Abstract

The academic specialization chosen by students is of crucial importance for their future career and therefore they should have access to appropriate information and guidance that would help facilitate a more optimal decision. This study aims to identify the variables that influence business students to choose their specialization. A sample of 163 business students from Nizwa College of Technology, Sultanate of Oman, is selected for the study. Factor analysis and multiple regression analysis are used for analysis. The most important variable that influences the students’ choice of specialization is the variable ‘Liking and preference of specialization’ (X2) with the highest mean. The factor analysis analysis output reveals the five sub-scales that influence students’ choice of specialization; Preference and dissonance post choice, Self and Peer influence, Nature of marketing specialization, Gender and specialization choice, Convenience and career. College orientation on specialisation (X5) is a significant factor that influences the students to advice their juniors to make the first choice of specialisation viz. HRM (63%), Accounting (32%) and Marketing (5%).

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