Examining career persistence and career change intent using the career attitudes and strategies inventory

This is the first study to examine Holland and Gottfredson’s [Holland, J. L., & Gottfredson, G. D. (1994). Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory: An inventory for understanding adult careers. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.] assertion that the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI) is a useful instrument for differentiating career persisters and career changers. Based on Holland’s (1996; Holland and Gottfredson) [Holland, J. L. (1996). Exploring careers with a typology: What we have learned and some new directions. American Psychologist, 51, 397-406.] expectations and empirical evidence it was hypothesized that persisters (expressed intent to remain in current career) would score higher than changers (expressed intent to change career) on the Job Satisfaction, Work Involvement, Skill Development, and Geographical Barriers scales comprising the CASI. Conversely, it was hypothesized that changers would score higher than persisters on the CASI scales measuring Dominant Style, Career Worries, Interpersonal Abuse, Family Commitment, and Risk-Taking Style. To test these hypotheses, 249 career persisters and 200 career changers completed the CASI. Results indicated that changers were more likely to take risks and were more motivated towards skill development, while persisters were more satisfied in their jobs and reported greater career concerns.     

A typology of mid-life career changers

This study examines the motivations for and the outcomes of mid-life career change among a sample of 73 men who had left professional and managerial careers between the ages of 34 and 54. Measures of personal desire for change and external pressure to leave were dichotomized to produce a typology of career changers: Drift-outs, Opt-outs, Force-outs, and Bow-outs. The four types of changers were found to differ on a number of variables, including: amount of education completed, additional schooling undertaken to change careers, time taken to make the change, radicalness of change, and the importance of personal values in deciding to leave their former careers. Overall, respondents were found to be highly satisfied with their career redirection.     

Relation of interest and self-efficacy occupational congruence and career choice certainty

A sample of 2145 adults completed the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI) as well as indicating their occupational choice and the certainty of this choice. The PGI yielded interest and self-efficacy scores and these were used with the occupational choice to calculate a congruence score for interests and one for efficacy. The prediction of career certainty by each congruence measure and their interaction was examined using hierarchical regression. The results indicated that while both interest and efficacy congruence were related to career certainty, efficacy congruence did not add to prediction above that obtained using interests congruence alone, however there was a substantial interaction. The agreement of interest congruence and efficacy congruence was related to a strong positive relation between congruence and certainty; whereas low agreement between interest and efficacy congruence was related to a non-significant relation between congruence and certainty. The results demonstrate the need to focus on both interest and efficacy and their agreement in our assessments and interventions.     

Critical consciousness and career development among urban youth

This study explored the role of critical consciousness as a key factor in predicting progress in career development among urban high school students. Critical consciousness, or the capacity to recognize and overcome sociopolitical barriers, was operationalized through sociopolitical analysis and sociopolitical control. Canonical correlation analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship between critical consciousness and progress in career development, which was supported by estimates of effect size, for a sample of 220 urban adolescents. Participants with greater levels of critical consciousness had greater clarity regarding their vocational identity, were more committed to their future careers, and viewed work as a larger part of their future lives. These results suggest that urban adolescents may best engage the career development process by maintaining a critical awareness of sociopolitical inequity and situating their individual agency within this critical “reading” of the opportunity structure.     

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.     

The role of narrative in career construction theory

Career construction theory (CCT) (Savickas, 2005) approaches career counseling and career development from a constructivist and narrative perspective. As career theories move towards incorporating holistic approaches that take into consideration individuals' subjective experiences, narrative theory offers a means to draw out and clarify this story. Career construction theory, effectively integrates narrative and career conceptualizations to holistically create clarity in understanding what, how, and why individuals author their lives and careers in order to help individuals develop a cohesive identity, adapt within their environment, and construct the next chapter of their career story.     

Toward a taxonomy of career studies through bibliometric visualization

One of the greatest strengths and liabilities of the career field is its diversity. This diversity allows for wide coverage of relevant career dynamics across the lifespan and across levels of analysis. However, this diversity also reflects fragmentation, with career scholars failing to appreciate how the insights from other thought worlds can advance their own work. Using advanced bibliometric mapping techniques, we provide a systematic review of the 3141 articles on careers published in the management literature between 1990 and 2012. In doing so, we (1) map key terms to create a systematic taxonomy of career studies within the field of management studies, (2) provide a synthetic overview of each topic cluster which extends prior reviews of more limited scope, and (3) identify the most highly influential studies on careers within each cluster. Specifically, six local clusters emerged — i.e., international careers, career management, career choice, career adaptation, individual and relational career success, and life opportunities. To classify a broad range of research opportunities for career scholars, we also create a “global” map of 16,146 career articles from across the social sciences. Specifically, six global clusters emerged — i.e., organizational, individual, education, doctorate careers, high-profile careers, and social policy. We describe and compare the clusters in the map with an emphasis on those avenues career scholars in management have yet to explore.     

Job loss as a blessing in disguise: The role of career exploration and career planning in predicting reemployment quality

Job loss is one of the most difficult work related situations that an individual may encounter. Yet, sometimes job loss may also turn into a blessing in disguise. Combining the careers literature with the literature on unemployment, the current paper addresses potential positive outcomes of job loss by focusing on specific career adaptability activities that individuals can undertake to obtain these outcomes. Three hundred and four unemployed outplacement attendees reported their use of self and environmental career exploration and career planning, as well as of job search (general and networking) and the availability of two resources that may foster these activities, general self-efficacy and social support. Six months later, 215 individuals reported their current reemployment status and, when applicable, the quality of that reemployment. Results replicate the positive effects of job search on finding reemployment but moreover outline the relevance of career planning and exploration during unemployment on ensuring the quality of this reemployment. Theoretical implications and directions for practice and future research are discussed.     

Video game preferences and their relation to career interests

The current study used an mTURK sample to determine if there is a relation between video game preferences and career interests. Previous research has found that individual (e.g., personality) differences influence gaming preferences (Zammitto, 2001) and we sought to extend these findings to the domain of career interests. In addition, we examined the potential moderating role of gender. Since researchers have found that gender disparities in spatial attention can be reduced by playing certain types of video games (Feng, Spence, & Pratt, 2007), and it has been demonstrated that spatial ability is an important predictor of success in careers where women are typically underrepresented (Blickenstaff, 2005), we predicted that women with a preference for these types of games (versus a general preference) may have more interest in these careers. We found that gaming motivations were differentially associated with career interests. In addition, gender was found to significantly moderate a number of these relations, such that the association between gaming tendencies and career interests was stronger for women than for men. Findings from the current study should help guide future research that aims to increase the representation of women in STEM careers.     

Images of career: Nine key metaphors

This article examines theorists', practitioners', and workers' extensive use of metaphors in the conceptualization of careers. Metaphor constrains career thinking to powerful stereotypes, yet also extends views through the consideration of alternative metaphors and the creation of new ones. Morgan's (1986) method of multiple metaphor is used to develop an eclectic view of career studies. Nine key metaphors for career are considered—the career as inheritance, construction, cycle, matching, journey, encounters and relationships, roles, resource, and story. These metaphors act as frameworks for much career theory, and each presents specific career issues. Together they have the potential to advance thinking about careers beyond the framing of familiar metaphors, and provide a broader and more inclusive understanding of career phenomena.     

A survival analysis of the impact of boundary crossings on managerial career advancement up to midcareer

Although managers and professionals still compete in a career tournament for advancement and pay, the career boundaries that they cross in order to compete have changed. Traditionally, such individuals came up through the ranks within the same company by specializing in one functional area and changing, as needed, the geographic location of work in order to advance their careers. However, in the current era of less constrained, boundary-crossing careers, they are more apt to cross several boundaries, including functional, organizational, geographic, and family, as they pursue career opportunities. Using survival analysis with data from the career histories of 760 managers and professionals who collectively made 3917 moves up to midcareer, we examined the impact of the rate of crossing each boundary on the subsequent likelihood of advancement. In addition, over this span of career, we examined the extent to which more rapid advancement contributed to the rate of growth in annual salary. Our findings suggest that crossing functional, organizational, and geographic boundaries more often significantly increased the likelihood of advancement, whereas the duration of family boundary crossings had a negative impact. Moreover, as expected, advancement had a long-term impact on salary growth.     

The effect of self‐regulated decision making on career path and major‐related career choice satisfaction

The present research examined the influence of self‐regulated decision making on satisfaction in career path (college major for Study 1, job for Study 2) and major‐related career choice. Results indicate a full mediating effect of fit in the relationship between self‐regulated decision making and satisfaction in career path. Self‐regulated decision making also influenced major–job congruence via satisfaction with a participant's college major. Findings suggest that individuals who possess self‐regulatory ability in decision‐making contexts were more likely to choose majors and jobs of good fit, experience satisfaction from their career decisions, and choose careers relevant to their college majors.     

Action regulation theory and career self-management

Much of the responsibility for managing careers is shifting from employers to adaptive and proactive employees. A career management intervention based on action regulation theory trained 205 white collar employees to engage actively in their own career building by increasing their self-knowledge, career goal commitment, and career plan quality. As hypothesized, these three variables were positively related to subsequent career self-management behaviors, which led both directly and indirectly to career satisfaction almost 10 months after the intervention. Self-management career interventions based within an employing organization appear feasible.     

Elite athletic career as a context for life design

Against a theoretical backdrop of narrative career construction, this article argues for the cultural constitution of life-designing processes in and through sport. A narrative case study approach is used to explore the culturally infused, gendered construction of elite athletic careers from the life story perspective. One Finnish, male, professional hockey player (age 29) and one Baltic, female, amateur orienteer (age 27) participated in a series of three individual interviews, generating approximately five interview hours per athlete. Both participants drew upon the performance narrative plot of an exemplary athletic career to make sense of their sporting experiences, life choices, and career behaviors. Further analysis of gendered career narrations in the context of participants' lives extended contextualized understandings of career practices, discursive resources and cultural constraints of the life design at a particular socio-historical juncture. The present study elucidates the complex social, cultural, and gendered underpinnings of athletic career, as well as the ways in which agentic individuals create novel meanings in bringing authenticity to their life through the athletic pursuit.     

The effect of client attachment style and counselor functioning on career exploration

This longitudinal research investigated the interactive effect of social attachment style and perceived-counselor behavior on exploratory behavior exhibited by clients during and after career counseling. Results from 96 clients in career counseling indicated that social confidence and comfort, and the perception that the counselor had created social comfort and personal security, enhanced the range and effectiveness of career exploration by the client. The counselor’s functioning as a “secure base” moderated the association between clients’ avoidance and anxiety attachment style and their career exploration. Specifically, when the clients who were high in social avoidance or in social anxiety perceived-counselors as providing an atmosphere in which they feel secure, they engaged in career exploration far more than similar clients who did not perceive their counselor as a secure base.     

Career adaptability as a mediator between personality and career engagement

The current study examined the role of career adaptability as a mediator between personality dimensions and career engagement. This investigation was conducted using a sample of university students (N = 201) who completed the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire, the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Persian Form, and the Career Engagement Scale. Career adaptability dimensions related positively with activity, negatively with neuroticism, and positively with career engagement. The results indicated that career adaptability dimensions partially mediated the relationships between activity (work compulsion, general activity, restlessness, and work energy) and career engagement, whereas they were a full mediator between neuroticism (anxiety, depression, dependency, and low self-esteem) and career engagement. Among career adaptability dimensions, curiosity fully mediated the effect of sensation seeking on career engagement. These findings suggest that career adaptability is a dynamic mechanism that helps to regulate the relationship between specific dispositional traits and career adapting behaviors.     

Perceived career congruence between adolescents and their parents as a moderator between goal orientation and career aspirations

We surveyed 601 Indonesian high school students (57.6% girls, mean age = 16.4 years) and investigated whether perceived career congruence between adolescents and their parents served as moderator between goal orientation (i.e., mastery-approach, performance-approach, and performance-avoid) and career aspirations. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceived congruence moderated the effects of mastery-approach and performance-approach, but not performance-avoid, on career aspirations. Mastery-approach orientation was more strongly related to career aspirations when perceived congruence was higher; whereas, performance-prove orientation was more weakly related when perceived congruence was higher. These findings highlight important roles for approach orientations and perceived career congruence between adolescents and their parents in career aspirations of adolescents in collectivist contexts.     

Entry and exit as embodied career choice in professional sport

The concept of an embodied career draws attention to the individual, corporally, socially, culturally and institutionally located in relationship with work. Career theories have tended to focus on psychological and social variables and measurements that narrow understanding of contexts and agency. It is thus timely to consider a more holistic approach to understanding contemporary careers as embodied processes. The paper works on three levels; first as an empirical illustration of professional sports careers as short-term careers, second as an application of Bourdieu's habitus to understand the relationship between social fields and accounts of career choice and, third in order to draw parallels with the embodied nature of work in a more general sense. Utilising empirical material from a study of elite UK professional rugby players, it is argued that understanding an embodied-career resonates with present concerns regarding career patterns of short-term contracts, which require the individual to be committed, flexible and adaptable, be prepared for exit, and yet remain immersed and dedicated to the current sphere of employment. It is proposed that this kind of immersion requires alternatives to be, temporarily at least, silenced and in this context renders the accrual of bodily capital as fit, but only temporarily fit for purpose.     

Comparison of women engineers who persist in or depart from engineering

The current research examined differences between women engineers who persisted in an engineering career versus those who left engineering using a combination of two prominent theories of career change: social cognitive career theory (SCCT, Lent, Brown & Hackett, 1994; 2002) and integrated model of career change (Rhodes & Doering, 1983). The two groups of women did not differ in three domains of self-confidence or outcome expectations (engineering tasks, navigating organizational climate, or multiple roles), in vocational interests, or in workplace barriers. Women who continue in engineering do differ from those who leave in their experience of workplace supports and their levels of occupational commitment. Engineering turnover intentions and occupational commitment emerged as the two key variables that explained 33.4% of the variance in persistence in engineering careers. We discuss the implications of the results in terms of theoretical development and practical implications for organizations.