Relationship between personality traits and career decision making self-efficacy among male and female undergraduates in Malaysia

Abstract

The Malaysia Government projected to train 4,808,400 employees in engineering and other fields by the year 2020. However, the pre-plan has been truncated by gender career preference, imbalance and mismatch due to lack of a model for career counsellors to use as a guide for students in career choice making based on their personality traits and gender. This study determined the relationship that exists between personality traits and career decision making self-efficacy among male and female undergraduates in Malaysia. The quantitative research design of this study used TAJMA Personality Profile 2nd Edition (TPP2) and Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Short Form (CDMSE-SF). 281 participants comprising 102 males and 73 females from Faculty of Electrical Engineering and 25 males and 81 females from Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, participated in the study. Seven research questions were raised and answered; while six hypotheses were also tested at 0.05 significant level. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM SPSS version 21.0) and Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS version 22). The data were analysed descriptively with percentages, mean and standard deviation while the inferential statistics were analysed using t-test, correlation and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). To identify the dominant personality traits and career decision making self-efficacy levels of the male and female students, the findings showed that the dominant traits include: extroversion, cross-cultural, achievement, integrity and patriotism with exception of the analytical trait which was high for electrical engineering students only, besides showing a significant difference between male and female students. In general, there was no significant difference in career decision making self-efficacy among male and female students except for electrical engineering students who had more confidence in self-appraisal, goal-selection and planning. Based on the findings, a Structural Equation Model that shows positive significant relationship between personality traits and career decision making self-efficacy was developed. The model also shows that positive relationship exist between gender and career decision making; while negative relationship exists between personality traits and gender. It is recommended that the model be used by career counsellors and University management in the selection of students’ careers.