Shaping the Future Workforce: Determinants of Career Aspiration Among Advanced Psychology Students in Pakistan

Career aspiration is a critical determinant of graduates' professional trajectories, shaping the leadership, achievement, and educational goals that guide their transition from academic study into the labor market. Grounded in developmental and social-cognitive perspectives on career psychology, the present study investigated the determinants of career aspiration among final-year and recently graduated psychology students in Pakistan, with particular attention to the role of academic program satisfaction and academic level. Data were collected from 285 BS and MS/MPhil psychology students (male = 65, female = 220; age range 21–26+) enrolled in multiple universities across Islamabad, Pakistan, using a purposive convenience sampling technique. Career aspiration and its three dimensions; leadership, achievement, and educational aspiration were measured using the Career Aspiration Scale (Gregor & O'Brien, 2015), and academic program satisfaction was assessed using the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). Data were analyzed in SPSS using Pearson correlation, an independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA. Results revealed a significant positive correlation between academic program satisfaction and career aspiration (r = .504, p < .01). MS/MPhil students scored significantly higher than BS students on career aspiration overall and on all three subscales, and career aspiration differed significantly across BS final-semester, MS/MPhil final-semester, and recently graduated groups. These findings suggest that satisfaction with one's academic experience functions as a meaningful antecedent of career aspiration, and that career aspiration develops progressively across the educational journey from undergraduate study to graduation, with implications for career counseling and curriculum design in psychology programs.