Career-Decisions, Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem among Students of Private and Government Academic Institutions

Rosenberg (1965) and other social-learning theorists define selfesteem in terms of the presence of a continued sense of personal worth or worthiness. The definition is commonly used for research purposes, however it contains complications of boundary-definition, making it difficult to separate self-esteem from factrs such as as narcissism and self-importance (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). The term self-efficacy is linked to the level of confidence that a person has according to his abilities to perform an action(Bandura, 1997). However, self-esteem refers to the overall evaluation of oneself (Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996). Self-efficacy helps individuals to have self-confidence, so that they could execute their actions efficiently. A person's self-efficacy aids him to find out solutions to his/her problems (King, et al.2010). Making a decision for career is a very difficult process and a lot of attention is required to accomplish it. However, a number of people can take such decisions very easily, but many people also face problems. These problems and difficulties create hazards in decision making due to which a person is unable to make the right decision (Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996). Decisions about making career are extremely important for a person's life as they are related to health and finance. In making career related decisions, a person has to accept his/her capabilities, wellbeing, talent, and values to form a significant frame for life (Walsh & Osipow, 1988). Researches have been conducted focusing on gender differences in self-esteem, efficacy and career decision making. Patton, Bartrum and Creed (2004) found that men's self-esteem affected thier career prospects, sequentially predicting their prospective career goals, planning and exploration. For women, the career pathway identified was dissimilar to that of men. Women's career goals were directly affected by levels of optimism which in turn predicted career planning and exploration. The results indicated that Self-esteem projected an individual's career expectations, which then directly impacted their career planning and exploration, bypassing career goals. Furthermore, Resnick, Fauble, & Osipow (1970) found that men who had high levels of self-esteem showed greater certainty regarding their career choices when compared with men who displayed low levels of self-esteem. Similarly, women having high self-esteem showed greater certainty about their career plans than women with low self-esteem (Resnick, Fauble, & Osipow, 1970). Researches have revealed relationship between self-esteem, selfefficacy and career decision making. Betz, Klein, and Taylor (1996) indicated significant correlation between students' career decision self-efficacy and career decision making. Lent, Brown, Kevin and Larkin (1986) indicated that self-efficacy contributed significant unique variance to the prediction of perceived career options in technical/scientific fields.Kishor (1981) investigated the relationship between self-esteem and locus of control orientation in career decision making in 224 adolescents from schools in Suva City. Correlational analysis showed that self-esteem and locus of control had significant relationship with decisional status, and the latter accounted for greater varianceLevy and Baumgardner (1991) stated that individuals who have a high level of self-esteem are more likely to choose challenging goals when compared with individuals who had low levels of selfesteem. It was also found that male participants chose more difficult goals than did the females. The results indicate that self-esteem affects goal choice. Interestingly previous studies have been supporting benefits of government sector (Iqbal, 2012). To sum up, self-esteem and self-efficacy have a relationship with career decision making difficulties. Furthermore, gender differences have also been found in this relationship.Career decision-making is an important and useful phenomenon that needs be addressed in Pakistan. …