Effect of parental influence, personality and personal interest on the choice of career among university students

This study was conducted to examine the effect of parental influence, personality and personal interest in the choice of career among university students. A total of 357 students from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) participated in this study. The data collected were processed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS ver.20). Data was collected using questionnaires. Statistical techniques such as Descriptive, Pearson Correlation and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to find answers to the research questions. The results showed that the career choices have a significant
and positive relationship with parental influence. For the dimensions of personality, namely extraversion and neuroticism have significant relationship with career choices. While the other personality dimensions such as agreeableness,
conscientiousness and openness were not related to career choices. For personal interest factor, realistic, investigative and conventional have relationship with the career choice. Whereas, artistic, social, and enterprising have no relationship with the career choice. Limitations of the study, suggestion for the future study, theoretical and practical implications were also discussed in the study