Perceived Interpersonal Influences and College-Major Nontraditionality as Predictors of Women’s Leadership Aspirations

Abstract

In this study, we examined the degree to which two forms of perceived interpersonal influence relate to college women’s plans to become leaders in their career fields. We also tested whether those associations vary as a function of the nontraditionality of the women’s majors (as indexed by the percentage of male students in their majors). The responses of 673 female undergraduate students to an online survey revealed that perceived support/guidance for career decision-making and perceived inspiration from career role models both had unique and positive associations with leadership aspirations, but those associations did not differ based on major nontraditionality. We discuss implications for career interventions designed to facilitate college women’s leadership aspirations and identify future research directions.