Envisioning Life After College: Constructing College Students’ Expectations of the Work World

This research study will examine the topic of college students’ expectations of the work world and professional life following gradation. Specifically, this study will answer three research questions(RQ1): What resources do college students use in order to construct and maintain their expectations about work and the work world? (RQ2) What expectations do college students have about life following college? And (RQ3) What messages do institutional organizations within universities deliver to students about the work world? This study will be conducted at a small, private university using three participant interviews conducted with graduating seniors and two workshop observations at on-campus Career Center. The findings of this research suggest college students have prominent expectations of uncertainty and mobility upon graduating and create and maintain lifestyle expectations through the use of peers while using organizational resources as tools for accessing the work world. Additionally, this particular private university focused on institutional messages of professionalism, employment and networking as critical to life in the work world. In conclusion, this study suggests that high levels of uncertainty among college graduates may be minimalized by increased prior exposure to the work world through networking and internships. Therefore future research should examine whether or not universities are adequately stressing the importance of internships and networking and preparing students to engage with these experiences. Furthermore, future research should also examine the willingness of the student to take initiative in pursuing applicable work experience prior to graduation. Constructing College Students’ Expectations of the Work World 3 Rationale This research study examines the topic of college students’ expectations of work and the work-world following graduation. This research looked at the organizational places where college students construct their expectations about life and work after graduation. In a recent article by Forbes, College Graduates’ Expectations are Out of Line with Reality Says Study, Susan Adams cites a new poll by consulting firm Accenture that reveals a discrepancy between graduating seniors’ expectations of the work world and experiences of recent graduates who are in the workforce (Adams, 2013). Gaps arose in terms of salary expectations, on the job training, pending plans to earn a graduate degree for career advancement, whether or not one will live at home following graduation, the likelihood of internships leading to employment, and overall employment rates for recent graduates (Adams, 2013). Ultimately, these gaps between expectations and reality for nearing college graduates indicate an overestimation of what life will be like after college (Adams, 2013). These expectations will significantly impact the ways in which students prepare for professional life as well as their performance and satisfaction with their first encounters in the work world. Expectations are further significant in that they carry emotional consequences. In the article “Adolescence and Expectations about College Graduation”, Pickhardt explains what expectations are and how they can impact a person psychologically. He states, “Expectations are mental constructs we create to anticipate our way through life, through change (from old to new) and through time (from present to future). For everyone, choice of expectations in life psychologically matters because these mental sets can have such powerful emotional consequences. Thus recent college graduates who choose to hold unrealistic positive expectations about their immediate prospects in life usually do so to their unhappy cost. ” (Pickhardt, 2011, p. 1). Graduates can expect to experience a higher level of happiness and fulfillment when their expectations are closer in line with their likely reality (Pickhardt, 2011, p.1). Therefore, it is Constructing College Students’ Expectations of the Work World 4 theoretically important to examine the expectations of college graduates in light of their associated implications on happiness. In addition to the psychological importance of assessing college students’ expectations of the work world, it is important to consider to the communication related dimensions of expectations. As understood through the Expectancy Value Model that will be discussed in greater detail throughout the theoretical framework section of this research paper, dimensions such as behavior, behavioral intentions and attitudes are impacted by an individual’s expectations ("Expectancy value model", (n.d.)). When examined through the lens of the Expectancy Value Model, student expectations for the work world will be derived from their personal beliefs and values. These values will be the drivers of sought experiences which will further influence future behavior, expectations and goals for life after college. Thus, these communication dimensions of values, beliefs, behaviors and goals will be crucial in beginning to understand how students construct expectations for life after graduation. There are also many practical reasons to examine this research. When viewed as an investment, college students, parents, faculty, staff and donors alike put a large investment into the success of the student. Perhaps the greatest institutional function of universities is to prepare its students for “the real world”. Therefore a measure of success for any given institution should be whether or not its students are prepared for their new reality in terms of skills, intellectual ability and expectations. With the added implications that realistic expectations have on the psychological health of the graduating student, it is increasingly important that universities play an active role in the construction process of students’ expectations for life in the work world. Therefore, one aspect of this study will look specifically at the organizational messages being Constructing College Students’ Expectations of the Work World 5 delivered to students by institutional resources around the subject of what the work world will be like for graduates. It is also important to consider these organizational messages in light of current conversations being held around the success, or lack thereof, of universities and their ability to adequately prepare graduates for the work world. The article, “Poll Shows Business Leaders Think Graduates are Unprepared for Job Experience”, by Cynthia Benson of the Arkansas Traveler reported that the Gallup Poll found that universities are failing to produce graduates with the skills and competencies that business professionals are seeking (Benson, 2014). The study found that of the 600 business leaders interviewed for the Gallup Poll, only one third believed that universities were producing competent and prepared business graduates (Benson, 2014). Thus, it is important to investigate the organizational places that assist in preparing students for the work world and play a part in crafting student expectations for life following graduation. Theoretical Framework Uncertainty Reduction Theory and the Expectancy-Value Model, which is linked to Uses and Gratification Theory, will guide this research. Uncertainty reduction theory (UTR) was originated by Berger and Calabrese in 1975 on the premise that people engage in communication to reduce the feelings of uneasiness that are brought about by uncertainty (Berger & Bradac, 1982). Berger identifies three stages and three strategies through which people enact uncertainty reduction. While his theory focused on the interpersonal characteristics of uncertainty reduction, his theory can also be applied in an organizational context. Organizationally, this study will examine how students use institutional resources as a means of reducing uncertainty when Constructing College Students’ Expectations of the Work World 6 entering the work world. The first phase of uncertainty reduction is the entry phase (“Uncertainty Reduction Theory”, (n.d.)). This phase is the information-seeking phase wherein communication is guided by rules and norms. The second phase is the personal phase. In this phase, the individual gathers information about another’s attitudes, values and beliefs. The third phase is the exit phase. In this phase the communicator decides on future interaction plans with the individual (or organization) in question. Berger then identifies three strategies through which an individual can engage in uncertainty reduction: passive strategies, active strategies or interactive strategies (“Uncertainty Reduction Theory”, (n.d.)). Adopting a passive strategy refers to using observation as a means of reducing uncertainty. Active strategies involve asking others questions about the person or organization of which one is uncertain and setting up observation opportunities. Finally, interactive strategies utilize communicating directly with the person or organization that one is uncertain about. Uncertainty reduction theory is applicable to the research of where and how college students construct post-graduation expectations because uncertainty is embedded in this transitional process. Therefore, examining how college students express uncertainty and how they reduce their uncertainty about the workforce has the potential to better understand how students construct their expectations. The Expectancy Value Model was founded by Martin Fishbein in the 1970s ("Expectancy value model", (n.d.)). The core assumption of the expectancy value model asserts that, “behavior is a function of the expectancies one has and the value of the goal toward which one is working. ” ("Expectancy value model”, (n.d.)). The theory also states that, “people orient themselves to the world according to their expectations (beliefs) and evaluations” ("Expectancy value model", (n.d.)). Expectations play a central role in this theory thereby connecting it to thi