I can, I love to and I will do: the career choice intentions of individuals who have been incarcerated for drug trafficking offences, Thailand

This study develops and tests a model of the emergence of self-and wage-employment intentions post-prison and explores a pathway explaining the relationship between injunctive normative beliefs, control beliefs (career decision self-efficacy, internal locus of control, self-employment job search self-efficacy, and wage-employment job search self-efficacy), desire for autonomy in work setting, and self-employment intention as well as wage-employment intention. Survey data from 161 released Thai drug trafficking offenders support a significant relationship between perceived social disapproval to wage-employment (injunctive normative beliefs) and self-employment intention post-prison. Our data support the mediation and the moderation pathway. Self-employment job search self-efficacy mediated relationship between career decision self-efficacy and self-employment intention, and between internal locus of control and self-employment intention. Wage-employment job search self-efficacy mediated relationship between career decision self-efficacy and wage-employment intention, and between internal locus of control and wage-employment intention. Furthermore, internal locus of control was more positively related to self-employment intention when desire for autonomy in the work setting is high than when it is low. In conclusion, the research framework is theoretically based and empirically verified model that can explain the motivational components of post-prison self and wage-employment intentions. Contributions of this study are: 1) the theory of planned behaviour could guide a theoretical foundation for designing research model and structured survey instrument for the investigation of the formation of self and wage-employment intentions post-prison. ; 2) the research model help explain the cognitive mechanisms underlying the relationship between self and wage-employment intentions post-prison and their determinants. ; 3) the findings could be contributed to the literature on the perception of behavioural control and intentions from context of post-prison employment. ; 4) the knowledge from this current study provides an empirical reference for the mechanisms of personal agency and offender employment re-entry targeting released Thai drug trafficking offenders in Thailand.