Influential Careers for Management Undergraduates

The aim of this research was to identify the impact of factors that influenced the career choice of Management undergraduates of Western, Sri Lanka. This chapter examines the three main factors that influenced the choice of career pathways which were identified through three – dimensional frame by Carpenter and Foster (1977). According to the researcher’s research question, subheadings of this chapter have been derived. The subheadings are career choice, factors that influenced career choice, three-dimensional framework, extrinsic factors, intrinsic factors interpersonal factors, and the gaps filled by the current study.

Career choice

There is a development in interest in understanding a career choice in management in different national contexts. The traditional view that a person joined a company at the beginning of their career is no longer sustainable in today’s economic environment, it is acceptable, even expected, in the twenty-first century that a person will move from one company to another adopting a boundaryless career. And will even have second and third careers.

So the notion of the traditional lateral/vertical and uninterrupted career path, which upholds male-based theories and male definitions of success, is no longer sufficient to accommodate the economic turbulence and changing structure of organizations in today’s society.

New views of career paths have emerged, including downward, lateral, diagonal or spiral careers, or what Baruch terms multidirectional career systems. Globalization has brought about a radical transformation in what organizations need to do to maintain their competitiveness. As managerial skills become crucial for organizations to achieve success in a competitive and turbulent business environment, there has been a sharp rise in the demand for managerial professionals worldwide.

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It is important to study career choice among individuals in developing economies because managerial competency is essential for successful national development and also personal socioeconomic mobility for the individual.

An interest in understanding a career choice in management has been developing in different national contexts. Career exploration involves the exploration of the “self”, and the Environment (environmental exploration), in determining one’s career choice. Self-exploration is about exploring one’s own interests, values, and experiences to obtain a deeper understanding of oneself in order to search for a career match. Environmental exploration, on the other hand, involves exploring career options by collecting information on jobs, organizations, occupations, and industries to allow for more informed career decisions.

Together, self and environmental explorations provide information about how well one’s interests and abilities match specific occupations and thus facilitating person-environmental (P-E) fit, and career attainment. What is often neglected in the career exploration process is the notion of (cultural) self-construal. “Construal” is defined as “the relationship between the self and others”, and the influence of these relationships may be more important than the self, depending on the context of one’s culture. For example, although an individual’s career choice is a function of the individual’s self-concept, the career decision is often considered a family matter in collectivist cultures. Cultures. Markus and Kitayama (1991) further constructed the idea of independent and interdependent self-construal to refer to the independent view of the self, and the view of the self with others. The independent self is comprised of a unique set of internal attributes, and the individual behaves primarily as a consequence of these attributes.

On the other hand, the interdependent-self takes into consideration the relevant other in the social context, and both the experience and expression of motives and emotions may be significantly shaped and governed by a consideration of others. Markus and Kitayama (1991) contended that the American culture, as well as some Western European cultures, exemplify the independent self, while the Asian, African, and Latino cultures exemplify the interdependent self. For example, Pohlmann and Hannover (2006) reported that the role of family members was more strongly associated with the interdependent-self rather than the independent-self. This notion also parallels that of the cultural distinction between individualism and collectivism.

The concept of independent and interdependent-self construal has been shown to be related to career choice and decisions. For example, Ketterson and Blustein (1997) found no association between career exploration and parental attachment (interdependent self-construal) among US students. Similarly, Downie et al. (2006) found individuals with independent self-construal orient towards personal-goal pursuit, whereas individuals with an interdependent self-construal prioritize group goals over personal ones. Rehfuss and Borges (2006) also argued that career decisions that are based upon others’ expectations can be problematic in contemporary American society.

Much occupational choice can be attributed to the process of socialization and the types of occupations that are considered appropriate for men and women. Hence, there persists occupational segregation and patterns of horizontal and vertical segregation. When compared to a male-based norm women’s careers could be seen as deficient and negatively evaluated. Unsurprisingly, this may lead to women’s lack of confidence, feelings of marginalization, and curtailment of future advancement. Various theories on career choice have been proposed. Some refer to the entry-stage of a career, others recognize the need for people to realize their own vocational inclination and preference. Baruch recognizes that career choice may be unintended and that career aspiration can modify over a person’s life depending on individual circumstances.

Baruch’s view acknowledges that circumstance may affect choice, and allows for extraneous variables to be accounted for when making occupational choices. The term “choice” is also interesting, particularly when taking a gender perspective. Hakim’s work (1991, 1995, 1996, and 2000) is based on the view that women have freedom of choice in their careers. Others have questioned whether indeed many women are able to make genuine choices, arguing that in gendered social contexts women face different constraints than men in exercising their decisions over their careers. The life cycle position of women can pose various constraints and will affect the “choices” women can make. Therefore an argument can be made that career “choices” does not necessarily reflect “preferences”.

An interest in understanding a career choice in management has been developing in different national contexts. Career choice in one sector rather than other in a developing economy in Africa. Gabris and Simo(195) argued that individuals make conscious career choices ad those choices represent the sum of multiple inputs and experiences such as education, experiences, access, connections, and luck. Likewise, psychological theories. The word choice is referred, selecting or separating from two or more things that which is preferred. When we are concerned on career choice, it involves in choosing one occupation over another. To take place career choice there should be two conditions.

1. Availability of alternative career options
2. An individual/ personal preference between these career options.

In here to take place a career choice, there should be more alternative options to select one preferred career and to select one alternative out of a cluster of alternatives it influenced various internal and external factors of the individual. The labor market, state of the economy, are some of the external factors, and education, family background, attitudes are some of the internal factors that influenced the decision of career choice. Rather, career choices are often constrained by sociocultural factors, individual factors, personal and cultural values, significant relationships, and structural factors such as barriers faced by women in careers such as management. In studying career choice, most of the researchers focused on predicting career choice behaviors based on personality or demographic variables.

Individuals preferred career choice, with regard individual’s next career transition is depending on his or her decision-making process and this decision is influenced by various factors in aspects such as personality, preferred working environment, values, knowledge, abilities, personal situation, etc. According to Got hard, Mignot, Offer, and Ruff (2001), “The factors which influence career choice and career management behavior are multitudinous and include:

1.  Immediate environmental influences such as social background, education, local role models,
2.  Remote influences such as the media, society, culture, economic and political climate and
3. Personal influences such as personality, physical and mental capabilities, natural talents and abilities, skills, etc.

Few studies have examined the factors that influenced career choice have identified a number of varied factors that influenced undergraduates’ career choice. Out of these findings most widely used classification in career choice studies is the three-dimensional framework by Carpenter and Foster (1977) and beyond et al. (1998). According to three dimensional frameworks, the three factors are:

1.  Intrinsic (interest in the job, personally satisfying work)
2.  Extrinsic (availability of jobs, well-paying occupations)
3.  Interpersonal (influence of parents and significant others).

According to the dimensional framework three factors, Intrinsic factors are the interest in the job, personally satisfying work and etc. according to Aganwala, T. (2008), Indian MBA students considered their own “ skills, competencies and abilities” and “ education and training” ( intrinsic career choice factors ) as playing the most significant role in their choice of a management career. Hence, Intrinsic factors that individuals consist of is playing a major role when they choose one career out of alternative careers. Intrinsic factors have been found to be influential to the choice of teaching as a profession. In a cross-country study by McKenzie et al they concluded that the potential for intellectual fulfillment and the desire to make a social contribution are the factors mostly considered in choosing teaching as a career.

Similarly, Watt et al. (2012) found the desire to make a social contribution and work with children/youth to be the factors that influence teacher career choice in Australia, the USA, Germany and Norway. The evidence from studies in developing countries, however, suggests that extrinsic factors are rated as the most dominant factors that influence career choice. Chivore (1988) examined the factors that influence the choice of non-graduate student teachers to pursue the secondary teaching professions in Zimbabwe and found salaries, fringe benefits, and working conditions to be the key factors that influence teachers’ career decisions. Moreover, Bastick (1999) showed that extrinsic factors such as job security and adequacy of salaries accounted for the highest variations among trainee teachers in Jamaica.

Gabris and Simo (1995) argued that individuals make conscious career choices, and those choices represent the sum of multiple inputs and experiences such as education, experience, access, connections, and luck. Likewise, psychological theories inform us that individuals have similar needs (i.e. extrinsic and intrinsic needs for money, prestige, and power) regardless of the sector they pursue, although literature suggests that those who choose to serve the public prefer intrinsic rewards. There has been a suggestion that altruism may also be key to predicting a career in public service. The preceding discourse suggests that the extent of influence of the factors that affect career choice on individuals’ decisions is contextual. Although both intrinsic and extrinsic factors affect students’ career choice decisions, the general belief is that individuals in relative to intrinsic factors.

Social normative and socio-cultural factors. Prior studies identify parental influence, educational background of parents, economic status of parents, the influence of important others and attitudes regarding a specific policy relating to a career as the social norms that influence students’ career choice. The extent of influence and the importance of normative subjects’ influence depend on the type of career. For instance, accounting students recognize greater positive social norms towards majoring in accounting than non-accounting students. Nonetheless, parental/family influence has been identified as the most influential social normative factor regardless of the type of discipline/career being considered. Dandy and Nettelbeck (2002) investigated how educational expectations of parents with Asian–Australian, and Anglo–Celtic Australian backgrounds affect the aspirations of their children, hence, career choices.

Their findings show that whilst Chinese and Vietnamese parents prefer university education for their children, Anglo–Celtic Australian parents from lower socio-economic backgrounds preferred their children to undertake vocational and apprenticeship. Flowing from this, the socio-cultural context of the family and community of individuals has also been argued to influence their career choice process. Chen (1997) asserts that individuals’ career choice decisions are influenced by the way individuals develop and their immediate environment. Families, current professionals, private tutoring/coaching, the prestige of the profession, and requirements for that profession play a major role in the career choice of individuals. Individuals’ interactions with family, school, and community enable them to explore different careers to form an initial perception about an “ideal job”.

Extrinsic factors that affect the choice of a career are the availability of jobs, well-paying occupations and etc. In individualistic cultures, individuals are looking for individual advantage, career progression, autonomy, and individual financial security; they believe they are responsible for their own future and are concerned with material possessions and social status. A higher level of individualism among Indian students wae found to be significantly correlated with extrinsic factors. In choosing of career, interpersonal factors, the influence of parents and significant others play major role. “The important influence of “father” in career decision of Indian students may be understood in the context of a largely patriarchal society.

The fact that the majority of the students had a professional background, their father being an executive/ professional, may also have influenced their career choice. Numerous studies have shown similarities between parents’ occupations and their children’s career aspirations”. According to this children’s career path is highly affected by fathers’ profession and family background. Most of the children of are following their father and there is a probability of choosing the same career the whole family and likewise, there is an impact of the persons who are associated and especially significant persons such as friends, teachers and neighbors in the choice of career.