Social cognitive predictors of academic interests and goals in South Korean engineering students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the applicability of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) in a cross-cultural setting by examining the relationships between the social cognitive variables of South Korean engineering students and their engineering interests and major choice goals across university type and gender. Participants (N = 660) completed measures of academic self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, outcome expectations, engineering interests, contextual supports and barriers, and major choice goals. The results of the study revealed that the SCCT interest and major choice model offered an adequate overall fit to the full sample. The findings also indicated that the SCCT interest and choice model provided an acceptable fit to the data across university type and gender. The implications of the findings on practice for counseling South Korean engineering college students are discussed.