As you must have already identified that in power distance hierarchy plays a role, thus it may have implications with your results of it being higher in Croatia that the sample is not favoring equalisation of power. A higher index of masculinity in Germany may indicate a greater competitiveness among the sample for material rewards for success or achievement.

While this article is about intercultural studies, it does offer alternatives to the binaries Hofstede's model through the context of culture-based subjectivity. If this specific article doesn't help it might at least start you down a citation trail to work that does.

Uryu, M., Steffensen, S. V., & Kramsch, C. (2014). The ecology of intercultural interaction: timescales, temporal ranges and identity dynamics. Language Sciences, 41, 41-59.

Your findings are what I would expect, and confirms Hofstede's own findings: https://geert-hofstede.com/croatia.html (select Germany as comparison country).

The reason (according to the Hofstede model):

Power Distance: "the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally." In societies with a high degree of Power Distance members accept a hierarchical order which needs no further justification.

Masculinity: ".. a preference in society for achievement ... and material rewards for success .. Society is more competitive".

Quoted from: https://geert-hofstede.com/national-culture.html

Eastern countries generally display higher power distance being more tied to history and traditions, less individualistic and more collectivistic.  Femininity is associated to  humanistic values, social awareness and responsibility.  On the opposite end, masculine societies are assertive and goal-oriented.

It might be interesting to formulate hypotheses that connect career preferences to cultural background in students in the two countries to test how intensely these indicators manifest themselves in the particular demographic groups.