An Empirical Analysis of Factors Influencing the Career Choice of Undergraduates in Secretarial Option of Business Education Programme in Nigeria Universities

Secretarial occupation has always been an enviable profession. This is because it is recognized to the extent that no office or establishment can function without the services of secretaries. As indispensable as it is, it has been observed that not many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities opt to study secretarial education. This study is necessitated by the low preference many undergraduate students of business education in Nigeria universities have for secretarial education. This trend is posing a lot of threats for the future of the secretarial profession in the 21st Century, Nigeria. The objective of the study, therefore, was to investigate the determinants of secretarial option among business education students in Nigeria universities. The survey research design was adopted for the study. Three research questions were raised to guide the study and three null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The entire one hundred and eighty (180) 200 level students of accounting, marketing and secretarial education from some selected Nigerian universities offering business education programme were used for the study. One hundred and sixty nine copies of questionnaire, representing 94% which were properly completed were retrieved and subjected to statistical analyses. Weighted Mean was used to answer the research questions. Weighted mean of 2.5 and above was used as benchmark for agree while weighted mean of less than 2.5 represented disagree category. Simple regression was used to test all the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed among others that the society perceives that secretarial profession is still feministic and therefore attracts low prestige among men in the society as compare to other professions. Based on the findings, the study concluded that secretarial option of business education in Nigeria universities is still very unpopular to the society, prospective students and business education undergraduate students. In view of this, the study recommends that the Association of Business Educators of Nigeria (ABEN), Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) and National Association of Professional Secretarial Staff of Nigeria (NAPSSON) in collaboration with the guidance and counselors should make adequate and sustained publicity in the primary and secondary schools across the nation in order to increase the awareness of both the society and students on the benefits of secretarial education to the society and the practitioners with the intention to popularize the profession. Key words: Career choice and secretarial educatio