Career Decision-making Process Research Articles

Synergizing Aptitude, Interest, and Intelligence: A Systematic Approach to Career Selection Decision-making in Higher Education

Abstract— The process of making informed career decisions during higher education holds great significance, both for individuals and society at large. Careful evaluation of factors such as aptitude, interests, and intelligence is essential when selecting a suitable career path. The impact of this choice is far-reaching, influencing professional paths and contributing to personal contentment and societal advancement. This study delves into the pivotal roles played by aptitude, interest, and intellect in shaping students' career choices, particularly within the realm of higher education. The primary objective of this paper is to examine existing research on the process of career decision-making within the context of higher education. By establishing connections among aptitude, interest, and intelligence, the study aims to offer insights into an effective framework for supporting career decision-making approaches, thereby guiding students toward careers that align with their aspirations and yielding successful outcomes.To achieve this goal, a fuzzy-based technique is used to aid students in making well-informed career selections subsequent to completing their higher education. The system incorporates interest, intellect, and aptitude as input variables, encompassing a comprehensive array of eleven inputs, including nine specific aptitude dimensions. The ultimate output variable encompasses the chosen career option. The synthesis of scores from diverse aptitude, interest, and intelligence assessments serves as the basis for determining the most suitable career path. Employing the Mamdani technique within a fuzzy logic framework facilitates a thorough analysis of these inputs, offering pragmatic career alternatives congruent with individual skill sets. In order to gauge the system's efficacy, a comparative analysis is conducted between the proposed fuzzy-based approach and the traditional manual methodology employed by career counselors. The system's effectiveness is tested by comparing its results with those of the counselor. A high degree of positive correlation (0.988) is observed between the two results, indicating the system's good efficiency. The results of this correlation reveal that the fuzzy-based approach demonstrates a high degree of similarity to the outcomes generated by human counselors, thus validating its effectiveness as a valuable tool for aiding students in their career decision-making process. Keywords — Career selection, Decision making, Aptitude, Interest, Intelligence, fuzzy

Peer Influence, Family Influence, Academic Difficulties and Gender Differences as Agents of Career Indecisiveness of Senior High School Students in Ghana

This research aimed at finding out how peer influence, family influence, and academic difficulties affect the career decision-making process among senior high school students in Ghana. Employing a descriptive survey design, the study involved 450 students selected through multi-stage sampling. Data collection utilized a Likert-type scale questionnaire. Analysis and presentation of findings relied on Descriptive Statistics. Results indicated that peer influence, family influence, and academic difficulties collectively played significant roles in causing career indecisiveness among senior high school students in Ghana. Females were affected more by the agents of career indecisiveness. The study recommends that school counsellors remain attentive to peer influence, family influence, and academic difficulties, offering appropriate guidance and counselling to aid informed and effective career decision-making among senior high school students. Gender specific characteristics and behaviour must be critically explored in catering for the diverse career counselling needs of gender groups.

Understanding How Senior High School Students Choose a College Degree Program: A Phenomenological Study

The college programs that SHS students choose influence their lives as young adults. It defines their future careers and significantly changes the course of their lives. With this in mind, many factors influence the decision-making process of incoming first-years. With the implementation of the K-12 Program in the Philippines, costs needed for education have further soared. Apart from this, parental and familial relationships could also influence most students’ education, as they serve as children’s pillars of support, meaning parents, finance, and many other elusive factors could potentially inhibit SHS students’ choices when entering college. Therefore, to provide even more insight into the career decision-making process of incoming college students, it is necessary to solidify an understanding of how exactly different factors affect graduating STEM students’ choices. To explore this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants using ten (10) general, parent-related, and finance-related questions. The thematic analysis was used to find the results. It had been divided into six (6) themes: parental and familial factors, financial factors, environmental factors, capabilities and interests, perspectives on the STEM strand, and confidence/belief in choosing the right field. The results highlighted that familial and financial influence were the most prevalent factors. Students’ environment, skills, and preferences also played a significant role. Additionally, the interviewees’ positive views on STEM and their confidence that they have thoroughly analyzed all other factors have also played a role in their college program decision-making process.

Insights Into the Next Generation: A Methodological Review of Career Expectations in Generation Z

This systematic literature review examines the growing research on career expectations of Generation Z (born 1995-2012), focusing on implications for Human Resource Management. Employing a structured search strategy in Google Scholar, this review analyzes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies across diverse regions and disciplines. Findings reveal a predominance of quantitative surveys, primarily involving student samples from Asia, Europe, and North America. Key themes include career aspirations, job choices, employee resourcing implications, and distinctive generational characteristics. Synthesizing empirical research and industry reports, this review provides a nuanced understanding of Gen Z's career decision-making processes. The paper concludes by identifying avenues for future research and outlining practical implications for attracting, retaining, and managing this emerging workforce.

Getting Black Men to the Blackboard: Factors That Promote Black Men Teachers’ Entry into the Teaching Profession

ABSTRACT Despite existing recruitment and retention efforts, there has been a persistent underrepresentation of Black men teachers in the U.S. educator workforce. The present study employed a phenomenological approach to examine what motivated Black men (n = 27) to enter the teaching profession. We drew on the social-cognitive career theory (SCCT) framework to analyze the most salient factors that Black men teachers referenced in their career decision-making processes. The results pointed to various factors contributing to Black men entering this profession including early experiences in education, role models, and exposure to ineffective classroom teachers. Our findings have implications for future research and policies related to the creation of teacher recruitment efforts and pipelines into the profession for Black men.

Career decision‐making among Chinese doctoral engineering graduates after studying in the United States

AbstractHow does studying in the United States affect Chinese doctoral engineering graduates' career decisions? The present study is based on semi‐structured interviews with 16 Chinese engineering graduates who completed their doctorates in the United States, focusing on two critical aspects of their career decisions: returning to China and pursuing academic careers. First, the findings categorise Chinese doctoral engineering graduates into four types based on intention to return to China: fresh returnees, advanced returnees, hesitant stayers and resolute stayers. Second, the findings describe the reasons why they pursued academic or non‐academic careers. In particular, the study explores how the graduates' learning experiences during their doctoral study in the United States affected them in terms of the research field, industry experiences, information gained and expectations about working conditions. In the decision process, it was important for doctoral students to adopt positive and open attitudes and exercise self‐agency to identify the most appropriate directions for their careers. The study has contributions to the agency theory in career decision‐making and social implications for international doctoral students to navigate the career decision process after completing doctoral programmes abroad.

Predictive Contribution of Personality Traits in Career Decision-Making: A Test of the Social Cognitive Model of Career Self-Management

The current study sought to test hypotheses derived from the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM; Lent & Brown, 2013) applied to the process of career exploration and decision-making. We examined how well personality traits, contextual factors, and social cognitive predictors, collectively, account for exploration behavior and career decision-making outcomes. Specifically, we determine the relationships between personality traits with career decision self-efficacy, career goals, and decisional criteria in a sample of 302 high school students. The participants completed domain-specific measures of four personality traits (conscientiousness, intellect/openness, extraversion, and neuroticism), social support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, level of career indecision, and decisional anxiety. The model fit the data well overall, though certain predictors were linked to the criterion variables only indirectly via mediated pathways. The structural equation model analysis suggested, consistent with previous studies, that the contribution of personality on career exploration and decision-making was mediated by sociocognitive mechanisms. Multiple group analysis suggests that neither sex nor the type of institution (state/private) that students attend determines the relationships among the variables of the proposed theoretical model. Limitations, further research, practical implications, and methodological implications for the CSM model are discussed.

Introducing Sources of Self-efficacy and Dysfunctional Career Beliefs in Socio-cognitive Career Theory in Entrepreneurship

A missing link between entrepreneurship education and career choices is how and when alumni decide to behave entrepreneurially. This question pertains to the impact of entrepreneurship education as envisaged in various educational policies. The vast majority of relevant studies have examined the concepts of entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention across courses and audiences worldwide. A recent trend adopts more systematic career development theories as the social cognitive career theory (SCCT). In this line, the present article provides new insights in SCCT models including the construct of dysfunctional career beliefs that represents an essential element in career decision-making. The article presents a small-scale quantitative research through a sample of Greek adults aimed to examine the relations between entrepreneurial intention and dysfunctional career beliefs as well as the informational sources of self-efficacy representing fundamental premises of SCCT. The pilot findings show that “significant others”, a dimension of dysfunctional career beliefs, influence the entrepreneurial career decision process as an extraneous personal parameter. Linear multiple regression analysis demonstrated that positive emotions, mastery experiences and the perceptions regarding significant others’ influence in career decision-making significantly predicted entrepreneurial intention. It is also shown that influence from significant others moderates the relationship between positive emotions and entrepreneurial intention, that is, intensifying the previous relationship when influence of significant others is low and decreasing it when this influence is high. These findings are discussed in the context of entrepreneurial career decision making with implications to educational and career counselling practices.

A Longitudinal Examination of Four Processual Mechanisms in Career Decision Making

The dual-process theory of career decision making (DTC) proposes four processual mechanisms that explain the career decision-making process and outcomes. Although research has examined the validity of the four processual mechanisms using a cross-sectional dataset in China, the roles of the four mechanisms in career decision making cannot be fully established without longitudinal and cross-cultural analyses. Using a sample of U.S. college students ( n = 206), the current study examined the validity of the four processual mechanisms in explaining the joint operation of five major decision-making difficulties with subsequent career decidedness as the criterion. The results supported not only the standalone mechanisms of managing state and persistent decision uncertainty but also the joint mechanisms from managing state (persistent) uncertainty to managing persistent (state) uncertainty. Therefore, the current study adds evidence to the DTC, particularly regarding the scientific and practical necessity of differentiating between state and persistent decision uncertainty and between reducing uncertainty and reducing the threat of uncertainty. Additionally, the current study offers interesting implications for the interplay of major decision difficulties across different sociocultural contexts of China and the U.S.

국어교과통합 진로탐색 프로그램이 중학생의 진로결정 자기효능감과 역기능적 진로 사고에 미치는 효과

The purpose of this study is to find out how it affects students’ career decision-making self-efficacy and career thinking by devising a career education program that integrates Korean language subjects and integrating the contents of Korean language classes with career education that enables students to develop their dreams. there is. The research method is as follows.
 First, the need for career education integrated with Korean subjects was examined for the third year of middle school. Second, a career education program integrated with Korean language subjects was conceived by converging Korean language subject achievement standards and career-related learning elements. Third, the Korean language integrated career education program was applied to the 8th class for an experimental group of 63 out of 127 third-year middle school students in Seoul.
 As a career decision self-efficacy test tool, the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale-SF developed by Taylor and Betz (1983) was validated by Lee Eunkyung(2001) for middle and high school students. used The self-efficacy scale for career decision-making consists of a total of 25 questions of 4 sub-factors: goal selection, job information, problem solving, and future planning (Lee Eunkyung 2001:49).
 The Career Thought Inventory (CTI) tool developed by Sampson et al. (1996) and validated by factor analysis by Jang Seon-Cheol(2003) was used. This questionnaire measures career-related dysfunctional career thinking and consists of a total of 26 questions in three sub-factors: generalized decision-making confusion, performance anxiety, and distorted identity regarding the career decision-making process.
 The collected data was verified for homogeneity between the two groups through an independent sample t-test using SPSS 25.0, followed by a paired samples t-test. As a result, the experimental group's total pre-average score for career decision self-efficacy was 84.35 points, and the post-average average score was 98.90 points. (t=-7.644, p<.001).
 In addition, the overall mean score of the career thinking test in the experimental group was 54.21 points, and the mean post-test score was 46.84 points. (t=3.430, p<.01).
 As such, it was confirmed that the overall self-efficacy in career decision-making improved and dysfunctional career thinking decreased after the implementation of the integrated Korean language career education program in the experimental group compared to before the implementation.
 This study has the following significance. First, the career decision-making self-efficacy of students was improved through the career education program integrated with Korean subjects. Second, it reduced the dysfunctional career thinking that interferes with students’ career exploration.

Career Selection: Framing, Groupthink, and Financial Rewards in Accounting

This research aims to examine the impact of framing, groupthink, and financial rewards on career selection decisions among accounting students at UMISIDA. The study included 38 active students from the accounting faculty as respondents. Statistical analysis was conducted using the SPSS 20 program, including validity and reliability tests. The findings revealed that framing partially had a positive influence on career selection decisions, with a regression score of 0.233. Moreover, groupthink positively affected career selection decisions, with a regression score of 0.961. When considered together, framing, groupthink, and financial rewards significantly influenced career selection decisions, with a significant level of 0.000 < 0.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that the research hypothesis is supported. This study sheds light on the factors that play a crucial role in career decision-making among accounting students, providing implications for academic institutions and career counselors in enhancing career guidance and decision-making processes.
 Highlights:
 
 Framing: Investigating the influence of framing on career selection decisions in the field of accounting studies.
 Groupthink: Examining the role of groupthink in shaping career selection decisions among accounting students.
 Financial rewards: Assessing the impact of financial rewards on career selection choices in the context of accounting studies.
 
 Keywords: framing, groupthink, financial rewards, career selection, accounting studies

Promoting Career Maturity through Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Group Counseling: A Pathway to Informed Decision-Making for Students

This article explores the potential of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in group counseling to enhance career maturity and informed decision-making among students. The concept of career maturity, defined as an individual's readiness and capability to make informed career decisions, is crucial in guiding students through the career decision-making process. Career guidance programs have been recognized as instrumental in fostering career maturity and informed decision-making. The integration of CBT in group counseling has been proposed as an effective approach to enhance career maturity. This systematic literature review examined various sources to gather empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives on the topic. The findings indicate that CBT-based group counseling sessions significantly improve students' career maturity and decision-making skills. The cognitive restructuring process inherent in CBT helps students challenge negative thoughts and develop confidence in their career decisions. The supportive environment of group counseling encourages interaction and mutual learning among participants. Despite promising results, the study acknowledges limitations, such as reliance on self-reported measures. It recommends further research to explore long-term effects and encourages educational institutions and career counselors to incorporate CBT-based group counseling sessions into their programs. The article contributes to the expanding body of knowledge on CBT's role in enhancing career maturity and decision-making and provides insights for educators, counselors, and researchers in this field.

CAREER MATURITY LEVELS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN CILACAP

The career choices made by individuals have a significant impact on their overall happiness and well-being. Hence, making accurate and informed career decisions is crucial during the journey of life. The process of career decision-making typically begins during late adolescence or early adulthood, with education playing a vital role in preparing individuals for this important milestone. This quantitative study employed survey techniques and exploratory descriptive analysis using SPSS to examine the career maturity levels of high school students in Cilacap. A career questionnaire was distributed to the participants via Google Forms. The findings revealed that the students exhibited low levels of career maturity attitudes. Further details and discussions on this topic are presented in the manuscript.

Moral Reasoning Strategies and Wise Career Decision Making at School and University: Findings from a UK-Representative Sample

Ofsted requires UK schools to help students understand the working world and gain employability skills. However, the aims of education are much broader: Education should enable flourishing long after leaving school. Therefore, students’ career decisions should be conducive to long-term flourishing beyond career readiness and educational attainment. In this mixed-methods study, we asked a representative sample of UK adults to reflect on their career decision-making processes at school and at university. We also measured current levels of self-reported objective (e.g., financial security) and subjective (e.g., subjective well-being) flourishing. The open-ended career decision reflections were coded for three moral reasoning strategies: virtue ethical, consequentialist, and deontological. Using correlations and structural equation modelling, we examined the association between the propensity for using each moral reasoning strategy in past career decisions and current flourishing. Virtue ethical moral reasoning in relation to career decision-making predicted aspects of flourishing most strongly and frequently. Consequentialist reasoning weakly and infrequently positively predicted aspects of flourishing. Deontological reasoning either did not predict flourishing at all, or negatively predicted flourishing. Our results suggest that the reasoning strategy behind career decisions people take in school or university is important to consider in UK careers provision, and current best practice.

Researching Entrepreneurial Beliefs in Career Decision-making

Abstract Entrepreneurship is suggested as a key-mechanism for endogenous growth and social cohesion in modern, knowledge-driven societies and economies. Whether the youth will develop entrepreneurial competencies and initiatives has been considered crucial for economic growth and development and a key-subject of education and career counseling. Despite an increasing body of theoretical and empirical literature which mainly emphasize the formation of entrepreneurial intention and the strengthening of entrepreneurial self-efficacy -usually as a result of some intervention-, the findings show deficiencies or relative ambiguity, in terms of explaining the complex factors (e.g. entrepreneurial mindset, dysfunctional beliefs) associated with entrepreneurial intention and behavior. The present conceptual paper presents a synthetic literature review aiming at a deeper understanding of entrepreneurial intention and behavior. Based on the emergence of new, more explanatory, models to predict entrepreneurial behavior we emphasize how relevant research could approach this topic through the lens of the Socio-Cognitive Career Theory - driven by self-efficacy, outcome expectations and goal-directed activity - given that to date few studies have used this theoretical framework. We also suggest that the traditional entrepreneurial self-efficacy concept is investigated along with a new framework (ASKO) to measure beliefs regarding success of new ventures. ASKO typology traces a variety of different entrepreneurial mindsets within the person-environment dichotomy. Moreover, the potential contribution of dysfunctional career beliefs and locus of control in the formation of entrepreneurial behavior is examined. Career decision process and entrepreneurial career choices are highly complex and entail elements of various theoretical perspectives. The present literature review sheds light to our understanding of entrepreneurial career choices and suggests holistic in-depth research that will provide rich explanatory information on a wide range of behaviors. Finally, the present review provides opportunities to get insights regarding the nature and potential influence of support interventions in the context of entrepreneurship education and career counseling. Keywords: Entrepreneurship, career beliefs, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, ASKO typology, career counseling, entrepreneurship education.

High School Student’s Career Indecision Reviewed Based on Major and Gender

Career indecision is a condition that occurs in individuals when experiencing problems or difficulties when starting or being in the career decision-making process that causes incompetence or uncertainty in determining their career choices. Career indecision is caused by various factors, both internal and external factors of the individual. In this study, the factors studied were major and gender. The analytical method used in the study was a two-way ANOVA. The study sample was 148 high school X students. The collected data with the form of a scale. The scale used in the study was a career indecision scale compiled based on the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ). the significance value of the sex variable is 0.029 (< 0.05). The significance value of the major is 0.06 (> 0.05). The results showed that there was no difference in high school students' career indecision based on major, while by gender, male students experienced greater career indecision compared to female students.

Views of Final Phase Undergraduate Medical Students’ About the Personal & Familial Factors those Influence Their Future Career

Background: The understanding of the medical career decision-making process is important to aid career counseling and thus prevent wrong choices, support medical graduates in their choice and promote faster choices. An understanding of the factors which influence doctors’ career choices, and how attitudes vary among doctors who choose different specialties, is important for all those involved in the teaching and training of doctors. Objectives: This study was done to explore views of final phase undergraduate medical students of Bangladesh about the personal & familial factors those influence their future career selection. Methods: This descriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted on 784 students randomly selected from eight medical colleges of Bangladesh, in the period of January 2019 to December 2019 with a pre tested self-administered questionnaire. Results: Study revealed that a total of 784 students responded, out of which 318(40.6%) males and 466(59.4%) females. Among them 726(92.6%) students wanted to do post-graduation after graduation. The leading reasons for selecting future career were personal preference 348(50.6%), self confidence 272(39.1%) and to take care of other family members 223(32.9%). Conclusion: Study recommended that orientation and career counseling at different stages in undergraduate medical education may help students and future doctors to choose their specialty for career as per the community healthcare needs. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.14(1) January 2023: 63-69

Career decision-making of talented engineering graduates in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This small-scale exploratory qualitative study examined the career decision-making process of six talented engineering university graduates in Hong Kong. The aim was to investigate major influential factors and barriers that impact their career aspirations and their persistence in remaining in that career. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with each graduate to provide data that could be analyzed. The main focus was on the significance of social and cognitive variables, self-efficacy, interests and outcome expectations for the graduates’ motivation and career decision-making process. The findings suggest that primary motivating factors for participants’ career aspirations and career persistence strongly aligned with constructs from Social Cognitive Career Theory and Job Embeddedness Theory. Career interests were motivated by self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and interests, while “job embeddedness” promoted career persistence through fit and link to organizations and industry. Based on participants’ responses, the study produced an insider’s perspective on the career decision-making process of talented young engineers in Hong Kong.

Revisiting the bottleneck hypothesis: The role of sexual identity development in the career exploration and decision-making of sexual minority college students

Hetherington's (1991) “bottleneck hypothesis”, which maintains that the process of sexual identity development can hamper the career development of sexual minority college students, has received periodic study. We revisited this hypothesis using the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM; Lent & Brown, 2013) as a theoretical framework. An online survey of 225 sexual minority and 287 heterosexual college students did not reveal a robust between-group bottleneck effect. For example, no significant mean level differences were observed between the two groups in career decision-making process and outcome variables, such as career decision-making anxiety and level of career decidedness. In addition, a CSM-based path model of career decision-making was found to be invariant across the two student groups. However, a few noteworthy within-group patterns were observed. For example, a cluster analysis suggested the presence of two sexual minority sub-groups who differed regarding level of outness and difficulties negotiating their sexual identity. The more identity-integrated cluster reported less decisional anxiety and greater decidedness than their less identity-integrated peers. Indicators of identity conflict and level of disclosure were also linked to perceived support and goals for future career exploration. The pattern of findings suggests that sexual minority identity development in college does not represent a monolithic bottleneck to career development. However, a more nuanced bottleneck effect in career decision-making may be linked to students' intrapersonal and social comfort in negotiating their sexual minority identity. Implications for the bottleneck hypothesis and further research on sexual minority students' career exploration and decision-making are discussed.

Career decision-making as dynamic semiosis: Autoethnographic trajectory equifinality modeling

This study aims to describe and analyze the career decision-making of the first author in the context of life trajectory using autoethnographic trajectory equifinality modeling (Auto-TEM). The life story and analysis of the first author indicate that career decision-making is a constant pre-constructive process in the life trajectory of an individual. This process is a semiotic and trans-action one between the individual and society. In other words, career decision-making is an issue of the cultural psychology of dynamic semiosis, which is concerned with understanding the manner in which the life trajectory of a person promotes or inhibits socio-culturalism and not only a subject of matching and self-esteem. Alternatively, we emphasize that career decision-making for an individual is an act of meaning with a unique ontological aspect. We propose the value of Auto-TEM as a qualitative method for describing such a dynamic career decision-making process. The autoethnographic viewpoint renders possible the understandings of the dynamics of the personal–collective culture synthesis for the subject.