A Phenomenological Inquiry into the Lived-Experience of Career Choice as a Second Generation South Asian Female Undergraduate Student

While research on career paths has been studied for years, the impacts of identity rarely make it into the discussion. Leung et al. (1994) looked specifically at the factors that influence career aspirations in Asian Americans, but no South Asians were included in this work. To fill this gap, this research focused on the experience of South Asian undergraduate women considering their career path. As it relates to career, the cognitive mediation that comes with making a decision regarding the future is influenced heavily by one's own beliefs of themselves (Lent et al., 2000). In the case of second-generation South Asian women self-efficacy is impacted by gender, cultural, and contextual variables. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the experience of second generation South Asian female undergraduate students engaging in professional discernment. The goal of this research was to answer the questions: What is the career path you have chosen and what has it been like to choose that path? What led you to that path and how did you choose it? Four undergraduate South Asian women were interviewed to understand their experience with professional discernment. The researcher identified the following themes, after analyzing interviews, that influenced professional discernment: high school activities and classes, financial considerations, personal goals and self-reflection, encouragement and exemplification from others, political climate/news cycles, and stress/challenge. While this research is not meant to be generalized to the South Asian female undergraduate population, it is meant to provide insight into the ways in which identity and context may be considered when counseling this population through career decisions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]