A Systematic Review of Factors That Influence Youths Career Choices—the Role of Culture

Abstract

Good career planning leads to life fulfillment however; cultural heritage can conflict with youths' personal interests. This systematic review examined existing literature on factors that influence youths' career choices in both collectivist and individualistic cultural settings from around the globe with the aim of identifying knowledge gaps and providing direction for future research. A systematic review strategy using the Joana Briggs Institute's format was conducted. The ERIC, PsychInfo, Scopus, and Informit Platform databases were searched for articles published between January 1997 and May 2018. A total of 30 articles were included in the review, findings revealed that youth from collectivist cultures were mainly influenced by family expectations, whereby higher career congruence with parents increased career confidence and self-efficacy. Personal interest was highlighted as the major factor that influenced career choice in individualistic settings, and the youth were more independent in their career decision making. Bicultural youth who were more acculturated to their host countries were more intrinsically motivated in their career decision making. Further research is imperative to guide the understanding of parental influence and diversity, particularly for bicultural youths' career prospects and their ability to use the resources available in their new environments to attain meaningful future career goals.

Parental Support, Career Exploration, and Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy in Junior High School Students

“…Therefore, further studies needed to examine other factors that may have an influence on students' efficacy in making career decisions. In a review conducted by Akosah-Twumasi et al (2018) and Cheung, Wan, Fan, Leong, and Mok (2013), other parties besides parents (such as teachers) also have a significant part in influencing adolescent career decisions. They can either facilitate adolescent's improvement in efficacy or compensate for the role of parents (Sawitri & Creed, 2015).…”

“…For adolescents, career decision can occur if they have understood what they want to do by exploring various career possibilities with direction from their environment (Portfeli & Lee, 2012), so they can plan ahead. The parties which are considered to have the most role in providing assistance and direction in shaping the confidence of junior high school students to make career decision making are their parents (Akosah-Twumasi, Emeto, Lindsay, Tsey, & Malau-Aduli, 2018;Sawitri, Creed, & Zimmer-Gembeck, 2014). Although based on its development, the characteristics of junior high school students who have entered early adolescence are no longer spending much time with their parents and more socializing with peers (Papalia & Feldman, 2012).…”

¿Hay desigualdad en la elección de carrera en Colombia?: Un análisis de algunos factores sociodemográficos.

“…No obstante, a pesar del importante crecimiento de la oferta educativa, existen factores culturales y sociodemográficos que hacen que la elección no sea tan libre como se cree y, por ende, se abra una ventana a una brecha socio-económica dada por el estrato, la zona de procedencia o el género. Ya es conocido que las variables sociodemográficas y culturales influyen significativamente en la elección de carrera (Akosah-Twumasi et al, 2018;Haley et al, 2014). Esta afirmación es confirmada con este estudio, en el que se evidencia la existencia de una brecha entre la elección de carrera segregada por género, así como el lugar de procedencia y el estrato socioeconómico.…”

Responsible science, engineering and education for water resource recovery and circularity

“…[96][97][98] The eight main factors impacting an individual's selection of a profession according to under-represented students in engineering relate by preponderance to economics (compensation, jobs, cost of education), the image of the profession, social relevance, career advancement opportunities, academic advising (high school, grade school), informal advising (by parents or teachers), the difficulty to transition from high school to college, and the knowledge about the profession. 99,100 More broadly, emphasizing positive societal outcomes may increase intrinsic motivation among students. From a survey over more than 6000 students from 17 institutions in the USA, Besterfield-Sacre and colleagues 101 have identified a tendency that male students would more strongly agree than their female classmates that engineers contribute to improving the welfare of society.…”