Abstract
Many students attend business and economics studies in Norway. Several skilled students with engineering background choose specialization in economics and business administration. This education provides many opportunities. The aim of this paper is to learn more about what these students emphasize in choice of jobs and career opportunities. This article provides support for the assumption that gender and personality traits (the Big Five) are linked to salary and career opportunities for business and economics students. Personal characteristics matter in students’ consideration of career possibilities, future wages, entrepreneurship, and contributions to society. Financial rewards are positively connected to the personality trait conscientiousness and negatively to agreeableness. Individuals with high score in the agreeableness want to help others. The trait openness is a good predictor for starting own business. There is still a gender gap. Women are not as concerned with high wages as men. Instead, the female students want to contribute more to society. The suggestions appear from a quasi-experiment involving 119 undergraduates from a university in Norway by asking them about their preferences and attitudes. The selected methods are factor analysis and linear regression modeling. The findings provide useful knowledge and information in the design and development of various study topics.
Highlights
Students’ preferences and career paths have influence on students’ choice of academic fields (Siegall et al 2007)
The chosen study field is an important factor for making career choices
The trait conscientiousness is significantly related with career
Summary
Students’ preferences and career paths have influence on students’ choice of academic fields (Siegall et al 2007). Business studies are quite popular in Norway, where more than 10 per cent of all students attend courses within this field. The chosen study field is an important factor for making career choices. Prior research studies have indicated that the choice depends heavily on potential career, job market, and opportunities (Tan and Laswad, 2009). This choice depends on gender and personal characteristics. Personal traits may play a critical role in students’ choice of study specialization. According to Easterlin (1995), individual preferences are a key factor in
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