Enhancing career decision-making self-efficacy via a university career course intervention

Abstract

The present study further evaluated the extension of Bandura's self-efficacy (SE) theory to the career decision-making (CDM) domain. The purposes of this investigation were to: (a) evaluate the effectiveness of a SE based career intervention using various outcome variables, including measures of CDM self-efficacy and career indecision; (b) examine the relationship between CDM self-efficacy and CDM task (performance) success, CDM anxiety, and career indecision (decidedness); and (c) further evaluate the validity of the Short-Form Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale (SFCDMSE). Subjects consisted of 159 college students, primarily undergraduates, who participated in either a career decision-making and planning course (treatment group) or a learning skills course (control group) under the direction of the counseling center of a large, western, state university. During pretest and posttest assessments, subjects completed demographic data sheets and measures of: CDM self-efficacy; career indecision and decidedness; CDM task success (posttest assessment only); CDM anxiety; and academic SE. Analyses of variance/covariance and regression analyses were conducted via a general linear model;Results supported hypotheses which predicted significant pre-versus-post increases in both CDM self-efficacy and career decidedness, and reductions in career indecision for treatment subjects relative to control subjects. As hypothesized, findings indicated a significant direct relationship between CDM self-efficacy and CDM task success, as well as a significant inverse relationship between CDM self-efficacy and CDM anxiety. As predicted, both career decision-making "task success" and "anxiety" significantly predicted subjects' CDM self-efficacy. Career decision-making SE scores significantly accounted for additional variance in the prediction of career indecision scores, over-and-above that accounted for by the other career variables for most multiple regression analyses. Results further confirmed the existence of a significant inverse relationship between CDM self-efficacy and career indecision. Findings regarding the validity of the SFCDMSE were generally supportive;Clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are provided.

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