Title: Job preferences of Moroccan university students: an investigation in an exploratory context

Authors: Faiçal Jouti; Abderrahman Hassi; Ahmad Baijou

Addresses: School of Business Administration, Al Akhawayn University, P.O. Box 104, Avenue Hassan II, Ifrane 53000, Morocco ' School of Business Administration, Al Akhawayn University, P.O. Box 104, Avenue Hassan II, Ifrane 53000, Morocco ' School of Business Administration, Al Akhawayn University, P.O. Box 104, Avenue Hassan II, Ifrane 53000, Morocco

Abstract: This study explores the preferences of Moroccan university students for their first employment. More precisely, the study investigates the relationship between the preferences of students for working either for public or private companies and whether their choices are affected by several factors such as preference for high job salaries, job security, career development and work responsibility. In addition, the study identifies differences between the preferences of male and female students, their major and age. Moroccan students from different private and public universities participated in the present study. The research results confirmed that working for either a private or public company is related to the preferences of students for job security, career development and job responsibility. The study did not find any statistically significant difference between the preference of males and females, students with different ages and students from different majors. The implications and suggestions for Moroccan and foreign companies along with suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Keywords: job preferences; university students; Morocco; first employment; public companies; private companies; job salaries, job security; career development; work responsibility; gender; qualification; age.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEED.2015.075791

International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2015 Vol.6 No.4, pp.279 - 295

Received: 04 Jul 2015
Accepted: 24 Sep 2015
Published online: 05 Apr 2016 *

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