Analyzing Factors Influencing Teaching as a Career Choice Using Structural Equation Modeling

• Main Authors: Budhinath Padhy, Kenneth Emo, Gemechis Djira, Amit Deokar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2015-02-01
• Series: SAGE Open
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015570393

The purpose of the study is to analyze factors influencing students’ perceptions of teaching as a career choice using structural equation modeling with the goal of shaping a teacher education recruitment program. In this study, 458 students from a Midwestern university in the United States responded to an online survey about career-related factors they value , their expectation that teaching would offer those factors, and any social-influence factors that might encourage them to choose a teaching career. The effect of 10 exogenous motivation variables (value-environment, value-intrinsic, value-extrinsic, value-altruistic, expectancy-environment, expectancy-intrinsic, expectancy-extrinsic, social-media-education, social-prior-experience, and social-suggestions) on choosing a teaching career was examined. Results of our analysis showed that the factors related to expectancy-environment, expectancy-intrinsic, social-media-education, social-prior-experience, and social-suggestions were found to be significant, whereas value-related factors and expectancy-extrinsic factors were found to be insignificant.