The relationship between career adaptability, person and situation variables, and career concerns in young adults

We surveyed 245 first-year university students using measures of career concerns, career adaptability (career planning, career exploration, self-exploration, decision-making, self-regulation), goal-orientation (learning, performance-prove, performance-avoid) and social support (family, friends, significant others), and tested: (a) whether the career adaptability variables could be represented by a second-order factor of career adaptability; (b) whether career adaptability, goal-orientation and social support were associated with fewer career concerns; and (c) whether career adaptability mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and social support and career concerns. The study demonstrated that the career adaptability variables were inter-related and could be represented by a higher-order factor. Decision-making and self-exploration were negatively associated with career concerns, and decision-making mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and career concerns. Having more of a learning orientation was associated with more decision-making and fewer career concerns, whereas holding a performance-prove orientation was associated with poorer decision-making and more career concerns.     

Adversity quotients,environmental variables and career adaptability in student nurses

The cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the career adaptability and its associated factors among 431 student nurses. Participants completed questionnaires on demographics, career adaptability, adversity quotient, clinical learning environment and social support. Findings revealed that student nurses' adversity quotients, individualized clinical learning environment, and family social support associated positively with their degree of career adaptability, even after multiple adjustments. Additionally, career adaptability scores were higher among associate degree student nurses and those who had served as student leaders. These findings may provide referable evidence for schools and educators to improve student nurses' career adaptability.     

The role of career adaptability in predicting entrepreneurial intentions: A moderated mediation model

Guided by the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013), we view entrepreneurship as an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory capacity to thrive in a complex entrepreneurial career context. Our research model posited that individuals rely on their adaptive resources and entrepreneurial self-efficacy as they form entrepreneurial intentions. Career adaptability, as self-regulatory competencies, is further strengthened by prior exposure to family business. We collected data over three measurement periods from Serbian business students (n = 380) and validated the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). The moderated mediation model was supported and as predicted: (a) career adaptability was positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions and (b) the mediated relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intentions via entrepreneurial self-efficacy was stronger for individuals with prior exposure to family business. In addition, we provide evidence for the psychometric properties of CAAS by examining its internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and factor structure. Taken together, our study offers the groundwork for understanding successful adaptation in the entrepreneurial career context and supports the cross-national measurement equivalence and utility of CAAS in a developing economy.     

Personal and situational variables that describe coping with acute stress in competitive sport

The authors examined the degree to which competitive basketball players in Australia were consistent in their cognitive appraisals and coping strategies in response to 4 types of stressful situations that they had experienced during previous basketball games as functions of perceived stress intensity. The authors predicted that both approach and avoidance coping strategies would be dependent on the type of stressful event, in accord with the transactional model. The results supported that prediction: Approach strategies were more prevalent than avoidance strategies following 3 of the 4 events. Cognitive appraisals and perceived stress intensity also strongly influenced the participants' use of coping strategies, accounting for 34% of the variance.     

Secondary school curriculum and career behavior in young adults

As part of a larger longitudinal study of the effects of secondary school characteristics on career behavior in young adulthood, this paper presents findings obtained from 1007 males and females who graduated from high school in academic or vocational curricula 6 or 8 years ago. Criterion behavior included the completion of career development tasks in the exploration and establishment life stages as measured by the Adult Form of the Career Development Inventory, certainty about immediate occupational plans, and satisfaction with occupational goals and progress toward meeting them. Significant differences were found in the pattern of career development by curriculum but not by sex, in certainty by curriculum and sex, and in satisfaction by neither curriculum nor sex. The implications for a stage theory of career development are discussed.     

Racial ideology in predicting social cognitive career variables for Black undergraduates

This exploratory study expanded Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) by incorporating the personal variable of racial ideology (Sellers, Rowley, Chavous, Shelton, & Smith, 1997). The association of racial ideology (i.e., nationalist, humanist, assimilationist, and oppressed minority) to self-efficacy variables, outcome expectations, career interests, and perceived career barriers was examined for 141 Black undergraduates enrolled at a historically Black university. Regression analyses evidenced support for two of the four racial ideologies (nationalist and assimilationist), both independently and in combination, in predicting career self-efficacy, outcome expectations, career interests, and perceived career barriers. Support was also found for the general applicability of SCCT with Black undergraduates at a historically Black university in that interests were most predictive of career consideration. Future research directions applied to the SCCT model are discussed and practice implications for Black college students are considered.     

The effect of a career adaptability psycho-educational programme on coping with career indecision and career adaptability: A pilot study

This study aimed to examine the effects of a career construction theory-oriented Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme on career adaptability and coping with career indecision in Turkish high school students. Twenty-six participants took part in the experimental design. A split-plot (mixed) design of 2 × 3 (experimental/control groups X pretest/posttest/follow-up test) was used. It was found that the Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme has a significant effect on coping with career indecision and career adaptability; the same effect was found for the follow-up measures completed 4 months later.     

Effects of psychosocial and situational variables on substance abuse among homeless adults

Finding direct and indirect influences of salient psychosocial and situational variables on problem substance use among homeless people is important in designing evidence-based, effective, and relevant interventions for this special population. A stress-coping paradigm in conjunction with situational items specialized for homeless people was used to explore predictive relationships in a sample of homeless adults (N = 664) among (a) psychosocial variables of self-esteem, social support, positive and negative coping, and emotional distress, (b) situational variables of homelessness history and quality of recent housing, and (c) outcomes of alcohol use, injection drug use (IDU), and non-IDU. Lower self-esteem predicted greater emotional distress, lower positive coping, greater negative coping, and more alcohol use. Social support predicted less emotional distress and more positive coping. Chronic homelessness predicted more emotional distress, less positive coping, greater alcohol use, and IDU. Poor housing was associated with more alcohol use and IDU. Substance abuse interventions among the homeless should have a dual focus that includes attention to psychological issues and negative coping patterns while also addressing situational, environmental factors, including encouraging provision of permanent supportive housing.     

Expatriate career intentions: Links to career adaptability and cultural intelligence

Given the increasing rate of global mobility, it is important to have a greater understanding of the factors that influence intentions for expatriate careers. Guided by the Career Construction Theory and Intelligence Theory, this study takes the view that self-initiated expatriation as a form of global mobility is an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory capacity to thrive in another country and work to build one's career. This study posits that individuals who want to work overseas rely mainly on their adaptive resources to develop their careers. Additionally, career adaptability, as a self-regulatory competency, is posited to be reinforced by an individual's intercultural capability (i.e., cultural intelligence). To test these assertions, data were collected in a sample of university students (n = 514) in the Philippines, a country reported to have high rates of overseas migration for economic and career-related reasons. Career adaptability was found to be positively and significantly related to overseas career intentions. In addition, cultural intelligence was found to moderate the said relationship. These results offer the groundwork for understanding the earlier stages of expatriate careers and, in particular, how the intention to have a career in another country is developed and influenced by the interaction between the self-regulatory characteristics and intercultural capability of individuals.     

Resilience and career adaptability: Qualitative studies of adult career counseling

Global economic recession is exerting extreme pressures not only on individuals attempting to move into and through labor markets, but also on those providing support for such transitions. Resilience and career adaptability are increasingly relevant, yet despite being present in the literature for some time, these concepts have been under-represented in the vocational psychology literature. This article represents a contribution to redressing this balance by focusing on their potential to make positive contributions both to clients of career counseling and to practitioners delivering these services. Drawing on data from four qualitative studies conducted in England, Norway and the Republic of Ireland from 2003 to 2012, these concepts are examined, together with their complementarity for career counseling practice. The article also discusses the role, status and conduct of qualitative research as well as the importance of the researcher/participant relationship in qualitative research investigations.     

Resilience and career adaptability: Qualitative studies of adult career counseling

Global economic recession is exerting extreme pressures not only on individuals attempting to move into and through labor markets, but also on those providing support for such transitions. Resilience and career adaptability are increasingly relevant, yet despite being present in the literature for some time, these concepts have been under-represented in the vocational psychology literature. This article represents a contribution to redressing this balance by focusing on their potential to make positive contributions both to clients of career counseling and to practitioners delivering these services. Drawing on data from four qualitative studies conducted in England, Norway and the Republic of Ireland from 2003 to 2012, these concepts are examined, together with their complementarity for career counseling practice. The article also discusses the role, status and conduct of qualitative research as well as the importance of the researcher/participant relationship in qualitative research investigations.     

Career adaptability and career entrenchment

Career adaptability constitutes a resource that can help employees to effectively manage career changes and challenges. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between the two higher-order constructs of career adaptability and career entrenchment (i.e., the perceived inability and/or unwillingness to pursue new career opportunities), as well as relationships among the dimensions of career adaptability and career entrenchment. We hypothesized a negative relationship between overall career adaptability and career entrenchment, and more differentiated associations among their dimensions. Data for this study came from 404 employees in Brazil. Results of structural equation modeling showed that overall career adaptability weakly negatively predicted overall career entrenchment (standardized effect = − .13), after controlling for age, gender, education, and job tenure. More differentiated findings emerged at the dimension level. Future research should examine the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the relationship between career adaptability and career entrenchment.     

Personal factors and career adaptability in a call centre work environment: The mediating effects of professional efficacy

The study sought to assess the extent to which professional efficacy mediates the relationship between personal factors and career adaptability in a call centre work setting. The sample consisted of 409 early-career South African call centre workers (black females = 66%; age range 25 to 40). They completed measures of professional efficacy, career adaptability, sense of meaningfulness, and emotional intelligence. The results of the mediational analyses revealed that professional efficacy significantly mediate the personal meaningfulness (sense of coherence) and career adaptability relationship, but not the emotional intelligence-career adaptability relationship. Emotional intelligence independently predicted career adaptability. Call centre agents with professional efficacy are likely to be more work engaged as a result of their sense of meaningfulness and emotional intelligence.     

Ingratiation as an adapting strategy: Its relationship with career adaptability,career sponsorship,and promotability

Guided by the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013), our research model posits that individuals rely on their adaptability resources and implement adapting responses, in the form of ingratiation, to increase their promotability at work. In addition, the indirect relationship between career adaptability and promotability via ingratiation is further strengthened by high career sponsorship. The research model was tested and the translated Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) Thailand form was validated using a cross-sectional survey of 265 subordinate–supervisor dyads. Results demonstrate adequate levels of internal consistency (ɑ = .96) and the factor structure corresponded with prior CAAS international validation. The moderated mediation model was supported and as expected: (a) ingratiation, as an adapting response, mediated the positive relationship between career adaptability and promotability, and (b) the mediated relationship between career adaptability and promotability via ingratiation was stronger for individuals with higher career sponsorship. Taken together, the findings support the cross-national measurement equivalence and utility of CAAS in non-Western and developing countries. More importantly, our study offers the groundwork for understanding adapting responses and the augmenting role of career-specific contextual support.     

Ten years of career success in relation to individual and situational variables from the employee development literature

Individual, situational, and socio-demographic variables from the employee development literature were combined with theory and research on career success in a ten-year study of 289 workers from across many jobs and industries in the workforce. Support for employee development by one's employer ten years prior and a trend of increasing/accumulating support contributed to career success, providing the first long-term confirmation of the value to careers from support for development by employers. Proactive personality had unique effects on success not accounted for by a broad array of other variables, strengthening conclusions from prior research about the predictive value of proactive personality which were based on data not controlling for these variables. Finally, achievement goal orientation influenced success in a unique way via “profile effects:” Goal orientation dimensions interacted to predict success, suggesting simple linear effects (e.g. being more learning-oriented) may be inadequate in explaining career success. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Ten years of career success in relation to individual and situational variables from the employee development literature

Individual, situational, and socio-demographic variables from the employee development literature were combined with theory and research on career success in a ten-year study of 289 workers from across many jobs and industries in the workforce. Support for employee development by one's employer ten years prior and a trend of increasing/accumulating support contributed to career success, providing the first long-term confirmation of the value to careers from support for development by employers. Proactive personality had unique effects on success not accounted for by a broad array of other variables, strengthening conclusions from prior research about the predictive value of proactive personality which were based on data not controlling for these variables. Finally, achievement goal orientation influenced success in a unique way via “profile effects:” Goal orientation dimensions interacted to predict success, suggesting simple linear effects (e.g. being more learning-oriented) may be inadequate in explaining career success. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Daily manifestations of career adaptability: Relationships with job and career outcomes

Most research on career adaptability has examined the construct as an individual differences variable and neglected that it may vary within an individual over a short period of time. In two daily diary studies, the author investigated the relationships of career adaptability and its four dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) to their daily manifestations as well as daily job and career outcomes. Both Study 1 (N = 53) and Study 2 (N = 234) demonstrated substantial within-person variability in employees' behavioral expressions of career adaptability across five work days. Results further showed that daily career adaptability and daily confidence positively predicted daily task and career performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily control positively predicted daily task performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily concern positively predicted daily career performance and satisfaction, and daily curiosity positively predicted daily career satisfaction.     

Career-specific parental behaviors,career exploration and career adaptability: A three-wave investigation among Chinese undergraduates

The current research examined the effects of career-specific parental behaviors (reported by parents at time 1) on Chinese university students' career exploration (reported by students at time 2) and career adaptability (reported by students at time 3). A survey study was conducted among Chinese university graduates (N = 244) and their parents (N = 244). The results supported a mediation model such that a high level of parental support and a low level of parental interference had beneficial effects on Chinese undergraduates' career exploration, which in turn positively predicted their career adaptability. Lack of parental career engagement had a direct negative effect on career adaptability. Significant interaction effects were also found among these three types of parental behaviors such that at a lower level of lack of parental career engagement, the positive effects of parental support, as well as the negative effects of interference on career exploration were stronger. The corresponding moderated mediation models were also supported. These findings carry implications for research on career construction theory and career counseling practices.     

The relationship between spirituality, religiousness, and career adaptability

The present study examined the relationship between spirituality, religiousness, and career adaptability using a sample of undergraduate students (N = 144). We proposed that higher levels of religiousness and spirituality would predict higher levels of career adaptability, defined in this study by career decision self-efficacy and career choice commitment. Results partially confirmed the hypothesis as intrinsic religiousness and spiritual awareness served as significant predictors of career decision self-efficacy. In addition, extrinsic religiousness-personal served as a significant predictor for tendency to foreclose on career choices. The results indicate that individuals who have a strong spiritual relationship with a higher power and are religious due to intrinsic motivation tend to be more confident in their ability to make career decisions and are open to exploring a variety of career options. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed and future research directions are proposed.