The development and factor structure of a career locus of control scale for use with school pupils

This article describes the development and psychometric assessment of a multidimensional, domain-specific Career Locus of Control Scale (CLOC) designed for use with adolescent school pupils engaged in the career development and decision-making process. A 47-item version was administered to 743 school pupils, age 15 or 16 years evenly split between males and females (54% male). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop a 20-item scale that represented expectations related to Internality, Luck, Helplessness, and Powerful Others. Estimates of internal reliability of the subscales were high, and scale scores correlated significantly with measures of generalized locus of control and career decision self-efficacy. Overall, the CLOC scale demonstrated promising psychometric properties such that further research appears warranted and required.