Journal of Career Assessment

Volume 17 Number 3
August 2009 338-347
© 2009 Sage Publications
10.1177/1069072708330678
The Effectiveness of a Career http://jca.sagepub.com
hosted at

Decision-Making Course http://online.sagepub.com

Nadya Fouad
Elizabeth W. Cotter
Neeta Kantamneni
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

This study examined the effectiveness of a college career course designed to increase career
decision-making confidence and facilitate career exploration. Participants were 73 students from
a large Midwestern university (65.6% women, 34.4% men, mean age 18.56). Students were
given questionnaires assessing career decision-making difficulties, career decision-making self-
efficacy, and perception of career and educational barriers during the first and fifteenth weeks of
the course. Repeated measures analyses were conducted to examine possible differences in stu-
dents’ responses before and after the course. Results indicated that on completion of the course
students’ career decision-making difficulties decreased, career self-efficacy increased, and per-
ceptions of barriers did not change.

Keywords:   career barriers; career decision-making; career interventions; self-efficacy

A n important developmental task of adolescence is to begin the process of making career

decisions. For example, college students must decide what major field of study to
select and what occupation they wish to pursue. College administrators have long realized
that students have difficulties making career decisions. If these difficulties are not addressed,
college students may make less than optimal career and academic choices, which can have
significant implications for their future. By the same token, if students flounder in their deci-
sions, they may not stay and succeed in college. This study examined the effectiveness of a
college career course designed to promote career exploration and increase career decision-
making confidence.

Career Decision-Making
Career indecision may stem from a variety of sources (Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996).
Gati et al. propose three main sources of career indecision: lack of readiness, lack of
information, and inconsistent information. Gati et al.’s model is based on decision-making
theory, which posits that “an individual observes a problem, explained as a gap between
the current situation and the expected outcome, and explores possible alternatives”
(Lancaster, Rudolph, Perkins, & Patten, 1999, p. 395). This model has played an important
role in the understanding of the career decision-making process (e.g., Brown, 1990;
Gati, 1986; Gati & Saka, 2001; Phillips, 1997). According to this theory, the best decision
can be considered the one that helps individuals achieve their goals. Therefore, individuals

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 Fouad et al. / The Effectiveness of a Career Course    339

who have difficulties making career decisions may have unclear goals, little knowledge about
possible alternative choices, poor motivation to make a choice, or may be indecisive.
Career exploration is especially effective in helping young adults make career decisions
(Blustein, 1997; Savickas, 2005; Super, 1957). Career exploration can be defined as those
activities directed toward enhancing information about the self and the environment to
assist in career decision-making and development (Blustein, 1989a; Taviera, Silva, &
Rodriquez, 1998). Career exploration is especially important during late adolescence as it
fosters the growth in self-awareness and occupational knowledge needed to commit to a
vocational choice (Blustein, 1989b). In addition, exploration early in one’s development
has been linked to increased likelihood of seeking out information in later stages of career
development (Jordaan & Heyde, 1979).
Career self-efficacy is the extent to which people believe they can complete certain career-
related tasks in a competent manner (Betz & Voyten, 1997). Lack of confidence in decision-
making has been linked to indecision. Career exploration tasks have been shown to increase
career decision-making self-efficacy. Self-efficacy can be modified by the following four
informational sources: personal performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, verbal
persuasion, and emotional arousal (Bandura, 1997). Lopez and Lent (1992) demonstrated that
performance accomplishments are the strongest contributor to self-efficacy.
Social-contextual variables also have an influence on college students’ career decision
making. Recent research suggests that college students perceive a substantial number of
barriers to their career goals (Luzzo, 1993; Luzzo & McWhirter, 2001; Swanson & Tokar,
1991). Financial concerns, role conflicts, and family influences are some examples of
contextual variables that can be perceived as barriers to certain career choices, which therefore
affect individuals’ career decisions (Lent et al., 2003). Luzzo (1996) found a significant
negative relationship between perceived barriers and career decision-making self-efficacy.
Because career decision-making self-efficacy has been linked to adaptive career-related
behaviors and attitudes (Blustein, 1989a), it may be beneficial for career interventions to help
students plan how to cope with perceived barriers.

College Career Courses

Career courses are a commonly used method of providing career interventions, such as career
exploration, to college students. Career courses emerged early in the 20th century as a method
of delivering comprehensive career services to college students. Numerous surveys have meas-
ured their prevalence in the United States. For instance, in a random survey of two colleges from
each of the 50 states, 62% of the respondents reported offering some type of career course
(Mead & Korschgen, 1994). In a larger study, Collins (1998) surveyed the 1,688 members of
the National Association of Colleges and Employers and found that 30% of respondents offered
credit-bearing career courses, whereas 24% offered noncredit-bearing career courses.
Several meta-analyses and reviews have provided insight into the effectiveness of career
courses. Spokane and Oliver (1983), in a meta-analysis of 52 career intervention studies
published between 1950 and 1980, found that the effects of group or class interventions on
career-related outcomes were larger than those of individual counseling and other interven-
tions. Subsequently, on adding more recently published studies to their prior analysis,
Oliver and Spokane (1988) again found that class interventions had the largest effect on

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340    Journal of Career Assessment

career-related outcomes. More recently, Whiston, Sexton, and Lasoff (1998) conducted a
meta-analysis using career intervention studies published between 1983 and 1995. They found
career courses to be the third most effective intervention out of eight possible categories.
Similarly, Folsom and Reardon (2003) found that 34 out of 38 career course studies
reported positive gains in outcomes, such as career decision making.
Brown and Krane (2000) proposed that the effectiveness of career interventions for deci-
sion-making difficulties can be improved by including five components in an intervention:
written exercises, individualized interpretations and feedback, information on the world of
work, modeling, and building support. These components are not only important individually,
but combinations of them result in larger effect sizes than any one by itself. Written exercises
are defined as exercises that encourage clients to record their reflections, thoughts, or feelings
regarding their career development. These exercises tended to be most effective when they
involved the comparing of occupations, followed by activities that engaged clients in future
planning. Individualized interpretation and feedback refers to one-to-one dialogue between the
client and counselor regarding vocational issues and career development. This suggests that
course interventions should include some individualized attention. Occupational information
refers to information about the world of work, such as earnings, work activities, or training
requirements. Modeling refers to exposing clients to individuals who have been successful in
their own career development process. Finally, attention to building support involves securing
support networks that may help an individual as they navigate the career development process.

Present Study
Current literature suggests that the facilitation of exploration, as well as other critical
elements involved in career decision-making, may help young people make better career
decisions. The present study examines the effects of a career course on college students’
career decision-making. Specifically, we explored how a career course focusing on career
exploration affected individuals’ career decision-making difficulties, career decision-making
self-efficacy, and perception of educational and occupational barriers. We began our study
with four hypotheses. First, we predicted that students’ career decision-making difficulties
would decrease after completing the course. Second, we predicted that students’ career
decision-making self-efficacy would increase after completing the course. Third, we
predicted that students’ perceptions of career and education-related barriers would decrease
after the course. Finally, we predicted that students’ commitment levels to both choice of
major and occupation would increase after completing the course.

Method
Participants
Participants were 73 students enrolled in a semester-long career exploration course at a
large Midwestern urban university. 139 participants completed the pretest instrument, and
105 completed the posttest instrument. However, only participants who completed both
instruments were included in the study (n = 73). 49 participants were women (65.6 %)
and 25 participants were men (34.4%). Self-identified racial background was as

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 Fouad et al. / The Effectiveness of a Career Course    341

follows: 61 White/European Americans (83.6%), 6 Black/African Americans (6.8%), 2

Asian American/Pacific Islanders (2.7%), 2 Hispanic or Latinos/Latinas, 2.7% Native
American/American Indians, and 1 Other (1.4%). Participants ranged in age from 18 to
29 years old (M = 18.56, SD = 1.45). 78% of the students self-identified as freshmen,
19% as sophomores, and 3% as seniors. Participation in this study was voluntary; stu-
dents received extra credit for their participation.

Intervention
The career intervention was a course entitled “Foundations of Academic Success:
Planning Your Major and/or Career.” This course was designed to help students choose an
academic major and a future career path. Thirteen separate sections of the course were
taught by three doctoral students from an educational psychology department and supervised
by a member of the university’s career development center. Instructors received formal
training prior to teaching each course. Each course consisted of weekly 50-minute classes
that spanned the 16 week academic semester. Data were collected from a total of 180 students
enrolled in the course during the semester.
Course objectives included the following: (a) Develop an understanding of the career
planning process and how to apply it to career exploration and decision-making; (b) identify
interests, values, and skills, and utilize them in identifying and making career choices; (c)
gain knowledge in how to effectively use a variety of resources to research occupations; (d)
learn the initial steps of marketing oneself to employers by identifying strengths, verbalizing
skills, and writing a resume; and (e) determine a tentative major/career choice and develop
ongoing career planning goals.
The majority of the course consisted of in-class activities and discussion. These clustered
around three different areas: discussions, trainings, and career assessments. Discussions
focused on the following subjects: internal and external factors that influence the career
decision-making and career-planning process, the university’s majors and any associated
myths, the benefits and steps to conducting a successful informational interview, and how to
locate internships, volunteer positions, and part-time jobs. Trainings focused on how to log
into and utilize the resources within the university’s career development Web site, how to
research careers online, and how to use the undergraduate catalog. The following career
assessments were completed during the course: the World of Work Themes report, the
Values Card Sort, a RIASEC Cards Exercise, and the Career and Life Skills Inventory.
In addition, students were asked to complete a number of homework assignments. These
assignments included the following: the completion of a career portfolio, a research report
on academic majors, a paper describing external influences on career development, and a
final paper evaluating career development and defining future goals.

Procedures
Participants were recruited from a semester-long career exploration course at a large
Midwestern urban university. During the first class meeting, students were provided with a
questionnaire packet containing a demographics questionnaire, the Perceptions of Barriers
Scale, the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), and the Career

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342    Journal of Career Assessment

Decision Self-Efficacy Scale–Short Form (CDSE-SF). Completed questionnaire packets

were collected on the second and third course meetings. To collect posttest data, question-
naire packets were again distributed on the fifteenth week of the course and were collected
during the last class meeting.

Measures

Demographics questionnaire. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire that

assessed for age, gender, race/ethnicity, student status, and mother’s and father’s education
level. Questions also assessed for intended major and occupation and commitment to major
and occupation.

Commitment to major and occupation. Students were asked to identify their intended
major and occupation on both the pre- and posttest instruments. Commitment level was
then assessed through a single item for each variable: On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = low, 5 =
high), how committed are you to this major/occupation?

CDDQ. The CDDQ (Gati et al., 1996) is a 44-item measure that assesses career
decision-making difficulties along three dimensions: lack of readiness, lack of information,
and inconsistent information. These three dimensions are further divided into specific dif-
ficulty areas as highlighted in Gati et al.’s (1996) taxonomy of career decision-making
difficulties, for a total of 10 separate difficulty categories. Sample items include the follow-
ing: I find it difficult to make a career decision because I do not know what factors to take
into consideration, and I find it difficult to make a career decision because I do not have
enough information about my abilities (e.g., numerical ability, verbal skills). Participants
responded to items on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (does not describe you) to 5 (describes
you well). Higher scores on the CDDQ are related to higher career decision-making difficul-
ties. For the present sample, Cronbach’s alpha for the total scale was .96. Coefficient alphas
for the subscales were .81 (lack of readiness), .93 (lack of information), and .92 (inconsistent
information). Osipow and Gati (1998) provided evidence for the validity of the CCDQ in
finding a strong positive relationship between the CDDQ and the Career Decision Scale and
a strong negative relationship between the CDDQ and the Career Decision-Making Self-
Efficacy Scale.

CDSE-SF. The CDSE-SF (Betz, Hammond, & Multon, 2005; Betz, Klein, & Taylor,
1996) is a 25-item measure that assesses individuals’ beliefs in completing the necessary
tasks to make successful career decisions. The CDSE-SF is composed of five subscales
related to self-appraisal, gathering occupational information, selecting careers goals, mak-
ing future plans, and problem solving. Participants rate their confidence in completing
career-related tasks on a 5-point scale ranging from no confidence (1) to complete confi-
dence (5). Sample items include the following: Choose a career that will fit your preferred
lifestyle, and choose a major or career that will fit your interests. Higher scores on the
CDSE are related to higher career decision self-efficacy. Betz et al. (1996) have provided
evidence for construct validity of the CDSE-SF in finding a relationship between the

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 Fouad et al. / The Effectiveness of a Career Course    343

CDSE-SF and career indecision. Reliability analyses indicate the internal consistency for
the present sample on the total scale was .95. Coefficient alpha for the subscales were .85
(self-appraisal), .83 (occupational information), .85 (goal selection), .79 (planning), and .72
(problem solving).

Perception of Barriers Scale–Modified Version (POB-MV). The POB-MV (Luzzo &

McWhirter, 2001) is a 32-item measure that assesses for perceptions of educational and
career-related barriers. The POB-MV is comprised of two subscales: Educational Barriers
(21 items) and Career-Related Barriers (11 items). Participants rate their perceptions of
experiencing barriers on a 5-point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly
agree (5). Sample items include the following: In my future career, I will probably experi-
ence having difficulty finding work that allows me to spend time with my family, and lack
of support from teachers is currently a barrier to my educational aspirations. Higher scores
on the POB-MV are related to higher perceptions of barriers. Cronbach’s alpha in the
present sample for the total scale was .92, with respective alpha coefficients of .91 and .90
for the Career-Related and Educational Barriers subscales.

Results
Table 1 includes means, standard deviations, and the correlation matrix of the CDDQ,
CDSE, and POB scales and subscales. Separate repeated measures of analyses were
conducted to investigate each research question, comparing students’ responses in the 2nd
week of the semester with the last week. The first question, assessing perceptions of career
decision-making difficulties, found that—overall—career decision-making difficulties as
measured by the CDDQ significantly decreased, F(1, 54) = 7.11, p = .01, η2 = .12. When
specific subscales of the CDDQ were examined, using an adjusted alpha level of .01, we
found that lack of information significantly decreased, F(1, 63) = 13.95, p = .01, η2 = .18,
whereas lack of readiness, F(1, 63) = 4.69, p = .03, η2 = .07, and inconsistent information,
F(1, 63) = 0.02, p = .888, η2 < .01, did not significantly decrease after the career intervention.
Our second research question focused on career decision-making self-efficacy. It was
found that, overall, career decision-making self-efficacy as measured by the CDSE-SF
significantly increased after the career exploration course, F(1, 54) = 17.47, p < .001, η2 =
.24. When specific subscales of the CDSE-SF were examined, using an adjusted alpha
level of .01, self-appraisal, F(1, 64) = 11.21, p = .001, η2 = .15; occupational informa-
tion, F(1, 64) = 16.49, p < .001, η2 = .21; goal selection, F(1, 64) = 18.42, p < .001, η2 = .23;
and problem solving, F(1, 64) = 8.64, p = .005, η2= .12, were significantly increased after the
career intervention. Planning was also significantly increased, F(1, 64) = 7.68, p = .007, η2 = .11.
Our third question focused on perceptions of barriers. Overall, scores on the POB did not
significantly change after the career exploration course, F(1, 54) = 0.62, p = .437, η2 = .01.
Our final question focused on whether the course influenced students’ commitment to
major and future occupational choice. Participants’ commitment to major, F(1, 61) = 1.61,
p = .208, η2 = .03, and occupations, F(1, 61) = 2.05, p = .16, η2= .03, did not significantly
change after the career exploration course.

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344    Journal of Career Assessment

Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Coefficients Among Scales
Pre-CDDQ Pre-CDSE Pre-POB Post-CDDQ Post-CDSE Post-POB

Pre-CDDQ M = 2.95 —
SD = 0.68
Pre-CDSE M = 120.47 r = –.40* —
SD = 15.97 p < .01
Pre-POB M = 3.32 r = –.23 r = .40* —
SD = 0.56 p = .062 p < .01
Post-CDDQ M = 2.72 r = .42* r = –.19 r = –.34* —
SD = 0.71 p < .01 p = .12 p < .01
Post-CDSE M = 122.92 r = –.22 r = .46* r = .42* r = –.35* —
SD = 18.89 p = .09 p < .01 p < .01 p = .01
Post-POB M = 3.61 r = .28* r = .31* r = .46* r = –.27* r = .36* —
SD = .67 p = .03 p =.01 p < .01 p = .03 p < .01

Note: CDDQ = Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire, CDSE = career decision-making self-efficacy,
POB = perceptions of barriers.
*p < .05.

Discussion
The purpose of this study was to examine how a college career course influences col-
lege students’ career decision-making. We hypothesized that on completion of the course,
students would have less difficulty making career decisions, would have greater self-effi-
cacy in the domain of career decision making, and would have decreased perceptions of
educational and occupational barriers. We found that, overall, career decision-making dif-
ficulties did significantly decrease. Aspects of the course that may have led to this increase
include the career assessments—which aimed to clarify interests—values, and skills, as
well as the tasks encouraging students to research various careers and majors. This is in
accordance with prior research linking career exploration to enhanced career decision mak-
ing in young people (e.g., Blustein, 1989a). Our second hypothesis was also supported:
overall, students’ career decision-making self-efficacy significantly increased. This finding
can be explained through Bandura’s (1997) social cognitive theory, which posits that self-
efficacy can be modified through personal performance accomplishments, vicarious learn-
ing, verbal persuasion, and somatic and emotional responses. The career course utilized
these four sources of influence to increase students’ self-efficacy. For instance, the students
were given numerous assignments throughout the course that fostered career-related per-
formance accomplishments, such as conducting an informational interview and creating a
marketable resume.
We did not find support for our third hypothesis. Students’ overall perception of educational
and occupational barriers did not significantly decrease. This result contradicts the sugges-
tions of previous researchers (e.g., Albert & Luzzo, 1999) who proposed that an individual’s
perceptions of career barriers will decrease as they build career self-efficacy. Although not
all of our hypotheses were confirmed, our study in its entirety supports the work of several
substantial reviews (Brown & Krane, 2000; Folsom & Reardon, 2003), as well as

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 Fouad et al. / The Effectiveness of a Career Course    345

meta-analyses (Oliver & Spokane, 1988; Whiston et al., 1998), that have deemed career
courses as effective career interventions.
A primary strength of this study is that it is an addition to the career intervention research
base. Interest in empirically supported treatments in psychology has increased; therefore,
more outcome research in the field of vocational psychology is needed (Whiston, 2002).
Outcome studies such as this one provide empirical support for the effectiveness of career
interventions, specifically career exploration courses. The use and effectiveness of career
courses in providing interventions to college students is of particular importance due to the
underutilization of career services on college campuses. Fouad et al. (2006) examined the
need, awareness, and use of career services on a large Midwestern campus and found that
a majority of students indicated difficulties with career decisions; yet, only half were aware
of the career services available on campus. More surprisingly, a much smaller percentage
of the surveyed students had actually used those services. Considering that career courses
are often targeted to incoming freshmen to aid in career and major choices, these courses
can highlight the importance of obtaining career counseling and services when faced with
career and major difficulties. Furthermore, they can educate students on the career services
available to them as well as normalize the experience of obtaining career guidance for
academic and career concerns.
This study and its findings had several limitations. First, the class consisted of primarily
freshman, a group who may generally be less ready to commit to a major or occupation
than more advanced college students. Perhaps, students’ commitment levels to major and
occupation would have increased had the class consisted of students from all four undergraduate
years. Further research should examine career courses that have more even enrollment between
the four grade levels. A second limitation was that because of the extensiveness of the
course objectives, some topics may not have been covered as thoroughly as others. For
example, it is possible that the course did not cover barriers as in-depth as was originally
planned. A third limitation is that the current study did not use a control group, and we
cannot be sure that the intervention was solely responsible for the changes in career decision-
making self-efficacy and career decision-making difficulties. By employing a quasiexperi-
mental design, future researchers may better examine the effectiveness of the course by
comparing it to another course unrelated to career exploration. A final limitation is that the
sample size was significantly reduced because many of the participants failed to complete
both the pre- and postsurvey, making our statistical tests less powerful. Future research
should employ larger sample sizes to provide more precise and reliable results.

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