Factors Affecting the Global Mindedness of Extension Agents: Implications for Building GlobalAwareness of Extension Agents

摘要

Because of the profound effect that globalization has on our society the Cooperative Extension Service of the United States has been challenged to develop programs that help people deal with the impacts of globalization. The purpose of this study wasto determine the level of global mindedness among Extension agents in North Carolina and to determine whether their global mindedness varies with their demographic characteristics and international travel experience. This study found that the typical Extension agent from North Carolina has a moderate to high level of global mindedness. This study found that the level of Extension agents' global mindedness varies with their age, levels of education and gender. This study revealed that Extension agents with international experience were more globally minded compared to the Extension agents without any international experience. This study found a weak positive relationship between the length of time Extension agents have spent abroad and their global mindedness. This study is useful to determine the global mindedness of Extension agents and identify the factors associating their global mindedness.