Personality traits, self-directed learning and career decidedness of undergraduate students in a large South African metropolitan university

M.A.Although there has been a wealth of research and development in the field of vocational psychology students continue to experience difficulties in making career decisions and remain either uncertain about career decisions that have been made, or undecided over career options (Stead & Watson, 2006). An improved understanding of the factors influencing career decision-making and the degree of their influence is needed to identify interventions for students struggling to make a vocational choice. Although multiple variables influence the decision making process, two constructs of interest that may be considered and which may have important implications for career guidance practices are personality and self-directed learning. Personality has been shown to be related to a myriad of psychological constructs. The present study adopted the Five Factor Model for its inquiry, making use of the Basic Traits Inventory (Taylor & De Bruin, 2006). Self-directed learning can be conceptualised as a set of skills, the manner in which students carry out learning projects, or as a character trait of the person (Brockett & Hiemstra, 1991). Because of their ability to learn autonomously self-directed learners may have more highly developed skills, necessary to make effective decisions. The present study aimed to examine the relationships between personality, self-directed learning and career decision. Specifically, the study intended to determine whether personality and self-directed learning predicted career decision certainty or career indecision. Pearson‟s product-moment correlation was used to determine the relationships between the constructs. Multiple regression analyses were used to determine the predictive effect of these relationships. Some of the five factors of personality were related to career decision. Extraversion had a significant positive relationship with CDS Certainty (r = 0.226) and a significant negative relationship with CDs Indecision (r = 0.150). Neuroticism did not have a significant relationship with career certainty, but was significantly positively related to CDS Indecision (r = 0.220). Conscientiousness had a significant positive relation with CDS Certainty (r = 0.308) and a significant negative relationship with CDS Indecision (r = 0.210). Openness to Experience had a significant positive relationship with CDS Certainty (r = 0.201) but was not significantly related to CDS Indecision. Agreeableness had a significant positive relationship with CDS Certainty (r = 0.273) and although it was not statistically significant, Agreeableness was negatively related to CDS indecision. Self-directed learning was positively and significantly related to CDS Certainty (r = 0.451) and had a significant negative relationship to CDS Indecision (r = -0.257)