FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TO CHOOSE AGRICULTURE AS A PROSPECTIVE CAREER: THE MODERATING ROLE OF CAREER PROSPECT

Abstract

This research explores the roles of social status and parental influence on student's attitudes to choose careers in agriculture with the moderating role of career prospects among Malaysian students. The survey method was adopted to collect the data from 183 students who enrolled in agricultural related courses. Data of five major sections such as demographic profiles, attitude, social status, parental influence and career prospect were collected by questionnaire. The PLS-SEM technique was used to analyze the data using Smart PLS 3.0. The average age of the respondent is 21 years old with females 66.1% and male 33.9%. The majority are Malay (89.6%), followed by Chinese (6.6%) and Indian (3.8%). This study suggested that social status has significant influenced the student attitude towards careers in agricultural sectors, but not parental status. Furthermore, career prospects moderated the positive relationship between social status and student's attitudes towards an agricultural career. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.