Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez

Prof. Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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11 September 2023 in Sustainability
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
NFNirda de Jesús Colón Flores
Nirda de Jesús Colón Flores
MVMaira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
JHJoselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
Joselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
CDCándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Cándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is crucial in higher education, providing students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for a sustainable future. ESD seeks a holistic understanding of sustainability and promotes critical thinking and innovative approaches. Specifically, ESD is very important to address in engineering careers, as engineers will need to establish sustainable solutions in the future. For this reason, the integration of sustainability into university curricula has been studied for some time. In this way, this research analyses the perceptions (attitudes towards teachers; knowledge about sustainable development; environmental, economic, and social attitudes; sustainable behaviours) that engineering students in the Dominican Republic have towards sustainable development. A number of 626 questionnaires completed by engineering students were obtained. Subsequently, the data were analysed in SPSS and PLS-SEM. The results showed that attitudes towards teachers have an impact on engineering students’ knowledge of sustainable development. In turn, the results also showed that knowledge about sustainable development influences both attitudes (economic, social, and environmental) and sustainable behaviours of engineering students. Contrary to other research, this study suggested that economic attitudes are not identified as an antecedent of sustainable behaviours among engineering students. From these results, implications and future lines of research are generated.

11 August 2023 in Sustainability
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
MVMaira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
JHJoselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
Joselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
NFNirda de Jesús Colón Flores
Nirda de Jesús Colón Flores
CDCándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Cándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Entrepreneurship education has become increasingly relevant. For some years now, the business environment for starting a new company in the Dominican Republic has been considered very propitious. This has caused many universities to incorporate training in entrepreneurship into their study plans. This study aims to analyse whether the cognitive and affective components, the country’s business environment, university training in entrepreneurship and attitudes towards entrepreneurship are antecedents of the entrepreneurial intention of university students. It also seeks to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behaviour of students. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 523 students who had taken courses on entrepreneurship. The data have been analysed through the SPSS and Smart-PLS programs. The results of this research highlight the importance of the affective component and attitudes towards entrepreneurship in the formation of students’ entrepreneurial intentions. This reinforces the importance of cultivating positive attitudes through educational interventions. It is also worth noting the influence of students’ entrepreneurial intentions on entrepreneurial inclinations. Finally, it is worth highlighting the high predictive power of the entrepreneurial intentions variable and more specifically the attitudes towards entrepreneurship variable as responsible for 35.38% of the variability of entrepreneurial intentions. These results contribute to the understanding of the factors that drive entrepreneurial intentions among university students and provide a foundation for future research.

13 July 2023 in Preprints.org
Verified
Preprint
Open access
PDF file
NFNirda de Jesús Colón Flores
Nirda de Jesús Colón Flores
MVMaira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
JHJoselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
Joselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
CDCándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Cándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is crucial in higher education, providing students with the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for a sustainable future. ESD seeks a holistic understanding of sustainability and promotes critical thinking and innovative approaches. Specifically, ESD is very important to address in engineering careers, as engineers will need to establish sustainable solutions in the future. For this reason, the integration of sustainability into university curricula has been studied for some time. In this way, this research analyses the perceptions (attitudes towards teachers; knowledge about sustainable development; environmental, economic and social attitudes; sustainable behaviours) that engineering students in the Dominican Republic have towards sustainable development. 626 questionnaires completed by engineering students were obtained. Subsequently, the data was analysed in SPSS and PLS-SEM. The results showed that attitudes towards teachers have an impact on engineering students' knowledge of sustainable development. In turn, the results also showed that knowledge about sustainable development influences both attitudes (economic, social and environmental) and sustainable behaviours of engineering students. Contrary to other research, this study suggested that economic attitudes are not identified as an antecedent of sustainable behaviours among engineering students. From these results, implications and future lines of research are generated.

11 July 2023 in Preprints.org
Verified
Preprint
Open access
PDF file
MVMaira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
Maira Rafaela Vargas-Martínez
JHJoselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
Joselina Caridad Tavarez de Henríquez
NFNirda de Jesús Colón Flores
Nirda de Jesús Colón Flores
CDCándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Cándida María Domínguez-Valerio
Entrepreneurship education has become increasingly relevant. For some years now, the business environment for starting a new company in the Dominican Republic has been considered very propitious. This has generated that many universities have incorporated training in entrepreneurship in their study plans. This study aims to analyse whether the cognitive and affective components, the country's business environment, university training in entrepreneurship and attitudes towards entrepreneurship are antecedents of the entrepreneurial intention of university students. It also seeks to investigate the relationship between entrepreneurial intention and entrepreneurial behaviour of students. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire from a sample of 523 students who had taken courses on entrepreneurship. The data have been analysed through the SPSS and Smart-PLS programs. The results of this research highlight the importance of the affective component and attitudes towards entrepreneurship in the formation of students' entrepreneurial intentions. This reinforces the importance of cultivating positive attitudes through educational interventions. These results contribute to the understanding of the factors that drive entrepreneurial intentions among university students and provide a foundation for future research.