Abstract

LEON-CAZARES, Filadelfo; ANDREW, Simon A.  and  ISMAYILOV, Orkhan. Career Preferences: Master Degrees in Public Policy and in Business Administration. RIDE. Rev. Iberoam. Investig. Desarro. Educ [online]. 2022, vol.12, n.24, e09.  Epub May 23, 2022. ISSN 2007-7467.  https://doi.org/10.23913/ride.v12i24.1128.

The purpose of this research was to describe and explain the career preferences of Masters in Public Policy (MPP) students and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students.

Based on the data provided by 424 students (MPP = 134 and MAE = 290) from Guadalajara, Mexico and analyzed through t-Student tests (independent samples) and exploratory factor analysis, it was found that MPP students have a more accentuated motivation to work in the public sector than MAE students, particularly in their ideal future job and professional career. Our analysis shows that MPP students have a stronger motivation to work in the public sector than MBA students, particularly on their ideal future job and professional career. We also found MPP students scored higher on the personal values that were often associated with the private sector. While we found that those who studied public policy have public-sector oriented values (i.e., “peace”, “equality”, “justice”, and “charity”), we also found them to have a relatively higher score on private-sector oriented values (i.e., “power,” “achievement”, “change”, and “sacrifice”). Our findings show that there is a shift in preferences of students in the public sector management styles. They appeared to have a strong appeal to apply the private sector practices in the public sector.

Keywords : Master of Public Policy; Master of Business Administration; career choice; personal values; work motivations.