Job preference of BBA students at Jahangirnagar University

A report submitted to

Mr. Awal Al Kabir

Associate Professor

Department of Management Studies

Submitted By

Name ID

Kamrunnaher Joti 1509

Samima Akteri 1512

Md. Sayidur Rahman 1533

Sohel Khan 1544

Tanvirul Islam 1547

Department of Management Studies

Jahangirnagar University

5th Batch

Date of Submission: 20.04.2019

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the career preference of business students of

Jahangirnagar Universities. A total number of 49 running business students. Majority of
the respondents’ preferred field for future career development are multinational
companies, bank job, and BCS. More than average of the total respondents plans to seek
employment in their chosen field especially after obtaining the master’s degree. The
major business courses that have been chosen by the business undergraduate students for
specialization are finance and banking, human resource management, accounting, and
marketing. Financial benefit and social status were the major motivations for the business
graduates’ career preference. In the case of major reasons for motivation, the male
respondents are highly influenced by the financial benefit, social status and good
opportunities in the chosen field. On the other hand, the female respondents identified
financial benefit, social status, and job security as their most influencing reasons behind
career preference.
 Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction ........................................................................................5

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................5

1.2 Statement of the Problem............................................................................5

1.3 Objectives of the Study...............................................................................5

1.4 Scope of the Study......................................................................................6

1.5 Limitations of the study ..............................................................................6

Chapter 2. Literature Review................................................................................7

2.1. Job Preference ...........................................................................................7

Chapter 3. Methodology ......................................................................................9

3.1 Data Selection .........................................................................................9

3.2 Data Collection .......................................................................................9

3.3 Sampling Frame ......................................................................................9

3.4 Data Analysis........................................................................................ 10

3.5 Research Design ....................................................................................... 10

3.6 Sample Size .............................................................................................. 11

3.7 Sampling Techniques ............................................................................... 11

3.8 Sources of Data Collection ....................................................................... 11

Primary Sources of Data ............................................................................. 11

3.9 Questionnaire Design ............................................................................... 11

Chapter 4. Analysis and Findings ....................................................................... 12

4.1. Profile of the respondents ........................................................................ 12

4.2 Findings ................................................................................................... 14

1. Plan after graduation: ............................................................................ 14

Chapter 5. Conclusion and Recommendations .................................................... 16

5.1 Conclusion ............................................................................................... 16

5.2 Recommendations .................................................................................... 16

References ......................................................................................................... 17
 Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction

Students approach regarding career choice, need a wide range of prior skills,
knowledge, abilities, and ambitions from secondary and further education. They arrive at
the beginning of higher education by different routes and embark on very different career
paths within higher education. A well-educated, well-trained population could reach a
nation towards rapid economic growth. Business education is tremendously expanded in
Bangladesh. Most of the public universities and private universities provide business
education based on models and materials developed in the west, particularly from the UK
and USA. In this study conducted upon the business faculty’s students of Jahangirnagar
University.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Maximum of the students are not able to take the right decision in student life.
They are confused to take their job preference. The influence of their family, friends and
social environment about their job life.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

General objective. This study to explore the perception of job preference among

the students of faculty of business studies, Jahangirnagar University.

Specific objectives. Specifically, the objectives of the study are-

1. How many students want to go to the private sector.

2. How many students want to go to the government sector.

3. Which factors influence the students to take their job preference.

1.4 Scope of the Study

In general, we collect a sample from the business faculty of Jahangirnagar

University. We find out the job preference of students from the four departments of
business faculty Finance, Accounting, Marketing, and Management Studies. We actually
want to know about their career preferences and factor by which they influence. The
social, economic and family factors specifically described in this report.

1.5 Limitations of the study

1. Information is collected through indirect communication via an online structured

questionnaire. There is a possibility of filling up the form by a non-army
individual.
2. To keep identify of the respondents confidential, the researcher did not collect any
credential and job preference information.
3. The sampling method was convenient and the size was very small in comparison
with the total force size. The result may not represent the whole population.
4. Useful results from Convenience sampling can be obtained, but the results are
prone to significant bias, because those who volunteer to take part may be
different from those who choose not to.
5. This study focuses on business students only. There are more than 1000 business
students in JU. we are not able to cover all the students.
 Chapter 2. Literature Review
2.1. Job Preference

The occupational position or the sequence of occupational experiences that a

person gains over his lifetime can be termed as a career (Dessler, 2009), Some defined it
as a life journey (Baruch 2006). Developing a preference for it and planning the
education accordingly, is the beginning of that journey. The concept of career is much
broad and complex. But we are taking a narrower view of the term, reflecting the
intention of individuals to become active in different career fields. Furthermore, career
preference represents the self-selection of fields by individuals on the basis of their
personal strengths and weaknesses, offering them the highest probability for success.
(Shamsuddoha & Khanam, 2003) in their study have found among 300 samples of public
and private university students of Dhaka and Chittagong, the greatest opportunities for
finding a job are high for private university students, who are studying business. It has
also found that these opportunities are high in private and banking field than that of
multinational companies, government service, and others. In Bangladeshi job markets
especially the financial field, manufacturing field, and telecommunication fields are the
prime job-hubs and these fields require business graduation (Khaled Shams Chisty,
Munir Uddin, & Kumar Ghosh, 2007). (Moy & Lee, 2002) studied university
undergraduates of Hong Kong, relating to their career intentions for Small and Medium
enterprise (SME)s as against Multinational Companies (MNC)s. They found that job
attributes are the most important factors that influence the choice of career among
undergraduates. In their study, the important job attributes influencing the
undergraduates’ in choosing their career have been categorized into three groups-the jobs
itself, compensation or security and the company or work environment (Moy & Lee,
2002). The university undergraduates of Hong Kong, rated long term career prospects as
the most important job attribute affecting their career choice, followed by pay, job
security, and managerial relationship. (Moy & Lee, 2002), (Huang & Sverke, 2007) have
considered academic major, gender and personality to determine the relationship between
these three variables and business undergraduates’ preferred career with SMEs and
MNCs. They found that the undergraduates who preferred to work in SMEs are mostly
doing major in management and the students who preferred to work for MNCs are doing
major in accounting, finance, and marketing. Female preferred employment with MNCs
but male preferred SMEs. Previous research on the relationship between higher education
and employment undertaken by (Purcell, Elias, Davies, & Wilton, 2005), (Elias,
McKnight, Simm, Purcell, & Pitcher, 1999), demonstrated the importance of subject
studied. Several studies have found that career choices are determined by different
motives. The most cited motives influencing the career decision are: financial success
and high income (Carter, 2003), need of autonomy and independence (Van Auken,
Stephens, Fry, & Silva, 2006). In a holistic approach considering several career
alternatives, upon 1,600 German undergraduate students by (Lautenschläger & Haase,
2010), the findings revealed that high income and social recognition was not important
for the individuals in their sample. In the context of the environment (of cultural, social,
political and economic nature) as determinants of career choice, only a few aspects have
been scrutinized to date. Occupational choice is perhaps one of those most influenced by
family concerns, both present and anticipated. In addition to the familial influence on an
individual’s preferences for combining work and family, research shows that the
occupational choices made by parents can exert a direct influence on the career choices of
their children. According to (Brown, 2002), family or group influence impact both the
decision-making process and the career an individual chooses. Moreover, the economic
situation, especially the conditions in the labor market and the stability of employment
appear to impact career choices. Even several studies have been conducted over the past
few decades to explore gender differences with respect to a career decision. Researchers
have investigated the factors affecting job preference decisions among male and female
college students. Moreover, the decision of business graduates’ choice for a business
major (specialization in a particular business subject) during their graduation, which is
indicating their future career path, are also almost absent.
 Chapter 3. Methodology
3.1 Data Selection

The present study is qualitative in nature. The population for the study consisted of BBA
students who are in Jahangirnagar universities located in Dhaka. There are 4 departments
in the Business faculty. Among these, about 1000 are running in this faculty. A Sample of
49 BBA students has been selected for data collection from 4 departments and 6 different
batches.

3.2 Data Collection

The closed-ended questionnaire has been distributed among the students of BBA program
of Jahangirnagar Universities. Data have been collected from BBA students, both male
and female. BBA students considered to have some clear and specific directions and
reasonable self-concepts. The sample students have been chosen following the
convenience of the sampling method. The data have been collected through an online
survey. With the cooperation of the faculties and students, the interviewers distributed the
questionnaires during the class session.

3.3 Sampling Frame

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a four-year honors degree, where students

get the opportunity to get specialized into a particular discipline of business. (such as;
Accounting, Finance, Banking, Marketing, Management Studies from 1st year and
afterward, on an average. Thus the sample students are taken from final year. Students
were asked to indicate their career preference and the important reasons behind their
preference and to rank the reasons according to importance. In line with the previous
studies and the present context of Bangladesh, the study considered some reason, namely;
financial benefit, social status, job security, non-financial benefit, Parent’s influence on
career decision, good match with the capabilities for doing the job, good career
opportunities in the field, being referred by someone, challenging and interesting job,
freedom and independence at work-place, childhood aspirations, inspired by family or
friends or relatives.
 3.4 Data Analysis

This study investigates the factors that influence JU’s Business students while selecting
their career preference. The study also investigates any actual difference among the
career preference and factors influencing for choosing the career of male and female
business students. Most of the questions were of nominal characteristics, which only
permit the calculation of number, frequency and the use of cross tables. Hence we also
adopted the simple regression with business major (Accounting, MGT, Finance,
Marketing) and career preference (teaching, banking, entrepreneur, Multinational
Companies-MNC, Non-Government Organization-NGO, Government Service-GOVT,
Small and Medium Enterprise-SME, Research Organization-RO, Non-Banking Financial
Institute-NBF, Others) to find out the significance of the study.

3.5 Research Design

It is basically a descriptive study. In a descriptive study, we try to identify the

details of information and findings of the research.

Research design is the concept and a structure within which the research is
conducted. It constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement, and analysis of
data. Research design stands for advance planning of the methods to be adopted for
collecting the relevant data, and the techniques to be used for their analysis that is
relevant to the objectives subject to the availability of staff, money and time. In fact, the
research design has a great bearing on the outcomes of any research. According
toSelltizet.al. (1962) “A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection
and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose
with economy in procedure.”

This study classifies research design in three general designs such sampling
Design which deals with methods of selecting items that are to be observed,
Questionnaire Design which refers to a set of questions to collect data from the
respondents and lastly Statistical Design that concerns how the information and data
gathered are to be analyzed.
3.6 Sample Size

The total number of students in the BBA is approximately 1000. According to

Siddhu (1985), “Population means an aggregate or the totality of the subject regarding
which inferences are to be made in a sampling study”. For this study, responses of 49
students of BBA were used. Comparing the overall force size, the sample size was small
for this type of study. It is practically impossible to study the entire population due to
time, money and energy constraints. So, to undertake the study and arrive at valid
conclusions, the researcher needs a small portion of the entire population which is truly
representative of all characteristics. This process of selecting representative subjects is
called sampling.

3.7 Sampling Techniques

This study is based on Convenience sampling of Non-Probability Sampling

Methods for this study. According to Best and Kahn (2009) “A sample is a small
proportion of the population that is selected for observation and analysis.” There are
several different sampling techniques available and they can be subdivided into two
groups such as probability sampling and non-probability sampling. It is easy for us to
reach the faculty students.it is less time consuming and less costly. That is why the
convenience sampling method was used.

3.8 Sources of Data Collection

The information was collected from two sources of data such as primary source
and secondary sources.

Primary Sources of Data. Primary sources of data include data collection with
the help of a questionnaire and survey. Data in this study are collected through the
Questionnaire method, by filling a questionnaire. Primary Data is used to conduct
analysis and find the results.

3.9 Questionnaire Design

The survey was conducted online with 15 questions. By using the Likert-type
scale, the researcher of this study assumes that the strength and intensity of experience on
a continuum from strongly agree to strongly disagree, and makes the assumption that
attitudes can be measured. Respondents were offered a choice of five pre-coded
responses with the neutral point being neither agree nor disagree.

Chapter 4. Analysis and Findings

4.1. Profile of the respondents

There were a total of 49 respondents whose responses were received in April

2019. Respondents were all students who are studying in the different departments of
Faculty of Business Studies, JU. Note that there are no missing value or respondents.

Figure 1 Percentage of students from different department:

Figure 2 Percentage of students from the different batch:

Figure 3 Percentage of CGPA ranking of students from the different department:

4.2 Findings

1. Plan after graduation:

2. Career choice
3. Sector preference

4. Educational background force

 Chapter 5. Conclusion and Recommendations
5.1 Conclusion

For the greater interest of creating quality manpower for the country and for the
transferability of skills and the reflective learning across the full spectrum of academic
programs of study, students can safely be encouraged to make choices on the basis of
enthusiasm and interest rather than narrowly employment-focused considerations. There
is also a need to identify the constraints and opportunities faced by business graduates
that influence their capacity to maximize their potential, in terms of both learning
opportunities and access to careers.

5.2 Recommendations

1. Need to increase faculty member.

2. Need to increase the number of the classroom.

3. Establish a computer lab.

4. Provide adequate library facilities.

5. Arrange a case-based study.

6. Arrange seminar and competition.

7. Develop a career consultancy center.

8. Provide hygienic canteen facilities.

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