Social Influence and Occupational Knowledge as Determinants of Career Choice Intentions among Undergraduate Students in Tanzania

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which occupational knowledge and social influence from significant others predict intentions of undergraduate students to join their careers upon completion of their studies in Tanzania. Based on its quantitative character, a cross-sectional survey design was opted. A convenient sample of 100 first and finalist undergraduate students (63 males, 37 females; age range 19 to 40 years) participated in this study. The structured questionnaire was used to assess the demographic characteristics, level of occupational knowledge, social influence, and career choice intentions. The study found that undergraduate students' intentions to join their careers were highly determined by their level of occupational knowledge and social influence from significant individuals such as parents, friends, and lecturers. It was further revealed that there was low but positive correlation between occupational knowledge and career choice intentions. Overall, the study found that majority of students intend to join their careers upon their graduation. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed further in this study.

To Be or? Career Intentions of Prospective Teachers From Different Universities

“…Parallel with the previous studies a majority of the pre-service teachers plan to continue teaching English after graduation (Amani, 2013;Aksu et al, 2010). The results illustrated that 136 student teachers out of 213 consider teaching as a whole life career.…”

“…The influence of the second and the third variables mentioned by Rots et al (2010) is confirmed in other studies as well (Bruinsma and Jansen, 2010;DeAngelis, Wall & Che, 2013). Amani (2013) reports that career intentions are affected by significant others, like family members, friends and lecturers, and their occupational knowledge. However, in Rots et al (2010) significant others are claimed to be ineffective on teacher career intentions.…”

Factors Influencing Choice of Occupational Area among Technical Education Students with Differing Entry Qualifications

“…(Eccles, 1997;Epstein, 1992;Haverman & Wolfe, 1995;Windham, 1996;Howe, 1997;Davies, Spencer & Steele, 2005;Walton & Cohen, 2007. Thus, occupational decisions taken by young people is therefore a combination of both personal (those originating within the individual) and situational factors (forces enabled from social context) (Amani, 2013). The personal factors are those that include cognitive and mental processes which dictate career decision making such as attitude, self-concept, self-efficacy and knowledge (Sharf, 1992).…”

“…The situational or environmental factors which include social or external factors from the society may influence ones career decisions. These social pressures which are valuable to the students may come from parents, relatives, teachers, friends, peers and the society in general which partly determines the decision of a person whether to join a career or not (Amani, 2013). In addition, the interdependency of family, school and community culture plays a critical role in shaping the youth's occupational choice.…”

Specialisation Preferences and Perceived Motivation in Ecotourism and Wildlife Management Programme at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria

“…Among such factors include family socio-economic backgrounds such as income and types of occupations (Zahari et al, 2005), parental influence, family, friends or significant other people of reference (Ajzen, 1991, Amani, 2013, income and future career prospects (Bhat et al, 2012), intentions, self-esteem and ease of employment (Ajzen, 2006, Amani, 2013. Orenuga and Costa (2006) also identified four major motives for the choice of specialisation as interest, prestige, good employment opportunities and regular work hours.…”