Date of Award

6-2-2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Department

Agricultural Business & Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. John Ricketts

Abstract

The focus of this research was Tennessee State University (TSU) Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DAES) undergraduate students’ interest in a career in agriculture and their belief in their ability to make career decisions. It is important to develop an understanding of the types of TSU students who choose to major in agricultural sciences and choose a career in the same, and to identify their Career Decision-making Self-efficacy (CDSE) so that current and future students can be best guided in job and career choice, preparation, and transitions. The Betz and Taylor (1983) Career Decision Making Self Efficacy Theory and Scale guided this quantitative survey design to describe TSU agriculture student demographics and agriculture career interests, and to describe and explain CDSE in accurate self-appraisal, gathering of information, planning, goal selection, and problem solving. Students exhibited much confidence in CDSE, but their scores were lower than national normative CDSE scale scores. Significant differences were found in certain CDSE scale scores for race, farm background, and FFA experience. All students exhibited interest in agriculture as a career, and this interest was identified as the only significant explanation in regression models to explain certain CDSE scale scores. Recommendations like specific replication studies and encouraging more farm work experiences on the TSU campus are provided at the end of this thesis.

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