FACTORS INFLUENCING THE CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN JORDAN

The purpose of this study was to translate and validate an Arabic version of the career influence inventory for use in Jordan. The study also investigated perceptions of university students of the influential factors that have influenced their career planning and development. The validated career influence inventory was administered to 558 undergraduate students. Principle axis factoring with oblique rotation was used to uncover the underlying structure of the Arabic version of the career influence inventory. Results showed a latent factor structure highly consistent with the English version. Results also indicated that students' career planning was highly influenced by parents, teachers, friends, high school academic experience and self-efficacy, respectively. Ethnic-gender expectations and negative social events were perceived by students as having low levels of influence on their career planning. A number of recommendations are also offered for the field of career planning and development.