Pre-licensure Baccalaureate nursing students' career choice goal for a future faculty role and graduate education: adaptation and testing of social cognitive career theory.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to adapt and test the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) to (1) determine the intent of pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students for a future faculty role and graduate education, and (2) investigate how well derived SCCT constructs predict intent for a future faculty role and graduate education. Walker and Avant's theory derivation procedures guided the adaptation of SCCT to the profession of nursing. A prospective correlational research design was used with a convenience sample of 1,078 pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing students who responded to an online survey. Almost 25% of the study sample reported high/very high intent to pursue a future faculty role and 76% expressed high/very high intent for graduate education. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the full SCCT model with eleven independent variables was partially supported to predict students' high intent to pursue a future faculty role. The high intent students were significantly more likely to (1) have interests in the activities/tasks of a faculty role; (2) be enrolled in an accelerated baccalaureate nursing program; (3) perceive the advantages in a faculty role; (4) have previous teaching experiences; (5) have received encouragement from faculty to pursue a faculty role; and 6) perceive few disadvantages of a faculty role. In contrast, the students' age, gender, race/ethnicity, parent education and occupation, educational level and background, supports and barriers, self-efficacy for a faculty role, and role modeling by a faculty member did not significantly impact their intent for a future faculty role. Furthermore, the logistic regression analysis indicated that the SCCT model was partially supported to predict students' intent to pursue graduate education, accounting for 26.2% to 39.4% of the variance. This study offered several unique findings. It was the first study to expand and adapt SCCT theory to understand how undergraduate nursing students perceived a future nursing faculty role and graduate education. The measures demonstrated good reliability overall, providing a solid foundation for future research on this topic. The knowledge gained in this study could be used to develop and test effective strategies to interest students in a future nursing faculty role and graduate education.