Fyp Completed Career Choice

FACTORS AFFECTING CAREER CHOICE AMONG
LOCAL AND FOREIGN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN

MALAYSIA
BY
WONG RONG FU
A final year project submitted in partial fulfilment of the

requirement for the degree of
BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

(HONS)
UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN
FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND

MANAGEMENT
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
NOVEMBER 2019
Career Choice
Copyright @ 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this paper may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior
consent of the authors.
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that:
(1) This undergraduate FYP is the end result of my own work and that due
acknowledgement has been given in the references to ALL sources of
information be they printed, electronic, or personal.
(2) No portion of this FYP has been submitted in support of any application for
any other degree or qualification of this or any other university, or other
institutes of learning.
(3) The word count of this research report is 9861 words.
Name of student: Student ID: Signature:
1. WONG RONG FU 17UKB06313
Date: ______________
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to acknowledge the presence of UKMZ3016 Research

Project which provides an opportunity for me to carry out a research related to
businesses. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all parties that have
guided and helped me throughout all the time until the completion of this research.
Without their precious help, this project might not be able to be completed on time.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr.

Komathi A/P Munusamy, who had been patiently guiding and leading me from the
very beginning until the completion of this particular research. Throughout the
development of this research, when I was in doubt or encountered any problems,
she was always there readily to spent her precious time to help me out. Her precise
advices and intelligent guidance had assisted me a lot in many aspects. Without her
supervision, I may not be able to prepare and complete my research report in time.
Moreover, I would like to acknowledge the help of the Universiti Tunku Abdul
Rahman for giving me a chance to conduct this research project as in the process of
completing this research, I had learnt many things and knowledge that I would not
be able to learn from the syllabus and any of the textbooks. Besides, I would like to
say a thousand thank you to my dear family members as they had encouraged and
cherished me a lot when I was in doubt. The understanding of my parents has been
also pleased me to carry out the research in the least pressure environment.
On top of that, I also want to thanks my dear friends and respondents who that have
assist me by sharing information, giving inspiration and contributed their precious
time to complete and replied the questionnaires in a good manner. Their cooperation
made my work become easier in the form of collecting the data.
Last but not least, I am sincerely regrets that I was unable to mention everyone by
their name. Therefore, with the use of this platform, I am here wanted to say thank
you from the very bottom of my heart to those who had helped me out a lot from
many different aspects. Thank you.
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DEDICATION
Firstly, I would like to dedicate this research project to my respectable supervisor,

Dr. Komathi who provides me with invaluable guidance, advice and assistance
throughout the completion of this research project.
Besides that, I would also like to dedicate this research project to my beloved family
members and friends who provide me various kinds of support throughout the
project. Their continual support, encouragement, and understanding was the sources
of my strength and motivator. Without them, I would not be able to made it.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Copyright Page …………………………………………………………….. ii
Declaration ………………………..……………………………………….. iii
Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………… iv
Dedication …………………………..……………………………………... v
Table of contents.…………………..………………………………………. vi
List of Tables ………………………..…………………………………….. xi
List of Figures …..…………………..……………………………………... xii
List of Abbreviations ………………..…………………………………….. xiii
List of Appendices …………………..…………………………………….. xiv
Preface ……….……………………..……………………………………… xv
Abstract ……………………………..……………………………………... xvi
CHAPTER 1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW …..…………………… 1
1.0 Introduction ………………………………………. 1
1.1 Research Background …………………………….. 1
1.2 Problems Statement …………………………….... 2
1.3 Research Objective …….………………………… 4
1.3.1 General Objective …………………......... 4
1.3.2 Specific Objective …………………........ 4
1.4 Research Question ……………………………….. 5
1.5 Significant of Study …………………………….... 5
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1.6 Definition of Terms ……………………………... 6
1.6.1 Career ………………………………....... 6
1.6.2 Career Choice ………………………….. 7
1.6.3 Family …………………………….......... 7
1.6.4 Economic Considerations ……………… 7
1.6.5 Personal Interest ……….......................... 8
1.6.6 Self-Efficacy …….................................... 8
1.7 Summary ………………………………………… 8
CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE .…………………... 9
2.0 Introduction ……………………………………… 9
2.1 Dependent Variable ……………………………... 9
2.1.1 Career Choice ………………………….. 9
2.2 Independent Variables …………………………... 10
2.2.1 Family Influence ……………………….. 11
2.2.2 Economic Considerations ……………… 12
2.2.3 Personal Interest ……………………….. 13
2.2.4 Self-Efficacy …………………………… 15
2.2.5 University Students’ Nationality ………. 16
2.3 Career Development Theory ……………………. 16
2.4 Research Framework ……………………………. 18
2.5 Research Hypotheses ……………………………. 19
2.6 Conclusion ………………………………………. 19
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ……………………………… 20
3.0 Introduction ……………………………………... 20
3.1 Research Design ……………………………….... 20
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3.2 Data Collection Method ……………………….... 20
3.3 Sampling Design ………………………………... 21
3.3.1 Population Frame ……………………… 21
3.3.2 Sample and Sampling Technique ……... 21
3.4 Instruments …………………………………….... 22
3.4.1 Dependent Variable ……………………. 22
3.4.2 Independent Variables …………………. 22
3.4.2.1 Family Influences ………………….. 22
3.4.2.2 Economic Considerations ………….. 23
3.4.2.3 Personal Interest …………………… 24
3.4.2.4 Self-Efficacy ………………………. 24
3.5 Research Measurements ……………………….... 25
3.6 Pilot Test ………………………………………... 25
3.7 Data Analysis …………………………………… 26
3.7.1 Descriptive Analysis ………………….. 26
3.7.2 Inferential Analysis …………………… 26
3.7.3 Reliability Test ………………………... 27
3.8 Conclusion ………………………………………. 27
CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS ……………………………... 28
4.0 Introduction ……………………………………... 28
4.1 Data Screening ………………………………….. 28
4.2 Descriptive Analysis ……………………………. 28
4.2.1 Gender ………………………………… 28
4.2.2 Age ……………………………………. 29
4.2.3 Nationality …………………………….. 30
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4.2.4 University Name ……………………… 31
4.2.5 Year of Study …………………………. 32
4.3 Reliability Analysis ……………………………... 33
4.4 Inferential Analysis ……………………………... 34
4.4.1 Multiple Regression Analysis ………... 34
4.4.2 Independent T-Test …………………... 37
4.5 Conclusion ……………………………………… 39
CHAPTER 5 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND

IMPLICATIONS ……………………………...... 40
5.0 Introduction ……………………………………… 40
5.1 Summary of Analysis ………………………….... 40
5.1.1 Descriptive Analysis ………………….. 40
5.1.2 Reliability Analysis …………………... 41
5.1.3 Inferential Analysis …………………… 41
5.2 Discussion of Major Findings …………………... 42
5.2.1 Conclusion of 1st hypothesis ………….. 43
5.2.2 Conclusion of 2nd hypothesis …………. 43
5.2.3 Conclusion of 3rd hypothesis …………. 44
5.2.4 Conclusion of 4th hypothesis …………. 45
5.2.5 Conclusion of 5th hypothesis …………. 46
5.3 Contribution of Study …………………………… 47
5.4 Limitations ……………………………………… 48
5.5 Recommendations for Future Research ………… 48
5.6 Conclusions ……………………………………... 49
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References ………………………………………………………………. 50
Appendices ……………………………………………………………… 61
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LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 3.1: Career Choice’s Items ………………………………………. 22
Table 3.2: Family Influence’s Items …………………………………... 23
Table 3.3: Economic Considerations’ Items …………………………... 23
Table 3.4: Personal Interest’s Items …………………………………... 24
Table 3.5: Self-Efficacy’s Items ………………………………………. 24
Table 4.1: Gender ……………………………………………………… 29
Table 4.2: Age ……………………………………………………….... 29
Table 4.3: Nationality …………………………………………………. 30
Table 4.4: University Name …………………………………………… 31
Table 4.5: Year of Study ……………………………………………..... 32
Table 4.6: Reliability Statistics ………………………………………... 33
Table 4.7: Model Summary …………………………………………… 34
Table 4.8: ANOVA Table ……………………………………………... 34
Table 4.9: Coefficients Table ………………………………………….. 35
Table 4.10: Levene’s Test ……………………………………………... 37
Table 4.11: Group Statistics Table …………………………………….. 38
Table 5.1: Results of hypotheses ………………………………………. 42
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LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 2.1: Social Cognitive Career Theory …………………………… 17
Figure 2.2: Proposed Conceptual Framework …………………………. 18
Figure 4.1: Gender …………………………………………………….. 28
Figure 4.2: Age ……………………………………………………….... 29
Figure 4.3: Nationality ………………………………………………… 30
Figure 4.4: University Name …………………………………………... 31
Figure 4.5: Year of Study …………………………………………….... 32
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
SCCT Social Cognitive Career Theory
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Science
UTAR University Tunku Abdul Rahman
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix A: Statistics of Unemployed Graduates ……………………... 61
Appendix B: Questionnaire …………………………………………… 62
Appendix C: Pilot Test Results ………………………………………... 68
Appendix D: Reliability Analysis ……………………………………... 70
Appendix E: Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ………………….… 72
Appendix F: Independent T-Test …………………….………………... 73
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Preface
This research project unit UKMZ 3016 Research Project is done individually by
one students from Bachelor of International Business in order to complete the
degree program. This research paper is titled as “Factor affecting career choice
among local and foreign university students in Malaysia”. It is also a project that
assembles the intellectual interest and critical thinking among the undergraduates
besides their regular responsibilities. This enhances the integration of capabilities
and abilities of the undergraduates in the application of theoretical elements.
This study is conducted to investigate the significance factors that can influence the
career choice of local and foreign university students in Malaysia. The tested factors
in this research are, family influence, economic consideration, personal interest, and
self-efficacy.
Finally, researcher hopes that this research could provide a better understanding on
the career choice of the university students in Malaysia.
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Abstract
Career Choice is actually an essential process where each university students will
go through upon their graduation, and a correct career decision is critical as it could
help to improve job satisfaction and reduce job hopping. This study is to identify
the variables that could influence the career choice of university students in
Malaysia. The data for this study was collected using questionnaire. A sample of
200 university students in Klang Valley was selected using convenience sampling
technique and a total number of 148 responses were retrieved with valid data. By
using statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to analyse the data, the results
revealed that Personal Interest and Self-Efficacy has significant relationship with
career choice. Moreover, it was found that there is significant difference between
university students’ nationality on career choice, where foreign university students
have more favorable perceptions towards the career choice.
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CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH OVERVIEW
1.0 Introduction
This research is conducted to study the drivers or factors that affecting the career
choice among local and foreign university students in Malaysia. Career choice
or career decision is actually a process where every university students needs to
go through upon their graduation from the university if they do not have any
plan or desire to further their studies into a higher level. This is also where a lot
of factors that could influence their career choice will set in.
1.1 Research Background
Nowadays, where many occupations from different sectors and industries can be
selected and applied for, university graduates become more clueless and anxious
about what should they pursuits after their graduation. This phenomenon happens
because majority of them lack of guidance, do not planned ahead or some might
even avoid planning as they hold a perception where things will not go as planned.
Career choice is actually a major part of modern life, and the accuracy of choosing
the right and suitable occupation are mainly depending on the students’
qualifications, personality, and enthusiasm (Fayadh, Yusr, Alqasa, Alekam, & Yusr,
2017). Career actually plays an important role in an individual’s life, not just
because it decides the income pattern but also because it will affect the individual’s
personality and his concept in life. According to Napompech’s study (as cited in
Meddour, Abdo, Majid, Auf, & Aman, 2016), career subsequently is a decision
interest in life, and accomplishment in one's career, which a person is involved
throughout his lifetime.
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Today’s world is facing a harsh crunch due to intensive competition, owing to the
unemployment of those educated youth, who is seeking for self-fulfilment, the
income, etc. (Fayadh et al., 2017). Moreover, the graduated university students and
those lower level qualification workforces that with many years of working
experience, making the competition to get a job become more and more intensive,
and due to globalization, there are many organizations are in now hiring their
employees from all over the world. One of the reasons for this kind of employment
are due to lower wages are to be paid to those employees who came from low wages
or low labour cost countries.
Therefore, it is extremely important that the university students should taking steps
to perform career exploration, in order to decide on their career path well as these
decisions gives a great impact on their entire future. Career exploration refers to the
activities that enable individuals to collect and analyze the information which is
relevant to their future career (Guan et al., 2015). Besides, Navin (as cited in Koech
et al., 2016) has suggested that exploring career options before entering to a career,
will helps to increase future career success and satisfaction. Through career
exploration, university students can thoroughly examine their own interests,
experiences and by then, form a clearer image about what their desire career is, and
what fits them well (Guan et al., 2015).
1.2 Problem Statement
Nowadays, generation Y especially the university students, is seen as the future of

one’s nation as they will serve as human capital and thus intellectual capital.
Countries from all over the world has been putting attention to expand education
and few studies has found that higher education and human capital are actually the
source of innovation which will help to drive improvements of productivity and
thus the economic growth (Hanushek, 2016; Marques, 2017). Besides, the
knowledge-based economy of a nation is said to be much depends on employability
of university graduates as the graduates will be taken as a source of innovative ideas
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(Salem, 2014). Therefore, researcher felt that there is a need to understand the
factors that influence career choice of these graduates.
According to others researchers, they found that many young people especially the
students, faced difficulties in the transition from the world of school to that of work.
Moreover, Waudo discover that some university students still insist on studying
courses where they are clearly lack of basic foundation in academic and attitude
preparation, and there are also many cases where students have enrolled into certain
programs but subsequently discover they actually lack interest in that particular
field (Koech et al., 2016). Therefore, choosing a career is not an easy work and
should not be underestimated or ignored. This is especially true where Mwai’s study
(as cited in Wachira, 2018) found that many students are unable to express any
choice of career. In researcher view, this might be related to the university students’
self-efficacy, and therefore, self-efficacy will be taken as an additional variable to
be tested with career choice.
Furthermore, the unemployment problems and difficulties in getting employment

faced by university graduates are issues that give rise to negative perceptions of the
Malaysia’s higher education development policies (Yusof & Jamaluddin, 2015).
According to year 2017 statistic prepared by Malaysia’s Ministry of Higher
Education (MOHE), the total amount of graduates (undergraduate) is 120,906 but
there are only 67,533 graduates have been employed and this disparity in the supply
of graduates to the demand of labour market has given a rise to many issues. Many
employers voiced out that instead of job opportunities, graduates’ quality, their
demand for compensation which includes higher pay and pleasant working
environment, and also skills and competences which are not matched with the career,
are the reasons that cause this dilemma. Therefore, it is important for researcher to
conduct a study where Malaysia context is involved.
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1.3 Research Objectives
1.3.1 General Objective
This research is aimed to examine the factors that will influence the career
choice among local and foreign university students.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives
The research objectives for purposed study are as follows:
1. To investigate the main factors that influence career choice among local and
foreign university students.
2. To establish the influence of family on career choice of local and foreign

university students
3. To examine the influence of economic consideration on career choice

among local and foreign university students.
4. To examine the influence of personal interest on career choice among local

and foreign university students.
5. To examine the influence of self-efficacy on career choice of local and

foreign university students.
6. To determine the differences in career choice among local and foreign

university students.
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1.4 Research Questions
This research will tend to answer the following formulated questions:
1. What are the main factors that influence career choice among local and
foreign university students?
2. Does family exert influence on career choice of local and foreign university
students?
3. Does economic consideration exert influence on career choice among local

and foreign university students?
4. Does personal interest exert influence on career choice among local and
foreign university students?
5. Does self-efficacy exert influence on career choice of local and foreign

university students?
6. Are there any differences in career choice between Malaysian and foreign
university students?
1.5 Significance of the study
Career decision is one of the most important and tough decision that one’s need to
make in their life as this will affect their future. Kazi et al. (as cited in Najar &
Yousuf, 2019) found that a wrong career decision would lead to a great depression
and anxiety faced by both the students and also their parents. Therefore, this study
is expected to provide some contribution in the field of career choice and to the
university students that are having career indecisions.
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This study will provide valuable data on several factors that will exert influence on
the career choice among local and foreign university students and is hoping will
also arouse the attention of other researchers to carry out further research on
variables like self-efficacy and personal interest of university students. As this study
is aimed to distinguish the factors that affect the university students’ career choice,
this study can actually be used by universities and other institutions to know what
and how they can attract more new and quality students to enrol into certain
programs in their university.
According to Kunnen’s study (as cited in Oigo & Kaluyu, 2016), the lack of
students’ readiness to make career choices are due to ineffective career guidance
and will created issues like increased dropout rate of university students. Therefore,
this study might help the career guidance practitioners in higher education to have
more understanding about which kinds of factors will affect university students’
career choices and by then, they can provide more effective career guidance services
and programs to improve students’ readiness to make career decision and also helps
to prepare the students enter into the world of work.
1.6 Definition of terms
Following terms are defined for clarification and to give readers a better
understanding:
1.6.1 Career
Career Development Institute [CDI] (2017), states that a career refers primarily
to the sequence and variety of work roles that individuals undertake throughout
their lives, whether in the form of paid or unpaid. Researcher defined career as
an occupation or position that an individual hold in his work’s life, and it can
actually reflect an individual’s life pattern.
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1.6.2 Career Choice
According to Kumar (as cited in Bikse, Lūsēna-Ezera, Libkovska & Rivža, 2018),
career choice has always been and will be a topical issue and an important
behaviour component taking part in a person’s life to set his or her goal to
achieve that particular career. Career choice is very important in everyone’s life
and researcher defined it as a decision making process undertaken by a person,
where he is not only choosing but also eliminating some careers that he felt
detached with.
1.6.3 Family
Powell, Bolzendahl, Geist, & Steelman (as cited in Gavriel-Fried & Shilo, 2015)
noted “family is the individual’s primary social affiliation and the unit by which
society reproduces itself and preserves its existence”. From researcher’s view,
family is not only meaning the parents but also including other family members
like grandparents. Besides, researcher think that family influence comes from,
family’s perceptions, advise, opinions, occupation and their education
background.
1.6.4 Economic Consideration
Consideration refers to a matter weighed or taken into account when formulating

an opinion (Merriam-Webster Online, 2019). Researcher defined it as a fact that
needed to be taken into account when one is carefully deciding something and
in this study, economic consideration of university students will be more in
monetary terms, for instance, salary and wages.
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1.6.5 Personal Interest
In this study, researcher defined personal interest as those career-related interests

that an individual has such as, future career advancement and to become a leader.
1.6.6 Self-Efficacy
Bandura (1986) rate self-efficacy as a unique human capability that affects

motivation, for example the choices people make (Skaalvik, Federici, & Klassen,
2015). Researcher defined self-efficacy as the believes that one has on himself
and on his ability or capacity to achieve certain goals. In short, researcher think
that one’s confidence might be related to his self-efficacy.
1.7 Summary
This research paper will be contained 5 chapters. In Chapter 1, some general

briefing and overview of the study had been presented. Next, in Chapter 2, past
researches relevant to the factors chosen for this study will be review. Chapter 3
will discuss about the research methodology and design used in this study, followed
by Chapter 4 where research findings and data presentations will be made. Lastly,
summaries of the study, discussions and suggestions will be given in Chapter 5.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0 Introduction
Nowadays, researchers defined Generation Y or Millennials as highly educated,

technology-savvy and they also value family and community (Gong, Greenwood,
Hoyte, Ramkissoon, & He, 2018). As the global employment trend is changing and
global competition sets in, Generation Y has become more demanding in the aspects
of career or job, even though the unemployment rate is quite high. According to
Keaney (2018), when it comes to the job expectations of Generation Y, they in fact
highly rated training and development, employee benefits, and also career
progression or advancement opportunities.
Besides, Johnson and Johnson’s study (as cited in Gong et al., 2018) stated that lot
of millennials have developed a “work to live” philosophy, where they have become
more concern about the income, employee benefits, and incentives, as a result of
their observation where their parents suffer from layoffs despite all the hard work
that has been put into the job. Furthermore, there are still lots of factors which could
influence an individual’s career decision and in this research, researcher recognizes
four factors that could possibly affect local and foreign university students’ career
choice, which are: family influence, economic considerations, personal interest and
self-efficacy.
2.1 Dependent Variable
2.1.1 Career Choice
According to London and Stumpf (as cited in Stumpf, 2015), a career is actually
“a sequence of work-related positions occupied throughout a person’s life”.
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Besides, Stumpf (2015) also stated that the changes in family structures and
globalization have added difficulties to an individual’s career choice. Gerber et
al. (as cited in Yildiz, 2018) stated that “career” can be viewed as the sequence
of activities and attitudes that associated with the individuals’ work roles during
their lifetime while, Braza & Guillo (2015) defined career as the series of events
that form an individual’s life.
Moreover, according to Muraguri’s study and Kerka’s study (as cited in Koech
et al., 2016), it is stated that several factors such as, family background, personal
and cultural values, role model, globalization, and personality, can actually exert
great influences on a person’s career decision. Carlos et al. (2009) also found
that some people decide their career choice by taking the least resistance path,
for example, selects a career which recommended or supported by their parents,
or after the footsteps of their siblings or relatives who has make a great success
in their career (Koech et al., 2016).
One of its simplest definition was given by Geçikli (as cited in Ahmed, Sharif,
& Ahmad, 2017) as the activity which related to occupational, commercial or
industrial, and may adopted or pursued by a person during his educational life or
till his death. Besides, according to Özen, career choice may be explored under
social and psychological factors, where social factors including the economic
level of the family, and relationship with the family; and psychological factors
including values, expectations, and personality (Cavus, Geri, & Turgunbayeva,
2015). In short, there are actually many factors that can influence career decision
and making a right career decision is vastly critical.
2.2 Independent Variables
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2.2.1 Family Influence
For most of the families, parents would put much considerations for their
children, hoping them to have a secure future, and stable employment with
adequate salary. This has somehow lead the parents to request their children to
select a pathway which could lead them to a famed career. That is also why
family has made researchers to consider it as one of the factors that can influence
career choice. According to Wu, Low, Tan, Lopez, & Liaw (2015), one of the
factors that influencing undergraduate students to enter healthcare related course
is family influence.
There are also few studies found that students reported family encouragement
and family support as the most important or important factor to select pharmacy
as their career (Abduelkarem & Hamrrouni, 2016; Al-Qudah, Abuhussein,
Hasen, Rezeq, & Basheti, 2019). Moreover, Hulson (as cited in Wiener-Ogilvie,
Begg, & Dixon, 2015) suggested that discussion with family and friends about
the career choice will also influence a person’s decision. Subsequently, this
suggestion has been proved by Wiener-Ogilvie et al. (2015) as they found that
one of the positive influences on career in General Practice was discussion with
friends and family.
Furthermore, Karabulut Temel & Erkanli (2017) stated that family factor has
remarkable influence on a person’s career choice. Family is said to contribute
much in a person’s upbringing and which subsequently affected his career
decision in the future. In order to examine the degree of influences that may give
by family members on an individuals’ career decision, there are researchers who
have developed- Family Influence Scale (FIS) to do the research (Fouad, Kim,
Ghosh, Chang, & Figueiredo, 2016). Not only that, Amani (2016) also
discovered that family influence played an outstanding role in the career choice
of undergraduate students and the influence was distinctly significant in a higher
level educated family. Therefore, the following hypothesis has been established:
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H1: There is a significant relationship between family influence and career

choice.
2.2.2 Economic Considerations
As nowadays, the competition is said to be very intensive in the labour market,

considerations like high wages and economic stability are highly rated by the
Millennials, when they are about to make a career choice. A study conducted in
South Africa, showed that economic considerations such as future high earning
and income, largely influence a student’s career decision (Abrahams, Jano, &
van Lill, 2015). Ferry’s study (as cited in Al-Lawati, Renjith Kumar, &
Subramaniam, 2017) which conducted in Pennsylvania, also revealed that major
reasons which can influence a person’s career choice are state of economy and
their interpretation of better job.
Besides, the financial considerations about what to choose and what pathways
can be pursed with the current state of economy will also influence a person’s
choice of career. This was strengthened by the research done by Ngesi (as cited
in Kazi & Akhlaq, 2017), where the result revealed that students’ socioeconomic
background tends to influence their career choice and a lower socioeconomic
background could by then lead to a wrong selection of career choice. Kazi &
Akhlaq (2017) study in Lahore city with 432 respondents, also found that one of
the factors that affect students’ career choice is economic factor.
Moreover, Krumboltz et al. (as cited in Quadri, 2018) suggested that there are
four factors that can affect an individuals’ choice of career and one of it is
environmental conditions and events. Within the environmental factors,
elements such as economic forces are to be considered. This can be seen in the
findings of Marinas, Igret, Marinas, & Prioteasa (2016), where it involved 496
Romanian students and the result showed that external factor like economic are
positively influencing Romanian students’ career choice. The result was then
supported with the study of Felton et al. (as cited in Marinas et al., 2016), where
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Felton et al. found that career decision of United States’ business students was
affected by long term earning and good initial income.
Nowadays, the market economy can also be said to be strongly influencing the
students’ career choice. As the cost of living and goods price are showing an
increasing trend, students tend to look after a career path which can give them
job security and also economic security in the future. According to Koc’s study
(as cited in Malik, Said, & Munap, 2018) job security, advancement
opportunities, and superior insurance package were the best job’s benchmarks.
Therefore, it is believed that job security and economic considerations are highly
rated by the students when they are making the career choice. Besides,
Ogunsanwo (2000) also found that economic considerations which can influence
a person’s career decision, is actually included those financial packages which
can helps to reflect certain degree of the person’s social class, fine income, and
future security (Malik et al., 2018). Therefore, the following hypothesis are
developed:
H2: There is a significant relationship between economic considerations and

career choice.
2.2.3 Personal Interest
There is a thought from Greenhaus et al. (as cited in Adam, 2014) where one
must develop interest in a particular career field first, in order for him to select
that path as his future career. This is mainly due to, lack of interest in the selected
career could lead to a high level of frustration, high tendency to give up and job-
hopping. By then, personal interest has raise the researchers’ intention to
examine its effect on the career choice. According to the comparative research
done by Bikse et al. (2018), the results showed that over half of Latvia’s students
reported personal interest as significant factor that influence the students’ career
decision and they believed that understanding their own interests are the most
important thing prior to the selection of their career choice.
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When the students gave a thorough interest in one particular industry, this tends
to exert a positive influence on the students’ career decision. Zhang, Tan, Zhang,
& Zhang (2019) study in China’s university revealed that personal interest has a
positive effect on the students’ career choice. This result is concordance with
studies such as Edwards and Quinter (2011) where the main determinant for
students’ career choice is their own interest (Zhang et al., 2019). Besides, a study
in Kenya with 296 university students and another with 127 new library and
information science students also reported that they are influenced by their
personal interest when making the career choice (Nyamwange, 2016; Damilola,
Ajayi, & Adetayo, 2018).
According to Super’s (as cited in Gladding, 2019) theory of five life stages,
people tends to make unconfirmed career choices based on their interest and
working experiences. Super also stated that part of a career decision can reflects
an individual’s interests and overall time, one career can be finely distinguished
from another with the help of their interests (Adam, 2014). Majority of the
people also has a perception where a person will be successful in the career he
owes interest in. Therefore, it is said personal interest has positive influence
towards the career choice.
Additional study of Dastjerdi (as cited in Gilavand, 2016) which involved

medical students, it was found that personal interest influences their career
choice more. Selvanathan, Ali, Mariadas, Perumal, & Tan (2016) study in
Malaysia with 116 respondents, the result also revealed that personal interest has
significant relationship with undergraduate students’ career choice which is
concordance with Eshbaugh et al (2013) study that also found that personal
interest is affecting students’ career decision. Shakurnia, Mozaffari, & Ghadiri
(2016) study on medical students in Iran showed that one of the most important
factors affecting their career choice is personal interest with a mean of 4.16. Thus,
it is said that personal interest is positively affecting career choice. Hypothesis
is formed as below:
H3: There is a significant relationship between personal interest and career

choice.
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2.2.4 Self-Efficacy
According to Bandura (1986), self-efficacy refers to an individual’s beliefs that

could affects his success. He also found that individuals with lower level of self-
efficacy are more unwilling to undertake responsibility, produce inferior
performance and more easily to give up when encounter troubles (Bolat & Odacı,
2016). In contrast, few researchers such as Gibson and Dembo (1984); Pajares
(1996); Ritter et al. (2001) found that (as cited in Bolat & Odacı, 2016),
individuals with high self-efficacy level are able to generate quality work, and
persistently cope with the encountered difficulties.
Su, Chang, Wu, & Liao (2016) study in central Taiwan area found that the factor
which most greatly affected the students’ career decision is “personal factor” and
one of its tested aspects is self-efficacy. Su et al. (2016) also found that
household affairs course’s students reported self-efficacy is affecting them
greater than commercial course’s students. Moreover, Baglama & Uzunboylu
(2017) stated that self-efficacy is an important component for career choice and
successful professional life. It is critical to understand the importance of self-
efficacy to help students in their choice of career. Furthermore, a study
conducted by Meddour et al. (2016) in Universitas Indonesia with 300
respondents revealed that self-efficacy has positive relationship to the students’
career choice.
Besides, Ochieng (2015) study on self-efficacy and academic achievement

among 390 Kenya students demonstrated that they are unable to perform
persistently when they encountered career challenges due to lack of sufficient
level of self–efficacy. Additional study conducted in Kenya with 364
respondents, demonstrated a significant relationship between self-efficacy and
the students’ career choice (Ogutu, Odera, & Maragia, 2017). Reddan (2015)
study in Griffith University reported 93% of Exercise Science’s students
indicated that career plan aid their self-efficacy to make a correct and positive
decision of career. Not only that, another study conducted in Korea with 383
nursing students also revealed that self-efficacy had a significant relationship
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with career decision (Park, Yun, Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2018). Therefore, the forth
hypothesis is developed as below:
H4: There is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and career

choice.
2.2.5 University Students’ Nationality
After reviewing the past studies, researcher found that other researchers are
mainly focusing on the difference of university students’ gender on career choice,
rather than their nationality. Therefore, it is why researcher conduct this research
in order to test the difference of university students’ nationality on career choice.
The hypothesis is developed as below:
H5: There is a significant difference between university students’

nationality on career choice.
2.3 Career Development Theories
According to Schoon (as cited in Kiziltepe, 2015), choosing a career is a lifelong

process as it starts long before the graduation from the school and will continues
long subsequently. It is also a decision where students seek for an optimal bridge or
linkage that connects their goals and expectations with the real work world (Odo,
2015).
The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) which developed by Lent, Brown, &
Hackett in 1994, is actually built up based on Bandura’s general social cognitive
theory, where it has been used in many areas. Moreover, SCCT is a fairly new
theory which offer three models of career development, which are (1) development
of basic scholastics and career interests, (2) how people made choices related to
education and career, and (3) accomplishments of academic and career (Fayadh,
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2017). Besides, the building blocks of SCCT consists of three variables: self-
efficacy, outcome expectations and goals, and these three interrelated variables
serve as key roles in SCCT such as in choice making.
Figure 2.1 revealed how an individual build up their career-related interests and
keenness through self-efficacy expectations, learning experiences, and outcome
expectations, and how these elements influence his decisions and performance.
Source: Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social
cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal
of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79-122. doi:10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027
Figure 2.1- Social Cognitive Career Theory.
Social Cognitive Career Theory has aroused many attentions from researchers, be
used and be reviewed also by those researchers such as Flores, Navarro, and Ali (as
cited in Brown & Lent, 2016), where Flores et al. suggested variables like family
income deserves recognition in the future research of SCCT. Besides, Sheu and
Bordon (as cited in Brown & Lent, 2016) also pointed out most of the international
research focus more on the SCCT’s core social cognitive model (Figure 2.1).
Furthermore, SCCT is largely employed by many researchers to test career related
decisions on those young students in universities or colleges. For example, a study
conducted at a Spanish university with 400 respondents revealed that self-efficacy
has positive effects on entrepreneurial interest, outcome expectations and career
choice (Lanero, Vázquez, & Aza, 2016).
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Additional study done by Jaensch, Hirschi, & Spurk based on SCCT, supported that
vocational interests are important to university students’ career decision. Another
study with 208 African American college students reported that there are positive
relationships between self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interest, and choice
goals (Dickinson, Abrams, & Tokar, 2016). Ghuangpeng (as cited in Abdo, 2016)
also stated that SCCT elucidate several factors (e.g., personal factors, self-efficacy,
interest, etc.) are affecting a person’s career choice. As can be seen in all these past
studies, by repute, it seems like Social Cognitive Career Theory can be taken as a
helpful methodology to understand how an individual’s career choice is formed and
how all the proposed variables in the model are interrelated and subsequently lead
to a career decision.
2.4 Research Framework
This research has four independent variables (IV), namely: family influence,
economic considerations, personal interest, and self-efficacy; and one dependent
variable (DV) which is, career choice of local and foreign university students. It has
been hypothesized that the students’ career choice (DV) will be influenced by the
four IVs. All of these variables has been illustrated in Figure 2.2.
Figure 2.2- Proposed Conceptual Framework
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Source: Adapted from Humayon, A. A., Raza, S., Khan, R. A., & Ansari, N. U. A.
(2018). Effect of family influence, personal interest and economic considerations
on career choice amongst undergraduate students in higher educational institutions
of Vehari, Pakistan. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 7, 129-
142. DOI: 10.33844/ijol.2018.60333
2.5 Research Hypothesis
Following are the hypotheses developed for this study:
H1: There is a significant relationship between family influence and career

choice.
H2: There is a significant relationship between economic considerations and

career choice.
H3: There is a significant relationship between personal interest and career

choice.
H4: There is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and career choice.
H5: There is a significant difference between university students’ nationality

on career choice.
2.6 Conclusion
To conclude, this chapter has reviewed some past studies, a proposed conceptual
framework and the hypotheses have also been developed. In next chapter, the
research methodology will be discussed.
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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
This study uses primary data collection by employing questionnaires survey to

collect the relevant primary data.
3.1 Research Design
This research focuses on quantitative research method. This design is selected as

according to Sekaran (as cited in Abdo, 2016), researcher would be able to collect
as much information and responses from the respondents and it is relatively cost-
effective. Moreover, survey will be mainly employed as Check & Schutt (as cited
in Ponto, 2015) stated that survey helps to collect data from a sample of respondents
through their responses. Besides, this research is also a cross-sectional study where
all the data was collected at one point in time. This type of study is used due to it
can be conducted relatively faster, economical, less biased and are more accurate
(Sekaran & Bougie, 2016; Setia, 2016).
3.2 Data Collection Method
Questionnaire survey is used to serve as a source of primary data. The distributed

questionnaires are understandable and properly organized. A self-administered
online survey is also used as it can reach a larger-scale of respondents than other
methods, inexpensive, and avoid interviewer (researcher) bias, and nurture more
honest responses (Braekman et al., 2018).
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3.3 Sampling Design
3.3.1 Population Frame
The selected target population for this study is the universities students in Klang
Valley. This area was selected due to the high concentration of universities as
according to the data from Google Map, there are about 70 public or private
universities located at Klang Valley, such as Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM),
University College Sedaya International (UCSI), Universiti Tunku Abdul
Rahman (UTAR), etc. Besides, the universities in Klang Valley are more
reachable and more easy for researcher to collect the data.
3.3.2 Sample and Sampling Technique
According to Green’s (1991) rule of thumb, N> 50 + 8m (where m equal to the

number of independent variables), should be taken to do a regression analysis.
As this study has four independent variables in total, the sample size would be
82 according to the above rule. However, when the population is large,
researchers usually will regard a minimum sample size of 100 for their study
(Alshibly, 2018). Therefore, researcher decided to select the sample size to be
200 for this study.
While for the sampling technique, the type of technique researcher applied is
convenience sampling which under the non-probability sampling methods.
According to Etikan, Musa, & Alkassim (2016), convenience sampling is a type
of sampling which involves selecting elements of the target population that are
most readily available to participate in the study, such as easy accessibility. This
sampling method is selected mainly due to it is inexpensive, convenient and also
time-effective (Elfil & Negida, 2017).
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3.4 Instruments
3.4.1 Dependent Variable- Career Choice
The following five measurement items for career choice presented in Table 3.1
were taken from Brown (2002); Ud Din, Murtaza, & Khan (2011); Malach‐Pines,
Özbilgin, Burke, & Targawala (2008); Tay, Siddiq, & Atiomo (2009); Venable
(2007). A five-point Likert scale: from Strongly Disagree =1, to Strongly
Agree=5, was used.
Table 3.1 Career Choice’s Items
3.4.2 Independent Variables
3.4.2.1 Family Influences
The following five measurement items for family influence presented in Table
3.2 were taken from Borchert (2002); Bui (2005); Wong & Liu (2010), Liu,
Englar-Carlson, & Minichiello (2012); Mimbs (1996). A five-point Likert scale:
from Strongly Disagree =1, to Strongly Agree=5, was used.
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Table 3.2 Family Influence’s Items
3.4.2.2 Economic Considerations
The following six measurement items for economic considerations presented in

Table 3.3 were obtained from Brendtro (1991); Coshow, Davis, & Wolosin
(2009); Hsieh (2006); Margolis (2008); Olichwier (2014). A five-point Likert
scale: from Strongly Disagree =1, to Strongly Agree=5, was used.
Table 3.3 Economic Considerations’ Items
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3.4.2.3 Personal Interest
The following seven measurement items for personal interest presented in Table
3.4 were obtained from (Jackle, 1993; Margolis, 2008; Richardson, 2009;
Youssef, 1984). A five-point Likert scale: from Strongly Disagree =1, to
Strongly Agree=5, was used.
Table 3.4 Personal Interest’s Items
3.4.2.4 Self-Efficacy
The following six measurement items for self-efficacy presented in Table 3.5
were derived from 25 items which developed by Ghuangpeng (2011). A five-
point Likert scale: No confidence at all= 1, Slightly Confidence= 2, Somewhat
Confidence= 3, Fairly Confidence= 4, and Completely Confidence= 5, was used.
Table 3.5 Self-Efficacy’s Items
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3.5 Research Measurements
In this study, the questionnaire used to collect the primary data contains 3 sections,
where section A is to collect respondents’ demographic data, section B contains
career choice’s five items with 5-point Likert scale. While, Section C contains
twenty-four items for the four independent variables (i.e. Family Influence,
Economic Considerations, Personal Interest and Self-Efficacy). In the whole study,
there will be two types of five-point Likert scale being utilized: (a) from Strongly
Disagree =1, to Strongly Agree=5; (b) from No confidence at all= 1, to Completely
Confidence= 5. Besides, Cavanna and Trimble (as cited in Humayon, et al., 2018),
stated that a five-point scale is appropriate enough as the reliability of the rating
might not be enhanced from any increments from the five-point scale.
3.6 Pilot Test
A pilot test is conducted with 30 targeted respondents. This step is to iron out
whether they are any ambiguous questions in the questionnaire, in order to generate
an effective questionnaire that could collects the most relevant data. For each
instruments, a reliability test was conducted with those data collected from the
above respondents, with the use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS)
Version 25. The outcomes of the reliability test were as below:
Variables No. of Items Cronbach’s Alpha

Career Choice 5 0.731
Family Influence 5 0.702
Economic Considerations 6 0.816
Personal Interest 7 0.774
Self-Efficacy 6 0.742
Source: Developed for the research.
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3.7 Data Analysis
To analyse the collected data, descriptive analysis, inferential analysis, and

reliability test will be done. The software used to conduct the stated analysis is SPSS
Version 25, which can be used to test reliability and the hypotheses.
3.7.1 Descriptive Analysis
Descriptive analysis is a method used to calculate, describe, and summarize the

basic features of the collected data in a logical way and an organized manner
(e.g. by describing the relationship between the variables in a sample). It is used
to measure central tendency, variability, frequency, etc., by calculating the mean,
mode, variance, and more (Kaliyadan, & Kulkarni, 2019; Vetter, 2017). In the
descriptive analysis, data like gender and age will be process and analyze.
3.7.2 Inferential Analysis
Inferential statistics are mainly used to investigate the developed theoretical

framework and hypotheses. It helps researchers to draw conclusions from a
sample or population and examine differences among the groups
(Guetterman, 2019). In this research, independent sample t-test and multiple
linear regression is conducted using the SPSS.
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3.7.3 Reliability Test
According to Linn and Gronlund (as cited in Rosaroso, 2015), reliability is

defined as the degree to which measurements are consistence and are free from
random error. It applied Cronbach Alpha to identify the homogeneity of the used
items measured with Likert scale. According to studies like Whitley (2002), and
Robinson (2009), the most agreed minimum internal consistency coefficient (as
cited in Taherdoost, 2016), is 0.70.
3.8 Conclusion
As conclusion, all the methods and software used to analyse the collected data have
been discussed in this chapter. Next chapter will be the interpretation of the research
results after all the data has been run through SPSS.
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CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS
4.0 Introduction
The results of data collected from the targeted respondents are all analysed and
presented in this chapter with the use of SPSS software.
4.1 Data Screening
With the ways mentioned in Data Collection Method, researcher only able to
obtain 160 responses and out of these responses, 12 responses were found to be
answered by non-targeted respondent, thus were rejected from the response pool.
Therefore, they are only 148 responses useable for this research.
4.2 Descriptive Analysis
All the respondents have been analyse based on their demographic and presented in
graphs.
4.2.1 Gender
Figure 4.1: Gender
Female Male
51% 49%
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Source: Developed for research
As shown in the above diagram, out of 148 respondents, 49% are male, and 51%
are female. This is the result where the questionnaires were distributed accordingly
in order to avoid biasness.
4.2.2 Age
Figure 4.2: Age

19-22 23-26
30%
70%
In Figure 4.2, it shows that 70% of respondents fall into the age range of 19-22,
while 30% respondents aged 23 to 26 years old.
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4.2.3 Nationality
Figure 4.3: Nationality

77
76
76
75
74
51%
73
72
72
71
49%
70
Malaysian Others (Foreigns)
Malaysian Others (Foreigns)
The above graph shown that, 51% respondents are Malaysian and 49% respondents
are from others countries such as China, Arab, Nigeria, Jordan and more.
Researcher try to lower down the gap between these two groups by controlling the
number of respondents in each group respectively as one of the objectives of this
research is to investigate whether there are any differences between local and
foreign students in making career choice.
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4.2.4 University Name
F i g u re 4 . 4 : U n i v e rs i t y N a m e
40 UTAR, 37
UPM, 35
35
30
25
UCSI, 20
20
IUMW, 15
15 APU, 13
10 MMU, 7 UKM, 7 SEGi, 6

UNITEN, 4 UM, 3
5
UiTM, 1
0
UTAR UPM UCSI IUMW APU MMU UKM SEGi UNITEN UM UiTM
Table 4.4 University Name
University Name Frequency

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) 37
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) 35
University College Sedaya International 20
(UCSI)
International University of Malaya-Wales 15
(IUMW)
Asia Pacific University (APU) 13
Multimedia University (MMU) 7
University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) 7
SEGi University 6
Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) 4
University of Malaya (UM) 3
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) 1
TOTAL 148
Based on Figure 4.4, most of the respondents (25%) are students of Universiti
Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) which consist of 37 people, while respondents from
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UPM reached second high with 35 people. This is mainly because UTAR is where
researcher study and both university is convenience for researcher to distribute the
questionnaires. In contrast, there are only 1 respondent from Universiti Teknologi
MARA (UiTM) with 1%.
4.2.5 Year of Study
Figure 4.5: Year of Study
11%
24%
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
35%
Year 4
30%
Based on the above graph, it shows that most of the respondents are from Year 3
with 35%; Year 2 students with the second highest percentage, 30%; Year 1
students with 24%, and respondents from Year 4 are at the least with only 17 people
(11%).
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4.3 Reliability Analysis
Table 4.6 Reliability Statistics for Dependent and Independent Variables
Variables Cronbach’s N of Items Strength of

Alpha Association
Career Choice 0.700 5 Good
Family Influence 0.705 5 Good

Economic
0.787 6 Good
Consideration
Personal Interest 0.799 7 Good
Self-Efficacy 0.717 6 Good
Cronbach alpha are mainly used to measure the internal consistency of the
instrument items or the inter-relatedness of those items (Heo, Kim, & Faith, 2015).
According to the rule of thumb for Cronbach’s alpha coefficient which developed
by Hair et.al, the strength of association of the items are considered as good when
the alpha value falls in between 0.7 to 0.8 (Hair et.al, 2003). As the Cronbach’s
alpha for the variables shown in the above table are all falls in this range, this
indicates that all the variables are good, and the items are consistent and acceptable.
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4.4 Inferential Analysis
4.4.1 Multiple Regressions Analysis
Table 4.7 Model Summary
Model Summary
Std. Error of the

Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Estimate
1 .410a .168 .145 .55282
a. Predictors: (Constant), Self-Efficacy, Family Influence, Economic Consideration, Personal

Interest
Source: SPSS
Table 4.8 ANOVA Table
ANOVAa
Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 8.813 4 2.203 7.209 .000b
Residual 43.703 143 .306
Total 52.516 147
a. Dependent Variable: Career Choice
b. Predictors: (Constant), Self-Efficacy, Family Influence, Economic Consideration, Personal

Interest
Source: SPSS
Based on the above Model Summary, it showed that the R Square’s value is only
0.168, which by then indicates that the model is not that effective and good as there
are only 16.8% of career choice is explained by the independent variables (i.e. Self-
Efficacy, Family Influence, Economic Consideration, Personal Interest). Though,
the model also shown that it reaches significant in Table 4.8 as Sig. is equal to zero
(p < 0.05).
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Table 4.9 Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 2.099 .562 3.732 .000
Family Influence -.136 .084 -.124 -1.618 .108
Economic .107 .091 .092 1.168 .245
Consideration
Personal Interest .290 .088 .272 3.282 .001
Self-Efficacy .175 .088 .166 1.985 .049
Source: SPSS
Rule of thumb:
Reject H0 if p< 0.05.
First hypothesis testing:
H0: There is no significant relationship between family influence and career choice.
H1: There is a significant relationship between family influence and career choice.
According to the Table 4.9, the significant p-value of family influence is

0.108, which is greater than 0.05 (p > 0.05). Therefore, H1 is rejected and the
conclusion is- there is no significant relationship between family influence and
career choice.
Second hypothesis testing:
H0: There is no significant relationship between economic considerations and career

choice.
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H2: There is a significant relationship between economic considerations and career

choice.
From Table 4.9, it showed that the significant p-value of economic

consideration towards career choice is 0.245, which is greater than 0.05 (p>0.05),
therefore, H2 is being rejected but accept H0. Thus, the conclusion is there is no
significant relationship between economic considerations and career choice.
Third hypothesis testing:
H0: There is no significant relationship between personal interest and career choice.
H3: There is a significant relationship between personal interest and career choice.
Based on Table 4.9, it can be easily seen that the significant p-value of
personal interest is only 0.001, where this value is less than 0.05 (p<0.05). Hence,
H0 will be rejected but accept H3. In conclusion, there is a significant relationship
between personal interest and career choice.
Fourth hypothesis testing:
H0: There is no significant relationship between self-efficacy and career choice.

H4: There is a significant relationship between self-efficacy and career choice.
From the Table 4.9, it can be noticed that the significant p-value of self-
efficacy is 0.049. Again, this value is still less than 0.05 (p<0.05). Therefore, H4
will be accepted but reject H0. Thus, the conclusion is that there is a significant
relationship between self-efficacy and career choice.
Moreover, according to the results showed in the Table 4.9, personal interest
is the most important predictor in measuring the career choice as personal interest
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scored the highest with its Standardized Coefficients Beta value of 0.272 among all
others variables. A regression model equation is also formed as below:
𝑌̂ = 2.099 − 0.136(Family Influence) + 0.107(Economic Consideration) +

0.209(Personal Interest) + 0.175(Self-Efficacy) + e.
4.4.2 Independent T-Test
Table 4.10 Levene’s Test
Independent Samples Test

Levene's Test for
Equality of Variances t-test for Equality of Means
Sig. (2-
F Sig. t df tailed)
Career Choice Equal 3.248 .074 -2.583 146 .011
variances
assumed
Equal -2.593 144.714 .010
variances
not
assumed
Source: SPSS
In order to test the equality of variance, the following hypothesis is formed:
H0: Equal variance assumed.
Ha: Equal variance not assumed.
Based on the above table, the significant p-value of Levene’s test for Equality of
Variances is 0.074, which is greater than 0.05 (p>0.05). Hence, Ha is rejected and
accept H0. The conclusion is Equal variance assumed. Next, a hypothesis is formed
to test whether there is significant difference between local and foreign university
students on career choice.
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Testing hypothesis:
H0: There is no significant difference between university students’ nationality on

career choice.
H5: There is significant difference between university students’ nationality on
career choice.
By looking at the row of Equal variance assumed, the significant p-value under t-
test for equality of means is 0.011, which is less than 0.05 (p<0.05). Thus, H0 is
rejected but accept H5. The conclusion is, there is significant difference between
university students’ nationality on career choice.
Table 4.11 Group Statistics Table
Group Statistics
Nationality N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Career Choice Malaysian 76 3.7842 .62717 .07194
Foreigner 72 4.0333 .54021 .06366
Source: SPSS
Besides, from the above table, under the column of mean, it shown that the mean
score for Malaysian university students is 3.7842, while the mean score for Foreign
university students is 4.0333. This by then indicates that, Foreign university
students have more favourable perception towards career choice compared to
Malaysian university students.
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4.5 Conclusion
To be concluded, in this chapter, few descriptive analysis and inferential analysis

has been used to examine the relationship between the dependent variable and
independent variables, and the results for all the analysis have been discussed and
explained in a more understandable way. Next, in Chapter 5, researcher will mainly
discuss about the major findings and implications.
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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND

IMPLICATIONS
5.0 Introduction
In this chapter, the discussion and implications of the finding results obtained in
previous chapter will be presented. Moreover, the limitations and conclusion of
the research will also be discussed. To be mentioned again, the purpose of this
research is to investigate the factors that will affect local and foreign university
students’ career choice. The factors that have been tested in the research are,
Family Influence, Economic Consideration, Personal Interest and Self-Efficacy.
5.1 Summary of Analysis
5.1.1 Descriptive Analysis
In this research, the total number of respondents who are valid and taken as
targeted respondents are 148 people. All the respondents have been classified
and analyzed based on their demographic data such as, gender, age, nationality,
university name, and year of study. Based on the descriptive analysis, it was
found that majority of the respondents are female (50.7%), which aged between
23 to 26 years old (69.6%), and are currently in their third year of study in
universities. Furthermore, 51.4% of the respondents are Malaysian while the rest
of the respondents are foreign students from countries such as, China, Arab,
Japan, Jordan, etc. The university that the respondents are studying in is at UTAR
which constitutes to 25%, while others study in universities that located within
the Klang Valley area, such as, UPM, UKM, USCI, etc.
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5.1.2 Reliability Analysis
Referring to the reliability statistics table, it can be noticed that the independent
variable- Personal Interest has the highest alpha value with 0.799. It is then
followed by Economic Considerations (0.787), Self-Efficacy (0.717), Family
Influence (0.705), and Career Choice (0.700). As all the variables are over 0.6
and fall in the range between 0.7 to 0.8, their strength of association is considered
as good and also indicates that the items are consistence and stable.
5.1.3 Inferential Analysis
Referring to Table 4.9 under Multiple Regression analysis, it shown that out of
the four independent variables, only two IV (i.e. Personal Interest, and Self-
Efficacy) is significant predictors of career choice. While Family Influence and
Economic Considerations has been identified to be non-significant contributors
in measuring career choice as their significant p-value is greater than 0.05.
Besides, personal interest is also identified as the most important predictor in
measuring career choice (𝛽= 0.272).
In addition, under independent T-test, it was found that there is significant

difference between university students’ nationality and career choice as the
significant p-value under t-test for equality of means is 0.011, which is less than
0.05 (p<0.05). Also, based on the group statistics table (Table 4.11), it was
discovered that Foreign university students have more favourable perception
towards career choice compared to Malaysian university students.
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5.2 Discussion of Major Findings
Table 5.1: Results of hypotheses
No Hypothesis P-value Accept/ Reject

H1 There is a significant 0.108 Rejected
relationship between
family influence and
career choice.
H2 There is a significant 0.245 Rejected
economic
considerations and
career choice.
H3 There is a significant 0.001 Accepted
personal interest and
career choice.
self-efficacy and
career choice.
difference between
university students’
nationality on career
choice.
Source: Developed for the research
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5.2.1 Conclusion for First hypothesis (Family Influence) : No

significant relationship
Referring to the results researcher obtained from SPSS, it showed that there is
no significant relationship between family influence and the career choice.
According to Tillman (2015), parents with higher-income, nowadays feels that
their children are lacking of desires to take part and carry on with the family
businesses. By then, the parents will not put much pressures on their children to
only make choices between certain careers. Not only that, Shellenbarger (as cited
in Tillman, 2015) also found that out of four physicians, three of them are more
unlikely to urge their children to follow their career path to be physician.
There are also researchers such as Fouad et al. (as cited in Fouad, Kim, Ghosh,
Chang, & Figueiredo, 2015) stated that those who are less acculturated, will have
a higher tendency to be influenced by family when making their career choice.
However, this is not likely to be applied in Malaysia context as Malaysia is made
up of many ethnics, and Malaysian has many kinds of cultures. Said otherwise,
university students in Malaysia is less likely to be influence by family regarding
their career choice.
In researcher’s view, it might because the parenting style adopted by the parents
now is authoritative parenting, in which the parents are nurturing, listen to
children, and encourage independence. Sovet and Metz’s research (as cited in
Murniarti, & Siahaan, 2019) found out that this parenting style tends to have less
impacts on their children’s career choice. Hence, making family influence to
have no significant relationship on career choice.
5.2.2 Conclusion for second hypothesis (Economic

Considerations): No significant relationship
Based on the results researcher had obtained, it showed that there is no

significant relationship between economic considerations and the career choice.
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Nowadays, monetary rewards might not be the only factors to motivate

employees and to attract talents when compare to the past. According to Hytter’s
research (as cited in Akhtar, Aamir, Khurshid, Abro, & Hussain, 2015), it was
found that generally, employees will be more motivated with non-financial
rewards such as personnel appreciation, work-life balance, and
acknowledgement. Besides, with only financial rewards, this would not help to
retain those talented employees in a long time as what they desire for could be
achievement, respect, recognition, etc. According to the hierarchical needs of
theory developed by Maslow (1954), people would have the needs of self-esteem
such as recognition and respects from others. This helps to explain why non-
financial benefits are more important than economic considerations and financial
benefits.
In researcher’s view, university students and the employees might be more

motivated by total rewards, instead of only just one kind of rewards. According
to Dessler & Cole, Wang, and Morgan et al. (as cited in Alhmoud, & Rjoub,
2019), total rewards are referred to the combinations of financial and non-
financial rewards, and also social benefits such as happiness that provided by the
company. To be summarize, it can be said that economic considerations are not
the only factors that influence people’s career choice. Hence, there is no
significant relationship between economic considerations and career choice.
5.2.3 Conclusion for third hypothesis (Personal Interest):

Significant relationship
An individual’s personal interest do play a critical role in his career choice as it

would help him to persistently work in the profession that he chosen and is about
to enter. Few studies by researchers such as Carpenter and Foster; and Kunnen
(as cited in Akosah-Twumasi, Emeto, Lindsay, Tsey, & Malau-Aduli, 2018)
revealed that career decision could be influenced and motivated by intrinsic
dimensions which is referred to the individual’s interests towards certain
professions, and by then can helps to improve their satisfaction towards the job.
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In this study, the significant p-value obtained for Personal interest is 0.001 which
is below 0.05. This by then indicates that personal interest is one of the
significant factors that affect the career choice of university students in Malaysia.
This result is in align with some researchers (e.g., Nauta & Kahn, 2007; Tracey,
2008) that stated personal interest and career choice are interrelated, and a
consistent interest could help to lower down career indecision (as cited in
Atitsogbe, Moumoula, Rochat, Antonietti, & Rossier, 2018). The research’s
results of Volodina and Nagy (2016) with 900 respondents in German school
also revealed that the students’ interest has the most critical impact on their
career choice.
In researcher’s view, personal interest can actually guide the university students
to make their choices within a particular field rather than chose from a very broad
basis, which can be very perplexed. Personal interest is very important to lead
the students to the right path and make the right career decision. Without
personal interest, they probably will have a high tendency to face career making
difficulties or even make a wrong career choice which will by then lead to great
pressures and dissatisfactions. Based on all the above researches, it can be said
that, there is a significant relationship between personal interest and career
choice.
5.2.4 Conclusion for fourth hypothesis (Self-Efficacy): Significant

relationship
The self-efficacy in this study is actually referred to the confidence that an

individual possessed in assessing their abilities, interests, identifying ideal job
and to make the career choice by his own. Hackett and Betz (as cited in Hackett
and Betz, 1995) acknowledge that actually self-efficacy is also important in
career decision making as it could help in the career development. They also
found that individual with a lower self-efficacy in dimensions related to the
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occupation, would likely to limited their considerations to only make their

choices between certain types of careers.
Referring to the results obtained for this study, the significant p-value for self-
efficacy is 0.049 which is still below 0.05. Hence, self-efficacy is considered as
one of the factors that have positive effects on the university students’ career
choice in Malaysia. This result is consistent with the research of Fatima, Asghar,
Khatoon, & Fatima (2017), where the research is done with 100 university
students, and the results of their research proved that self-efficacy has significant
positive relationship with career development that included career planning and
career choice making.
In addition, a research with 160 respondents revealed that the students’ self-
efficacy has a significant correlation with career choice (Crisan, & Turda, 2015).
Not only that, in researcher’s view, self-efficacy can actually be related to locus
of control, and by then can influence their career decision. An individual with
higher self-efficacy is said to have internal locus of control while those with low
self-efficacy is said to have external locus of control. Few studies such as Gati,
Gadassi, Saka et al., (2011) and Çoban & Hamamcı, (2006) supported that (as
cited in Kırdök, & Harman, 2018) students with internal locus of control faced
lower career indecision, while the students with external locus of control is
having higher tendency to faced career decision making difficulties. To
summarized, the results obtained for present study are supported and consistent
with past studies, where self-efficacy has a significant relationship with career
choice.
5.2.5 Conclusion for fifth hypothesis (University students’

nationality): Significant difference
After reviewing the past studies, researcher found that other researchers are
mainly focusing on the difference of university students’ gender on career choice,
rather than their nationality. Therefore, it is why researcher conduct this research
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in order to test the difference of university students’ nationality on career choice.

The result revealed as there is significant difference, and Foreign university
students have more favourable perception towards career choice compared to
Malaysian university students.
Researcher think that this might due to the financial risks of foreign students are
much higher than the local students as they are studying in another country where
they are not totally familiar with. Therefore, before coming to Malaysia to pursue
education, Foreign students have taken an early step than the local students, to
build career awareness and consider about the career choices.
5.3 Contribution of Study
Nowadays, there are a lot of careers available to be chosen by the people and the
students are facing a hard time to choose the right career that suit themselves. With
this research, it can help the students to know what factors would actually influence
their career choice. By knowing that the personal interest is the most critical factor
that affect career choice, they should devote some time to identify what their
interests really are, and to think about whether they are ready to turn their interest
to be their career in the future. By having interests towards certain occupation, it
can lead the university students to a right path, making a right career decision and
enhance their job satisfactions in the future.
On the other hand, universities are the place where it helps to prepare the students
to be ready to enter into the real working world. Despite of the regular education,
universities will also organize some career awareness campaigns and career-related
events for the students. With this research, the educators could know that from
which aspects they should prepare the events and to enhance the students’ career
readiness. For example, instead of providing many financial support, they can
organize some events that collaborated with organizations, which by then could
help to increase the job security.
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5.4 Limitations
Although great effort has been put into the research, there are still several
limitations acknowledged by researcher.
1. Only four factors were tested in the research, but there are still many more factors
proven to have relationship with career choice by past studies.
2. The sample size and response rate should be greater to get a more generalized
results.
3. Some aspects such as races were not accounted.
5.5 Recommendations for Future Study
In the present research, only four factors were chosen to be tested with career choice.
After reviewing the past studies, it cannot be denied that there are a lot more factors
proven to influence career decision. Hence, other factors such as personality could
be focused on in the future research.
Besides, the actual response for this research is only 148 and the target respondents
were only focused on Klang Valley. The respondents from only one location with
not more than 200 people is not adequate enough to represents the whole population
of Malaysia. Therefore, a future research with more than 200 of respondents from
different states of Malaysia could be done in order to obtain a more generalize
results.
As the present study is conducted within Malaysia only, a comparison study

between Asian and Western nations such as Malaysia and German, is encourage to
be conducted in the future research. Some new findings might be found as the
people has a totally different cultures and education systems.
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5.6 Conclusion
Overall, in this research, the relationship between career choice with family
influence, economic considerations, personal interest, and self-efficacy has been
determined. It also has been found which factors do exert influences on the career
choice of local and Foreign university students in Malaysia. Moreover, some
limitations have been mentioned by researcher and researcher also has provide some
suggestion and direction for the future studies.
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Page 60 of 73
Career Choice
(APPENDIX A)
Statistics of Unemployed Graduates in year 2017
Source: Ministry of Higher Education [MOHE]. (2017). Graduates tracer report

2017. Retrieved from
http://graduan.moe.gov.my/v/Penerbitan/terbitan.aspx
Page 61 of 73
Career Choice
(APPENDIX B)
UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN (UTAR)

SUNGAI LONG CAMPUS, JALAN SUNGAI LONG, BANDAR SUNGAI
LONG, CHERAS 43000, KAJANG, SELANGOR
TEL: 603 9086 0288 FAX: 603 9019 8868
Questionnaire:
Factors Affecting Career Choice Among Local and Foreign University
Students in Malaysia.
Dear Respondent,
A very good day to you.
I am a final year students currently pursuing Bachelor of International Business

(Hons) in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) – Sungai Long Campus. I am
conducting a research project titled as- “Factors Affecting Career Choice Among
Local and Foreign University Students”.
The objective of this survey is to investigate the main factors that influence the
career choice among local and foreign university students. Your assistance is kindly
needed to complete the attached survey questionnaire. This study will take no more
than 15 minutes to be completed. All information that has been collected from this
questionnaire will be kept anonymous and strictly confidential. The data collected
will only be accessed by the researcher and the supervisor of researcher. This survey
is for education and research purposes only.
Please kindly return this questionnaire to me at your earliest convenient. Your

response to this survey is highly appreciated. Without your help, I would not be able
to complete this research project which is needed to fulfil my graduation
requirements. Please do not hesitate to email me at wongjosh0515@1utar.my if you
need any clarification regarding this survey.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Wong Rong Fu
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
Page 62 of 73
Career Choice
Section A: Demographic
Please write down or “Tick (√)” only ONE relevant answer for each question.
1. Age: ____________
2. Gender:
 Male
 Female
3. Nationality:
 Malaysian
 Other: ____________________
4. University Name (Full Name): ___________________________
5. Year of Study:
 Year 1
 Year 2
 Year 3
 Year 4
 Year 5
Page 63 of 73
Career Choice
Section B: Dependent Variable
Career Choice
In this section, there will be FIVE compulsory questions. Please select (CIRCLE)
the appropriate answer for each of the questions. Please read the following items
carefully and choose only ONE response which the most you agree with.
Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1, Disagree (D) = 2, Neither Agree nor Disagree (N) =
3, Agree (A) = 4, Strongly Agree (SA) = 5.
SD D N A SA
1. I believe I have a free
choice in making my
career decision. 1 2 3 4 5
2. I have definitely made a

career choice. 1 2 3 4 5
3. I find information about

current job opening. 1 2 3 4 5
4. I may choose this career

because I do not think I
will get any other job 1 2 3 4 5
offers.
5. When I make a career
decision, I know which 1 2 3 4 5
occupation I love.
Page 64 of 73
Career Choice
Section C: Independent Variables
In this section, there will be TWENTY-FOUR questions. Please select the

appropriate answer for each of the questions. Please rate the following items using
a five-point Likert scale.
Strongly Disagree (SD) = 1, Disagree (D) = 2, Neither Agree nor Disagree (N) =
3, Agree (A) = 4, Strongly Agree (SA) = 5.
a) Family Influence:
Items SD D N A SA
1. I consider my parents'
opinion when selecting my 1 2 3 4 5
career choice.
2. My family listened to my
1 2 3 4 5
opinion about career plans.
3. My family showed me how
to be successful in choosing 1 2 3 4 5
a career.
4. My parents have the greatest
influence in my career 1 2 3 4 5
choice.
5. The example of my friends,
family inspired me to choose 1 2 3 4 5
a career.
b) Economic Considerations:
Items SD D N A SA
1. I am satisfied with work that
provides pay raises that keep
1 2 3 4 5
me abreast with the cost of
living.
2. I hope I will be paid a high
1 2 3 4 5
salary.
3. I need good starting salary. 1 2 3 4 5
4. The wish for financial

1 2 3 4 5
security is important factor
Page 65 of 73
Career Choice
that influences my career

choice.
5. The amount of financial

rewards influences me to 1 2 3 4 5
choose a career.
6. Salary considerations are
important for making career 1 2 3 4 5
decisions.
c) Personal Interest:
Items SD D N A SA
1. I choose a job that offers
opportunities for further 1 2 3 4 5
training.
2. I can get a chance of future
advancement within my 1 2 3 4 5
profession.
3. I concern about further
study possibilities in my 1 2 3 4 5
career.
4. I consider self-deciding on
occupational choice as 1 2 3 4 5
important.
5. This career provides

opportunities to learn new 1 2 3 4 5
things.
6. To become a leader in my
profession is important to 1 2 3 4 5
me.
7. I need to be challenged in
1 2 3 4 5
my career to feel satisfied.
Page 66 of 73
Career Choice
For the following part, please read the following items carefully and choose only
ONE response that best described you.
No confidence at all (NC) = 1, Slightly Confidence (SC) = 2, Somewhat

Confidence (SWC) = 3, Fairly Confidence (FC) = 4, Completely Confidence (CC)
=5
d) Self-Efficacy:
Items NC SC SWC FC CC
1. Select one career from a list
of potential careers you are 1 2 3 4 5
considering.
2. Accurately assess your

1 2 3 4 5
abilities.
3. Change careers if you did not

1 2 3 4 5
like your first choice.
4. Choose a career that will fits

1 2 3 4 5
your interests.
5. Persistently work at your

career goal even when you get 1 2 3 4 5
frustrated.
6. Determine what your ideal job

1 2 3 4 5
will be.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------You have reached the END of the questionnaire. --------------------
Thank you very much for participating in this research. Your assistance is greatly
appreciated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 67 of 73
Career Choice
(APPENDIX C)
Pilot Test results (n=30)
Reliability (Career Choice)
Case Processing Summary Reliability Statistics

N % Cronbach's
Cases Valid 30 100.0 Alpha N of Items
Excludeda 0 .0 .731 5
Total 30 100.0
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the
procedure.
Reliability (Family Influence)

N %
Cronbach's
Total 30 100.0
procedure.
Reliability (Economic Considerations)

N %
Cronbach's
Total 30 100.0
procedure.
Page 68 of 73
Career Choice
Reliability (Personal Interest)

N % Cronbach's
Total 30 100.0
procedure.
Reliability (Self-Efficacy)

N % Cronbach's
Total 30 100.0
procedure.
Page 69 of 73
Career Choice
(APEENDIX D)
Reliability Analysis (n=148)
Reliability (Career Choice)
Case Processing Summary

Reliability Statistics
N %
Cronbach's
Cases Valid 148 100.0
Alpha N of Items
Excludeda 0 .0
.700 5
Total 148 100.0
procedure.
Reliability (Family Influence)

N %
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
Excludeda 0 .0
.705 5
Total 148 100.0
procedure.
Reliability (Economic Considerations)

N %
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
Excludeda 0 .0
.787 6
Total 148 100.0
procedure.
Page 70 of 73
Career Choice
Reliability (Personal Interest)

N %
Cronbach's
Alpha N of Items
Excludeda 0 .0
.799 7
Total 148 100.0
procedure.
Reliability (Self-Efficacy)

N % Cronbach's
Total 148 100.0
procedure.
Page 71 of 73
Career Choice
(APPENDIX E)
Multiple Linear Regression
Variables Entered/Removeda
Model Variables Entered Variables Removed Method
1 Self-Efficacy, Family . Enter
Influence, Economic
Consideration,
Personal Interestb
b. All requested variables entered.
Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Square Estimate
1 .410a .168 .145 .55282
a. Predictors: (Constant), Self-Efficacy, Family Influence, Economic
Consideration, Personal Interest
ANOVAa
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 8.813 4 2.203 7.209 .000b
Residual 43.703 143 .306
Total 52.516 147
b. Predictors: (Constant), Self-Efficacy, Family Influence, Economic Consideration, Personal
Interest
Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 2.099 .562 3.732 .000
Family Influence -.136 .084 -.124 -1.618 .108
Economic .107 .091 .092 1.168 .245
Consideration
Personal Interest .290 .088 .272 3.282 .001
Self-Efficacy .175 .088 .166 1.985 .049
Page 72 of 73
Career Choice
(APPENDIX F)
Independent T-Test
Group Statistics
Nationality N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Career Choice Malaysian 76 3.7842 .62717 .07194
Foreigner 72 4.0333 .54021 .06366
Independent Samples Test
Levene's Test
for Equality of
Variances t-test for Equality of Means
95%
Sig. Std. Confidence
(2- Mean Error Interval of the
taile Differen Differe Difference
F Sig. t df d) ce nce Lower Upper
Career Equal 3.248 .074 -2.583 146 .011 -.24912 .09645 -.4397 -.0584
Choice variance 5 9
s
assumed
Equal -2.593 144.714 .010 -.24912 .09607 -.4390 -.0592
variance 0 5
s not
assumed
Page 73 of 73

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FACTORS AFFECTING CAREER CHOICE AMONG

LOCAL AND FOREIGN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN

A final year project submitted in partial fulfilment of the

BACHELOR OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMAN

FACULTY OF ACCOUNTANCY AND

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this paper may be reproduced, stored in

I hereby declare that:

(3) The word count of this research report is 9861 words.

Name of student: Student ID: Signature:

1. WONG RONG FU 17UKB06313

First of all, I would like to acknowledge the presence of UKMZ3016 Research

I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Dr.

Firstly, I would like to dedicate this research project to my respectable supervisor,

Copyright Page …………………………………………………………….. ii

Declaration ………………………..……………………………………….. iii

List of Tables ………………………..…………………………………….. xi

List of Figures …..…………………..……………………………………... xii

List of Abbreviations ………………..…………………………………….. xiii

List of Appendices …………………..…………………………………….. xiv

Abstract ……………………………..……………………………………... xvi

CHAPTER 1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW …..…………………… 1

1.0 Introduction ………………………………………. 1

1.1 Research Background …………………………….. 1

1.2 Problems Statement …………………………….... 2

1.3 Research Objective …….………………………… 4

1.3.1 General Objective …………………......... 4

1.3.2 Specific Objective …………………........ 4

1.4 Research Question ……………………………….. 5

1.5 Significant of Study …………………………….... 5

1.6 Definition of Terms ……………………………... 6

1.6.1 Career ………………………………....... 6

1.6.2 Career Choice ………………………….. 7

1.6.3 Family …………………………….......... 7

1.6.4 Economic Considerations ……………… 7

1.6.5 Personal Interest ……….......................... 8

1.6.6 Self-Efficacy …….................................... 8

1.7 Summary ………………………………………… 8

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE .…………………... 9

2.0 Introduction ……………………………………… 9

2.1 Dependent Variable ……………………………... 9

2.1.1 Career Choice ………………………….. 9

2.2 Independent Variables …………………………... 10

2.2.1 Family Influence ……………………….. 11

2.2.2 Economic Considerations ……………… 12

2.2.3 Personal Interest ……………………….. 13

2.2.4 Self-Efficacy …………………………… 15

2.2.5 University Students’ Nationality ………. 16

2.3 Career Development Theory ……………………. 16

2.4 Research Framework ……………………………. 18

2.5 Research Hypotheses ……………………………. 19

2.6 Conclusion ………………………………………. 19

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ……………………………… 20

3.0 Introduction ……………………………………... 20

3.1 Research Design ……………………………….... 20

3.2 Data Collection Method ……………………….... 20

3.3 Sampling Design ………………………………... 21

3.3.1 Population Frame ……………………… 21

3.3.2 Sample and Sampling Technique ……... 21

3.4 Instruments …………………………………….... 22