REASONS FOR LACK OF ENGAGEMENT IN CAREER PLANNING BY MANAGEMENT UNDERGRADUATES OF SABARAGAMUWA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Abstract

1. Introduction Although every undergraduate must have a career plan, as proved by a preliminary survey, the majority of undergraduates of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka (SUSL) do not have a career plan. Further, there is a contextual knowledge gap on lack of engagement in career planning by management undergraduates in Sri Lanka. Thus, the research aims to explore the reasons for the lack of engagement in career planning by undergraduates of FMS, SUSL. Therefore, the study adds new knowledge on reasons for lack of career planning engagement and provides practical insights for universities, schools and students. 2. Research Methodology We used interpretivism philosophy. Accordingly, inductive approach was used. We employed multiple case study design and used purposive sampling method. we conducted twelve in-depth interviews with undergraduates in third and final years in FMS of SUSL and analyzed data using thematic analysis. 3. Findings and Discussion We could explore that management undergraduates of SUSL do not actively engage in career planning due to the issues and weaknesses of the students, university related reasons, lack of guidance from schools, family- oriented reasons, lack of industry exposure, barriers from macro environment, and lack of support from friends. 4. Conclusion and Implications The reasons for not engage in career planning by undergraduates of FMS, SUSL are multiple and related to personal, university, school, family, industry related, macro environment, and friends. The findings indicate that improving engagement in career planning of FMS, SUSL undergraduates should be a collaborative effort of multiple stakeholders such as undergraduates, university, schools, industrial sector, family and the government.