| Abstract: | Studies on civic engagement have been reviewed in their contextual factors, for example, factors in organizational, pedagogical, and psychological domains, while little research has confirmed that the structural linkage of related latent variables is workable in this topic. This study intends to investigate college students’ civic engagement efficacy that might affect the entire sustainability of society in their later careers. Previous studies argued college students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs, typically viewed as science-oriented education, might neglect their civic engagement. During COVID-19 pandemic, we assumed that students’ civic engagement in STEM programs might be aggravated. To detect the phenomena in the specific field, we designed that civic engagement and its implementation were based on students’ self-efficacy measurement. This study considered the time spent on related activities in STEM which might impact students’ involvement in civic activities. To achieve the research purposes, we set the confidence level of 95% (Zα/2), and the sampling error was controlled within ±0.03 (d). The suggested sample was 1,067 participants from the target population. Since the STEM programs shared 43%, we invited 458 participants in STEM to fit the sampling requirement as their proportion. During 2021, we successfully sampled 350 students in STEM programs (it covered 76.42% of the original sampling plan), including 5 public and 6 private universities in Taiwan. After deleting incomplete questionnaires, there are 322 valid responses were collected. There are 63.0% male and 37.0% female, it reflects male domination in current STEM programs. A total of 322 survey responses based on a voluntary basis were analyzed, the reliability and construction of the survey instrument were verified, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to examine the causal relationships among observed and latent variables. The findings suggest the two dimensions of civic engagement in terms of civic engagement and implementation might impact students as active citizens and their involvement in local and global activities. While student’s time spent did make negative influence in this target group. This study suggests institutional leaders in STEM programs may transform their preparation to encourage students make reasonable time allocation for civic engagement. Within the higher education settings, extending STEM programs has become an essential component of the economic agenda in various countries. This study provides an example to detect a specific student’s issue in STEM programs. The findings can bridge the gap of knowledge in STEM education and civic engagement, and provide a practical approach to detecting civic engagement efficacy and its impacts in higher education settings. |
