Factors affecting career choice of the female students in Kenyan Tertiary Institutions: a case of United States International University (USIU-AFRICA)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish factors influencing career choices among female students in tertiary institutions in Kenya. The study was guided by the following research objectives: to establish academic factors that influence career choices of female students in USIU, to determine socio-cultural factors that influence career choices among female students, to establish economic factors that influence career choices among female students and to establish the influence of individual characters on career choices among female students in USIU. Cross-sectional research design was used for the study. The population for the study was students at USIU. There are a total of 2743 female students in the institution out of which 623 were final year students. The study targeted final year female students in the institution. A total of 100 students were sampled for the study out of which 90 responded giving a response rate of 90%. Both purposive and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample the respondents for the study. Questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the quantitative data. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies and percentages were used to describe the data. The analyzed data was presented in form of tables. The study found that academic factors influences career choices among students as indicated by 90% of the respondents. On the influence of socio-cultural factors on career choice, the study found that 87% of the respondents indicated that socio-cultural factors influences career choices among students in USIU. The study also found that 91 % of the respondents indicated that economic factors influences career choices among students. The study finally found that 84% of the respondents indicated that the individual characteristics influence career choices among female students in USIU. The study concluded that academic factors, socio-cultural factors, economic factors and students' characteristics influences career choices among female students in USIU. The study recommended that career guidance and counseling in Universities should be heightened to enable students to make sound career choices instead of leaving them at the mercies of other factors which may not be appropriate. The researcher recommended that another study be carried out in other universities to determine the challenges facing students in choosing their careers.