A Study of Career Maturity, Information-Seeking Behavior, Entrepreneurial Efficacy, Problem-Solving Skills, and Managerial Skills of Undergraduate Students in Thailand

Abstract

Nowadays, in addition to the hard skills like academic knowledge of new graduates, other soft skills of management such as Career Maturity (CM), Information-Seeking Behavior (ISB), Entrepreneurial Efficacy (EE), Problem-Solving Skills (PSS), and Managerial Skills (MS) are also required by the company owner as they will be useful in real-life work management. The objectives of this study are: 1) to investigate the current competencies of CM, ISB, EE, PSS, and MS of undergraduate students in Thailand, 2) to investigate the different competencies of CM, ISB, EE, PSS, and MS across different gender, faculties, and grade levels. This study uses an online questionnaire to collect data from 569 undergraduate students from Thailand. The result shows that the reliability of the data collecting tool is acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha was at 0.87) and the current findings further reveal that the total competencies of CM, ISB, and MS are different by gender but on the other way, total competencies of all 5 which means to CM, ISB, EE, PSS, and MS are different by faculties and grade levels. The information from this study can make instructors or teachers develop a modern classroom that can increase competitiveness for undergraduate students and prepare them to be qualified to apply for future employment.