Switching Within STEM: Examining the Motivational Concerns That College Students Report Considering When Changing Career Plans Within STEM Fields

Much research focuses on attrition out of career paths in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), but many students change from one career path to another within STEM (e.g., changing from a PhD researcher to a lab technician). This study examined what motivated college students to change career plans within STEM, with particular attention to which motivational concern(s) (as defined by situated expectancy-value theory) students reported considering when reflecting on decision making, both individually and in combination. As part of a larger study, we identified 561 college students who changed career plans within STEM at a large 4-year research university. On average, students reported attractive aspects related to attainment/utility or intrinsic value of their new career paths to be the most salient influences on their decisions to change plans within STEM. However, virtually all students referenced multiple motivational concerns, related to both their new and old careers, as shaping their decisions in some way. Latent class analyses suggested three distinct patterns of motivational concerns that students reported considering in combination: some students (53.3%) reported a predominant focus on value-related concerns, some (36.2%) reported considering multifaceted motivational concerns, and some (10.5%) reported a predominant focus on competence-related concerns. There were few differences as a function of gender, race, year in school, and field of study, but students with lower college grade point averages more often reported considering competence-related concerns during decision making. Results point to the importance of examining the multiple motivational concerns that college students negotiate simultaneously (including motivation for multiple different career options) during career decision making.