AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEES' WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT MOBILITY OPPORTUNITIES

This study investigated the influence of 1,076 state employees' career stage, family characteristics, job tenure and specialization, and perceptions of job favorability, movement, and career development opportunities on willingness to accept upward, lateral, and downward mobility opportunities. Results indicated that employees in early career stages with little community tenure who perceived a lack of congruence between their current jobs and their "ideal" jobs and expressed little desire to remain in their current jobs were more willing to accept mobility opportunities. Few differences were noted in regression models across different mobility opportunities. Implications for future research regarding employee mobility are discussed.     

Career Counseling With Handicapped Persons

This article presents a comprehensive overview of the career counseling process for handicapped persons, with emphasis on developmental differences, assessment techniques, occupational information and exploration, and job placement techniques.     

Paramodeling Effects in Counselor Training

This study was based on the hypothesis that modeling techniques utilized in counselor training may foster unintended and often undetected behaviors in counseling trainees. Samples of counselor trainees viewed either a series of expert modeling or coping modeling video-tapes. Specifically, it was hypothesized that counselor trainees who viewed expert models would illustrate concommitant or paramodeling phenomena by exhibiting a decrease in anxiety toward participation in a counseling interview. Similarly, it was predicted that those who viewed the coping models would demonstrate paramodeling phenomena by exhibiting an increase in tolerance of ambiguity. Results confirmed the hypotheses across the first sample, the cross-validation sample, and both samples combined. Implications regarding counselor training are discussed.     

HEALTHY, WEALTHY, OR WISE: PREDICTING ACTUAL ACCEPTANCES OF EARLY RETIREMENT INCENTIVES AT THREE POINTS IN TIME

Using a sample of several thousand faculty members and multiple measures of health, wealth, and productivity, this study examines the predictors of actual acceptance of 3 successive early retirement incentive offers. Consistent with previous research, the results here suggest that poorer health, lower salary, and higher pension benefits were significantly related to early retirement decisions. In addition, the results suggest that faculty members who planned on working part time after retirement and who expected there would be no future incentive programs were more likely to accept early retirement offers, while those with higher productivity and with spouses still in the workforce were less likely to do so. Implications for future research on early retirement and for the design of early retirement programs are discussed as well.