Sex Difference and the Perceived Future Career Barriers of the Students in Management Education

Abstract

This research is aimed to find out the extent to which the future career barriers are perceived by the management students, to analyze how the perception of future career barriers vary with the gender, and to investigate whether there is any difference in perception levels of future career barriers between female students and male students. The quantitative approach was adopted as the method of inquiry and the case study strategy was incorporated in designing the study. 110 males and 252 females (total 362) were randomly selected from three major state universities of Sri Lanka. A questionnaire was administered to collect primary data. Mean value analysis and percentage analysis are done to identify the levels of perception of future career barriers between male and female students. Two sample t-test (independent samples test) was formed in hypothesis testing. The results highlighted that both male and female students have perceived their future career barriers to higher extents. Competitiveness of the job market is identified as the highest perceived barrier of both male and female management students while females perceive every career barrier to a very higher extent than males do. The results show that there is a significant difference in the mean level of perceived career barriers between female and male students at 5% significance level. These findings are important as implications for career counseling and it is highly recommended to support the students to be prepared and to build up their capabilities to successfully overcome these barriers.