Career Expectations of Generation Y: Case of Management Undergraduates of National Universities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to identify the main career expectations characterized in Management Undergraduates of Generation Y in the Sri Lankan context based on final year undergraduates of three major Management Faculties in Sri Lanka. Further, the research tries to compare the findings with western world findings to see whether there is a similarity of career expectations between Sri Lankan Generation Y and Western world’s Generation Y. Present Study was done using a convenient sample of 100 undergraduates of three major Management faculties: University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Colombo and University of Kelaniya. A questionnaire designed by the author associating Broadbridge, Maxwell, & Ogden (2007) work which summarizes an array of Generation Y career expectations under four categories found in the popular researches those had been carried out till 2007 was used to collect data from a stratified random sample. The findings of the current research shows that career expectations of Management Undergraduates of Sri Lankan Y Generation have both similarities and differences compared to the generalized career expectations found in Broadbridge et al. (2007) work. And the findings did not show substantial differences with respect to gender but researcher showed that there is a significant difference of career expectations based on their upbringing stages of lives and the professional qualifications. Future research must focus in doing an exploratory study based on pure Sri Lankan sources without associating European famous researches to identify whether there are especial expectations inherent to Sri Lankan Y generation those have not been highlighted in European studies. And it is suggested that similar researches should be done using more heterogeneous Generation Y samples and using larger samples to see if the outcomes change.