Exploring Factors That Influence Taekwondo Student Athletes’ Intentions to Pursue Careers Contributing to the Sustainability of the Korean Taekwondo Industry Using the Theory of Planned Behavior

Due to recently declining fertility rates and the social climate of job preferences in professional occupations in South Korea, the number of teenagers practicing elite Taekwondo has decreased, and Korean Taekwondo is in crisis. In this regard, it is essential for Taekwondo coaches to create a favorable environment preventing student athletes from abandoning careers in Taekwondo and for physical education researchers to explore factors directly or indirectly influencing the intentions to pursue such careers. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships among mentoring, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and career pursuit intentions by applying the theory of planned behavior, as well as investigating the moderating influence of Taekwondo identification on these relationships. We collected data from athletes with more than a year of elite Taekwondo experience attending one of 15 high schools in South Korea. We asked a total of 270 athletes to participate in the survey. Of these, 250 completed the survey. We eliminated data for 15 athletes due to repetitive response patterns; thus, we analyzed 235 usable responses. We assessed the measurement scale’s validity and reliability with confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, and correlational analysis. Structural equation modeling evaluated the effects of four factors—mentoring, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control—on career pursuit intentions. Additionally, we performed a hierarchical regression analysis to confirm the moderating effect of Taekwondo identification. The results revealed positive impacts of (a) mentoring on attitudes (0.760, p < 0.001), (b) attitudes on career pursuit intentions (0.681, p < 0.001), (c) subjective norms on career pursuit intentions (0.141, p < 0.01), and (d) perceived behavioral control on career pursuit intentions (0.138, p < 0.05). However, Taekwondo identification did not moderate the relationships among the research variables.

Incidental findings on multimodel comparison, hypothesis testing error, and its solution

This article sheds light on an incidental discovery of hypothesis testing error and its solution in a study that compared the multimodel effects of information and knowledge on career decisions. Using a sample of 500 second and third year undergraduates who were simple randomly recruited from 10 simple randomly selected universities, the study demonstrates how hypothesis testing error could occur when multimodel comparison of the effects of the same set of independent constructs (information and knowledge) on a different but related set of dependent constructs (career pursuit and rewarding career pursuit) is performed and how that error can be avoided through detailed scrutiny of the psychic distance between the dependent constructs. It is hoped that the insights herein will be useful for scholars to avoid and overcome the pitfall of hypothesis testing error arising from multimodel comparison involving a different but related set of dependent constructs.

Utility-value intervention with parents increases students’ STEM preparation and career pursuit

During high school, developing competence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is critically important as preparation to pursue STEM careers, yet students in the United States lag behind other countries, ranking 35th in mathematics and 27th in science achievement internationally. Given the importance of STEM careers as drivers of modern economies, this deficiency in preparation for STEM careers threatens the United States’ continued economic progress. In the present study, we evaluated the long-term effects of a theory-based intervention designed to help parents convey the importance of mathematics and science courses to their high-school–aged children. A prior report on this intervention showed that it promoted STEM course-taking in high school; in the current follow-up study, we found that the intervention improved mathematics and science standardized test scores on a college preparatory examination (ACT) for adolescents by 12 percentile points. Greater high-school STEM preparation (STEM course-taking and ACT scores) was associated with increased STEM career pursuit (i.e., STEM career interest, the number of college STEM courses, and students’ attitudes toward STEM) 5 y after the intervention. These results suggest that the intervention can affect STEM career pursuit indirectly by increasing high-school STEM preparation. This finding underscores the importance of targeting high-school STEM preparation to increase STEM career pursuit. Overall, these findings demonstrate that a motivational intervention with parents can have important effects on STEM preparation in high school, as well as downstream effects on STEM career pursuit 5 y later.

Factors influencing the career success of professional and business women in South Africa

This article reports on an empirical study that investigated factors influencing women’s career success. Statistics relating to the field of women in management indicate that, worldwide, women are underrepresented in executive and decision-making positions. Women face unique challenges in their career pursuit that may prevent them from moving up to executive positions. A framework to investigate the factors influencing career success indicates that factors such as demographics, personality, culture, barriers, external and internal support impact on the career success of women. This study surveyed a sample of 301 professional and business women in South Africa. The results of the empirical survey showed that there are statistical significant relationships between groups of women based on their demographics and their perceptions of the factors that influence their career success.

Career pursuit pathways among emerging adult men and women

The present study examined career pursuit pathways in 100 Israeli emerging adults (54 men) who were followed from age 22 to 29. Employing a semi-structured interview at the age of 29, participants were asked about current work and educational status, work and educational goals and status changes in recent years, and to reflect on the meaning of the processes they followed. Analyses of interviews yielded four distinctive career pursuit pathways that were associated with different levels of concurrent well-being: Consistent Pursuit, Adapted Pursuit, Survivors, and Confused/Vague. Self-criticism, efficacy, and level of motivation measured seven years earlier predicted pathway affiliation at 29. In addition, paternal support was found to serve as a protective factor associated with adaptive career pursuit. Gender differences were found, with women more likely to be affiliated with the less adapted pathways. In addition, paternal and maternal support were differently associated with career pathways. By employing this mixed-method approach, the findings demonstrate the diversity, and gender-related nature, of career pursuit and development pathways during emerging adulthood, and indicate the importance of personality and both paternal and maternal support in the process of career development.