The role of thinking styles in career decision-making self-efficacy among university students

•Type I thinking styles were positively related to career decision-making self-efficacy.•Type I thinking styles are value-laden.•The threefold model of styles is supported.

Intellectual style refers to people’s preferred ways of processing information and dealing with tasks. A major controversial issue in the field of styles is whether or not styles are value-laden. Anchored in Sternberg (1997) theory of thinking styles (one model of intellectual styles), this study addressed this issue by examining the role of thinking styles in career decision-making self-efficacy. Nine hundred and twenty-six university students responded to a questionnaire consisting of the Thinking Style Inventory-Revised II, the Career Decision-making Self-efficacy Scale-Short Form, and a demographic sheet. Results indicated that creativity-generating (Type I) thinking styles played a positive role in students’ career decision-making self-efficacy. Furthermore, no significant relationship was found between norm-conforming (Type II) thinking styles and career decision-making self-efficacy. The findings contribute to the discussion of the issue over style value and have implications for facilitating students’ career maturity in higher education.