The Study of Participated Motivation on Major Satisfaction, Major Commitment and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

Purpose An increasing number of students delay graduation or graduate without a job, because they are not ready to make a career decision. In addition, the growing number of young adults who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) has become a social concern in South Korea. To facilitate career decision-making of undergraduates, this study examined the effects of work value orientation and academic major orientation on career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE). The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among South Korean undergraduates’ intrinsic work value orientation, extrinsic work value orientation, academic major satisfaction and CDMSE. Design/methodology/approach Based on the literature review, this study tested a research model using structural equation modeling with survey results of 217 undergraduates. Findings The research results indicated that intrinsic work value orientation influenced academic major satisfaction and CDMSE. However, extrinsic work value orientation turned out to influence neither academic major satisfaction nor CDMSE. Academic major satisfaction also seemed to affect the CDMSE of the students in this study. Originality/value This study contributes to the field of career development by explaining the significance of undergraduates’ intrinsic work value orientation and academic major satisfaction on career decision-making. Whereas most research has focused on the effects of CDMSE, this study investigated the factors that influence undergraduates’ CDMSE.

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Career Certainty and Major Satisfaction

Journal of Career Assessment ◽

10.1177/1069072717723093 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 583-598 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Kathryn M. Pesch ◽

Lisa M. Larson ◽

Matthew T. Seipel

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Career Decision ◽

Career Exploration ◽

Career Decision Making ◽

Exogenous Variables ◽

Major Satisfaction ◽

Occupational Knowledge ◽

Occupational Information ◽

Interest Congruence

Information-seeking is conceptualized by multiple career decision-making models but has received insufficient attention in the literature. This may be in part due to the difficulty in assessing the amount of information students have acquired about their chosen careers (i.e., their level of occupational knowledge). The present study, sampling 316 college students, modeled this process, with career exploration activities and occupational knowledge as exogenous variables. We expected both exogenous variables to directly and indirectly relate to career certainty and major satisfaction, with self-perceived occupational knowledge, occupational information self-efficacy (defined as the self-efficacy of seeking occupational information during the career decision-making process), and interest congruence acting as mediators. Results showed that career exploration activities indirectly related to the two outcome variables through both self-perceived knowledge and occupational information self-efficacy. Occupational knowledge only related to interest congruence; the latter did not relate to either outcome variable. This study was the first to objectively assess college students’ knowledge of the careers they were actively pursuing and the first to examine that construct along with other important career decision-making variables.

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