Investigating engineering undergraduates' agentic and communal career values in writing responses

Abstract

Background

A perceived fit between personal values and what a career offers is critical for college students pursuing and persisting in that career.

Purpose/Hypothesis(es)

We, therefore, investigated the career values of engineering undergraduates through language in two different studies. Study 1 (N = 35) examined students' written postgraduation plans for agentic and communal career value themes. Drawing on Study 1 themes, Study 2 (N = 918) examined the association of achievement-related and interpersonal word categories in written narratives to surveyed career values.

Design/Method

In Study 1, inductive and deductive approaches were used to identify agentic and communal career values. In Study 2, regressions were conducted using achievement-related and interpersonal words as outcomes.

Results

Study 1 found agentic and communal value themes. Agentic value themes included career, personal development, and financial gains. Communal value themes included helping others and being family-oriented. Results from Study 2 showed that students' language use in the discussion of their careers was associated with surveyed career values.

Conclusion

Although engineering students hold more agentic than communal values, they hold both career values, which may have implications for supporting students from diverse backgrounds.