Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Student career decision-making has attracted research attention in the last two
decades especially when it comes to choosing tertiary education. Exploring current experiences
that influence undergraduate students in career decision making is seen as critical to informing
career counselling practice and/or intervention. Such initiatives are seen to benefit academic
institutions and academic advisors.
OBJECTIVES: This study explored both individual and systemic influences through gauging the
experiences of a sample of undergraduate students.
METHOD: Utilising a qualitative design and a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the
research aimed to contribute to explore trends influencing career decision making of students
in higher education, through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysing interview
transcripts. The interview questions were explored in relation to the ecological systems
framework.
RESULTS: The study identified both internal and external factors (themes) influencing the
decision-making process of students in higher education. The application of an ecological
systems approach was found to be best aligned to understanding this phenomenon in practice.
CONCLUSION: Making a career decision can be a challenging task and individuals often face
many difficulties prior to or during this process. Factors identified were located at both the
individual level and systemic level of influences and highlighted the significance of ecological
models to design intervention.
CONTRIBUTION: The role of different factors that influence young people’s career decision
making in developing contexts such as South Africa, contributed to knowledge on informed
approaches in career decision making to support career counsellors and academics in designing
appropriate career counselling intervention to address contemporary realities.
