Influencers of University Students’ Career Decision

Abstract

Making a career decision is often challenging among students for which they are expected to decide on a career in times of uncertainty that will have an impact on the rest of their lives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing undergraduate students’ career decision and to propose recommendations aimed to rectify career indecisions. The independent variables chosen for this research are extrinsic factors, intrinsic factors, and interpersonal factors, which is derived based on the tri-dimensional model of career choice proposed by Carpenter and Foster in 1977. An additional independent variable, which is industrial training, was added as an extension of the research framework as it is perceived to potentially influence undergraduate students’ career decision as well. All data were collected from 200 undergraduate students from a private university using questionnaires and analysed by utilising Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22). The study results indicate that intrinsic factors are the most influential in affecting undergraduate students’ career decision which is followed by interpersonal factors.However, extrinsic factors and industrial training were found to have insignificant relationship with career decision making.