Career Socialisation as Correlates of Individual Career Choice among Undergraduates in Public Universities in Rivers State
Keywords:
Career Socialisation, Mentorship, Role Model, Boss-ship, Supervisory Support and Individual Career ChoiceAbstract
This paper examined career socialisation as a correlate of individual career choice among undergraduates in public universities in Rivers State. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. Four research questions and four hypotheses guided the study. The population of this study consisted of all undergraduates in the three public universities in Rivers State, with a total of 72,113 undergraduates. The sample size was 400 undergraduates, using the Taro Yamane formula to determine the sample size. Proportionate sampling technique was used to draw the number of students from the public universities in Rivers State. The instrument for data collection was a self-designed instrument titled “Career Socialisation and Students Career Choice Questionnaire” (CSSCCQ). The instrument was validated by two experts in Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was established using Cronbach's alpha for a measure of internal consistency, which yielded reliability coefficients of 0.83 for Mentorship, 0.82 for Role Model, 0.80 for Boss-ship, 0.84 for Supervisory Support, and 0.85 for Individual Career Choice Scale. Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation was used to answer research questions and test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed a strong positive relationship between mentorship, role model, boss-ship, supervisory support and individual career choice among undergraduates in public universities in Rivers State. Based on these findings, it was recommended, among others, that university management should establish effective mentorship programmes and provide adequate career guidance opportunities to help undergraduates make informed and realistic career choices.
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