scholarly journals Occupational knowledge in college students: Examining relations to career certainty, career decision-making self-efficacy, and interest congruence

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn M. Pesch
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Career Decision ◽  
Career Decision Making ◽  
Occupational Knowledge ◽  
Career Certainty ◽  
Interest Congruence

Career Certainty and Major Satisfaction

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-598 ◽  
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.

Understanding the Career Development of Underprepared College Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 452-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber N. Hughes ◽  
Melinda M. Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Career Development ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Career Decision ◽  
Family Influence ◽  
Career Decision Making ◽  
Career Theory ◽  
Underprepared College Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the career development of underprepared college students using relational career theory. Specifically, the constructs of family influence, locus of control, and career decision-making self-efficacy were explored as they relate to perceived success in college. Significant correlations between external locus of control and family expectations, financial support, and values and beliefs were found indicating that greater family influence is related to external control. Additionally, higher levels of career decision-making self-efficacy were related to internal locus of control and informational support from family. These findings support previous research as well as theorized relational career theory connections.

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