CAREER CHOICE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BY STUDENTS IN TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET) INSTITUTIONS IN WESTERN KENYA

Abstract

Career selection is one of many important decisions students make in determining their future professional plans. However, experts say that in many cases students fail to respond to labour market needs due to mismatch in career selection. Scholars have given less attention to factors that influence career selections in information technology by students in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutions in Kenya. The general objective of this study was to assess career selection in information technology by students in technical vocational education and training (TVET) institutions in western Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives; to determine the influence that personality has in selecting career by students in information technology in TVET in Western Kenya, establish influence of opportunity factors on selecting career by students in information technology in TVET in Western Kenya and find out the influence environment has in selecting career by students in information technology in TVET in Western Kenya. The study was informed by the Holland theory. The study used a descriptive survey design. The study targeted 5 principals 5 deputy principals in charge of academics and 1220 students drawn from five registered TVET institutions in the selected institutions in Western Kenya. Simple random sampling procedure using the lottery technique was used to pick the sample size of 291 students in every stratum. The study then used purposive sampling to select 5 principals and 5 deputy principals in charge of academics. To achieve the objectives of the study, structured questionnaires and interviews were used to collect information from the respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis of the collected data. The study established the respondents’ gender and that most were male, (206) 77.8% and of aged between 21 – 24 years. In terms of higher academic level of respondents, (185) 68.1% of the respondents had KCSE level of education. The study revealed that personality factors has a beta value of β1 = -0.337, p-value = 0.004 indicating that it has a negative and significant effect on the career choice. Furthermore, opportunities factors had a beta value of β2 = -0.969, p-value = 0. Since the p value is less than < 0.05), opportunities factors has a significant effect on career choice. This means that students are limited to a certain career choice by the grades they scored or by what they are schooling. To sum up, environmental factors had a beta value of β1 = -0.925, p-value = 0.000.Therefore, students’ support system made up of parents, teachers, counselors and friends have a great influence in career choice. Based on the study findings, personality plays a crucial role in choosing of the right career. As such, students are more likely to choose a career that is in line with their career type. However, for student to choose a specific career, there are a number of factors that come into play that includes personality, opportunity and environmental.