Motivate or Demotivate? Factors Influencing Choice of Media as a Career

The choice of media as a career has conventionally not been a top priority amongst undergraduate students in India. Despite the surging need for responsible media professionals in a developing country like India, this career is not widely accepted or chosen. This research aimed at determining specific motivations among the first-year undergraduate students choosing a career in media. The same were determined through expert interactions followed by an online survey to include over 400 students pursuing an undergraduate programme at various colleges across India. The analysis showed that undergraduate media students are passionate with a deep interest in the concerned field and have an enhanced need to be different from others. They are creative, highly communicative, would like to pursue their interest and passion as well as distinguish themselves from conventional career seekers. Choice of media as a career at the undergraduate level is preferred more by female students compared to their male counterparts. Most interestingly and importantly, media as a career is mostly against the wishes of parents; the influence of parents being negative. This study contributes to a deep understanding of motivational factors and their criticalities in influencing the young generation in India. The factors can aid the educational policymakers, academicians, industry experts, and researchers to develop strategies to encourage students to choose a career in media. This research also serves as a starting point to generate discussions to change the belief and attitudes of parents towards media as a career option for their wards.


Introduction
"By making one part of a country aware of other parts, their people, arts, customs, and politics; by permitting the national leaders to talk to the people, and people to the leaders and each other; by making possible a nation-wide dialogue on national policy; by keeping the national goals and national accomplishments always before the public--thus modern communication, widely used, can help weld together isolated communities, disparate subcultures, self-centered individuals and groups, and separate developments into truly national development." -"Father of Communication Studies", Wilbur Schramm, Stanford University (1964).
Career choices for undergraduate studies is a crucial decision for all individuals as it decides the path for their future life, life expectations, the standard of living, etcetera (A. H. Majid and Houcine Meddour, 2016). With the increasing interrelatedness, dynamism, interdisciplinarity, technology advancement, etc, in the world, new job avenues and career prospects are opening up. The new and upcoming fields (like Technology Journalism, Visual Effects, Digital Marketing among others) are more technology-driven and creative over traditional prospects which are primarily academic in nature and mainly involve textbook learning. Thus these fields possess certain levels of attraction which in turn makes it even more difficult for individuals to make a choice.
Media engulfs modern lives, influences our perception of the world around us, mediates our beliefs, attitudes, and interactions with individuals and society. Media education and literacy is not a luxury; it is a necessity in a developing country like India. Media, used responsibly promotes equitable development, helps expose corruption, helps voice citizen views and opinions, channelizes governance, promotes diversity and inclusivity et al. Thus, media helps the economy grow better through facilitating the exchange of ideas and innovation across boundaries. India, with 200 colleges and universities in 1948 has come a long way to over 900 universities and 40,000 colleges in 2020 along with having more than 3.5 crore students in the higher education community at present. Along with this 1,465 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees were awarded in the year 2020 (NewIndianXpress, 2020) which points towards the massive growth in the sector.
Taking into consideration the pivotal role of youth in the development of the economy, the Indian Education Policy 2020 stresses on professional training and employability Moreover, the New Education Policy 2020 attempts to address the digital divide. It states that given the fact that there still persists a substantial section of the population whose digital access is highly limited, the existing mass media, such as television, radio, and community radio will be extensively used for telecast and broadcasts.
Furthermore, great stress has been laid on the use of digital technology for education in NEP 2020.
With increasing digitisation and higher internet usage, the Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry has been growing steadilythe second fastest-growing market in Asia after China. Media provides various career opportunities in films, television, radio, animation, print, out-of-home (OOH), sound, gaming, social and digital advertising. Digital entertainment is the new norm for most people leading to rising consumption and improved advertising revenue for media organisations.
In the World Development Report 2002, "Building Institutions for Markets (rep. no. 22825)," a detailed chapter discusses how media affects development and also emphasizes the role of media in creating an environment for policy planning and implementation to support "economic and political markets and to provide a voice for the disenfranchised".
Undoubtedly, media is critical for economic development, providing access to health and education information in developing countries. The present pandemic situation of COVID-19 has further accentuated the scope for media for sectors like education, news, entertainment, retail, sports, medicine, and health. However, this field has never been the main option for a career choice among young and aspiring Indian undergraduates.
Interestingly, despite the unprecedented growth of media, the role of digitisation notwithstanding, and the pervasiveness of media, academic scholars have not fully explored the motivations influencing students' choice of media as a career.
The said decision is influenced by numerous variablesinternal and external. Internal influencers include an individual's interests, skills, likings, and attitudes towards the various fields and professions. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) provides an elaborate framework of behaviours controlled by attitudes which very effectively explains career choices made or to be made as well. According to the TRAthe stronger the attitude, the higher is the intention to translate it into behaviour (Ajzen, 1991). Another internal influencer is self-efficacy which refers to the self-contention an individual has in themselves to carry out certain tasks (Bandura, A., & Adams, N. E, 1977). The external variables affecting career choices include family perspectives (Parsons et al., 1978;Shumba and Naong, 2012;Gemici et al., 2014;Mishkin et al., 2016), peers, expenditures (Boudarbat Montmarquette, 2009), etc. Considering these driving factors, research so far has only been confined to traditional career paths like engineering, medicine, law and has not yet covered other new fields like media, mass communication, psychology, etc. Hence, this study evaluates the efficacy of the above-mentioned factors on choosing media as a career. Why or why don't students choose Media as their Career for under graduation? The research study underlines the predictors of choice, including demographics, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, individual personality, the roles of family, peer, alumni, role models as well as choice of media viz journalism, advertising, public relations, audiovisual communications as a career choice. This research follows the responses of students who have already chosen a career in media by pursuing a professional programme in media studies at an undergraduate level and evaluates their perspectives and attitudes.

Literature Review
For decades, career choices at an undergraduate level were limited to traditional courses like Engineering, Medical, Chartered Accountancy, and Humanities. Career as defined by Geç ikli. (2002) is the " professional, marketable or business activity" that individuals undertake during their lifetime (Asad Afzal Humayo, Shoaib Raza, Rao Aamir Khan, Noor ul ain Ansari, 2018). These career choices are proved to be one of the most critical turning points in the lives of an individual. While the general claim states that a good career choice yields a good level of income. But Every year in India, thousands of students enrol themselves in various undergraduate programs with a vision to excel in their prospective careers. The youth is transgressing from traditional courses and is getting inclined towards other fields like Media, Photography, Mass Communication, etc. Colleges and institutions offering such courses are generally expensive and the initial return on investment is comparatively lower than the traditional courses. However, since the sole purpose of education is to attain knowledge, parents prefer that their children should opt for a career that has a good monetary value in the market.
According to (Gattiker and & Larwood, 1988), no major studies were conducted between 1988-2002 to evaluate the factors influencing career choices like self-interest, passion, family pressure, monetary returns etc.
In her doctoral dissertation (Gathaigia, 2011), investigated factors that influence students' career choice revealed that many students are unable to express their career choices due to the pressure exerted upon them by the opinion of the general public as well as their families. Kniveton supports Gathaigia ' s claim by stating that personal preference of parents tends to get more support for occupational choices (Kniveton, 2004).

Attitude and Career Choice
Based on the psychological perspective, attitude and cognition have a large role to play in determining the intentions behind behaviours that possess known outcomes. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) provides a framework of the relationship between intentions and behaviour. This theory suggests that stronger intentions have a greater will to bring those intentions into action, increasing the probability of the behaviour to be performed. It defines attitudes as evaluations of behaviour that may be negative or positive and subjective norms as the social pressure to carry out a certain actions or behaviour as perceived by them (Ajzen, 1991). Huang (2011) proposes that attitudes and subjective norms, subjective norms and PBC or subjective norms and PBC of unemployment individuals impact job seeking intentions. The TBD model is very well applicable to the career dimensions as well as suggested by research and Hooft and Jong, 2009). Hooft and Jong (2009) claim that TPB 's success in forecasting job searching for temporary jobs has been endorsed. However, Arnold et al. (2005), argues that in the context of career choice and development more efforts should be made to examine the value of TPB.
Chang (1998) observed that subjective norms had no significant impact on intention, but that subjective norms are highly significant drivers of intention with an indirect influence of attitude. Attitude assists highly in anticipating behavioral intention . In certain cases attitude has no major deliberate interaction with intentions. Zhang et al. (2015) found that attitude has no significant relationship with entrepreneurial intent. In addition, it was also found that attitude has a slight direct impact on intention (Chang, 1998).

Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is an individual's belief in his/her capabilities to successfully carry out a particular task or activity. Majid ' s states that self-efficacy can influence perceptions and decisions. 'People with higher self-efficacy will probably invest more energy, contribute to higher levels of quality accomplishment, and hold on despite restrictions. On the other hand, low self-efficacy will lead to maintaining a deliberate reserved attitude and surrendering more easily when faced with threatening situations (Bandura, A., & Adams, N. E, 1977) ' To determine whether these factors have positive relationships with career choices, scholars approached various theories to identify an individual's intention and behaviour. According to (Lautenschlä ger, 2011) the most promising approaches proposed include Theory of Social Learning (Bandura, 1977), the Entrepreneurial Event Theory (Shapero & Sokol, 1982) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991)".
Every individual has a role model that personally helps them to define their self-efficacy. These role models act as a mentor in the lives of these individuals and create certain parameters which eventually become a skill-set for an individual to acquire before making a career choice. ' According to Bandura, role models develop and inclination towards a certain career. The individual considers the acquired skill-set as its self-efficacy and therefore pursues the achievement process of his / her role model (Bandura, A., & Adams, N. E, 1977). '

Family
Family plays a crucial role in developing the mind-set of people from a young age. Making a career choice is not a one-time occasion, it is a life-long process that decides the future of an individual. Professions of parents influence help shape children's career. Parents are seen as idols by children and many parents may also pressurise their child/children towards their own or another particular career path that they seem fit. Parents apply pressure on the children to join their own business or even strive for particular high-profile careers (NJERI, 2013). Research provides evidence that a very large part of the career decision of any individual is majorly influenced by parental and other factors related to family (Parsons et al., 1978;Shumba and Naong, 2012;Gemici et al., 2014;and Mishkin et al., 2016). Aspects like family factors, peer influence, role-models, career benefits also impact career choices for undergraduate studies (Shumba and Naong, 2012).
Other reliable conclusion that various researches have suggested that many adolescents failed to express their aspirations and choices because of their parents ' expectations. In a research aimed at identifying career choices of adolescents by analysing the perspective of the youth of Mumbai, India it was concluded that 'children in India mostly choose a career according to their parents with a simple desire to please them. The desire to acquire parental support does not allow them to take any sort of risk and express their career choice' (Anuradha J. Bakshi, Hetvi N. Gandhi, Riddhi Shah, & Kinjal, 2012). Thus, parents sometimes intentionally or unintentionally persuade their children to either take up a high profile career or join their family business.
Parental involvement has been classified into three categories being-positive involvement, non-involvement; and negative involvement. Parents may overtly pressurise to focus on a particular career path contrary to the child's self-belief and interest (E. . The research, widely critiqued by parents reasoned their non-involvement in their children ' s career choice with a lack of awareness and engagement in work. The parents who were not adequately qualified were unable to contribute to the career choices made by their children. Parents also argued that the arrangement of funds to secure their child's future is a job that must be taken care of. Altman (1997) researched the role of family members in influencing career choices and argued that parents are the primary authority, but siblings and extended family also act as a pressurising instrument. He argues that peers are generally an influence along with secondary competitors of an individual because they are brought up in a different environment and economic conditions hence gain a different personality and capabilities. However, siblings belong to the same environment and economic condition which makes the comparison of capabilities more convenient and plausible. In such scenarios, if an individual does not make a ' wise 'career choice, the identity of the individual is questioned and ridiculed.
Asian students live in joint families, with immense persuasive power of parents and family members in career decision making (Eesl ey C & Wang Y. 2017; Karibeet et al., 2009;Marino et al., 2006;Jover et al., 2006;Tangade et al., 2011). Likewise, it is found that in certain cases parents have successfully persuaded their children to pursue professional courses of their choice (Amit Aggarwal and Sonia Mehta, 2010). However, there are certain researches that provide proof contrary to the above findings where students were found to make independent decisions irrespective of their parental opinions.

Gender
The process of decision-making is also influenced by one of the common factors of every research gender. The biological discrimination of individuals significantly influences their career choices. ' The determinant comes into existence from the secondary school where students are taught that there are different job roles of males and females. It is also important to understand that people who pass on this information also lack vocational guidance and therefore gender become the most significant factor influencing career choice. (NJERI, 2013). ' When individuals land in an unsuited career, they end up becoming a liability for society. Gidden (1984)presents the argument stating the dire need to reinforce and reshape the gender identity at the primary level of education. This gender stereotype influences females to pursue careers that are artistic and social like teaching, childcare, etc, men are asked to develop an inclination towards high paying & masculine activities. The stereotypical rules of gender are nurtured by the family members among individuals from a young age. Their perspectives are influenced by the biased opinions of gender.
Pratheeba (2014) in her research on the influence that demographic backgrounds have on career-choices reveal that no differences are found on attitudes towards entrepreneurship and subjective norms based on gender differences. Moreover, it is also argued that females portray lesser attitudes towards professorship (Evers and Sieverding, 2015) An interesting research by Creed (2007) found that female students 'career expectations are dynamic and can differ in academic years of schooling itself however, male students 'career expectation remain relatively consistent. In addition, males are found to be favouring a professional education over their counterparts; and in the case of females social factors have been found to have a significant impact on their career choices (Koech et al., 2016;Mishkin et al., 2016). Familial obligations and influences do not have an impact on the career choices of women in certain cases (Patton and Creed, 2007). Boudarbat and Montmarquette (2009) found that prestige was attached to male choice whereas and family as well as flexibility influenced females.
Career choices are quite often defined in terms of gender as well. Gender has classified career streams suitable for men and women. Individuals are not allowed to break this gender protocol. The gender stigma is instilled within their minds from a young age to influence their career choices. The most important factor that influences an individual ' s career choice is personal interest. The factor that decides whether a career stream is suitable for an individual or not. Personal interest is driven by many sub-factors like achievements, hobbies, internet, etc. A combination of these sub-factors in different ratios cultivates personal interest in an individual. Interest decides the success of an individual in a career stream.

Personal Interest
Personal interest determines the individual's behaviour and attitude towards career choices of different fields. The goal-setting theory discusses the role of specific and challenging goals to stimulate high level of motivation to enhance performance and enable monitoring progress, adjust performance and improve employability (Locke, G. P Latham and E. A., 2013). However, the theory fails to identify the reason behind different coping mechanisms and how to overcome this problem while making career choices. It is argued that personal interest is driven by psychological factors (intrinsic) like personality, interests, abilities, and job satisfaction and sociological factors (extrinsic factors) like demographics and the environment (S G Brown and G Barbosa, 2001).
Choice of career according to personal interest helps people perform better and achieve greater heights of success, satisfaction and happiness. Personal interest and goals surpasses monetary gains. The study clearly indicates certain career choices may provide monetary security but at the cost of the individuals present happiness. Personal Interest acts as a motivating factor in career during tough times. (Asad Afzal Humayo, Shoaib Raza, Rao Aamir Khan, Noor-ul-ain Ansari, 2018).
Personal interest is generally developed among individuals through their successes in academic, cultural, or sports activities. Researches believed that until the age of 10, children live in a dreamland with regards to their career determination. This adolescence dream includes a false willingness to investigate the implications and potential outcomes of their target profession. At this stage, they regularly change career plans without considering their abilities, instructive foundation, necessities and financial variables. The study further suggested that youths between 11 to 17 years are speculative about career selection, job fundamentals and their identity. The third and final stage is The literature establishes the positive relationship between self-efficacy, family, gender, personal interest, and career choices. Peer pressure, role models, and economical support are three sub-factors that influence the career choices of individuals. Role models influence career choices of individuals by misleading them. Sometimes, instead of inspiring the individuals, role models craft an illusory world making an individual unaware of its real potential. Studies above have revealed that parents give inspiration, consent, emotional and financial aid to support career dreams of their children. Family and peers persuade an individual to opt for a career that is socially respectable and generate good monetary returns. Career streams that involve experimentation and struggle are generally unacceptable by the parents. In some cases, children are aware of the fact that their career is their parent's aspiration and thus never express their personal choices before their parents. Students prefer to choose career streams that require low investment in education and generate a comparatively high income after graduation.
Krau (2009) proposes that over a period of time due to influence of internet, the role of family and parents is diminishing. But there are other studies that reveal that family is still a key influencer for career choice among undergraduate students (NJERI, 2013).

Other Influencers
Berndt (1990) studied the influencing role of the best friend on individuals career choices. Many youngsters pursue unfitting careers due to peer pressure (Salami,1999). Another study also discusses as to how peer influence leads to decisions to impress friends and not add personal value (NJERI, 2013). ' Before enrolling in any programme the expenditure and fees of the course is a factor considered a lengths. Boudarbat and Montmarquette (2009) in their research found that monetary value is the dominant factor that influences any individuals 'career choices. It suggests that students usually weigh the earnings they would make post the degree being scrutinised along with searching for degrees with higher earnings by the students who have held a profession. In addition, males have been found to favour careers attaches with prestige, whereas females considered family opinions and even working conditions. Likely, a study conducted in South Africa indicates that a majority of individuals are swayed by prestige attached by the field of work and the standard of living that it provides (Agarwala, 2008).
Previous studies have looked at factors that influence career areas such as medicine, science, technology and have not reflected on emerging and unconventional career options in India like -media as a career. Hence, this research aims to fill the gap by studying the motivations and influencers for students who have sought media as their careers.

Research Questions
What motivates students choose media as a career at undergraduate level? The research questions include: - What are the predictors of choice, including demographics, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations?
-What is the role of individual interest?
-What are the roles of family, peer, alumni, role models in choice of media viz journalism, advertising, public relations, audiovisual communications as a career choice?
A multimethod exploratory approach for developing measurement was used and collecting data included in-depth discussions students, faculty and industry experts. The motivational and demotivational factors that influence students to take up media courses were found out using the survey method.

Target respondents: First year undergraduate students enrolled any University in India
Research Instruments: 1. In-depth online discussions with students (n=15) and faculty and industry experts (n=10) were conducted to understand the motivations and influencing factors. The students for in-depth discussions were selected to represent students various top three media colleges (5 students each from 3 colleges) in India and equal representation of male and female students. The faculty members (n=3) chosen were from the same college as the students selected for the discussion. Industry experts (n=7) with at least ten years of experience in the media industry, from four major media career fields viz advertising, public relations, audio-visual communications and journalism were interviewed. Based on the literature review and in-depth online discussions with the students and experts, was used to arrive at the various factors affecting the career choice.

A structured questionnaire was created based on factors affecting the career choice and Entrepreneurial
Intention Questionnaire (Linan and Chen, 2009).
A convenience-based snowball technique ensured access due to non-availability of students due to CoVID 19. Total 404 students were contacted through online questionnaire (google forms). Media and Non-media students 'sample was controlled to ensure comparison and equal representation of 202 each respectively.
Pertinent demographic variables (gender, age, broad career interest) were captured along with specific sections for intrinsic and extrinsic motivations was sought for evaluation. The Cronbach alpha was 0.811.

Data analysis
In-depth personal interviews and discussions The discussions were pooled together and reflected in the following quotes: Students: "We are self-driven".
"We want to do something differently", "We do what we want, not what others want" "Most of the times our parents don't want us to choose media as a career" "Media fascinates us" "We are unique, creative communicators" "We are passionate and rather like to follow our dreams to make it big in this industry one day" "Our hard work will help us reap benefits. Money is not the only benefit we see" Faculty and Experts: "Girls prefer to join media colleges more than boys" "Parents are wary about letting their child join media college" "Passion, Patience and Performance decides who survives in the media industry" "Media students who join us are young and passionate go-getters" "It takes time to reap the benefits monetarily in the media industry" "Long, odd and gruelling hours of work, and disproportionate returns" "Media industry is not very organized, at times unsafe" The summary of factors included for the study were: • Passion and Self Interest • Need for Uniqueness

• Friends & Peers
• Role Models • Preference of media (Male Vs Female)

Data Analysis
The results showed that out of 202 media respondents, 86 (42%) were male, while 116 (64%) were female. Out of all the respondents, the broad educational interest was 27% towards advertising, 24% towards journalism, 28% towards audio-visuals, and 21% towards public relations respectively. Though this was not controlled, the broad education helped to analyse the motivations effectively

Hypothesis
HO 1. There is a significant positive relationship between self-efficacy and choice of media as a career.
HO 2. There is a significant positive relationship between parental influence and choice of media as a career.
HO 3. There is a significant positive relationship between passion / interests and choice of media as a career.
HO 4. There is a significant positive relationship between role models/ peer mentoring and choice of media as a career.
HO 5. There is a significant positive relationship between outcome expectations/ economic considerations and media career choice.
HO 6. There is a significant association between Gender and choice of media as a career To test hypothesis, Pearson Product Movement correlation and regression was used.
To study correlation between Media as a career choice and self-efficacy, parental influence, passion/interests, role models/peer mentoring and outcome expectations/economic considerations, Pearson Product movement correlation was used and result is below:  Table 1 shows correlation between Media as a career choice and self-efficacy, parental influence, passion/interests, role models/peer mentoring and outcome expectations/economic considerations. There is a significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and media as a career (r (398) = 0.283, p>0.01). It means students who have higher self-efficacy choose media as a career.
There is a significant negative correlation between parental influence and media as a career (r (398) = -0.175, p>0.01). It means students choice media as a career against parental influence.
There is a significant positive correlation between students ' passion/interests and media as a career (r (398) = 0.200, p>0.01). It means students who have higher passion/interests, they choice media as a career. The third hypothesis is accepted There is not significant correlation between role models/peer mentoring influence and media as a career (r (398) = 0.071, p<0.05). It means student's choice media as a career is not related with role models/peer mentoring influence.
There exists non-significant correlation between students 'outcome expectations/ economic considerations and media as a career (r (398) = -0.075, p<0.05). It means that the students 'choice media as a career is not related with their outcome expectations/ economic considerations.
Regression Analysis: To study, whether self-efficacy, parental influence, passion/interests, role models/ peer mentoring and outcome expectations/ economic considerations significantly Predict choice of media as a career, Regression was used  Table 2 shows self-efficacy, parental influence, passion/interests, role models/peer mentoring and outcome expectations/economic considerations as Predictor of choice of media as a career. There is a significant positive correlation between self-efficacy and media as a career (r (398) = 0.283, p>0.01). Self-efficacy significantly positively predicts choice of media as a career (Beta=0.283, p>0.01). It means students who have higher self-efficacy, they choice media as a career. Students ' efficacies explain positive 8% of variance in choice media as a career. The first hypothesis is accepted There is a significant negative correlation between parental influence and choice of media as a career (r (398) = -0.175, p>0.01). Parental influence significantly negatively predict choice of media as a career (Beta=-0.175, p>0.01). It means students choice media as a career against parental influence. Parental influence explains negative 3% of variance in choice media as a career. The second hypothesis is rejected.
There is a significant positive correlation between students ' passion/interests and media as a career (r (398) = 0.200, p>0.01). Students ' passion/interests significantly positive predict choice of media as a career (Beta=0.200, p>0.01). It means students who have higher passion/interests, they choice media as a career. Students 'passion / interests explain positive 4% of variance in choice media as a career. The third hypothesis is accepted.
There is no significant correlation between role models/peer mentoring and media as a career (r (398) = 0.071, p<0.05). Role models/peer mentoring doesn't significantly predict choice of media as a career (Beta=0.071, p>0.01). It means student's choice media as a career is not influenced by role models/peer mentoring influence. There is no significant positive correlation between outcome expectations/economic considerations and media as a career (r (398) = -0.075, p<0.05). Students 'outcome expectations/economic considerations don't significantly predict choice of media as a career (Beta= -0.075, p<0.05). It means student's outcome expectations/ economic considerations are not influenced by role models/ peer mentoring influence. Thus, the fourth and the fifth hypothesis is rejected To study whether there is a significant Association between Gender and choice of media as a career, Chi-square (X 2 ) test was used and the result is below:  Table No. 3 shows that association between gender and choice of media as a career. There is a significant association between gender and choice of media as a career (X 2 (1) = 12.13, p>0.01). It means female students prefer more media as a career as compare to male students.

Figure 1. Association between gender and choice of media as a career
Figure shows that female students prefer more media as a career as compare to male students. Thus, the sixth hypothesis is accepted. There is a significant association between Gender and choice of media as a career. Based on the analysis, the key findings are: 1. Media as a career is opted for by students with higher self-efficacy.
2. Students choose media as a career against parental influence.
3. Passion and interests direct students to choose media as a career.
4. Student's choice of media as a career is neither influenced by role models/peer mentoring influence nor the student's outcome expectations/economic considerations.
5. Female students prefer media as a career as compared to male students.

Discussions, Limitation, and Future Direction
Major motivational factors behind selecting media as a career choice at an undergraduate level are self-efficacy, interest, and passion. Interestingly, parents don't have a positive influence on the choice of media as a career; which leads to this career being labelled as a 'rebel-choice'. By understanding media students' motivational factors, efforts should be made by universities and professionals to help change the opinions of parents and thereby support the young minds to pursue their dreams, preserve their motivations and ultimately help contribute in producing bright and responsible media professionals in a developing country like India.
The present research also throws light on the factors blocking young students' preference for media as a profession. The role of responsible media professionals in the much-needed changes in our society is well deliberated upon but not given enough economic considerations or returns to attract the best talent.
Discussions with professionals indicate that a major negative perception exists towards media as a career due to long, odd and gruelling hours of work apart from unsafe working conditions and disproportionate returns. The perception of the media as a glamorous profession is favoured for families of students with good financial stability. To summarise, results from this study can serve as a guide for educators in designing parents counseling programmes, parent-student pre-admission meetings to set realistic expectations, and also plan industry tie-ups to improve economic returns. Working towards making the media industry more organised and professional will also work to improve perceptions. The media groups may also consider undertaking an image-building campaign to improve beliefs and attitudes towards media as a career. The government and professional organisations should work to improve monetary rewards and thereby attract talent as well as encourage gender diversity and balance in the industry. Limitations of this present study include a limited number of study participants, especially parents. Also, the study represents the factors that influenced students to join a programme in media studies at the undergraduate level. How the influence of these motivational factors leads to either continuing with media as a career, entrepreneurship, or change of profession based on higher studies needs to be studied. The sample selection and study do not consider if the respondent had prior undergraduate education or was a drop-out from a non-media sector. Initial career chosen due to parental pressure leading the student to move over to a career in accordance with her/his passion and interest is an interesting angle for further study. The reasons behind discouraging a male child but allowing a female child in-spite of the prevailing negative perception towards the media are not probed in this study. Although the enrolment of females is higher; the number of females in the Indian media industry is less as compared to males. Why does one see this stark contrast in academic enrolment and the presence of women in the industry? These factors can aid educational policymakers, academicians, and researchers to develop strategies to encourage students to choose a career in media. A study to compare the results of choosing media as a career in other developed countries could also help to get insights. Despite the above limitations, this research throws, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a fresh light to comprehend the factors that influence a student's decision to take up media as a career in India.