Modeling college women's perceptions of elite leadership positions with Social Cognitive Career Theory

The utility of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) for predicting college women's interests and goals for positions of elite leadership was examined with 156 undergraduate women at a public university. They completed measures of elite leadership self-efficacy expectations, outcome expectations, interests, and goals. Results supported SCCT as a theoretical framework for understanding internal factors that may contribute to women's elite leadership interests and goals. Self-efficacy and outcome expectations for elite leadership positions related positively to interests and goals for such positions, and self-efficacy and outcome expectations each contributed unique variance to the prediction of elite leadership interests. Outcome expectations partially mediated the relation between elite leadership self-efficacy and interests, interests partially mediated the relation between elite leadership outcome expectations and goals, and the combination of elite leadership interests and outcome expectations completely mediated the relation between self-efficacy for elite leadership positions and elite leadership goals.     

Narrating career, positioning identity: Career identity as a narrative practice

In contrast to traditional definitions of career identity as an individual construct, this article argues for a discursive approach to career identity as a narrative practice. Career identity is conceptualized as a practice of articulating, performing and negotiating identity positions in narrating career experiences. By using the concept of positioning, this approach situates identities within particular historic, cultural and interactional contexts via the discourses and master narratives that position identity. It also leaves space for individual agency and change via the reflexive capacity of the person to modify and negotiate the competing positions available. The methodological implications are considered, and illustrated with an empirical case analysis. The contribution of the proposed approach is in offering contextualized understandings of actual practices, resources and constraints of identity construction while also allowing for in-depth analyses of the particularities of identity work and possibilities for change in careers.     

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.     

Trait emotional intelligence profiles of students from different university faculties

This study investigated the trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self‐efficacy) profiles of 512 students from five university faculties: technical studies, natural sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities. Using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, it was hypothesised that (a) social sciences would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (b) arts would score higher than technical studies in Emotionality, (c) arts would score lower than technical studies in Self‐control, and (d) there would be an interaction between gender and faculty, whereby female students would score higher than male students within the social sciences only. Several other exploratory comparisons were also performed. Results supported hypotheses (a), (b), and (d), but not hypothesis (c), although the differences were in the predicted direction.     

Job-search strategies and reemployment quality: The impact of career adaptability

Past job-search research has focused on how hard unemployed people search for a job, but we still know little about the strategies that people use during their search and how we can predict the quality of the reemployment found. The first aim of this study was to predict the use of different job-search strategies via job-seekers' career adaptability. The second aim was to examine the impact of different job-search strategies on both the number of job-offers and the quality of the obtained job. In a two-wave study, 248 unemployed people indicated their career adaptability and the job-search strategies that they used. The use of a focused and exploratory strategy contributed to the number of job offers, whereas the use of an exploratory strategy reduced the quality of reemployment 8 months later. Moreover, career decision making and career confidence positively predicted reemployment quality. Implications for reemployment practice and further research are discussed.     

Achievement motivation among urban adolescents: Work hope, autonomy support, and achievement-related beliefs

Drawing upon expectancy value, hope, and self-determination theories, this study explores the contributions of work-based beliefs and autonomy support as predictors of adaptive achievement-related beliefs. Two hundred and one urban high school students who were enrolled in a work-based learning program completed measures of work hope, autonomy support, and achievement beliefs. Results from the full canonical correlation model revealed that work hope, career planning, and autonomy support shared 37.5% of the variance with achievement-related beliefs. Moreover, work hope and teacher autonomy support further contributed unique variance in explaining these beliefs. The findings contribute to the theoretical knowledge base concerning the value of work-based learning in fostering academic motivation among adolescents.     

The cognitive profile of Chinese children with mathematics difficulties

This study examined how four domain-specific skills (arithmetic procedural skills, number fact retrieval, place value concept, and number sense) and two domain-general processing skills (working memory and processing speed) may account for Chinese children’s mathematics learning difficulties. Children with mathematics difficulties (MD) of two age groups (7-8 and 9-11 years) were compared with age-matched typically achieving children. For both age groups, children with MD performed significantly worse than their age-matched controls on all of the domain-specific and domain-general measures. Further analyses revealed that the MD children with literacy difficulties (MD/RD group) performed the worst on all of the measures, whereas the MD-only group was significantly outperformed by the controls on the four domain-specific measures and verbal working memory. Stepwise discriminant analyses showed that both number fact retrieval and place value concept were significant factors differentiating the MD and non-MD children. To conclude, deficits in domain-specific skills, especially those of number fact retrieval and place value understanding, characterize the profile of Chinese children with MD.     

The Effects of Note-Taking and Review on Sensemaking and Ethical Decision Making

The effectiveness of case-based learning in ethics education varies widely regarding how cases are presented. Case process instruction may impact case-based ethics education to promote sensemaking processes, ethical sensemaking strategy use, and ethical decision making (EDM) quality. This study examined two teaching techniques, notes and review, and participants completed note-taking and review activities examining a case-based scenario during an ethics education course. Results suggest that providing case notes in outline form improves sensemaking processes, strategy use, and EDM quality. In addition, combining processes of provided notes and passive review results in incremental, additive performance via certain ethical sensemaking strategies and EDM quality.     

Interests and Leadership among Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether there is a differential relationship in the socialization of children with respect to gender identification when responses of children were examined with respect to race and sex (N = 596 fifth and sixth grade boys and girls). Strong father preference was found to have no effect on the choice a boy will make when choosing between male and female peers, during preadolescence, while a strong mother preference by a girl is related to the sex of the peers she chooses. Preadolescent girls who identify with their mothers chose girls with whom to interact in a variety of activities more frequently than they chose boys. A greater proportion of girls preferred to engage in activities with their mothers than boys preferred to engage in activities with their fathers. No differences were observed between racial groups in terms of girls' choices involving peers. Black boys, however, preferred to engage in activities with opposite-sex rather than same-sex peers to a greater extent than white boys.     

Greed is good? Assessing the relationship between entrepreneurship and subclinical psychopathy

Despite the stereotype of entrepreneurs as corporate psychopaths, there has been little research on the overlap between individual differences in entrepreneurship and subclinical psychopathy. In line with this issue, the current study investigated whether primary and secondary psychopathy are linked to a measure of entrepreneurial tendencies and abilities, as well as entrepreneurial activities and achievements. Participants were 435 working adults. Structural equation models revealed that individual differences in entrepreneurial tendencies and abilities were positively related to primary psychopathy, but unrelated to secondary psychopathy. Secondary psychopathy did not predict entrepreneurial activity; primary psychopathy predicted some entrepreneurial outcomes, albeit modestly, providing partial support for the ‘corporate psychopath’ stereotype. Implications for entrepreneurship research and practice are discussed.