Microsoft Word - 11_jwe_1-2 UDC: 37.095.2 JEL: B54; I2 ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER Factors Which Affect the Career and Subject Preference of the Female Students of Business Schools Singh Swapnika*, MBA Indore, Kapse Manohar, Vaishnav Institute of Management Indore, Sonwalkar Jayant, Institute of Management Studies, DAVV Indore A B S T R A C T This study is concerned with career and subject preference of the female students of management institutes of Indore city. The main objective of the study is to find the factors of selection of specialization. The other objective is to find the factors of carrier choices for the female students. Other than this, the study also works to find the effect of other demographic variables which affect the subject and carries choices of the female students. For the study data has been collected data from few of the renowned Management institutes of Indore KEW WORDS: management education, female education, carrier options, optional subjects, electives Introduction Now a day managerial skills become crucial for organizations to achieve success in a competitive and turbulent business environment, there has been a sharp rise in the demand for managerial professionals worldwide. Sturges et al. (2003) proposed that the MBA degree imparts certain key competencies to students. These competencies may be of key * DMS, HCL Infosystems, Mumbai, email: singhswapnika@gmail.com, cell 9987055917, address Flat 202, Tara C wing Shrishti Complex, Opp. L&T Gate 7, Powai, Mumbai 400076 Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 90 significance in the career success of students as “management” has gained in importance over other forms of professions. In recent years, India has experienced a large increase in the number of institutions offering graduate management programs. In 1980 the number of B-School in India was 200. There was a 55 percent increase in the number of institutes imparting management education in India between 1999/2000 and 2005/2006. In the year 2009 a total of 1750 AICTE approved B-School and 350 B-School without AICTE affiliation were running in India. As per AICTE the total number of students intake is 1,37,343 and the number of institutes 1817 for the year 2010 in India. In Madhya Pradesh itself the number of management institutes has increased from nearly 120 in the year 2008 to 225 in 2010, which is nearly twice of the year 2008. The number of students is nearly 28000 in Madhya Pradesh itself. This shows that importance of Management education in India. As the number of institutes increases the competition also increases. In India also the number of B-Schools will rise nearly that of America. Out of all these B-Schools and IIMs which has to be chosen by the students, parents, investors, recruiters for admission or recruiting in short differentiating a B- School from the other B-School is the major concern now a day for students, parents even for faculties and recruiters. In Madhya Pradesh itself the number of management institutes has increased from nearly 120 in the year 2008 to 225 in 2010, which is nearly twice of the year 2008. The number of students is nearly 28000 in Madhya Pradesh itself. Business factors coupled with several socio-cultural changes have led to changing career preferences among young people in India. An individual's choice of career is likely to be influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural values, family background, career expectations, etc. Studies have been conducted in different cultural contexts to determine the range of factors that influenced students in making career choices (Özbilgin et al., 2005; Kyriacou et al., 2002; Ozkale et al., 2004). However, very less is done for females among management students in India in order to understand their subjective view about why they choose to pursue a career in management. Female's Education in India Women constitute almost half of the population in the world. But the hegemonic masculine ideology made them suffer a lot as they were denied Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 91 equal opportunities in different parts of the world. The rise of feminist ideas has, however, led to the tremendous improvement of women's condition throughout the world in recent times. Access to education has been one of the most pressing demands of theses women's rights movements. Women's education in India has also been a major preoccupation of both the government and civil society as educated women can play a very important role in the development of the country. Higher education of women: The data clearly reveal that the overall representation of women in higher education is poor, and that they are poorly represented in the faculties that lead to prestigious and lucrative occupations such as engineering and management. However it is significant that the decadal increase of enrolment in higher education has consistently been larger for women than for men. The figures are as follows. In the 1950's enrolment of women in higher education increased by 275% and of men by 126.4%, in the 1960's women's enrolment increased by 187.33% and men's by 108.78%, in the 1970's women's by 73.55% and men's by 31.60%, and in the 1980's women's by 92.11% and men's by 49.18%. Women's representation, in all disciplines, has also gone up substantially. Today one sees increasingly larger numbers of women in every field, including those from which they were practically excluded until a few years also. In fact women are moving steadily towards equality in higher education. Review of Literature According to Carol Ackah Norma Heaton, Gavin Mc Whinney (1999) the management careers of men and women did differ significantly in a number of respects and that there were differences between male and female graduates in their perceptions of how the MBA has affected their careers. It also found that women, in particular, experienced barriers to their careers which mediated the effects of obtaining a higher level qualification. The paper discusses how a more “level playing field” might be created and pressures reduced for both men and women in management careers. The study of Pixley, Joy (2005) reveals little evidence that those professional women who are strategic in ordering their family and career roles, or in seeking or developing relationships in which their careers are not secondary. Rather, these women are similar to the male students in their choices to make family commitments before their careers are Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 92 established, and are more traditionally female in how they balance their careers with their partners’ careers. Both behaviors are likely to put them at a disadvantage compared to their male peers. Despite, or perhaps because of, certain structural similarities between male and female professional students, they are unlikely to reap the same benefits from their educational investments. Sue Shaw, Catherine Cassell (2007) examines gender differences in how academics make sense of performance within university business schools in the UK. According to them gender differences exist in the ways women and men define the academic role and in what they think is important both to themselves and the institution. A study was done by Catherine R. Smith (1998), to comparing women and men students’ perceptions of learning advantages and disadvantages in management education. They suggested a masculine bias, which disadvantages both female and male learners. Issues of concern to male students give much greater concern to their female counterparts. Gender paradigms of male educators appear to particularly disadvantage women’s learning experiences. Eugenia Petridou, Aikaterini Sarri and Lida P. Kyrgidou (2009) conducted a study to find the effect of entrepreneurial programs, They revealed that there were differences in participation rates, attitudes towards entrepreneurship education and perceptions about required skills between the two genders. The attitudes towards participation in entrepreneurial educational programs, females demonstrate a stronger interest in acquiring knowledge, developing skills, facing career competition and networking with local business, to a significantly higher degree than their male counterparts. In addition, females rank all skills as of higher significance in successful entrepreneurial activity, assigning lower value only to communication skills, compared to men. The opposite holds for males, who ranked communication skills as of greatest importance among all other skills. The study defines the factors that male and female students consider to be most important in issues of entrepreneurship education are identified, providing a framework for the effective design, quality and delivery of such programs. Business/management schools may be currently using an exclusive approach to the study and development of management; by ignoring gender in this arena Sharon Mavin, Patricia Bryans (1999) Previously there was a masculine bias in management education, which disadvantages both Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 93 female and male learners and which may discourage managers from capitalising on gender diversity in the workplace. Both men and women were perceived as more suitable for a job that is more typical of the opposite gender. These decisions were mediated fully for women and partially for men by the impact of the gender typicality of the candidate's career on their perceived masculinity or femininity. In addition they also found that, men who had a gender atypical career history were perceived as less suitable for gender typical jobs. Thus, for men a gender atypical career history can serve as a “double edged sword.” Shlomo Hareli, Motti Klang, Ursula Hess (2008) As per the report, "Pipeline's Broken Promise," is one of a series of publications by Catalyst, an organization dedicated to advancing women in the workplace Female MBA graduates earn, on average, $4,600 less in their first jobs than their male peers and lag in pay and advancement throughout their careers Orlando Sentinel(2010) According to the business week a roundup of organizations focusing on expanding the role of women in business school and the workplace of US are working such as Forte Foundation: This group was founded in 2001 after a landmark research study titled "Women and the MBA: Gateway to Opportunity" .other then this National Association of Women MBAs: This national not-for-profit holds an annual conference and career fair ever year for MBA women. It also publishes a magazine, The group's mission is to educate women on career opportunities available and help them find their way into leadership positions in the business world. ASCENT is also one such group, according to it women being one of the largest segments of the workforce in the U.S., multicultural women are disproportionately underrepresented in the workforce. ASCENT, a nonprofit dedicated to helping multicultural women rise to top management positions. The group focuses on developing multicultural women's skills and talent through research, executive education, networking opportunities, and corporate sponsorships. Kalin, Janice Linden, U Minnesota (1998), suggest that line women were significantly higher on three MSQ scales: ability utilization, achievement, and responsibility. Generally the women were satisfied with their careers and lives. They also suggest that women choosing a career in business need to consider the nature of the position, i.e., line or staff, and the implications of their choice regarding future advancement. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 94 There is influence of culture and gender on the choice of a management career among men and women MBA students in Israel, the USA, the UK, Turkey, Cyprus, Hungary and India Ayala Malach-Pines and Oshrit Kaspi-Baruch (2008). They also found a large cross-cultural differences and small gender differences in the influences and aspirations associated with a career choice in management. “Skills, competencies, and abilities” was the most important factor and “father” was the most significant individual influencing the career choice of Indian management students Tanuja Agarwala(2008). A Study reveals that attachment was relevant for females' career decision self- efficacy but not for men's. Authoritarian parenting styles were predictive of women's career decision self-efficacy. Locus of control was important for male students but not for females Lease, Suzanne H. and Dahlbeck, David T.(2009) Objectives The objectives of the study are as follows: 1. To find out the factors affecting the subject preference (specialization) of women candidates in a Business School 2. To find out the factors affecting the carrier preference decision of women students in a business school 3. The effect of demographic variables on the choice of specialization and Preferred carrier of the female students These days many families which did not earlier let their daughters go for higher studies but they are now allowing as well encouraging higher and modern education for all their kids irrespective of the gender. But still there are many career decisions which are highly influenced by family, societal and economic background of a female student. The study tries to get an insight as to what extent each of these factors actually influence their decisions Research Methodology This is an exploratory research study conducted to find the factor which affects the career and subject preference of the female students. A Pilot survey was conducted with a sample of 40 respondents and the Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 95 questionnaire was revised. After that a survey was conducted and data was collected with the help of the revised questionnaire. Population Indore is one of the important city of the state Madhya Pradesh, it is also known as a education hub of central India. The number of affiliated management institutes in Madhya Pradesh is nearly 250, nearly one third of the total colleges i.e. 77 are in Indore itself due to which we had chosen Indore as the study area. The total number of students in Indore seeking management education is 10,000. Nearly 50% of the students are females, so the population of the study is 5000 students. Sample A convenient simple random sampling was done from the following management institutes IMS, IIPS, Gujrati Samaj, Vikrant Institute Indore etc. A sample of 200 was considered for the study with 95% level of confidence and confidence interval of 7-8% Questionnaire/tool The questionnaire has two part, the first part of the questionnaire is to grasp the demographic details of the respondents which may affect their choice of carrier and specialization. The second part of the questionnaire involves the 5 point likert scale with 9 variables on subject preference and 12 variables on carrier preference. Data Analysis and Interpretation Factor Analysis The main applications of factor analytic techniques are: (1) to reduce the number of variables and (2) to detect structure in the relationships between variables, that is to classify variables. Therefore, factor analysis is applied as a data reduction or structure detection method (Thurstone, 1931). Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 96 We for the factor analysis standardized the variables and after that used the standardized variables for further analysis. With the help of factor analysis we can find the factors which are important for the sales from different stores. We had used Bartlett’s test of Speriocity it is a test statistics used to examine the hypothesis that the variables are uncorrelated in the population. In other words, the population correlation matrix is an identity matrix where each variable correlates perfectly with itself but has no correlation with other variables. A large value rejects the hypothesis and makes the factor analysis appropriate. KMO measure of sampling is an index used to examine the appropriateness of the factor analysis. High value (0.5 -1.0) makes the factor analysis appropriate From the table KMO and Bartlett’s test of Spericity it is clear that factor analysis is appropriate since both the criterion are satisfied by the data Objective 1 To find out the factors influencing the subject preference (specialization) of women candidates in a Business School We have used KMO and Bartlett’s test to find weather the factor analysis is to applied or not From the table below the value of KMO is 0.737 and Bartlett’s test value is 461.798 with 0.0001 significance hence we can use factor analysis. Table 1: KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .737 Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 461.798 Df 36 Sig. .000 From the table Total Variance Explained it is clear that the 63% of the variance is explained by the three components Table 2: Total Variance Explained Component Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % 1 2.541 28.235 28.235 2 1.785 19.829 48.064 3 1.350 15.005 63.069 Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 97 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. The factors are rotated in order to find new factors that are easier to interpret. Here we have used varimax rotation. Varimax rotation tries to maximize the variance of each of the factors, so the total amount of variance accounted for is redistributed over the extracted factors. From the rotated component matrix the variables which form the first component easy to score, easy to understand, Opinion of parents relatives, Opinion of peers and Influence of your mentor someone you admire. Second component availability of faculty and availability of option and Third component job opportunities and Interest The table below shows the rotated component matrix with the variables and there loadings Table 3: Rotated Component Matrix (a) Component 1 2 3 easy to score .869 easy to understand .839 Opinion of parents relatives .629 Opinion of peers .558 Influence of your mentor Someone you admire .515 availability of faculty .841 availability of option .773 job opportunities .751 Interest .731 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a Rotation converged in 4 iterations. Interpretation Factor 1: Ease and external influences Ease to understand, ease to score, parents’ opinion, peers opinion and influence of mentors. All these factors are more related to external influences like opinions of the peers and parents, the ease to score and ease to understand also included in the factor Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 98 Factor 2: The Management Institute The second factor is basically about the attributes of the management institute. The component consists of the availability of faculty and the availability of subject options. These factors broadly can be dealt by the improvisation of the institute itself and rendering to the need of diverse subject preferences Factor 3: Individual’s benefit Interest and job opportunities in the market come under the third factor, which basically are upon individuals benefit. Subject preference come from ones individual interest and job opportunity. Individuals’ benefit comes solely from individual’s personality and perception Objective 2 Factors affecting the carrier preference decision of female students in a business school We have used KMO and Bartlett’s test to find weather the factor analysis is to applied or not From the table below the value of KMO is 0.705 and Bartlett’s test value is 343.009 with 0.0001 significance hence we can use factor analysis. Table 4: KMO and Bartlett's Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .705 Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 343.009 Df 66 Sig. .000 As in the previous objective we have used varimax rotation. From the rotated component matrix the variables which form the first component The table below shows the rotated component matrix with the variables and there loadings Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 99 Table 5: Total Variance Explained Component Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % 1 2.518 20.983 20.983 2 1.729 14.411 35.395 3 1.376 11.470 46.865 4 1.341 11.171 58.036 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Table 6: Rotated Component Matrix(a) Component 1 2 3 4 Parents financial situation .737 social and cultural pressures .717 Marriage plans .634 family opinion .615 Educational background .599 company brand .733 career growth .677 Salary .633 job security .444 interest in work .792 work environment .790 location of work place .590 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a Rotation converged in 9 iterations. The first component include Parents financial, situation, social and cultural, pressures, Marriage plans, family opinion and Educational background. The second component company brand, career growth, Salary and job security. The third component is interest in work. The fourth component is work environment and location of work place. Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 100 Interpretation Factor 1: External Influences The external components are influences like family opinion, social and cultural influences, parents’ financial situation, marriage plans and educational background are categorized under factor 1 on the basis of the rotated component matrix. Factor 2: The Job offerings These are the factors under the control of the firm which offers a job to an individual, these include: salary, career growth, company brand and the job security. Factor 3: Interest The component 3 covers only one factor of the study that is individuals interest, hence we might conclude that individual’s interest on a very strong level can influence ones career decision all on its own. Factor 4: The place The factor four is all about the place one wants to work, that is the location of the office( the city) and the work environment (the overall ambience, friendliness etc.), Objective 3 The effect of demographic variables on the choice of specialization and Preferred carrier of the female students To find the effect of family income, Father education, father s’ profession, Mothers’ highest education, Mothers’ profession, Number of family member, Position among sibling, medium before MBA, graduation before MBA, work experience before MBA, Specialization and Preferred career on the choice of specialization we have applied chi-square test. Hypothesis H01: There is No effect of family income on choice of specialization H02: There is No effect of Father Education on choice of specialization H03: There is No effect of father profession on choice of specialization H04: There is No effect of Mother highest education on choice of specialization H05: There is No effect of Mother Profession on choice of specialization Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 101 H06: There is No effect of Number of family member on choice of specialization H07: There is No effect of Position among sibling on choice of specialization H08: There is No effect of before MBA medium on choice of specialization H09: There is No effect of before MBA graduation on choice of specialization H010: There is No effect of before MBA work experience on choice of specialization H011: There is No effect of preferred career on choice of specialization H012: There is No effect of family income on preferred career H013: There is No effect of Father Education on preferred career H014: There is No effect of father profession on preferred career H015: There is No effect of Mother highest education on preferred career H016: There is No effect of Mother Profession on preferred career H017: There is No effect of Number of family member on preferred career H018: There is No effect of Position among sibling on preferred career H019: There is No effect of before MBA medium on preferred career H020: There is No effect of before MBA graduation on preferred career H021: There is No effect of before MBA work experience on preferred career The table 7 gives the chi-square value, Degree of freedom, and P value for the hypothesis created to test the effect of demographical variables on choice of specialization Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 102 Table 7 Hypothesis chi-square d.f. p value accept/Reject Null hypothesis H01 18.745(a) 16 0.282 Reject H02 24.236(a) 16 0.084 Accept H03 22.491(a) 16 0.128 Reject H04 22.169(a) 16 0.138 Reject H05 13.576(a) 16 0.63 Reject H06 19.257(a) 16 0.256 Reject H07 25.564(a) 16 0.06 Accept H08 .137(a) 4 0.998 Reject H09 1.600(a) 4 0.809 Reject H10 12.094(a) 4 0.017 Accept H11 25.202(a) 16 0.066 Reject H12 35.948(a) 16 0.003 Accept H13 15.971(a) 16 0.455 Reject H14 18.352(a) 16 0.304 Reject H15 17.744(a) 16 0.339 Reject H16 26.265(a) 16 0.05 Accept H17 21.983(a) 16 0.144 Reject H18 26.163(a) 16 0.052 Reject H19 5.876(a) 4 0.209 Reject H20 16.362(a) 4 0.003 Accept H21 10.981(a) 4 0.027 Accept a few cells have expected count less than 5. From the above table the hypothesis 2, 7, 10, 12, 16, 20 and 21 are accepted where as the other hypothesis are rejected that means there is no effect of the above hypothesis, where as the other variables have affect on specialization and carrier preferences of the female students. Conclusion The factors which affect the subject preferences i.e. specialization of females are Ease and external influences that means ease to understand the subject, and get good score and the views of the parents, peers and mentors. Here the parents and effortless learning are more important. The Institute, which includes the faculty and the availability of subject options are also important. The Individual’s benefit which includes Interest and Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 103 job opportunities is the last factor which the females consider while choosing the subject. The study also studies the Factors which affect the carrier preferences of females. The External Influences such as the family opinion, social and cultural influences, parents’ financial situation, marriage plans and educational background are affecting the most. That means still the family affects the decision of the females while choosing a carrier. The company which offers the Job i.e., salary, career growth, company brand and job security is also important but it is the next preference; Then the interest of an individual and the work place and its environment. We have also found that there is no effect of family income, position of sibling and work experience on the choice of specialization. But the other variables has effect on it, these variables are father education father profession, mother education, mother profession, medium of education, graduation and preferred carrier has effect on the choice of specialization. Similarly Family income, Mother Profession, graduation before MBA and work experience has no effect on the preferred carrier were as father education father profession, mother profession, medium of education, position of sibling has effect on preferred carrier. The limitation of the study is the data which is collected from Management Institute of Indore, whose number is very few; Though Indore is also known as an education hub of the state Madhya Pradesh. References [1] Adelina Broadbridge, Gender and Management: lessons from recent research, Women in Management Review, 2007, 22, Issue: 6, ISSN: 0964-9425 [2] Carol Ackah Norma Heaton, Gavin McWhinney, Women in management: the case of MBA graduates, Women in Management Review, 1999, 14 , 4, 136 – 145, ISSN: 0964-9425 [3] Catherine R. Smith, Best practice in management education: capitalising on gender diversity awareness, Journal of Management Development, 1998, 17, 1, 6 – 16, ISSN: 0262-1711 [4] Damast Alison, Resources for Female MBAs, Business Week Online, Academic Search Premier, 8/22/2008 [5] Ayala Malach-Pines and Oshrit Kaspi-Baruch, The role of culture and gender in the choice of a career in management, Career Development International, 13, 4, 2008, pp: 306-319 Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 104 [6] Eugenia Petridou, Aikaterini Sarri and Lida P. Kyrgidou, Entrepreneurship education in higher educational institutions: the gender dimension, Gender in Management: An International Journal, 2009, 24, 4, 286 – 309, ISSN: 1754- 2413 [7] http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2008/bs20080821 _295362.htm [8] http://www.indiaedu.com/education-india/women-edu.html [9] http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/principal-components-factor- analysis/?button=1 [10] Kalin, Janice Linden, U Minnesota, The mid-career female MBA graduate: An analysis of differences between staff and line managers, Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, Vol 59(4-B), Oct, 1998. pp. 1896 [11] Kyriacou, C., Coulthard, M., Hultgren, A., Stephens, P. (2002), "Norwegian university students' view on a career in teaching", Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Vol. 54 No.1, pp.103-16. [12] Orlando Sentinel, Female MBA graduates lag in pay; Women also less likely to move up corporate ladder, not as satisfied about career, The (FL), February 24, 2010 BUSINESS & MONEY FINAL, 1pp [13] Özbilgin, M., Küskü, F., Erdogˇmuş, N. (2005), "Explaining influences on career ‘choice’: the case of MBA students in comparative perspective", International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16 No.11, pp.2000-28. [14] Ozkale, L., Kusku, F., Saglamer, G. (2004), "Women in engineering education in Turkey", Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition: Engineering Education Reaches New Heights, Salt Lake City, UT, July 23-26. [15] Pixley, Joy. "Comparing Male and Female MBA Students: Similar Positions, Different Futures" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Marriott Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Aug 12, 2005 [16] Sharon Mavin, Patricia Bryans, Gender on the agenda in management education? , Women in Management Review, 1999, 14, 3, 99 – 104, ISSN: 0964-9425 [17] Shlomo Hareli, Motti Klang, Ursula Hess, The role of career history in gender based biases in job selection decisions, Career Development International, 2008, 13, 3, 252 – 269. [18] Sturges, J., Simpson, R., Altman, Y. (2003), "Capitalising on learning: an exploration of the MBA as a vehicle for developing career competencies", International Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 7 No.1, pp.53-66. [19] Sue Shaw, Catherine Cassell, “That's not how I see it”: female and male perspectives on the academic role, Women In Management Review, 2007, 22, 6, 497 – 515, ISSN: 0964-9425 Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 105 [20] Tanuja Agarwala, Factors influencing career choice of management students in India, Career Development International, 13, 4, 2008, pp: 362-376 [21] Lease, Suzanne H. and Dahlbeck, David T., Parental Influences, Career Decision-Making Attributions, and Self-Efficacy, Journal of Career Development ; Dec2009, Vol. 36 Issue 2, p95-113, 19p Appendix Questionnaire Part 1 Demographic Variable Name (Optional): ________________________________ College: ________________________________________ Family Income a) Less than 1 lac ___ b)1-3 lac ___ c) 3-5lac___ d) 5-10 lac ___ e) More than 10 lac __ Father’s Highest Education a) Less than 10th std. b) More than 10th std c) Graduation d) Post Graduation e) Doctorate Father’s Profession a) Service (job) b) Professional (practicing lawyer, doctor etc) c) Business d) Retired e) None of the above (please mention) ________________ Mother’s highest education a) Less than 10th std. b) More than 10th std. c) Graduation d) Post Graduation e) Doctorate Mother’s Profession a) Service (job) b) Professional (practicing lawyer, doctor etc) c) Business d) Retired e)None of the above(please mention) OR housewife ________________ Number of family member a) You and one parent/ one sibling/ one guardian b) You and both your parents c) You, your parents and siblings (1-2 siblings) d) You, your parents and siblings (more than 2 siblings) e) You live in a joint family Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 106 Your position among your siblings a)1st (you are the eldest) b)2nd (you have one elder to you) c)3rd (you have two elder to you) d)4th (you have three elder to you) e)5th(you have four elder to you) Education English medium schooling before MBA Hindi medium schooling before MBA Graduation before MBA Post Graduation before MBA Work experience of more than 6 months before MBA No work experience Specialization What is your subject of specialisation? a) Finance b) Marketing c)HR d) Other (HA, tourism, DM, ECom etc) e) You do not have specialisation Preferred career? a) Office oriented b) You don’t mind going into the field c) Academics d) Whatever opportunity you get e) Do not plan to work Section 2 Please rate the following factors as per the degree to which it influences your subject preferences (please tick) Very Important Important OK Not so important Not at all Important Your Interest Job opportunities Easy to understand Easy to score Opinion of parents/relatives Opinion of peers Availability of option Availabilty of faculty Influence of your mentor/ someone you admire Singh, S., et al., Factors Which Affect the Career, JWE (2011, No. 1-2, 89-107) 107 Section 3 Please rate the following factors as per the degree to which it influences your career preferences Very Important Important OK Not so important Not at all Important Salary Career growth The company’s brand The work environment Job security Your family opinion The location of your work place Interest in your work Your educational background (your stream of graduation etc.) Social and cultural pressures Your parents’ financial situation Marriage plans Article history: Received: 15 October 2010 Accepted: 10 April 2011