CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 Background

Career choice has become an important aspect of an individual’s life because it determines the
blueprint which is played by the individual in the future. There have been good amount of
theories and researches on the expectations and preferences of graduates towards their career
preferences in different countries. . Most of the studies examined the factors influencing career
choices of undergraduate students identified some related factors such as socio economic,
educational and cultural background (Noreen & Khalid, 2012) . As indicated by Sarwar and
Azmat (2013), starting a career is a defining moment of a person’s life which is chosen through
earlier influencing factors. The literature reveals that gender is different, age,ability, family
history, educational background have directly affected the graduates choosing their careers. Little
studies have been done on the employment market, job situations, the process and the factors
affecting career preferences of business graduates in Bangladesh. But much more should find out
if the graduates of business in Bangladesh are well affected by the same. Graduates' profile,
context, internal and external instruction of graduates, curriculum, curriculum, behavior is
different in abroad. So it should focus on Bangladesh business graduates to announce their
decisions inside career preferences. Career selection is one of the most important decisions you
will ever make in any career. It is a process of choosing an occupation which directs future life
(Zaidi & Iqbal, 2012). In addition, this job option also provides information on future life, work-
life balance, relationships and finances, Work ethic, self-awareness of all graduates. This crucial
decision is not easy to make and it is not a simple task rather without proper guidance, clear
perception, professional counseling graduates may select the wrong career. This research seeks
to provide an insight on Bangladeshi business graduates ‘career preferences and identifying the
major determinants which influences graduates’ career preferences in Bangladesh. More
specifically the study will focus on whether career preferences by the business graduates of
Bangladesh are dependent on their family income level, gender, age, educational background,
geographical location, individual cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, ethics, values, types of
organization and employer’s characteristics. As every year more and more graduates are joining
the job market of Bangladesh.

So this area should be highlighted and thus employer as well as potential job seekers, graduates
will also be beneficial.

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1.2 Scope of the Research

The factors that work behind a business graduate’s career choice can be a great area to conduct a
research. Many scholars and academicians have been motivated to work in this field and
provided us with some valuable studies. But in Bangladeshi perspective has not been widely
covered. A few amounts of studies can be found that deals with the factors of career choice for
south asian business graduates. But researches focused mainly on Bangladeshi business
graduates and the factors influencing their career choice has not been conquered extensively. So
a study focusing on the factors that influence career choice of Bangladeshi business graduates
can be conducted. The overall scenario of the business graduates of Bangladesh can be mostly
reflected by University students. Therefore, the factors that have an impact on the career
selection process of the business graduate university students have been taken as a field for this
research.

1.3 Rationale of the Study

Several factors motivated the current study. In what extent these students can fulfill the
expectation largely depends on their choice of career. So, an empirical research is needed to
identifying the underlying factors which affect the career choice of Bangladeshi business
graduate. This need hope to be fulfilled in some extent by this research because it will attempt to
find out career preferences of them. It will also meet the need of upholding the actual picture of
career preferences by the university business students.

1.4 Main Research Question

What factors affect the career choice of business graduate in Bangladesh?

1.4.1 Sub Research Question

 What is the level of family influence on career choice?

 What is the impact of gender on career choices?
 What is the level of peer influence on business graduates’ career choices?
 What strategies can be used to assist business graduate in making appropriate career
choices?

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1.5 Research Objectives

The purpose of this study is to find the career choice business graduates universities in
Bangladesh and to identify the major factors influencing the career preference. For this purpose,
the focus has been on;

 To investigate the BBA graduates selecting their career for livelihood

 To investigate the level of family influence on career choice
 To determine the impact of gender on career choices;
 To find out whether peers have influence on students’ career choices;
 To find out the motivating factors that prompt them to accept a job in an organization and
 To develop strategies that may be used to assist students in making appropriate career
choices.

1.6 Significance of the Study

The study may help the universities to develop or improve the quality of career guidance and
counseling they give to their students by taking into consideration factors that influence the
choice of career. Teachers may be made aware of the importance of career guidance and
career guidance counselors stand to benefit from this study as it highlights factors that
influence students’ career choices. The study may also help national planners to make
informed decisions with regard to career guidance and counseling. The study may also be
used as baseline study to encourage other scholars to carry out similar studies in other
provinces in Bangladesh and also in other south asian countries.

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 CHAPTER-2
LITERATURE REVIEW

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2.1 Literature Review

The word career has been originated from French and Latin language. It is defined by Geçikli
(2002) as the professional, marketable or business activity that an individual may adopt during
his or her study life or till the death. A career is also a blueprint of job of a individual’s life
(Latif, Aziz, & Ahmed, 2016).

Academicians have worked with internal factors including personal interests, attitude, education,
family background; external factors including market, job opportunities, salary, career
advancement etc. and how all these impacted the choice of career (Felton, et al., 1994; Paolillo &
Estes, 1992). Graduates’ emotional intelligence, communication skills, adaptation power directly
influence them to choose career (Ketter, 2011).Worldwide business graduates are largely
affected by the job attributes like job descriptions, work environment, compensation and security
packages offered by the organizations (Moy & Lee, 2002). Ngesi (2003) in his study stated that,
graduates from poor socio-economic background chose that career where less training are
required and duration of training is also short. Financial conditions of the family, social class,
affordability and employability in a particular industry further influence the graduates to select
their career choices (Ahmed, Sharif &Ahmad, 2017). Several studies also found that career
preferences are determined by various motives and the most important motive influencing the
career decision are financial success and high income (Carter, 2003). As career selection is not
only a challenge but also a great dilemma for the graduates, thus skills, life conditions, academic
achievements are playing major role to choose right career (Ferry, 2006). The results of different
studies indicated that parents’ profession, their knowledge and income level on various
professional areas, the norms, beliefs, information about modern occupations, spotlight to local
and international job market, and the skills they acquire can affect children of their career
selection (Saleem et al., 2014).

To serve the rapid expanding and new changing economy of Bangladesh, organizations are
desperate to attract and retain skilled, motivated and of course diversified work force in their
work premises (Morrison & Von Glinow, 1990). As business organizations are expanding in
rapid rate and thus business graduates’ services are required more than earlier, organization
should address these graduates’ preferences, expectations, and experiences. In addition,

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downsizing, rightsizing, horizontal structure of the organization, these factors also influence all
major stakeholders towards career preferences (Fallows and Steven, 2000).

In some cases it is evident that gender is playing major role while selecting career by the
business graduates (Browne 1997). Interestingly it is observed that higher financial benefits
attracts men to accept job offer where women are influenced by social security, values, utility
(Sax, 1994).

At present in Bangladesh the fastest growing sectors are the financial, information technology
and telecommunication where most business graduates are getting jobs and at the same time
graduates also prefer these industries (Khaled Shams Chishty, Munir Uddin and kumar ghosh,
2007). Again, these business graduates consider their major academic orientation, gender, and
personality to determine whether to join local organizations or MNCs (Huang & Sverke, 2007).

A large number of studies have been conducted addressing career choice or intention from the
perspective of eastern and western part of the world, business or nonbusiness students, student’s
or employers’ perceptions. There is a void in the literature relating to business student’s career
preference in the context of Bangladesh, incorporating all types of job fields namely;
entrepreneurship, all private and public job areas. Moreover the decision of business graduates’
choice for a business major during their graduation, which is indicating their future career path,
are also almost absent.

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 CHAPTER-3
Research Methodology

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3.1 Research Design

This research design focuses on a quantitative research. This design will be employed because
researchers can collect all the responses from the respondents and resolved within a reasonable
time and it is cost-efficient .This study also is a cross-sectional study whereby data will be
collected and analyzed at one point of time only. Cross-sectional study is less biased and more
accurate. A survey will be used as the main research design because it gives better picture of
respondents’ attitudes.

3.2 Source of Data

Primary data source will be used for data collection through self-administered structured
questionnaires. The information will be taken from the questionnaire that will distribute to the
respondents through online.

3.3 Unit of Analysis

This research will investigate various factors that affect students’ career choice of business
graduate in Bangladesh. Therefore, the research will be conducted on the undergraduate final
year business students who will the unit of analysis.

3.4 Population Frame

In this study, population will involve undergraduate BBA final year business students in all
university (132) of Bangladesh including both public & private. This study will be conducted
only in online because of corona pandemic and cost saving.

3.5 Sampling Technique

Stratified sampling is the method which will used in this research. Because data will be collected
randomly among the BBA final year students from each university. Stratified sampling involves
in probability sampling.

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3.6 Sample Size

The survey will be conducted to analyze and measure the factors which can affect the career
choice of graduates in Bangladesh. The sample size of these survey (132x4) 528 business
students who are studying in Honor’s 4th years and above will be preferred as respondents.

3.7 Instruments

The Questionnaire will be adopted from previous studies. According to Cavanna and Trimble
(2006), a scale of five-point is an appropriate one and the increment from five to seven-points or
even nine-points on a rating scale may not enhance the reliability of the rating. The Likert scale
will be used as Strongly Disagree = “1”, Disagree = “2”, Neutral = “3”, Agree = “4” and
Strongly Agree = “5”.

3.8 Data Analysis Technique

The software will use in this study for analyzing data will Statistical Package for Social Science
version 22.0. The descriptive analysis will be used to make things easier of larger data in the
rational manner. The mean, standard deviation, percentage, and frequency will be calculated
from collected data. The results helped the researcher to recognize the personality of the
respondent thoroughly. Inferential analysis will be used because it will not possible to access the
entire population. The judgment, prediction, or inference will be made about this population to
generalize the sample characteristics.

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