Proactive personality and career decision self-efficacy: The mediating role of planned happenstance

The junior high school major decision, influenced by personality and
capacity, has a subsequent impact on the future careers of the
students. This study aimed to identify the mediating role of planned
happenstance in the relationship between proactive personality and
career decision self-efficacy in junior high school students. As many
as 140 junior high school students in Jabodetabek with an average age
of 14 years participated in this study. They mainly consist of 9thgrade students (88 females and 52 males). This quantitative study
used a non-experimental design, namely the cross-sectional study
design. Three adapted measurement tools: career decision selfefficacy short form, proactive personality scale, and planned
happenstance career inventory were used to collect the data. Data
were analyzed using Haye’s regression techniques to test the
mediation. The finding supports the hypothesis, that planned
happenstance partially mediates the relationship between proactive
personality and career decision self-efficacy. In other words,
proactive personality could influence students’ planned
happenstance, which ultimately could predict their level of selfefficacy in making career decisions. The implications of the results
for the development and preparation for junior high school students
are discussed