GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The awareness of the level of incentive and income receivable from a particular occupation can greatly influence an individual choice of occupation. The study therefore sought to assess external motivation and extrinsic reward on career choice among secondary school students. The survey research design was used in this study. The research area was Akpabuyo Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. The subjects of this study consisted of 300 Senior Secondary School students (150 males and females) randomly down from five secondary schools in Akpabuyo Local Government Area. The instrument was constructed and subjected to vigorous editing and checking. To ascertain the reliability of the instrument, the researcher conducted a pilot study. In the pilot study, 40 students were administered with the questionnaire at the first instance and later were re-administered with the same instrument after two weeks in the same school. The study concluded that Extrinsic-reward value exerts significant influence on career choice among secondary school students who proffer different occupations. This is because teaching of occupational choice in schools gives students more information about each occupation, in terms of nature of work, prospects and risks. It was therefore recommended that students should be helped to broaden their occupational knowledge by taking them on field trips/excursions to different work organizations where they would have the opportunity of seeing and interacting with the workers in real life situation- sharing their on-the-job experiences before leaving school.