of age, non-administrative experience, years of administrative experience, highest degree held, major field of study, years of schooling in Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions, enrolment of educational institutions, and level of educational institution, as measured by the Study of Values scale. The Study of Values scale and a personal data sheet were mailed to fifty-two board chairmen and fifty-nine educational administrators. The board chairmen, clergymen by profession and training, held execu­ tive positions, such as local conference presidents, union conference presidents, and vice-presidents of the General Conference, in the Seventh-day Adventist church. The educational administrators were principals and presidents of Seventh-day Adventist owned and operated residential academies, colleges, and universities. Thirty-three usable responses were returned by board chairmen, or 63.4 percent, and forty- five by educational administrators, or 76.2 percent, giving a total response of 70.2 percent. Two statistical procedures were used in the study: 1) a one­ way multivariate analysis of variance, and 2) a discriminant analysis for several groups, conducted for those comparisons which were statistically significant for the analysis of variance. A .05 level of confidence was set for rejecting the null hypotheses on all of the comparisons. Results. No statistically significant differences on the six value scores of board chairmen and educational administrators were obtained. However, seven significant differences were obtained on the compari­sons for the independent variables. On some comparisons the following independent variables had significant differences: years of administrative experience, highest academic degree held, major field of study, years of schooling in Seventh-day Adventist educational institutions, enrolment of educational institutions, and level of educational institution. On five statistically significant comparisons the economic, political, religious, social, and theoretical values discriminated between the board chairmen and educational administrators according to the discriminant analysis. Conclusions. The following main conclusions emerged from the study: 1. That a high degree of congruency, with direct implications for policy making in educational institutions, existed between the values.of board chairmen and educational administrators 2. That educational administrators had a unique value orien­ tation with a high ranking of the religious, political, and social values 3. That board chairmen had similar value rankings Co other clergymen on religious, social, and political values but differed markedly from other clergymen on the economic value 4. That social and economic values discriminated best between board chairmen and educational administrators 5. That subjects were more likely to have dissimilar value orientations when they had had more than ten years of administrative experience 6. That principals of smaller residential academies tended to place a higher priority on social and economic values than did principals of larger residential academies.