Career Choice Motivations of University Students

Abstract

In view of the universities' role as a source of qualified labour, the paper aims at exploring what motivations determine students’ career choice. Therefore, we performed a cross-sectional study of the underlying motives for the career intentions of 645 students from two German universities. The findings reveal that the motives can be grouped and systemised into the main components ‘Status orientation’, ‘Self-realisation’ and ‘Self-determination’. In our sample, these categories and the underlying motives are to a certain extent relevant for self-employment, but less for dependent employment alternatives. In particular, ‘Self-determination’ was found to be inherent for any type of self-employment.