This paper reports on a comprehensive review of international evidence, synthesising the findings of some of the strongest empirical work on the main factors influencing people's decisions to be teachers or not. Four search engines, including Google and Google Scholar and five electronic databases identified 517 studies of which 212 were included…

This research aims to explore the factors influencing college students' aspirations for careers in public service. More specifically, we examine how gender impacts public service sector preference, in terms of policy advocacy, government positions, and crime and policing as well as their likelihood to apply for such careers. Given a breadth of…

With the world's population aging, geriatric care is more important than ever before. However, many studies have shown that nursing students are less likely to choose geriatric nursing as career than other nursing fields. Nursing students play a vital role in the development of geriatric nursing. Thus, this study aimed to explore the current…

Despite the strong, global demand for talented workers, higher than average salaries, and relatively low education requirements (bachelor's degree) for computing fields such as cybersecurity, there continues to be a pipeline issue with graduating enough workers educated in cybersecurity to fill the demand in the United States and globally…

Information Systems education has been concerned with student recruitment and diversity. We asked 123 students in an introductory course why they had chosen the Information Technology field. The course provided an opportunity to inquire the motivation of a diverse set of students as the course is open to anyone. We wanted to learn about our…

This study examines factors that influence high school students' willingness to consider teaching as a career. Using predictive modeling, we identified five factors that are highly predictive of a students' willingness to consider teaching and their belief that teaching is their best career option. Results indicated that high school students were…

Grounded in Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study contributes to empirical efforts to understand factors affecting the career-development process of American youth by focusing on change in occupational expectations between age 16 and 26. The study is based on the secondary analysis of longitudinal data from the Education Longitudinal…

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing teaching profession choices of pedagogical formation trainees. Survey model was used in the study in which quantitative and qualitative data were collected, aiming to describe any situation as either are in the past or present. The study group of the research consists of 420 teacher candidates…

To remedy the disparity between sexes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, it is important to understand the factors critical to initiating and maintaining STEM interest. To this end, we created and administered a survey to almost 8,000 individuals in and outside of STEM fields. Our results shed light on the various…

The Muslim population in the United States has faced numerous challenges in the aftermath of September 11th, including increased negative portrayal of Muslims in the media. While there is increased understanding that the social environment in the US has become more Islamophobic, there is little research in applied psychology fields to understand…

This study investigated female students who attended a STEM course with the Arts (STEAM) in comparison to a traditional STEM course and the impact it had on desire to pursue a STEM degree. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare female to male students' interest in pursuing STEM degrees. In addition, follow up data for registration…

Within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers fields, the representation of women remains at an inequitable level when compared to men and to women's representation in other professions. Given the current state of women representing 52% of the professional and management-related workforce (U.S. Bureau of Labor and…

Many surveys and interviews have elicited male practitioners' views about gender balance in the early childhood education and care workforce, and few have explored in depth the context to such work choices, whether economic, cultural, social or personal. A life history approach was employed to provide a retrospective account by six early childhood…

Based on questionnaire survey data of recent PhD graduates, a quantitative analysis of the occupational orientation of Chinese PhD students engaged in academic research and the influencing factors is performed. The results show that factors such as gender, academic interest, and family background have a significant impact on PhD students' academic…

Despite the efforts of researchers and national science organizations to recruit more women and minorities into the science and engineering workforce, these fields are still largely dominated by White males. Research suggests that children's mental prototypes of the scientist include a variety of negative and stereotypical features that may…