Career Decision Self-efficacy Mediates the Relationship Between General Self-efficacy and Career Decision-making of Undergraduate Students

Career decision-making has remained a constant challenge for students due to a lack of appropriate policy aimed at assisting students in making informed career decisions. This paper examined whether general self-efficacy of undergraduate students would predict their career decision-making through career decision self-efficacy. We obtained data from a convenient sample of 453 undergraduate students in a Ghanaian public university in a cross-sectional survey. The sample comprised 261 (57.6%) males and 192 (42.4%) females, with ages ranging from 18 to 33, and an average of 21.32 (SD = 2.25) years. Data were analysed using Hayes PROCESS for mediation (model 4). General self-efficacy significantly predicted both career decision self-efficacy and career decision-making. Also, career decision self-efficacy was a better predictor of students’ career decision-making than general self-efficacy was. Furthermore, career decision self-efficacy significantly mediated the relationship between general self-efficacy, and career decision-making. We concluded that even though both general self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy were relevant predictors of career decision-making, context specific self-efficacy is more relevant than general self-efficacy. Implications of the findings for interventions and policy have been discussed within the social cognitive career and the self-determination theories.