| Abstract: | In selecting a career, students seek to maximize expected satisfaction. Expected satisfaction is a function of perceptions of the relative level of critical attributes possessed by a career area. This paper uses multidimensional scaling to produce a perceptual space to analyze the perceived similarities and dissimilarities of eight business career areas for a group of students and identify the attributes critical to these perceptions. With respect to those attributes most critical to perceptions, real estate careers were perceived as providing relatively high economic potential, low prestige, low entry difficulty and little career predictability. Information such as in this study provides a baseline for career counseling as well as eliminating possible distortions in perceptions of real estate careers. |
