Personality Biases of Accounting Students: Some Implications for Learning Style Preferences

The current issue and full text archive of this ledger is on tap(predicate) at www. emeraldinsight. com/1362-0436. htm CDI 13,4 Factors in? uencing line of contactment cream of c atomic number 18 scholars in India Tanuja Agarwala Faculty of Man shape upment Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, India Abstract Purpose This paper aims to explore the in? uence of a range of factors on the rush superior of counseling students in India. The sizeableness of different somebodyistics in the family and at work in devising occupational group plectrons among these students is in addition to be explored.In addition, the domain seeks to address the descent of the pagan c atomic number 18 fors of identity- communism and the variable/ accomplished rush tastes of MBA students from India, with factors as hygienic as hatful in? uencing the election of a charge. Design/methodology/ near Participants consisted of 93 students from India entering management, who were starting t heir ? rst family of the 2-year full clipping MBA program. Self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data on factors and types of affinitys in? encing heart story preference, soulism/ complaisantism, and variable/conventional travel druthers course. Findings Skills, competencies, and abilities was the or so signifi chamfer factor and begetter was the most signi? sham individual in? uencing the carg championr select of Indian management students. The predominant ethnic value was fabianism, although the students demonstrated individualist t demoliti acencies in some contexts. A protean penchant guided the life history penchant of these students. look limitations/implications The data were collected only from unmatchable management take in India.Originality/value Empirical inquiry on factors and types of births in? uencing rush cream, and their correlates, has non been conducted among Indian students. The paper addresses this issue and the train has implications for flight counseling. Keywords vocations, charge guidance, National companionableisations, Students, India Paper type Research paper 362 C atomic number 18er finishing International Vol. 13 no 4, 2008 pp. 362-376 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1362-0436 inside 10. 1108/13620430810880844Introduction Globalization has brought rough a radical transorganization in what organizations compulsion to do to maintain their competitiveness. As managerial skills become crucial for organizations to achieve mastery in a competitive and turbulent business environment, thither has been a sharp rise in the demand for managerial professionals human beingswide. Sturges et al. (2003) proposed that the MBA tip imparts accepted key competencies to students. These competencies may be of key signi? cance in the vocation mastery of students as management has gained in importance all in all over some new(prenominal) forms of professions.Industry demand for new managerial resources in India far exceeds supply. fit to one estimate, the fall number of entry-level managers needed by corporate India every year stands at 2,7351. But the best business schools in India produce about 1,740 managers in any given year. This demand-supply gap, amounting to almost 36 percent, has resulted in disceptation for scarce managerial talent, eminent levels of attrition, and an incr hush up in the compensation levels of managerial professionals.For a large number of students in India, a managerial public life has become the most preferred travel tonicity. The emergence of management as a formal precept is fairly recent, stock-still the MBA degree has emerged as one of the most sought after graduate(prenominal)er educational quali? cations. at that place was a 55 percent increase in the number of institutes pass on management education in India amid 1999/2000 and 2005/2006. More than 100,000 students argon examine towards an MBA degree in appr oximately 1,200 institutions offering MBA degrees in India.Business factors coupled with several(prenominal) sociocultural dislodges take in led to changing biography elections among young nation in India. An individuals weft of life is seeming to be in? uenced by several factors, including ad hominem and cultural value, family background, passage expectations, etcetera Studies open been conducted in different cultural contexts to determine the range of ? factors that in? uenced students in do charge pickaxs (Ozbilgin et al. , 2005 Kyriacou et al. , 2002 Ozkale et al. , 2004). However, a literature re captivate suggests that no empirical shoot has been onducted among management students in India in order to insure their immanent view about why they choose to pursue a course in management. The main purpose of the present study was to cite pregnant factors that in? uenced the prime(prenominal) of race of students pursuing an MBA degree in India, and the persona that various batch and relationships played in their occupational group picking. The study also attempted to explore the dominant cultural value of the students along Hofstedes psycheal identity- fabianism dimension, as well as the strength of their protean life taste.An attempt was also made to examine whether there was a relationship between individualism versus collectivism as a cultural value and protean versus conventional go taste of management students in India with the types of factors, people and relationships that are likely to play an composeitative role in their vocation pick. Gender differences among the Indian MBA students were also explored. travel choice of management students 363 theoretical background Choice means selecting or separating from deuce or more(prenominal) than things that which is preferred (Websters Dictionary, 1998). move choice involves choosing one occupation over an separate. Hence, in order for occupational group choice to take place, two conditions are necessary (1) availability of alternative course options and ? (2) an individual/personal preference between these life history options (Ozbilgin et al. , 2005). The numbers of move options/alternatives available to an individual at any given point in time are in? uenced by external factors (labor market, state of the economy, etc. ), as well as individual factors (education, family background, situations, etc. . Career choice, therefore, is not unbridled. Rather, life history choices are lots constrained by sociocultural factors (Swanson and Gore, 2000), individual factors, personal and cultural value, signi? pharisaism relationships, and structural factors such as barriers faced by women in trustworthy careers such as management. Most career choice look into has centre on predicting career choice behaviors based on record or demographic ? variables (Ozbilgin et al. , 2005). Studies attempting to identify career choice in? encing factors commi t pore largely on individuals aptitudes, interests, opportunities, etc. CDI 13,4 364 Factors in? uencing career choice fewer studies check examined the factors that in? uence career choice. Previous studies relieve oneself identi? ed a number of varied factors that in? uence students career choice (Ginzberg, 1951 Super, 1957 OConnor and Kinnane, 1961 Paolillo and Estes, 1982 Felton et al. , 1994). The most widely used classi? cation in career choice studies is the three-dimensional example by Carpenter and Foster (1977) and Beyon et al. (1998).The three factors are (1) intrinsic (interest in the job, personally satisfying work) (2) extrinsic (availability of jobs, well paying occupations) and (3) interpersonal (in? uence of parents and signi? cant other(a)s). Some research evidence lasts to show that sociocultural, frugal, and political changes affect the career choices of young people. Bai (1998) plunge that the market economy changed the determine of university students who put opportunism before societal interests, and rated money and power as the primary motivators in ? nding a job. The relative in? ence of various factors on the career choice of students has been set to ? vary across cultures (Ozbilgin et al. , 2005). Most research on career choice has been conducted on occupational groups such as accountants and healthcare professionals (Carpenter and Strawser, 1970 Paolillo and Estes, 1982 Gul et al. , 1989 Bundy and noris, 1992 Auyeung and Sands, 1997 Morrison, 2004). proscribe a few studies ? (Simmering and Wilcox, 1995 Moy and Lee, 2002 Sturges et al. , 2003 Ozbilgin et al. , 2005 Pines and Baruch, 2007), the career choice of MBA students and the factors in? encing this choice have rarely been addressed. The subject matter is worth exploring since the MBA degree has raised management to professional status, offering management graduates a gate to a fast-track managerial career. in that respect is no data about the factors that in? uenc e career choice of students in India. The in? uence of relationships on career choice affinitys constitute an historic dimension of human functioning, yet the interest in understanding how relationships and careers are intertwined has increased only in recent years (Blustein et al. , 2004 Schultheiss, 2003 Phillips et al. 2001 Schultheiss et al. , 2001). Most research efforts in the area have focused on how relationships and networks are tri besidesary to career mobility and advancement. The role of relationships in making career choices has been overlooked. There exists a need to direct research efforts to exploring the types of relationships that matter, and why they are signi? cant in making career choices. The present study speci? cally aims to explore the relative importance and in? uence of different relationships ( have, perplex, relatives, colleagues, etc. ) in making career choices among Indian MBA students. individualization-collectivism, and factors and relationships in? uencing career choice finale is an important causal factor of how people think and behave, while determine are broad meltencies to prefer certain state of affairs over others (Hofstede, 1980). Cultural values are likely to have an impact on the factors and relationships that in? uence career related choices of students. Studies have focused on the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism (I/C) as an important determinant that in? uences career choice of students from countries that vary along the I/C dimension.These studies have examined cultural variations in factors in? uencing career choice ? (Auyeung and Sands, 1997 Ozbilgin et al. , 2005). The I/C dimension, ? rst measured empirically by Hofstede (1980), describes how individuals relate to others and to society, and represents the extent to which they are emotionally and cognitively attached to a particular network of individuals. According to Hofstedes empirical index for the dimension, Western countries (the U SA, the UK, Australia) cluster toward the individualist end while Asian nations (such as Japan, Taiwan and India) cluster toward the collectivist end. Individualism refers to the intention of people to consider their proclaim interests only, to view themselves as separatist of organizations, and to place a higher(prenominal) value on self-reliance and individual action. collectivism refers to the inclination of people to view themselves as interdependent and as part of a larger group, and to protect the interests of group members. Therefore, preferences for social in? uences in making career choices may also differ in individualist versus collectivized cultures. Research examining the differential role of peers, colleagues, mentors, managers, etc. in career decision-making is limited. Related research suggests that there is a positive relationship between collectivism and family relatedness, and individualism and peer relatedness ? n, (Benet-Martinez and Karakitapoglu-Aygu 200 3 Kwan et al. , 1997). Some studies have handle I/C as an individual difference variable (Ramamoorthy and Carroll, 1998 Ramamoorthy and Flood, 2002), suggesting that flush within a country considerable variant may exist in cultural values at the individual level. These differences may have an effect on individuals attitudes and behavior.It may be inferred, therefore, that variability in I/C is likely to exist in the judge of Indian management students, and this variability may have an effect on what factors and relationships are likely to in? uence these students in their choice of career. Career penchant and career triumph Career success orientation may be described as the way people de? ne their success at work and that individual learnings of career success re? ect individual values, attitudes and motivation with respect to twain work and life in a broader sense (Derr, 1986).This orientation provides a guide to action, and hence is connatural to an attitude (McGuire, 198 5), which has a cognitive piece (a set of beliefs about the career), an evaluative component (a sense of what would be a good career or a bad career for oneself), and a behavioural component (an action tendency or a predisposition to behave in certain ways). There are two types of career orientations (1) protean (new career orientation) and (2) conventional (traditional organizational orientation). Hall ? rst described the protean career in 1976.According to Hall (2004), a protean career is one that is managed proactively by individuals (self-directed) according to their own personal values (values driven), rather than by organizational rewards. Core protean values are freedom and growth (Hall, 1976, 2002), and the main criteria of success are subjective (intrinsic/psychological success) and not impersonal (extrinsic/material). A protean career orientation re? ects the extent to which an individual adopts such a post to their career (Briscoe and Hall, 2006). Career choice of ma nagement students 365 CDI 13,4 66 A conventional career orientation de? ned career success in terms of measurable objective factors such as salary, recognition, or number of promotions (Gattiker and Larwood, 1988). The core value of conventional career orientation is advancement. Even though career success has been researched extensively since the 1950s, the study of subjective and objective career success did not start until 1988 (Gattiker and Larwood, 1988), and until 2002, none of these studies involved collecting the participants own (subjective) view of their measures of career success.The current study aims to explore Indian management students subjective view of career success and also attempts to understand the relationship of their career success orientation with the factors and relationships in? uencing career choice. Method Sample characteristics and data line of battle The sample2 consisted of 93 management students at the University of Delhi, India, who were starting t heir ? rst year of a two-year full time MBA degree program. Questionnaire responses were take fored from 99 students, of which 93 were Indian citizens. The other six students were foreign students from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Canada.For the purpose of the present paper, only the responses of the Indian citizens were analyzed. Hence, the tote up sample size was 93, of whom 50. 5 percent (n ? 47) were male, and 49. 5 percent (n ? 46) were pistillate. Their age ranged from 20 to 27 years, with an average age of 22 years and two months. The majority of the students (31. 2 percent) were 21 years of age and Hindu (88. 2 percent) by religion. All the students were unmarried. The majority of students (n ? 65 69. 9 percent) belonged to families in which the take was serving as an employee in either a technical or a professional capacity.Only 18 students (19. 4 percent) had a business background, with their begetter being self-employed or an entrepreneur. Of a discharge out of 93 students , 42 students (45. 2 percent) had non-working mothers and 43 had working mothers, of which 37. 6 percent (n ? 35) were in the work of others, 6. 5 percent (n ? 6) were self-employed, and 2. 2 percent (n ? 2) were working part-time. A total of 43 students came from families where both parents were working, either in the employment of others or owning their own business. Each student was asked to complete a questionnaire within the ? rst 20 days of joining the full-time, wo-year MBA degree program. The data for the present article was collected in July 2006. Measures ? Factors in? uencing career choice. The 14-item scale developed by Ozbilgin et al. (2004) was used to obtain data on the degree to which various factors in? uenced the career choice of the students sampled. Each item on the scale corresponded to a career choice factor. The reliability of the scale, as evidenced by Cronbachs a, was 0. 66. Relationships in? uencing career choice. The in? uence of certain individuals (rel ationships) such as father, mother, friends, colleagues, etc. on students career choice was assessed through a nine-item questionnaire (a ? 065). Individualism-collectivism. Cultural values on Hofstedes individualism-collectivism dimension were measured using a 16-item questionnaire developed by Triandis and Gelfand (1998). Cronbachs a for eight individualism items was 0. 59, and for eight collectivism items it was 0. 62. Career orientation. A 13-item scale developed by Baruch (2006) was used to measure career orientation, with nine items measuring a protean view of a career and four items measuring a traditional view of a career. Cronbachs a for protean items was 0. 5, and for traditional items a was 0. 81. Responses on all the questionnaires were obtained on a seven-point Likert scale where 1 ? strongly disagree/not at all important, and 7 ? strongly agree/very important. Results Factors in? uencing career choice The means and measure deviations of the 14 factors that in? uenced t he career choice of MBA students in India are presented in dishearten I, for the total sample and by gender. As is evident from Table I, MBA students from India rated their skills, competencies, and abilities as the most important career choice in? uencing factor, followed by education and training and ? ancial rewards in this career. Separate analyses by gender showed that male and feminine Indian MBA students differed in the factors they rated as the most important in in? uencing their career choice (see Table I). Male students rated ? nancial rewards in this career as the most important factor in their career choice decision followed by grapheme of life associated with this career and skills, competencies, and abilities. For feminine students, skills, competencies, and abilities and education and training were the most important factors. T-tests revealed two factors tint of life associated with this career (t ? 98 p , 005) and Financial rewards in this career (t ? 237 p , 005) that were signi? cantly more important determinants of career choice for male as compared to female MBA students in India. No other career choice factors revealed signi? cant gender differences. For both male and female Indian management students, as well as for the total sample, lack of gravel to other career options was the last(a) rated factor in their thoroughgoing sample (n ? 93) spurious SD 6. 04 5. 90 5. 82 5. 77 5. 70 5. 58 5. 46 5. 39 5. 13 4. 59 4. 31 3. 71 2. 94 2. 48 1. 07 6. 04 1. 31 1. 30 1. 40 1. 53 1. 52 1. 57 1. 52 1. 47 1. 93 1. 89 1. 66 1. 60Career choice of management students 367 No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Factors in? uencing career choice My skills and abilities My education and training Financial rewards in this career I have a free choice in making my career decisions Quality of life associated Promotion opportunities Training and education My drive in of this career succeeder stories of friends, family My fellowship of the labor market My ? nancial/economic condition Ease of access to this career Chance, luck or circumstances Lack of access to other career options Males (n ? 47) wet SD 5. 96 5. 77 6. 13 5. 72 5. 98 5. 83 5. 17 5. 30 5. 04 4. 36 4. 23 3. 66 3. 09 2. 1. 02 1. 29 0. 82 1. 26 0. 99 1. 15 1. 48 1. 60 1. 44 1. 54 1. 95 1. 82 1. 47 1. 55 Females (n ? 46) Mean SD 6. 13 6. 04 5. 50 5. 83 5. 41 5. 33 5. 76 5. 48 5. 22 4. 83 4. 39 3. 76 2. 78 2. 35 1. 13 1. 43 1. 62 1. 34 1. 68 1. 81 1. 52 1. 55 1. 60 1. 37 1. 94 1. 96 1. 84 1. 65 Table I. way of life and SDs factors in? uencing career choice of Indian MBA students CDI 13,4 career choice. Chance, luck or circumstances, ease of access to this career, ? nancial and economic condition, and association of labor and/or career market were also not comprehend as having an important in? uence on their career choice. Role of relationships in in? encing career choice Table II presents the means and standard deviations with respect to the in? uence of individuals and relationships on career choice of Indian MBA students for the total sample and by gender. It is evident from the results that father exerted the greatest in? uence on the career choice of students in India, for both male and female students. For female students, the present moment most important in? uence was that of the mother. However, for male students, friends, that is, the peer group, played a more important role than the mother, and was second only to the father in their career choice decision. Managers and relatives were the least important in in? uencing the career choice of all Indian management students. t-Tests revealed no signi? cant differences between male and female students in the in? uence of relationship types (father, mother, work colleague, etc. ) on career choice. Cultural values and career success orientation Table III presents the descriptive results for individualism/collectivism (I/C) and for protean/conventional career orientation. The mean scores on H ofstedes I/C dimension suggest that Indian MBA students were somewhat high on both individualism (mean ? 052) and collectivism (mean ? 4282), with a slightly higher score on 368 No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Individuals/relationship types Father Mother Friend/s economic aidmate students Teacher/mentor Work colleagues Signi? cant other/partner some other relative Manager Total sample (n ? 93) Mean SD 4. 76 4. 23 4. 13 4. 03 3. 60 2. 94 2. 68 2. 63 2. 63 1. 94 1. 90 1. 89 1. 83 2. 03 1. 90 2. 22 1. 83 1. 94 Males (n ? 47) Mean SD 4. 57 4. 19 4. 32 4. 00 3. 83 3. 20 2. 61 2. 37 2. 63 2. 03 1. 87 1. 83 1. 68 1. 98 1. 85 2. 22 1. 72 1. 98 Females (n ? 46) Mean SD 4. 96 4. 26 3. 93 4. 07 3. 37 2. 68 2. 75 2. 9 2. 63 1. 85 1. 94 1. 95 1. 98 2. 08 1. 94 2. 24 1. 92 1. 92 Table II. meaning and SDs relationships in? uencing career choice of Indian MBA students Table III. Means and SDs cultural values and career orientation of Indian MBA students Indian MBA students Total (n ? 93) Males (n ? 47) Females (n ? 46) Cultural values Individualism Collectivism Mean SD Mean SD 40. 52 40. 98 40. 04 5. 77 5. 69 5. 87 42. 82 42. 63 43. 00 5. 77 5. 37 6. 20 Career orientation Protean Conventional Mean SD Mean SD 48. 85 49. 38 48. 30 6. 33 5. 78 6. 87 19. 80 20. 26 19. 33 4. 86 3. 85 5. 72 collectivism.A opposite t-test was conducted to determine whether there was a signi? cant difference on these two cultural values among the Indian MBA students. The paired t-test revealed that the mean score of collectivism was signi? cantly higher than the mean score of individualism (paired samples t ? 2282 p , 001). The mean scores of male and female students on the I/C dimension (Table III) suggest that both male and female MBA students in India had stronger collectivistic values (mean scores for males ? 4263 for females ? 4300) compared to laissez-faire(a) values (mean scores for males ? 4098 for females ? 004). Mean scores for the two types of career success orientation, protean and conventio nal, suggest that Indian management students were moderately high on both (protean mean ? 4885, nine items conventional mean ? 1980, four items). Thus, freedom and growth, as well as position and salary, were important criteria of career success for these students. A paired t-test conducted between the two subscales (protean subscale and conventional subscale) revealed the protean career orientation to be signi? cantly higher among the Indian MBA students (paired samples t ? 4356 p , 001).T-tests for group differences revealed no gender differences with respect to cultural values as well as career success orientation, among Indian MBA students. Relationship of factors in? uencing career choice and relationship types with individualism/collectivism obscure from an attempt to explore the relative strength of I/C cultural values among Indian MBA students, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between individualistic and collectivistic value orientations at the individual level and the in? uence of various factors and relationships in making career choices among Indian management students.Pearson correlations were compute in order to understand which career choice factors will be more in? uential for students with a more collectivistic or individualistic orientation. Individualism was raise to be signi? cantly positively fit with the quality of life (r ? 036 p , 001), promotion opportunities (r ? 022 p , 005), and ? nancial rewards (r ? 035 p , 0001) available in a management career. High collectivism was signi? cantly positively tally with love of a career in management (r ? 026 p , 005), and belief that one had a free choice in making the career decision (r ? 33 p , 0001). Pearson correlations were also calculated between cultural values and types of relationships that in? uenced career choice of Indian MBA students to see whether students who differed in their levels of collectivism/ individualism also differed in the extent to which they wer e in? uenced by different types of relationships (father, mother, friends, etc. ) when making career choice. The results showed no signi? cant correlation between individualistic values and in? uence of relationship types on the career choice of Indian MBA students. However, a high level of collectivism was found to be signi? antly positively correlated with the in? uence of father on their career choice (r ? 024 p , 005). No other relationship type was found to have a signi? cant correlation with collectivism. The ? ndings of the present study are supported by studies conducted in other collectivistic societies such as Turkey. Career choice of management students 369 CDI 13,4 370 Relationship of factors in? uencing career choice and relationship types with career orientation Pearson correlations calculated between career orientation and factors in? uencing career choice and relationship types suggested that protean career orientation was signi? antly positively correlated with skil ls, competencies, and abilities (r ? 030 p , 0005), k directlyledge of labour/career market (r ? 025 p , 005), training and education opportunities (r ? 036 p , 001), quality of life (r ? 023 p , 005), love of this career (r ? 027 p , 001), and free choice (r ? 023 p , 005). Conventional career orientation was found to be signi? cantly positively correlated with quality of life (r ? 050 p , 001), promotion opportunities (r ? 030 p , 0005), ? nancial rewards (r ? 055 p , 001), training and education opportunities (r ? 22 p , 005), ease of access to this career (r ? 021 p , 005), and success stories (r ? 033 p , 0001). With respect to relationship types, high protean career orientation was signi? cantly negatively correlated with the in? uence of relatives (r ? 2027 p , 005) and positively correlated with the in? uence of manager (r ? 028 p , 005). Conventional orientation, on the other hand, was signi? cantly positively correlated with the in? uence of mother (r ? 026 p , 005), fathe r (r ? 023 p , 005), and manager (r ? 026 p , 005).Discussion The study aimed to identify the factors and relationship types that in? uenced career choice of MBA students in India. The relationship of individualism/collectivism and protean/conventional career orientation with factors and types of relationships that in? uenced the career choice of these students was also explored. Indian MBA students considered their own skills, competencies, and abilities and education and training (intrinsic career choice factors) as playing the most signi? cant role in their choice of a management career. With respect to relationships, father exerted the greatest in? ence on their career choice. The results replicate the ? ndings of the study by Pines and Baruch (2007), and Pines et al. (2002) across ? ve countries (i. e. Israel, the UK, Turkey, Cyprus, and Hungary). Students opting for a managerial career may be similar in certain respects, irrespective of nationality. The important in? uence of father in career decision of Indian students may be understood in the context of a largely patriarchal society. The fact that the majority of the students had a professional background, their father being an executive/ professional, may also have in? uenced their career choice.Numerous studies have shown similarities between parents occupations and their childrens career aspirations (Barling, 1990 blink of an eye and Knapp, 1992). Findings on I/C suggest that even though Indian MBA students had a miscellany of both cultural values, they showed a de? nite preference for collectivism, gum olibanum supporting Hofstedes (1980) ? ndings. Several other studies suggest that the Indian culture is collectivist (Sinha and Verma, 1987 Verma, 1999 Verma and Triandis, 1998). Evidence also suggests that Indian students exhibit a mix of both individualistic and collectivistic behaviors when I/C is seen as an individual level variable.Hence, I/C are not a bipolar dimension (Triandis, 1994). In a dynamic society characterized by economic liberalization and a Western pattern of education, students may be undetermined ? n to both I&C value preferences, emphasizing both (Karakitapoglu-Aygu and Sayim, 2007 Ramamoorthy et al. , 2005). It is likely that Indians value both I&C, which coexist and jointly in? uence the way they de? ne themselves, relate to others, and decide priorities in conforming to social norms (Sinha et al. , 2001). The relative salience of the situation will determine which of the two collectivism or individualism will be evoked (Tripathi, 1988).It is likely that Indian students who demonstrated high collectivistic orientation may make individualistic choices in situations that related to the individuals career (Sinha and Tripathi, 1994). Similarly, students who showed higher individualism may make collectivist choices in a non-career context. The ? ndings about the relationship of factors and people in? uencing the career choice of Indian MBA students to c ultural values may be explained within this context. In individualistic cultures, individuals are look for individual advantage, career progression, autonomy and individual ? ancial security (Price, 1997) they believe they are responsible for their own future and are concerned with material possessions and social status (Di Cesare and Golnaz, 2003 Hofstede and Hofstede, 2005). A higher level of individualism among Indian students was found to be signi? cantly correlated with extrinsic factors (money, status, etc. ), suggesting that these students placed a great value on material bene? ts, such as money, social prestige, and career advancement. Those students who had a collectivistic orientation emphasized free choice and love of career as important in? uences on their career choice.Collectivists tend to subordinate personal goals to group goals, and emphasize values of harmony, cooperation, and low levels of contestation. Hence, high levels of collectivism may be associated with a desire to demonstrate that one had chosen the career out of free will, and not out of competition or pressure to conform, thus emphasizing harmony. Indian management students who were high on individualistic values were not in? uenced by their family or signi? cant social networks in their choice of career. However, students who were high on collectivism were in? uenced by their father in ? their career choice decision.Similar ? ndings were account by Karakitapoglu-Aygun and Sayim (2007) in a study of Turkish MBA students. Since the I/C dimension emphasizes separateness versus embeddedness in social relationships, it is expected that a collectivistic person may value support from others, especially from family members, in his/her career decision-making process, thus suggesting a positive relationship between collectivism and family relatedness (Kwan et al. , 1997). On the other hand, an individualistic person might not value the participation of others, especially family members , in an important decision such as career choice.Indian management students demonstrated both protean and conventional career orientation, but were predominantly protean. According to Reitman and Schneer (2003), MBA graduates enjoy both self-managed and promised (conventional) career trajectories. Except for one career choice factor i. e. quality of life (extrinsic) all other factors (love of the career skills and competencies) that were positively correlated with protean career orientation in the present study were individual-centric.Studies have shown a protean career orientation to be positively related to subjective career success (in terms of career rapture) while the ? ndings with regard to objective career success (in terms of salary and promotion rate) have been inconsistent (Briscoe, 2004). Since the protean career orientation re? ects self-directedness, people/relationships may not in? uence career choice of protean individuals. The in? uence of manager on a protean ind ividuals career choice in the present study may suggest the protean individuals desire for growth, and the perception of manager as a symbol of success.Career choice of management students 371 CDI 13,4 372 Individuals with higher conventional orientation, unlike those with protean orientation are not likely to be self-directed or in charge of their career. Therefore, factors like ease of access and success stories of others may play an in? uential role in their choice of career, as among Indian students. These individuals are also likely to be in? uenced by others, such as father and mother, in their career choice. These ? ndings may be viewed in conjunction with the predominantly collectivistic orientation of Indian students.Gender differences In terms of the intrinsic and extrinsic classi? cation of career choice factors, it appears that intrinsic factors (such as skills and competencies) were more important for female students in their choice of management career, while extrinsic factors were more important for male students. The results may be explained with reference to the traditional view of managerial career as being a male profession. Women face barriers to career success not faced by males (Simpson, 2000) and are assessed under stricter criteria than men (Morrison et al. , 1987).To progress women must(prenominal) prove that they have the competence to succeed. Hence, the inputs of education and training are more objective merits that help women to enhance their credibility and credentials (Melamed, 1996). The study revealed no gender differences on any other variable. Hall (2004) proposed that a persons career orientation was unrelated to gender. Regarding the study of sex differences, Baumeister (1988) proposes that this is no longer necessary, while Eagly (1987) and Lefkowitz (1994) advocate the investigation of sex differences in organizational behavior.If obtained consistently across studies, even null ? ndings are important (Lefkowitz, 1994) si nce these would help establish that women and men are similar in many respects. Implications The ? ndings of the study may have an implication for vocational guidance and counseling among Indian students aspiring for a career in management. By gaining an insight into how students make their career choices, an effort can be made to guide students towards more realistic career choices. However, the ? ndings of the study have limited generalizability. Notes 1. See www. india-today. om/btoday/07051998/cover5. hypertext mark-up language/12/28/2007 2. The data presented in the article were collected as part of the multicultural research study on career choice. References Auyeung, P. and Sands, J. (1997), Factors in? uencing account statement students career choice a cross-cultural validation study, Accounting Education, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 13-23. Bai, L. (1998), Monetary reward versus the national ideological agenda career choice among Chinese university students, daybook of Moral Educa tion, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 525-41. Barling, J. (1990), Employment Stress and Family Functioning, Wiley, New York, NY.Baruch, Y. (2006), Career development in organizations and beyond balancing traditional and contemporary viewpoints, Human resource solicitude Review, Vol. 16, pp. 125-38. Baumeister, R. F. (1988), Should we stop studying sex differences altogether? , American Psychologist, Vol. 43, pp. 1092-5. ?n, Benet-Martinez, V. and Karakitapoglu-Aygu Z. (2003), The interplay of cultural syndromes, and personality in predicting life-satisfaction comparing Asian- and European-Americans, ledger of Cross-Cultural psychology, Vol. 34, pp. 38-60. Beyon, J. , Kelleen, T. and Kishor, N. 1998), Do visible minority students of Chinese and South Asian ancestry want teaching as a career? Perceptions of some secondary school students in forefrontcouver, BC, Canadian Ethnic Studies, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 50-73. Blustein, D. L. , Schultheiss, D. E. P. and Flum, H. (2004), Toward a relational p erspective of the psychology of careers and working a social constructionist abridgment, journal of vocational Behavior, Vol. 64, pp. 423-40. Briscoe, J. P. (2004), National culture and the protean career, paper presented at the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS) Annual Meeting, Ljubljana.Briscoe, J. P. and Hall, D. T. (2006), The interplay of boundaryless and protean careers combinations and implications, diary of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 69, pp. 4-18. Bundy, P. and Norris, D. (1992), What accounting students consider important in the job selection process, Journal of Applied Business Research, Vol. 8, pp. 1-6. Carpenter, C. G. and Strawser, R. H. (1970), Job selection preferences of accounting students, Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 159, pp. 84-6. Carpenter, P. and Foster, B. (1977), The career decisions of student teachers, Educational Research and Perspectives, Vol. No. 1, pp. 23-33. Derr, C. B. (1986), Managing the New Careerists, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA . Di Cesare, J. and Golnaz, S. (2003), Do all carrots look the same? Examining the impact of culture on employee motivation, concern Research News, Vol. 26, pp. 29-40. Eagly, A. H. (1987), Reporting sex differences, American Psychologist, Vol. 42, pp. 756-7. Felton, S. , Buhr, N. and Northey, M. (1994), Factors in? uencing the business students choice of a career in chartered method of accounting, Issues in Accounting Education, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 131-41. Gattiker, U. E. and Larwood, L. 1988), Predictors for managers career mobility, success and satisfaction, Human Relations, Vol. 4 No. 8, pp. 569-91. Ginzberg, E. (1951), Occupational Choice, Columbia University Press, New York, NY. Gul, F. A. , Andrew, B. H. , Leong, S. C. and Ismail, Z. (1989), Factors in? uencing choice of discipline of study accountancy, engineering, law and medicine, Accounting and Finance, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 93-101. Hall, D. T. (1976), Careers in Organizations, Scott Foresman, Glenview, IL. Hall, D. T. (2002 ), Careers in and out of Organizations, intelligent Publications, 1000 Oaks, CA.Hall, D. T. (2004), The protean career a quarter-century journey, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 65, pp. 1-13. Hofstede, G. (1980), Cultures Consequences International Differences in Work-related Values, Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA. Hofstede, G. (2005), Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. ?n, Karakitapoglu-Aygu Z. and Sayim, K. Z. (2007), Understanding the role of relationships in ? making career choices among Turkish MBA students, in Ozbilgin, M. F. and Career choice of management students 373 CDI 13,4 374 Malach-Pines, A. Eds), Career Choice in care and Entrepreneurship A Research Companion, Edward Elgar, Aldershot. Kwan, V. S. Y. , Bond, M. H. and Singelis, T. M. (1997), Pan-cultural explanations for life-satisfaction adding relationship harmony to self-esteem, Journal of Personality and brotherly Psychology, Vol. 73, pp. 1038-51. Kyriacou, C . , Coulthard, M. , Hultgren, A. and Stephens, P. (2002), Norse university students view on a career in teaching, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 103-16. Lefkowitz, J. (1994), Sex-related differences in job attitudes and dispositional variables now you see them . . , Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 323-49. McGuire, W. J. (1985), Attitudes and attitude change, in Lindzey, G. and Aronson, E. (Eds), Handbook of Social Psychology, 3rd ed. , Vol. 2, Random House, New York, NY, pp. 233-346. Malach-Pines, A. and Baruch, K. O. (2007), Culture and gender in the career choice of aspiring ? managers and entrepreneurs, in Ozbilgin, M. F. and Malach-Pines, A. (Eds), Career Choice in Management and Entrepreneurship A Research Companion, Edward Elgar, Aldershot. Malach-Pines, A. , Sadeh, A. , Dvir, D. and Yafe-Yanai, O. 2002), Entrepreneurs and managers similar yet different, International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 10, pp. 172-90. Melamed, T. (1996), Career success an opinion of a gender-speci? c model, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 69, pp. 217-42. Morrison, A. M. , White, R. P. and Van Velsor, E. (1987), Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Morrison, J. (2004), In? uences before and during medical school on career choices, Medical Education, Vol. 38, pp. 230-1. Moy, J. W. and Lee, S. M. (2002), The career choice of business graduates SMEs or MNCs? , Career Development International, Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 339-47. OConnor, J. P. and Kinnane, J. F. (1961), A factor analysis of work values, Journal of Counselling Psychology, Vol. 8, pp. 263-7. ? ? ? ? ? Ozbilgin, M. , Kusku, F. and Erdogmus, N. (2004), In? uences on career choice, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American mental Association, Honolulu, HI. ? ? ?, ? ? Ozbilgin, M. , Kusku F. and Erdogmus, N. (2005), Explaining in? uences on career choice the case of MBA students in proportional degree perspective, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16 No. 11, pp. 2000-28.Ozkale, L. , Kusku, F. and Saglamer, G. (2004), Women in engineering education in Turkey, Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for applied science Education Annual Conference & Exposition Engineering Education Reaches New Heights, Salt Lake City, UT, July 23-26. Paolillo, J. G. P. and Estes, R. W. (1982), An empirical analysis of career choice factors among accountants, attorneys, engineers, and physicians, The Accounting Review, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 785-93. Phillips, S. D. , Christopher-Sisk, E. and Gravino, K. L. (2001), Making career decisions in a relational context, The Counseling Psychologist, Vol. 9, pp. 193-213. Price, A. (1997), Human Resource Management in a Business Context, International Thompson Business Press, London. Ramamoorthy, N. and Carroll, S. J. (1998), Individualism/collectivism orientations and reactions toward alternative human resource management practices, Human Relations, Vol. 5 No. 5, pp. 571-88. Ramamoorthy, N. and Flood, P. (2002), Employee attitudes and behavioral intentions a test of the main and moderating effects of individualism-collectivism orientations, Human Relations, Vol. 55 No. 9, pp. 1071-96. Ramamoorthy, N. , Gupta, A. , Sardessai, R. M. and Flood, P.C. (2005), Individualism/collectivism and attitudes towards human resource systems a comparative study of American, Irish and Indian MBA students, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 852-69. Reitman, F. and Schneer, J. A. (2003), The promised path a longitudinal study of managerial careers, Journal of Management Psychology, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 60-75. Schultheiss, D. E. P. (2003), A relational set out to career counseling theoretical integration and practical application, Journal of Counseling and Development, Vol. 81, pp. 301-10. Schultheiss, D. E. P. Kress, H. M. , Manzi, A. J. and Glasscock, J. M. J. (2001), Relational in? uences in career development a qualitative inquiry, The Counseling Psychologist, Vol. 29, pp. 216-39. Simmering, M. and Wilcox, I. B. (1995), Career exploration and identity formation in MBA students, Journal of Education for Business, Vol. 70 No. 4, pp. 233-8. Simpson, R. (2000), Winners and losers who bene? ts most from the MBA? , Management Learning, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 45-58. Sinha, D. and Tripathi, R. C. (1994), Individualism in a collectivist culture a case of coexistence ? ? of opposites, in Kim, U. Triandis, H. C. , Kagitcibasi, C. , Choi, S. C. and Yoon, G. (Eds), Individualism and Collectivism Theory, Method, and Application, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 123-36. ? ? Sinha, J. B. P. and Verma, J. (1987), Structure of collectivism, in Kagitcibasi, C. (Ed. ), Growth and Progress in cross-cultural Psychology, Swets & Zetlinger, Lisse, pp. 123-9. Sinha, J. B. P. , Sinha, T. N. , Verma, J. and Sinha, R. B. N. (2001), Collectivism coexisting with individualism an Indian scenario, Asia n Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 4, pp. 133-45. Sturges, J. , Simpson, R. and Altman, Y. 2003), Capitalising on learning an exploration of the MBA as a vehicle for evolution career competencies, International Journal of Training and Development, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 53-66. Super, D. E. (1957), Psychology of Careers, Harper & Row, New York, NY. Swanson, J. and Gore, P. (2000), Advances in vocational psychology theory and research, in Brown, S. D. and Lent, R. W. (Eds), Handbook of Counseling Psychology, 3rd ed. , Wiley, New York, NY, pp. 233-69. Triandis, H. C. (1994), Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of collectivism ? ? and individualism, in Kim, U. , Triandis, H. C. Kagitcibasi, C. , Choi, S. C. and Yoon, G. (Eds), Individualism and Collectivism Theory, Method, and Application, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 41-51. Triandis, H. C. and Gelfand, M. J. (1998), Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism, Journal o f Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 74, pp. 118-28. Trice, A. D. and Knapp, L. (1992), Relationship of childrens career aspirations to parents occupations, The Journal of Genetic Psychology, Vol. 153 No. 3, pp. 355-7. Tripathi, R. C. (1988), Aligning development to values in India, in Sinha, D. and Kao, H. S. R. Eds), Social Values and Development Asian Perspectives, Sage Publications, New Delhi, pp. 314-32. Verma, J. (1999), Collectivism in the cultural perspective the Indian scene, in Lasry, J. C. , Adair, J. and Dion, K. (Eds), latest Contributions to Cross-cultural Psychology, Swets & Zetlinger, Lisse, pp. 228-41. Career choice of management students 375 CDI 13,4 Verma, J. and Triandis, H. C. (1998), The measurement of collectivism in India, paper presented at the Meeting of the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Bellingham, WA, August. Websters Dictionary (1998), Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, MICRA, Plain? ld, NJ. Further schooling Agarwal , P. (2006), Towards excellence higher education in India7, Working Paper No. 179, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), alliance of Indian Industry (CII). Kumar, R. and Usunier, J. -C. (2001), Management education in a globalizing world lessons from the French experience, Management Learning, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 363-91. Corresponding author Tanuja Agarwala can be contacted at emailprotected com 376 To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail emailprotected com Or visit our web site for further details www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints