Article’s

Career aspirations significantly influence students’ educational decisions, specialization choices, and long-term professional growth. In management education, students opt for specializations like Finance, Marketing, and Human Resource Management (HRM), which shape their career objectives, expectations, and professional orientations. This study explores the variations in career aspirations among management students across these specializations and examines how career interest, career decision-making self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and social influence affect career aspirations. The study is based on Social Cognitive Career Theory, which posits that career aspirations are influenced by self-efficacy beliefs, anticipated outcomes, and environmental factors (Robert W. Lent et al., 1994; Lent & Brown, 2019). A quantitative research approach was employed, gathering data from 480 undergraduate and postgraduate management students through a structured questionnaire rated on a five-point Likert scale. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA were utilized to analyze the data. The results indicated notable differences in career aspirations among Finance, Marketing, and HR specializations. Finance students exhibited stronger salary-driven aspirations, while Marketing students favored dynamic and creative career roles, and HR students were more inclined towards people-oriented careers. Additionally, career interest and self-efficacy had a significant impact on career aspirations (Nguyen & Tran, 2022; Bakar & Abdullah, 2023), with outcome expectations being the most powerful predictor of career aspirations (Chen & Liu, 2024). Social influence also positively affected students’ career goals (Kim & Park, 2022). The study adds to the career development literature and offers practical insights for educators, career counselors, and policymakers in creating specialization-specific career guidance programs. Keywords Career Aspirations, Academic Specialization, Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, Self-Efficacy, Outcome Expectations, Social Cognitive Career Theory