Abstract
This empirical study was conducted to identify the different factors that influence Pakistani student’s career choices. Five leading professions i.e. business and management sciences, medical, pharmacy, engineering and agriculture were selected to identify the factors. A survey was conducted using close ended Likert scale type questionnaire on the sample of 523 students from mentioned background. Multi-criteria decision analysis technique apply to rank the professions from best to worse one by using PROMETHEE. Further analysis was done by using Structured Equation Modelling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis technique. The results suggests that medical profession is superior among other professions. The result also indicate that personal interest, self-esteem and societal influence were major factors that significantly impact career selection of business and management. For medical profession, self-efficacy and self-esteem found to have a positive influence. For pharmacy profession, growth opportunities, psychological factor, self-efficacy and self-esteem have a significant influence. For engineering profession psychological factor, self-efficacy and societal influence show positive affect. For agriculture profession, self-esteem, psychological factor and growth opportunities show favorable results. The findings of the study will help students who want to peruse any of the above mentioned professions. This study open ups the door for career guidance and counselling in Pakistan and provide valuable information to policy makers and recruiters as to keep in mind the factors that affect students when they associated with these professions. Keywords : profession selection, career choices, Pakistani students, PROMETHEE, self-esteem, PLS-SEM DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-36-16 Publication date: December 31 st 2019
Highlights
Profession selection is an important decision for any student
When we talk about the career choices or profession selection the question that comes in our minds is what the students would like to be and why? The answer of this question usually depends on student interest, parental background, environmental and societal influences etc. it means we can say that selection of profession for students will vary culture to culture, person to person and society to society
For the management and administrative sciences profession data were form the department of Karachi university business school (KUBS), for pharmacy profession data were collected form the department of pharmaceutical sciences in university of Karachi, for agriculture profession data were collected from the department of agriculture and agribusiness management in university of Karachi, for engineering profession data were collected from NED university and for medical profession data were collected from Dow medical university and health sciences. 4.2 Scale development
Summary
Profession selection is an important decision for any student. When we talk about the career choices or profession selection the question that comes in our minds is what the students would like to be and why? The answer of this question usually depends on student interest, parental background, environmental and societal influences etc. it means we can say that selection of profession for students will vary culture to culture, person to person and society to society. It means we can say that selection of profession for students will vary culture to culture, person to person and society to society. Students choose such type of professions that have high market value, growth opportunities, job security, financial benefits and highly respectable in society. Agriculture profession taking attention of students due to market acceptability. All these professions have high demand among the students and higher education institutions provide opportunities to be specialized in these disciplines which help students in their career development
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