Investigating the Influence of Demographics and Personality Types on Practitioners’ Level of Systems Thinking Skills
本研究用结构方程模型分析了99名工程经理、104名系统工程师等从业者的人口统计特征和人格类型如何影响其系统思维技能水平，发现教育水平、最高学位领域、人格类型、组织所有权结构和当前工作经验有显著影响。
Although the application of systems thinking (ST) has become essential for practitioners when dealing with turbulent and complex environments, there are limited studies available in the current literature that investigate how the ST skills of practitioners vary with regard to demographic factors and personality types (PTs). To address this gap, this article uses a structural equation modeling approach to explore the relationship between practitioners’ <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ST skills, PT, and a set of demographic factors</i> . The demographic factors included in the study are <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">education level, the field of the highest degree, organizational ownership structure, job experience, and current occupation type</i> . A total of 99 engineering managers, 104 systems engineers (SEs), and 55 practitioners with other occupations participated in this article. Results showed that the education level, the field of the highest degree, PT, organizational ownership structure, and current job experience of practitioners influenced their level of ST skills. Additionally, the current occupation type of practitioners partially affects their level of ST skills. An in-depth analysis was also conducted using multiple group analysis to show how seven ST skills of the practitioners vary across their level of education. Taken together, the findings of the study suggest that PT and a set of demographic factors—the education level, the field of the highest degree, organizational ownership structure, current job experience, and current occupation type—influence the overall ST skill of the practitioners.