Getting through to them: reaching students who need career counseling.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a persuasive message, designed using the theory of planned behavior (TOPB; I. Ajzen, 1985) and written in the form of a student newspaper column, on undecided students' intent to seek career counseling from an informed source, such as a career counseling workshop. An experiment was conducted to test TOPB's applicability, and it was found that a message using positive reinforcement of salient beliefs and creating positive links between outcomes and workshop attendance caused a change in behavioral intention toward a greater reported likelihood of workshop attendance.

**********

Higher education in the United States has become a more than $165 billion industry. In 1997, U.S. President Bill Clinton pledged "to make the thirteenth and fourteenth years of education--at least two years of college--just as universal in America by the twenty-first century as a high school education is today" (Haworth, 1997, p. A2). In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which has as one of its goals to make students more prepared for a college education and to help them strive for that achievement. Increasingly, scholars are noting that college is being seen as an American birthright, and students are responding to the call (Karabell, 1998; Matthews, 1997; Sacks, 1996). College is seen more as an assumption than a choice, and because of this, today's students are arguably different than students of past generations (Matthews, 1997; Ringer, 1999; Sacks, 1996). What remains the same, however, is their need to figure out a plan--an academic plan for their college years and a career plan for their futures.

Researchers estimate that between 20% and 50% of students enter their freshman year undecided about their major and future career and that between 50% and 70% of all undergraduates will change their major and future career plans at least once during college (Gordon & Steele, 2003). In addition, over the past 25 years, Gordon and Steele (2003) found that 1st-year students have grown slightly more anxious about choosing a major.

For many students, even knowing where to begin in the process of choosing a major or career can be difficult. Students' initial choices can be unrealistic because they are often based on little knowledge about academic requirements or major and job relationships (Gordon & Steele, 2003). American College Testing (ACT) President Richard L. Fergeson commented that students' career aspirations were out of sync with the jobs that will be available for many of them. He continued that students would benefit from educators helping them to start their career explorations early, perhaps as early as eighth grade, and that career counselors and teachers need to provide them with up-to-date college and career planning information so that the students can make better career decisions (ACT, 1998). Other factors that contribute to difficulty choosing or staying in a major or career path include poor high school preparation, poor academic performance in a subject required for a major or career (such as math or science), inaccurate information sources (such as entertainment television or peers), and uninformed parents (Gordon & Steele, 2003; Ringer & Dodd, 1999).

What impact does being undecided have on a student? Chase and Keene (1981) found that, compared with students who declare their majors and career plans early, students who postpone declaring a major have significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs), take fewer hours of course work, and are less academically motivated.

Gordon (1984) stated that other factors could complicate these effects by confounding the decision-making process. Students who feel pressured to make changes in a hurry, such as by the administration or parents, may not want to spend enough time examining alternatives. Other students may drift along, not acknowledging or facing their indecision, and become depressed or discouraged because of a lack of direction. These issues become magnified the further a student is into his or her college education, because even more pressure is put upon upper class students to make a concrete decision.

Academic and career advisers also play an important role in undecided students' decision-making processes (Gordon & Steele, 2003; Marra & Schweitzer, 1992). Advising has been found to be a leading factor in student retention, morale, and GPA (Andrews, Andrews, Long, & Henton, 1987; Crockett & Crawford, 1989). Thomas and McDaniel (2004) found that students who completed a career planning course had increased knowledge of career options and confidence in their ability to make career decisions.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of a persuasive message, written in the form of a college student newspaper column, on undecided students' intent to seek career counseling. Despite the volume of research on career development, few studies have attempted to gauge the impact mass media may have on college students' career choice. Of these studies, most have been content analyses that suggest the effect of career stereotypes and misleading job activities (e.g., Signorelli, 1997).

It is proposed that the theory of planned behavior (TOPB; Ajzen, 1985), an expectancy-value model, provides an effective framework for studying the impact of a persuasive message on the intent to seek information about careers from an informed source, such as a career counselor or career counseling workshop. The TOPB model's main propositions suggest that people will behave as they intend to behave, as long as the behavior will allow them to obtain favorable outcomes and the behavior meets the expectations of others who are important to them. Because it is generally thought that the process of selecting a career is one that ends with a favorable outcome and that both parents and peers weigh heavily in the way young adults make decisions, TOPB appears applicable to this study. The TOPB model has been tested with positive predictive results in several studies looking at behaviors similar to those in the current study, including enrollment in physics courses (Crawley & Black, 1990), enrollment in a business ethics course (Randall, 1994), and job search activities (Caska, 1998).

Although it is realized and acknowledged that mass media and other forms of persuasive communication may be only a small piece of the career decision-making process, it is a significant part. Students are daily users of many forms of media, and the impact of media on various attitudes and beliefs has been heavily documented (e.g., Chaffee, Ward, & Tipton, 1970; Chan, 1998; Newhagen, 1994). Although researchers do not always agree on the exact impact of a particular medium on society, there is no question that media do indeed have an effect, either by changing attitudes and beliefs in some way or by reinforcing existing attitudes and behaviors.

Studying the influence of a mass media message, which specifically addresses several of the variables known to influence career decision (e.g., parental influence and opinion, knowledge about careers, peer opinion, and personal attitudes and beliefs about a specific career and/or the importance of career selection), should be of value to college educators and career counselors. Knowing more about how a student selects a career can lead to more effective programs to educate undecided students as well as to better counseling techniques for use with all students.

Creation of a Persuasive Message

The literature shows that exposing participants to a persuasive message can have an impact on changing attitudes and behaviors. However, researchers agree that in order for the message to be most persuasive, it must be effectively targeted and constructed and delivered using an appropriate medium. TOPB posits that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are influenced by corresponding salient beliefs. The persuasive message used in this study was targeted primarily at college students' beliefs about attending a career counseling workshop; specifically, the message was targeted at behavioral beliefs, outcome evaluations, attitudes, normative beliefs, general subjective norms, and behavioral intentions.

Before a message can be persuasive, it is necessary to determine what the target audience already thinks or believes about the target behavior (Flay & Burton, 1990). The message content for the current study was derived from a pretest questionnaire and addressed both prior beliefs and awareness levels about career counseling. Stutman and Newell (1984) proposed four strategies to be used when targeting beliefs with the goal of changing behavior: (a) reinforcement of previous beliefs that are supportive of the desired behavior; (b) introduction of new beliefs promoting the desired behavior; (c) attacks on nonsupportive beliefs about the desired behavior; and (d) attempts to change the evaluation of negative, non-supportive beliefs.

Empirical studies using similar message construction techniques have found that these messages are successful in being persuasive and that positive messages are often the most effective (e.g., Fishbein, Ajzen, & McArdle, 1980).

Hypotheses

The following hypotheses were investigated:

Hypothesis 1: Students who are exposed to the positive message will report higher intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop than will those students who are exposed to all other combinations of messages and sources.

Hypothesis 2: Students who are exposed to the unrelated message will report lower intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop than will those students who are exposed to all other messages.

Message Manipulation

In the present experiment, the independent variables were message appeal and time. The message appeals were manipulated by creating four newspaper columns said to have been previously published in a section of the campus newspaper (see Appendix). The messages were constructed using the suggestions of Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) and focused on the target behavior of attending a career counseling workshop within the next month. A pilot study, which consisted of a five open-ended survey questions administered to students enrolled in an introductory public relations course, was conducted prior to the creation of these messages to determine what salient beliefs college students held about career counseling (e.g., helpful, only for seniors, waste of time, complicated). A total of four messages were created: Three formats were created that targeted these beliefs, and one was constructed on an unrelated subject so as to serve as a control measure. The first of the three formats, called the positive message, was a positive appeal and linked the behavior of signing up for a career counseling workshop with positive consequences, including reducing career plan confusion, not wasting money on the wrong major, and creating a support network. Any negative beliefs, as garnered from the pilot study, that students might have about attending a career counseling workshop were countered with positive, factual statements in the message text (see Appendix).

The second of the three formats, called the negative message, was a negative appeal and linked the behavior of not signing up for a career counseling workshop with negative consequences, such as remaining confused and overwhelmed, wasting money on classes, and not having a sense of confidence in career decisions. It was a mirror image of the positive message (Fishbein et al., 1980).

The third of the three formats, called the traditional message, took a slightly different approach. Instead of focusing on the target behavior of attending a specific workshop, it focused on the outcomes of being undecided--specifically, continued undecidedness and confusion, in addition to other negative consequences of being undecided about choosing a career. It did not have a specific message about attending career counseling, until the end of the message where a connection was made urging the student to seek career counseling.

The time variable describes the pretest-posttest design. Scores were gathered from a pretest, which asked for demographic information and also asked questions about attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, and was designed to give a baseline measurement of these variables. A posttest was administered after the researcher (the author of this article) exposed the participants to the persuasive message.

Methodology

A pretest-posttest control-group experimental 4 (message appeal: positive vs. negative vs. traditional vs. unrelated) x 2 (time: pretest vs. posttest) between-subjects and within-subjects factorial design was used to test the hypotheses. Participants completed a pretest and a posttest, which was completed 3 weeks after the pretest, to determine whether exposure to the treatment resulted in any change in behavioral intentions.

Participants in the study were college students at a large southeastern university who were currently enrolled in typical freshman core, general education courses. Research has shown that a large percentage of students who enroll in these core courses are likely to be undecided about their major and future career as well as to have a high potential to change their major or career choice within a year (Daubman & Johnson, 1982; Isaacson & Brown, 1993; Lewallen, 1995). Students were recruited by the researcher, who spoke to them during their regularly scheduled class periods, and were told that the study had two parts and was anonymous. Students interested in participating in the study were asked to fill out a written, informed consent form in accordance with the university's institutional review board's regulations.

Of the 516 students who completed the pretest, 154 agreed to participate in the posttest and therefore were exposed to the experimental messages. Because the second part of the study required the participants to come to a separate location on their own time, some attrition was expected.

Seventy-three percent of the students who participated in this study were women (n = 113). The majority of the students were freshmen (71%, n = 109). Twenty percent of the students were sophomores (n = 30), 8% were juniors (n = 13), and 1% were seniors or indicated other (n = 2).

The majority of the students (85%, n = 130) were between the ages of 18 and 19. Three percent of the students were younger than 18 years old (n = 5), 11% were between 20 and 23 years old (n = 17), and 1% were 24 years old or older (n = 2).

Forty-three percent of the students reported being certain of their career choice (n = 66), whereas 57% of the students reported being uncertain of their career choice (n = 88).

Results

The hypotheses were tested using an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The measures, which used a Likert scale, specifically addressed student attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control and were designed to detect any change in these variables over time.

Hypothesis 1 posited that students who were exposed to the positive message would report higher intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop than would those students exposed to all other combinations of messages and sources. This hypothesis was not supported. Although the ANOVA showed a significant two-way interaction between time and message appeal (p < .004), indicating that there was some treatment impact on intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop, simple main effects tests did not show a significant difference between the positive message and the negative or traditional message (see Tables 1 and 2).

Hypothesis 2 posited that students who were exposed to the unrelated message would report lower intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop than would those students exposed to all other messages. This hypothesis was supported. After an ANOVA revealed a two-way interaction between time and message appeal, simple main effects tests showed a statistically significant difference between the unrelated message and all other messages. A mean comparison shows that the unrelated message yielded the lowest student intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop. Scale responses ranged from extremely likely to attend a career counseling session (1) to extremely unlikely to attend a career counseling session (7). Therefore, the higher the mean, the lower the intentions to attend a career counseling workshop (see Table 3).

Effects of Persuasive Message Variations on Behavioral Intention

The hypotheses made predictions regarding which of the messages shown to the students would result in the highest reported intentions to enroll in a career counseling workshop. An analysis using simple main effects tests showed that every student who read one of the treatment messages (positive, negative, and traditional) reported higher intentions to enroll than did their counterparts who read the control message (unrelated message). This is an interesting result considering that the message was short and that the students were exposed to it on only one 15-minute occasion. It was predicted that the students who read the positive and negative messages would report the highest intentions, and the results support this conclusion. In addition, the students who were exposed to the positive message had the highest intentions to enroll.

It is interesting to note, however, that although the means show that the positive message had the largest impact, each of the treatment messages was successful in changing student intentions in the direction of being more likely to enroll. The simple main effects tests did not reveal a significant difference between pairs of the treatment messages, only between pairs of the treatment messages and the control message. This leads to the conclusion that any message that targets student attitudes and beliefs may have an impact in changing student intentions to enroll in career counseling activities. Certainly, if such a campaign was going to be waged, career counselors and educators would want to use the message that would result in the highest level of change, but it is promising to note that, for these students, it appears that any message at all can make a difference.

Why was the positive message most effective? This result is in line with what much of the career development literature reports. Students (particularly undecided students) are so afraid of creating more pressure in their lives, of becoming more confused, that a hard-sell message that focuses on the negative aspects of their indecision may have created a defense response. The students would want to avoid having to be confronted with these negative and somewhat threatening messages and may see this as an extension of the way they would be treated at a career counseling workshop.

However, because it was found that each of the messages had an impact, more investigation may be necessary to explore whether the target population can be further segmented. For example, perhaps if only undecided students were the targets of a campaign (e.g., a brochure mailed to those students who had not yet declared a major or had declared an undecided major), the positive message might not be as effective as was found in the present study.

In addition, it needs to be considered that the reason each of the messages appeared to have an effect might stem simply from an information standpoint. Because these students were primarily first-semester freshmen, there is a chance that prior to participating in this study, they were unaware that career counseling workshops were offered. By participating in the current study, they were made aware of what the career counseling center on campus offers, and it needs to be considered that it was simply this exposure that may have contributed to the students reporting that they were more likely to attend.

It is also important to consider that, despite the effectiveness of the messages, there were still many students who were not persuaded to attend a career counseling workshop. One reason students may have opted not to attend stems from their apparent overall ambivalence toward career counseling in general. Although there are many students who can be helped by career counseling, it is important to be realistic in the projections for what a study like this can accomplish. There will always be students who are not open to such persuasion and, perhaps, are not in need of help with career decisions.

Implications for Career Resource Professionals and Educators

A primary goal of this research was to develop a blueprint by which career counseling professionals and educators could develop a media campaign that would increase attendance at career counseling workshops and other career information sessions, and subsequently raise the academic involvement levels in undecided students. To review, student involvement theory (Astin, 1977, 1993) posits that students will be more successful; will learn and grow more; and will get more out of college if they become more actively involved in campus activities and, in general, more actively involved in what is going on around them. If the principles of the theory of student involvement are applied to the career decision-making process, then it follows that if a student becomes more involved in thinking about his or her future career, then the student has a better chance of success both in selecting a career he or she will find satisfying and in college in general.

Although career development is just one area that falls under the theory of student involvement umbrella, for those students who are undecided, selecting a career can do a lot toward contributing to a less anxiety-filled college experience, and it is thought to contribute significantly to helping the student become involved in other ways--because once one pressure is released, and one goal is accomplished, the student will move onto other things, feeling more successful and grown up. Also, choosing a major predisposes students toward involvement in major-related groups, thus offering them the opportunity to gain more knowledge and experience regarding certain career choices, as well as the chance to interact with other students with similar interests.

Therefore, it can be argued that it is of crucial importance that efforts are made to encourage students to take advantage of career counseling opportunities. It is clear from this study that there are effective ways this can be done. By following the tenets set forth in TOPB and designing messages that target students' salient beliefs about career counseling, career counseling professionals and educators can create persuasive media campaigns.

One issue that has been debated is how to reach the undecided student population most effectively. The results of the current study, in conjunction with other career development research, show that by targeting freshmen and possibly first-semester sophomores, career counseling professionals can optimize the chances of reaching these students, given that research shows that a vast majority of new students are undecided. By early intervention, it is also thought that perhaps measures can be taken to keep additional students from becoming undecided and potentially being at risk for academic failure.

Career counseling centers across the country are already actively involved in trying to help students. Most advertise in campus newspapers and participate in some way during freshman orientation activities. Many others advertise on local radio and television stations and provide speakers who visit sororities, fraternities, and other student groups to discuss what the career counseling center has to offer. This study offers a new perspective and new techniques for message development that can be incorporated into the activities and advertising that are already in place.

References

Ajzen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckmann (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11-39). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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Andrews, M., Andrews, E. L., Long, E., & Henton, J. (1987). Student characteristics as predictors of perceived academic advising needs. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 60-65.

Astin, A. (1977). Four critical years: Effects of college on beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Astin, A. W. (1993). What matters in college: Four critical years revisited. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Caska, B. A. (1998). The search for employment: Motivation to engage in a coping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 605-614.

Chaffee, S. H., Ward, S., & Tipton, L. (1970). Mass communication and political socialization. Journalism Quarterly, 47, 647-659.

Chan, K. (1998). Mass communication and pro-environmental behavior: Waste recycling in Hong Kong. Journal of Environmental Management, 52, 317-326.

Chase, C., & Keene, J. (1981). Major declaration and academic motivation. Journal of College Student Personnel, 22, 496-501.

Crawley, F. E., & Black, C. B. (1990, April). Attitude and secondary school science students' intention to enroll in physics: An application of the theory of planned behavior. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Atlanta, GA.

Crockett, J. B., & Crawford, R. L. (1989). The relationship between Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) scale scores and advising style preferences of college freshmen. Journal of College Student Development, 30, 154-161.

Daubman, K., & Johnson, D. H. (1982). Comparisons among continuing, withdrawing, and non-returning students (Academic Leave and Withdrawal Office Research Report, Student Affairs Research Report No. 7). Catonsville: University of Maryland. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED233628)

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Flay, B., & Burton, D. (1990). Effective mass communication strategies for health campaigns. In C. Atkin & L. Wallack (Eds.), Mass communication and public health (pp. 129-146). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Gordon, V. N. (1984). The undecided college student: An academic and career advising challenge. Springfield, IL: Thomas.

Gordon, V. N., & Steele, G. E. (2003). Undecided first-year students: A 25-year longitudinal study. Journal of the First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 15, 19-38.

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Isaacson, L. E., & Brown, D. (1993). Career information, career counseling, and career development (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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Matthews, A. (1997). Bright college years. New York: Simon & Schuster.

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APPENDIX

Excerpts From Treatment Messages

Note. Each message was designed to appear as if it had been an opinion column, written by a student, in the university student newspaper.

Positive Message

My name is Chris Wells, and I want to tell you--student to student--about what will happen if you attend a career counseling workshop at the Career Resource Center (CRC).

You might think that it is too early in your college career to attend a career counseling workshop. But that isn't true--by attending a workshop you will be able to get on track for selecting the right major early, thereby not wasting your time and money by signing up for classes you don't need. You also might think that attending a career counseling workshop will make you more confused and overwhelmed than you already are. But that isn't true either--by attending a workshop you will actually become less confused because there are trained counselors there to help you make your decisions and choices. Although there may be many choices at the beginning, by attending a workshop you will have a support network of peers and CRC counselors there to help you work through your career choices to make the right decision--and keep you from feeling overwhelmed.

  [Several paragraphs more followed this, citing more good reasons to
  attend a career counseling workshop and the positive benefits of doing
  so. The column concluded with the following sentence.]

I urge you to sign up for and attend a career counseling workshop now! Believe me, you will be glad you did.

Negative Message

My name is Chris Wells, and I want to tell you--student to student--about what will happen if you do not attend a career counseling workshop at the Career Resource Center (CRC).

You might think that it is too early in your college career to attend a career counseling workshop. But that isn't true--if you do not attend a workshop you will not be able to get on track for selecting the right major early, thereby wasting your time and money by signing up for classes you don't need. You also might think that attending a career counseling workshop will make you more confused and overwhelmed than you already are. But that isn't true either--by not attending a workshop you will stay confused and become more confused because you won't have the trained counselors there to help you make your decisions and choices. If you do not attend a workshop you won't have a support network of peers and CRC counselors there to help you work through your career choices to make the right decision--and you will stay overwhelmed.

  [Several paragraphs more followed this, citing more good reasons to
  attend a career counseling workshop and the negative effects of not
  doing so. The column concluded with the following sentence.]

I urge you to sign up for and attend a career counseling workshop now! Believe me, you will be glad you did.

Traditional Message

My name is Chris Wells, and I want to tell you--student to student--about what will happen if you attend a career counseling workshop at the Career Resource Center.

You might think that it is too early in your college career to decide on a future career. But that isn't true--if you do not decide on a future career, you will not be able to get on track for selecting the right major early, thereby wasting your time and money by signing up for classes you don't need. You also might think that thinking about careers and having to decide on a career will make you more confused and overwhelmed than you already are. But that isn't true either--by not thinking about the future and remaining undecided and unsure about your future career, you will stay confused and become more confused because you won't be seeking the assistance of professionals to help you make your decisions and choices.

  [Several paragraphs more followed this, citing more good reasons to
  think about future careers and the negative effects of not doing so.
  The column concluded with the following sentence.]

I urge you to sign up for and attend a career counseling workshop now! Believe me, you will be glad you did.

Carolyn Ringer Lepre, School of Journalism and Electronic Media, The University of Tennessee. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carolyn Ringer Lepre, School of Journalism and Electronic Media, The University of Tennessee, 333 Communications Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0333 (e-mail: [e-mail]).

TABLE 1 Analysis of Variance Results

Variable               df  F      Significance

Time                   1   20.35  .0001
Message appeal         3    0.61  .61
Time x Message Appeal  3    4.57  .004

TABLE 2 Simple Main Effects Tests on Change in Intention Measures

Pair                   df  t      Significance

Positive-negative      74   1.98  .05
Positive-traditional   74   1.14  .256
Positive-unrelated     72   4.19  .0001
Negative-traditional   78  -0.81  .42
Negative-unrelated     76   1.67  .09
Traditional-unrelated  76   2.55  .013

TABLE 3 Means for Treatment Messages and Control Message

Message Appeal  Posttest M  Change in Intention M

Positive        3.92         1.47
Negative        4.15         0.50
Traditional     4.23         0.90
Unrelated       4.90        -0.10

Note. Scale responses ranged from 1 (extremely likely to attend a career
counseling session) to 7 (extremely unlikely to attend a career
counseling session).