Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Contributors
CHAPTER 1: Career Development and Counseling: An Introduction
WHY DO PEOPLE WORK?
GRAPPLING WITH PERSONAL AGENCY: DOES IT MAKE
SENSE TO SPEAK OF WORK CHOICE?
WHAT IS A CAREER? WHAT IS CAREER DEVELOPMENT?
WHAT IS CAREER COUNSELING AND HOW IS IT
DISTINCTIVE?
SOME MYTHS AND REALITIES ABOUT CAREER
COUNSELING
WHO DOES CAREER COUNSELING AND WHO STUDIES
WORK BEHAVIOR?
CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND COUNSELING: PAST,
PRESENT, AND FUTURE
THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT FIELD: A HOME FOR
PRACTICE, SCHOLARSHIP, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
SECTION ONE: MAJOR THEORIES AND EMERGING
PERSPECTIVES ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT, CHOICE, AND
ADJUSTMENT
CHAPTER 2: The Theory of Work Adjustment
CORE CONCEPTS OF THE THEORY OF WORK
ADJUSTMENT
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR THE THEORY OF WORK
ADJUSTMENT
APPLICATIONS OF TWA
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 3: Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice and
Adjustment
OVERVIEW OF THE THEORY
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR HOLLAND'S THEORY
APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 4: Life‐Span, Life‐Space Career Theory and
Counseling
BACKGROUND OF THE THEORY
CORE PRINCIPLES
EMPIRICAL SUPPORT
LIFE‐SPAN, LIFE‐SPACE CAREER INTERVENTION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 5: Career Development and Counseling: A Social
Cognitive Framework
OVERVIEW OF SCCT
RESEARCH ON SCCT
APPLYING SCCT TO PRACTICE
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL TAKE‐HOME
MESSAGES
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 6: Career Construction Theory and Counseling Model
CAREER CONSTRUCTION THEORY
THE SOCIAL ACTOR
THE MOTIVATED AGENT
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AUTHOR
SUMMARY OF CAREER CONSTRUCTION THEORY
CAREER CONSTRUCTION COUNSELING MODEL
A CASE STUDY
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 7: Psychology of Working Theory
HISTORY AND INTELLECTUAL ROOTS OF PWT
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING FRAMEWORK: THE
FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING
THEORY
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING LINEAR MODEL
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR PWT
APPLYING PWT TO PRACTICE AND POLICY
CONCLUSION AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 8: Emerging Perspectives: Calling, Meaning, and
Volition
WORK AS A CALLING
MEANINGFUL WORK
WORK VOLITION
CALLING, MEANING, VOLITION, AND CAREER
COUNSELING
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
SECTION TWO: DIVERSITY AND SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS
IN CAREER DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 9: The Role of Gender in Career Development
PERSISTENCE OF OCCUPATIONAL DISPARITIES
FROM WORKPLACE INCIVILITY TO SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
GENDER, SOCIAL CLASS, AND RACE
GENDER ROLE STEREOTYPES
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND
MATHEMATICS (STEM)
FROM WORK AND FAMILY BALANCE TO A WORK–
HOME PERSPECTIVE
UNPAID WORK
GENDER INEQUITIES ASSOCIATED WITH
PARENTHOOD
MEN'S CAREER DEVELOPMENT
GENDER AND CAREER THEORIES
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
CONCLUSION
TAKE‐HOME MESSAGES FOR PRACTITIONERS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 10: The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Career Choice,
Development, and Adjustment
EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL DISPARITIES
CROSS‐CULTURAL VALIDITY OF CAREER THEORIES
CULTURAL FACTORS RELATED TO CAREER
DEVELOPMENT
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 11: Social Class and Poverty: A Renewed Focus in
Career Development
THE DEFINITION PROBLEM
INEQUALITY, DECENT WORK, AND PRECARIOUS
LABOR
RESEARCH ON SOCIAL CLASS AND POVERTY
USING MAJOR CAREER DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
APPLICATION OF CAREER THEORY TO ISSUES OF
SOCIAL CLASS
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL CLASS AND POVERTY
ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT TASKS
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
CAREER COUNSELORS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 12: Career Development of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender Individuals
CAREER THEORIES
USING CAREER ASSESSMENT TOOLS
TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 13: The Career Development of Youth and Young
Adults with Disabilities
BARRIERS TO WORK
LEGISLATION AND DISABILITY
CAREER THEORIES AND THEIR APPLICABILITY FOR
YOUTH WITH DISABILITIES
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 14: Career Development of Older Workers and
Retirees
THE LATE CAREER IN VOCATIONAL AND
COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH
DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE LATE
CAREER PERIOD OF LIFE
SUCCESSFUL AGING AT WORK
TRANSITION TO RETIREMENT AS A LATE CAREER
PHASE
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
SECTION THREE: ASSESSMENT AND OCCUPATIONAL
INFORMATION
CHAPTER 15: Nature, Importance, and Assessment of Interests
INTERESTS AND VOCATIONAL THEORIES
INTERESTS, PERSONALITY, AND ABILITIES
STABILITY OF INTERESTS
WHY MEASURE INTERESTS?
P–E INTEREST CONGRUENCE AND SATISFACTION
AND PERFORMANCE
METHODS OF INTEREST INVENTORY SCALE
CONSTRUCTION
ASSESSMENT OF INTERESTS
USING INTEREST INVENTORIES IN CAREER
COUNSELING
RESPONSIBLE USE OF TESTS
CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 16: Nature, Importance, and Assessment of Needs
and Values
CONCEPTUAL ISSUES
CONTENT DOMAIN OF VALUES
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
WORK VALUES INVENTORIES
APPLICATION OF WORK VALUES INVENTORIES IN
CAREER COUNSELING
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND TAKE‐HOME
MESSAGES
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 17: Ability and Aptitude Assessment in Career
Counseling
HISTORICAL MILESTONES IN ABILITY
ASSESSMENT
DEFINING ABILITIES, SKILLS, AND APTITUDES
ISSUES IN UNDERSTANDING AND ASSESSING
ABILITIES
ABILITY ASSESSMENT TOOLS
CAREER MANAGEMENT
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 18: Assessment of Personality in Career Development
and Counseling
FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONALITY
OVERVIEW OF PERSONALITY IN VOCATIONAL
PSYCHOLOGY
ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
MULTICULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS
TAKE‐HOME SUGGESTIONS FOR PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 19: Occupational Information and Guidance Systems
RESEARCH ON THE IMPORTANCE AND USE OF
OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION
OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEMS
SOURCES OF OCCUPATIONAL INFORMATION
ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE USE OF CAREER
INFORMATION
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
SUMMARY
REFERENCES
SECTION FOUR: COUNSELING, DEVELOPMENTAL, AND
PREVENTIVE INTERVENTIONS
CHAPTER 20: Promoting the Career Development of Children
and Adolescents in the Twenty‐First Century
PERSPECTIVES AND EXPERIENCES SHAPING OUR
UNDERSTANDING OF CAREER
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES IN THE
TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY
OPTIMIZING THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT OF
YOUTH
CLOSING THOUGHTS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 21: Promoting Career Choices
EFFECTIVENESS OF CAREER INTERVENTIONS IN
PROMOTING CHOICES
IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CAREER
INTERVENTIONS
USING THEORY IN DESIGNING AND DELIVERING
CAREER INTERVENTIONS
CAREER INTERVENTION WITH CIP THEORY
CAREER INTERVENTION WITH THE C‐DAC MODEL
CAREER INTERVENTION WITH LIFE DESIGN
COUNSELING
CAREER INTERVENTION WITH THE PIC MODEL FOR
CAREER DECISION‐MAKING
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE IN CAREER
INTERVENTIONS
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
NOTE
CHAPTER 22: Facilitating Success in the Job Search Process
DEFINING SUCCESS IN THE JOB SEARCH PROCESS
EFFECTIVENESS OF JOB SEARCH INTERVENTIONS
CRITICAL INGREDIENTS OF JOB SEARCH
INTERVENTIONS
MODERATORS OF EFFECT SIZE
EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED JOB SEARCH
INTERVENTIONS
CONCLUSIONS AND TAKE‐HOME MESSAGES FOR
PRACTITIONERS
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 23: Promoting Satisfaction and Effective Performance
at Work
JOB SATISFACTION
WORK SATISFACTORINESS OR PERFORMANCE
SUMMARY AND TAKE‐HOME MESSAGES
REFERENCES
CHAPTER 24: Unemployment and Underemployment:
Prevention and Counseling Implications
CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND
UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT IN
CONTEXT
CONSEQUENCES OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND
UNDEREMPLOYMENT
PREVENTION AND ADVOCACY
COUNSELING INTERVENTIONS
TAKE‐HOME MESSAGES FOR PRACTITIONERS
REFERENCES
Author Index
Subject Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
TABLE 2.1 Summary of Formal Propositions of the Theory of
Work Adjustment
Chapter 3
TABLE 3.1 Characteristics of Holland's RIASEC Personality and
Environment Typ...
Chapter 6
TABLE 6.1 Templates of Possibility for Career Construction
Theory Schemas and...
Chapter 16
TABLE 16.1 Six Work Values and 21 Needs, Dawis and Lofquist
(1984)
TABLE 16.2 Five Value Orientations, 18 Work Values, and
Sample Items
TABLE 16.3 Comparison of Similar Categories in Dawis and
Lofquist's
Chapter 17
TABLE 17.1 Ability Assessment for Career Exploration and
Decision‐making
TABLE 17.2 Ability Assessment for College Admissions
Chapter 22
TABLE 22.1 Types and Indices of Job Search Success
Chapter 23
TABLE 23.1 Common Sources of Work Dissatisfaction
TABLE 23.2 Examples of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
and Counterproduc...
List of Illustrations
Chapter 2
FIGURE 2.1 Prediction of work adjustment.
FIGURE 2.2 Relationships between adjustment‐style dimensions
in Essentials o...
Chapter 3
FIGURE 3.1 Holland's hexagonal model of the relationships
among personality ...
Chapter 4
FIGURE 4.1 The archway of career determinants.
FIGURE 4.2 The life–career rainbow: six life roles in schematic
life space....
FIGURE 4.3 The ladder model of life–career stages and
developmental tasks....
Chapter 5
FIGURE 5.1 Model of how basic career interests develop over
time.
FIGURE 5.2 Model of person, contextual, and experiential factors
affecting c...
FIGURE 5.3 Model of task performance.
FIGURE 5.4 A social cognitive model of work satisfaction.
Chapter 7
FIGURE 7.1 Theoretical model. Proactive personality, critical
consciousness,...
Chapter 8
FIGURE 8.1 Solid lines indicate proposed positive associations.
Chapter 17
FIGURE 17.1 Schematic representation and comparisons of
Carroll's three‐stra...
Chapter 19
FIGURE 19.1 Standard occupational classification system's major
group struct...
FIGURE 19.2 O*NET content model.
FIGURE 19.3 Abbreviated output from O*NET. Tasks and
technology skills for t...
FIGURE 19.4 Abbreviated output from O*NET's My Next Move
website for the occ...
Chapter 20
FIGURE 20.1 Examples of foci and tasks that promote the career
development o...
Chapter 21
FIGURE 21.1 Practitioner (and client) versions of the pyramid of
information...
FIGURE 21.2 Practitioner (and client) versions of the CASVE
cycle.
FIGURE 21.3 Service delivery sequence for drop‐in career
services.
Career Development and
Counseling
Putting Theory and Research to Work
Third Edition
Edited by
Steven D. Brown
Robert W. Lent
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Brown, Steven D. (Steven Douglas), 1947‐ | Lent, Robert W. (Robert William), 1953‐
Title: Career development and counseling : putting theory and research to work / edited by Steven D.
Brown, Robert W. Lent.
Description: Third Edition. | Hoboken : Wiley, 2020. | Revised edition of Career development and
counseling, c2013.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020023714 (print) | LCCN 2020023715 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119580355
(hardback) | ISBN 9781119580324 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119580348 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Career development. | Vocational guidance. | Counseling.
Classification: LCC HF5381 .C265273 2020 (print) | LCC HF5381 (ebook) | DDC 331.702—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023714
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020023715
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Eoneren/Getty Images
For Zack, Katie, and Jeremy
Preface
This edition of Career Development and Counseling: Putting Theory and
Research to Work, like the first and second editions, has as its primary goal
the promotion of scientifically informed career practice. It is, therefore,
intended to be helpful to a wide audience of students, practitioners, and
researchers who are interested in basing their work on the best that our
science has to offer—theory and inquiry emanating directly from vocational
psychology, career development, and related disciplines that can inform
career practice.
This edition of the text maintains continuity with the first two editions in
several ways. First, the opening chapter sets the table for the book by
describing the terrain of career development, discussing the importance of
contemporary career counseling, and offering a brief history of career
science and practice. This chapter is intended to encourage students to see
the unique role of work in people's lives, its interface with other life
domains (e.g., family, education, leisure), and the value of assisting people
to surmount hurdles to their occupational functioning. It is also intended to
dispel myths and biases that sometimes surface regarding career counseling
and to encourage a view of career development and counseling as vital,
relevant areas of scholarship and practice.
Second, Section I is devoted to major theories and emerging perspectives on
career development, choice, and adjustment that (a) have either received
direct empirical attention or are derived from other, well‐studied theories,
and (b) have clear implications for practice. While the theories and
perspectives we included have received varying amounts of research
support, all have the potential to generate new empirical knowledge as well
as practical applications. As in the previous editions, our goal was not to
provide encyclopedic coverage of all available approaches, but rather to
focus selectively on those that appear to be empirically viable and useful in
practice.
Third, we have retained separate sections devoted to diversity and
sociocultural factors (Section II), the assessment of central career constructs
and occupational information systems (Section III), and interventions for
working with career issues across the life span (Section IV)—topics that are
mainstays of vocational psychology and career development. Fourth, we
asked authors to be scientific and interdisciplinary in their coverage—to
highlight assessment devices, information tools, and interventions that have
garnered some scientific support and that have clear implications for
practice—and to incorporate literatures from other fields of inquiry (e.g.,
industrial/organizational psychology, personality psychology) that can
inform career research and practice. Finally, we continued the tradition
started in the second edition of highlighting practice implications of the
material presented in each chapter. Thus, each chapter concludes with a set
of take‐home messages for practitioners.
The major changes in the book include the elimination of three chapters that
appeared in the second edition to make room for four new chapters, each
reflecting recent developments in the field: “Psychology of Working
Theory” (Chapter 7); “Emerging Perspectives: Calling, Meaning, and
Volition” (Chapter 8); “Career Development of Older Workers and
Retirees” (Chapter 14); and “Unemployment and Underemployment:
Prevention and Counseling Implications” (Chapter 24). Topics from the
three eliminated chapters (i.e., on adult career transitions, personality, and
relational issues) were included, where relevant, in other chapters
throughout the current edition.
We have many people to thank for their help throughout this process. First,
we thank all of the students who have taken our courses and who continue
to shape our thinking about how to teach career development and
counseling in ways that are scientifically informed and useful to
practitioners. Second, we are grateful to have had a gifted group of
contributing authors whose chapters taught us a great deal and who were
exceptionally open to editorial dialogue. Third, we appreciate the valuable
input on chapter content we have received from many colleagues over the
years, especially Ellen Lent and Mark Savickas. Elaine Perri provided
invaluable assistance on the design and layout of the cover for this edition.
Finally, as always, we thank our families for their support and inspiration.
We could not have completed this edition of Career Development and
Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work without them.
Steven D. Brown
Robert W. Lent
March 1, 2020
Contributors
Saba Rasheed Ali, Ph.D.
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA
Blake A. Allan, Ph.D.
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Kelsey L. Autin, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
David L. Blustein, Ph.D.
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Bradley Brenner, Ph.D.
Therapy Group of DC
Washington, DC
Steven D. Brown, Ph.D.
Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL
Emily Bullock‐Yowell, Ph.D.
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS
Bryan J. Dik, Ph.D.
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
Ryan Duffy, Ph.D.
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
Ellen S. Fabian, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
Nadya A. Fouad, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee
Milwaukee, WI
Michael K. Gardner, Ph.D.
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Paul A. Gore, Jr., Ph.D.
Bellarmine University
Louisville, KY
Jo‐Ida C. Hansen, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota—Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN
Paul J. Hartung, Ph.D.
Northeast Ohio Medical University
Rootstown, OH
Andreas Hirschi, Ph.D.
University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland
Cindy L. Juntunen, Ph. D.
University of North Dakota
Grand Forks, ND
Neeta Kantamneni, Ph.D.
University of Nebraska
Lincoln, NE
Taewon Kim, M.A.
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Robert W. Lent, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
Melanie E. Leuty, Ph.D.
University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS
Wade C. Leuwerke, Ph.D.
Drake University
Des Moines, IA
Heather Z. Lyons, Ph.D.
Loyola University Maryland
Baltimore, MD
A. J. Metz, Ph.D.
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Taylor R. Morris, M.A.
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
Margaret M. Nauta, Ph.D.
Illinois State University
Normal, IL
Debra S. Osborn, Ph.D.
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
Dandan Pang, Ph.D.
University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland
Chan Jeong Park, M.A.
University of Missouri—Columbia
Columbia, MO
Kipp R. Pietrantonio, M.A.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, TX
Jeffrey P. Prince, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA
Jay W. Rojewski, Ph.D.
University of Georgia
Athens, GA
Patrick J. Rottinghaus, Ph.D.
University of Missouri—Columbia
Columbia, MO
James Rounds, Ph.D.
University of Illinois at Urbana‐Champaign
Champaign, IL
James P. Sampson, Jr, Ph.D.
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL
Mark L. Savickas, Ph.D.
Northeast Ohio Medical University
Rootstown, OH
Madalyn Schneider, Ph.D.
Saint Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute
Chesterfield, MO
Donna E. Schultheiss, Ph.D.
Cleveland State University
Cleveland, OH
Michael F. Steger, Ph.D.
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO
Jane L. Swanson, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Carbondale, IL
Devon M. Washington, M.S.
University of Missouri—Columbia
Columbia, MO
CHAPTER 1
Career Development and Counseling: An
Introduction
ROBERT W. LENT1 AND STEVEN D. BROWN2
1University of Maryland, College Park, MD
2Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be
unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or at least harder than doing
nothing at all. But there is ample evidence that work can be enjoyable,
and that indeed, it is often the most enjoyable part of life.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience)
Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?
Charlie McCarthy (as voiced by the ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen)
Why do people work? What role does it play in our lives? Why should
counselors and psychologists focus on work behavior? What do they have
to offer people who are in the process of preparing to enter the world of
work, adjusting to the workplace, experiencing problems or challenges in
their work lives, or preparing to leave the work role? How does
involvement in paid work relate to other life roles, such as family member,
caregiver, or volunteer? When might it conflict with, and when might it
harmonize with, involvement in other life domains? Is counseling for work
issues any different than counseling for personal, social, or other issues?
These are all questions that captivate and challenge those who study the
psychology of work behavior or who assist students, workers, and retirees
in the process of preparing for, entering, surviving or thriving within, or
disengaging from the work world. Not surprisingly, such questions form the
foundation for this book, which is aimed at introducing students (and
reacquainting professionals) in the helping professions with the literature on
career development and counseling. This literature includes foundational
and evolving theories of work and career behavior, research on a host of
work‐related topics, and efforts to translate theory and research into
interventions for promoting optimally satisfying and successful work lives.
This chapter is designed to set the stage for the rest of the book by briefly
considering the role of work in people's lives, sketching the conceptual and
professional boundaries of career development and counseling, discussing
some of the myths and realities that surround the field, and describing its
historical context and contemporary challenges. Our primary goal is to
convince the reader that work is one of the most important domains of life
that counselors and psychologists can study—and that it is also one of the
most meaningful targets of intervention in our roles as counselors,
therapists, educators, and advocates. Freud was said to have equated mental
health with the capacity to love and to work. Although these capacities may
not be sufficient by themselves to define mental health, it is clear that work
has a central location in many people's lives—one that frequently intersects
with other life roles, is an integral part of one's life story, and can have an
immense impact on one's overall quality of life.
WHY DO PEOPLE WORK?
It seems fitting to begin by pondering the reasons why people work and the
various roles that work can play in their lives. At first glance, the question
of why people work may hardly seem worth asking. People work because
they have to, don't they? They need the money that work provides to put
food on the table and a roof over their heads. True, work is certainly a
means of survival. But this does not tell the whole story. As the old saying
goes, people do not live by bread alone.
WORKING TO LIVE OR LIVING TO WORK? THE
DIFFERING ROLES OF WORK IN PEOPLE'S LIVES
In this section, we briefly consider the why of work behavior, or the various
sources of work motivation (also see Blustein & Duffy, Chapter 7, this
volume).
Work as need fulfillment. One way to view the question of why people
work is through the lens of Abraham Maslow's (1943) famous hierarchy,
where human needs range from those that focus on basic survival (e.g., the
need for food) all the way to self‐actualization (e.g., the need to realize
one's inner potential). Maslow's hierarchy is often pictured as a pyramid,
with more basic needs (e.g., food, safety, security) at the bottom. In this
view, the satisfaction of basic needs provides a foundation for meeting
higher‐order social and psychological needs, such as friendship, intimacy,
self‐esteem, and personal growth.
One of the problems in applying such a needs hierarchy to work motivation
is that it may be used to imply that some reasons to work are somehow
nobler or loftier than others or that poor people work only because they
have to (i.e., to survive), while those who are wealthier work because they
want to (i.e., to satisfy higher‐order needs). To avoid such a bind, one can
simply view Maslow's needs as reflecting a range of work motivators,
without imposing the added assumptions that they are ordered in
importance or merely reflect social class differences. Thus, in addition to
meeting basic survival needs, work can provide the context for fulfilling (at
least a portion of) one's needs for security (e.g., enhancing the material
comfort of one's family), social belonging and intimacy, personal esteem
(e.g., providing a sense of personal worth and accomplishment), purpose,
and self‐actualization. People may be motivated to work for any
combination of these reasons; they are not mutually exclusive or necessarily
hierarchical, except to the extent that basic survival is obviously a
prerequisite for fulfilling other needs. Swanson and Schneider (Chapter 2,
this volume) and Rounds and Leuty (Chapter 16, this volume) provide a
more complete consideration of work needs and values, including the roles
they play in career choice and work adjustment.
Work as an individual's public identity. Moving beyond Maslow's hierarchy
and the issue of need fulfillment per se, work may also serve other
personally and culturally important roles in people's lives. For example, tied
to the esteem and self‐actualization bases of work is the issue of identity,
which can have both public and private significance. Perhaps particularly in
individualistic or Western societies, work can be seen as an expression of
one's public image. Note how often people in the United States ask each
other, “What do you do?” (i.e., what form of work do you do?) when
meeting a new acquaintance. One's occupation can be a shorthand way of
announcing one's social address (e.g., education, social class, prestige). Fair
or not, what one does for a living is often viewed as an essential part of who
one is as a person.
Work as personal identity or self‐construction. Work as identity can also be
an expression of self‐image, a means through which people “implement a
self‐concept,” in the view of Donald Super (see Hartung, Chapter 4, this
volume). This may be most obvious in artistic forms of work. For example,
we typically think of artists as expressing themselves through their
creations or performances. But self‐expression or, more broadly, using work
to become the sort of person one imagines—to construct a self—can be a
potent source of motivation for many persons and in virtually any form of
work. Taking Super's thoughts about work motivation a step further,
Edward Bordin, another influential career scholar, emphasized people's
capacity to seek work that they find intrinsically interesting or from which
they can derive pleasure. To illustrate his point, Bordin (1994, p. 54) asked,
“Is a professional athlete working or playing?”
Such views of work motivation are sometimes criticized with the argument
that many people are not free to choose work that expresses anything more
than the need for a paycheck, or that not everyone is lucky enough to be
able to do work that is pleasurable. One may ask whether those who work
for a minimum wage, in unskilled jobs, in fast food restaurants, on
assembly lines, or in coal mines, have the luxury of “playing” at, or
implementing their self‐concepts through, work? There is little question that
lack of economic resources can limit one's choice of work or that jobs may
differ in their obvious outlets for self‐expression. At the same time, it is not
hard to think of less‐affluent persons who find meaning, dignity, and
enjoyment in their work. Thus, it seems unfair to equate the prestige or
external trappings of a job with its personal significance to the individual
without exploring his or her own perspective on their work and what they
derive from doing it.
The notions of work as an opportunity to construct and tell one's life story
(Savickas, Chapter 6, this volume), or to respond to a “calling” beyond
oneself (e.g., a way to help others or to serve a higher power; Dik, Steger, &
Autin, Chapter 8, this volume), capture the sense that work can play
extremely valuable, self‐defining roles in people's lives, regardless of social
class and even when performed under difficult or harsh conditions. It is
possible to view someone else's life story as mundane, boring, or marked
only by exploitation. However, that same story may be far more intriguing
and meaningful to the person who is living it.
Work as normative expectation, group identity, and social
contribution. Particularly in collectivist cultures, work may be seen as an
expression of group as well as personal identity. For example, choice of
work may be made less on a personal basis and more in collaboration with
members of one's family, tribe, or community. Consideration may be given
to the needs of the collective, to selecting work that serves (and reflects
positively on) the group, and that preserves relational harmony. Such
functions of work may be seen as extensions of Maslow's (1943) focus on
security, social esteem, and actualization needs—but with the focus on
benefits for the group rather than for the individual alone.
Of course, prevailing social norms in most societies maintain that one must
work if one is able to do so. It is a strong expectation conveyed by social
agents in the family, school, and other social institutions. This norm is well‐
captured in the early rock n roll hit, Get a Job, in which the singer
comically bemoans the social pressure to find work. Indeed, those who fail
to find work are often derided with labels such as bum, shirker, lazy, good‐
for‐nothing, or couch potato—especially if their failure to find work is
attributed to their character or to a lack of effort. And such social derision is
often accompanied by internalized anxiety, frustration, and anger. Allan and
Kim (Chapter 24, this volume) describe the adverse financial, emotional,
and relational consequences experienced by unemployed or underemployed
persons.
Work as existential response and aid to mental health. From an existential
point of view, work may be seen as a way to structure one's time and to
construct personal meaning in an otherwise meaningless universe.
Kierkegaard, the famous philosopher, spoke of work as a means by which
people find distraction from their self‐consciousness, especially from
thoughts of their own mortality. Such a view of work may help explain why
some people become so heavily invested in their work, sometimes to the
point of work addiction, and why many become depressed when the loss of
the work role, either through involuntary layoff or retirement, erodes their
sense of life structure or meaning. Several societal problems, like crime,
also stem partly from, or can be exacerbated by, lack of access to suitable
work. The old adage, “an idle mind is the devil's workshop,” captures the
value of work as a way to structure time, maintain mental health, and
promote prosocial behavior. The concept of psychological “flow”
(Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) demonstrates how pleasurable it can be to become
so absorbed in an activity that one temporarily loses one's sense of self and
becomes oblivious to the passage of time.
In sum, people work for a variety of reasons, especially, to earn a living,
honor and contribute to their families and communities, achieve self‐
growth, pursue their sense of a higher purpose or meaning in life, establish
a public identity, advance a personal narrative, and structure their lives.
Many of the ideas we have presented on why people work or what they
derive from working align with either of two venerable philosophical
positions. In the hedonic view, people are motivated to survive and to
experience as much personal pleasure (and to avoid as much pain) as
possible. This position subsumes Maslow's survival, security, and esteem
(and, perhaps, love and belongingness) needs. In the eudaimonic view,
people are motivated to “live the good life,” not merely the happy life.
Doing good is elevated above feeling good; work confers opportunities to
achieve personal growth, purpose, meaning, and social contribution. The
eudaimonic position subsumes Maslow's focus on esthetic and cognitive
needs (e.g., knowledge, goodness, justice) and self‐actualization (or
developing one's inner potential). Again, these sources of motivation may
be seen as complementary (rather than as mutually exclusive) contributors
to work behavior.
WORK VIS‐À‐VIS OTHER LIFE DOMAINS AND ROLES
Paid work is but one of life's domains, though it is the focal point of many
people's waking lives—if not in terms of psychological investment, then at
least in terms of hours spent. Assuming an 8‐hour workday, many full‐time
workers spend at least one third of most weekdays at work—as much or
more time as they spend sleeping or engaged in just about any other single
activity. And this estimate does not include the many additional hours or
days that some people put into their work, above and beyond the traditional
work week. If work accounts for a third of a typical weekday and sleep
accounts for another third, that means all other activities (e.g., leisure,
parenting, volunteering) are compressed into the remaining third, or are put
off until the weekend—assuming that one is not doing paid work then, too.
Many people also think about their work when they are not at work. It is no
wonder, then, that work can be seen as having the potential to conflict with
or overshadow other life roles, like that of family member. Yet research
suggests that work and other life roles also have the potential to enrich one
another (see Schultheiss, Chapter 9, this volume).
Super (Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume) was perhaps the first vocational
theorist to view career development in the context of other life domains or
roles, noting that, in addition to their roles as workers, people can be
invested in student, family, romantic, leisure, volunteer, and other life roles.
Because work can interface with these other roles, it makes sense to reframe
career planning as life–career planning or “life design” (Savickas, Chapter
6, this volume). Such a broadened view suggests that people consider how
central or peripheral a role paid work will play in their lives. It also opens
the door to extending research and interventions to those who perform non‐
paid (e.g., caregiving) work (Schultheiss, Chapter 9) or who wish to enrich
their leisure or civic lives. In a literal sense, occupations can be seen as any
activities that occupy people's time and energy—or as roles that people
occupy—whether or not such activities or roles involve paid compensation.
Super also emphasized the notion of role salience, which implies that work,
or any life role, can vary in its centrality or importance for any given
individual and at different stages of life. Thus, work is not the most valued
role for everyone. This acknowledgment allows for a less work‐centric view
of people's lives, freeing career counselors to view their clients as whole
people with interests and commitments outside of work, and providing a
valuable link to the study of gender in career development (Richardson,
1993). Historically, men have often been socialized to focus primarily on
their work trajectories, giving less thought to other life domains, whereas
women have been more likely to consider their work lives in the context of
other life roles, such as romantic partner or parent. Life–career planning and
the allowance for differential role salience simultaneously challenge
traditional role expectations for males as the way to define career
development for everyone, normalize alternative ways to pursue work,
honor the feminist commitment to equality, and offer the possibility of more
flexible work choices for all.
THE WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW OF WORK
To this point, we have mainly focused on the why of work—the reasons
why people work—and how work relates to other life domains or roles. In
so doing, we have been discussing the general forces that impel, or
motivate, people to work. And we have so far sidestepped the crucial what,
when, where, and how questions, including the issue of what specific form
of work people either choose or feel compelled to do, the how of choice‐
making (the process through which work “choices” are made by the
individual and/or important others), the when of work decisions (points at
which key work choices are made), and the where of work (the impact of
the environment on choice and subsequent work outcomes).
Much of this book is devoted to addressing these very questions. The major
theories of career development, contained in the first section of the book,
grapple with these questions to varying degrees. For example, the theories
of person–environment fit (Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2; Nauta,
Chapter 3) tend to emphasize the what and where questions (i.e., the content
of people's work and the role of the environment in attracting them to or
repelling them from certain forms of work). The developmental theories
(see Hartung, Chapter 4) highlight the how and when questions (e.g., the
ages or stages at which work‐related decisions are made and the processes
by which these decisions are aided or stifled). The chapters in the second
section of the book emphasize the roles of person and social factors (e.g.,
gender, social class) in people's work “choice” and adjustment. The
chapters in the third section focus on attributes that career counselors often
assess when assisting people to select or adjust to work. And the chapters in
the final section involve the how of facilitating career development—that is,
problems or challenges that can impede career progress, along with
interventions designed to surmount them.
GRAPPLING WITH PERSONAL AGENCY:
DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO SPEAK OF WORK
CHOICE?
We placed the word “choice” in quotation marks in the previous paragraph
to highlight the controversy that sometimes surrounds discussions of
personal agency or volition in the career literature. Career development
theories have occasionally been criticized for assuming that people are
entirely free to choose their own occupational paths and for ignoring
conditions that limit people's career options (e.g., Warnath, 1975). A bit of
reflection, however, suggests that, even with the benefit of favorable
environments, people are rarely free to choose any form of work they wish;
conversely, those who are less favored are rarely devoid of any volition,
though they may be faced with a narrower range of options. Agency tends
to come in bottles that are neither completely full nor empty. We do not
believe that modern career theories assume that environments are irrelevant
to personal choice; neither do they assume that the Horatio Alger “rags to
riches” narrative is the norm (i.e., that personal initiative is all that counts).
To the contrary, they generally acknowledge that people's social addresses
do matter and that factors, such as financial resources and educational
barriers, can aid or thwart people's career ambitions.
Certain cultural and economic contexts allow individuals relatively greater
(though not total) freedom to exercise their agency in work selection. Under
other conditions, “choice” may be severely limited by financial,
educational, or other constraints. In some cultural contexts, work choices
may be highly responsive to the wishes of important others (e.g., family
members). Environmental factors also come into play when people attempt
to implement their choices. As Vroom (1964) observed, “people not only
select occupations, they are selected for occupations” (p. 56). Indeed,
employers, admissions committees, and others serve as gatekeepers that
help to determine initial and continued access to particular work and
educational options. Thus, in a theme that runs throughout the study of
career development, choice and other work outcomes may be seen as
resulting from the interaction or interplay between the person and
environment.
We see it is as a sign of progress in the career literature that rhetorical
arguments are, increasingly, being preempted by theoretical and empirical
efforts to grapple with specific mechanisms through which agency is
expressed in career behavior, along with the personal and contextual
variables that may strengthen or weaken its effects. In addition, researchers
and practitioners, along with theorists, are showing increasing commitment
to the need to understand and facilitate the career behavior of a much wider
range of client populations, reconnecting with the earliest social justice
themes of the career development field, such as how we can be helpful to
clients with fewer socioeconomic resources, the unemployed, and other
groups who may be challenged to assert agency in their work lives (see, for
example, Juntunen, Ali, & Pietrantonio, Chapter 11; Fabian & Morris,
Chapter 13; Allan & Kim, Chapter 24).
WHAT IS A CAREER? WHAT IS CAREER
DEVELOPMENT?
To this point we have been using the term work as the most inclusive way to
refer to the subject matter at the center of this book. Work may also be less
laden with excess conceptual and cultural baggage than are other terms used
to describe essentially the same area of human functioning. Some writers
have, in fact, suggested that the field of vocational psychology be recast as
“work psychology” or the “psychology of working” (Blustein, 2006). While
we appreciate this argument, we also find the older terms, such as
vocational psychology and career counseling, as still serviceable, if
occasionally less than ideal. We decided to retain “career development and
counseling” in the title of this book to maintain continuity with a large body
of literature that has accumulated on the study and promotion of work
behavior. It is appropriate at this stage, however, to define our terms more
carefully.
WORK, JOB, OCCUPATION, VOCATION, CAREER—
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Work refers to the domain of life in which people provide services or create
goods, typically (though not always) on a paid basis. It can also refer to the
specific activities that one performs for pay or on a volunteer basis. In most
societies, work is associated with the period of life after formal schooling
(although some students engage in work as well as academic roles) and
before retirement (which may or may not involve disengagement from paid
work). Job is a specific work position held over a defined period of time
(e.g., being a quality inspector at one factory for 10 years). Although job
and career are sometimes used synonymously in popular discourse,
vocational psychologists often use the term career to refer to a sequence, or
collection, of jobs one has held over the course of one's work life. In this
sense, people may hold different jobs over the course of a single career.
However, it is also common to use career to refer to one's involvement in a
particular job family (e.g., engineering), which may include multiple jobs
(e.g., being an engineer at company A for 10 years and at company B for
another 10 years). It is in this context that one can speak of a career change,
which is to say a shift from one job family to another (e.g., from engineer to
teacher).
Other terms commonly used to refer to work behavior include occupation
and vocation. Both of these terms are often used interchangeably with
career. For example, many writers speak of occupational choice, vocational
choice, or career choice as meaning the same thing. But each of these terms,
particularly vocation and career, may also have somewhat unique
connotations. Vocation is sometimes viewed as an antiquated term. It
originated from the Latin verb, vocare, to call, and historically has been
used in some religious circles to refer to a divine “calling” to pursue a
religious path. Vocation was later used to refer to secular forms of work as
well, and leaders of the vocational guidance movement (e.g., Parsons, 1909)
sought to assist people to locate jobs that would best match their personal
qualities and be experienced as satisfying. In more recent times, the term
vocation has been associated with vocational/technical (as opposed to
“academic track”) education and is sometimes used to refer to jobs that do
not require higher education. As a result, some clients may be a bit
confused about how they can be helped by someone identifying themselves
as a vocational counselor or psychologist. Still, vocation has had staying
power as a generic term.
Career has a more contemporary feel than vocation and is more commonly
used in popular discourse. Potential clients may be more likely to
understand why they might see someone called a career counselor as
opposed to a vocational counselor, and many professionals in our field
prefer to refer to themselves as career counselors or psychologists.
However, some writers find the term career as objectionable, arguing that it
implies choice and privilege and that not everyone who works has a
subjective sense of career. According to this line of reasoning, careers imply
higher‐status work. Thus, engineering is a career but housepainter is not
because the former requires more education and tends to command greater
prestige and more favorable work conditions and pay. Although we are
sensitive to concerns about classism, we are not sure that the term career
necessarily implies all these things (or that housepainters would agree that
they cannot have careers). Moreover, it is hard to dismiss the term without
also dismissing the extensive literature with which it is associated. In short,
career is a compromise that most professionals in the field have been
willing to make in the absence of an alternative term that meets with
universal acceptance. Yet it is well for readers to be aware of the
controversy that sometimes still surrounds it.
On balance, we view it as a positive development that career theorists and
researchers now often use “work” as the more inclusive term in an effort to
level the economic playing field and to promote social justice. Somewhat
paradoxically, however, it has been difficult to escape entirely an emphasis
on more privileged forms of work in the literature. For example, terms such
as “decent work” (Blustein & Duffy, Chapter 7) or “meaningful work” (Dik
et al., Chapter 8) may be seen as synonymous with middle class or white
collar work (e.g., work that is relatively clean, safe, well‐compensated,
consistent with personal values, and accompanied by employer‐provided
benefits). On the one hand, such concepts encourage career scientists and
practitioners to attend to equitable work conditions that may allow people to
flourish and not merely survive at work. They also represent a reaction to
concerns about the current prevalence of precarious (e.g., unstable,
insecure) work. On the other hand, they may underestimate the power of
economic forces and the difficulties that many workers face in obtaining
better working conditions or of locating jobs they find more self‐expressive
or meaningful. Moreover, if what constitutes decent and meaningful work
lies at least partly in the eye of the beholder, workers may see the
significance and decency of their own work from a somewhat different
perspective than that assumed by theorists and researchers peering in from
the outside. Such dilemmas reflect the inevitable growing pains of a vital
and still evolving field. The ensuing discourse will, we are confident, help
the field to further mature, honoring its social justice legacy and broadening
the scope of its science and practice.
WHAT IS CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT?
Career development can be seen as a process that encompasses much of the
lifespan—one that begins in childhood (and includes the formal and
informal experiences that give rise to talents, interests, values, and
knowledge of the world of work); continues into adulthood via the
progression of one's career behavior (e.g., entry into and adjustment to work
over time); and may culminate with the transition into, and adjustment to,
retirement. It is a concept designed to capture the dynamic, changing nature
of career or work behavior and is sometimes used as incorporating career
choice and at other times as distinct from it. The latter may be seen as the
process of selecting and entering a particular career path, whereas career
development refers to one's experience before, during, and after career
choice.
The period before initial career choice or work entry typically overlaps with
one's educational life. Some writers conceive of this period of academic or
educational preparation as a part of the larger career development process;
others treat it as distinct from, but conceptually related to, career
development. Of course, career choice is not necessarily a static decision or
one‐time event. Many people revise their career choices over time for
various reasons (e.g., to pursue work that better fits their interests and
talents, to shift paths after involuntary job loss, or to re‐enter the workforce
after raising children or caring for other loved ones). Career choice, in turn,
often consists of at least two phases: setting a choice goal and then taking
steps to implement this goal, for instance, through additional training or a
job search process.
Career development is sometimes used synonymously with career
advancement or management. We see these terms as somewhat distinctive,
however. Career advancement implies a linear process or one in which the
individual progressively improves his or her career standing over time, as in
the metaphor of climbing a career ladder. Career management connotes a
situation in which the individual is actively engaged in directing the course
of his or her own career development; that is, it implies a view of the person
as an active agent, anticipating and adjusting to new opportunities and
behaving proactively to prevent (or reactively to cope with) negative
situations. Career development, by contrast, connotes a continuous stream
of career‐relevant events that are not necessarily linear or positive in impact
and that may or may not be subject to personal agency (e.g., being born into
poverty, losing a job due to the bankruptcy of one's company). Although
development ordinarily implies forward movement, it also holds the
potential for stasis or regression.
Super, the dean of the developmental career theorists, described a number
of life stages through which careers were assumed to evolve (growth,
exploration, establishment, maintenance, disengagement; see Hartung,
Chapter 4), and other developmental theorists also point to distinct stages or
life periods that are crucial to career choice and development (e.g.,
Gottfredson, 2005). The current book is organized with three larger
developmental periods in mind, namely, the periods prior to work entry
(e.g., see Rojewski, Chapter 20; Sampson, Osborn, & Bullock‐Yowell,
Chapter 21), during work entry (e.g., Brown, Chapter 22), and after work
entry (e.g., Lent & Brown, Chapter 23; Allan & Kim, Chapter 24; Hirschi
& Pang, Chapter 14), which may well involve a recycling through periods
of exploration, preparation, and entry into new career paths.
WHAT IS CAREER COUNSELING AND HOW
IS IT DISTINCTIVE?
We use the term career counseling in this book, as will most of the chapter
authors, to refer to services offered to resolve or prevent problems with
work behavior, regardless of the prestige or level of education associated
with a given work option. In this section, we describe the purview of career
counseling, other services that may augment or overlap with it, and the
relation of career and personal counseling.
FORMATS AND TARGETS OF CAREER COUNSELING
Career counseling typically takes place between an individual client and
counselor, though many career counselors also employ group counseling or
workshops, particularly in educational settings in which a number of clients
are dealing with common developmental challenges (e.g., academic or
career‐related choices). Career counseling can be directed at a fairly wide
range of clients' presenting problems, but these may largely be captured
within three larger categories:
Help in making and implementing career‐related decisions. Helping clients
to make career choices is probably the most popular image of career
counseling. It entails assisting clients to decide between various career
paths as well as educational (e.g., academic majors) or training options that
may have career relevance. Some clients enter counseling needing
assistance to identify viable career options, having few if any firm ideas
about which direction they might like to pursue. In some cases, clients have
prematurely eliminated options that may, in fact, suit them well. Other
clients enter with a dizzying array of options in mind and hope for help in
narrowing their list. Yet other clients may have already made at least a
preliminary decision about their educational or career direction and would
like the counselor's assistance either in confirming the wisdom of this
choice or in putting their choice into action, for example, by helping them
to locate and obtain employment in their chosen field. Sampson et al.
(Chapter 21) and Brown (Chapter 22) focus, respectively, on counseling for
making and implementing career choices.
Although career choice counseling is often pursued by students anticipating
entry into the work world, it may also be sought by adult workers wishing
to change directions (or compelled to do so by circumstance) and by
persons planning to re‐enter the paid workforce after a period of primary
engagement in other life roles (e.g., parenting). For these reasons, it may
overlap with the career transition focus of career counseling, discussed later
in this section. In addition, counselors in school settings often focus on
orienting children and adolescents to the world of work, with the goals of
helping them gain self‐understanding and early awareness of career options,
and motivating academic performance. Such activities, which are intended
to prepare students ultimately to make and implement satisfying choices
(Rojewski, Chapter 20), may be part of the developmental aims of
vocational guidance and career education services.
Help in adjusting to work and managing one's career. Another common
focus of career counseling involves work adjustment concerns, such as
coping with dissatisfaction with one's job or difficulties with work
socialization or performance. These problems may be manifest at any point
after work entry. Sometimes they occur during the early period of
transitioning from school to work as people discover that their new job is
not exactly what they expected or that they are having a difficult time
meeting the expectations of their employer. At other times, work
dissatisfaction or performance issues may occur at later periods, for
example, when people gradually come to feel stifled by a lack of variety or
advancement opportunities or when a promotion places them in a novel
situation where their current skills are challenged by new job requirements.
Counseling to promote work satisfaction and performance must contend
with the many reasons why an individual may be unhappy at work or,
conversely, why a supervisor or coworkers may be unhappy with the
individual (see Lent & Brown, Chapter 23).
Career counseling may also entail a variety of additional challenges that
may be loosely included within the rubric of work adjustment, such as
assisting clients to prepare for and adjust to new work roles and
responsibilities; to find ways to sustain their employability amid
technological and other disruptive workplace changes; to decide how to
manage personal identities (e.g., sexual minority status) at work; and to
cope with a variety of harsh work conditions, such as workplace incivility,
sexual harassment, or various forms of discrimination (see, for example,
Schultheiss, Chapter 9; Fouad & Kantamneni, Chapter 10; Lyons, Prince, &
Brenner, Chapter 12; Fabian & Morris, Chapter 13). Such challenges, which
often occur during the establishment and maintenance stages of career
development (Hartung, Chapter 4), have not traditionally been a major
focus of career interventions but typify the expanding, contemporary field
of career development.
Help in negotiating career transitions and work/non‐work life roles. Some
people seek or are referred for career counseling specifically for help in
making the transition from work to school, from one form of work or career
path to another, or from work to retirement or other life roles. The issue of
career transitions is complex and multifaceted because such transitions may
be either voluntary (e.g., based on a desire to do something “more
meaningful” or to engage in “career renewal”) or involuntary (e.g., due to
job layoff); experienced as developmentally on‐time and expected or as
unplanned and premature; and be anticipated with great worry or, in other
cases, great excitement. Whereas some clients seek counseling
preemptively to improve their work lives before things go wrong or get
worse, many are likely to seek counseling with a sense of urgency or crisis
after a negative life event has occurred or seems imminent. Career
transition issues are addressed in several chapters, for example, Chapter 14
(Hirschi & Pang) and Chapter 24 (Allan & Kim). Conceptually and
operationally, counseling for career transition issues may overlap with
counseling for making or implementing career–life choices, though it may
also involve dealing with the considerable affective, relational, and other
challenges that can accompany major life changes.
Some clients also seek assistance in coping with the challenges of managing
multiple roles or maintaining work–life balance. Although their reasons for
counseling may not be stated exactly in those terms, these concerns may be
implicit in such presenting problems as stress at keeping up with work
responsibilities while caring for an ailing parent or dissatisfaction with one's
relationship partner because he or she is perceived as not doing their fair
share at childcare or homemaking responsibilities. Some counselors may
view this class of presenting problems as not essentially a part of career
counseling, seeing it rather as within the realm of relationship counseling or
psychotherapy. We believe it falls within the province of career counseling,
particularly if one takes a broadened view of career–life counseling, seeing
the work role as intersecting with other life roles (e.g., romantic partner,
parent, family member). Lent and Brown (Chapter 23) consider role
conflict (e.g., between work and family roles) as one source of work
dissatisfaction, and Schultheiss (Chapter 9) explores additional dimensions
of the work–home life interface.
Our clustering of career presenting problems into three broad categories is,
admittedly, somewhat arbitrary. Some problems do not fit neatly into only
one category. For example, as we noted, some clients anticipating a career
transition or dissatisfied with their current jobs may need to revisit career
choice issues in order to consider whether a career change may better fit
their current interests or life circumstances. The bottom line is that career
counseling can be viewed as encompassing multiple presenting issues that
occur across the life span, from the pre‐entry period of education and work
preparation through entry into, adjustment to, and exit from the world of
work. To be helpful to clients, counselors must ordinarily arrive at a mutual
agreement with them on the goals and tasks of counseling. Equating career
counseling only with choice issues does not do justice to the great variety of
career–life concerns with which clients present—and the many ways in
which career counselors can assist them.
CAREER COUNSELING VIS‐à‐VIS OTHER CAREER
SERVICES AND INTERVENTIONS
As Savickas (1994) has noted, career counseling is related to a variety of
other services intended to promote people's career development, in
particular, career guidance, advising, education, placement, coaching, and
mentoring. The first three of these are mainly identified with educational
settings; the remaining three tend to be associated with work settings, or
with the transition from education to work. Guidance refers to the career‐
orienting activities typically provided by school counselors and teachers as
they help students to become aware of the work world, of the value of
planning, and of self‐attributes that may relate to various career options.
Career counseling as a formal specialty grew partly out of this guidance
function. In recent years, computer‐based career guidance and information
systems have been developed to complement the guidance function (see
Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19). Advising, typically associated with teachers
and professors, is usually limited to selection of coursework and fulfillment
of academic requirements, but may include advice regarding career options.
Career education usually refers to formal school‐based programs, often at
the middle and high school levels, aimed at introducing students to the
world of work, assessment of career‐relevant personal attributes, and
exploration of career options that may fit one's attributes (e.g., interests,
abilities). It may also include a work component (e.g., placement in a
relevant part‐time job as a part of a school's career academy). Career
education may be seen as an extension of the guidance function in that it is
aimed at many of the same career‐orienting and planning objectives, though
often in a more structured and lengthier format. It differs from advising in
that the focus involves career exploration rather than simply provision of
advice or instructions on meeting academic requirements. A typical format
for career education involves coursework facilitated by school counselors or
teachers. Career courses are often offered at the college level as well to
assist with academic and career decision‐making and preparation for work
entry.
Placement, as the term implies, is focused on “placing” students or workers
in particular jobs. It is concerned with helping people to locate relevant job
openings, mount effective job searches, and present themselves effectively
to prospective employers (e.g., via resumes, job applications, and interview
preparation). (On the work organization side of things, human resources
professionals are involved in recruitment, screening, and selection of
prospective employees.) Career counselors often provide services that
overlap with those of placement personnel because both types of
professionals may assist people to implement their career choices.
Placement offices on college campuses are sometimes part of a larger career
services center which offers assistance with both career choice and
implementation. The advantage of such an arrangement is that it provides
students with “one stop” career assistance. In other cases, however,
placement services may be located in a unit separate from counseling
services.
Finally, coaching and mentoring are increasingly popular career services.
Coaching has come to take on a number of different meanings in the career
world. Often it is focused on assisting workers, particularly managers or
executives, to improve their work performance or to further their career
progress within a given work organization (e.g., prepare for a new
leadership role). It may be practiced by service providers from a variety of
professional backgrounds (e.g., counselors, vocational psychologists,
organizational psychologists) and overlaps substantially with career
counseling. Alternatively, it may be offered by persons with relevant work
content experience but no formal counseling or psychological training.
Mentoring typically refers to the practice of pairing a newer worker with
one or more experienced workers for the purposes of assisting the
newcomer to adjust to the work environment, “learn the ropes” of his or her
job, receive support and advice when work problems surface, have a model
for negotiating work–life balance, and generally facilitate his or her career
progress. Mentors and mentees may come together informally or be
matched formally by the work organization.
It is apparent that career counseling can overlap with other career services.
It is, therefore, important for career counselors to be familiar with these
services so that they can facilitate clients' use of them as needed, for
example, by making appropriate referrals to an academic advisor, a career
class, or a placement office, or by helping clients to identify mentors.
CAREER COUNSELING VIS‐à‐VIS PERSONAL
COUNSELING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY
There are differing views about how career counseling relates to personal
counseling and psychotherapy. Career counseling is clearly distinctive in
some respects. Its most obvious distinction is the focus on one or two life
domains—that is, preparation for and functioning in work and school
contexts. Thus, it involves specialized training, especially in career
counseling and vocational psychology. However, the prevailing view within
the counseling professions appears to be that there is often a “false
dichotomy” between career and personal counseling (Hackett, 1993). This
view is based on the observations that clients often present with multiple
concerns (e.g., depression and difficulty in making a career choice); that
career issues are often intertwined with other life domains and roles (e.g.,
the difficulty of a romantic couple in making “dual career” decisions); that
career problems can have emotional sides or consequences (e.g., stress,
dissatisfaction); and that counseling can frequently move back and forth
between career and other (e.g., personal, relational) life concerns.
Given the frequent overlap between career and personal counseling, it may
be argued that the ideal scenario is for counselors and psychologists to be
prepared, via training and experience, to deal with both career and personal
concerns. Training only in personal counseling, for example, can lead
counselors and therapists to overlook or downplay the importance of work‐
related issues or to feel incompetent at dealing with them. (We are reminded
of the old adage, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a
nail.”) It is, of course, imperative that one should be able to recognize the
limits of one's competence and, where those limits have been reached, to
make responsible referrals. However, there are also advantages to receiving
training of sufficient breadth in counseling and therapy so that one is truly
competent to identify and deal with the more common career and personal
problems with which clients are likely to present.
It is probably most helpful to view the career versus personal counseling
controversy in terms of a continuum, rather than a dichotomy, with more
purely career‐type concerns (e.g., career choice) at one end and more purely
personal concerns (e.g., depression) at the other. In the middle of this
continuum is where the two overlap or are interwoven (e.g., where choice is
made more difficult by depression). The career decision‐making literature
supports the notion that career issues can be relatively distinct from and, at
other times, overlap with personal concerns. Researchers have found, for
example, that there are multiple sources of career indecision and that these
may best be approached with different counseling strategies (Brown et al.,
2012). For instance, some clients enter counseling with relatively focused,
developmental problems in making a career decision. They do not generally
experience decision‐making problems, but are having trouble with this one
area. Not surprisingly, perhaps, such clients often do well in five or fewer
counseling sessions aimed at career exploration and decision‐making.
Another career client may enter counseling with a characteristic tendency to
experience negative affect and to be indecisive in most life areas (Brown &
Ryan Krane, 2000). To be maximally helpful, counseling with such clients
may well involve more extensive efforts to deal both with their career and
personal (e.g., cognitive and emotional) concerns.
SOME MYTHS AND REALITIES ABOUT
CAREER COUNSELING
We have found that career counseling is viewed in stereotypic fashion by
some of our colleagues in the helping professions. Common stereotypes
include perceptions that career counseling is relatively simple, easy,
formulaic, and brief; that it involves a “test ‘em and tell ‘em” approach in
which assessments are mechanically assigned and interpreted and clients
are quickly sent on their way; that computer programs can be used to
substitute for career counselors; and that the effects of career counseling are
not as impressive or meaningful as are those of personal counseling. In this
section, we briefly address such perceptions, examining ways in which we
believe they can mistake or distort the reality of career counseling.
CAREER COUNSELING AS SIMPLE, BRIEF, AND HIGHLY
STRUCTURED
Is it true that career counseling is simple, easy, formulaic, and brief? The
kernel of truth in this stereotype is that some clients do, indeed, profit from
relatively brief, structured forms of career counseling. But it depends to a
great extent on the nature of clients' goals and presenting problems, on other
qualities that they bring to counseling, and on the methods that counselors
employ. As we noted earlier, research has found that many clients profit
from five or fewer sessions of counseling aimed at career choice (Brown &
Ryan Krane, 2000). Such rapid gains are most likely to occur when (a)
clients' presenting problems are limited to making a career‐related decision,
(b) clients do not exhibit high levels of general indecisiveness or negative
affect (i.e., global tendencies to experience feelings like depression and
anxiety), and (c) counseling includes at least three of five critical
ingredients (see Sampson et al., Chapter 21).
Many clients also profit from receiving more than five sessions of career
counseling (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000). In such cases, it is likely that
their presenting issues extend beyond making a career decision (e.g., coping
with work dissatisfaction or stress), that they present with other issues that
affect their career development (e.g., chronic indecisiveness), or that their
career concerns are complexly intertwined with personal (e.g., emotional)
or relationship (e.g., work–family conflict) issues. Such situations, which
are quite common, stimulate the creativity of career counselors and
underscore the need for them to be facile with both career and other forms
of counseling. For example, counseling for work dissatisfaction often draws
on many of the same strategies as would be employed with clients who seek
help because of dissatisfaction in other areas of their lives (Lent, 2004).
Career counseling need not be any less artful or spontaneous than other
types of counseling—and clients may well present with problems that
cannot be neatly categorized as requiring only one form of assistance or as
fitting a traditional career counseling tool kit. For example, problems of
workplace harassment or discrimination may draw on systemic or advocacy
interventions that transcend counseling.
THE ROLE OF FORMAL TESTING
Is it true that career counseling is synonymous with testing? The kernel of
truth here is that career counselors often do employ formal assessments,
particularly with clients who seek assistance in making a career‐related
decision. In fact, many clients have been told by advisors or others to go see
a career counselor to “take that test that will tell you what you should do.”
Of course, no test can read a client's mind or future, much less make a
decision for her or him, and some clients are disappointed when they
discover this reality. However, there are a number of assessment devices
that can provide very useful information about the client's self‐attributes
(e.g., interests, values, abilities) in relation to the educational and career
options they are considering—or that can help them to expand or narrow
their range of options (see the chapters in the third section of this book).
Although not as dramatic, perhaps, as gazing into a crystal ball, it can be
very helpful to discover, for example, that one's interests resemble those of
people who are satisfied working in health care settings. In fact,
individualized assessment is one of the components that accounts for the
effectiveness of career choice counseling (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000).
Career counseling for work adjustment and transition issues may also
profitably employ formal assessment methods (Hirschi & Pang, Chapter 14;
Lent & Brown, Chapter 23).
Despite its documented utility, career counseling need not involve formal
psychometric measures exclusively or even at all. Many career counselors
use less formal ways of gathering information about clients, often in
addition to psychometric measures, to aid the counseling process. For
example, depending on the presenting issue, some counselors use card
sorting activities, fantasy workday exercises, career genograms, role plays,
and a variety of other methods (Pope & Minor, 2000). Such options can
stimulate clients' thinking about career issues and make the process of
career counseling more interactive, engaging, and creative—anything but
the sterile, rigid, “test ‘em and tell ‘em” stereotype.
COUNSELORS VERSUS COMPUTERS
Is it true that whatever career counselors have to offer could be done more
efficiently and just as effectively by a computer program? It is important to
acknowledge that most people do not seek the services of a career
counselor. Most make choices and solve other career‐related problems on
their own or with the support and guidance of parents, teachers, friends,
work colleagues, or others. Computerized guidance and information
resources, now widely available on the Internet, are undoubtedly useful
tools for “do‐it‐yourselfers” with relatively uncomplicated, developmental
needs. Such resources can aid people in gathering information about
themselves and the world of work, and considering the possible fit between
the two (see Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19). They are also useful adjuncts
to career counseling. Research indicates, however, that computer‐guided
intervention alone yields less substantial effects on average than does
counselor support (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Whiston, Li, Mitts, &
Wright, 2017). In essence, counselors can add value beyond “high‐tech”
resources, offering “high‐touch” services enabled by human interaction
(e.g., help with goal setting, planning, and support‐building) (Brown et al.,
2003).
THE EFFECTS OF CAREER COUNSELING
Finally, how useful is career counseling compared to personal counseling
(i.e., where the two forms of intervention are treated as relatively distinct)?
Is it true that career counseling is somehow less impactful or meaningful?
There are several reasons why it would be a mistake to trivialize the
importance of career counseling. First, one's work can have a great impact
on the kind of life one leads, both hedonically (e.g., materially) and
eudaimonically (e.g., in terms of life meaning and purpose). As we noted
earlier, work plays a central role in many people's lives. Its significance
often goes well beyond the sheer amount of time and effort they put into
their jobs or the size of the paycheck they receive. For many, work (or its
absence) can have great psychological significance, with the potential to
spill over into the non‐work parts of life. For example, work‐related stresses
or conflicts can affect people's sense of well‐being when they are not at
work. Likewise, work colleagues become an important source of
friendships and social support for many people. Unhappiness at work,
unemployment, and underemployment can each diminish life satisfaction
and mental health and impact one's non‐work relationships (Allan & Kim,
Chapter 24; Lent & Brown, Chapter 23). Thus, it would be difficult to
overstate the value of counseling that can either prevent or remediate
career‐related problems.
Second, meta‐analyses, which statistically combine the findings of many
studies, have found that the effects of career choice counseling actually
rival and, in some cases, exceed the effects of personal counseling. For
instance, the average person receiving career counseling tends to show as
much gain as the average person receiving psychotherapy, especially if
career counseling involves at least three of five critical ingredients (Brown
& Ryan Krane, 2000). Although career counseling and psychotherapy gains
are typically assessed in terms of different outcome criteria (e.g., changes in
career decidedness versus depression), career choice clients do show
statistically and practically significant benefits from counseling, and these
benefits may well promote other aspects of personal well‐being.
WHO DOES CAREER COUNSELING AND
WHO STUDIES WORK BEHAVIOR?
Career counselors and vocational psychologists are not alone in their
interest in career development issues. There are many facets to work
behavior and these are, accordingly, studied by a variety of professions.
Thus, it is useful to appreciate the larger lay of the land. Career counselors
often have master's degrees in counseling, with a focus on career issues.
They may have studied in programs accredited by the Council for
Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs or other
groups. Vocational psychologists typically have doctoral degrees in
counseling psychology. Their academic programs may have been accredited
by the American Psychological Association. Vocational psychology has,
historically, been a central part of the larger specialty of counseling
psychology. Practicing vocational psychologists often consider themselves
as career counselors as well as more general therapists. Some of the key
professional journals read by career counselors and vocational
psychologists include the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of
Counseling Psychology, Career Development Quarterly, Journal of Career
Assessment, and Journal of Career Development.
In addition to those trained specifically as career counselors and vocational
psychologists, a variety of other master's‐level counselors, especially school
counselors, mental health counselors, and college counselors, may provide
career counseling or related services. For example, school counselors may
lead comprehensive career guidance programs or teach career education
classes, in addition to doing individual or group counseling aimed at
facilitating educational behavior or career planning. Some social workers
also focus on occupational issues, for example, as personnel in employee
assistance programs. Historically, the field of social work emphasized
vocational services in an effort to combat poverty, particularly in urban
settings.
Within the realm of psychology, industrial/organizational (I/O)
psychologists also study and, in some cases, intervene with work‐related
issues. In some ways, vocational and I/O psychologists are interested in
opposite sides of the same coin. They each focus on factors that promote
effective work functioning, but vocational psychologists are primarily
concerned with person‐focused outcomes (e.g., how to facilitate an
individual's decision‐making), whereas I/O psychologists tend to emphasize
outcomes of concern to work organizations (e.g., how to promote
organizational productivity). Although the two specialties tend to approach
work behavior from differing (person vs. organization) perspectives, their
interests frequently overlap. For example, both specialties are concerned
with issues of work satisfaction, performance, stress, the work–family
interface, and workplace equity. I/O psychologists are less likely to do
counseling or to receive counselor training but may engage in other
interventions, such as organizational development or consulting.
Occupational health psychology, a relatively new specialty, is concerned
with factors that affect the psychological and physical health of workers
(workplace safety, psychological burnout). Various other psychological
specialties, such as educational psychology and developmental psychology,
also study topics that overlap with vocational psychology.
Finally, several fields outside of psychology and the helping professions
also share an interest in work behavior. In particular, occupational
sociology (also referred to as industrial sociology or the sociology of work)
focuses on work‐related trends, such as technological change and
employee–employer relations, that affect workers and families at a large
group or societal level. Labor economics focuses on issues affecting
employment levels, participation rates, income levels, and economic
productivity (e.g., gross domestic product). Like occupational sociologists,
labor economists tend to examine work‐related outcomes and processes at a
more collective level, rather than at the level of individual workers or work
organizations. While these fields emphasize different aspects of work
behavior than do counselors and psychologists, they share a concern with
shaping public policies that promote the well‐being of workers, though they
may define well‐being in social or economic, rather than in psychological,
terms.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND
COUNSELING: PAST, PRESENT, AND
FUTURE
The field of career development, and the practice of career counseling, has
evolved rapidly over the past century. However, an interest in work
behavior is hardly new. People no doubt began thinking about their work,
what they liked and disliked about it, how to do it better or with greater
rewards, how to handle conflicts with others at work, and so forth, well
before recorded history. Zytowski (1972) discovered books about
occupations dating back to the late 1400s and, of course, philosophers have
long been preoccupied with the role and meaning of work in people's lives.
Though a full‐scale history of career development and counseling is beyond
the scope of this chapter, several writers have traced the evolution of career
development as a formal discipline from its early roots in vocational
guidance, circa 1850, up to the present day. Some of these histories focus
primarily on vocational psychology (Crites, 1969; Savickas & Baker, 2005),
and some on career counseling (Savickas & Savickas, 2019), though the
two areas are greatly intertwined. Engaging histories have also been written
about the pioneers of the vocational guidance movement, which formed the
foundation for present‐day career counseling and vocational psychology
(Savickas, 2009).
Frank Parsons (1909) is widely acknowledged as one of the field's key early
figures. Parsons, a social reformer who was committed to raising the living
standards of the urban poor, ran an early vocational service in Boston. He
developed a deceptively simple three‐step approach to vocational guidance
that has been widely incorporated into subsequent theories of career
development and counseling. In essence, he recommended that, in choosing
a form of work, people be encouraged to (a) achieve a “clear
understanding” of their personal attributes (e.g., interests, abilities), (b)
acquire knowledge of the requirements and conditions of different
occupations, and then (c) use “true reasoning” to consider how to reconcile
these two sources of information. Modern‐day career counselors may
identify with a variety of theoretical positions and employ somewhat
different terms and methods, but Parsons's simple formula still serves as a
fundamental blueprint for the practice of career choice counseling.
Historians of the field also tend to agree that the two world wars of the
twentieth century—and the Great Depression between them—were major
influences on the field's evolution. In particular, the U.S. military needed
assistance assigning its recruits to different jobs in both wars, and the
Veterans Administration was concerned with assisting returning veterans to
adjust personally, educationally, and vocationally to civilian life after World
War II. The Great Depression created an unparalleled challenge to return
the underemployed and unemployed to acceptable work. In addition,
increasing industrialization and associated changes in the economy (e.g.,
shifts from agriculture to manufacturing) in many countries during the
twentieth century created a need for proven methods of matching people
with work options, attending to their productivity, and nurturing their
satisfaction and loyalty. These challenges were a huge boon both to the
development of psychological instruments that could systematically assess
self and occupational attributes and to the creation of guidance and
counseling methods. Assessment devices, like the Strong Interest Inventory
and the General Aptitude Test Battery, emerged from this early cauldron of
activity. So did the development of career counseling methods based on
directive and, eventually, person‐centered approaches.
Once veterans returned from the world wars, and the economy recovered
from the Great Depression, there was a continuing need for career
counseling and placement personnel. Societal and economic changes in the
latter half of the twentieth century (e.g., the increasing popularity of higher
education, shifts in employment demand from manufacturing to service
sectors) formed the historical context for the further evolution of the career
development field. In more recent decades, there have been considerable
changes in technology (e.g., the introduction of personal computers and the
Internet), in the nature of work (e.g., increasing need for “knowledge”
workers), in global economic competition, and in the structure of work
organizations. (As this book was in its final stages of completion, a global
pandemic began wreaking havoc on the global economy, posing yet new
challenges to the stability and sufficiency of employment for many people.
At this writing, it is too soon to say how long this economic downturn will
last or how permanent its effects will be on the landscape of work.)
Observing such changes, a number of writers have concluded that a new era
in career development has dawned, one in which the old psychological
contract between worker and employer has been cast aside (e.g., Hesketh,
2000). Where many could once expect to work for a single employer for
many years and feel confident that their loyalty and productivity would be
adequately rewarded, the “new contract” appears to offer far less security
and stability. Terms such as “boundaryless careers,” “protean careers,” and
“Me Incorporated” abound, particularly in the I/O literature. These terms
are based on the assumption that global economic competition, automation,
and other forces will continue to encourage many employers to retain
smaller permanent workforces and to rely increasingly on temporary, part‐
time, contract, or “gig” workers to create a flexible, less costly, just‐in‐time
labor pool requiring neither benefits nor long‐term commitments. Such
trends may further erode the pool of relatively stable, secure, or “decent”
jobs and increase the incidence of precarious work (Blustein & Duffy,
Chapter 7; Lent, 2018).
The implication is that workers will need to be increasingly adaptable and
resilient in their approach to work. The “Me Incorporated” notion refers to
the need to treat oneself essentially as a private vendor who is responsible
for finding new work, investing in one's own career development,
developing new interests, and updating one's skills to remain employable
under uncertain and constantly changing conditions. Some believe that “the
new contract” will render obsolete current theories of career development
and approaches to career counseling. Although the context of work may be
changing, we are convinced that current career theories still have relevance
(Lent, 2013). Many people may have less stability in terms of where and
when they work, but they still profit from identifying and accessing work
options that are compatible with their work personalities (e.g., interests,
talents, personal, and cultural values) and in which they can perform
successfully. We think this is a point that career futurists sometimes miss. If
career is based on the assumption that one will work for a particular
employer over one's entire work life, then that restrictive notion of career
may be dead (and was never truly viable for many workers). However, if
career is defined, consistent with Super, as the sequence or collection of
jobs held over one's work life, then the concept of career remains alive,
though it does not presuppose the long‐term stability of any particular job.
It is unreasonable to expect that career choice and development theories
should predict the exact job that a single individual will enter and stay in for
life. It is quite reasonable, however, to expect that theories be able to help
people identify and adjust to an array of potentially compatible work
options. Beyond these traditional contributions of career theories, we see a
need for new theories and preventive‐developmental interventions to help
people negotiate a changing economic environment. Although the range of
jobs people perform is still generally captured well within existing
occupational classification schemes (see Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19),
how and where many jobs are performed (e.g., using computers, at home) is
changing—and so is the need to prepare for periods of work instability and
change.
The time‐tested Parsonian formula, though still viable, may need to be
supplemented with new methods aimed at assisting students and workers to
anticipate and cope with periods of flux and transition (Lent, 2013, 2018).
We do not see it as reasonable to expect people to turn into occupational
chameleons who can quickly retrain for and shift into any available form of
work, as circumstances shift. A basic assumption of person–environment fit
theories, like that of Holland (Nauta, Chapter 3), is that people's work
personalities (e.g., interests, skill sets) tend toward stability and are not
ideally suited to all work environments. Flexibility is a valuable asset in
both persons and environments, yet the artistically inclined may not easily
transform themselves into engineers (or vice versa) just to find the next job.
Still, it may well make sense to approach adaptability and preparedness as
qualities that can, to some extent, be learned and nurtured through
counseling and other forms of intervention (e.g., career courses,
workshops).
THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT FIELD: A
HOME FOR PRACTICE, SCHOLARSHIP, AND
SOCIAL JUSTICE
We believe this is an exciting time to enter the field of career development.
In fact, there have probably been few more momentous times in the field's
history. In addition to the external challenges of a changing work world, the
field has been evolving in response to new professional opportunities and
crosscurrents. For example, career counselors and vocational psychologists
are, increasingly, meeting and working together across cultural and national
boundaries as the larger profession—like the work domain that serves as
their common focus—becomes more and more internationalized (e.g.,
Athanasou & Perera, 2019). U.S.‐based professional groups, such as the
National Career Development Association and the Society for Vocational
Psychology, are not alone. Their international counterparts, such as the
International Association for Educational and Vocational Guidance and the
International Association of Applied Psychology, are prospering as well.
The field has been infused with a great deal of vitality and energy as career
counselors and vocational psychologists around the world find new ways to
study and promote career behavior. Several recent reviews and
commentaries offer useful perspectives on the current status of the field,
either generally or in particular areas of inquiry, and provide possible
glimpses into its future (e.g., Blustein, Ali, & Flores, 2019; Brown & Lent,
2016; Fouad & Kozlowski, 2019).
It is important to emphasize that career development and counseling is both
a scholarly and a practice field. That is, it is devoted to understanding work
behavior and to applying this understanding to practices that directly enrich
people's lives. Although the ideal for many years in psychology has been to
develop scientist‐practitioners—that is, persons who are adept in both of
these spheres—the reality is that some professionals will be drawn to one of
them more than to the other. This, after all, is consistent with assumptions
that certain career theories make about people's work personalities. For
example, based on Holland's theory (Nauta, Chapter 3), one might expect
those with predominant social interests to gravitate toward the counseling
role, and those with stronger science interests to favor research and
scholarship roles.
The field needs talented people to perform both sets of roles and it needs
them to communicate well with one another so that scholarship remains
responsive to practice and that practice is based on evolving science as well
as art. More and more, the field is also becoming aware of the need to
invest a greater portion of its collective energy in advocacy and public
policy efforts, including involvement with decision‐makers and leaders who
formulate wide‐ranging education and work policies. Such “upstream”
advocacy may aid people's career opportunities and well‐being at a
systemic level, whether or not they ever seek career services.
As part of its science, practice, and advocacy missions, the career
development field is also marked by a commitment to social justice and
multiculturalism, to serving the needs of an increasingly diverse society and
world. Indeed, as we have suggested earlier, concerns about social justice
pervade the history of the career development field. They were prominent
in the earliest days of the field, as social reformers sought to improve the
lives of recent immigrants and others lacking economic privilege (Parsons,
1909); and they were a primary stimulus for the field's efforts during the
middle and latter parts of the twentieth century to better meet the needs of
women, persons with disabilities, veterans, work‐bound students, and other
traditionally underserved clients from diverse social and economic
backgrounds. Social justice remains a hallmark of the field, as evidenced by
a continuing sensitivity to the ways in which diversity shapes people's
career experiences (e.g., see the chapters in the second section of this book).
In short, assisting people to obtain and succeed at work has long been seen
as an essential way to improve the human condition and to promote a just
society.
CONCLUSION
We noted a variety of roles that work plays in people's lives, from meeting
basic survival needs through addressing meaning‐of‐life questions. We also
defined several key terms, such as career and career development; identified
the counseling and psychological professionals who are specially trained to
provide career counseling and related services; and noted a variety of other
professions that share an interest in career development or work behavior.
We considered some common myths and stereotypes surrounding career
counseling, pointing out ways in which they are often inaccurate or fail to
tell the whole story. Finally, we described the field's historical context and
some of its contemporary challenges, arguing that a concern with social
justice and a respect for human diversity have been key forces directing the
field's evolution ever since its inception. We welcome you to the field of
career development and counseling, and hope you will find it a great place
to develop your own career.
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SECTION ONE
MAJOR THEORIES AND
EMERGING PERSPECTIVES ON
CAREER DEVELOPMENT,
CHOICE, AND ADJUSTMENT
CHAPTER 2
The Theory of Work Adjustment
JANE L. SWANSON1 AND MADALYN SCHNEIDER2
1Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Carbondale, IL
2Saint Louis Behavioral Medicine Institute, Chesterfield, MO
The theory of work adjustment (TWA) is considered a model of person–
environment vocational fit, as is Holland's vocational‐personality typology
(see Nauta, Chapter 3, this volume). Both theories evolved from earlier
trait‐and‐factor counseling (Su, Murdock, & Rounds, 2015), which, in turn,
was based on Parsons's (1909/1989) social reform efforts at the turn of the
twentieth century. Further, both TWA and Holland's theory (as based on
Parsons's) may be described as “matching models” (Betz, 2008), in which
vocational choice is maximized by specifying important characteristics of
the individual and the environment and then attempting to find the best
match or fit between individual and environment. The characteristics of
individuals and environments that are considered to be important vary by
theory. An additional component of matching models is that the degree of
fit is quantified in some manner, and fit may then be used to predict central
outcomes, such as the person's satisfaction or tenure.
Both TWA and Holland's model evolved within the discipline of vocational
psychology yet share a conceptual foundation with the broader study of
person–environment psychology. This perspective is built on the
assumption that there is a reciprocal relationship between people and their
environments: People influence their environments, and environments
influence the people in them (Walsh, Craik, & Price, 2000). Work is but one
of many environments in which people interact—others include school,
family, intimate relationships, living environments—all of which influence
and are influenced by the individuals in them. Vocational psychology—its
science and its practice—has embraced the tenets of person–environment
psychology (Swanson & Chu, 2000), as evidenced by the TWA and Holland
models of person–environment fit. In addition to being a model of person–
environment fit, TWA may be considered a model of person–environment
interaction (Dawis, 2005): The concept of fit describes the degree of
similarity between a person and an environment, whereas the concept of
interaction reflects the reciprocal influence between a person and an
environment.
CORE CONCEPTS OF THE THEORY OF
WORK ADJUSTMENT
The theory of work adjustment, as reflected in its name, has as its primary
focus the process of adjustment within work environments, but it also can
be used to help people make vocational choices (to be discussed in a later
section of this chapter). In the original presentation of the theory and
throughout its continued development, TWA has been characterized by
careful attention to the structural characteristics of theory building. For
example, Dawis and Lofquist (1984) presented 17 formal propositions and
associated corollaries, which have guided subsequent work related to the
theory. These propositions are presented in paraphrased form in Table 2.1.
As a theory of person–environment fit, TWA focuses on the process of
individuals' adjustment to their work environments, including the
characteristics of individuals that predict their satisfaction with the work
environment, as well as their level of satisfactoriness within the work
environment. TWA embodies two models: a predictive model and a process
model (Dawis, 2005). The predictive model focuses on the variables that
explain whether individuals are satisfied with their work environments and
whether they are satisfactory to their work environments, which in turn
predicts individuals' tenure in their work environments. The process model
focuses on how the fit between individuals and their environments is
attained and maintained. Thus, TWA has a structural component, describing
characteristics of individuals and environments at a given point in time, and
a dynamic component, describing how individuals and environments are
actively engaged in maintenance and adjustment behavior (Bayl‐Smith &
Griffin, 2015; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984).
PREDICTIVE MODEL: PREDICTING WHETHER WORK
ADJUSTMENT OCCURS
The predictive model comprises the core of TWA and is reflected in
Propositions I through IX in Table 2.1. TWA proposes two sets of parallel
characteristics. First, an individual has a set of needs and values that may
(or may not) be met by rewards available in the work environment. Second,
the work environment has a set of job requirements that may (or may not)
be met by the skills and abilities that the individual possesses. Each of these
intersections of an individual and his or her environment is described by the
term correspondence or its lack, discorrespondence.
TABLE 2.1 Summary of Formal Propositions of the Theory of Work
Adjustment
Proposition I: Work adjustment at any time is indicated by the
concurrent levels of the person's satisfaction and satisfactoriness.
Proposition II: A person's satisfaction is predicted from the
correspondence between his or her values and the environment's
reinforcers, provided that there is also correspondence between the
person's abilities and the environment's ability requirements.
Corollary IIA: A person's values may be inferred from
knowledge of his or her satisfaction and the environment's
reinforcers.
Corollary IIB: An environment's reinforcers may be inferred
from knowledge of a person's values and his or her satisfaction.
Proposition III: A person's satisfactoriness is predicted from the
correspondence between his or her abilities and the environment's
ability requirements, provided that there is also correspondence
between the person's values and the environment's reinforcers.
Corollary IIIA: An environment's ability requirements may be
inferred from knowledge of a person's abilities and his or her
satisfactoriness.
Corollary IIIB: A person's abilities may be inferred from
knowledge of an environment's ability requirements and the
person's satisfactoriness.
Proposition IV: Prediction of a person's satisfaction is moderated by
his or her satisfactoriness.
Proposition V: Prediction of a person's satisfactoriness is moderated
by his or her satisfaction.
Proposition VI: The probability that a person will leave an
environment is inversely related to his or her satisfaction.
Proposition VII: The probability that an environment will fire a
person is inversely related to his or her satisfactoriness.
Proposition VIII: A person's tenure is predicted from his or her
satisfaction and satisfactoriness. Given Propositions II, III, and VIII:
Corollary VIIIA: A person's tenure is predicted from the
correspondence between his or her values and the environment's
reinforcers, and the correspondence between his or her abilities
and the environment's ability requirements.
Corollary VIIIB: A person's tenure is predicted from the
correspondence between person and environment.
Proposition IX: Person–environment correspondence increases as a
function of a person's tenure.
Proposition X: The correspondence between a person's style and the
environment's style moderates the prediction of the person's
satisfaction from the correspondence between his or her values and
the environment's reinforcers, and the prediction of the person's
satisfactoriness from the correspondence between his or her abilities
and the environment's ability requirements.
Proposition XI: A person's flexibility moderates the prediction of his
or her satisfaction from the correspondence between his or her values
and the environment's reinforcers.
Proposition XII: An environment's flexibility moderates the
prediction of a person's satisfactoriness from the correspondence
between his or her abilities and the environment's ability
requirements.
Proposition XIII: The probability that a person will engage in
adjustment behavior is inversely related to his or her satisfaction.
Corollary XIIIA: A person's flexibility threshold may be
determined from knowledge of this probability associated with his
or her satisfaction.
Proposition XIV: The probability that an environment will engage in
adjustment behavior is inversely related to the person's
satisfactoriness.
Corollary XIVA: An environment's flexibility threshold may be
determined from knowledge of this probability associated with
the person's satisfactoriness.
Proposition XV: The probability that a person will quit an
environment is inversely related to his or her perseverance.
Corollary XVA: A person's perseverance threshold may be
determined from knowledge of this probability associated with his
or her quitting the environment.
Proposition XVI: The probability that an environment will terminate
(fire) an individual is inversely related to its perseverance.
Corollary XIVA: An environment's perseverance threshold may
be determined from knowledge of this probability associated with
the environment terminating a person.
Given Propositions VIII, XV, and XVI:
Proposition XVII: A person's tenure is predicted jointly with his or
her satisfaction, satisfactoriness, and perseverance, and the
environment's perseverance.
Note. The propositions are adapted from Dawis (2005) with slight alterations in wording; the
original numbering is preserved.
If a person's needs are met by his or her work environment, then the person
and environment are in correspondence; if not, then they are in
discorrespondence. Likewise, if the work environment's requirements are
met by the person, then the person and environment are in correspondence;
if not, then they are in discorrespondence. The former situation determines
the individual's level of satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with the work
environment; the latter refers to the individual's level of satisfactoriness (or
unsatisfactoriness) to the work environment. Said another way, an
individual has needs, and the work environment has rewards; if needs and
rewards (or reinforcer patterns) correspond, then the individual is satisfied.
Likewise, an individual has abilities, and the work environment has ability
requirements; if abilities and ability requirements correspond, then the
individual is considered satisfactory. These relationships are illustrated in
the left side of Figure 2.1. It should be noted that, in the recent literature
(e.g., Bayl‐Smith & Griffin, 2015, 2017; Dahling & Librizzi, 2015), some
of the original terminology of TWA has been supplanted. For example, the
correspondence between needs and rewards is sometimes referred to as
needs–supplies (or N–S) fit and the correspondence between abilities and
ability requirements as demand–ability (or D–A) fit; in other words,
correspondence, a single TWA term used to denote two different points of
intersection between a person and his/her work environment, is explicitly
separated into two different terms. These updates may be prompted by the
parallel literature in industrial–organizational psychology, as well as an
effort to avoid the confusion of a single term used to describe two separate
processes.
FIGURE 2.1 Prediction of work adjustment.
Source: Adapted from A Psychological Theory of Work Adjustment, by R. V. Dawis and L. H.
Lofquist (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984) p. 62, 1984 University of
Minnesota Press.
TWA emphasizes the measurement of abilities and values to facilitate the
match of individuals' characteristics with the characteristics of the work
environment (the assessment of these concepts is discussed in a later
section). In the parlance of TWA, abilities are “reference dimensions of
skills” (Dawis, 2005); that is, abilities are the more general dimensions
underlying specific skills. For example, verbal ability is the general
dimension underlying demonstrated reading comprehension and
vocabulary. In a similar fashion, values are the general dimensions
underlying specific needs. TWA includes six core values: achievement
(using one's abilities and having a feeling of accomplishment), comfort
(feeling comfortable and not feeling stressed), status (achieving recognition
and being in a dominant position), altruism (being of service to others and
being in harmony with others), safety (having a stable, ordered, and
predictable work environment), and autonomy (being independent and
having a sense of control) (Dawis, 2002).
If an individual is both satisfied and satisfactory (or if both the individual's
needs and the work environment's demands are met), then the individual
and his or her environment are in a state of harmonious equilibrium, and
work adjustment has been achieved. If, however, the individual is
dissatisfied, unsatisfactory, or both, then a state of disequilibrium exists.
This disequilibrium serves as a motivational force, propelling some type of
change to occur. The specific type of change depends on a number of other
factors, to be discussed later. Thus, dissatisfaction serves a central
motivational role in TWA. Dissatisfaction of either party—the person or the
environment—represents a disequilibrium in the person–environment
system and serves as the impetus for some type of adjustment to occur.
Disequilibrium is an uncomfortable state that motivates actions leading to
reestablishment of equilibrium. As Dawis (1996) noted, “Satisfaction
motivates ‘maintenance’ behavior; dissatisfaction motivates adjustment
behavior” (p. 87). Adjustment behavior may take one (or more) of four
avenues (Dawis, 2002): Two of the options are present when individuals are
dissatisfied with their environments, and two of the options are present
when individuals are unsatisfactory (and therefore the environment is
dissatisfied with them). The ideal state is when a person is satisfied and
satisfactory, leading to maintenance behavior. However, a person could be
satisfied yet unsatisfactory, dissatisfied yet satisfactory, or both dissatisfied
and unsatisfactory. These latter three states lead to adjustment behavior.
If people are dissatisfied, they have two possible choices: attempting to
change the environment or change themselves. They may be able to
influence the environment to change the number or kinds of reinforcers that
it provides, for example, by requesting a salary increase or a change in work
tasks. Alternatively (or in conjunction with environmental change), workers
could change the number or kind of needs that they require, such as
changing their expectations about salary or rethinking how they interact
with a difficult coworker. Ultimately, individuals must decide whether to
stay in the current work environment or leave for another environment.
If individuals are unsatisfactory, they have two possible choices: increasing
their level of skill or expanding their skill repertoire to meet the
requirements of the environment or attempting to change the environment's
expectations. Moreover, the environment has several possible actions, with
the ultimate outcomes of retaining or terminating the individual.
Although TWA focuses on both the individual and the environment, the
theory clearly emphasizes what the person experiences: The term
satisfaction refers to an individual's satisfaction with his or her job (needs–
supplies fit), whereas the term satisfactoriness refers to an individual with
whom the work environment is satisfied (demand–ability fit). Tenure occurs
when an individual is both satisfied and satisfactory (Dawis, 2005) (see the
center portion of Figure 2.1). In addition to these basic predictions, TWA
proposes a number of moderating relationships and variables. As depicted
by the dotted X in the center of Figure 2.1, the processes of correspondence,
satisfaction, and satisfactoriness influence one another. That is, workers'
level of satisfaction with their work environment is predicted to influence
their level of satisfactoriness to the work environment; if workers are
satisfied, then they are more likely to perform at a satisfactory level,
whereas if they are not satisfied (i.e., if their needs are not being met), then
they are less likely to perform at a satisfactory level. Conversely, if
individuals are performing at a level that the environment judges to be
satisfactory, then they are more likely to be satisfied than if they are
performing at an unsatisfactory level.
Another type of moderator variable included in TWA is personality style,
which describes how individuals characteristically interact with their
environments. TWA proposes four styles: celerity, pace, rhythm, and
endurance. Celerity describes how quickly one responds or the speed with
which an individual initiates interaction with the environment. A person
with high celerity responds quickly to the environment, perhaps even
impulsively, whereas a person with low celerity moves slowly in interacting
with the environment. Pace refers to how intensely one responds to the
environment. Once an individual chooses to act on the environment, then
pace describes the rate of interaction, such as high or low energy. Rhythm is
the pattern of the pace of one's response, such as steady, cyclical, or erratic
patterns, and endurance refers to sustaining the pattern of response to the
environment, namely, how persistently one responds.
These four personality style variables help explain why individuals with
similar values and abilities exhibit different behaviors within the same work
environment (Swanson & Fouad, 2020). These style variables also can be
used to describe the environment, thus leading to a description of the
correspondence between an individual and his or her environment. For
example, an individual with a high degree of celerity would be in greater
correspondence with an environment that requires a similar level of celerity
than an environment with low celerity. Although the four style variables are
not included in the model in Figure 2.1, these variables and the level of
person–environment correspondence they produce are important to
consider.
PROCESS MODEL: PREDICTING HOW WORK
ADJUSTMENT OCCURS
The process model adds to TWA's ability to predict work adjustment by
focusing on how adjustment occurs and how it is maintained. Recall that
discorrespondence between people and their environments serves to
motivate behavior; the process portion of TWA defines the parameters and
outcomes of that motivational force. Recall, too, that discorrespondence
refers to either the individual being dissatisfied with the work environment,
the individual being unsatisfactory to the work environment, or both. TWA
proposes that individuals' adjustment styles characterize how they react to
the occurrence of discorrespondence, as illustrated in Figure 2.2.
Adjustment style consists of four variables: flexibility, active adjustment,
reactive adjustment, and perseverance. Flexibility refers to how much
discorrespondence people will tolerate before they reach a threshold of
dissatisfaction that leads to some type of adjustment behavior. Individuals
vary in the amount of flexibility that they will exhibit before their mismatch
with the environment becomes too great, but eventually discorrespondence
may exceed their tolerance and individuals move into an adjustment mode.
Once an individual's flexibility level has been exceeded, adjustment
behavior can be characterized as either active or reactive.
In active adjustment, the individual acts on the environment in an effort to
decrease discorrespondence (such as by trying to change the available
rewards and/or trying to change what the environment requires). In reactive
adjustment, the individual acts on himself or herself to reduce the amount of
discorrespondence (such as by changing his or her own needs and/or skills).
Activeness and reactiveness are not mutually exclusive; rather, an
individual might use both modes of adjustment. Finally, perseverance refers
to the length of time that an individual is willing to persist in a
discorrespondent environment after engaging in adjustment behavior. An
individual who quits the job after a brief attempt at change is characterized
as low in perseverance, whereas an individual who persists despite repeated
or lengthy attempts at change is considered high in perseverance.
FIGURE 2.2 Relationships between adjustment‐style dimensions in
Essentials of person environment correspondence counseling, by L. H.
Lofquist and R. V. Dawis (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
1991) p. 19.
Reprinted with permission.
Adjustment styles are relevant to the environment, too. Environments differ
in how much discorrespondence they will tolerate between an individual's
abilities and the environment's ability requirements before judging the
person as unsatisfactory (flexibility). When an environment's flexibility
threshold is exceeded, it engages in either active (e.g., provide additional
training to improve the person's abilities) or reactive adjustment (e.g., move
the person into a more ability‐correspondent position). Some environments
may fire a discorrespondent employee more quickly than others
(perseverance).
All four of these adjustment style variables are hypothesized to vary among
individuals and work environments and are important factors in predicting
adjustment behavior. The concepts of active and reactive adjustment modes
and of flexibility and perseverance are thus useful in predicting what an
individual is likely to do when he or she is dissatisfied with a job. The
active and reactive adjustment modes can also provide options for
counselors and clients to consider in order to improve clients' levels of work
satisfaction. Flexibility and perseverance are viewed as fluctuating
characteristics: An individual may be flexible and able to tolerate
discorrespondence on one day but then be unable to tolerate it the next, thus
entering into adjustment mode. Despite fluctuations, an individual is likely
to develop a characteristic adjustment style over time, which may be
evident in multiple arenas of his or her life.
The illustration of adjustment behavior in Figure 2.2 demonstrates the
influence of the four adjustment style variables. The vertical line in the
center of the figure represents the range of discorrespondence that an
individual (or an environment) might experience, with zero
discorrespondence at the bottom of the line and extreme discorrespondence
at the top of the line. Moving up the center line represents an increase in
discorrespondence, as that amount begins at an acceptable or tolerable
level. As the increase in discorrespondence exceeds an individual's level of
flexibility—or becomes intolerable or unacceptable—then he or she
embarks on adjustment behavior, either active or reactive. The individual
continues with adjustment attempts until he or she has reached the limit of
his or her perseverance, at which point the amount of discorrespondence
has become unmanageable, and he or she will leave the environment.
For example, a woman who has a strong desire for autonomy is dissatisfied
by the level of close monitoring provided by the supervisor in her new job,
yet she is flexible in tolerating this discorrespondence because she believes
her supervisor will reduce monitoring after a training period. However, her
supervisor continues close monitoring even when she has demonstrated her
skill, and the employee experiences dissatisfaction. When the employee's
dissatisfaction reaches an intolerable level, she will then attempt to make an
adjustment. She may choose to talk with her supervisor about her
frustration (active adjustment) and/or decrease her feelings of
dissatisfaction by changing how she interprets her supervisor's behavior
(reactive adjustment). If she is successful, then she will feel satisfied
(achieve correspondence and restore equilibrium). If, however, her
supervisor continues to closely monitor her work, and she continues to feel
dissatisfied, she will need to decide whether to persevere in her job or leave
for another position (either in the same organization or at a different
organization).
The concepts found in the predictive model interact with those in the
process model. According to TWA, people's levels of satisfaction mostly
depend on how their values correspond to the reinforcers provided by the
environment (or, needs–supplies fit). However, workers' levels of
satisfaction also depend on their satisfactoriness as well as on their personal
flexibility. In other words, if a person is unsatisfactory (the environment is
dissatisfied with the individual), the individual's satisfaction can no longer
be predicted as well by the correspondence between his or her values and
the environment's reinforcers. Further, the greater an individual's flexibility,
the easier it is for the environment to satisfy the individual (Dawis, 2002).
In a similar fashion, an individual's satisfactoriness depends mostly on how
his or her abilities correspond to the requirements of the environment (or,
demand–ability fit). However, an individual's satisfactoriness also depends
on his or her level of satisfaction, as well as the flexibility of the
environment. In other words, if a person is dissatisfied, then the individual's
satisfactoriness can no longer be predicted as well by the correspondence
between his or her abilities and the environment's requirements. Further, the
greater the environment's flexibility, the more tolerant it will be with a
lower level of correspondence between an individual's abilities and the
environment's requirements.
ASSESSMENT OF TWA CONSTRUCTS
A strength of the theory of work adjustment is the amount of attention that
its authors devoted to developing psychometrically sound measures of its
central constructs. Unfortunately, many of these measures are not widely
available and so have not been adopted by career practitioners. However, as
Dawis (2005) noted, the theory is not wedded to use of these specific
measures, and, in fact, using measures developed outside of a theoretical
framework may provide more robust evidence of the theory's validity and
practical utility. Indeed, because TWA focuses on the correspondence
between person variables and environmental variables, any measures that
provide a way to quantify that correspondence may be used within the
context of TWA constructs. In this section, we briefly discuss the measures
developed by Dawis and his colleagues, as well as other measures.
Needs and values. Assessing work‐related needs and values is frequently
an important part of career counseling (see Rounds & Leuty, Chapter 16,
this volume). Within the context of TWA, the Minnesota Importance
Questionnaire (MIQ; Rounds, Henley, Dawis, Lofquist, & Weiss, 1981) was
developed to measure an individual's needs and values. Although the MIQ
is no longer available for administration and scoring, the test booklet and
manuals are available through the Vocational Psychology Research website
at the University of Minnesota (http://vpr.psych.umn.edu). Because the
MIQ formed the basis for the O*NET's Work Importance Locator (WIL) (to
be discussed later), it is useful to describe it briefly.
The MIQ measured 20 work‐related needs and produced scores on six
values: (a) Achievement, consisting of ability utilization and achievement;
(b) Altruism, consisting of coworkers, social service, and moral values; (c)
Autonomy, consisting of creativity and responsibility; (d) Comfort,
consisting of activity, independence, variety, compensation, security, and
working conditions; (e) Safety, consisting of company policies, supervision
(human relations), and supervision (technical); and (f) Status, consisting of
advancement, recognition, authority, and social status. The MIQ profile
provided two different types of information: intraindividual (ipsative)
scores on the 20 needs and six values plotted relative to one another, and
comparisons between an individual's values profile and patterns of
reinforcers empirically derived for a variety of occupations, resulting in a
list of occupations in which a person is likely to be satisfied.
A currently available option for assessing an individual's values is the WIL
(McCloy et al., 1999), available via O*NET, the online occupational
information database of approximately 1000 occupations developed by the
U.S. Department of Labor (www.onetonline.org). The WIL may be
downloaded as a card sort or as a paper‐and‐pencil inventory, and produces
results on six values—achievement, independence, recognition,
relationships, support, and working conditions—that correspond to the six
MIQ values. The O*NET provides links to its database of occupations on
the basis of the six values; for example, one can browse occupations that
match a specified set of work values, such as achievement and
independence, or search for a specific occupation and then determine the
characteristic needs and values of individuals in that occupation (see also
Rounds & Leuty, Chapter 16, this volume).
Measures of work‐related values other than the MIQ and the O*NET's WIL
include Super's Work Values Inventory (Nevill & Super, 1986; Zytowski,
2006). Another method of addressing work‐related values within career
counseling is a values card sort. A card sort consists of a set of cards, each
imprinted with a work‐related value, which clients place into categories
according to their importance. Because a card sort is completed during a
career counseling session, it provides a mechanism for in‐session discussion
of the client's important values, the origin of these values, and how values
are related to other career‐related information, such as interests and skills.
Work satisfaction. In TWA, “satisfaction” is conceptualized as resulting
from the correspondence between an individual's values/needs and the
reinforcers offered by the environment. In some ways, satisfaction in TWA
is a derived variable that can be inferred from the match between an
individual's values and an environment's reinforcers. For instance, good
correspondence between values and reinforcers implies satisfaction.
However, satisfaction can also be measured directly by asking individuals
about the degree to which they like their work environments, either overall
or specific aspects (see Lent & Brown, Chapter 23, this volume).
Early in the evolution of TWA, the researchers developed a measure of
work satisfaction, the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ; Weiss,
Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967). The MSQ provides scores on 20 facets
of job satisfaction, as well as three summary scores (intrinsic, extrinsic, and
general satisfaction). The 20 facets parallel the scales on the MIQ (with the
exception of the MIQ Autonomy Scale). This measure has been used
primarily in research and is not generally used in practice settings. It, too, is
available through the Vocational Psychology Research website
(http://vpr.psych.umn.edu).
More generally, the study of job satisfaction has received substantial
attention within the domain of industrial/organizational psychology
(Eggerth, 2015; Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005; Swanson, 2012; Zedeck, 2011),
where a main focus is the organizational antecedents and consequences of
job satisfaction (Landy & Conte, 2016). By contrast, there is a relative lack
of attention to job satisfaction within vocational psychology. Lent (2008)
examined job satisfaction from the perspective of vocational psychology.
He noted that job satisfaction “may be viewed as an integral part of work
adjustment and overall mental health” (p. 462). Lent defined job
satisfaction as “people's cognitive constructions of their work enjoyment”
(p. 463), highlighting the cognitive and affective components that constitute
satisfaction. Lent and Brown describe how organizational psychology
research on job satisfaction can be used to inform career counseling practice
(Chapter 23, this volume). They have also developed a social cognitive
model of job satisfaction within vocational psychology (see Lent, Chapter
5, this volume).
Many measures of job satisfaction have been developed for use in a variety
of settings, focusing on both global (overall feelings about a job) and facet
(specific aspects of a job) satisfaction (Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005). For
example, the Job Descriptive Index (JDI; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1985)
consists of 72 items that measure satisfaction with five aspects of a job
(work, pay, promotions, supervision, and coworkers). Lent and Brown
(Chapter 23, this volume) describe this and other measures of job
satisfaction more fully.
Satisfactoriness. Another measure developed as part of TWA, the
Minnesota Satisfactoriness Scales (MSS; Gibson, Weiss, Dawis, &
Lofquist, 1970), was designed to measure 28 facets of job satisfactoriness
and is completed by an individual's work supervisor. The MSS yields scores
on five scales: performance, conformance, dependability, personal
adjustment, and general satisfactoriness. The MSS is available from the
Vocational Psychology Research website (http://vpr.psych.umn.edu).
Although the MSS as originally designed would not often be used as part of
a career intervention, it or another measure of job performance could be
used as a self‐assessment tool. For example, clients and counselors could
use the MSS in session to assess how clients perceive their performance on
these five dimensions of satisfactoriness and to facilitate discussion of the
accuracy of clients' perceptions.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR THE THEORY OF
WORK ADJUSTMENT
Dawis (1996) and Dawis and Lofquist (1984) provide thorough overviews
of the early research support for TWA. Their reviews will be briefly visited
here, followed by a review of more recent research on TWA constructs and
propositions, as well as areas in which further research support is
warranted.
GENERAL SUPPORT FOR TWA PREDICTIONS
General research on person–environment fit has served as a foundation for
the study of work adjustment. In TWA specifically, the primary concepts
include those defined earlier: person–environment correspondence,
satisfaction, satisfactoriness, and tenure. Some of the variables receiving
research attention include work personality variables (e.g., abilities, values,
personality style), work environment variables (e.g., reinforcer systems,
ability requirements, environment style), indicators of work adjustment
(e.g., satisfaction and satisfactoriness), and correspondence between
personality and environment. Although there have been instruments
constructed specifically for use with this theory, such as the MSS, other
instruments have also been used to support the theory and its applicability
to real people and places of employment (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984).
Much TWA research, using both TWA‐specific measures and other more
general measures of person–environment fit constructs, has focused on the
prediction of satisfaction, satisfactoriness, work adjustment, and tenure.
Results have indicated strong support for the interactions between these
constructs, which maps well onto the first eight formal propositions of
TWA (Dawis, 1996; see Table 2.1). For example, Dawis (1996) described
the studies supporting the hypotheses that satisfaction and satisfactoriness
are predicted by person–environment correspondence (Propositions II and
III). Although this first set of TWA propositions has received empirical
support, the second set (Propositions X through XVII), geared toward the
roles of personality style, adjustment style, and flexibility of both the
individual and the environment, remains in need of research attention
(Dawis, 1996).
Recently, researchers have examined the correspondence between an
individual's personality style and his or her work environment, in terms of
celerity, pace, rhythm, and endurance, pertaining to TWA's Proposition X.
Bayl‐Smith and Griffin (2015) developed an instrument to measure the four
styles, the Active Work Style (AWS) scale, concluding that four sub‐scales
corresponding to the styles could be described by a second‐order factor
reflecting a generalized level of work activity and effort. Work style was
related to conscientiousness and work engagement, but not to work‐related
stress (Bayl‐Smith & Griffin, 2015). Measurement of work style via the
AWS may provide a mechanism to advance research into individuals'
personality styles, person–environment work style fit, and other predictions
from TWA.
The role and type of adjustment behaviors used to maintain demands–
abilities fit (satisfactoriness) were examined by Bayl‐Smith and Griffin
(2018). The researchers proposed that the fit between an individual's work
style—their activity and effort over time—serves as a boundary condition
for adjustment behaviors to be successful. Adjustment behaviors included
negotiation behaviors (active adjustment) and career initiative behaviors
(reactive adjustment), and contributed to an increase in demands–abilities
fit, but only if work styles fit was high. If work styles fit was low, then
demands–abilities fit decreased with time, suggesting that adjustment
behaviors were not as effective at re‐achieving fit in the absence of strong
work styles fit.
In addition to research directly testing TWA propositions, other researchers
have used TWA as a framework for conceptualizing work‐related decisions,
such as work adjustment among cancer survivors (Clur, Barnard, & Joubert,
2017) and women leaving the engineering field (Fouad, Chang, Wan, &
Singh, 2017). Other recent work has combined TWA with other theoretical
approaches, such as attachment theory in predicting turnover intentions
(Dahling & Librizzi, 2015), social cognitive career theory in predicting
satisfaction of retirement‐age workers (Foley & Lytle, 2015), Maslow's
theory and the psychology of working theory (Blustein, Kenny, Autin, &
Duffy, 2019) in describing experiences of Latinx immigrant workers
(Eggerth & Flynn, 2012), and organizational support theory in predicting
work outcomes and mental health among women of color (Kurtessis et al.,
2017).
TWA also has served as the basis for a retirement transition and adjustment
framework (RTAF; Griffin, 2015; Hesketh, Griffin, Dawis, & Bayl‐Smith,
2015; Hesketh, Griffin, & Loh, 2011). In this model, the TWA outcome of
tenure is replaced with the RTAF outcome of positive aging, which is
predicted by coping performance and adjustment, and satisfaction with
retirement. The RTAF represents a promising adaptation of TWA given the
substantial changes in the late‐career stage of work in the last two decades
(Griffin, 2015). It also may be a model for how TWA could be extended or
adapted for other situations or individuals.
RESEARCH PERTAINING TO DIVERSE POPULATIONS
In addition to personality styles and flexibility, research on the use of TWA
with diverse populations (e.g., sex, race, ethnicity, and culture) remains
another area in which expansion is needed. A few studies have shown
support for the use of TWA with culturally stigmatized groups, such as
lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals (Lyons, Brenner, & Fassinger,
2005; Velez & Moradi, 2012), African American employees (Lyons &
O'Brien, 2006; Lyons, Velez, Mehta, & Neill, 2014), Latinx immigrant
workers (Eggerth & Flynn, 2012; Flynn, Eggerth, & Jacobson Jr., 2015),
women of color (Velez, Cox Jr., Polihronakis, & Moradi, 2018), late‐career
workers (Bayl‐Smith & Griffin, 2017), and individuals with intellectual
disabilities (Chiocchio & Frigon, 2006).
Using a measure of perceived person–job and person–organization fits
developed by Saks and Ashforth (1997), Lyons et al. (2005) found that
perceived correspondence predicted satisfaction and the probability of
remaining in the current work environment for LGB individuals. This
support held true even in the presence of informal heterosexism in the
workplace, which is an example of a unique barrier that stigmatized
populations' experience in workplaces. Results of the study indicated that
the persons' perception of correspondence between their values and work
environment reinforcers mediated the relationship between workplace
heterosexism and job satisfaction (Lyons et al., 2005). That is, the
experience of heterosexism resulted in lower levels of satisfaction because
it tended to reduce employees' sense of fit with the work environment. In
another study (Velez & Moradi, 2012), inclusion of two workplace
contextual variables indicated that LGB‐supportive climate, but not
perceived heterosexist discrimination, predicted person–organization fit for
LGB employees. Climate also demonstrated a link to job satisfaction and
turnover intentions, indirectly through person–organization fit.
Several studies examined the use of TWA with African American
employees. Lyons and O'Brien (2006) reported that perceived person–
environment fit explained 43% of the variance in job satisfaction and 17%
of the variance in intentions to quit. Perceived racial climate, however, did
not moderate or mediate the relationship between fit and satisfaction or
turnover intentions, supporting the primacy of perceived person–
environment correspondence. Further, qualitative analyses coded for TWA
values and racial climate indicated the TWA value of comfort was cited
most often as contributing to job satisfaction, whereas racial climate was
cited least often. In a sample of economically distressed African Americans,
Lyons et al. (2014) tested two competing models of the role of perceived
racial climate in TWA predictions. As hypothesized, supportive racial
climate and person–organization fit were positively correlated with job
satisfaction and negatively correlated with turnover intentions. However,
there was an indirect link between person–organization fit and turnover
intentions, through job satisfaction, which depended on the level of
perceived racial climate. With an unsupportive racial climate, the
relationship between person–organization fit and turnover intentions was
not significant, whereas with a moderately supportive racial climate, the
relationship was significant (Lyons et al., 2014).
Using TWA in conjunction with organizational support theory (Kurtessis et
al., 2017) with a sample of employed women of color, Velez et al. (2018)
examined the connections among womanist attitudes (often called
intersectional feminism), self‐esteem, person–organization fit, perceived
organizational support, work outcomes (burnout and turnover intentions),
and psychological distress. Workplace discrimination was directly and
indirectly (via the mediating role of self‐esteem) associated with higher
psychological distress, indirectly associated with poor work outcomes
(through mediating roles of perceived P–O fit, perceived organizational
support, and self‐esteem). Although not directly testing theoretical
propositions from TWA, workplace discrimination could be conceptualized
as contributing to lack of correspondence between an individual's needs and
the organization's rewards, and this discorrespondence leads to negative
outcomes.
Chiocchio and Frigon (2006) also demonstrated support for the use of TWA
in a sample of adults with mental retardation, for whom both
satisfactoriness and satisfaction together predicted a tenure of 16 weeks
after starting a job. These studies suggest the usefulness of TWA in
explaining the work experiences of culturally diverse groups of people.
While research on the process model (e.g., on the roles of personality styles,
adjustment styles, flexibility, and perseverance) has expanded in recent
years, there remains room for additional understanding of how various
individual factors influence the TWA models. Several writers have
suggested that attention to personality factors might enhance TWA by
providing a more holistic picture of what the individual brings to the
interaction between the person and environment. Hesketh and Griffin
(2005), for example, suggested that such factors as mental health, general
well‐being, knowledge, as well as skills, abilities, and higher‐order needs or
values need to be considered to more fully understand the adjustment
strategies that people employ to enhance career success across diverse
populations (Renfro‐Michel, Burlew, & Robert, 2009). Although additional
research is warranted (especially on the process model and the validity of
TWA in culturally diverse populations), TWA's theoretical concepts offer
potential benefit for practitioners. In the next section, we discuss some of
the applications of TWA.
APPLICATIONS OF TWA
The TWA can be applied to better understand current work trends, stages of
career development, and career adaptability for culturally diverse
populations. As Griffin and Hesketh (2005) discuss, it is common, or even
expected, that contemporary organizations will experience environmental
change. These changes will have an effect on everyone involved in the
workplace. Environmental change may lead to organizational expansion,
reduction, or shifts in power or resources. These changes are likely to alter
the reinforcements and requirements that characterize the environment.
Therefore, the environment may no longer correspond with what the
individual employee originally brought to the interaction.
On the other side of the coin, shifts occurring for the individual (e.g., life
changes such as a medical diagnosis, having a child, or a variety of other
events or shifts in values or priorities) may render reinforcers that were
previously valued by an individual much less reinforcing. When such
discorrespondence occurs, the workplace or the individual will be required
to adjust to restore satisfaction (needs–supplies fit) or satisfactoriness
(demand–ability fit). Adjustment may consist of active, reactive, or tolerant
behavior by either the organization or the individual (Griffin & Hesketh,
2005). TWA may be a useful framework within the current career climate to
enhance understanding of the continuous change process and how it
impacts individuals, the environment, and the interaction between the two.
TWA also intersects with the positive psychology movement, which has
natural connections to the broader field of vocational psychology. This
movement includes a greater focus on mental health, well‐being, and life
satisfaction. It is widely recognized that job satisfaction is closely
interconnected with overall life satisfaction (Lent, 2008; Lent & Brown,
Chapter 23, this volume; Swanson, 2012). With satisfaction as one of
TWA's key components, there is an inherent connection between TWA and
positive psychology (e.g., Eggerth, 2008). TWA depicts how environmental
reinforcers, satisfactoriness, and other factors feed into a person's job
satisfaction, which in turn may have an impact on individuals' overall levels
of life satisfaction and mental health. Thus, the application of TWA for
persons experiencing dissatisfaction at work may at the same time alleviate
psychological distress and promote greater life satisfaction and well‐being,
one of the goals of the positive psychology movement.
CAREER ISSUES THROUGHOUT THE LIFE SPAN
As one of the primary theories of person–environment fit, TWA can be
useful in the early stages of career exploration and development to help
individuals identify an array of occupational possibilities in which they may
achieve satisfaction and success in the future. According to TWA, an
effective strategy with adolescents and young adults is to identify their
major work‐related needs, values, skills, and abilities, as well as
occupational possibilities that correspond with their values and abilities
(Dawis, 2005), which should promote more satisfying and satisfactory
choices. Attention to person–environment fit during initial entry into a
career field may also lead to higher‐quality employment experiences (Saks
& Ashforth, 2002).
By focusing on work adjustment, TWA can also be useful in counseling
persons who are currently dissatisfied with their work environments or who
are judged as unsatisfactory in their current jobs. TWA provides some clear
hypotheses about sources of dissatisfaction (lack of needs–supplies fit) and
unsatisfactoriness (lack of demand–ability fit) that can provide directions
for counseling. For example, a practitioner familiar with TWA would
explore with dissatisfied clients their major work‐related values and how
well these are being met in their work environments. Should need–
reinforcer discorrespondence be identified, the client could then explore and
implement different active and reactive strategies to achieve greater
correspondence. Should these strategies fail, then the counselor might work
with the client to identify more value‐correspondent jobs or occupations.
Additionally, clients' levels of flexibility would also be considered. Clients
who are characteristically inflexible are likely to report dissatisfaction with
seemingly minor levels of discorrespondence and may require close
attention to value–reinforcer correspondence in exploring future job or
occupational possibilities.
Similarly, in working with clients who are judged to be performing poorly
at work (unsatisfactory workers), TWA would suggest an exploration of the
clients' abilities and the degree to which these abilities match the ability
requirements of their current jobs. Again, should discorrespondence be
evident, counselors could explore with clients different active and reactive
strategies that may be employed to achieve greater satisfactoriness.
Counselors would also help clients explore and identify alternative jobs or
occupations in which the client is more likely to achieve satisfactory
performance. Lent and Brown (Chapter 23, this volume) provide some
additional suggestions about how TWA and other theories can be applied in
working with clients experiencing problems of job satisfaction and
satisfactoriness.
As noted earlier, recent work has explored the applicability of TWA to
promoting adjustment to retirement (Foley & Lytle, 2015; Griffin, 2015;
Harper & Shoffner, 2004; Hesketh et al., 2011, 2015). For individuals
reaching the age of retirement, a process of adjustment is inevitable. No
matter what life after retirement will look like, there are likely to be
differences from the world of work that the individual currently
experiences. The ultimate goal for most individuals is to achieve
satisfaction in their postretirement lives. Thus, TWA could be used in
working with individuals who are planning for retirement or experiencing
difficulties in adjusting to retirement by exploring how their major needs
and values are being satisfied in their postretirement lives and how they
might implement their abilities in this new developmental stage.
USING TWA WITH DIVERSE CLIENTS
As mentioned in the previous section regarding research support for TWA,
several recent studies provide empirical data on the application of TWA to
diverse populations. Moreover, there are several examples of applying TWA
concepts with specific groups, drawing on authors' experiences as career
practitioners. TWA has been used to conceptualize career issues for people
who have HIV/AIDS (Dahlbeck & Lease, 2010), symptoms of anorexia
nervosa (Withrow & Shoffner, 2006), and the specific challenges
experienced by lesbian women (Degges‐White & Shoffner, 2002). Each of
these authors discussed the dynamic nature of the person and the
environment, as well as their interaction. For example, chronic health status
issues for persons living with AIDS/HIV may affect previous levels of
abilities and skills and lead to a reevaluation of needs and values; TWA
would be useful in framing related work adjustment issues.
Withrow and Shoffner (2006) described the personality and behavioral
characteristics of women with disordered eating symptoms as leading to
“precarious person–environment correspondence” (p. 366), in which the
achievement of job satisfaction and satisfactoriness exacerbates eating
disorders. In applying TWA to lesbians, Degges‐White and Shoffner (2002)
described the relationship between being “out” in the workplace and four
critical aspects of TWA: job satisfaction, person–environment
correspondence, the importance of workplace reinforcers, and abilities.
These unique challenges may also be apparent for gay, bisexual, and
transgender workers. Research discussed earlier (Lyons et al., 2005)
suggested that the experience of heterosexism in the work environment
might have a significant impact on LGB workers' perceptions of fit and,
therefore, their satisfaction with their jobs.
Analysis of the challenges to successful career choice and adjustment of
unique groups of individuals such as those just discussed highlights the
usefulness of TWA tenets. The central concepts of TWA—that person–
environment correspondence leads to favorable outcomes and that
discorrespondence leads to adjustment behavior—provide a core framework
that can be used to understand and work with diverse clients encountering
difficulties with work adjustment.
Career counseling from the TWA perspective addresses the two aspects of
correspondence: the client's satisfaction (needs–supplies fit) with his or her
job or occupation and the client's satisfactoriness (demand–ability fit)
within his or her work environment. Counselors using TWA as a theoretical
framework would begin by identifying the needs and abilities of the client.
These characteristic needs and abilities are unique starting points, and so
counselors would explore the specific nature of the client's abilities and
needs, as well as the degree of satisfaction and satisfactoriness resulting
from the degree of fit between a client and his or her environment.
Counseling from the perspective of TWA is primarily focused on the
resolution of clients' discorrespondence with their environments through
career choice and adjustment.
Lofquist and Dawis (1991) suggested several questions to guide a
counselor's work with clients within the framework of TWA. First, what is
the match between clients' abilities and the ability requirements of their
jobs? Clients' abilities may be too high or too low for the position. Second,
what are clients' subjective evaluations of their abilities and the
discorrespondence they are experiencing with requirements of the work
environment? Is there a discrepancy between self‐estimated and actual
abilities or between the perceived and actual environmental requirements?
Third, what is the match between clients' needs and the rewards offered by
the environment? Fourth, are clients actually both satisfied with and
satisfactory in their work environments but experiencing difficulties in non‐
work domains? These questions translate TWA tenets into testable
hypotheses to pursue in career counseling (Swanson & Fouad, 2020).
A unique aspect of TWA is that counselors may focus on characteristics of
work (and non‐work) environments to a greater degree than in other
theories (Juntunen & Even, 2012). Such a focus allows counselors and
clients to determine the degree of correspondence between environmental
requirements and rewards and an individual's abilities and needs, thereby
allowing a more finely grained analysis of a client's satisfaction with his or
her current work situation.
INTERVENTIONS IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS
TWA also has potential applications for work organizations. For example,
personnel assessment may be a primary area in which TWA could be used.
TWA has had a history of application within personnel assessment and
evaluation of job performance. Much job performance evaluation has
focused solely on measures of individuals' capabilities (see Lent & Brown,
Chapter 23, this volume). TWA, however, depicts job performance as a
measure of the interaction between a person's ability and the demands or
requirements of the workplace (Dawis, 1980). Therefore, finding ways to
assess job performance within the actual environment, rather than solely the
person's capability to perform job‐like tasks, would be an incorporation of
TWA into performance evaluation. TWA could also be used in other
interventions, such as organizational leadership and management aimed at
creating a positive work climate and promoting workplace support (Griffin
& Hesketh, 2005). The creation and employment of organizational‐level
interventions is equally important as interventions aimed at individuals
because TWA emphasizes the needs and requirements of each within the
adjustment process.
Work style, particularly work style fit, is another possible target of
interventions within organizational settings. Fit between an individual's
work style and the organization's desired or demonstrated work style may
be an important component of adjustment, above and beyond needs–
supplies fit and demand–ability fit, and could be explicitly included as part
of new employee training and supervision. Work styles may vary across
organizations within the same industry, or across departments within an
organization.
Finally, organizations would be wise to examine workplace climate in the
context of TWA. As noted by Velez et al. (2018, p. 179), “Centralizing the
experiences of marginalized populations typically necessitates stepping
outside the boundaries of available theories to draw from multiple
theoretical and research pipelines that could better capture those
populations' experiences.” TWA clearly has an important role in examining
crucial workplace experiences. Workplace discrimination—as evidenced by
stigmatization, harassment, and microaggressions—reflects the values of an
organization, and thus is directly relevant to person–organization or person–
environment fit. It is also crucial to examine workplace climate more
broadly, to include all potentialisms (racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism,
ageism), and, conversely, to include the positive aspects of workplace
climate, such as LGB‐supportive environment. While none of these are
explicitly measured or discussed in original formulations of TWA, recent
research suggests that these contextual variables may moderate or mediate
relationships within TWA predictive and process models.
CASE EXAMPLE
To further examine how TWA may be used in working with clients, we
discuss the case of Jasmine. Jasmine is a 19‐year‐old single, heterosexual
Latina. She is an only child and has a close, supportive relationship with her
mother, a social worker, who lives 3 hours away. Jasmine is a sophomore in
college, currently majoring in interior design. She sought career counseling
because she recently began to question her choice of major but is unsure of
other majors or careers she might like to pursue. Interior design has been
her dream career since the age of 10, and Jasmine never considered
alternative career paths. She reports finding enjoyment in organizing and
decorating rooms and in seeing others' happiness as a result of her
creativity.
Jasmine has always been a good student, earning As and Bs throughout
high school, as well as in her first semester of college. However, during the
past two semesters, she has begun earning Cs, which Jasmine attributes to
the types of courses she has been taking for her major. These courses
consist of architecturally based classes requiring knowledge of “angles and
math” that she is “not able to understand,” despite the hours she reports
spending on assignments and projects. She has begun feeling unexcited
about her work and misses the experience of being artistically creative with
colors, themes, and objects within a room. She has begun to perceive
designing the structure of a room as overly restrictive. Jasmine wishes to
receive help in deciding whether to continue with her interior design major.
TWA can aid in the understanding of Jasmine's current experiences of
discorrespondence with her major through exploring both her satisfaction
and satisfactoriness as contributing forces. In terms of satisfaction, Jasmine
reported that she enjoyed interior design based on the process of organizing
rooms, creating color schemes and themes, and seeing others' enjoyment. In
terms of TWA values, these reflect independence and achievement,
including ability utilization (making use of her artistic abilities),
achievement (being able to see what she has accomplished), creativity
(being able to try her own ideas), and social service (doing things for
others). Her creativity needs of artistic expression are currently not being
met in the courses she is taking, causing her to have low levels of
satisfaction. In terms of satisfactoriness, the interior design major requires
an architecturally based skill set that does not match Jasmine's repertoire of
abilities, resulting in low satisfactoriness.
Goals of career counseling with Jasmine may be (a) clarifying her needs in
a work environment, (b) increasing understanding of her abilities and how
they relate to interior design or other academic majors, and (c) ultimately
making a decision regarding whether to remain in her current major or
change to a different major. These goals work together within the TWA
framework to first understand what factors are important for Jasmine to
experience correspondence with an academic major or career and then aid
in identifying what Jasmine can do to obtain satisfaction and tenure in a
given environment. These goals can be obtained through exploration of
both the self and the environment. For example, exploring past experiences
and environments in which Jasmine has felt her needs were met, as well as
those in which she felt her needs were not sufficiently met, may provide
important information regarding the flexibility and variation of Jasmine's
needs. Such an exploration may provide greater insight into which needs
are necessary for Jasmine to experience satisfaction within an environment.
Jasmine could also take the O*NET WIL to help in the identification of her
major work‐related values (see Rounds & Leuty, Chapter 16, this volume).
One advantage of the formal value assessments that can be obtained by the
WIL is that it provides a clarification of values that may aid individuals
who have a hard time discriminating among important values and needs.
For example, Jasmine may feel that relationships with coworkers and using
her creative abilities are equally important to her, whereas the WIL might
suggest that achievement is more important to her than relationships with
coworkers. Using assessment tools such as the WIL also may bring needs
and values to the forefront of discussion with Jasmine, such as having high
scores on working conditions that lead her to consider the importance of
needs such as pay and job security.
Exploring and identifying Jasmine's abilities and the skill requirements of
the occupation of interior design, as well as other potential options, can also
be used to predict the occupational areas in which Jasmine is likely to be
most satisfactory. Finally, identifying ways in which Jasmine may change
her current environment (e.g., adding art classes to her course load to meet
her need for artistic expression) may also be a beneficial intervention in
finding ways to increase satisfaction and correspondence without changing
to a completely new major and career path.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE
IMPLICATIONS
As evidenced throughout this chapter, TWA has great potential for
understanding the experiences of clients presenting with career choice
issues and for assisting clients (whether individuals or organizations) in
increasing work adjustment. In this section, we offer take‐home tips for
career professionals in using TWA.
1. TWA is a well‐constructed theory with possible applications across the
career–life cycle. It can be used to help people (a) forecast the types of
occupations in which they may achieve satisfaction and
satisfactoriness, (b) select among different occupational possibilities,
(c) achieve (or re‐achieve) satisfaction and satisfactoriness in the
current work environment and identify work environments that might
be associated with greater satisfaction and satisfactoriness, and (d) aid
in the retirement adjustment process.
2. TWA suggests that clients be helped to identify their major work‐
related (or retirement‐related) needs, values, and abilities. Theories
vary in the concepts they deem most important; values and abilities
constitute the primary focus of TWA. While the role of vocational
interests in TWA is less direct than in other theories of vocational
choice, assessment of interests is a common component of career
counseling and may be used as a mechanism for discussing a client's
abilities and values.
3. TWA is a person–environment fit theory. Thus, it is also important to
help clients identify work environments that appear to be
correspondent with their major work‐related needs, values, and
abilities. There are a variety of occupational information systems that
can be employed for this purpose, including the Minnesota
Occupational Classification System and the O*NET data bases (see
Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19, this volume).
4. Discorrespondence may occur for either the person or the
environment. Clients may enter career counseling expressing
dissatisfaction with their jobs or career choices, but counselors are
advised to remember that individuals also may be unsatisfactory; that
is, the environment may be dissatisfied with the person. The concepts
of TWA provide a ready framework for attending to both aspects of
dissatisfaction.
5. An increasing body of research suggests that the theory has cross‐
cultural validity, especially in the predictions of satisfaction among
LGB individuals and African Americans. Thus, value–reinforcer
correspondence (or needs–supplies fit) seems an important target for
counseling LGB and African American clients who are looking for
satisfying career options or experiencing dissatisfaction in the
workplace. TWA seems relevant to other groups as well, but research
is limited.
6. Finally, fully informed and comprehensive career counseling will
incorporate other empirically supported theories and research along
with TWA in helping people make satisfying and satisfactory career
choices and achieve workplace and retirement adjustment. For
example, Rounds (1990) found that value–reinforcer correspondence
(from TWA) and person‐environment congruence (from Holland's
theory) did a better job of predicting work satisfaction than did either
correspondence or congruence alone. We also identified some ways in
which concepts drawn from other theoretical approaches (such as
positive psychology) and attention to contextual factors may help
develop more complex approaches to understanding and assisting
clients.
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CHAPTER 3
Holland's Theory of Vocational Choice and
Adjustment
MARGARET M. NAUTA
Illinois State University, Normal, IL
When John Holland introduced a theory of vocational choice in 1959, his
goal was to present a framework that would be practical for counselors and
clients to use. His work as a career counselor in educational, military, and
clinical settings helped provide Holland with a sense of what was needed
and what would be useful. He concluded that simplicity was critical—if a
theory was too complex for counselors to explain and for clients to
remember and reflect upon, it ran the risk of being underutilized. Therefore,
Holland strove to articulate a theory that would be sufficiently robust to
explain important outcomes and yet simple enough to be user‐friendly. It is
safe to say he accomplished this goal with resounding success. Holland
revised and refined his theory numerous times based on results from
empirical studies he and others conducted to test elements of the theory.
Now Holland's theory is generally regarded as among the most influential
theories guiding career counseling and practice.
This chapter serves as an introduction to Holland's (1997) theory of
vocational choice and is divided into three major sections:
1. An overview of the theory and its predictions.
2. A summary of research on the theory, including its applicability to
diverse populations.
3. A discussion of how the theory can be applied to career issues that
arise over the lifespan with diverse populations.
The chapter concludes with a series of take‐home messages that summarize
for practitioners the key parts of the theory and their implications for career
interventions.
OVERVIEW OF THE THEORY
The essence of Holland's theory is that both people and environments can
be described in terms of their resemblance to six model, or theoretical,
types. The interrelationships among the types provide the basis for several
predictions about the kinds of careers people will choose, how satisfied they
will be with their work, how well they will perform in their work, and the
ease with which they will be able to make career decisions.
THE SIX TYPES OF PERSONS AND ENVIRONMENTS
According to Holland, by late adolescence most people can be characterized
in terms of how closely they resemble each of six basic personality types:
realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional
(commonly abbreviated with the acronym RIASEC). Each type has a
unique constellation of preferred activities, self‐beliefs, abilities, and values
as summarized in Table 3.1. Readers are encouraged to consult Holland
(1997) for more detailed descriptions of the personality types.
Describing how the RIASEC personality types develop was not a central
goal of Holland, but he suggested they are likely the result of a complex
interaction among “a variety of cultural and personal forces including peers,
biological heredity, parents, social class, culture, and the physical
environment” (Holland, 1997, p. 2). Based on these influences, Holland
believed people first begin to prefer some activities over others, and then
these preferences become strong interests and areas of competence that lead
them to seek some experiences and to avoid others. This further reinforces
their interests and abilities such that over time, the interests, areas of
competence, and resulting self‐beliefs become dispositional and can be used
to make predictions about people's future choices and behaviors.
In arguing for the presence of six basic types, Holland did not assert that
people represent only a single type. Many individuals have a dominant type
that they most closely resemble plus one or more additional types (called
subtypes) that they also resemble to some degree. Accordingly, Holland
recommended using the rank‐ordering of all six types to describe people.
Considering all possible combinations of the rank‐ordered six types, there
are 720 different personality profile patterns that can exist. Therefore, while
providing simplicity by allowing us to think about individuals in terms of
six dimensions, the theory actually allows for quite a bit of complexity and
diversity among those individuals. In practice, many counselors use a three‐
point code—called a Holland code—that is made up of the first letters of
the three types a client most resembles. Thus, if a client most resembles the
social type, but also shows a reasonable degree of resemblance to the
artistic and enterprising types in descending order, he or she would have a
Holland code of SAE.
TABLE 3.1 Characteristics of Holland's RIASEC Personality and
Environment Types
Sources: Gottfredson, G. D., & Holland, J. L. (1996). Dictionary of Holland occupational codes
(3rd ed.). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., Holland, J. L. (1997). Making
vocational choices: A theory of vocational personalities and work environments (3rd ed.).
Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources and Prediger, D. J. (1982). Dimensions
underlying Holland's hexagon: Missing link between interests and occupations? Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 48, 59–67.
Realistic
Investigative
Preference for working with:
Preference for working with: things and
things
ideas
Personality characteristics:
Personality characteristics: analytical,
frank, practical, focused,
intellectual, reserved, independent,
mechanical, determined, rugged ambitious
Preferred/typical activities and
Preferred/typical activities and skills:
skills: mechanical, manual,
working with abstract ideas, solving
physical, and athletic tasks
intellectual problems, collecting data
Sample careers: Fitness trainer, Sample careers: biologist, researcher,
firefighter, mechanic, builder,
physician, mathematician, computer
farmer, landscaper
systems analyst
Sample majors: criminal justice Sample majors: botany, engineering,
studies, athletic training,
mathematics, pre‐med, food technology
construction management
Values: independence, logic,
Values: tradition, freedom,
achievement
independence
Artistic
Social
Preference for working with:
Preference for working with: people
ideas and people
Personality characteristics:
Personality characteristics:
cooperative, helpful, empathic, kind,
complicated, original, impulsive, tactful, warm, sociable, generous
independent, expressive, creative Preferred/typical activities and skills:
Preferred/typical activities and
interacting with and helping people,
skills: using imagination, creative teaching, guiding
expression
Sample careers: teacher, clergy,
Sample careers: artist, musician, counselor, nurse, school bus monitor
actor, creative writer,
Sample majors: nursing, education,
photographer
Sample majors: art, theater,
counseling, social work
graphic design, music
Values: altruism, ethics, equality
Values: esthetic experience, self‐
expression, imagination, non‐
conformity
Enterprising
Conventional
Preference for working with: data Preference for working with: data and
and people
things
Personality characteristics:
Personality characteristics: careful,
persuasive, energetic, sociable,
conforming, conservative, responsible,
adventurous, ambitious, assertive controlled
Preferred/typical activities and
Preferred/typical activities and skills:
skills: leading, managing,
ordering, attending to details
persuading, and organizing
Sample careers: accountant, banker,
people
actuary, editor, office manager, librarian
Sample careers: manager, lawyer, Sample majors: business, accounting
business administrator, politician Values: tradition, ambition, obedience,
Sample majors: pre‐law, business economic achievement, comfort
management, political science
Values: tradition, achievement,
ambition
To assess a client's resemblance to the RIASEC types, counselors can use
instruments developed by Holland and his colleagues, including the
Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI; Holland, 1985b) and the Self‐
Directed Search (SDS; Holland & Messer, 2013a). RIASEC scales have
also been created for almost all major career interest inventories, including
the Strong Interest Inventory (SII; Donnay, Morris, Schaubhut, &
Thompson, 2005), the Unisex Edition of the ACT Interest Inventory
(Swaney, 1995), and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (U.S.
Department of Defense, 2005) (see Hansen, Chapter 15, this volume). The
U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET website contains a Holland‐based
measure called the Interest Profiler (Lewis & Rivkin, 1999) that can be
downloaded or completed online at no cost. These instruments provide
RIASEC interest scores, which are more narrowly defined than are the
broader RIASEC type scores from the SDS (which include information
about other personal attributes, in addition to interests), but, in practice,
interest and type scores are usually used in the same way. In addition, the
RIASEC dimensions serve as the organizing framework for instruments
measuring other career‐relevant constructs, such as people's beliefs about
their abilities (e.g., the Skills Confidence Inventory; Betz, Borgen, &
Harmon, 2004).
Holland proposed that, like people, work and educational environments can
also be categorized in terms of their resemblance to the six RIASEC types.
Each environment type presents unique opportunities and tends to require
different skills of its incumbents (see Table 3.1). Readers can consult
Gottfredson and Holland (1996) and Holland (1997) for more complete lists
and detailed descriptions of the environment types. As with people, some
environments are quite complex and resemble multiple RIASEC types, so
again the rank‐ordering of multiple types is useful, and three‐point Holland
codes are often used to describe environments as well.
One way to determine an environment's type is on the basis of the
personalities of the people working in it because, as Holland explained,
“Where people congregate, they create an environment that reflects the
types they most resemble” (Holland, 1997, p. 3). Thus, an environment
comprising mostly workers with CRE personalities would be considered a
CRE environment. Alternatively, an environment can be described based on
the types of activities in which people in it usually engage. The Position
Classification Inventory (PCI; Gottfredson & Holland, 1991) allows
employees or supervisors to rate the frequency with which a job involves
various activities, values, and perspectives that are grouped by RIASEC
type. Holland codes are also available for hundreds of occupations in the
Dictionary of Holland Occupational Codes (DHOC; Gottfredson &
Holland, 1996); ancillary materials to the SDS, such as the Occupations
Finder (Holland & Messer, 2013b) and Educational Opportunities Finder
(Messer, Holland, & PAR Staff, 2013); and in many other sources of
occupational information, including the O*NET database (see Gore &
Leuwerke, Chapter 19, this volume).
PREDICTIONS BASED ON RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE
TYPES
In striving for a theory that was simple enough to be widely used, Holland
willingly sacrificed some detail and predictive power. He maintained that a
more complex theory with more than six types or more constructs would be
impractical. Nevertheless, Holland recognized that it was important to
acknowledge the limits of the theory and to place it in context. Therefore,
he introduced his theory with an “other things being equal” (1997, p. 12)
qualifier, explaining that the theory is useful for understanding individuals'
career choices after controlling for age, gender, social class, and other
influences that limit opportunities or the range of careers a person can or
does consider. A variety of barriers can constrain people's freedom to make
career choices (see Blustein & Duffy, Chapter 7, and Lent, Chapter 5, this
volume), and Holland's theory best accounts for the choices people make
when they perceive they have options and from within the range of options
they perceive as viable. The theory, however, does not preclude a counselor
from exploring barriers to client options and helping clients develop
strategies to manage or overcome identified barriers.
After the influence of other factors has been accounted for, Holland
suggested that the interrelationships among the RIASEC personality and
environment types allow us to make several predictions about people's
career choices, satisfaction, and performance. Four important constructs
related to these predictions are congruence, differentiation, consistency, and
identity.
Congruence. The most important part of Holland's theory is the idea that an
individual's personality is better suited to some environments than to others.
He asserted that people search for and enter environments that permit them
to “exercise their skills and abilities, express their attitudes and values, and
take on agreeable problems and roles” (p. 4). In other words, people seek
environments that fit well with their personalities. Environments also seek
good‐fitting employees via their recruitment and selection of people with
desired characteristics. Thus, like the “theory of work adjustment” (Dawis,
2000; Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2, this volume), Holland's theory is an
exemplar of the person–environment fit approach.
Holland used the term congruence to refer to the degree of fit between an
individual and his or her current or projected environment with respect to
the RIASEC types. The more similar the personality is to the environment,
the more congruent are the two. A person with an RIA personality working
in an RIA environment has a very high level of congruence. That same
individual working in an RIE environment would have slightly lower
congruence, and that person in an SEC environment would have a very low
degree of congruence.
Congruence has been operationalized in many different ways in research
and practice. The simplest measure considers only the match between the
first letters of the person's and the environment's Holland codes, whereas
other congruence indices consider the rank ordering of two or more
personality and environment types (see Brown & Gore, 1994; Nye, Prasad,
Bradburn, & Elizondo, 2018; Wille, Tracey, Feys, & De Fruyt, 2014;
Young, Tokar, & Subich, 1998, for summaries and evaluations of
congruence indices).
Holland theorized that congruence is a determinant of several important
outcomes, including people's career aspirations and choices, work
satisfaction, job stability, and performance. Specifically, he predicted that:
People will tend to aspire to and choose educational and work
environments that are congruent with their personalities.
When people are in environments that are highly congruent with their
personalities, they will be more satisfied and successful, and they will
remain in those environments longer, resulting in greater stability (i.e.,
fewer job changes) over the lifespan.
Differentiation. A minority of people and environments resemble one
RIASEC type almost exclusively (i.e., are “pure” types), whereas other
people and environments are similar to many of the types. Holland used the
term differentiation to describe the degree to which a person or environment
is clearly defined with respect to the RIASEC types.
People with high levels of differentiation show a strong resemblance to one
RIASEC type and little resemblance to other types, whereas people with
low levels of differentiation have similar degrees of resemblance to many of
the types. The lowest degree of differentiation is present in the profile of a
person who receives identical scores on all six RIASEC scores when taking
an inventory such as the SDS. Holland operationalized differentiation as the
difference between a person's highest and lowest scores on the six types.
Other differentiation indices, for example, the distance between the highest
and lowest scores that comprise a person's three‐point Holland code, have
also been used (for descriptions of several differentiation indices, see Alvi,
Khan, & Kirkwood, 1990; Tracey, Wille, Durr II, & De Fruyt, 2014).
Highly differentiated work environments have employees and activities that
clearly align with one RIASEC type and few of the others. An example is
an auto repair shop in which all of the employees are primarily engaged in
hands‐on, mechanical work that exemplifies the realistic type, even though
some may specialize in electronic systems, others in body work, and still
others in engine repair. Environments made up of employees with varied
RIASEC types or that require many different kinds of work activities have
low levels of differentiation. An example is a medical office complex in
which there are physicians (primary I type), nurses (primary S type), and
medical records clerks (primary C type), whose work activities can be quite
disparate. Work environment differentiation can be quantified by having
employees or supervisors rate the environment using the PCI and then using
indices that are analogous to those used to calculate personality
differentiation.
Holland theorized that differentiation has implications for the process of
career decision‐making and that it moderates the relationships between
congruence and its outcomes. People with highly differentiated
personalities should be drawn to a narrow range of occupational areas with
which there is obvious congruence. On the other hand, people with highly
undifferentiated personalities can have difficulty making career decisions
because they feel torn between multiple areas that are equally attractive (or
equally unappealing, in the case of low, undifferentiated personality
profiles). Likewise, because highly differentiated environments are more
predictable (i.e., are easier to identify and involve more activities typically
associated with a given type), they should more easily attract highly
congruent employees. Accordingly, Holland predicted that:
Personality differentiation is positively associated with ease of career
decision‐making. Therefore, individuals with highly undifferentiated
personalities may struggle to a greater degree with making career
choices.
The positive relationships between congruence and work satisfaction,
success, and stability will be stronger when differentiation (either
personality, environmental, or both) is greater.
Consistency. Each RIASEC type, whether personality or environment, has
more in common with some types than with others. When examining the
pattern of correlations among RIASEC scores, Holland, Whitney, Cole, and
Richards (1969) discovered a roughly circular ordering of types and
subsequently presented what has become an icon in career development and
assessment: The Holland Hexagon (see Figure 3.1).
FIGURE 3.1 Holland's hexagonal model of the relationships among
personality and environment types.
From Holland, J. L., Whitney, D. R., Cole, N. S., & Richards, J. M., Jr. (1969). An Empirical
Occupational Classification Derived from a Theory of Personality and Intended for Practice and
Research (ACT Research Report No. 29). Iowa City: American College Testing Program.
Copyright 1969 by the American College Testing Program. All rights reserved. Reproduced with
permission from ACT, Inc.
As shown by the correlations among the RIASEC type scores in Figure 3.1,
when the RIASEC types are placed, in order, on the points around a
hexagon, those on adjacent points (e.g., I and A) are generally more similar
to one another than are those that are more distant from one another (e.g., I
and S). Those that are diametrically opposed (e.g., I and E) usually share
the least in common. This underlying structure, or calculus—in which the
RIASEC types are equidistantly located around the hexagon and there is an
inverse relationship between distances on the hexagon and similarity—
provides a means for determining the degree to which there is relative
harmony versus discordance among the types a person or environment most
closely resembles.
When the types that make up a person's or environment's Holland code are
adjacent on the hexagon (i.e., are more similar), the person or environment
has a high degree of what Holland called consistency. For instance, the
social and enterprising types, while having distinct characteristics, share a
common element of involving work with people (Prediger, 1982). A low
level of consistency is present when the types making up a person's or
environment's Holland code are diametrically opposed (e.g., I and E) and
have little in common. For example, a highly inconsistent work
environment is one that requires a combination of interests and abilities that
are rarely required in the same job and that few people will have.
Consistency is frequently calculated by examining the position of the first
two letters of the three‐letter person or environment Holland code on the
hexagon, although more complex methods for determining consistency
have also been used (see Strahan, 1987; Tracey et al., 2014).
Among both people and environments, consistency is more the norm than
the exception. For example, the DHOC lists only two occupations as having
the highly inconsistent ACS Holland code, whereas over 80 are listed that
have the highly consistent CER Holland code. As a result, people with more
consistent personalities will be able to consider and choose from more
occupations that allow them to express most of the key elements of their
personalities. Similarly, highly consistent environments should be able to
recruit from a larger pool of employees with highly congruent personalities.
Accordingly, Holland predicted that:
Consistency is positively associated with ease of career decision‐
making. People with highly inconsistent personalities may be more
challenged when attempting to find highly congruent environments.
Consistency moderates the relationships between congruence and its
outcomes. The relationships between congruence and work
satisfaction, performance, and stability will be stronger when
consistency (either personality, environmental, or both) is high.
Identity. Finally, Holland noted that some people and environments are
more clearly defined and have more stability over time than do others.
Identity refers to the degree to which a person has “a clear and stable
picture of one's goals, interests, and talents” (Holland, 1997, p. 5) and can
be assessed using the Identity Scale of My Vocational Situation (MVS;
Holland, Daiger, & Power, 1980), the Vocational Identity Status Assessment
(Porfeli, Lee, Vondracek, & Weigold, 2011), or the vocational identity
measure (Gupta, Chong, & Leong, 2015). Strong environmental identity is
present when an environment or organization has clear, integrated goals,
tasks, and rewards that are stable over long time intervals. A work setting
with a limited range of highly related positions that remain the same over
time would have a strong, or crystallized, identity, whereas a work setting
with varied positions that change frequently has a more diffuse identity.
Holland indicated that one way to operationalize environmental identity is
to take the inverse of the number of occupations within a work setting. A
small business with employees in four different occupations—such as
salesperson, marketing executive, administrative assistant, and product
designer—would have an identity of .25 (the inverse of 4).
Theoretically, identity is strongly related to differentiation and consistency
because people or environments with high degrees of differentiation and
consistency are expected to have more clear and stable goals. In fact,
Holland considered identity to be somewhat redundant with differentiation
and consistency, but he thought identity provides a more direct measure of
“how well a person defines himself or herself” (1997, p. 33).
As with differentiation and consistency, Holland expected that:
A stronger, well‐defined identity promotes ease of career decision‐
making.
Identity moderates the relationships between congruence and its
outcomes. Specifically, congruence will have stronger positive
relationships with work satisfaction, stability, and performance when
identity (either of the person, the environment, or both) is well‐
defined.
SUMMARY
In summary, when all else is equal, Holland predicted that individuals who
have highly consistent and differentiated personality profiles should have
more crystallized identities, make career decisions with greater ease, and
experience greater stability in their career trajectories. Those with less
differentiated, less consistent profiles may have more diffuse identities and
may struggle more with career decision‐making and have less stable career
paths. He expected that people will seek environments that are congruent
with their personalities, and when they do so, they will “probably do
competent work, be satisfied and personally effective, and engage in
appropriate social and educational behavior” (Holland, 1997, p. 40).
Likewise, environments characterized by a high degree of consistency and
differentiation and that possess a clear identity are expected to have
employees with higher levels of satisfaction, stability, and productivity.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR HOLLAND'S
THEORY
Holland's theory consists of easily quantifiable constructs and predictions
that lend themselves well to scientific investigation. Consequently,
hundreds of studies examining aspects of Holland's theory have been
conducted. We now know a great deal about many parts of the theory,
including its applicability to diverse populations. Several meta‐analyses
(Assouline & Meir, 1987; Nye, Su, Rounds, & Drasgow, 2012; Tracey &
Rounds, 1993; Tsabari, Tziner, & Meir, 2005) and reviews of the empirical
status of Holland's theory (e.g., Carson & Mowsesian, 1993; Holland, 1997;
Nauta, 2010; Spokane, 1985) provide a more in‐depth analysis of this body
of research. Some of the larger trends are summarized here.
RESEARCH ON THE TYPES AND THEIR
INTERRELATIONSHIPS
Much research has been devoted to verifying that the RIASEC types exist
among people and environments and that they possess the characteristics
described by Holland (1997). Researchers have also tested the degree to
which the types and their interrelationships are invariant (or similar) across
different segments of the population.
Existence of the types. Because Holland's theory relies upon six types as
the basis for matching people to environments, it has been critical to
establish that the RIASEC types do, in fact, exist. Numerous studies have
provided evidence that people's self‐descriptions (e.g., on adjective
checklists or interest inventories) cluster together in ways that resemble
Holland's types. This has been shown to be true among a wide variety of
individuals, including middle school students (Sung, Cheng, & Wu, 2016),
high school students (e.g., Holland, 1962), college students (e.g., Edwards
& Whitney, 1972), and working adults (e.g., Rachman, Amernic, & Aranya,
1981). There is also support for the existence of the types among
environments, because workers' and job analysts' descriptions of workplace
requirements and rewards often group together in ways that resemble the
RIASEC types when subjected to factor or cluster analyses (e.g., Donnay &
Borgen, 1996; Rounds, Smith, Hubert, Lewis, & Rivkin, 1999). Of course,
documenting the presence of the RIASEC types does not mean this is the
only structure or valid mechanism for categorizing persons and
environments, but Holland's six types do seem to provide a reasonable
heuristic for doing so.
Links to personality. Holland (1997) conceptualized the RIASEC types as
reflections of people's personalities, which raises interesting questions about
how the types might relate to traits in basic personality taxonomies, such as
those in the Big Five personality model (McCrae & Costa, 1987; see
Rottinghaus, Park, & Washington, Chapter 18, this volume for a description
of the Big Five personality types). Generally, the RIASEC types appear to
be related to, but not redundant with, basic personality traits (e.g., Mount,
Barrick, Scullen, & Rounds, 2005). In particular, meta‐analyses (Barrick,
Mount, & Gupta, 2003; Larson, Rottinghaus, & Borgen, 2002) show
positive associations between extraversion and both social and enterprising
types and between openness to experience and both artistic and
investigative types. There also may be positive associations between
agreeableness and social interests and between conscientiousness and
conventional interests (Larson et al., 2002), but these associations have
been found less consistently.
Basic personality traits can help provide a more nuanced understanding of
people's RIASEC profiles. For instance, a person's level of agreeableness
may help explain a tendency toward more social versus enterprising types,
as those high in agreeableness tend to score higher on the social type
(Costa, McCrae, & Holland, 1984). Additionally, some personality traits
relate to profile elevation, or the magnitude of people's interests (Darcy &
Tracey, 2003). Those who are high in openness to experience tend to have
higher absolute levels of interests across all RIASEC types than do those
who are lower in openness, whereas neuroticism tends to have an inverse
association with the magnitude of people's interests (Ackerman &
Heggestad, 1997; Holland, Johnston, & Asama, 1994; Holtrop, Born, & de
Vries, 2015).
Relations to other constructs. Many studies have linked people's RIASEC
scores with scores on measures of other constructs, and the findings have
tended to be fairly consistent with Holland's descriptions of the types. For
example, RIASEC scores are related in ways that are consistent with
Holland's type descriptions to people's values (Leuty & Hansen, 2013;
Williams, 1972) and life goals (Astin & Nichols, 1964), as well as to
measures of actual or perceived ability (e.g., Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997;
Betz, Harmon, & Borgen, 1996). RIASEC environment types have
characteristics that are consistent with Holland's descriptions (Maurer &
Tarulli, 1997), although there has been less research on the environment
types than on the personality types. Overall, Holland's framing of the model
RIASEC types as broad constructs (i.e., collections of interests and other
attributes, like values and abilities) seems well‐founded.
Stability over time. Holland's conceptualization of the RIASEC personality
types as being dispositional by late adolescence has also been critical to
verify empirically. After all, it would be of little practical value to use the
RIASEC types as the basis for seeking congruent future environments if
people's resemblance to those types fluctuates tremendously. Studies have
documented a good degree of stability for RIASEC type scores for late
adolescents and adults over fairly short time periods. For example, the test–
retest stability of RIASEC scores on the SDS for a sample that included
high school students, college students, and adults ranged from .76 to .89
over periods of up to 12 weeks (Holland et al., 1994).
A larger body of literature has examined the stability of RIASEC interests
(again, just one component of the Holland types) as assessed by instruments
such as the SII. Because some of these studies have used lengthier follow‐
up intervals, they provide more useful information about the degree to
which RIASEC scores can be considered trait‐like. Consistent with
Holland's dispositional view, findings from their meta‐analysis of interest
stability research led Low, Yoon, Roberts, and Rounds (2005) to conclude
that RIASEC interests are reasonably stable between the ages of 12 and 40
and are comparable to personality traits and abilities in terms of their level
of stability. Interests do appear to become more stable across adolescence
(Xu & Tracey, 2016) and become noticeably more stable after the age of 18
(Low et al., 2005). Across studies that assessed RIASEC interests using
retest periods of over 1 year, Low and colleagues found that realistic and
artistic interests tended to be more stable over time than did enterprising
and conventional interests, but all the types exhibited sufficient stability to
support the practice of RIASEC interest assessment in career counseling.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that some individuals' interests change
substantially over time (see Swanson, 1999). Holland (1997) explained such
fluctuations in terms of inconsistent, undifferentiated profiles or a more
diffuse identity, but as will be discussed later these explanations have
received only mixed support.
Group differences. There are some reliable differences in RIASEC score
levels across segments of the population. The largest of these differences is
with respect to gender. On many measures, women tend to outscore men on
the social, artistic, and conventional types, and men score higher than do
women on the realistic and investigative types (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong,
2009). Gender differences on the social and realistic types are particularly
pronounced (Su et al., 2009; Xu & Tracey, 2016). Differences by
Racial/ethnic group tend to be fairly small in size. One study found that
Asian Americans scored higher on measures of the investigative type than
did members of other Racial/ethnic groups (Fouad, 2002), but most other
studies (e.g., Fouad & Mohler, 2004) have not found such differences. The
gender and Racial/ethnic group differences in RIASEC scores probably
reflect the different kinds of experiences and opportunities people have as
they are growing up (Holland, 1997), and comparisons of birth cohorts from
the mid‐1970s to the mid‐2000s suggest gender differences on some of the
RIASEC types are getting smaller in magnitude over time (Bubany &
Hansen, 2011), paralleling the trend in the United States toward viewing
gender in more egalitarian and less stereotypical ways. Differences in
RIASEC score levels by age appear to be fairly small, but the scores of
adolescents do appear to be more variable and less differentiated than those
of adults (Ion, Nye, & Iliescu, 2019).
The structure of types. A good deal of research has investigated the degree
to which Holland's hexagon provides a good representation of the
relationships among the RIASEC types. Not surprisingly, given that the
hexagon figure was articulated on the basis of known correlations among
RIASEC type scores, findings from many studies have generally supported
the RIASEC ordering of types among people and environments. That is,
types that are adjacent on the hexagon have consistently been found to be
more strongly related than are nonadjacent types (e.g., Armstrong &
Rounds, 2008; Darcy & Tracey, 2007). However, because there is less
support for the fit of a strict model that specifies equal distances between
the points of the hexagon (e.g., Armstrong, Hubert, & Rounds, 2003), many
writers (e.g., Armstrong & Rounds, 2008; Darcy & Tracey, 2007) now refer
more generally to a RIASEC circular ordering, or “circumplex,” rather than
to a hexagonal structure per se.
With a few exceptions (e.g., Rounds & Tracey, 1996), most studies have
found that the fit of the RIASEC circumplex in mostly U.S. samples is
either invariant or varies to a fairly small degree based on gender and
race/ethnicity (Armstrong et al., 2003; Darcy & Tracey, 2007; Kantamneni,
2014; Rounds & Tracey, 1993; Ryan, Tracey, & Rounds, 1996) and
socioeconomic status (Ryan et al., 1996). Gender differences in the
RIASEC structure may be more pronounced among individuals who are
Racial/ethnic minorities (Armstrong, Fouad, Rounds, & Hubert, 2010;
Kantamneni & Fouad, 2011), however.
The RIASEC model has been tested in samples from across the globe. Data
from some samples (e.g., Morgan & de Bruin, 2018; Yang, Morris, &
Protolipac, 2018) support the circumplex model, but in other studies'
samples (e.g., Glosenberg, Tracey, Behrend, Blustein, & Foster, 2019;
Rounds & Tracey, 1996) the model does not fit well. At this point there
appears to be little discernable pattern to the kinds of non‐Western cultures
and nationalities for whom the structural model fits well versus poorly,
except that the fit may be better in societies with higher levels of economic
development (Glosenberg et al., 2019), and the model's fit is particularly in
question for people in Asian countries (e.g., Armstrong & Rounds, 2008;
Rounds & Tracey, 1996; Sung et al., 2016; Yang, Stokes, & Hui, 2005).
Asian Americans and residents of Asian countries have also been found to
exhibit lower levels of congruence with anticipated and chosen occupations
than other Racial/ethnic groups (Fouad & Mohler, 2004; Gupta & Tracey,
2005; Leong, Austin, Sekaran, & Komarraju, 1998). Finally, the circumplex
model does not fit well in younger (elementary and middle school) samples
(Iliescu, Ispas, Ilie, & Ion, 2013; Lent, Tracey, Brown, Soresi, & Nota,
2006; Sung et al., 2016). Based on this pattern of findings, counselors
should be cautious when using the hexagon framework to interpret RIASEC
scores with younger adolescents and those residing in some other countries,
particularly in Asia. Otherwise the framework seems to work well.
RESEARCH TESTING HOLLAND'S PREDICTIONS
ABOUT WORK‐RELATED OUTCOMES
Another critical area of research has examined the validity of Holland's
predictions about work‐related outcomes on the basis of his theory's
constructs. Of these, Holland's predictions about outcomes associated with
congruence have received the most attention.
Congruence in relation to choice, satisfaction, and performance. There is
good evidence that RIASEC type and interest scores are predictive of many
individuals' choices of college majors and careers (see Betz, 2008; Holland,
1997). That is, people frequently choose majors and careers that are
congruent with their dominant RIASEC type(s). Congruence with respect to
the RIASEC types is also predictive of people's persistence or stability in
college majors and occupations (e.g., Donohue, 2006; Kristof‐Brown,
Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005; Tracey & Robbins, 2006). Moreover, people
who change jobs often switch to ones that are more congruent with their
personalities than the ones they left (Oleski & Subich, 1996). These
findings all support Holland's basic assumption that people seek
environments with which their personalities are congruent. Nonetheless,
some occupations have employees whose RIASEC interests are quite
heterogeneous (Borgen & Lindley, 2003; Nye, Perlus, & Rounds, 2018).
For example, the dominant Holland type among people who are satisfied
chiropractors and investment managers is distributed fairly evenly across all
six types (Nye, Perlus, et al., 2018), so it should not be assumed that people
in a given occupation all have a particular Holland code.
Meta‐analyses have also supported Holland's prediction that person–
environment congruence with respect to the RIASEC types is associated
with favorable work‐related outcomes. Congruence is positively associated
with job and academic satisfaction (Assouline & Meir, 1987; Nye, Prasad,
et al., 2018; Spokane, Meir, & Catalano, 2000; Tsabari et al., 2005) and
performance (Kristof‐Brown et al., 2005; Nye et al., 2012; Nye, Prasad, et
al., 2018; Nye, Su, Rounds, & Drasgow, 2017; Spokane et al., 2000; Tsabari
et al., 2005). The sizes of these effects range substantially across studies but
are generally small or moderate in magnitude, however. For example, the
correlation between congruence and job satisfaction in both the Tsabari et
al. (2005) and Tranberg, Slane, and Ekeberg (1993) meta‐analyses was .17,
and corrected correlations between congruence and job performance in
meta‐analyses have ranged from .15 (Van Iddekinge, Roth, Putka, &
Lanivich, 2011) to .36 (Nye et al., 2012).
Methodological limitations of studies and narrow samples may partially
explain the modest relationships between congruence and work‐related
outcomes, but clearly congruence should be considered only one of many
factors that predict important work‐related outcomes. In addition,
congruence logically relates to some aspects of work‐related outcomes
more so than others. As would be theoretically expected, congruence is
more strongly associated with employees' satisfaction with their work
activities (i.e., intrinsic job satisfaction) than with their satisfaction with
their job security and salary (i.e., extrinsic job satisfaction) (Ishitani, 2010).
Also, whereas congruence may explain people's performance levels on
specific work activities, it would not be expected to explain more general
aspects of work performance, such as whether someone arrives to work on
time.
Differentiation and consistency. Holland's differentiation and consistency
hypotheses have received less attention than have those regarding
congruence, and from the studies that have examined differentiation and
consistency as predictors of work‐related outcomes (see Carson &
Mowsesian, 1993), there is mixed empirical support. In fact, Holland
(1985a) characterized this body of findings as “checkered” because there
have been both positive and negative findings. Even among the studies that
have found support for Holland's predictions that differentiation and
consistency are predictive of career decision‐making ease, career choice
stability, and work satisfaction, the relationships tend to be fairly small in
magnitude. However, in recent research that operationalized consistency
and differentiation using sophisticated indices that consider all six types and
the relative differences between them (Tracey et al., 2014), the researchers
obtained stronger support for the constructs' utility in predicting career
outcomes, or as moderators of the associations between congruence and
outcomes, so the jury is still out.
Identity. Holland's predictions about vocational identity's positive
associations with differentiation and consistency, career decision‐making
ease, career stability, and performance have been addressed in only a
handful of empirical studies, perhaps because this construct was only added
to later versions of the theory. As with the findings regarding differentiation
and consistency, the pattern of findings regarding identity is best described
as “checkered.” The hypothesized positive associations of identity to
consistency and differentiation were not supported in some studies
(Gottfredson & Jones, 1993; Leung, Conoley, Scheel, & Sonnenberg, 1992)
and have been positive but weak in others (Hirschi, 2010; Hirschi & Läge,
2007; Im, 2011). Having a stronger identity does seem to be associated with
some benefits such as readiness to make career decisions (Hirschi & Läge,
2007), career decision‐making self‐efficacy (Gushue, Scanlan, Pantzer, &
Clarke, 2006), and satisfaction with chosen academic majors (Cox,
Bjornsen, Krieshok, & Liu, 2016), but other studies (Blinne & Johnston,
1998; Leung, 1998) have yielded mixed or null results regarding the
relation of vocational identity to predicted outcomes. Environmental
identity was linked to job satisfaction in one study (Perdue, Reardon, &
Peterson, 2007) but otherwise has received little empirical attention.
SUMMARY
In summary, there is empirical support for many aspects of Holland's
theory. The presence of the RIASEC types has been well‐documented, and
the interrelationships of types appear to be fairly consistent across major
segments of the U.S. population, although the generalizability of the
RIASEC model to those of Asian and other nationalities is less clear.
RIASEC type or interest scores contribute substantially to the prediction of
people's choices of college majors and careers, and congruence with respect
to the RIASEC types is also associated with the stability of those choices.
Congruence is positively related to work satisfaction and performance, but
the magnitude of those relationships is not as substantial as Holland might
have believed it would be. Support for Holland's predictions involving the
secondary constructs of consistency, differentiation, and identity is less
robust.
APPLICATIONS OF THE THEORY
When evaluating theories with respect to the degree to which they help
career counselors and clients in practice, Holland's (1997) theory is
unsurpassed, as it serves as the guiding framework for more career
interventions than any other theory (Brown, 2002).
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OCCUPATIONAL CLASSIFICATION
AND CAREER ASSESSMENT
There is little doubt that Holland's theory has helped to transform the
practice of career counseling. Prior to the theory's introduction, clients
could take an interest inventory and receive scores that reflected their
similarity to employees in various occupations. The challenge for
counselors, however, was to help clients understand how those occupations
fit together in some coherent way and to extrapolate beyond the limited
number of occupations represented on the inventory itself. Holland's theory
allows us to think about people and environments using a manageable
number of dimensions, thereby facilitating clients' understanding of
themselves and the world of work. In addition, Holland's instruments for
assessing the RIASEC personality types, the introduction of RIASEC scales
on major interest inventories (e.g., Campbell & Holland, 1972), and the
development of parallel RIASEC environmental classification materials
(e.g., the DHOC) have greatly improved clients' and counselors' ability to
generate fairly comprehensive lists of possible careers that warrant
consideration.
Because of this user‐friendliness, Holland's theory has been widely adopted.
It serves as the organizing framework for many self‐help systems, such as
the best‐selling What Color is your Parachute? (Bolles, 2018). Holland's
SDS and its supporting materials were designed for self‐administration and
interpretation, which has contributed to the theory's widespread use in
educational and career workshops and in computer‐assisted career guidance
programs (see Harris, 2013). Finally, Holland's theory frequently guides
individual career counseling interventions (see Brown & Ryan Krane,
2000).
From the perspective of Holland's theory, career intervention involves using
the RIASEC typology to characterize a client's personality in order to
understand how she or he may best fit with the world of work. Typically,
this is done using the SDS or an interest inventory that has RIASEC scales,
although counselors can also gather information about a client's
resemblance to the RIASEC types using a clinical interview. In such an
interview, the counselor helps the client verbalize and explore her or his
preferred activities, perceived competencies, self‐beliefs, interests, values,
and occupational daydreams. The counselor then explains Holland's model
to the client, and together they work to determine the client's resemblance to
each of the types. Regardless of the way in which the assessment occurs, an
interpretation typically focuses on determining the client's Holland code.
The client can then use environmental classification materials to explore
environments with which his or her personality is fairly congruent.
Counselors can also use the constructs of differentiation, consistency, and
identity to help clients understand sources of career decision‐making
difficulties and identify possible ways to reduce those difficulties. In
general, counseling is intended to “create self‐understanding and stimulate
more insightful and constructive planning” (Holland, 1997, p. 199).
Using this general framework, counselors can address many kinds of client
needs, including helping people who are seeking to make or remake
educational or career choices, preparing people to implement career
choices, promoting greater career/work satisfaction and performance, and
promoting optimum career development among younger persons. The
manner in which counselors who use Holland's theory might address each
of these concerns is discussed next.
WORKING WITH PERSONS WHO ARE SEEKING TO
MAKE OR REMAKE EDUCATIONAL OR CAREER
CHOICES
Because it provides a parallel way for conceptualizing people and
environments, Holland's theory is optimally suited for assisting people who
are seeking to make initial or subsequent educational or career choices.
Once a client's Holland code is known, a counselor can assist the client in
consulting the Occupations Finder, the Educational Opportunities Finder,
the DHOC, the O*NET database, or other environmental classification
materials to explore occupations that are congruent. Because, at least after
adolescence, RIASEC type scores tend to be fairly stable for most people,
and because congruence is associated (albeit modestly) with work
satisfaction and performance, the rationale for using this approach to match
people to environments is solid.
When using Holland's theory as the basis for identifying potentially
satisfying educational and work environments, it is important for clients and
counselors not to use the theory in a more simplistic manner than it was
intended. Several points are worth keeping in mind.
First, a work environment need not be completely congruent with a
client's personality to be rewarding. While occupations with Holland
codes that are dramatically different from the client's personality might
be tentatively eliminated in order to allow for greater focus in career
exploration, exploration for most clients would ideally be inclusive of
occupations with several Holland codes. For example, a client with an
ASI personality would be encouraged to consider and explore
occupations with Holland types of all combinations of the ASI types
(e.g., ASI, AIS, SAI, SIA), particularly if there is not a high degree of
differentiation in the person's profile (i.e., if the scores are not spread
very far apart). Also, although in practice it is common to use three‐
point person and environment Holland codes, Holland recommended
using the rank‐ordering of all six types as part of an analysis of
congruence. Depending on the degree to which the client also
resembles types beyond the tertiary type, additional categories of
occupations (e.g., ASE) may also be recommended for exploration.
Moreover, there may be value in exploring with a client the nature of
her or his dislikes with respect to RIASEC types, as work activities
people are averse to are associated with job dissatisfaction (Phan &
Rounds, 2018).
Second, although congruence is positively associated with favorable
work‐related outcomes, the strength of these associations is modest.
Clearly, congruence can be an important determinant of work
satisfaction for some people, but it is essential for counselors and
clients to view congruence with respect to the RIASEC types as only
one of many sources of information when matching clients to
environments. RIASEC congruence might best help clients understand
the kinds of educational or work environments whose inhabitants will
share the most in common with them or in which they will enjoy the
typical work activities (Ishitani, 2010). Constructs from other theories,
such as the theory of work Adjustment (see Swanson & Schneider,
Chapter 2, this volume), would be an appropriate supplement to help
clients explore environments that would provide a match for their
needs and values.
Third, socialization and real or perceived barriers may have
contributed to clients having had limited experiences in areas that are
non‐traditional for persons of their race (Fouad & Kantamneni,
Chapter 10, this volume) or gender (Schultheiss, Chapter 9, this
volume). This would be reflected on inventories such as the SDS in
terms of lower RIASEC raw scores for those non‐traditional areas. A
counselor would ideally work with a client to assess whether her or his
inventoried RIASEC scores accurately reflect her or his authentic self.
When it appears that external constraints may have impeded
development in some areas that would be intrinsically rewarding, the
counselor could then attempt to broaden career possibilities by helping
the client to consider how these barriers might be bypassed or how
areas of potential interest might be reconsidered (for example, see the
modified occupational card sort described by Lent, Chapter 5, this
volume).
Fourth, Holland's “other things being equal” qualifier is particularly
important when working with clients who have constrained
educational or career options due to economic reality, family wishes,
and other barriers. In one sense, Holland's theory is limited because it
assumes that people are relatively free to choose environments based
on RIASEC congruence, an assumption that clearly does not hold for
all clients. On the other hand, the theory is quite flexible because it
paints a picture of people and environments using broad strokes (the
RIASEC types). Although a person may not have many degrees of
freedom in options from which to choose, the theory suggests that
maximizing congruence will be beneficial, so choosing from among
the most congruent of available options would be advocated. Because
occupations with varied prerequisites (e.g., levels of needed training or
education) are present within each RIASEC type, maximizing
RIASEC congruence may still be a consideration even when there are
limited options from which to choose. Helping clients with limited
options identify and remove barriers to congruent but currently
unattainable options may be a way to help them expand their
occupational possibilities.
For some clients who are seeking to make educational or career choices,
engaging in self‐exploration and environmental exploration and identifying
congruent environments may be a sufficient intervention. For others,
Holland's secondary constructs of differentiation, consistency, and identity
may be particularly useful to consider. Increasing personality differentiation
and helping to define more clearly the client's identity are common goals of
counseling interventions if the client lacks direction as a result of feeling
torn between multiple areas of comparable appeal. Helping clients achieve
greater personality differentiation by gaining more varied experiences to
learn what they like and dislike may be helpful in some cases, particularly
when clients learn new information that disconfirms assumptions they may
have held about occupations (Moore, Neimeyer, & Marmarosh, 1992).
Using counseling sessions to explore in more depth the areas of comparable
strength of interest may also yield additional information that helps clients
prioritize some areas over others. Occupational card sorts, such as the
Missouri Occupational Card Sort (Krieshok, Hansen, Johnston, & Wong,
2002), with Holland code classifications for various job titles, may assist a
client in exploring and articulating what it is about each RIASEC type that
is appealing or unappealing. Because negative affect (e.g., depression) can
contribute to a low, undifferentiated RIASEC profile, counselors might
screen for and treat mood disorders that suppress a client's interests or
perceived competencies. Finally, addressing negative ways of thinking, and
promoting career concern, control, curiosity, and confidence (dimensions of
career adaptability; see Savickas, Chapter 6, this volume), may be of some
benefit to clients, as dysfunctional career thoughts (Dipeolu, Sniatecki,
Storlie, & Hargrave, 2013; Galles & Lenz, 2013; Jo, Ra, Lee, & Kim, 2016)
and career adaptability (Negru‐Subtirica, Pop, & Crocetti, 2015; Porfeli &
Savickas, 2012) have consistently been linked to vocational identity clarity.
Promoting consistency is not typically a goal of career counseling, but
Holland's consistency construct may be useful in counseling nevertheless.
First, some clients may simply experience a sense of normalization when a
counselor points to a highly inconsistent personality profile as a source of
career decision‐making difficulties. Likewise, clients with inconsistent
personalities may feel conflicted about their current or future career plans,
and their ambivalence can be validated by acknowledging both the pros and
cons of having diverse interests.
Second, although clients with highly inconsistent personality profiles may
experience frustration to find that few environments are highly congruent
with their personalities, counselors can help such clients think creatively
about ways to create new career options or tweak existing options in order
to maximize congruence. For example, environments with the highly
inconsistent AC combination may be rare, but a client could brainstorm
ways to maximize exposure to activities that involve the orderly and
systematic manipulation of data (C activities) within a traditionally A
environment, say, by cataloging and inventorying materials in an art library.
For other clients, it may be helpful to recognize that although expressing
highly inconsistent parts of one's personality may be difficult in a single
job, taking on temporary work, combining part‐time jobs, or making
planned, periodic career changes can be legitimate options for some persons
(Donnay et al., 2005). Finally, clients with inconsistent profiles can be
encouraged to find other, perhaps avocational, outlets for parts of their
personalities that are likely to be unexpressed through work. The Leisure
Activities Finder (Messer, Greene, Kovacs, & Holland, 2013)—an ancillary
to the SDS that provides Holland codes for hobbies, sports, and other
activities—may be useful toward this end.
PROMOTING WORK SATISFACTION AND
PERFORMANCE
Another important application of Holland's theory involves working with
people who want to experience greater job satisfaction and/or performance.
Satisfaction and performance are clearly different outcomes, but because
Holland's predictions about sources of work satisfaction and success are the
same, interventions targeting these outcomes are nearly identical. The
primary hypothesis from the perspective of Holland's theory is that a person
who is dissatisfied and/or underperforming in work may either have made a
career choice that was incongruent with his or her personality in the first
place, or else there was a shifting of the primary RIASEC types within the
person or the environment such that a once congruent career choice is no
longer so. The latter would not be uncommon if, for example, the typical
activities of a workplace changed after the introduction of some new
technology.
As a first step, a counselor would gather information to assess the degree of
RIASEC congruence between the client and his or her current work
environment in order to test the low‐congruence hypothesis. Because some
work environments are quite complex or can be idiosyncratic, it is wise not
to rely exclusively on existing environmental classifications (e.g., the
DHOC) to determine the three‐letter Holland code of the client's current
environment. Rather, it is preferable to have the client estimate the time
spent in various activities and to see if the person is in a special subunit that
can be isolated and assessed (Holland, 1997). It may also be useful to have
clients complete the PCI as a way to develop a RIASEC code for their
current jobs. Discussing the RIASEC types and the idea of congruence with
a client may provide him or her with a framework with which to think about
dissatisfaction/underperformance that may provide some new clarification
and insight.
If the low‐congruence hypothesis is supported, there are several options.
The least intrusive option—and a reasonable first step to explore with a
client—is to consider the possibility of tweaking the work environment so
that it is more congruent with the client's personality. In many work settings
there is some flexibility in how employees complete their jobs. A client
could be encouraged to ask a supervisor about the possibility of shifting
responsibilities or taking on some new responsibilities that would increase
congruence.
Subunits within an occupation can have different Holland codes because
they comprise employees with different types or emphasize different
activities. For example, although according to the DHOC the Holland code
of the typical administrative assistant is ESC, within a large organization,
some administrative assistants may have frequent direct contact with the
public, whereas other administrative assistants' primary responsibilities
involve little face‐to‐face contact with others and relatively greater
emphasis on recording data. The former subunit would likely be more
congruent with a client who has a strong resemblance to the social type.
Thus, it is possible for a client to move toward greater congruence without
changing careers altogether. If such changes to the environment are unlikely
or unappealing to the client, then a goal of counseling might be to explore
other careers or jobs that might provide a better match, again using
RIASEC environmental classification materials.
Theoretically, because Holland hypothesized stronger congruence–
satisfaction and congruence–performance relations under conditions of high
consistency, differentiation, and identity, working to promote a client's
sense of identity may also be valuable, although the research support for
these hypotheses is not strong. Nonetheless, for a client with a very low
degree of personality differentiation or a poorly defined identity, there
might be merit in promoting greater self‐understanding and differentiation
as a way of increasing the probability of shifting to a career that is more
congruent. On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind the modest
strength of congruence–satisfaction and congruence–performance
relationships. RIASEC congruence is one consideration, but a counselor
would wisely explore other sources of job satisfaction and performance as
well (see Lent & Brown, Chapter 23, this volume).
HELPING PEOPLE IMPLEMENT CAREER CHOICES
Holland's theory has the most direct applicability for working with clients to
identify educational or career choices, but it also has some implications for
helping people implement those choices. The primary goal of a counselor
who is using Holland's theory to work with a client who is ready to
implement a career choice is to identify and remove any barriers that would
impede congruence‐seeking. Such barriers could be external, such as when
family disapproval makes it difficult for a client with a highly differentiated
artistic personality to enter an artistic work environment; or they could be
internal, as when low confidence contributes to a client's reluctance to
attend a job interview for a highly congruent position. It is also important to
help clients identify and build support for their primary career option and
implementation efforts. Indeed, meta‐analyses have revealed that support
building efforts are critical ingredients of successful choice‐making (Brown
& Ryan Krane, 2000) and job finding (Liu, Huang, & Wang, 2014)
interventions.
Holland's theory may also be applicable to the implementation of career
choices by providing clients with a framework for describing to potential
employers how their abilities and characteristics map onto the position
employers are seeking to fill. For example, discussing transferrable skills
from a previous position may be easier when clients have a mechanism,
such as the RIASEC types, for understanding the links between a previous
and prospective work environment.
PROMOTING OPTIMUM CAREER DEVELOPMENT
AMONG CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
The choice‐making and choice‐implementing applications described in the
earlier text are primarily relevant for work with late adolescents or adults.
Indeed, this is the population for whom Holland's theory is the primary
target, and given that RIASEC type and interest scores are less stable in
younger adolescents, using RIASEC scores to narrow career choice
considerations with younger people is ill‐advised. Nevertheless, Holland's
theory can be useful when working with younger adolescents to the degree
that it provides them with a rationale for learning as much as possible about
themselves and the world of work.
A counselor might help a younger client begin to think about himself or
herself and the world of work in RIASEC terms and encourage her or him
to seek opportunities related to each of the RIASEC areas, even if some
areas do not hold much initial appeal. Conceptually, knowing which
RIASEC types one does not closely resemble is important in the
development of personality differentiation and a clear vocational identity. In
addition, research has shown that thinking about career interests in terms of
the RIASEC model is associated with career decision‐making benefits,
presumably because it helps people understand the career information that
exists and enables them to use it better in their decision‐making (Tracey,
2008). Thus, interventions with younger persons might introduce them to
the RIASEC framework so that they can use it as a schema within which to
incorporate new information they acquire about themselves and the world
of work.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE
IMPLICATIONS
Holland's theory provides a straightforward means for classifying
personalities and work environments. The following tips for practitioners
summarize the ways in which the theory is commonly and most optimally
applied.
Practitioners seek to promote optimum career development by
encouraging clients to learn as much as possible about themselves and
work environments. By educating clients about Holland's theory and
the RIASEC types, counselors give clients a parallel way for thinking
about themselves and the world of work.
Counselors assess clients' resemblance to the RIASEC types using a
clinical interview, the SDS or VPI, and/or an interest inventory that has
RIASEC scales.
Using environmental classification resources, such as the DHOC, the
Educational Opportunities Finder, or the O*NET database, counselors
may assist clients in identifying potentially congruent educational and
work environments. Obviously incongruent environments might be
tentatively ruled out in order to help clients home in on a few areas
that are potentially satisfying and in which they are likely to perform
well. Ideally, the generation of educational and career possibilities
should, however, be inclusive, involving not only environments with
Holland codes that match the client's personality identically but also
those with similar Holland codes.
RIASEC congruence is associated with favorable work‐related
outcomes, including job satisfaction and performance, but not strongly
so. Congruence can, therefore, be considered as one source of
information, yet counselors must also work hard to help clients
consider other sources of satisfaction and performance. Highly
congruent occupations certainly warrant consideration but without the
sense that they are specifically being prescribed by the counselor.
Clients who are experiencing career decision‐making difficulties may
benefit from interventions designed to promote personality
differentiation and the crystallization of vocational identity. Such
interventions might involve gaining more experiences in diverse areas
and prioritizing areas of interest via discussion and exploration,
addressing negative career thoughts, and promoting career adaptability.
Clients with highly inconsistent personalities may need avocational
outlets for expressing parts of their personalities because there will be
few environments that will be highly congruent with all parts of their
personalities. Alternatively, such clients might need to be creative in
modifying existing positions in order to emphasize parts of themselves
that are not well‐represented in the environment or may simply plan to
change careers in the future in order to use parts of themselves that are
not well‐expressed in an initial choice.
Once clients have identified career choices, Holland's theory supports
the practice of removing real or perceived barriers and building social
supports in order to promote the seeking of congruent work positions.
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CHAPTER 4
Life‐Span, Life‐Space Career Theory and
Counseling
PAUL J. HARTUNG
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Northeast Ohio
Medical University, Rootstown, OH
There is no “Super's theory”; there is just the assemblage of theories
that I have sought to synthesize.
D. E. Super (1990, p. 199)
Source: From Super, D. E. (1990). A life‐span, life‐space approach to career development.
In D. Brown & L. Brooks (Eds.), Career choice and development: Applying contemporary
theories to practice (2nd ed., pp. 197–261). San Francisco, CA: Jossey‐Bass.
Life‐span, life‐space career theory and counseling focus on the content,
process, and outcomes of career choice and development throughout the
human life course (Super, 1953, 1957, 1990; Super, Savickas, & Super,
1996). The theory views career choice and development in three ways: (a)
as movement over time through discrete developmental stages with
accompanying developmental tasks that constitute the life span, (b) as
arrangement of worker and other roles that constitute the psychosocial life
space wherein people design their lives, and (c) as implementation of self‐
concept in work roles. Across the life span and within the life space,
individuals develop a sense of self in contexts of time and space. In this
way, life‐span, life‐space theory comprises a creative synthesis of ideas and
evidence culled from seemingly disparate theories and lines of research
assembled along three primary segments: (a) the longitudinal or
chronological, developmental life span; (b) the latitudinal or contextual,
psychosocial life space; and (c) the self and self‐concepts. With
development and psychosocial roles principal among its segments, the
theory describes vocational behavior as fluid, dynamic, continuous, and
contextual.
Offering a segmented differential–developmental social phenomenological
perspective on vocational behavior (Super, 1994), life‐span, life‐space
theory also spawned a proven model and practical methods for career
education and counseling (Healy, 1982; Super, 1983; Super et al., 1996).
Counselors can use this model and its methods to assist children,
adolescents, and adults with learning the attitudes, beliefs, and
competencies necessary for successful career planning, exploration,
decision‐making, and choice (Savickas, 2005, 2019; Super, 1983). Today,
without question, life‐span, life‐space theory ranks, along with the theory of
vocational personalities and work environments (Holland, 1997; Nauta,
Chapter 3, this volume), as one of the two most influential, empirically
supported, and widely applied of the foundational theories of career choice
and development. Meanwhile, social cognitive career theory (Lent, Chapter
5, this volume) and career construction theory (Savickas, Chapter 6 this
volume) have gained considerable prominence during the first two decades
of the twenty‐first century and take their places alongside Holland's (1997)
and Super's (1990) theories and practice models.
To fully understand the breadth and depth of vocational behavior and career
development, career practitioners can benefit from knowing and possessing
the ability to apply the principles and practice of life‐span, life‐space theory
in service of diverse client populations. Toward that end, this chapter
describes the historical background, core principles, practical applications,
and research findings in support of life‐span, life‐space career theory and
counseling. The chapter overviews and updates knowledge about and use of
the theory to provide both retrospective and prospective understanding.
Readers interested in further study would do especially well to consult the
original (Super, 1953, 1957), penultimate (Super, 1990) and final (Super,
1994; Super et al., 1996) statements of the theory by its progenitor and
prime architect, the late Professor Donald E. Super.
BACKGROUND OF THE THEORY
“…what I have contributed is…a ‘segmental theory’…dealing with
specific aspects of career development taken from developmental,
differential, social, personality, and phenomenological psychology and
held together by self‐concept and learning theory.” (Super, 1990, p.
199).
The life‐span, life‐space approach to career development and practice
resulted from the work of Donald E. Super (for a biography, see Savickas,
1994). Super (1953) first articulated a theory of vocational development
over 60 years ago. Name changes from the original “career development
theory” to “developmental self‐concept theory” and finally to “life‐span,
life‐space theory” reflect the theory's evolution over this period (Savickas,
1997). Throughout this time, Super combined in one grand theory the fruits
of existing research and his own empirical and conceptual work in three
main areas: differential psychology, developmental psychology, and self‐
concept theory (for complete compendia of historical antecedents, see
Savickas, 2007; Super, 1990, 1994). These three areas form the keystone
segments of the theory.
DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Prior to 1950, the paradigm for comprehending vocational behavior focused
solely on the content of occupational choice from the objective perspective
of individual differences. The individual differences, or person–
environment (P–E) fit, perspective advanced a psychology of occupations
that assumed satisfaction and success resulted from a harmonious person–
occupation match. Near mid‐twentieth century, this perspective found its
embodiment in a classic textbook that delineated psychological traits
affecting vocational choice and classified occupational fields and levels
structuring the world of work (Roe, 1956). By concentrating on what
occupations individuals select, the three‐part matching model of self‐
knowledge, occupational knowledge, and true reasoning between these two
types of knowledge (Parsons, 1909) provided counselors with an
understanding of vocational choices and an intervention scheme for fitting
people to jobs in accordance with their unique interests, abilities,
personalities, and other traits. This intervention scheme relied on using
psychological tests and inventories coupled with occupational information
to match people to jobs.
Applied to vocational behavior, differential psychology asserts that
particular occupations suit particular types of people. In The Republic, Plato
(360 BC) captured this view long ago by commenting that “No two persons
are born exactly alike; but each differs from the other in natural
endowments, one being suited for one occupation and the other for
another.” Today, the matching model, best exemplified in Holland's (1997,
Nauta, Chapter 3 in this volume) preeminent theory and the theory of work
adjustment by Dawis and Lofquist (1984), continues to inform the practice
of career intervention whereby counselors help individuals to match
themselves to jobs.
Advancing the matching model and reflecting his background as a
differential psychologist, Super authored two books. In the first volume,
Super (1942) synthesized existing knowledge about the practice of
vocational guidance in the individual differences tradition and initially
described his views on career choice as a developmental process. In the
second book, Super (1949) compiled and interpreted research findings
about the most prevalent psychological tests then used in vocational
guidance to teach readers how to evaluate and use such tests themselves.
Later, in life‐span, life‐space theory, Super (1980) adopted differential
psychology to explain the content of occupational choice as a match
between self and situation. He also used individual differences methods to
develop psychometric inventories and scales to operationally define key
constructs of his theory for use in research and practice.
Super's (1994) self‐analysis of his more than 50‐year publication record
revealed his foundation in differential psychology that anchors life‐span,
life‐space theory and counseling. This supported an earlier conclusion:
“Super has never repudiated the differential approach; in fact, in many ways
he led it” (Borgen, 1991, p. 284). Notable among his many contributions to
differential career psychology, Super (1957; Zytowski, 1994), along with
Lofquist and Dawis (1978), advanced work values as traits useful in
vocational appraisal and guidance. Work values denote important
satisfactions people seek both through the nature of the work that they do
(i.e., intrinsic values such as autonomy and intellectual challenge) and
through the outcomes that can be obtained from work (i.e., extrinsic values
such as money and prestige). Super developed the Work Values Inventory
(Super, 1970; Zytowski, 2009) and Values Scale (VS) (Super & Nevill,
1985b) to measure work values in counseling and research settings (see
Rounds & Leuty, Chapter 16, this volume and Stoltz & Barclay, 2019 for a
discussion of work values assessment).
DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
By the mid‐twentieth century, two phenomena stimulated emergence of a
second paradigm to augment the matching model for vocational guidance.
Unique to the growing profession of vocational guidance, one phenomenon
involved increasing awareness of the lack of theory to guide practice
(Ginzberg, Ginsburg, Axelrad, & Herma, 1951). A second, more
widespread phenomenon concerned the shift within the United States, as
well as in other countries, from an agrarian to a predominantly industrial
and organizational society (Savickas & Baker, 2005). As individuals
encountered increasingly complex organizational work contexts, the need
arose to comprehend the process of occupational choice from the subjective
perspective of the developing person. Beginning with his 1942 book, then
in his 1952 presidential address to the Division of Counseling and Guidance
(American Psychological Association), and then in his 1957 book, Super
advanced a developmentally oriented psychology of careers.
By concentrating on how individuals move through a sequence of
occupations, jobs, and positions in a career, Super (1953) offered a
developmental theory of vocational behavior containing 10 propositions
that increased to 14 in the theory's later statement (Super et al., 1996). In so
doing, he followed the lead of Ginzberg et al. (1951) whose earlier
groundbreaking developmental theory of vocational choice “prompted an
explosion of career theories; almost one theory per year … for the next 20
years” (Savickas & Baker, 2005, p. 42). Super's (1942, 1949, 1957)
syntheses of the existing literature, his 20‐year longitudinal study of 100
ninth graders in the career pattern study (Super, 1985), and his development
of psychometric scales (e.g., Super, 1955, 1970; Super, Thompson,
Lindeman, Jordaan, & Myers, 1979, 1988) supplied the foundational
principles and constructs, mechanisms for empirical support, and
applications of the theory. Primary among its core constructs, the theory
advanced the concept of career maturity (Super, 1955) as an individual's
readiness to cope with developmental career stage tasks. Subsequent
theorizing would aptly replace the biological construct of career maturity
with the psychosocial construct of career adaptability (Hartung & Cadaret,
2017; Savickas, 1997; Super & Knasel, 1981).
Developmental career theory and the life‐span, life‐space approach as its
chief exemplar augmented the individual differences perspective and
matching model for vocational guidance. It did so by explaining the
subjective processes of occupational exploration, choice, entry, and
adjustment among individuals within contexts that offered mobility up
organizational ladders. The developmental view along with social role
theory explained how individuals manage worker and other roles over the
life span and propagated the superordinate construct of career to denote
“the sequence of occupations, jobs, and positions occupied during the
course of a person's working life” (Super, 1963, p. 3). Whereas differential
psychology focused interest on what traits fit individuals for what
occupations, developmental psychology placed concern on how the
individual cultivates a career over time. Holland (1959, 1997) worked to
articulate what would become the prototypical P–E fit theory in the
differential psychology of occupations. Meanwhile, Super (1957, 1990)
explicated what would become the quintessential life span theory in the
developmental psychology of careers. As a segmental theorist taking
components from different theories, Super always remained true to
incorporating knowledge and concepts from multiple areas, including P–E
fit, life span development, social learning, self‐concept, and psychodynamic
perspectives (Super, 1994).
Life‐span, life‐space theory eventually produced practical models and
materials for assisting individuals across developmental age periods to learn
the planning attitudes, beliefs, and decision‐making competencies needed to
make suitable and satisfying educational and occupational choices and to
manage their careers over the life course (Healy, 1982; Super, 1983). What
may be called the managing model of career education, then, offered
counselors a scheme for assisting people to ready themselves to make
career decisions and fit work into their lives (Savickas, 2019). The
managing model and its methods of career education and counseling
supported the matching model and its methods of vocational guidance by
focusing on preparing people to make effective occupational choices. The
view on career management as interplay between individual and
organization involving “multipoint decision‐making in time and space”
(Hoekstra, 2011, p. 161) clearly reflects life‐span, life‐space theory.
Infusion of the developmental perspective via life‐span, life‐space theory
spread roots deep and wide, moving the field of vocational psychology and
the profession of counseling from a solely matchmaking, vocational
guidance perspective to a managing, career development perspective. The
continuing vigor of this perspective found embodiment some years ago in
Jepsen's (1984) assertion that “Nearly all vocational behavior theorists and
researchers seem to subscribe to some variation of the developmental
viewpoint” (p. 178). As prime evidence, Holland (1959, 1973, 1997)
attended substantially, if incompletely (Bordin, 1959), to the role of
development in vocational behavior. Dawis (1996), too, in the theory of
work adjustment described career development as “the unfolding of
capabilities and requirements in the course of a person's interaction with
environments of various kinds (home, school, play, work) across the life
span” (p. 94). Following suit, many other career theories including those
described in this volume attend to developmental processes. Predominance
of the developmental perspective also prompted the National Vocational
Guidance Association in 1985 to rename itself the National Career
Development Association—a designation that remains today (Chung,
2008). Likewise, many career courses in graduate‐level counseling and
psychology programs across the United States and in other nations include
the words career development in their titles.
SELF‐CONCEPT THEORY
Along with differential and developmental psychology, Super used self‐
concept theory (Super, Starishevsky, Matlin, & Jordaan, 1963) as a third
keystone to frame life‐span, life‐space theory. Drawing from the work of
theorists such as Carl Rogers (1951), Super recognized that self‐concept
theory could help bind the seemingly disparate differential and
developmental perspectives on human behavior into a cohesive, more
robust explanation of vocational behavior and its development. Self‐concept
theory explains how individuals develop ideas about who they are in
different roles and situations based on self‐observations of their own unique
personal characteristics and experiences, as well as on social interactions
and feedback from others. As Super et al. (1963) explained, “the concept of
self is generally a picture of the self in some role, some situation, in a
position, performing some set of functions, or in some web of relationships”
(p. 18). For example, a person organizes his/her conception of
himself/herself as physically muscular, agile, and fast into the role self‐
concept of athlete. The content and outcomes of occupational choice, then,
emerge as a function of individuals' attempts to implement their self‐
concepts in work roles (Super, 1957; Super et al., 1963).
Self‐concepts refer to mental representations of self (Savickas, 2011a;
Super et al., 1996). As such, self‐concepts by their very nature form
individuals' subjectively held perspectives on the self in a role. With regard
to occupational choice and work adjustment, the self per se may be viewed
from both objective and subjective perspectives. Psychometric test and
inventory data allow counselors and researchers to view the self as an
object by counting and categorizing vocational interests, abilities, and other
traits that form a personality. These traits yield an occupational (Blustein,
Devenis, & Kidney, 1989) or vocational (Savickas, 1985) identity whereby
individuals may be held up as objects to be matched to occupations that fit
their particular characteristics. Objectively implementing a self‐concept in a
work role involves a process akin to P–E fit in the differential tradition. By
experiencing the self as an object, individuals in effect declare, “This is
me.”
Alternatively, self‐estimates of traits such as interests and abilities allow
counselors and researchers to view the self as a subject by attending to the
totality of an individual's unique experience or personhood. The whole of
an individual's experience forms an occupational self‐concept constituting
life themes and the purpose work holds for oneself. Subjectively
implementing a self‐concept in a work role involves purposefully fitting
work into a constellation of life roles in the developmental tradition.
Experiencing self as subject, an individual in effect states, “I shape me.”
Combined, objective and subjective views on the self provide a lens for
viewing how individuals publicly declare and privately construe the content
and outcomes of their vocational behaviors, developmental statuses, and life
roles (Super et al., 1996).
Life‐span, life‐space theory underscores the point that individuals develop
not just one but rather constellations of self‐concepts, or ideas about
themselves, based on experiences in a wide array of life spheres. The
primary concern within life‐span, life‐space theory, of course, is the
vocational sphere wherein the individual rests at the center of career choice,
development, and decision‐making. The individual as decider and
constructor of perspectives on herself or himself attempts to implement a
vocational self‐concept in an occupational choice. Constructing a self‐
concept with regard to the work role involves a subjective process of
making meaning of the objective content of one's lived experiences,
personal characteristics, and social situation. Then, individuals use realism
and reality testing to evaluate how well their chosen work roles incorporate
their self‐concepts in a continuing process of improving the match between
self and situation.
FIGURE 4.1 The archway of career determinants.
Source: From D. E. Super (1990). A life‐span, life‐space approach to career development. In D.
Brown (Ed.), Career Choice and Development (2nd ed., p. 200). San Francisco, CA: Jossey‐Bass.
Reprinted with permission from Jossey‐Bass.
The Archway of Career Determinants (Super, 1990) seen in Figure 4.1
delineates a unique architecture of self and self‐concept development and
visually models the personal and situational factors that shape life‐span,
life‐space development. The two columns comprise
various psychological characteristics and social forces depicted as stones
within each column. In theory, these personal and situational factors affect
the life–career arch that sits atop the two columns. Developmental stages of
childhood and adolescence form the left end of the arch. Adulthood and
senescence stages form the right end of the arch. In between rest self‐
concepts in roles such as child, student, and worker with the self as decision
maker. The dynamic interplay between and among personal traits of the
left‐hand column and environmental factors of the right‐hand column
determines important vocational outcomes in terms of movement through
developmental stages, development of role self‐concepts, and self‐
construction.
Super suggested that self‐concept theory might be better replaced by
personal construct theory (Kelly, 1955) to account for how individuals
make occupational choices based on their own “personal assessments of the
changing socioeconomic situation and of the social structure in which they
live and function” (Super, 1990, p. 223). Using the language of personal
constructs, Super believed, would move from self‐concept theory as
“essentially a matching theory” (p. 222) to a more social psychological
conceptualization. Ultimately, self‐concept theory within the life‐span, life‐
space approach melds the individual differences and individual
development perspectives to describe self‐concepts as comprising objective
and subjective self‐views.
SUMMARY
By combining the three keystones of differential psychology,
developmental psychology, and self‐concept theory, the life‐span, life‐space
approach focuses:
on the differential psychology of occupations as contributory to a
psychology of careers, on life stages and processes in vocational
development, on patterns of career development, on the nature and
causes of vocational maturity and its role in choice and adjustment,
and on the individual as the synthesizer of personal data, the
interpreter of experience, and the maker of decisions (Super, 1969, p.
2).
These foundational emphases form the blueprints for configuring and
comprehending the core principles of the theory.
CORE PRINCIPLES
Set against the backdrop of individual differences, individual development,
and self‐concepts, life‐span, life‐space theory organizes its core
propositions and principles along two primary dimensions: chronological
time and contextual space (for a list of the theory's 14 propositions, see
Super et al., 1996). The life–career rainbow seen in Figure 4.2 depicts the
theory's two dimensions along which a vocational self‐concept is
developed, implemented, and adjusted. The theory's longitudinal time
dimension, portrayed in the outer arcs of the rainbow, concerns the
successful traversing of developmental career stages and associated tasks
and transitions over the human life span from childhood through late
adulthood. The theory's latitudinal space dimension, portrayed in the inner
arcs of the rainbow, concerns the meaningful design of psychosocial roles
within the life space along with the situations that individuals confront
within these roles. Together, the longitudinal and latitudinal dimensions of
the theory mark the coordinates by which individuals chart their careers
over the life span and within the life space.
FIGURE 4.2 The life–career rainbow: six life roles in schematic life space.
Source: From D. E. Super (1990). A life‐span, life‐space approach to career development. In D.
Brown (Ed.), Career Choice and Development (2nd ed., p. 200). San Francisco, CA: Jossey‐Bass.
Reprinted with permission from Jossey‐Bass.
LIFE SPAN: TRAVERSING CAREER STAGES, TASKS,
AND TRANSITIONS
Human life follows a definite developmental sequence from conception to
death, from womb to tomb. Every life begins at one point in time and ends
at another in a prototypical way. Yet, the unique interactions of self and
situation yield substantial individual variability within this sequence.
Careers, too, begin and end in a chronological, developmental progression
beginning in childhood vocational aspirations and ending in late adulthood
superannuation. As with general human development, each individual
career proceeds in its own unique way, following or diverting from the
prototypical linear sequence of exploration, choice, entry, adjustment, and
retirement. Careers may thus form stable, unstable, and multiple trial
patterns. The life‐span segment of life‐span, life‐space theory deals with the
linear and nonlinear progression of careers over the life course in terms of
developing, implementing, and stabilizing self‐concepts in work and other
roles (Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996).
Five developmental periods demarcate the stages of a career depicted in
Figure 4.2. The childhood stage of career growth begins the cycle that
proceeds through adolescent career exploration, young adult career
establishment, middle adult career maintenance (or management, see
Hoekstra, 2011; Savickas, 2002), and late adult career disengagement. Each
career stage presents discernible developmental tasks (or substages) that
entail a primary adaptive goal. Developmental tasks convey socially and
culturally expected responsibilities that individuals must meet with regard
to developing a career. Completing all tasks associated with each stage
builds a foundation for future success and reduces the likelihood of
difficulties in later stages (Super et al., 1996). The ladder model of life–
career stages and tasks in Figure 4.3 depicts the prototypical sequence of
career development. The Adult Career Concerns Inventory (ACCI) (Super
et al., 1988; www.vocopher.com) provides counselors with a measure of
exploration, establishment, maintenance, and disengagement stages and
tasks. In a prototypical linear pattern, each career stage constitutes
approximate chronological ages and characteristic tasks that combine to
form a “grand narrative” (Super et al., 1996, p. 135) about vocational
development.
Growth. The career development grand narrative begins in childhood
(Hartung, 2017; Hartung, Porfeli, & Vondracek, 2005) with the life stage of
growth. Spanning birth to age 13, this opening developmental period
concentrates on the goal of forming an initial and realistic vocational self‐
concept in part by identifying with significant others. The budding
vocational self‐concept reflects the child's formative answer to the question
“Who am I?” in a mental representation of personal strengths, limitations,
interests, values, abilities, talents, and personality traits. This self‐concept
contains the child's public picture and private purpose about the future role
of work in his or her life. Society expects that opportunities and experiences
afforded at home, play, and school will arouse the child's curiosities,
fantasies, interests, and capacities to construct a future possible self to be
realized in work and other social roles. Growth substages (or developmental
tasks) for children (and adults revisiting growth) comprise developing
concern about the future, control over decision‐making, conviction to
achieve, and competence in work habits and attitudes (Savickas & Super,
1993). Children must learn to imagine, be self‐responsible, and problem‐
solve in order to construct a viable work future consistent with cultural
imperatives conveyed in family and community contexts. The
developmental tasks of career growth compel the child to acquire a future
orientation characterized by the ability to planfully look ahead (Savickas,
1997; Super et al., 1996). A critical element in this process involves
envisioning oneself in work and other roles and comprehending the relative
salience, or importance, of these roles in one's life.
FIGURE 4.3 The ladder model of life–career stages and developmental
tasks.
Source: From D. E. Super (1990). A life‐span, life‐space approach to career development. In D.
Brown (Ed.), Career Choice and Development (2nd ed., p. 200). San Francisco, CA: Jossey‐Bass.
Reprinted with permission from Jossey‐Bass.
Exploration. Childhood career growth eventually gives way to new
developmental tasks associated with the ensuing life stage of exploration.
Encompassing ages 14– 24, exploration focuses the adolescent and
emerging adult (Arnett, 2004) on the goal of crystallizing, specifying, and
implementing the vocational self‐concept in an occupational role.
Crystallizing means developing a clear and stable vocational self‐concept
reflecting one's preferences for occupational fields and ability levels.
Specifying educational and vocational choices in line with the vocational
self‐concept results from broadly exploring preferred occupations and
forming a vocational identity. Once specified, implementing an
occupational choice entails preparing for and obtaining a position. During
exploration, society expects that gathering information about self and
occupations through part‐time work, curricular and extracurricular
experiences, and other activities will lead the adolescent and emerging adult
to ultimately select an occupation to enter and thereby implement self in the
work role. Traversing the exploration stage involves learning about the
structure and opportunities of the world‐of‐work, initially implementing a
vocational self‐concept, and exploring occupations broadly through a
capacity to look around (Savickas, 1997). Successful movement through
exploration yields planfulness, curiosity to explore work roles, and
knowledge about career decision‐making principles and the occupational
world.
Establishment. Career exploration yields occupational choice, work role
entry, and a new set of tasks in the succeeding life stage of establishment.
Traversing ages 25–44 in a prototypical pattern; establishment involves
stabilizing, consolidating, and advancing the self‐concept and a career
pattern to develop a secure place in the world of work. Stabilizing involves
settling into and securing a new position by performing competently and
acclimating successfully to the work culture. This gives way to
consolidating the position through sustained work productivity,
interpersonal effectiveness, and adjustment. Eventually, individuals may
pursue advancing to higher‐level positions when possible. Stable self‐
concepts and career patterns result from successful establishment wherein
the main goal concerns implementing the self‐concept in the work role to
yield both a means of earning a living and a meaningful way of living a life.
Work devoid of meaning requires workers to realize their self‐concepts in
other roles such as parent, spouse, community member, and leisurite.
Establishment in today's digital age of insecurity, uncertainty, and frequent
job change often proves a more variable and protracted career stage
(Savickas, 2011b).
Maintenance. Research supports renewal (Williams & Savickas, 1990) “as
a transitional period between the establishment and maintenance stages”
characterized by “questioning future direction and goals … [and]
encountered primarily by younger maintainers” (p. 173). Successful career
establishment at midlife therefore prompts a sustainability question.
Individuals ask themselves whether or not they want to continue in their
established positions until retirement. If not, they revisit prior tasks of
exploration and establishment to make an occupational or organizational
change. If so, they continue on with new tasks of career maintenance.
Spanning ages 45–65, maintenance concentrates on the prime goal of
building on the vocational self‐concept developed, implemented, and
stabilized in the foregoing career stages. Because people deal in various
ways with the long‐term prospects of continuing in their positions,
maintenance stage tasks may be better termed “styles” or “strategies.” For
some people, maintenance involves a strategy of holding on to a secured
position through continued job proficiency. For other people, maintenance
constitutes updating knowledge and skills to enhance performance or
innovating new and creative ways of performing to keep work vigorous and
fresh. Innovating particularly may prevent career plateaus (Tan &
Salomone, 1994) and mid‐career changes due to job dissatisfaction. Like
establishment, career maintenance may elude many workers in the
contemporary global economy because of the effects of job loss,
“dejobbing” that shifts work from jobs to assignments, corporate failure,
and organizational restructuring.
Disengagement. The grand narrative of life‐span career development
concludes in late adulthood with the disengagement stage. Encompassing
ages 65 and older, disengagement presents the long‐time worker with a
major life transition to retirement (Shultz & Wang, 2011). This transition
shifts the focus from self‐concept development, implementation,
stabilization, and enhancement in work roles to developing and
implementing role self‐concepts more fully in other domains, such as
family, community, and leisure. Disengagement tasks present themselves in
the form of decelerating workloads and productivity levels, retirement
planning to organize finances and structure daily activities (Adams & Rau,
2011), and retirement living to answer questions of where to live, what to
do, and how to revitalize and form new relationships outside the workplace.
Individuals during disengagement may ask themselves “What will
retirement mean for me?” or “How will I adjust?”
Increased life expectancies, early retirement options, and cost‐of‐living
concerns may prompt revisiting tasks of exploration and establishment to
obtain bridge employment (Zhan, Wang, Liu, & Shultz, 2009) or develop
encore careers (Freedman, 2007). Through bridge employment, workers
engage in part‐time, self‐, or temporary employment after leaving full‐time
work to better sustain their mental and physical health as well as their
financial solvency. Encore careers replace retirement with engagement in
alternative work that allows greater personal meaning, fulfillment, or social
impact than prior work made possible. Recent theorizing has articulated
eight metaphors that reflect various meanings of retirement ranging from
“loss,” characterized by purposelessness and threatened identity, to
“transformation,” characterized by adopting a new role, lifestyle, and
identity (Sargent, Bataille, Vough, & Lee, 2011). Meanwhile, the changing
nature of work and an unsettled economy couple to alter the very nature and
long‐term viability of retirement itself for many workers (Shultz & Wang,
2011).
Managing tasks, transitions, and traumas. Life stage success requires
career maturity, a term Super (1955) coined to explain and measure
progress in moving through the developmental stages and tasks particularly
associated with exploration. Career maturity denotes attitudinal and
cognitive readiness to make educational and vocational choices. Attitudinal
readiness means active engagement in planning and exploring an
occupational future. Cognitive readiness means possessing knowledge
about occupations and how to make good career decisions. The Career
Maturity Inventory (CMI; Crites, 1965; Crites & Savickas, 1995) measures
global and specific dimensions of career maturity. Super et al. (1979)
subsequently constructed the Career Development Inventory (CDI) (for a
review see Savickas & Hartung, 1996) to also measure level of career
choice readiness more broadly in terms of engagement in career planning
and exploration as well as knowledge about career decision‐making and the
world of work. Counselors and researchers may find both measures
available at www.vocopher.com.
Applied largely to research in and evolving from the career pattern study
(Super, 1985; Super & Overstreet, 1960), career maturity proved an apt
term to denote increased choice readiness typically accompanying age and
grade‐level increases during the adolescent years. Despite attempts to apply
the construct beyond the exploration stage, “the focus remained on a
structural model of career maturity in adolescence” (Savickas, 1997, p.
250). Recognizing this constraint and the limitations inherent in using a
biologically based term to describe a psychosocially based process, the
theory eventually replaced career maturity with career adaptability
(Savickas, 1997; Super & Knasel, 1981; Super et al., 1996). Career
adaptability entails having the readiness and resources to cope with
developmental tasks, career transitions, and work traumas across the entire
life span (Savickas, 2005). Recent research has advanced and supported
career adaptability along three primary dimensions of planning, exploring,
and deciding (e.g., Creed, Fallon, & Hood, 2009; Hirschi, 2009; Koen,
Klehe, Van Vianen, Zikic, & Nauta, 2010; Maree, 2017). The most recently
revised version of the CMI produced an adaptability form that measures the
dimensions of career adaptability for diagnostic work with school
populations up to and including twelfth grade (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012).
Career adaptability aids development as individuals cycle and recycle
through the five career stages over the life span. These five career stages
collectively provide an overarching structure of career development.
Individually, each stage in fact serves a principal function in that it helps to
achieve a particular purpose with regard to completing developmental tasks
associated with growing, exploring, establishing, maintaining, and
disengaging from work roles. Individuals visit and revisit the tasks
associated with each function over the life course. Normative transitions
such as voluntary job change and work‐based traumas such as job loss
prompt new growth, re‐exploration, and reestablishment. Activated by
personal, social, or economic factors or a combination of these factors,
transitions mark passage from one career stage, or function, to the next.
Movement through the stages and tasks over chronological time constitutes
the maxicycle of career development.
Because people often recycle by revisiting developmental stages and tasks
through which they have passed earlier in their lives, career development
also may involve various minicycles of development. For example, a high‐
school science teacher with an established career decides at midlife to
transition to a different occupational field. Similarly, a 30‐year‐old veteran
disengages from military service and transitions to work in civilian life,
while a 42‐year‐old homemaker explores options for re‐entering the paid
workforce. Such situations prompt new cycles of movement (i.e., recycling)
through earlier career tasks. Each developmental age period, too, presents
tasks of later career stages reflecting this cycling and recycling (Super &
Thompson, 1981). For example, adolescence involves the disengagement
task of giving less time to play and hobbies, while late adulthood presents
the exploration task of finding a good place to live in retirement. The life‐
span segment of the theory thus accounts for both linear and circuitous life–
career patterns.
LIFE SPACE: ARRANGING SOCIAL ROLES
Every life needs a context, a structure to shape its development. Life
structure comes in the form of a grand design of social roles arranged
within various domains of human activity. Performing roles of worker,
spouse or partner, volunteer, and leisurite in work, family, community, and
play domains offers an identifiable and potentially meaningful life structure.
Too little structure and inactivity across domains breed ennui and various
mental health problems. For example, work‐role loss causes depression,
anxiety, and lowered subjective well‐being (Paul & Moser, 2009). Too
much structure and overactivity breed exhaustion and other problems. For
example, work‐role over‐engagement produces burnout (Maslach &
Jackson, 1986; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001) and conflict with roles
in other domains such as family (Halbesleben, Harvey, & Bolino, 2009).
Therefore, designing a life to achieve balance among roles becomes
imperative for overall satisfaction and well‐being (Niles, Herr, & Hartung,
2001). The life‐space segment of life‐span, life‐space theory deals with the
context of career development within a web of social roles individuals
occupy and enact over the life span (Super, 1990; Super et al., 1996).
Depicted by the inner arcs of the life–career rainbow (Figure 4.2), the life
space constitutes core roles individuals use to design their lives. Mindful of
life's complex and context‐rich nature, the theory thus situates career choice
and development within this constellation of social roles.
Super (1980) proposed that nine major roles constitute the typical life
structure in chronological order of child, student, leisurite, citizen, worker,
spouse, homemaker, parent, and annuitant. In the example of Figure 4.2, the
individual played six core roles over the life span. A typical life structure
comprises two or three core roles, with other roles playing a negligible or
no part (Super et al., 1996). Among these, the worker role typically
represents a core role given the cultural, social, and personal imperative to
work. Yet, worker offers just one of several role possibilities. Rather than
prizing the work role, life‐span, life‐space theory uses the construct of role
salience to explain and consider the relative importance that individuals
ascribe to various roles in the course of their lives. As measured by the
Salience Inventory (SI) (Super & Nevill, 1985a; www.vocopher.com), role
salience entails behavioral, emotional, and values components. These
components denote how much one participates, feels invested, and expects
to realize important outcomes in a given role. Role salience thus accounts
for how a person may perform a great deal in a role (e.g., work long hours)
and want much from it (e.g., receive good pay and benefits), yet not feel
particularly devoted to it (e.g., would give up the work role for a life of
leisure, family, and community activity if not for the money).
A host of factors shape levels of role salience and role viability within the
many role contexts of human development. These factors include prevailing
cultural value orientations, the changing nature of work, societal diversity,
fluctuating economic conditions, gender and family expectations, social
class, and occupational and other barriers (Blustein, 2006; Cook, 1994;
Fitzgerald & Betz, 1994; Hartung, 2002; Richardson, 1993). Roles, too,
interact to varying degrees in ways that may be complementary and
supportive or conflictual and straining (Halbesleben et al., 2009). Family
support may ease job stress, whereas work over‐engagement may strain
family life. Individuals typically seek career counseling at times of role
change and when they want to redesign their life structures into a different
pattern of life roles (Super et al., 1996). Counselors, in response, must first
recognize and address the relative importance that clients ascribe to various
life roles rather than assuming that the work role constitutes the main focus
of the client's problems and concerns. Recent theorizing has elaborated on
life roles as vehicles for developing a personal career identity and public
career success (Hoekstra, 2011).
SELF‐CONCEPTS: DEVELOPING, IMPLEMENTING, AND
ADJUSTING SELF
Across the life span and through the life space, individuals develop,
implement, and adjust their self‐concepts to optimally fit themselves to
social roles (Super, 1951). The twin processes of traversing career stages
and arranging social roles engage the individual in developing a vocational
self‐concept, applying it to the work role, and regulating it according to
changes in self and circumstances. Self‐concepts develop from a
combination of heredity, social learning experiences, opportunities, and
evaluations by self and others. The vocational self‐concept reflects both
personal (e.g., needs, values, and interests) and situational (e.g., economy,
society, and labor market) factors. Occupational choice entails
implementing a self‐concept, work expresses the fullness of self, and career
development encompasses a “continuing process of improving the match
between self and situations” (Super et al., 1996, p. 139).
As we have seen, developing a vocational self‐concept represents the
primary adaptive goal or function of career growth for children and for
adults recycling through this stage. Then, in exploration, the adolescent or
adult recycler tries implementing the self in work roles. During
establishment, the young or recycling adult who has implemented a
vocational self‐concept in a work role seeks to stabilize the self in a chosen
occupation. As an established career progresses to maintenance, changes in
self and circumstance prompt adjusting the work‐role self‐concept
accordingly during middle adulthood. Reaching career disengagement, the
adult in early retirement or late life relinquishes the work role and devotes
energies to more fully developing, implementing, and adjusting self‐
concepts in other life roles.
Three of life‐span, life‐space theory's 14 propositions (see Super et al.,
1996) deal directly with occupational choice as a function of self‐concept.
First, the theory proposes that self‐concept development, implementation,
and adjustment entail a lifelong process of decisions and re‐decisions. Self‐
concepts grow increasingly stable over the life span, lending coherence and
continuity to one's life. Yet, they remain susceptible to change with time
and experience. Second, the theory postulates that career development
involves processes of developing and implementing occupational self‐
concepts. This occurs as the individual synthesizes and negotiates
knowledge about self and experiences to form more satisfying person–
environment connections. Third, the theory suggests that individuals
experience subjective success and satisfaction in work as a function of their
ability to implement their vocational self‐concepts in their occupational
choices. Individuals more able to enact their self‐concepts in work roles
presumably experience greater fulfillment.
As the segment joining life span and life space, self‐concept links person as
decider to environment as decision. Work has delineated with remarkable
acuity three perspectives on the self and self‐concepts (Phillips, 2011;
Savickas, 2011a). Individually, Phillips and Savickas each described the self
in three unique terms. Phillips delineated self and self‐concept as a
collection of traits, as developing over time, and as decision maker.
Meanwhile, Savickas portrayed the self as object in the form of personality,
as subject in the form of personhood, and as project in the form of identity.
Collectively, the conceptual works of Phillips and Savickas converge on the
position advanced by and amenable to life‐span, life‐space theory that the
self and self‐concepts comprise differential, developmental, and
constructionist dimensions (for more about constructionism and views on
the self, see Savickas, 2019, Chapter 6, this volume).
The differential dimension reflects the view that objective knowledge about
the content of self and vocational self‐concept (i.e., personality traits or
characteristics) combined with knowledge about occupations promotes
effective career decision‐making. In the differential view, the self passively
matches to occupations that it most resembles comparable to an actor
assigned to perform in a work role. The developmental dimension reflects
the view that subjective reflection yields meaning (i.e., personhood) as the
self and self‐concepts surface, develop, and change over time. In the
developmental view, the self actively develops through work roles, much
like an agent who manages a career. The constructionist dimension,
building upon the differential and developmental perspectives, reflects the
view that projective self‐construction involves purposefully using work and
career to design and shape experience. In the constructionist view, the self
with even greater agency intentionally decides about and scripts the work
role, akin to an author who writes a life–career story. The constructionist
view on the self goes beyond matching and developing to also emphasize
that the individual purposefully reflects on, shapes, and makes meaning of
their vocational choices and development.
In sum, life‐span, life‐space theory has long sought to combine these three
perspectives on self (i.e., differential, developmental, and constructionist) in
one grand statement about career choice and development. Super harvested
the fruits of P–E fit and life‐span career psychology, along with social role
theory, to articulate the fundamental tenets of life‐span, life‐space theory.
He also attended, albeit less deliberately and directly, to the roles of
personal constructs (i.e., internal models of reality or beliefs people form
about themselves and the world; Kelly, 1955) and narratives in career
development and counseling. For example, he alluded to the merits of using
personal constructs rather than self‐concepts to connect the life‐span and
life‐space segments. Super also articulated the thematic‐extrapolation
method (Jepsen, 1994; Super, 1954) as a narrative career counseling
intervention for ascertaining life themes to promote career choice and
development. The career pattern study collected life history data to capture
the rich context and stories of a life–career arch. Ultimately, Super's passing
in 1994 left to other theorists the goals of fully reconciling and synthesizing
the differential, developmental, and narrative (or constructionist)
dimensions of life‐span, life‐space theory. Savickas (2002, 2005, Chapter 6,
this volume) offers this very synthesis within career construction theory.
EMPIRICAL SUPPORT
As the life‐span, life‐space approach has ranked among the dominant
theories of career choice and development for over 60 years, so too has it
prompted a wealth of empirical research about its propositions and
principles. Leading the way, Super and his robust cadre of associates and
students conducted sustained programmatic research during this period—
most notably in the career pattern study (Super, 1985; Super & Overstreet,
1960) and multinational work importance study (Super & Sverko, 1995).
These efforts produced substantial evidence in support of many of the
theory's concepts (for detailed reviews see Betz, 2008; Borgen, 1991;
Hackett, Lent, & Greenhaus, 1991; Hartung et al., 2005; Jepsen, 1984;
Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996).
For example, results of the career pattern study indicated general support
for career maturity as a predictor of important outcomes such as career
satisfaction, self‐improvement, and occupational satisfaction. Findings also
indicated that age‐graded increases in career maturity occur as children and
adolescents become more future‐oriented, more actively engaged in
exploring careers, and more knowledgeable about occupations and making
career decisions. A comprehensive review of the child vocational
development literature indicated significant progress in completing
developmental tasks consistent with the career stages of growth and
exploration (Hartung et al., 2005). Results of the work importance study
(Super & Sverko, 1995) indicated support for the validity of constructs of
work values and life‐role salience across 12 nations. A review of the work
importance study literature concluded that contextual factors such as
developmental stage, gender, and culture affect role salience and work
values (Niles & Goodnough, 1996). It also pointed out the counseling utility
of these two concepts that are central to life‐span, life‐space theory.
A multitude of individual studies have also examined and provided at least
reasonable support for aspects of the theory. Review and advancement of
much of this work as well as cross‐cultural support appear in a special issue
of The Career Development Quarterly (Savickas, 1994). This special issue
deals with the theory's key constructs such as career development and
maturity, exploration, adaptability, life roles, and work values. The research
reviewed pertains to elements across the theory's three primary segments of
life‐span, life‐space, and self‐concepts. On balance, the special issue
authors concluded that research generally supports these theoretical
constructs and would benefit from use of more refined methodologies and
inclusion of more diverse participant samples. Elsewhere, research has
indicated that a future orientation and planfulness promote career maturity
and academic success (Lewis, Savickas, & Jones, 1996). A more recent
study supported the proposed planning, exploration, and decision‐making
components of career adaptability (Creed et al., 2009).
Research has also supported the validity and reliability of the wide array of
psychometric instruments that operationally define various concepts within
life‐span, life‐space theory. For example, study findings strongly support
the sensitivity and specificity of the CDI as a measure of readiness to make
educational and vocational choices and as an operational definition of
Super's structural model of adolescent career maturity (Savickas & Hartung,
1996). Likewise, the ACCI provides a valid and reliable measure of
attitudes about (Cairo, Kritis, & Myers, 1996) and progress toward
completing (Niles, Lewis, & Hartung, 1997) developmental career stages
and tasks during the adult years. Research also supports the Values Scale
(Nevill & Kruse, 1996) and the SI (Nevill & Calvert, 1996) as valid and
reliable measures of work values and life‐role salience, respectively (see
Rounds & Leuty, Chapter 16, this volume for a discussion about use and
interpretation of work values measures).
Broadly speaking, “the developmental segment is well‐documented, and
data relative to the self‐concept segment generally agree with the theory”
(Super et al., 1996, p. 145). Literature reviews have both supported and
advanced self‐concept as important in career development and career
intervention (Betz, 1994; Osipow, 1983). A review by Osipow and
Fitzgerald (1996) concluded that the theory has substantial research and
practice utility as well as broad empirical support. A wealth of research
specifically supports the roles of career maturity and exploratory behavior
in promoting career choice and development (Hartung et al., 2005; Savickas
& Hartung, 1996).
A criticism of the theory's research base is that there has been an almost
exclusive focus on the adolescent and young adult years, with little
attention to childhood, and mid and late adulthood. Hartung et al. (2005),
however, reviewed a substantial body of literature supporting Super's views
of the career development processes during the childhood and early
adolescent years, consistent with life‐span, life‐space theory. Beyond
growth and early exploration stages, support of family, teachers, and friends
fosters success in completing career exploration stage tasks, but later career
stages of establishment, maintenance, and disengagement reflect more non‐
linear processes in line with the life‐span, life‐space concept of recycling
(see Betz, 2008). Critics have also pointed to inadequate consideration of
factors such as gender and cultural context as a problem with the theory. In
response, research has supported the cross‐cultural validity of the career
maturity construct (e.g., Leong & Serafica, 2001) and findings of the work
importance study indicated cross‐national support for the constructs of life
roles and work values (Super & Sverko, 1995). Conceptual work has also
underscored the cultural dimensions and utility of the life roles and values
constructs (Hartung, 2002).
Theory revision to include the life‐space and self‐concept segments has also
well attended to issues of gender with particular focus on achieving balance
among multiple life roles, especially for women. The theory's lack of
testable hypotheses and its use as a post hoc way to interpret findings rather
than an a priori frame for study design have limited true tests of its
propositions (Hackett et al., 1991). Despite a noted contemporary decline in
its empirical study, the theory's tremendous breadth has for decades allowed
researchers to apply it to considering, comprehending, and consolidating
evidence about the vast complexity of vocational behavior and development
in diverse contexts.
LIFE‐SPAN, LIFE‐SPACE CAREER
INTERVENTION
Reflecting the dictum “there is nothing so practical as a good theory”
(Lewin, 1952, p. 169), the life‐span, life‐space approach offers a useful
guide for career intervention. During 60 years of theory development, Super
and his colleagues simultaneously devised methods and materials for
assisting individuals to prepare for, enter, and adjust to work roles over the
life span. This culminated in a model known as Career‐Development
Assessment and Counseling (C‐DAC; Super, 1983). C‐DAC systematically
applies life‐span, life‐space theory's key components (i.e., the archway of
career determinants, the life–career rainbow, and the ladder model of career
stages and tasks) to career intervention practice by blending elements of the
differential, developmental, and self‐concept segments of the theory into
one comprehensive four‐step scheme. The model's differential component
reflects Parsons's (1909) matching model and Holland's (1997) person–
environment fit theory. The model's developmental component directly
reflects Super's (1990) life‐span, life‐space theory that recognizes the stages
and roles that constitute a life–career arch. The model's self‐concept or
personal construct component reflects the preferred use of a narrative
approach in transitioning from career assessment to career counseling
(Super, Osborne, Walsh, Brown, & Niles, 1992).
ASSESSMENT BATTERY
Using a comprehensive career assessment battery, the C‐DAC approach
helps clients explore their life roles, developmental stages and tasks, career
attitudes and knowledge, values, and interests within their unique life
contexts. The C‐DAC model offers counselors flexibility in using various
measures in career assessment. A typical C‐DAC battery includes the
following four core measures to assess: (a) role salience, (b) developmental
concerns, (c) career maturity, and (d) work values and interests. All of these
measures are freely available to career service providers and researchers at
www.vocopher.com.
Role salience is typically assessed with SI of Super and Nevill (1985a)SI.
The SI measures the extent to which individuals participate in, commit to,
and expect to realize values in five life roles: student, worker, citizen,
homemaker (including spouse and parent), and leisurite. The ACCI (Super
et al., 1988) assesses developmental concerns and attitudes. The ACCI's 4
scales and 12 subscales measure concerns related to the career stages and
developmental tasks, respectively, of exploration (crystallizing, specifying,
implementing), establishment (stabilizing, consolidating, advancing),
maintenance (holding, updating, innovating), and disengagement
(decelerating, retirement planning, retirement living). The ACCI can be
used to measure developmental task mastery as well as level of concern
with developmental tasks (Niles et al., 1997).
Career maturity may be assessed with the CDI (Super et al., 1979). The
CDI measures readiness for making educational and vocational choices.
The CDI has two parts: career orientation and knowledge of preferred
occupation. Career orientation includes four scales that measure career
planning (CP), career exploration (CE), career decision‐making (DM), and
world‐of‐work information (WW). Knowledge of preferred options
contains one scale measuring knowledge of preferred occupational Group
(PO). Three composite scores result from summing individual scale scores
as follows: career development attitudes (CDA) combine CP and CE; career
development knowledge and skills (CDK) combine DM and WW; career
orientation total combines CDA and CDK. Higher scores indicate greater
career maturity. Career maturity can also be assessed among youth with the
Career Maturity Inventory‐Adaptability Form (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012)
and in adults with the Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale (Porfeli & Savickas,
2012). The Values Scale (VS; Super & Nevill, 1985b; see Rounds & Leuty,
Chapter 16, this volume) is typically used to measure 21 basic intrinsic and
extrinsic values people seek in work and life. A typical C‐DAC assessment
battery concludes with the Strong Interest Inventory (SII) (see Hansen,
Chapter 15, this volume) to assess vocational interests.
INTERVENTION PROCESS
Counselors implement the C‐DAC model in a four‐step process of preview,
depth view, data assessment, and counseling. This process begins in step
one with a preview that comprises a review of any available data (e.g.,
school and prior counseling records), an initial interview to identify the
client's presenting concerns, and the formation of a preliminary intervention
plan. Central to this first step, the practitioner assesses work importance
relative to the importance of life roles in other theaters such as school,
home and family, community, and leisure. This assessment may be done
informally through dialogue and formally using the SI. Ascertaining level
of role salience indicates how individuals wish to arrange their life roles.
Individuals high in work‐role salience show readiness to maximally benefit
from further career intervention. Individuals low in work‐role salience may
need help with either orienting to the worker role and its importance as a
central life task or with exploring and preparing for other life roles.
C‐DAC's next step is a depth view that systematically measures career stage
using the ACCI and career development level using the CDI. This process
indicates how ready the individual is for career decision‐making activities,
such as identifying and exploring occupational interests and work values.
Individuals low in career choice readiness need interventions to increase
planfulness, exploratory behavior, and knowledge about decision‐making
and the structure of work and occupations. Assessing readiness before
assessing traits such as interests to match people to occupations is critical
because as Super (1983) stated, “Matchmaking is hardly likely to last unless
those being matched are ready and willing” (p. 557). Once a client is ready
for career decision‐making, attention turns to data assessment, to measuring
vocational interests, abilities, and values using appropriate inventories and
scales. In a typical C‐DAC battery, these instruments include the SII
(Donnay, Morris, Schaubhut, & Thompson, 2005) and the VS (Super &
Nevill, 1985b).
C‐DAC concludes in a fourth step of counseling that involves interpreting
all of the assessment data to yield an integrated picture of the individual and
a plan for action. An elaboration of the C‐DAC model also suggested
appraising cultural identity in the first step and considering cultural identity
concerns throughout the process (Hartung et al., 1998). Interested readers
may wish to study the original (Super, 1983) and subsequent descriptions
and illustrations of the C‐DAC approach (e.g., Hartung, 1998; Hartung et
al., 1998; Niles & Usher, 1993; Osborne, Brown, Niles, & Miner, 1997;
Taber & Hartung, 2002). Ultimately, C‐DAC helps guide practitioners in
teaching children, adolescents, and adults the planning attitudes, career
beliefs, and decision‐making competencies necessary for life–career
success (Savickas, 2005, 2019). The approach also assists individuals with
completing developmental tasks and clarifying and implementing their self‐
concepts. As a comprehensive scheme for linking people to occupations
that fit with their self‐concepts and within the broader arrangement of their
life roles, C‐DAC offers a useful guide and method for career intervention.
CONCLUSION
Having passed the zenith of its own conceptual and empirical advancement,
life‐span, life‐space theory remains “a sophisticated framework for
comprehending the full complexity of vocational behavior and its
development in diverse groups in manifold settings” (Super et al., 1996, p.
170). As evidence of its preeminent influence, concepts underlying life‐
span, life‐space theory pervade much theoretical and applied work
evidenced in many of the chapters of this volume and in other works (e.g.,
Blustein, 2006; Brown, 2002; Gottfredson, 2002; Guichard, 2005; Hoekstra,
2011; Vondracek, Lerner, & Schulenberg, 1986). Most notably, readers will
find the central tenets, propositions, and practical materials of the life‐span,
life‐space approach directly and substantially updated and advanced in the
theory and practice of career construction (Savickas, 2002, 2005, 2019,
Chapter 6, this volume) as well as in resources available for free in an
Internet‐based career development and counseling resource, referred to as a
career “collaboratory” (see Glavin & Savickas, 2010; www.vocopher.com).
Such conceptual and practical advancement well befits the spirit of life‐
span, life‐space theory as a fluid, contextual, and multidimensional
approach to understanding and developing careers that remains open to
continued renovation and refinement.
PRACTICE POINTS
Despite sustained efforts to apply career theories to counseling, the
fact remains as Osipow (1994) stated some years ago: “Career theories
are not counseling theories” (p. 222). Most career theories, unlike
counseling and psychotherapy theories, do not explicitly guide
counseling practice. The C‐DAC (Super et al., 1992) model that
emerged from life‐span, life‐space theory proves to be a clear
exception in this regard. That is because C‐DAC offers career service
providers a practical model for developmental career counseling to
increase clients' career choice readiness, ability to manage a lifetime of
career development tasks and transitions, and to make a career while
living a life.
C‐DAC fits within a framework of three paradigms for career
counseling that include vocational guidance, career development, and
life design (see Savickas, 2015, Chapter 6, this volume).
Counseling methods within the vocational guidance paradigm help
clients answer the question “What occupation shall I choose?” in
order to promote congruence between self and occupational setting
(Holland, 1997). Vocational guidance best serves clients who need
to affirm an expressed occupational choice, identify alternative
educational or occupational pathways to consider, and determine
what occupations fit them best.
Counseling methods within the career development paradigm help
clients answer the question “How do I manage my career?” in
order to promote adaptability for navigating career tasks and
transitions (Maree, 2017; Savickas, 1997; Super & Knasel, 1981).
Career development best serves clients who need to acquire the
attitudes, beliefs, and competencies needed for career planning,
decision‐making, exploration, and problem‐solving (Maree, 2017;
Savickas, 2002).
Counseling methods within the life‐design paradigm help clients
answer the question “How do I use work and career in my life?” in
order to sharpen identity and narrate a meaningful life–career story
(Savickas, 2019, Chapter 6, this volume). Life design best serves
clients who need to construe their lives holistically and
comprehend how they can use work to be themselves more
completely.
In short, guidance involves what occupation to pick, development
concerns how to prepare for career decision‐making, and life
design encompasses what purpose work serves in an individual's
life.
Life‐span, life‐space theory leaves practitioners with a useful guide
and tools for practice. As a guide for practice, the theory reminds
practitioners that career choice and development encompass a lifelong,
developmental process that begins in childhood (Hartung et al., 2005)
and proceeds continuously over the life course. Each life stage presents
particular problems to solve and these problems may, and often do,
surface and resurface in predictable and unpredictable ways at various
age periods. By attending to the developmental nature of careers,
counselors can assist clients to understand and deal with current and
imminent developmental tasks to promote effective career planning,
career exploration, career decision‐making, and work adjustment at all
life stages. Practitioners can help clients ready themselves for
designing their careers and navigating successfully through both
anticipated transitions, such as from school to work, job to job, and
work to retirement, and unanticipated work‐based traumas, such as job
loss, work disability, and job dissatisfaction.
Applying a developmental perspective on careers to counseling
practice, the theory also reminds practitioners to help clients arrange
their work and other life roles into a livable and satisfying pattern.
Recognizing that worker represents one of many psychosocial roles
that people play helps counselors more effectively understand, assess,
and intervene with clients relative to the multiple roles that form the
basis of the life structure. Greater cultural relevance in practice can be
achieved by exploring the unique meanings clients ascribe to life roles
and helping them to comprehend how society and their cultural
backgrounds shape those meanings. By attending to the collection of
traits that individuals possess as well as the meaning and purpose those
traits hold for the work role, counselors can help clients clarify and
shape their self‐concepts. With greater self‐concept clarity, clients may
experience an improved match between self and occupation as well as
a more purposeful implementation of self in work and other life roles.
Life‐span, life‐space theory informed the development of many career
assessment instruments. These measures, combined with the language
for understanding career development that the theory offers, provide
useful tools for fostering careers across the life span and through the
life space.
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CHAPTER 5
Career Development and Counseling: A
Social Cognitive Framework
ROBERT W. LENT
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
People's work possibilities and developmental trajectories are affected by
many variables, including their personal attributes (e.g., interests, abilities,
values), learning and socialization experiences, and the resources,
opportunities, and barriers afforded by their environments. Occupational
paths are forged not by any one of these forces, but rather by the complex
interactions among them. The process of career development plays out over
multiple life periods, encompassing preparation for work (education and
training), work entry, adjustment to work, and work transitions and
changes. Career theories provide systems for explaining how multiple
variables operate together to help determine occupational choice and
development over the life course. In particular, we rely on theories to
assemble the many parts of career development into a plausible whole; to
organize existing research and generate new knowledge about how people
live their work lives; and to devise practical methods to help promote
optimal career/life outcomes.
Social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent & Brown, 2006, 2008, 2013;
Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000) is a relatively well‐studied approach
to understanding educational and occupational behavior. It brings together
common elements identified by earlier career theorists—especially Super,
Holland, Krumboltz, and Lofquist and Dawis—and seeks to create a
unifying framework for explaining how people (a) develop vocational
interests, (b) make occupational choices, (c) achieve varying levels of
career success and stability, (d) experience satisfaction or well‐being in the
work environment, and (e) manage more and less predictable work/life
events (e.g., making decisions, balancing multiple roles, negotiating
transitions).
This chapter contains three main sections: (a) an overview of SCCT's basic
elements and predictions; (b) a brief summary of the theory's research base,
including study of diverse populations (e.g., people of color, women,
persons with disabilities, gay and lesbian workers); and (c) consideration of
developmental and counseling applications for maximizing career options,
fostering career choice‐making, and promoting work success and
satisfaction. More comprehensive presentations of SCCT, its research base,
conceptual underpinnings, relations to other career theories, practical
implications, and applications to particular populations can be found in
other sources (e.g., Betz, 2008; Brown & Lent, 1996; Flores, Navarro, &
Ali, 2017; Fouad & Santana, 2017; Hackett & Byars, 1996; Lent & Brown,
2006, 2008; Lent et al., 1994, 2000; Lent & Hackett, 1994; Lent, Morrison,
& Ezeofor, in press; Morrow, Gore, & Campbell, 1996; Sheu & Bordon,
2017; Thompson, Dahling, Chin, & Melloy, 2017).
OVERVIEW OF SCCT
This section begins by considering SCCT's connections to other theories of
career development and then introduces SCCT's basic elements and models.
CONNECTIONS AND CONTRASTS WITH OTHER
CAREER THEORIES
Trait–factor (later known as P–E fit) career models, such as Holland's
theory (Nauta, Chapter 3, this volume), tend to view people and work
environments in trait‐oriented terms, emphasizing variables that are
relatively global and constant across time and situations. These models
assume that much of what drives career behavior is based on personal
attributes—like interests, abilities, values, and personality dispositions—
that are largely molded by genetic endowment and early learning
experiences. They also assume that individuals' particular mix of attributes
make them better suited to certain work environments than others. P–E fit
models have contributed much to the field's understanding of career
behavior, and have helped inform career counseling, by highlighting
relatively stable features of persons and environments that, if appropriately
matched, are likely to lead to choices that are both satisfying (from the
perspective of the person) and satisfactory (from the perspective of the
environment).
Developmental career theories (e.g., Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume)
emphasize the relatively predictable tasks and challenges that accompany
career development, such as learning about oneself, exploring the world of
work, developing a vocational identity, narrowing career options down from
the larger fund of possibilities, and establishing and maintaining one's
career. Certain developmental theories are also concerned with how the
work role relates to other life roles (e.g., parent, leisurite), how contextual
factors (e.g., socioeconomic status) affect career trajectories, and, in the
case of constructionist–developmental models, how people partly construct,
or author, their own career/life stories (Savickas, Chapter 6, this volume).
SCCT shares certain features with the P–E fit and developmental
perspectives. For example, like P–E fit theories, SCCT acknowledges the
important roles that interests, abilities, and values can play within the career
development process. With the developmental theories, SCCT shares a
focus on how people negotiate particular tasks and milestones (e.g., career
choice). Yet, SCCT is also relatively distinctive and designed to
complement these other theories. In contrast to P–E fit approaches, SCCT
highlights relatively dynamic and domain‐specific aspects of both people
(e.g., self‐views, future expectations, behavior) and of their environments
(e.g., social supports, financial barriers). While the relative stability of traits
helps in predicting outcomes such as occupational choice, people and
environments do not always remain the same; indeed, they sometimes
change dramatically. Witness, for example, the huge changes brought about
in the workplace by technological advances, corporate downsizing, and
economic globalization—and the consequent demands that such changes
have placed on workers to update their skills and to cultivate new interests
(or to find a new home for their old ones).
By focusing on cognitions, behavior, and other factors that, theoretically,
are relatively malleable and responsive to particular situations and
performance domains, SCCT offers an agenda that complements the P–E fit
perspective. An SCCT agenda asks, for example, how are people able to
change, develop, and regulate their own behavior? How do interests
differentiate and intensify, or shift, over time? What factors, other than
traits, promote career choice and change? How can career skills be nurtured
and work performances improved? How can work lives be made more
satisfying?
Relative to developmental theories, SCCT tends to be less concerned with
the specifics of ages and stages, yet more concerned with theoretical
elements that may promote or hinder career behavior across developmental
tasks and periods. For this reason, SCCT may provide a complementary
framework from which to address questions that are relevant to particular
developmental theorists—such as how work and other life roles become
more or less salient for particular individuals, how individuals' career
options become constricted or circumscribed over time, and how people are
able to affect their own developmental progress.
Finally, SCCT may also be contrasted with the psychology of working
theory (PWT; Blustein & Duffy, Chapter 7, this volume). The two share an
interest in social and economic constraints on work behavior and a concern
with promoting understanding of persons previously understudied in the
career literature. However, they represent distinctive intellectual roots (e.g.,
social cognitive theory vs. an emancipatory communitarian perspective) and
emphasize different predictors and dependent variables. For example, PWT
highlights precursors and consequences of “decent work,” regardless of
career field, whereas SCCT focuses on the specific occupations people
enter (choice content) and how they navigate their work environments
(adaptive process). Like PWT, SCCT is concerned with the nature of
people's work conditions and rewards and with issues of social justice, but it
deals with these concerns in different ways. For example, rather than
labeling work as decent (or not) on an a priori basis, SCCT aims to
understand the socially constructed processes that shape people's career
development opportunities and through which uneven playing fields might
be leveled.
BASIC COGNITIVE‐PERSON ELEMENTS OF SCCT
The primary foundation for SCCT lies in Bandura's (1986) general social
cognitive theory, which emphasizes the complex ways in which people,
their behavior, and environments mutually influence one another. As in
Bandura's general theory, SCCT assumes that people have the capacity to
exercise some degree of agency or self‐direction—and that they also
contend with many factors (e.g., environmental supports and barriers) that
can strengthen, weaken, or even override their personal agency. SCCT
highlights the interplay among three cognitive‐person variables that partly
enable the exercise of agency in career development: self‐efficacy beliefs,
outcome expectations, and personal goals.
Self‐efficacy beliefs refer to “people's judgments of their capabilities to
organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of
performances” (Bandura, 1986, p. 391). These beliefs are among the most
important determinants of thought and action in Bandura's (1986) theory.
Self‐efficacy is not a unitary or global trait, like self‐esteem (i.e., general
feelings of self‐worth), with which it is sometimes confused. Rather, self‐
efficacy is conceived as a dynamic set of self‐beliefs that are linked to
particular performance domains and activities. An individual might, for
instance, hold strong self‐efficacy beliefs regarding his or her ability to play
piano or basketball, but feel much less competent at social or mechanical
tasks.
These beliefs about personal capabilities, which are subject to change based
on future experiences and are responsive to environmental conditions (e.g.,
How supportive is the piano teacher? How tough is the basketball
competition?), are acquired and modified via four primary informational
sources (or types of learning experience): (a) personal performance
accomplishments, (b) vicarious learning, (c) social persuasion, and (d)
physiological and affective states (Bandura, 1997). The impact that these
experiential sources have on self‐efficacy depends on a variety of factors,
such as how the individual attends to, interprets, encodes, and remembers
them. Prior performance accomplishments often have the greatest influence
on self‐efficacy. Compelling success experiences with a given task or
performance domain (e.g., math) tend to strengthen self‐efficacy beliefs in
relation to that task or domain; convincing or repeated failures tend to
weaken these beliefs.
Outcome expectations refer to beliefs about the consequences or outcomes
of performing particular behaviors. Whereas self‐efficacy beliefs are
concerned with one's capabilities (e.g., “Can I do this?”), outcome
expectations involve imagined consequences of particular courses of action
(e.g., “If I do this, what will happen?”). Bandura (1986) described three
types of outcome expectations, including the anticipation of physical,
social, and self‐evaluative outcomes. He maintained that self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations both help to determine a number of important aspects
of human behavior, such as the activities that people choose to pursue and
the ones they avoid. Self‐efficacy may be particularly influential in
situations that call for complex skills or potentially costly or difficult
courses of action (e.g., whether to pursue a medical career). In such
situations, people may hold positive outcome expectations (e.g., “a medical
career would offer lots of prestige and chances to help others”), but avoid a
certain choice option if they doubt they have the capabilities required to
succeed at it (e.g., “I am not good at science”). However, one can also
envision scenarios where self‐efficacy is high but outcome expectations are
low (e.g., a young woman who is confident in her math‐related capabilities
but who refrains from taking elective math courses because she anticipates
negative social reactions).
People develop outcome expectations regarding different academic and
career paths from a variety of direct and vicarious learning experiences,
such as perceptions of the outcomes they have personally received in
relevant past endeavors and the secondhand information they acquire about
different career fields (e.g., by observing family and community members
or seeing how different forms of work are portrayed in various media). Self‐
efficacy can also affect outcome expectations, especially in situations where
outcomes are closely tied to the quality of one's performance (e.g., strong
performance on a classroom test typically results in a high grade and other
favorable outcomes). This is because people usually expect to receive
positive outcomes (and to avoid negative ones) when performing tasks at
which they feel competent.
Personal goals may be defined as one's intention to engage in a particular
activity or to produce a particular outcome (Bandura, 1986). Goals address
the questions, “How much and how well do I want to do this?” SCCT
distinguishes between choice‐content goals (or, more simply, choice goals
—the type of activity or career one wishes to pursue) and performance
goals (the level or quality of performance one plans to achieve within a
given task or domain). Goals offer an important means by which people
exercise agency in their educational and occupational pursuits. By setting
personal goals, people help to organize, direct, and sustain their own
behavior, even over long intervals without external payoffs. The amount of
progress people perceive they are making toward their goals can have
important affective consequences (e.g., feelings of
satisfaction/dissatisfaction), which may help to reshape future choices.
Social cognitive theory maintains that people's choice and performance
goals are affected by their self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. For
example, strong self‐efficacy and positive outcome expectations relative to
musical performance are likely to nurture music‐relevant goals, such as the
intention to devote time to practice, to seek performing opportunities, and,
perhaps (depending on the nature and strength of one's self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations in other domains), to pursue a career in music.
Progress (or lack of progress) in attaining one's goals, in turn, has a
reciprocal influence on self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. Successful
goal pursuit may further strengthen self‐efficacy and outcome expectations
within a positive cycle.
SCCT'S MODELS OF INTEREST, CHOICE,
PERFORMANCE, SATISFACTION, AND SELF‐
MANAGEMENT
SCCT consists of five conceptually distinct yet overlapping models
focusing on (a) the development of interests, (b) the making of choices, (c)
the influences on and results of performance, (d) the experience of
satisfaction, or well‐being, in educational and occupational spheres, and (e)
processes involved in career self‐management. In each model, the basic
cognitive‐person elements—self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and goals
—are seen as operating in concert with other important aspects of persons
(e.g., gender, race/ethnicity), their environments, and learning experiences
to help shape the contours of academic and career development. SCCT's
original three models (interest, choice, and performance) were introduced
together 25 years ago and were joined more recently by the
educational/work satisfaction and career self‐management (CSM) models.
Because the original models form the basic foundation for the two newer
models and have also had more time to attract empirical and practical
attention, they will be described in a bit more depth.
Interest model. Home, educational, and community environments expose
children and adolescents to an array of activities—like crafts, sports, math,
socializing, and computing—that form the substrate for later career or
leisure options. Young people are selectively encouraged by parents,
teachers, peers, and important others for pursuing, and for trying to master,
certain activities from among those that are available to them. By practicing
different activities—and by receiving ongoing feedback, both positive and
negative, about the quality of their performances—children and adolescents
gradually refine their skills, develop personal performance standards, and
form self‐efficacy and outcome expectations regarding different tasks and
domains of behavior. For example, receiving consistent rebuke about one's
athletic skills or praise about one's math skills is likely to be reflected in the
self‐efficacy and outcome expectations that one develops in relation to these
two performance domains.
According to SCCT's interest model, illustrated in Figure 5.1, self‐efficacy
and outcome expectations regarding particular activities help to mold career
interests (each person's particular pattern of likes and dislikes in relation to
career‐relevant tasks). Interest in an activity is likely to blossom and endure
when people (a) view themselves as competent (self‐efficacious) at the
activity and (b) anticipate that performing it will produce valued outcomes
(positive outcome expectations). At the same time, people are likely to
develop disinterest or even aversion toward activities (such as athletics, in
the example above) at which they doubt their efficacy and expect to receive
negative outcomes.
As interests emerge, they—along with self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations—encourage intentions, or goals, for sustaining or increasing
one's involvement in particular activities. Goals, in turn, increase the
likelihood of activity practice, and subsequent practice efforts give rise to a
particular pattern of performance attainments which, for better or worse,
help to revise self‐efficacy and outcome expectations within an ongoing
feedback loop. This basic process is seen as repeating itself continuously
prior to work entry. As recognized by P–E fit theories, career‐related
interests do tend to stabilize over time and, for many people, are quite stable
by late adolescence or early adulthood (see Hansen, Chapter 15, this
volume). SCCT assumes that interest stability is largely a function of
crystallizing self‐efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations. On the other
hand, SCCT maintains that adult interests are not set in stone. Whether
interests change or solidify is determined by factors such as whether
initially preferred activities become restricted and whether people are
exposed (or expose themselves) to compelling learning experiences (e.g.,
by engaging in volunteer, leadership, or mentoring roles or interacting with
new technologies) that enable them to rethink or expand their sense of their
capabilities and the outcomes offered by different work activities. Thus,
SCCT assumes that, when they occur, shifts in interests are largely due to
changing self‐efficacy and outcome beliefs.
FIGURE 5.1 Model of how basic career interests develop over time.
Source: From Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive
theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance [Monograph]. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 45, 79–122. © 1993 Elsevier. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
SCCT also takes into account other aspects of people and their
environments that affect the acquisition and modification of interests. For
example, abilities and values—staples of P–E fit theories—are important in
SCCT, too, but their effects on interest are seen as largely funneled through
self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. That is, rather than determining
interests directly, objective ability (as reflected by test scores, trophies,
awards, and the like) serves to raise or lower self‐efficacy beliefs which, in
turn, influence interests. In other words, self‐efficacy functions as an
intervening link between ability and interests. Career‐related values are
contained within SCCT's concept of outcome expectations. Values are
traditionally measured as people's preferences for particular work
conditions or reinforcers (e.g., status, money, autonomy). Outcome
expectations are measured by examining people's beliefs about the extent to
which their values would be fulfilled by pursuing particular activities or
occupations (e.g., how likely is a career in nursing to provide the work
conditions or reinforcers I most value?).
It should be emphasized that self‐efficacy and outcome expectations do not
arise in a social vacuum; neither do they operate alone in shaping interests
or other vocational outcomes. Rather, they are forged and function in the
context of other aspects of persons and their environments, such as gender,
race/ethnicity, genetic endowment, physical health or disability status, and
socioeconomic conditions, all of which can play important roles within the
career development process. Figure 5.2 offers an overview of how, from the
perspective of SCCT, selected person, environment, and learning or
experiential variables contribute to interests and other career outcomes.
Given space limitations, we will focus on the roles that gender and
race/ethnicity may play relative to the development of self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations.
FIGURE 5.2 Model of person, contextual, and experiential factors
affecting career‐related choice behavior.
Source: From Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive
theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance [Monograph]. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 45, 79–122. © 1993 Elsevier. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
SCCT is concerned more with the psychological and social effects of
gender and ethnicity than with the view of sex and race as categorical
physical or biological factors. Gender and ethnicity are seen as linked to
career development in several key ways, especially through the reactions
they evoke from the social/cultural environment and from their relation to
the opportunity structure to which individuals are exposed (e.g., one's
access to career‐relevant models and performance experiences). For
example, gender and ethnicity can influence the context in which children
acquire self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. Gender role socialization
processes tend to bias the access that boys and girls receive to experiences
necessary for developing strong efficacy beliefs and positive expectations
regarding male‐typed (e.g., science) and female‐typed (e.g., helping)
activities. Such processes may help to explain why boys and girls are more
likely to develop skills (and beneficial self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations) and, in turn, interests at tasks that are culturally defined as
gender‐appropriate (Hackett & Betz, 1981). In time, these interests, and the
choices they nurture, help to perpetuate patterns of gender segregation in
certain fields (see Schultheiss, Chapter 9, this volume).
To a large extent, then, variables like gender and ethnicity may affect
interest development and other career outcomes through socially
constructed processes that may appear to operate in the background but that
nevertheless can powerfully influence the differential learning experiences
that give rise to self‐efficacy and outcome expectations—leading, at times,
to skewed conclusions about what interests or career options are “right” for
certain types of persons. At later stages in the career choice process, gender,
ethnicity, culture, socioeconomic status, and disability conditions may also
be linked to the opportunity structure within which people set and
implement their career choice goals, as will be discussed next.
Choice model. In keeping with developmental theories, choosing a career
path is not viewed as a single, static event but, rather, is part of a larger set
of dynamic processes. As SCCT's interest model illustrates, career choice is
preceded by the development of self‐efficacy, outcome expectations,
interests, and skills in different performance domains. Over time, these
processes make certain choice paths attractive and viable for a given
individual, and render other options less appealing or likely to be pursued.
Moreover, once initial career choices are made, they are subject to future
revision because individuals and their environments can change. Events and
circumstances may well transpire that could not have been foreseen during
initial choice‐making or career entry. New paths (or branches from old
paths) may open up; barriers (e.g., glass ceilings) or setbacks (e.g., job loss)
may arise; value and interest priorities may shift over the course of one's
work life. Thus, it seems prudent to think of career selection as an unfolding
process with multiple influences and choice points.
For conceptual simplicity, SCCT divides initial choice‐making into three
components: (a) the expression of a primary choice (or goal) to enter a
particular field; (b) taking actions designed to implement one's goal (e.g.,
enrolling in a particular training program or academic major); and (c)
subsequent performance experiences (e.g., a pattern of successes or
failures) that form a feedback loop, affecting the shape of one's future
choice options. This conceptual division identifies logical intervention
targets for preparing people to make career choices as well as for helping
them to deal with problems in choice‐making. Throughout the choice
process, it is well to keep in mind that people do not choose careers
unilaterally; environments also choose people. Thus, career choice (and
choice stability) is a two‐way street that is conditioned, in part, by the
environment's receptivity to the individual and judgments about his or her
ability to meet training and occupational requirements, both initially and
over time. In other words, environmental agents play a “potent role in
helping to determine who gets to do what and where, for how long, and
with what sorts of rewards” (Lent & Sheu, 2010, p. 692).
Similar to Holland's theory, SCCT assumes that, just as “birds of a feather
flock together,” people's vocational interests tend to orient them toward
certain choice options that, under supportive conditions, enable them to
perform preferred activities and to interact with others who have similar
work personalities. For example, a person whose primary interests lie in the
social domain is likely to gravitate toward socially oriented occupations,
allowing him or her to work with others in a helping or teaching capacity.
However, SCCT explicitly recognizes that environments are not always
supportive of individuals' preferences and people are not always free to
pursue their primary interests. Choice may be constrained, for example, by
family wishes, economic realities (e.g., the need to bring in immediate
income, lack of funding for training), or the quality of one's prior education.
In such situations, as will be discussed shortly, personal interests may play
little, if any, role in choice. SCCT, therefore, takes into account variables
that, in addition to (or apart from) interests, can influence the choice
process.
SCCT's choice model, shown in Figure 5.2, acknowledges the processes
that both precede and follow occupational choice. As described earlier, self‐
efficacy and outcome beliefs are seen as jointly influencing career‐related
interests, which tend to foster career choice goals (i.e., intentions to pursue
a particular career path) that are congruent with one's interests. Goals, then,
motivate choice actions or efforts to implement one's goals (e.g., seeking
relevant training, applying for certain jobs). These actions are, in turn,
followed by a particular pattern of performance successes and failures. For
instance, after gaining entry to an engineering college, a student may have
difficulty completing the required math and physics courses. He or she may
also discover that the work conditions and rewards available in engineering
suit him or her less well than had been initially anticipated. These learning
experiences may prompt the student to revise his or her self‐efficacy beliefs
and outcome expectations, leading to a shift in interests and goals (e.g.,
selection of a new major or career path).
Let us also take a closer look at the ways in which people's environments
affect the choice process. Each person derives certain “affordances” from
the environment—for instance, social and material resources or deficits—
that help to shape his or her career development (Vondracek, Lerner, &
Schulenberg, 1986). In SCCT, these affordances are divided into two
general types, based on when they occur within the choice process. The first
type includes more distal, background influences (e.g., cultural and gender
role socialization, available career role models, skill development
opportunities) that help to shape self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and, in
turn, interests. We had earlier considered these more distal effects of
contextual variables in SCCT's interest model. The second type involves
proximal environmental influences that come into play during the active
phases of choice‐making. Figure 5.2 includes consideration of these distal
(lower left) and proximal (upper right) contextual affordances.
SCCT's choice model highlights several means by which proximal
contextual factors may function during the processes of setting and
implementing career choice goals. First, SCCT posits that certain conditions
may directly affect people's choice goals or actions (these direct influences
are represented by the solid arrows from contextual variables to goals and
actions in Figure 5.2). In certain cultures, for example, one may defer one's
career decisions to significant others in the family, even where the others'
preferred career path is not all that interesting to the individual. People may
also encounter environmental supports or barriers in relation to the options
that they, themselves, most prefer. Examples include emotional or financial
support for pursuing a particular option, job availability in one's preferred
field, and sociostructural barriers, such as discrimination. Second, supports
and barriers may affect choices indirectly by boosting or deflating self‐
efficacy and outcome expectations (e.g., see Sheu et al., 2010) (this indirect
role is not shown in the figure).
Third, contextual variables may affect people's ability or willingness to
translate their interests into goals and their goals into actions. According to
SCCT, career interests are more likely to blossom into goals (and goals are
more likely to be implemented) when people experience strong
environmental supports and weak barriers in relation to their preferred
career paths. By contrast, non‐supportive or hostile conditions can impede
the process of transforming interests into goals and goals into actions. In
statistical terms, this implies that contextual supports and barriers can
moderate the goal transformation process (shown by the dotted paths in
Figure 5.2). That is, the relations of interests to goals, and of goals to
actions, are expected to be stronger in the presence of favorable versus
restrictive environmental conditions.
SCCT explicitly acknowledges that, for a variety of reasons (often
economic in nature), many people do not receive support for pursuing their
vocational interests but instead are presented with “choice” from a fairly
narrow range of occupational options. Moreover, as Bandura once observed
(personal communication, March 1, 1993), people are not necessarily drawn
to work on assembly lines or in coal mines by a consuming interest in the
work itself. Their interests may, in essence, be beside the point. Job
availability in the context of financial need may be an overriding
consideration. In SCCT, self‐efficacy and outcome expectations are shown
as producing separate paths to goals and goal actions, above and beyond
their effects on interests (see Figure 5.2). Thus, when people perceive the
need to pursue work options for reasons other than interests or that sacrifice
their interests (e.g., due to economic demands, environmental barriers, or
limited opportunities), their decisions may be driven more by contextual
factors, self‐efficacy, and outcome expectations. For example, a worker
might consider things such as what work is available, what does my family
want me to do, do I have the skills to do this work, and are the payoffs
worth it?
In sum, SCCT posits that educational and occupational choices are often,
but not always, linked to people's interests. Economic, cultural, and other
conditions sometimes neutralize the role of personal interests in work
selection. In such instances, choices may then be determined by the options
experienced as available to the individual, the nature of his or her self‐
efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations, level of economic need, and
messages received from others who have a stake in the decision. Contextual
factors (supports and barriers, such as access to affordable transportation or
childcare) may also facilitate or hinder the choice implementation process,
regardless of whether or not people are pursuing preferred or interest‐
consistent options.
Performance model. SCCT's model of performance focuses both on the
level (or quality) of attainment individuals achieve in educational and work
tasks (e.g., measures of success or proficiency) and the degree to which
they persist at particular tasks or choice paths, especially when they
encounter obstacles. It should be noted that SCCT's choice and performance
models overlap in their focus on persistence. This is because persistence
can alternatively be viewed in terms of choice stability (the decision to
endure at a particular course of action) or performance adequacy. From the
perspective of the environment, persistence is often considered a sign of
performance success because it is assumed that competent performers will
persist (and be allowed to persist) longer, resulting in school/college
retention and job tenure. However, persistence is an imperfect indicator of
performance adequacy because people can shift educational or occupational
plans for reasons other than deficient capabilities (e.g., a college student
may drop out because of funding problems, a worker may decide
voluntarily to pursue attractive options elsewhere or be laid off during
corporate downsizing).
As shown in Figure 5.3, SCCT sees educational and vocational
performance as involving the interplay among people's ability, self‐efficacy,
outcome expectations, and performance goals. More specifically, ability—
as assessed by indicators of achievement, aptitude, or past performance—
affects performance attainments both (a) directly, for instance, via the task
knowledge and performance strategies that people develop and (b)
indirectly, by serving to inform self‐efficacy and outcome expectations.
That is, people base their self‐efficacy and outcome expectations partly on
their perceptions of the skills they currently possess (or can develop) as
well as on how well they have performed, and what outcomes they have
received, in relevant past performance situations. Self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations, in turn, influence the level of performance goals that people
set for themselves (e.g., aiming for an A in algebra or a certain sales figure
at work). Stronger self‐efficacy and positive outcome expectations promote
more ambitious goals, which help to mobilize and sustain performance
efforts.
Consistent with general social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), SCCT
posits a feedback loop between performance attainments and subsequent
behavior. That is, markers of success or failure become part of one's
performance history or learning experiences, with the capacity to confirm or
revise one's self‐efficacy and outcome expectations within a dynamic cycle.
Although the performance model focuses on person variables, it should be
recalled that people develop their talents, self‐efficacy, outcome
expectations, and goals within a larger sociocultural, educational, and
economic context. As shown in Figure 5.2, the learning experiences to
which people are exposed, and the outcomes they derive from their
performances, are intimately related to features of their environments, such
as educational quality, the nature of available role models, gender role
socialization, peer and parental supports, and community and family norms.
FIGURE 5.3 Model of task performance.
Source: From Lent, R.W., Brown, S.D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive
theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance [Monograph]. Journal of
Vocational Behavior, 45, 79–122. © 1993 Elsevier. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
It should be emphasized that, in SCCT's performance model, self‐efficacy is
seen as complementing—not substituting for—objectively assessed ability.
Complex performances rely on requisite abilities yet are also aided by an
optimistic sense of efficacy, which helps people to organize, orchestrate,
and apply their talents. What people can accomplish depends partly on how
they interpret and apply their skills, which helps to explain why individuals
with similar objective abilities can achieve performances that vary greatly
in quality (Bandura, 1986). Those who doubt their capabilities may, for
instance, be less likely to use their skills effectively or to remain focused
and perseverant when problems arise.
While it may be tempting to conclude that higher self‐efficacy is always a
good thing, the effects of self‐efficacy may, in fact, depend on how high or
low it is in relation to current levels of objective ability. People can
encounter problems when they greatly misjudge their capabilities in either
the positive or negative direction. Self‐efficacy that greatly overestimates
current capabilities (i.e., overconfidence) may encourage people to attempt
tasks for which they are ill‐prepared, risking failure and discouragement.
By the same token, self‐efficacy beliefs that seriously underestimate ability
(underconfidence) may interfere with performance by prompting less effort
and perseverance, lower goals, greater performance anxiety, and avoidance
of realistic challenges (Bandura, 1986). Both types of perceptual bias may
hamper skill development. By contrast, self‐efficacy that slightly overshoots
but is reasonably congruent with current abilities (slight overconfidence)
promotes optimal skill use and motivation for further skill development.
Satisfaction model. SCCT is also concerned with the factors that influence
people's experience of satisfaction, or well‐being, in academic and work
settings (Lent & Brown, 2006, 2008). As shown in Figure 5.4, satisfaction
(i.e., the degree to which one likes or is happy with one's school or work
environment) is expected to be influenced by several sets of variables that
overlap with the previous SCCT models. In particular, the model posits that
people are likely to be happy at school or work to the extent that they are
involved in activities they value, see themselves as making progress at
personally relevant goals, possess strong self‐efficacy at required tasks and
at achieving personal goals, and have access to resources in the
environment for promoting their self‐efficacy and aiding their goal pursuit.
In addition, satisfaction is seen as affected by aspects of one's personality
and work conditions. Certain personality traits (e.g., positive and negative
affect) have been found to be reliably linked to job satisfaction. Work
conditions include a variety of environmental features (e.g., favorable work
characteristics, needs–supplies fit, perceived organizational support) that
have also been associated with satisfaction. In addition to their direct
relations to satisfaction, the model acknowledges several indirect paths by
which personality and environmental factors may affect work satisfaction.
For example, certain personality factors may affect perceptions of self‐
efficacy and environmental support that, in turn, influence satisfaction.
Although these indirect paths add complexity to the model, they are
necessary to capture the means by which person and situation factors
operate together to affect satisfaction. From a counseling perspective, the
model emphasizes potentially malleable features of the individual (e.g.,
self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, goal selection and progress) and
environment (e.g., supportive supervision, mentoring) that can be harnessed
to design satisfaction‐promoting interventions.
FIGURE 5.4 A social cognitive model of work satisfaction.
Source: From Lent, R.W., & Brown, S.D. (2006). Integrating person and situation perspectives on
work satisfaction: A social-cognitive view. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 236–247. © 2006
Elsevier. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Career self‐management model. The CSM model (Lent & Brown, 2013)
relies on many of the same social cognitive elements as the other SCCT
models. It differs primarily in its focus on process rather than content
aspects of career development. For example, whereas the interest and
choice models aim to help explain the types of interests people develop and
the fields they would prefer to enter (e.g., carpentry, teaching), the CSM
model was developed to predict how people make decisions and negotiate
planned and unplanned events and challenges in their academic and work
lives (e.g., job finding, job loss), regardless of the occupations they enter. It
focuses on behavioral, cognitive, and affective aspects of the work
adjustment (or adaptation) process and is designed to complement the other
SCCT models.
The CSM model, which is similar in general form to the SCCT choice
model (Figure 5.2), posits that the adaptive behaviors people engage in to
help achieve desirable career outcomes (and avoid negative ones) are partly
guided by their self‐efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goals
(interests are not included in the CSM model because people often engage
in adaptive work behaviors for reasons apart from their inherent interest in
the behaviors themselves). Examples of adaptive behaviors include
exploring possible career paths, making career decisions, searching for jobs,
updating skills, networking, managing multiple roles, and planning for
retirement. To take job finding as an example, people are assumed to
engage more actively in the search process when they have specific job
search goals, favorable efficacy beliefs regarding their ability to manage the
search process, and optimistic expectations about the outcomes of the
search. Actions, such as attending job fairs, are intended to lead to favorable
outcomes (e.g., job interviews and offers), but are only imperfectly linked
to them because, for example, outcomes can depend on a number of factors
beyond the individual's control, such as the number of job openings
available, the qualifications of other applicants, or discriminatory hiring
practices.
As in the earlier SCCT models, person (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity,
personality traits) and contextual variables (e.g., supports, barriers,
socioeconomic conditions) are also seen as relevant to engagement in
adaptive career behaviors and their possible outcomes, though the specific
variables and their pathways depend on the behaviors and outcomes under
consideration. For example, the job search process may be enabled by the
emotional and financial support of family members and by one's trait
tendencies toward conscientiousness and extraversion; conversely, it may
be hindered by discouragement from significant others and by personal
tendencies toward negative affectivity and disorganization.
RESEARCH ON SCCT
SCCT's models and many of their specific predictions have attracted a good
deal of attention from researchers (e.g., see Brown & Lent, 2019, and Lent
& Brown, 2019, for recent reviews). A full‐scale review of research
relevant to SCCT is beyond the scope of this chapter, though some of the
major research trends and findings can be summarized here. The theory's
overall empirical status will first be considered, followed by an overview of
selected applications of SCCT to the career behavior of diverse populations.
GENERAL TRENDS AND FINDINGS
A substantial body of findings suggests that social cognitive variables aid
understanding of educational and career behavior prior to, during, and after
work entry. Among the social cognitive variables, self‐efficacy has received
the most attention, with traditional qualitative research reviews concluding
that (a) domain‐specific measures of self‐efficacy are predictive of career‐
related interests, choice, achievement, persistence, indecision, and
exploratory behavior; (b) intervention, experimental, and path analytic
studies support certain hypothesized causal relations between measures of
self‐efficacy, performance, and interests; and (c) gender differences in self‐
efficacy help to explain male–female differences in occupational
consideration (e.g., Betz, 2008; Hackett & Lent, 1992; Sheu & Lent, 2015).
Meta‐analytic reviews provide a helpful, quantitative way to integrate
findings from a large number of independent studies, allowing conclusions
about the strength of relationships across all studies that have addressed
particular hypotheses. Several meta‐analyses of research, primarily
involving late adolescents and young adults, have directly tested a number
of SCCT's hypotheses. An early meta‐analysis of the interest hypotheses,
for instance, indicated that self‐efficacy and outcome expectations were
each good predictors of occupational interests and that, as predicted, the
relation of ability to interests was mediated by self‐efficacy (Lent et al.,
1994) (see Figures 5.1 and 5.2). That is, abilities may be most likely to
spark interests when they translate into positive beliefs about one's
performance capabilities. Subsequent meta‐analyses including many more
studies and larger samples have also found support for the predictions that
self‐efficacy and outcome expectations account for large amounts of the
variation in vocational interests, both generally and in specific Holland
themes (Lent et al., 2018; Rottinghaus, Larson, & Borgen, 2003; Sheu et al.,
2010). Such findings suggest that people tend to develop interests in
activity domains in which they feel efficacious and expect to receive
beneficial outcomes.
Meta‐analysis of SCCT's choice hypotheses has shown that career‐related
choices are strongly predicted by interests and that self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations also relate to career choice both directly and
indirectly, through their linkage to interests (see Figure 5.2) (Lent et al.,
1994). Extending earlier findings, Sheu et al. (2010) found that interests,
self‐efficacy, and outcome expectations together strongly predicted choice
goals across each of the six Holland themes. Lent et al. (2018) reported
similar findings, focusing specifically on science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics (STEM) fields. Meta‐analytic findings also suggest that
environmental supports and barriers tend to be linked to choice goals more
indirectly (through their relations to self‐efficacy and outcome expectations)
than directly (Lent et al., 2018; Sheu et al., 2010). That is, supports may
promote, and barriers may hinder, development of favorable efficacy and
outcome beliefs which, in turn, yield direct paths to interests and choices.
Lent et al. (2018) also found evidence that the model helped explain choice
actions.
Meta‐analyses of SCCT's performance model predictions have focused on
the relation of self‐efficacy to various indicators of performance. Findings
have shown that self‐efficacy is a useful predictor of both academic
(Multon, Brown, & Lent, 1991) and occupational (Sadri & Robertson,
1993; Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998) performance, and that certain factors
affect the strength of the self‐efficacy–performance relationship. For
instance, Multon et al. (1991) found that self‐efficacy was more strongly
related to performance in older versus younger students and in low‐
achieving versus adequately achieving students. Recent meta‐analyses have
confirmed the utility of self‐efficacy in predicting work performance
(Brown, Lent, Telander, & Tramayne, 2011) and academic performance and
persistence (Brown et al., 2008), although performance goals explained
unique variance beyond self‐efficacy only in predicting academic
persistence. Consistent with hypotheses (see Figure 5.3), ability and past
performance success have been linked to future performance outcomes both
directly and indirectly, through intervening self‐efficacy beliefs (Brown et
al., 2008, 2011; Lent et al., 1994).
Sheu et al. (in press) reported a meta‐analytic test of the SCCT satisfaction
model, finding that the data generally fit the model well both in academic
and work settings. The CSM model has begun to attract a number of
research applications, for example, in relation to career decision‐making,
sexual identity management, retirement planning, managing multiple roles,
and job searching. The size of this literature is generally yet too modest to
warrant extensive meta‐analytic synthesis, though Kim, Kim, and Lee
(2019) did conduct a meta‐analysis of part of the CSM model in the job
search context, finding largely theory‐consistent relations between job
search self‐efficacy and its hypothesized correlates (e.g., outcome
expectations), antecedents (supports and personality), and consequences
(job search goals and outcomes).
Finally, two meta‐analyses have focused on the sources of information, or
learning experiences (see Figure 5.2), that are assumed to give rise to
outcome expectations and/or self‐efficacy beliefs (Byars‐Winston,
Diestelmann, Savoy, & Hoyt, 2017; Sheu et al., 2018). Both suggest that, as
a set, the four primary sources (performance accomplishments, vicarious
learning, social persuasion, physiological and affective states) usefully
predict the social cognitive variables, though they yielded somewhat
different findings regarding the specific predictors. Because these sources
are embedded in all of the SCCT models and suggest ways to modify or
enhance self‐efficacy and outcome expectations, such findings offer
valuable implications for the design of interventions to promote various
career outcomes.
Collectively, the meta‐analyses are consistent with theoretical assumptions
that (a) self‐efficacy and outcome expectations are good predictors of
interests; (b) one's ability or performance accomplishments are likely to
lead to interests in a particular domain to the extent that they foster a
growing sense of self‐efficacy in that domain; (c) self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations predict career‐related choices both directly and indirectly
through their linkage to interests; (d) performance success is enabled both
by abilities and self‐efficacy, which can aid people to organize their skills
and persist despite setbacks; (e) satisfaction in school and work settings is
linked to social cognitive predictors; and (f) self‐efficacy beliefs and
outcome expectations are reliably related to some, if not all, of their
theorized experiential sources.
It should be noted that the meta‐analyses have been mainly based on the
findings of cross‐sectional studies and that the strength of certain
relationships has been found to vary as a function of moderating conditions
such as task complexity, age, and context (e.g., educational vs. work
setting). The findings of longitudinal and experimental studies need to be
considered as well in order to provide stronger grounds for inferring causal
relations among variables and for designing practical interventions (e.g., see
Lent & Brown, 2019; Sheu & Lent, 2015). Finally, there is the key question
of how well SCCT's hypotheses generalize across diverse groups and
cultures. Several of the meta‐analyses have found that particular SCCT
models do tend to fit the data well across dimensions such as gender,
race/ethnicity, and nationality, though the strength of certain variable
relationships may vary somewhat by group (e.g., Lent et al., 2018; Sheu et
al., 2018, in press). In the next section, we consider the application of
SCCT to diverse groups of students and workers, focusing on selected lines
of research.
APPLICATIONS TO DIVERSE POPULATIONS
SCCT was designed to aid understanding of the career development of a
diverse array of students and workers, taking into account factors such as
gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, culture, age, and disability
status. Hackett and Betz (1981) were the first scholars to extend social
cognitive theory to career behavior, focusing on how self‐efficacy might
illuminate women's career development. They noted that gender role
socialization processes tend to provide girls and young women with biased
access to the sources of efficacy information (e.g., gender‐traditional role
models, differential encouragement to pursue gender‐typed activities). Such
experiences nurture self‐efficacy for traditionally female activities but may
limit self‐efficacy in non‐traditional career domains. Consistent with their
thesis, Betz and Hackett (1981) found that college women reported stronger
self‐efficacy for performing occupations that are traditionally dominated by
women than by men, and that these beliefs were linked to their interests in
and consideration of traditional and non‐traditional choice options.
Much subsequent research has examined social cognitive variables in
relation to gender. For example, Williams and Subich (2006) found that,
while occupational self‐efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations tended to
be associated with the four primary sources of efficacy across Holland
themes and gender, women and men reported having received differential
exposure to these efficacy sources in particular gender‐typed domains (e.g.,
women reported more social‐type and men more investigative‐type learning
experiences). Such findings suggest that gender differences in occupational
membership may be partly attributable to gender‐based
learning/socialization experiences that give rise to self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations and, ultimately, interests and choices. Although a
number of studies have reported gender differences in self‐efficacy
regarding gender‐typed tasks and fields (e.g., mathematics) in general
samples of students, such differences are less often observed in samples in
which women and men are likely to have profited from comparable
efficacy‐building experiences (e.g., engineering majors, Lent et al., 2005).
These sorts of findings suggest that women's and men's career pursuits can
be constricted or expanded by environmentally guided (and self‐sought)
learning experiences—and by the types of self‐efficacy beliefs and outcome
expectations that such experiences enable.
Bandura (1997) has observed that “cultural constraints, inequitable
incentive systems, and truncated opportunity structures are … influential in
shaping women's career development” (pp. 436). Various writers have
observed that men's career development can also be limited by
sociostructural factors (e.g., Schultheiss, Chapter 9, this volume). Social
cognitive theory implies several developmental routes for redressing or
preventing socially imposed learning limitations. Such routes include, for
example, educating parents and teachers about the implications of gender‐
typed efficacy development and about ways to foster self‐efficacy and
support systems, thereby enabling children to acquire (and profit from)
performance experiences in as wide a range of activity domains as possible.
Indeed, encouragement to engage in non‐gender‐stereotypic activities may
need to be provided relatively early in children's lives in order to preserve
the maximum number of options for later educational and career
consideration.
Similar social cognitive dynamics have been discussed in relation to the
career development of persons of color. Hackett and Byars (1996) noted, for
example, how culture‐based exposure to sources of efficacy information
(e.g., social encouragement to pursue certain options, experience with
racism, role modeling) may differentially affect African American women's
career self‐efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, goals, and subsequent
career progress. Hackett and Byars suggested theory‐based methods, such
as developmental interventions, social advocacy, and collective action, to
promote the career growth of African American women. A number of other
writers have considered SCCT relative to race/ethnicity (Fouad &
Kantamneni, Chapter 10, this volume); sexual minority status (Lyons,
Prince, & Brenner, Chapter 12); disability status (Fabian & Morris, Chapter
13; Lent et al., in press); social class (Flores et al., 2017; Juntunen, Ali, &
Pietrantonio, Chapter 11); employment status (Thompson et al., 2017); and
nationality (Sheu & Bordon, 2017).
In sum, research provides support for many of SCCT's theoretical
assumptions about how cognitive‐person variables relate to career interests,
choice, performance, satisfaction, and career self‐management. The
applications described in this section also convey SCCT's potential utility in
understanding and facilitating the career development of persons across a
number of diversity dimensions. Despite the promise of these applications,
there is need for additional research on how social cognitive variables
operate together with culture, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexual
orientation, and disability status to shape the career development of students
and workers across the life course. While additional research is also needed
on the efficacy of SCCT‐based interventions, currently available findings
offer valuable implications for career education and counseling practice. We
consider such implications in the next section.
APPLYING SCCT TO PRACTICE
SCCT suggests a variety of ideas for promoting development of academic
and career interests and competencies, for preventing or forestalling career‐
related difficulties, and for remediating existing problems in choosing,
finding, or adjusting to work. Suggestions for developmental and preventive
applications can be derived from SCCT's basic models. In remedial
applications, the theory may be used as an organizing framework for
adapting standard counseling methods and for developing novel techniques.
In this section, we consider ways in which SCCT may be used to address
common developmental and remedial concerns.
PROMOTING ASPIRATIONS AND INTERESTS IN YOUNG
PERSONS
Several researchers have used SCCT as a basis for conceptualizing
(Prideaux, Patton, & Creed, 2002) or evaluating (McWhirter, Rasheed, &
Crothers, 2000) career education programs. Given the typical narrowing of
career options over time, school‐based applications of SCCT may have
particular import in preserving as wide a range of occupational alternatives
as possible for later consideration. From the perspective of the theory,
several key processes occur during childhood and adolescence—within
academic, family, peer, and other settings—that set the stage for later
choice‐making. These processes include acquisition of self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations related to diverse activities, development of career‐
relevant interests, and formation of career aspirations (i.e., provisional
occupational goals or daydreams). They represent prominent developmental
tasks of the elementary and middle school years, and are continually
revisited and refined in high school and beyond (Lent, Hackett, & Brown,
1999).
Young children typically have a very limited grasp of their capabilities, not
to mention career activities and paths. Given their limited experience and
exposure to career role models, their career‐related interests and aspirations
are likely to be somewhat stereotypical, narrow, and fluid. Over the course
of childhood and adolescence, people typically receive increasing
experience with varied performance tasks as well as direct and vicarious
exposure to a widening range of career possibilities. These experiences lead
to differentiated beliefs regarding one's capabilities in diverse activity
domains and an expanded sense of the working conditions and reinforcers
afforded by different career paths. Emergent self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations, in turn, nurture career‐relevant interests and goals that tend to
become more defined and crystallized over time, yet are still relatively
modifiable based on additional learning about the self (e.g., personal
capabilities, values) and careers (e.g., skill requirements, available
reinforcers). In this way, career aspirations tend to become increasingly
responsive to personal interests, capabilities, values, and environmental
conditions (e.g., family and cultural expectations, economic realities).
This analysis suggests that self‐efficacy and outcome expectations—and the
experiences on which they are based—are key to the cultivation of students'
academic and career interests and to the range and types of occupational
options they are willing to consider. At the same time, students' career
aspirations can become constricted either because they acquire inaccurate
self‐efficacy or outcome expectations or because their environments
provide limited or biased exposure to particular efficacy‐building
experiences (e.g., few opportunities to succeed at scientific pursuits, an
absence of gender‐similar role models in math). Developmental
interventions designed to promote favorable self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations are likely to be most useful during the formative years, before
interests and aspirations become more stable and certain options become
foreclosed.
The four sources of efficacy information can be used as an organizing
structure for psychoeducational interventions. Personal performance
accomplishments are a particularly valuable intervention target, given their
potent effects on self‐efficacy. Incrementally graded success experiences
can foster a sense of efficacy at particular tasks, yet it is also important to
attend to how students interpret the quality of their performances. For
example, objective successes may not impact self‐efficacy if students
attribute their good grades to luck, effort, or task ease. This is a common
occurrence in the case of girls' achievements in math, science, and other
nontraditional activities (Hackett, 1995). Efforts to modify students' self‐
efficacy may, therefore, profit from inclusion of cognitive restructuring
procedures that encourage students to entertain self‐enhancing performance
attributions (e.g., crediting one's success to developing personal
capabilities, viewing ability as an acquirable attribute rather than a fixed,
inborn entity).
Useful intervention elements can also be fashioned from the other three
sources of efficacy information. For example, modeling can be used to
assist students to explore academic and career domains that they may not
have previously encountered or been encouraged to consider. Students are
most likely to identify with role models whom they perceive as being
similar to themselves in terms of gender, ethnicity, and other demographic
features. Social support and persuasion can be used to encourage students to
attempt new tasks, to persist despite initial setbacks, and to interpret their
performances favorably, for example, by focusing on skill growth versus
ultimate task success. Physiological and affective states may also require
attention where, for example, task‐related anxiety appears to be diminishing
self‐efficacy and disrupting performance. Relaxation exercises and other
cognitive‐behavioral strategies can be used to reduce debilitative anxiety.
Content‐specific efficacy beliefs (e.g., in math and other school subjects)
need not be the only focus of efficacy‐building efforts. It also seems
desirable to encourage self‐efficacy and skills at career process behaviors
such as communication, teamwork, conflict management, leadership, and
multicultural sensitivity. Such general skill domains have been seen as
integral to students' transition from school to work (Lent et al., 1999). In
addition to a focus on self‐efficacy enhancement, SCCT would encourage a
variety of other developmental intervention targets. In particular, exposure
to accurate career information (see Gore & Leuwerke, Chapter 19, this
volume) is key to fostering acquisition of realistic outcome expectations (as
reflected by knowledge of the working conditions and reinforcers available
in diverse occupations).
SCCT would also encourage age‐appropriate interventions designed to help
students to explore their emerging interests and the occupational options
with which they may be compatible. Such interventions would best be
approached with the explicit understanding (communicated to parents,
teachers, and students) that interests, goals, values, and skills are fluid
attributes that can change and grow with additional experience. Assessment
may, thus, best be viewed as a snapshot at a single point in time, rather than
as a reflection of immutable qualities. Finally, SCCT would encourage a
focus on fostering skills at decision‐making and goal‐setting (e.g., breaking
larger distal goals into proximal sub‐goals, locating supports for personal
goals). Such self‐regulation skills can be taught by using examples from
domains, such as studying or friendships, that are meaningful to young
people and that can be generalized to career development.
FACILITATING CAREER CHOICE‐MAKING AND
IMPLEMENTATION
In an ideal scenario, people arrive at late adolescence or early adulthood
with (a) a good appreciation of their interests, values, and talents; (b) an
understanding of how these self‐attributes correspond with potential
vocational options; (c) clear goals that link their self‐attributes to suitable
occupational paths (i.e., ones that can engage their interests, satisfy their
values, and value their talents); (d) adequate skills at making decisions,
setting goals, and managing goal pursuit; (e) an environment that provides
support for their goals (e.g., social encouragement, mentors, financial
resources) and minimal goal‐related barriers; and (f) a set of personality
traits (e.g., low levels of negative affectivity, high levels of
conscientiousness) that can generally aid the process of making and
implementing important life decisions by, for example, minimizing chronic
indecisiveness and maximizing follow‐through with goals and plans.
Those who possess ample amounts of these personal and environmental
resources are unlikely to seek the services of a career counselor.
Unfortunately, however, problems may occur in any of these or other areas
(e.g., in health or relationship domains) that can hamper an individual's
efforts at occupational choice‐making and implementation. Well‐prepared
career counselors are able to assist with a wide array of these choice‐
limiting problems. While a full‐scale discussion of career choice problems
and solutions is beyond the scope of this chapter, it is possible to highlight a
few strategies, derived from SCCT, that can aid in navigating certain
impasses to choice‐making and implementation.
Expanding choice options. Like most approaches to career choice
counseling, SCCT aims to help clients select from an array of occupations
that correspond reasonably well with important aspects of their work
personalities (e.g., interests, values, skills). Some clients are blocked in this
effort because their work personalities are not sufficiently differentiated
(e.g., measured interests produce a low, flat profile) or because they feel
stifled by a constricted range of career options. In such instances, it may be
possible to explore social cognitive processes that can underlie choice
problems, adapting assessment strategies that are commonly used in career
counseling (e.g., see Brown & Lent, 1996; Lent & Brown, in press). An
important implication of SCCT's interest model is that people often reject
potentially viable options because of inaccurate self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations (e.g., a person may believe, erroneously, that he or she does
not have the skills to perform effectively in a given occupation or that the
occupation does not offer reinforcers that would fulfill their values). By
revisiting previously discarded options, and considering the reasons they
have been discarded, clients might clarify their interests, skills, and values
—and also expand the range of potentially satisfying options from which
they may choose.
We have used two strategies to explore discarded options. In the first
strategy, standardized measures of vocational interests, values/needs, and
aptitudes are administered, and the results are examined for discrepancies
between the choice options generated by the various measures. We
especially look for aptitude–interest and value–interest discrepancies.
Instances in which clients appear to have the aptitude to succeed at
particular occupations, but where they show relatively low interest in them,
may suggest that personal capabilities are being discounted (i.e., that
interests may not have developed because one's self‐efficacy is
unrealistically low). Similarly, instances in which a client's values appear
compatible with particular options, but where the client shows little interest
in them, may suggest inaccurate outcome expectations (i.e., he or she may
possess limited or biased information about the occupations, resulting in
faulty assumptions about their potential to meet his or her needs). Such
discrepancies are targeted for further discussion and, possibly, counseling
aimed at boosting self‐efficacy or instilling accurate outcome expectations.
A second strategy for exploring foreclosed occupational options uses a
modified vocational card sort procedure. We first ask clients to sort a list of
occupations into three categories: (a) might choose, (b) would not choose,
and (c) in question. We then focus on those occupations that are sorted into
the “would not choose” and “in question” categories. The client is
encouraged to sort these occupations into more specific categories
reflecting self‐efficacy beliefs (i.e., “might choose if I thought I had the
skills”), outcome expectations (i.e., “might choose if I thought it could offer
things I value”), definite lack of interest (i.e., “wouldn't choose under any
circumstances”), or other. Occupations sorted into the self‐efficacy and
outcome expectation subcategories are then explored for accuracy of skill
and outcome perceptions. As with the first strategy, further assessment,
efficacy‐building, or information‐gathering may then be employed to
challenge faulty assumptions about self or career and to maximize the range
of possible choice options (see Brown & Lent, 1996, for case examples of
the use of each strategy with adult clients).
Coping with barriers and building supports. A key assumption of SCCT's
choice model is that people are more likely to implement career choices
(i.e., to translate their goals into actions) if they perceive that their preferred
options will be accompanied by minimal barriers and ample supports.
Conversely, clients who expect, for example, that their significant others
will discourage their favored path, or that they will be unable to access the
financial support they need to pursue it, may be less willing to follow
through with their goals. These assumptions have led us to build
consideration of potential supports and barriers directly into the choice
counseling process. In particular, we have developed a set of steps to help
clients (a) anticipate possible barriers to implementing their choices, (b)
analyze the likelihood of encountering these barriers, (c) prepare barrier‐
coping strategies (i.e., methods for preventing or managing likely barriers),
and (d) build supports for their goals within their family, peer, and other
social networks.
We have used a modified “decisional balance sheet” procedure to help
clients identify potential choice barriers. Specifically, we ask clients to
generate both positive and negative consequences in relation to each career
option they are seriously considering. We then have them focus on the
negative consequences that might prevent them from pursuing each option.
Next, the client is asked to estimate the chances that each barrier will
actually be encountered, and strategies are developed and rehearsed for
preventing or managing the most likely barriers. Brown and Lent (1996)
illustrated the use of these barrier‐coping methods with a client who had
been reluctant to pursue her preferred option because she feared it would
jeopardize her romantic relationship. After analyzing this barrier, the client
was helped to neutralize it by negotiating a dual‐career strategy with her
partner, enabling her to preserve her favored career option.
In addition to anticipating and preparing to deal with barriers, it can be very
useful to assist clients in building support systems to sustain their choice
efforts (Lent et al., 2000). In fact, support‐building has been identified as a
critical ingredient in successful career choice counseling (see Sampson,
Osborn, & Bullock‐Yowell, Chapter 21, this volume). Once clients have
identified preferred career goals, they can be encouraged to consider (a)
what steps they need to take to implement their goals, (b) what
environmental (e.g., social, financial) resources could help them to achieve
these steps, and (c) what resources they could use to offset likely choice
barriers. Counselors can also help clients to consider where and how to
access needed supports. In many cases, clients' existing support systems can
provide resources useful to their goal pursuit (e.g., access to relevant job
contacts). In other cases, resources may be obtained by cultivating new or
alternative support systems (e.g., developing friendships with peers who
will support, rather than ridicule, their career aspirations).
Clients' families are often central to their career choice‐making and
implementation efforts, particularly in collectivist cultures. It is, therefore,
useful to build into counseling a consideration of how the client's preferred
options mesh with the wishes of his or her family (or significant others).
Clients sometimes need assistance in negotiating conflicts between their
own and others' goals. Barrier‐coping and support‐building strategies in
such instances can, for example, include role‐played or two‐chair dialogues
with significant others or, depending on the cultural context and the client's
preferences, inviting significant others to participate in a portion of choice
counseling.
Goal‐setting and self‐regulation. Some clients need assistance with the
processes of setting goals and sustaining goal pursuits, especially if they
tend to demonstrate low levels of conscientiousness. These processes can be
conceived as adaptive behaviors or self‐regulation skills that can help
clients to achieve their plans, especially in the future, after counseling has
been completed. Once a choice goal has been selected, many factors can
affect the likelihood that clients will act on it. We have already considered
the possible effects of environmental supports and barriers. Another
important factor affecting choice implementation involves the manner in
which people frame their goals. It has been found, for example, that larger,
distal goals are more likely to be enacted if they are clear, specific, and
broken into manageable, proximal subgoals (e.g., taking preparatory
courses, applying to educational programs), set close in time to intended
actions, stated publicly, and held with strong commitment (Bandura, 1986).
By contrast, vague, amorphous, distal, private, and weakly held goals
provide less reliable guides for action. Clients can, therefore, be encouraged
to frame their goals in facilitative (e.g., clear, specific, proximal) terms and
to consider specific steps and resources needed to implement their goals.
Because not all possible barriers can be anticipated and averted, clients can
be encouraged to take a preparedness stance, for example, by formulating
backup plans (Lent & Brown, in press).
FACILITATING WORK PERFORMANCE
SCCT offers several implications for efforts to promote academic/career
success and optimize performance. The basic hypotheses of SCCT's
performance model suggest that self‐efficacy beliefs can facilitate
attainment in a given academic or career domain as long as an individual
possesses at least minimally adequate levels of the skills required in that
domain. This does not mean that increased confidence alone will guarantee
success, but it does imply, as suggested earlier, that self‐efficacy can help
people to make the most of the skills they have and can also facilitate
further development of one's skills. Thus, methods designed to boost self‐
efficacy beliefs may be valuable both in developmentally oriented skill‐
building programs (discussed earlier in relation to promoting aspirations)
and in remedial efforts with persons experiencing performance difficulties.
A basic strategy for improving performance begins with examining possible
discrepancies between self‐efficacy estimates and data on objectively
assessed skills or past performance. Intervention procedures may then be
designed that are responsive to the type of discrepancy that is identified. For
example, where the client possesses adequate skills but weak self‐efficacy
beliefs in a given performance domain, the theory would suggest the value
of activities designed to help him or her to (a) obtain personal mastery
experiences with progressively more challenging tasks in that domain; (b)
review past success experiences; and (c) interpret past and present
successes in ways that promote, rather than discount, perceived
competence. Similar to earlier suggestions for promoting self‐efficacy
beliefs, clients can be encouraged to attribute success experiences at skill
development to internal, stable factors, particularly personal ability, rather
than to internal, unstable (e.g., effort) or external (luck, task simplicity)
factors. As clients succeed at performance tasks, or as they review past
experiences, they can also be asked for their perceived reasons for task
success. Nonadaptive attributions can be challenged, for example, by
having clients generate and evaluate alternative interpretations for their
performance successes (Brown & Lent, 1996).
This focus on mastery experiences can be augmented by counseling
activities that draw on the other sources of self‐efficacy. For instance,
providing exposure to relevant models, verbal support, or assistance with
anxiety coping can help to elevate self‐efficacy and, in turn, promote skill
development and performance. In addition, SCCT points to outcome
expectations and performance goals as operating, along with self‐efficacy,
as key motivators of performance. Thus, performance‐focused counseling
might also entail efforts to instill beneficial outcome expectations (e.g.,
accurate knowledge of work conditions and reinforcers) and realistic, yet
challenging performance goals (e.g., ones that are achievable yet that can
stretch and further refine one's skills).
More intensive remedial skill‐building efforts, organized around the sources
of efficacy information, may be indicated in cases where clients exhibit
both weak self‐efficacy and deficient skills. There will also be situations
where the extent of the skill deficit is very large, the client is unwilling to
engage in (or may be unlikely to profit from) remedial activities, or the
environment (e.g., college, work organization) is unwilling to support
remediation. In P–E fit terms, such scenarios reflect a serious mismatch
between the individual's skills and the skill requirements of the setting. In
such cases, counseling can be directed at the goal of identifying suitable
alternative educational or career options having ability requirements that
better correspond with the client's current skills. It should be emphasized
that SCCT does not imply that self‐efficacy will compensate for a lack of
requisite skills or that efforts to boost self‐efficacy are always indicated—in
fact, such efforts seem unlikely to affect performance (and gains in self‐
efficacy may not be sustained) if they ignore seriously deficient skills.
PROMOTING WORK SATISFACTION
The central variables of SCCT's satisfaction model could be used as a
structure for assessment as well as for designing interventions to promote
satisfaction. Because a variety of person, behavior, and contextual factors
can contribute to work satisfaction, it is important to identify the key factor
or set of factors that may be relevant for a particular client. Counseling for
work satisfaction would then depend on how the source(s) of satisfaction
(or dissatisfaction) are conceptualized. SCCT‐based strategies could
include, for example, helping clients to access desired work conditions,
activities, or reinforcers (e.g., via job redesign or skill updating); to set and
make progress toward valued goals (e.g., by framing clear, proximal,
intrinsic, and challenging yet attainable goals); to marshal needed supports
and resources for goal pursuit and other aspects of career development; to
enhance task and goal‐related self‐efficacy; to refine skills (e.g.,
interpersonal, self‐regulation, technical skills) required for work success
and the rewards it can bring; to cope with negative aspects of one's job (e.g.,
managing stress); to engage in self‐advocacy (e.g., in dealing with harsh or
uncivil work conditions); or to manage cognitive and behavioral aspects of
affective traits that may predispose one toward work dissatisfaction.
Like P–E fit theories, SCCT acknowledges that work dissatisfaction can
result from incongruence between personal and environmental attributes,
and that this displeasure can, therefore, be reduced by improving the fit
between P and E. For example, value–reinforcer discorrespondence may be
addressed via worker–supervisor negotiation, job restructuring, or skill
development. One important difference from traditional P–E fit theories,
however, is that SCCT assumes that poor fit can occur along any number of
dimensions (e.g., interest, personality, value, skill, work conditions) that
may be salient to the individual. Another difference is the assumption that
the subjective perception of P–E fit is often more influential than
objectively assessed fit in determining one's satisfaction with the work
environment. These differences underline the value of multifaceted fit
assessment and counseling strategies that may extend beyond what P–E
theories would prescribe. Brown and Lent (1996) described examples of
SCCT‐based counseling that had been initiated by clients experiencing
work dissatisfaction due to poor perceived fit between their values or skills
and the reinforcers or requirements of their work settings.
Although focusing on potentially modifiable aspects of work satisfaction,
SCCT also acknowledges person and contextual factors that may limit gains
in satisfaction (e.g., non‐supportive organizational leadership or policies).
Where work satisfaction cannot be promoted in other ways, job or career
change counseling may be considered, assuming that individuals feel free to
make such changes and that they have the necessary resources to do so.
Where work change options are constrained, or where work is not one of
the individual's most central life domains, coping and compensatory
strategies might be considered, such as pursuing goal‐directed activity in
other life domains (e.g., leisure, family, community) that offer alternative
outlets for satisfaction.
ASSISTING CAREER SELF‐MANAGEMENT
Lent and Brown (2013) noted several ways in which the CSM model may
be used in designing developmental and preventive interventions to help
students and workers anticipate and prepare for predictable career
developmental tasks and transitions (e.g., making career decisions,
engaging in the job search process, planning for retirement). Programs can
be designed that focus on proactive work/life adjustment (e.g., skill‐
updating, managing multiple roles, self‐advocacy, networking) as well as
career sustainability and preparedness for work instability (e.g., job loss).
The model may also help to structure remedial counseling or coaching
applications to assist individual clients deal with troublesome work events
or experiences (e.g., job plateauing, conflict resolution) or to improve their
role‐related functioning (e.g., leadership). The specific intervention
ingredients and strategies would resemble those used in applying SCCT to
choice‐making, performance, and satisfaction issues (e.g., attending to skill
development, self‐efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, goal‐setting, and
barriers and supports), only geared to relevant self‐management tasks and
challenges.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL TAKE‐
HOME MESSAGES
SCCT is a still evolving framework that highlights cognitive‐person
variables, such as self‐efficacy, and considers how they function along with
other person and environmental factors (e.g., gender, culture, barriers,
supports) in shaping people's occupational paths. While SCCT assumes that
people exercise varying degrees of agency in their own career development,
it also recognizes conditions that can either limit or strengthen their ability
to influence their school and work lives. The theory consists of models of
academic and career interest, choice, performance, satisfaction (or well‐
being), and self‐management.
The following are some practical messages to take away from this chapter:
Interests are generally a reliable predictor of educational and career
choices—but they are not the only such predictor. Especially in cases
where people need to compromise their interests in making choices
(e.g., due to family or financial considerations), self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations can augment or surpass interests in directing
choices. This underlines the importance of promoting self‐efficacy
beliefs and outcome expectations that are positive yet realistic.
The four primary sources of efficacy information can be used to
structure interventions designed to promote the development of
interests and skills. Efficacy‐based interventions can be especially
helpful in cases of flat interest profiles or where interests have been
constrained by biased or limited exposure to efficacy‐building
experiences.
Incrementally graded success experiences, coupled with efforts to
ensure favorable interpretation of those experiences, can be especially
useful in bolstering self‐efficacy and skill performance.
Outcome expectations can be fostered by ensuring exposure to
accurate sources of educational and occupational information, which
helps clients to learn about choice options that can satisfy their values.
Choice‐content and performance goals, respectively, help to motivate
behavioral choices and the levels of performance and persistence
people attain at school and work. Progress toward personal goals also
promotes feelings of work satisfaction. It is important, therefore, that
people set and pursue goals in ways that enable them to achieve their
own objectives (e.g., by framing clear, specific, proximal sub‐goals).
Career development occurs in a social learning context and is
facilitated by the presence of supportive environmental conditions
(e.g., good‐quality education) and the relative absence of barriers (e.g.,
lack of financial resources for training). Career development can be
promoted by exposing children and adolescents, as much as possible,
to favorable conditions (e.g., access to diverse coping models) that
might help to offset negative ones (e.g., gender discrimination).
Support‐building and barrier‐coping methods can be especially useful
adjuncts to educational and career choice counseling. By anticipating
and preparing for likely obstacles to their preferred choices, and by
marshaling needed supports, clients might be enabled to persist toward
their goals despite setbacks.
Adjustment to work, as defined by satisfaction and effective
performance, can be facilitated by interventions that attend to self‐
efficacy, outcome expectations, goals, and behaviors, along with
supportive work conditions (and neutralization of negative ones).
The CSM model can also be mined as a source of ideas for helping
people to make career‐related decisions, navigate work transitions,
manage work and non‐work roles, engage in ongoing career
advancement and renewal strategies at work, and take steps to prepare
for periods of career instability (Lent, 2018).
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CHAPTER 6
Career Construction Theory and Counseling
Model
MARK L. SAVICKAS
Northeast Ohio Medical University, Rootstown, OH
The theory of career construction explains the interpretive and interpersonal
processes through which individuals organize their personal characteristics,
impose direction on their vocational behavior, and make meaning of their
careers. Intended for use in multicultural societies and a global economy,
the conceptual framework provides a contemporary explanation of careers
and informs a model for career counseling. To accomplish its goals, career
construction theory (CCT) addresses how individuals build careers through
an epistemology of social constructionism that asserts individuals construct
representations of reality, yet they do not construct reality itself. From this
contextualist position, CCT conceptualizes development as driven by
adaptation to an environment rather than by maturation of inner structures.
The CCT of vocational behavior and mentation is accompanied by an
intervention model called career construction counseling (CCC), which
occasionally I have imprecisely referred to as life‐design counseling. More
precisely, the term “life design” denotes a discourse about the third major
paradigm for career intervention (Savickas, 2012). Historically, the three
paradigms or general patterns of practice have evolved from (a) modern
vocational guidance based on inventory scores (e.g., Holland, 1997),
through (b) high modern career education and coaching based on
developmental stages (e.g., Super, 1963), to (c) postmodern career
construction based on autobiographical stories. As a discourse about a
broad class of intervention models (Savickas et al., 2009), in addition to
CCC, the life‐design paradigm is represented by a variety of recent
approaches to career intervention, such as chaos theory (Pryor, 2010),
narrative psychology (Cochran, 1997), and living systems theory
(Vondracek & Ford, 2019).
Viewing careers from a constructionist perspective focuses attention on
self‐making. Accordingly, I begin this chapter by considering the self‐
constructing processes with which people make themselves into who they
are in terms of cognitive schemas and performing strategies. This
discussion leads to three central functions of the self that frame CCT: self as
a social actor, self as a motivated agent, and self as an autobiographical
author. I then embed the core schemas and strategies into these three
functions of the psychological self. In the second half of the chapter, I relate
the actor's behavior, the agent's strivings, and the author's explanations to a
discourse that delineates CCC.
CAREER CONSTRUCTION THEORY
Making a self and constructing a career involve lifelong projects that evolve
in complex phases and multilayered processes. CCT asserts that individuals
build a self from the outside in, not from the inside out as personality trait
theorists would have it. In this regard, Vygotsky (1978) noted that “There is
nothing in mind that is not first of all in society” (p. 142). This means that
an act is the beginning of a self (Leontiev, 1983), and the self takes definite
form as an individual reflects on actions and experiences using the uniquely
human capacity to be conscious of consciousness. This self‐conscious
reflection uses language to both construct and constitute social realities
(Neuman & Nave, 2009). In a sense, we live inside language. Words
provide a resource for living, especially for the reflexive projects of making
a self, shaping an identity, and constructing a career. Through self‐
conscious reflection, the “I” observes the “me” (James, 1890; Taylor, 1992)
and constructs stories about “me.” The resulting stories are the content that
constitutes the self in the form of favored attributes and significant events.
Thus, individuals use language to become self‐aware and organize their
lives.
Although we talk our own selves into existence, we need more than
language for self‐construction. We need experiences on which to reflect,
particularly interpersonal experiences in which we coordinate our actions
and relationships. The self evolves in activity, as it internalizes cultural and
social practices from the external world. So, a self is not actually self‐
constructed; it is co‐constructed through interpersonal processes. In sum,
the self as “I” denotes mental processes that enable people to take
themselves as an object of attention and think self‐consciously about their
characteristics, motives, and experiences. The self as “me” denotes an
emergent awareness that is culturally shaped, socially constituted, and
linguistically narrated.
SELF‐CONSTRUCTING PROCESSES
The CCT of self‐making and career building highlights the mental
processes that individuals use to produce and make sense of their vocational
patterns and pathways. CCT concentrates on how individuals construct
characteristics, motives, and experiences with the information‐processing
functions of organizing, regulating, and conceiving. Self‐organizing
encompasses the mental processes by which individuals selectively become
aware of, differentiate, and integrate their knowledge, competencies,
beliefs, and experiences to form schemas and strategies of similar content in
similar contexts. Self‐organizing includes the processes of self‐awareness
and self‐evaluation. Self‐regulating means control of self by the self. It
encompasses the processes of self‐direction in establishing goals, self‐
management in guiding one's own behavior, and self‐monitoring in
assessing progress. Self‐conceiving means composing symbolic
representations for making sense of oneself, social roles, and the world. It
encompasses self‐representation to signify internal thoughts and feelings
and self‐coherence to consider what they mean.
The sets of mental processes encompassed by organizing, regulating, and
conceiving are inborn and interdependent. In describing the “principle of
unitary functioning,” Ford (1987, p. 5) explained that, although the sets of
processes are distinguishable, they always function together as part of a
self‐constructing, living system in a context. Although the autopoietic
processes always function as a team, one process may take the lead in a
figure–ground relation determined by what needs to be produced for a
specific purpose in a particular context.
SELF‐CONSTRUCTED PATTERNS
Over time and through repeated use in the vocational domain, the mental
processes of organizing, regulating, and conceiving form relatively self‐
sustaining cognitive structures for categorizing information and judging
situations. These schemas are formed as individuals recognize
commonalities among successive experiences and organize them as a
mental structure (Bartlett, 1932; Kelly, 1955). The cognitive schemas then
become habitual patterns of mental processing that individuals use to focus
attention, shape perception, absorb new information, and make judgments
—thus, providing a basis for cross‐situational and temporal consistency.
The self‐constructing mental processes of the knowing “I” and the
schematic representations of the known “me” become increasingly complex
and abstract with developmental changes in brain anatomy during
childhood and adolescence.
In addition to judging social situations, the interpretations from
psychological cognitive schema lead individuals to construct strategies for
conducting themselves in particular contexts and specific roles based on
what needs to be accomplished and the feedback received. CCT considers
the performance strategies to be psychosocial patterns in that they combine
psychological and social dimensions for functioning in society. In CCT, the
three major psychosocial strategies for social functioning are dispositional
behavior strategies arising from attachment schema, adaptability strategies
arising from motivational schemas, and identity strategies arising from
reflexivity schemas—each of which will be described later in this chapter.
CCT conceptualizes the specific schemas and strategies used by an
individual as “templates of possibility,” a term coined by Josselson (2017,
p. 22) to denote master narratives with which psychologists may understand
a life in progress. The particular schema and strategy templates highlighted
in CCT each explain a set of phenomena using a well‐established mid‐range
theory with limited scope. As templates of possibility, CCT uses three pairs
of schemas and strategies to understand and aid analysis of career‐
constructing processes and constructed content. For the sake of simplicity
and to ease comparisons, each schema and strategy is presented as a four‐
quadrant template of possibilities. The schemas and strategies for
understanding vocational behavior and career construction neither
constitute competing nor alternative explanations; rather, each one offers a
complementary vantage point from which to view career construction
processes and products. The stable structure and analytic power provided by
portraying the templates of possibility as quadrants enable practitioners and
researchers to grasp the sequential emergence, reciprocal interaction, and
continuity of career construction schemas and strategies across the life
course. Of course, analyzing people's schemas and strategies in terms of
four possible pathways overly simplifies complicated biographies and
minimizes individuality. Individuals may operate from a range of positions
within a quadrant or across quadrants. Furthermore, they do not necessarily
follow a particular trajectory in lockstep. There can be twists and turns as
people migrate to a different path that alters the trajectory of their careers in
response to transformations in contexts and circumstances.
PSYCHOLOGICAL SELVES
In CCT, the three self‐constructing processes of organizing, regulating, and
conceiving—and the cognitive schemas and performance strategies that
they produce—each align primarily with one of the three perspectives in
McAdams (2013) overarching framework of psychological selves.
Beginning around the age of 18 months, self‐organization comes to the
forefront as individuals begin to construct a psychological self as a social
actor with intellectual abilities and personal characteristics, quickly
recognized by other people in terms of a reputation. Here, self‐organizing
takes the lead, yet self‐regulating and self‐conceiving occur, although in
less elaborate forms. Self‐organization produces an attachment schema and
a dispositional strategy for interpersonal relationships and social roles. By
the end of childhood, self‐regulating joins more closely with self‐
organizing, as a social actor begins to function more purposively as a
motivated agent who forms educational–vocational goals and plans projects
to achieve them. In comparison to personal characteristics that describe the
social actor, motives explain the actor's strivings. Self‐regulation produces a
motivational schema and adaptability strategy for fitting into social roles.
During late adolescence and emerging adulthood, self‐conceiving takes an
equal place with self‐organizing and self‐regulating, as an individual begins
to function more fully as an autobiographical author who composes and
revises a narrative to comprehend the agentic actor's career with increasing
coherence and continuity. Self‐conceiving produces a reflexivity schema
and identity strategy for authoring a vocational identity and composing a
career story. The following three sections elaborate the description of
individuals as vocational actors, occupational agents, and career authors.
THE SOCIAL ACTOR
An actor constructs a self in an environment of other people, modeling
oneself upon objects in the world, beginning with one's parents. When
infants enter the family drama, they start to perform as social actors.
Toddlers quickly come to understand the world of the family and also
absorb the cultural discourses that structure it. They use their biological
endowments and the social categories presented to them (e.g., gender, race,
class, and birth order) to carefully make their places in the family drama.
Within these demographic “givens,” actors form characteristic behavioral
dispositions by internalizing parental guides and role models. Parents or
other familial guides are internalized as introjects or whole objects. Thus, a
guide exists in one's inner cognitions as a full representation of the parents,
as well as the child's relationship with the parents. To make a self that
pursues goals and solves problems in growing up, children begin to
elaborate the introjected self‐structure to co‐construct a working model for
understanding themselves, other people, and the world (Bowlby, 1982). In
due course, these internal working models form an attachment schema, that
is, a generally consistent organization of mental representations that serves
as a prime way of thinking about the social world as well as a script for
interpersonal interactions and needs fulfillment in work roles.
ATTACHMENT SCHEMAS
To conceptualize attachment schema, CCT uses a quadrant template of
possibilities delineated by Bowlby (1982) who described four distinct
attachment schemas as secure–autonomous, anxious–ambivalent,
dismissive–avoidant, and fearful–disorganized. Secure attachment schema
shows low anxiety coupled with high autonomy that beginning in
adolescence may support career exploration and commitment. Anxious
attachment schema shows high anxiety coupled with low autonomy that
beginning in adolescence may lead to commitment to parent choices
without exploration. Dismissive attachment schema shows high autonomy
coupled with low anxiety that beginning in adolescence may lead to
undecidedness and avoidance of career commitments. Fearful attachment
schema shows low autonomy coupled with high anxiety that beginning in
adolescence and beyond may lead to vocational indecisiveness. Individuals
can be described, from an individual differences perspective, as operating
primarily from one of the attachment schemas, yet of course not all
individuals fit neatly into one quadrant. Individuals can operate from a
range of positions within a quadrant or across quadrants. They may also
interact with different people using different schemas.
To resolve attachment problems, troubles, and conflicts that they encounter
within their families, children select role models who portray tentative
solutions to their main problems and dominant preoccupations. Role models
provide imaginative resources that individuals use first as children and later
as adolescents and adults to form and develop their personal characteristics.
Acting as architects of the self, children select role models as their
blueprints for self‐design. Heroes model a way forward in which children
may make lives for themselves by dealing constructively with their
problems, preoccupations, and predicaments. In the process of self‐
construction, children build themselves as social actors by adopting and
rehearsing their models' characteristics until those characteristics become
their own.
In contrast to the influence of introjected guides, role models are
incorporated identifications. Internalization of models through
incorporation is the second core process of self‐construction. Although
individuals take in influential guides, they are never accepted as a personal
choice because they were born to or adopted by those guides. By contrast,
individuals consciously select role models, and in this sense, these models
represent the first choice they make in constructing their careers. Thus, the
choice of role models is indeed a decision about self‐construction and
characteristics that one prefers to enact in life's drama. Through the
incorporation processes of identification and imitation, children develop
characteristics that resemble those of their models, yet the role models
remain external, unlike a guide who becomes an inner other. In a sense,
children take in guides, yet take on some characteristics of models with
whom they identify. Identification, or the process of producing sameness
with a model, occurs as individuals incorporate, as a rather permanent part
of themselves, characteristics of the model.
Based on cultural discourses, parental influences, and role‐model
identifications, individuals rehearse characteristics that in due course
become crystallized in a dispositional strategy for performing social roles,
including the work role. In this regard, Holland (1997) theorized, consistent
with Vygotsky's idea of bringing the outside in, that “the order of
development usually is from activities to dispositions” (p. 19).
DISPOSITIONAL STRATEGIES
To conceptualize dispositional strategies, CCT uses a template of
possibilities delineated by Gough (1987) and Hogan (1983) who described
personality dispositions with a four‐quadrant matrix formed by the
conceptual coordinates of sociability and conformity. These two basic
modes of functioning involve relating to other people and responding to
cultural norms. Using these two dimensions of higher‐order personality
factors, individuals may be broadly classified into one of four types, with
each type displaying distinct dispositional characteristics (Domino &
Domino, 2006; Gough, 1987, 1990). CCT relates these four dispositional
strategies to attachment schema. A secure attachment tends to lead to high
sociability and high conformity (Gough's alpha disposition). These social
actors may see themselves as ambitious, active, productive, and socially
poised. In terms of reputation, other people tend to see them as dominant,
enterprising, confident, talkative, intrepid, and encouraging. An anxious
attachment schema tends to lead to low sociability and high conformity
(Gough's beta disposition). They may see themselves as ethical, methodical,
conscientious, dependable, modest, persevering, and responsible. Other
people may see them as careful, reserved, inhibited, conforming, and
submissive. A dismissive attachment schema tends to lead to high
sociability and low conformity (Gough's gamma disposition). They may see
themselves as innovative, forthright, versatile, and clever. Other people may
see them as adventurous, impulsive, headstrong, and non‐conforming. And
fourth, a fearful attachment schema tends to lead to low sociability and low
conformity (Gough's delta disposition). They may see themselves as shy,
quiet, withdrawn, unnoticed, detached, and preoccupied. Other people may
see them as timid, self‐defeating, and passive. In CCT, these four
dispositions relate to interpersonal and work behaviors, not to particular
types of vocational interests such as those delineated by Holland (1997).
CCT views interests and other motivational constructs from the perspective
of self‐regulation processes that a motivated agent uses to choose goals and
make plans.
THE MOTIVATED AGENT
With the strengthening of an internal sense of agency during middle
childhood, a second function of the psychological self begins to shape a
motivational schema and adaptability strategy. Having become a
recognizable social actor in the family drama, the individual must extend
the self into school and the community. This self‐extension requires a
formulation of goals to strive for, then projects, and eventually a career. As
children progress through grade school, they begin to choose goals that
serve to direct their adaptation. From this perspective, social actors can now
also be viewed as self‐regulating agents who pursue goals of their own
choosing.
MOTIVATIONAL SCHEMAS
Following from their attachment schema, children form a motivational
schema. By self‐regulating their feelings and actions based on reward
contingencies in the social regulation provided by their parents, children
form a schema that orients their motivation. Social regulation that
emphasizes nurturance fosters in children a self‐regulation schema focused
on occupational goals that promote accomplishment by aiming for
achievement, reward, and advancement. By contrast, social regulation that
emphasizes security fosters in children a self‐regulation schema focused on
occupational goals that prevent problems by maintaining responsibility,
security, and safety. The two foci differ in that a promotion focus directs
behavior toward what one wants to do and personal growth, whereas a
prevention focus directs behavior toward what one ought to do and away
from failure and psychological harm. Because promotion and prevention
foci form independent dimensions (Higgins, 1997; Johnson & Chang,
2008), a person's self‐regulation schema may display high levels in one
focus, both foci, or neither focus. The four quadrants of motivational focus
work in conjunction with attachment schema that precedes them. Secure
attachment usually leads to a hybrid focus on both promotion and
prevention goals; an anxious attachment usually leads to a prevention focus;
a dismissive attachment usually leads to a promotion focus; and a fearful
attachment usually leads to amotivation and a lack of goals. The regulatory
focus of an individual's motivational schema directs that individual's
approach to career adaptation during periods of transition.
ADAPTABILITY STRATEGIES
The word adapt comes from the Latin, meaning “to fit.” It means bringing
inner needs and outer opportunities into harmony with the harmonics of a
good adaptation indicated by success, satisfaction, and stability (Holland,
1997). Individuals' particular goals for how to fit into the work world
represent what people want to achieve and what they want to avoid. During
periods of transition, individuals must adapt to changes and challenges in
their social positions. CCT identifies three major challenges that require a
social actor to adapt: vocational development tasks, occupational
transitions, and work troubles. Vocational development tasks communicate
social expectations about age‐graded normative transitions. Societies
synchronize adolescents and emerging adults to their culture by telling them
in advance how to prepare for and enter their work lives. Thus, vocational
development tasks provide powerful expectations with which young people
can envision and prepare for occupations congruent with their abilities and
interests. Simply stated, the major developmental tasks require that young
people view work as a salient role, crystallize a preference for a vocational
field and level, specify occupational preferences, enter a fitting job, and
progress in that job until moving to the next job. The movement from one
job to the next job is called an occupational transition. These transitions
may be wanted or unwanted, planned or unexpected, and promotions or
demotions. Work troubles involve unpredicted and unwanted challenges and
changes. Troubling events such as plant closings, industrial accidents,
occupational injuries, and contract violations may become extreme enough
to be considered work traumas.
Changing educational and vocational positions compels individuals to
adapt. CCT characterizes career adaptation outcomes as resulting from a
sequence ranging across adaptive readiness, adaptability resources, and
adapting responses (Rudolph, Lavigne, & Zacher, 2017). People are more
or less prepared to change, differ in their resources to manage change,
demonstrate more or less action when change is needed, and as a result,
become more or less integrated into work roles over time.
Adaptive readiness. In CCT, adaptivity denotes the personal characteristics
of readiness and willingness to meet career tasks, transitions, and troubles
with fitting responses. Individuals reach the threshold to initiate the
interpersonal and intrapersonal processes that guide goal‐directed activity
when they can no longer assimilate the changes or persevere in routine
activities. At that point, they need to accommodate to the disequilibrium by
changing the self or circumstances. The required accommodations typically
evoke feelings of distress that prompt adaptive readiness. However,
adaptiveness by itself is insufficient to support adapting behaviors.
Individuals willing to adapt must bring self‐regulation resources to bear on
changing the situation.
Adaptability resources. The willingness to adapt activates an intensified
self‐regulation to manage tasks, transitions, and troubles that, to some
degree large or small, alter their social integration (Savickas, 1997).
Individuals draw on these self‐regulation resources to solve the unfamiliar,
complex, and ill‐defined problems presented by changes and challenges.
These adaptability resources are considered psychosocial strategies because
they reside at the intersection of person‐in‐environment. CCT
conceptualizes resourceful individuals as (a) becoming concerned about
their future as a worker, (b) increasing personal control over their
vocational future, (c) displaying curiosity in exploring possible selves and
future scenarios, and (d) strengthening the confidence to pursue their
aspirations.
Career concern arises from a future orientation, a sense that it is important
to prepare for tomorrow. Attitudes of planfulness and optimism foster
preparedness because they dispose individuals to become aware of the
vocational tasks and occupational transitions to be faced and choices to be
made in the imminent and intermediate future. Thinking about one's work
life across time is the essence of career because a subjective career is not a
behavior; it is an idea. Planful attitudes and belief in continuity of
experience incline individuals to engage in activities and experiences that
promote competencies in planning and preparing for the future. A lack of
career concern is called career indifference, which reflects apathy,
pessimism, and planlessness.
Career control means being conscientious, deliberate, organized, and
decisive in performing vocational development tasks and making
occupational transitions. CCT conceptualizes control as an aspect of
intrapersonal processes that foster self‐regulation, not interpersonal
processes that impact self‐regulation. Its opposite is confusion, not
dependence. Conscientious attitudes and belief in personal responsibility
incline individuals to intentionally direct vocational actions. A lack of
career control is often called career indecision and enacted as confusion,
procrastination, or impulsivity.
Career curiosity refers to an inclination to explore and learn about the fit
between oneself and the work world. Being open to new experiences and
experimenting with possible selves and various roles prompt individuals to
explore the work world to increase knowledge about the self and
information about occupations and opportunities. Individuals who explore
the world beyond their own neighborhoods gain knowledge about their
abilities, interests, and values as well as about the requirements, routines,
and rewards of various occupations. This broader fund of information
brings realism and objectivity to subsequent choices that match self to
situations. A lack of career curiosity can lead to unrealism about the work
world, often based on images and ideas of what one wants or hopes for
rather than what may be possible or likely.
Career confidence means anticipation of success and feelings of self‐
efficacy concerning one's ability to execute a course of action needed to
make and implement suitable educational and vocational choices.
Individuals need confidence to act on their interests. Career confidence
arises from solving problems encountered in daily activities, such as
household chores, schoolwork, and hobbies. Individuals who have been
sheltered or excluded from certain categories of experience (e.g., math and
science) find it difficult to be confident in approaching those activities and
consequently will be less interested in related occupations. Mistaken beliefs
about gender, race, and social roles often produce internal and external
barriers that constrain the development of confidence. A lack of career
confidence can result in career inhibition that thwarts actualizing roles and
achieving goals.
Adaptability strategies. In theory, individuals should approach tasks,
transitions, and troubles with a strategy that includes concern for the future,
a sense of control over it, the curiosity to experiment with possible selves
and explore social opportunities, and the confidence to design their
occupational future and execute plans to realize it. In reality, development
along the four dimensions of adaptability progresses at different rates, with
possible fixations and regressions. Delays within or disequilibrium between
the four adapt‐abilities produces strategies that may cause problems in
crystallizing career preferences and specifying occupational choices.
Again using a quadrant template of possibilities, CCT conceptualizes four
distinct adaptability strategies that emerge from the four motivational
schemas. Individuals with a hybrid schema of promotion/prevention tend to
combine all four resources to form an adaptability strategy that directs them
to look ahead and look around. Individuals with a motivational schema
focused on prevention tend to combine concern and curiosity to form an
adaptability strategy that looks ahead through in‐depth exploration of a
foreclosed choice. Individuals with a motivational schema focused on
promotion tend to combine control and confidence to look around, but not
ahead, taking things as they come and dealing with problems as they arise.
And finally, individuals who focus on neither promotion nor prevention
goals display an amotivation syndrome. They lack adaptability resources
and tend to look out to avoid problems.
Adapting responses. Adaptability strategies shape the adapting behaviors
that actually produce vocational development and construct careers. CCT
views adapting to tasks, transitions, and troubles as fostered principally by
five sets of behaviors, each named for their adapting function of orientating,
exploring, deciding, planning, and problem‐solving. These constructive
activities form a cycle of adapting performance that is periodically repeated
as an individual must fit into a changing context. Realizing that a change or
challenge approaches, individuals can adapt more effectively if they meet
changing conditions with growing awareness and information‐seeking,
followed by informed decision‐making, planning, problem‐solving, and
eventually forward‐looking disengagement. Recycling or reengaging in
career‐adapting behaviors occurs frequently in the United States where the
median years in a job are 4 years for females and 4.3 years for males
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018). Rather than developing biographical
certainty about an institutionalized 30‐year career with one employer
(Super, 1957), people now must adapt to an individualized work life with
destandardized trajectories consisting of more frequent and less predictable
occupational transitions.
Better career outcomes (adaptation results) are achieved by individuals who
are willing (adaptive readiness) and able (adaptability resources) to perform
coping behaviors (adapting responses) that address changing conditions. An
analogy to airline travel may sharpen the distinctions between readiness,
resources, responses, and results. In preparing to depart, flight attendants
ask passengers seated in an exit row whether they are “willing and able” to
assist in an emergency. Some people may be willing, yet unable; other
people may be unwilling, yet able. In the language of CCT, the attendant is
asking the passengers whether they have the readiness and resources needed
to act in an emergency. To continue the analogy, the airplane emergency
might require some lifesaving actions. In career construction, this adapting
or “doing” involves the behaviors of orienting, exploring, deciding,
planning, and problem solving. Adapting responses lead to some outcome
or adaptation that is judged for its goodness of fit in terms of success and
satisfaction.
INTERESTS
When viewing the self as a motivated agent, CCT concentrates on how
individuals use their motivational schema and adaptability strategy to select
goals and make plans. The particular content of goals is discussed in the
vocational psychology literature in terms of personal needs, work values,
and occupational interests. CCT pays particular attention to interests
because they connect personal needs to relevant goals (Savickas, 2014). For
CCT, interests are not essential traits but rather co‐constructed beliefs that
particular activities or objects may be useful in furthering career
construction and social adaptation.
From Latin, interest means to be between. Interest manifests a state of
attraction between an individual's psychological needs and social
opportunities to fulfill those needs (Savickas, 1999). The psychosocial
attraction or interest follows from motivated agents evaluating an object or
activity as useful in helping them become more whole or complete. They
believe that engaging in the interesting activity will address the
preoccupations and problems that they carry forward from their family‐of‐
origin and will further their self‐construction. People also are attracted to
join social environments populated by individuals whom they resemble
(Holland, 1997). Of course, many people cannot pursue vocational interests
that lead to their goals and meet their need for self‐realization. Instead, they
must take the only employment available to them. This uninteresting work
at least fosters adaptation as survival, if not adaptation as self‐realization. In
such circumstances individuals may continue to use leisure pursuits to
substantiate a self and fulfill their needs.
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AUTHOR
When individuals reach late adolescence, society expects them to “get a
life” (Habermas & Bluck, 2000), that is, integrate their actions and agency
into a unique identity supported by a unified life story. During childhood
and early adolescence, agentic actors portray a complex amalgam of
parental influences and role‐model identifications. Late in adolescence, they
begin to integrate these influences and identifications by conceiving a
vocational identity and composing a career story. As individuals learn more
about themselves as social actors and motivated agents, they become ready
to pattern their constellation of goals and purposive projects into a coherent
and credible story. This identity narrative is not a summing up but a
synthesis (Erikson, 1968), a configuration that reconciles multiple personal
characteristics to produce an integrative solution to the problems in making
the transition from school to work and from adolescence to adulthood. In
doing this autobiographical work, individuals enhance the coherence of
their narrative by gradually rearranging and creatively reinterpreting the
past to suit future aspirations. In addition to strengthening coherence of the
story, they also lengthen its continuity by “selectively reconstructing”
(Erikson, 1958, p. 111) the past so that it seems to have planned them, or
better yet, that they seemed to have planned it. The resulting identity
narrative and its successive revisions express the uniqueness of an
individual in her or his particular context by imposing meaning on
vocational behavior (Tiedeman & Field, 1964). Individuals use this self‐
sustaining narrative to evaluate career opportunities and negotiate social
constraints. In choosing an occupation based on this narrative, individuals
state in occupational terminology their ideas about who they are; in entering
an occupation, they seek to realize that vocational identity; and after
stabilizing in an occupation, they need others to recognize and confirm that
identity (Super, 1963).
REFLEXIVE SCHEMAS
When developmental tasks, occupational transitions, or work troubles
obstruct routines and habitual behaviors, self‐conceiving autobiographical
authors deliberate about their vocational identities and career stories by
thinking about who they are, analyzing their conduct, and considering
future actions. CCT uses the term biographicity to denote the use of
reflexive schemas to conceive vocational identities and compose career
narratives in a “two‐stage process” (Dallos & Stedmon, 2009, p. 5) of
retrospective reflection and prospective reflexivity. Reflection involves a
more passive recollection that clients use to learn about themselves,
whereas reflexivity involves a more active conceptualization that clients use
to change themselves in some way (Savickas, 2016). In the first stage of
biographicity, clients use reflection to learn about themselves by recalling
experiences that bring the past into the present. Reflection about the past
can foster first‐order change that leads to action without a change of
perspective. In the second stage of biographicity, clients add agency to self‐
awareness (Rennie, 1992), as they extend the present into the future by
reflecting on their reflections. Thus, reflexivity is a second‐order cognitive
process that involves a more active conceptualization in which individuals
use knowledge from first‐order reflections to determine and design future
projects. Reflexivity regarding the future can lead to second‐order change
through action emerging from a new perspective (Fraser & Solovey, 2007).
Autobiographical authors differ in their reflexive schemas for deliberating
about life design and career construction. Building on the attachment and
motivational schemas, a reflexive schema for authoring a career narrative
takes shape during late adolescence and emerging adulthood. CCT
conceptualizes variations in autobiographical self‐conceiving using a
quadrant template of possible schemas for reflexive deliberation described
by Archer (2012): autonomous, communicative, meta, and fractured. Using
autonomous reflexivity, individuals create their own career paths following
purposeful and self‐contained deliberation. Supported by a secure
attachment and a hybrid of promotion and prevention motivation, they set
their own goals as “they think and act” (Archer, 2003, p. 7). Communicative
reflexivity involves internal dialogues that lead to action only after being
completed and confirmed by parents or significant others. Supported by an
anxious attachment and a prevention focus, “they think and talk” (Archer,
2003, p. 7). Meta‐reflexivity involves internal dialogues in which
individuals routinely question their own thoughts and critique their parents'
way of life. Individuals who routinely engage in meta‐reflexivity often
criticize and disengage from parental values, which intensifies personal
stress and social disorientation. Supported by an avoidant attachment and a
promotion focus, “they think and think” (Archer, 2003, p. 7). Fractured
reflexivity involves deliberations that intensify stress and confusion rather
than form conclusions about what to be or do. Individuals who routinely
engage in fractured reflexivity may feel rejected by parents and
subsequently limit their own participation in interpersonal relationship and
work roles. With a fearful attachment and amotivation, they focus on daily
survival as “they think and talk to themselves” (Archer, 2003, p. 7).
IDENTITY STRATEGIES
Reflexive self‐authorship produces an identity, that is, a narrative about the
self in a social role. Individuals have multiple identities, each one
corresponding to a particular social role that they enact. For example, a
vocational identity tells the story about an individual in a work role.
Viewing the distinct modes of reflexivity in terms of strategies for dealing
with career concerns leads directly to typologies of vocational identity
formation and functioning. The four distinct reflexive schemas produce four
different strategies for forming a vocational identity and dealing with career
concerns.
CCT again uses a quadrant template of possibilities to describe three
distinct identity strategies based on Berzonsky's (1989) conceptualization of
different ways in which people form, maintain, and revise their
psychosocial identities: informational, normative, and avoidant. Securely
attached individuals tend to use an informational strategy in which they
actively gather and evaluate relevant information before committing to an
occupational choice. Individuals with an anxious attachment schema tend to
use a normative strategy in which they accept standards and prescriptions
promulgated by significant others in making their choices. A normative
strategy combined with healthy family relations may reflect an
interdependent pattern of career construction, one in which an individual
freely chooses the collective good of the family as the criterion for career
choice. In this way, a normative strategy can lead to an interdependent
identity defined by relationships with others rather than by individual
attributes. Individuals who display interdependent identities have been
described as society‐minded (Kegan, 1994), norm‐favoring (Gough, 1990),
and guardians (Josselson, 2017) because they prioritize connection to others
and preserve what was. By contrast, a normative strategy combined with an
anxious attachment may lead to dependent decision‐making, foreclosed
vocational identity, and constrained career construction. Individuals with a
dismissive attachment schema tend to use an avoidant strategy in which
they let circumstances and situations dictate their choices. In an effort to
ignore problems and choices for as long as possible, they delay,
procrastinate, avoid commitments, and keep exploring. With a fearful
attachment schema, individuals tend to remain unreflective and show little
capacity for self‐definition and commitment to values, goals, or
relationships. With neither set ideological commitments nor occupational
direction, their work histories are generally unstable, disjointed, and
externally controlled. Berzonsky (1989) did not assign them a unique
identity strategy, suggesting that they also use the avoidant strategy to form
a vocational identity and compose a career story.
CAREER AS STORY
The essential meaning of a career is revealed in self‐defining stories that
individuals tell about the tasks, transitions, and troubles that they have
faced. In career stories that chronicle the recursive interplay between self
and society, the actor tells what happened in a job resume; the agent
explains why it happened by an occupational plot; and the author interprets
what it means with a career theme.
Fundamentally, the arrangement of jobs into sequence is a story, yet it is a
chronicle without a plot. An occupational plot makes connections that
transform the job sequence in the objective career into a subjective career.
Emplotment configures the diverse incidents and different episodes into a
part–whole structure in which the parts gather meaning in relation to the
whole. However, occupational plots explain why an individual changed
positions without reference to personal meaning. Plots portray the self as
agent, not an author.
Authoring deeper, private meaning to accompany the public explanation of
a plot requires a theme. An occupational plot's implicit theme becomes
more explicit through its repetition in accumulating episodes. Cumulating
incidents and insights into an abstract theme thickens the plot and amplifies
larger meanings. A sense of unity crystallizes, as the career theme imposes
meaning on the plot parts through their participation in the whole.
Autobiographical reasoning seeks to craft this thematic unity, not
uniformity, out of contradictory beliefs and baffling behaviors. Thematic
unity must be achieved in a properly complicated way that integrates
diversity without homogenizing it.
The repeating pattern in a career theme reveals people to themselves and
others. As individuals incorporate new experiences, they use the unifying
ideas of a career theme to impose a pattern of meaning that comprehends
the new episodes in the occupational plot. When the plot ruptures,
individuals use the recurrent pattern of the theme to restore order and
redirect action. In addition, a career theme also brings continuity to a plot
by tracing how a person remains identical with self despite diversity across
educational and vocational positions. Even when everything seems to
change, the theme remains the same. Recall that in constructing a narrative
identity, individuals work out the problem of their sameness across time. A
theme grounds the “here and now” in the “there and then.” In telling how
the self of yesterday became the self of today and will become the self of
tomorrow (McAdams & Olson, 2010), an author's identity narrative
supports both a stable actor with a continuous story and a flexible agent
capable of change. The theme keeps the narrative going by continually
integrating events and pulling them into the plot (Giddens, 1991).
The theme, clear or complicated, carries to work settings the concerns that
constitute the individual and matter most in defining self and expressing
identity. A theme articulates a purposive attitude toward life that brings a
perspective to bear on experiences. The thematic purpose pursued in the
occupational plot makes work the outer form of something intensely
personal. Integrative choices allow individuals to actively master what they
passively suffered, as they turn private preoccupations into public
occupations. This can be made clear for a particular person by personalizing
the following mapping sentence: “I will become (social actor's reputation)
so that I can (motivated agent's goal), and in the process (autobiographical
author's theme).” For example, one medical student's mapping sentence was
“I will become a psychiatrist so that I may heal families in crisis and in the
process reduce my own feelings of helplessness about my own family's
suffering.” Compare this to a classmate's statement of “I will become a
neurosurgeon so that I may perform delicate operations and in the process
prove to my father than I am not clumsy.” The public meaning in these two
statements indicates the social contribution and occupational position; the
private meaning expresses a career theme. Readers might complete their
own mapping sentence, “I am becoming a counselor to help people (do
what), so that I (personal meaning).” For example, one counselor stated that
“I became a counselor to do for others what I wish had been done for me
when I was hurting.”
SUMMARY OF CAREER CONSTRUCTION
THEORY
In sum, CCT provides a comprehensive framework with which to situate,
evaluate, and interpret research and reflection about the behaviors of
vocational actors, strivings of occupational agents, and explanations of
career authors. Table 6.1 delineates the basic conceptual structure of
schemas and strategies used by CCT as templates of possibility for making
sense of individuals' vocational behavior, occupational motives, and career
narratives. Each template provides an insight into an individual's career.
Taken together, they yield a complex yet coherent understanding of how
individuals construct and constitute their careers and design their lives. An
example of how the theory may be applied to individuals appears in the
report of a longitudinal study of four men's career construction that, with
vivid particularity, illustrates, explains, and demonstrates theorems in CCT
(Savickas, 2019a). In addition to its contributions to vocational psychology,
CCT informs a model for career counseling that is described in the second
half of the current chapter.
TABLE 6.1 Templates of Possibility for Career Construction Theory
Schemas and Strategies
Self‐organizing Self‐regulating
Social actor
Motivated agent
Schemas ATTACHMENT MOTIVATIONAL
Secure
FOCUS
Anxious
Promote/prevent
Dismissive
hybrid
Fearful
Promotion
Prevention
Amotivation
Strategies DISPOSITION ADAPTABILITY
Alpha
Look ahead and
Beta
around
Gamma
Look ahead
Delta
Look around
Look out
Self‐conceiving
Autobiographical
author
REFLEXIVITY
Autonomous
Communicative
Meta
Fractured
IDENTITY
Pathmaker
Guardian
Searcher
Drifter
CAREER CONSTRUCTION COUNSELING
MODEL
CCT has been translated into practice as a model for vocational intervention
called CCC. The practice model concentrates on clients making meaning,
forming intentions, and acting purposely as they re‐story their careers
(Maree, 2013). CCC differs from vocational guidance, that is, a nomothetic
model that concentrates on clients' reflection about resemblance to
vocational types and matches them to occupational positions with the goal
of fostering first‐order change (Fraser & Solovey, 2007). By contrast, CCC
pursues an idiographic model that concentrates on clients' reflexivity about
uniqueness and meaning‐making with the goal of fostering second‐order
change. Vocational guidance and career education expand a client's current
perspective on a problem by providing new information about matching
occupations and managing careers, whereas CCC transforms a client's
perspective on a problem by releasing emotion, altering assumptions,
pondering different ideas, and making meaning.
The model for CCC combines dialogic procedures based on CCT with
narrative processes described in the innovative moments model (IMM) of
client change devised by Miguel Gonçalves and his colleagues (Gonçalves,
Matos, & Santos, 2009; Gonçalves & Ribeiro, 2012; Montesano, Oliveira,
& Gonçalves, 2017). Paulo Cardoso has led the research and reflection to
articulate the use of the IMM in CCC (Cardoso, Silva, Gonçalves, &
Duarte, 2014a; Cardoso, Savickas, & Gonçalves, 2019). In the CCC model,
aspects of the IMM have been slightly modified for use in career counseling
given that Gonçalves originally created IMM to study the processes of
client change during narrative psychotherapy.
The CCC discourse traces client change across problem formulation and
three phases of counseling. After formulating a client's career concern,
Phase I of counseling concentrates on the problem. Counselors help clients
to understand and explore micronarratives or short stories about the
constructs with which they have formed their careers. Phase II then
concentrates on change. In this phase, counselors help clients to deconstruct
the micronarratives and reconstruct a macronarrative that shifts perspective
and prompts new understandings with which to co‐construct plans. And
finally, Phase III concentrates on clients consolidating their transformation,
reviewing plans, and beginning to perform career change. In addition to
different dialogic tasks across the three phases of the intervention,
counselors attend to different types of innovations in clients' narratives.
Gonçalves has labeled three main forms of narrative innovation as
reflection, action, and protest. He distinguishes them when referring to
innovation in the problem narrative (Reflection 1, Action 1, and Protest 1)
or innovation in the process of change (Reflection 2, Action 2, and Protest
2).
It is through innovative moments in client narratives that counseling co‐
constructs career change. The narrative innovations themselves may be
produced by the client, offered by the counselor and accepted by the client,
or suggested by the counselor and developed by the client. When innovative
moments occur in any of these three ways, counselors prompt client
exploration and elaboration of the innovation by asking questions,
responding with empathy, or offering feedback. The following sections
briefly summarize the dialogic tasks and IMM markers of client change
across the three phases of CCC. A free manual explains the CCC discourse
in detail (Savickas, 2019b).
FORMULATE THE PROBLEM
Counseling commences as clients explain their understanding of their career
concern. Then client and counselor work collaboratively to formulate the
career problem in a manner that leads to clear goals for counseling. In
listening to problem narratives, counselors concentrate on clients' initial
attempts to understand the problem [Reflection 1]. Innovative reflections
may include considering what caused the problem, identifying negative
effects of the problem, exploring how the problem impacts the client's life,
and broadening the perspective on the problem. In reflecting on the problem
over time and in different contexts, clients may revise the meaning of past
vocational experiences and foster new ways of thinking and feeling. A
second type of narrative innovation reports previous attempts to deal with
the problem [Action 1]. The actions may include searching for solutions,
seeking information, developing skills, exploring new contexts, and trying
new coping behaviors. A third type of innovative moment occurs when
clients object realistically to the problem's assumptions and prescriptions or
criticize institutions or people who support the problem [Protest 1]. In
addition to formulating the problem and elaborating innovations in the
narrative, counselors at the beginning of counseling assess client
adaptability strategies, agree on goals for counseling, and strengthen the
working alliance.
PHASE I: CONSTRUCTING THE STORY WITH
MICRONARRATIVES
After formulating the problem and agreeing on goals, the next dialogic task
is to have clients examine the constructs with which they have formed their
careers so far. To do so, counselors conduct a career construction interview
during which they elicit micronarratives or short stories about important
incidents, recurrent episodes, and self‐defining moments. Counselors
prompt such stories by asking clients about their role models, manifest
interests, current favorite story, tactical mottoes, and early recollections.
These dialogues provide the first opportunity for clients to examine their
vocational interests, work values, and career goals.
The self‐constructing processes of self‐organizing—especially self‐
awareness and self‐evaluation—play a key role as individuals selectively
become aware of, differentiate, and integrate their knowledge,
competencies, beliefs, and experiences to understand how they have
constructed their careers. The change process at this point is furthered by
deeper understanding of the career constructs, particularly in terms of
needs, interests, and values [Reflection 1]. The change process also
advances if clients deconstruct, question, or refute problematic assumptions
and prescriptions inherent in their career constructions [Protest 1].
PHASE II: RECONSTRUCTING THE STORY WITH A
MACRONARRATIVE
Phase II goes beyond understanding the problem to focus on change. Client
and counselor begin to consider change by reconstructing the
micronarratives into a macronarrative that takes a new perspective on the
client's career. This occurs by integrating the small stories into a large story
that binds them together with a career theme that invests meaning in the
occupational plot. If micronarratives express self‐negating ideas, confining
roles, or cultural barriers, then counselors support clients in thinking
differently about the stories so as to access new meanings that open
possibilities and restart stalled initiatives. The autopoietic processes of self‐
conceiving—especially self‐representation and self‐coherence—play a key
role as clients make sense of themselves, social roles, and the world.
The resulting macronarrative reorganizes experiences and explains what is
at stake in the next episode of the career story. The enhanced self‐clarity
enables clients to make their intentions more apparent to themselves and
their counselors. With this newfound clarity, clients may choose priorities,
form intentions, and envision the next scene in their career story. Based on
this re‐understanding at the end of Phase II, clients sketch new career plans
and affirm the assertiveness needed to enact the plans. Client and counselor
together outline an action agenda that will move the client from the
currently experienced situation to the one currently desired.
During Phase II, the change process is furthered when clients reconsider the
meaning of past vocational experiences and recognize patterns and themes
[Reflection 1]. With this recognition, clients may adopt new ways of
thinking, as they increasingly focus on future actions and an emerging new
identity [Reflection 2]. This includes use of a reflexivity that concentrates
on what has changed and how it has changed by focusing prospective
reflection [Reflection 2] on retrospective reflections [Reflection 1]. Using
reflexivity, clients reposition themselves relative to the career problem, as
they recognize their own influence on the problem and envision the next
scene in their career story. In this regard, counselors listen for Protest 2
innovations in which clients empower themselves to defy demands of the
problem and assertively affirm career plans. “Protest 2” may be closely
followed by “Action 2” innovations that anticipate performing behaviors
that create change.
PHASE III: CONSOLIDATING CHANGE
Phase III concentrates on the clients conceptualizing their transformation.
The major task is to stabilize the new narrative so the changed story takes
hold and becomes permanent. Few clients spontaneously initiate
deliberation on the changes created by counseling. Therefore, counselors
prompt clients to discern the difference between the old story and the
anticipated story as well as conceptualize the process by which they
themselves have authored and authorized the change [Reflexivity].
Recognizing differences between the problematic past and a more adaptive
future expands narrative coherence and continuity. In understanding the
process of change, clients also realize they are not only an actor in that
process but also its author. This realization reinforces personal agency to
mobilize action. At this point, clients often express both an assertiveness
[Protest 2] and emotional grounding that enable them to anticipate enacting
their plan [Action 2]. The autopoietic processes of self‐regulating—
especially self‐direction in setting goals, self‐management in controlling
behavior, and self‐monitoring in evaluating progress—play a key role, as
clients begin to perform the new story. At the end of Phase III,
transformation is consolidated when clients describe the changes they have
achieved, recognize the processes underlying these changes, and exercise
their own authority in telling the new story with intentional self‐regulation.
Closing CCC involves confirming that clients have accomplished the goals
agreed upon at the beginning of counseling. Counselors usually signal the
close with a few sentences that summarize the client's reflexive
conceptualization of the change process. In the end, counseling concludes
with clients substantiating the new career plan by reviewing their intentions
to initiate change and with the counselor encouraging clients to go further
and deeper into the world to answer the questions they brought to
counseling, as they enact a more satisfying life. After completing
counseling, clients perform change by engaging in new projects that
advance self‐making, identity‐shaping, and career‐constructing.
A CASE STUDY
The following case study explicates career‐constructing by describing the
use of the CCC discourse to assist a client co‐construct a viable and suitable
identity narrative that enabled her to make educational–vocational choices
and take actions to lead a more satisfying life.
FORMULATE THE PROBLEM
When the counselor first met Elaine, she was a 20‐year‐old full‐time
college student who had just completed the fall semester of her sophomore
year. During the spring semester, she must declare her major. She lived at
home and commuted to campus. She found it hard to deal with the pressure
exerted by her mother to declare a major in premed [Protest 1]. Elaine
reported that after talking with two different career counselors, she was
even more undecided [Action 1]. In describing her situation, Elaine said,
“floating in space, no direction, all dark. I am afraid to choose the wrong
thing. I could make a wrong choice. Then, I would not live up to other
peoples' expectations. I am failing at what I should do” [Reflection 1].
Elaine guessed that she would declare a premed major and then enter
medical school, yet she was unsure about this choice. She wanted the
counselor to help her explore whether medicine was the right choice for her.
She sometimes thought engineering would be a better choice, and she took
an engineering class during the fall semester [Action 1]. She believed that
chemical engineering might be a good choice, yet civil engineering seemed
easier. She had requested information from another college that had
integrated computers into their chemical engineering curriculum [Action 1].
She was attracted to computers and liked the idea that if she transferred to
that college she could live in a dormitory [Reflection 1]. In response to the
question of how counseling could be useful to her, Elaine responded that
she did not know why she could not choose an academic major, she needed
help in making a choice, and wondered whether medicine would be the
right choice for her.
In thinking with clients, as they present the concern that brought them to
counseling, practitioners do at least three things. First, they make sense of
the problem narrative by considering it as dimly forecasting the
development of a thematic concern. A client's problem narrative prepares
the ground, foreshadows the plot, and establishes a mood. Elaine had
trouble making decisions, felt pressure from her mother to choose a premed
major, and feared that she may remain confused after this third experience
of counseling. Second, counselors make an initial assessment of a client's
adaptability strategy. Elaine showed concern and curiosity yet not control
and confidence. And third, the client and counselor establish counseling
goals. With Elaine, the first goal was to increase a sense of career control by
assisting her to understand why she has difficulty making decisions and
enhance her decisional skill. The second goal involved building the
confidence needed for her to take action in the real world.
PHASE I: CONSTRUCTING THE CAREER STORY WITH
MICRONARRATIVES
The genius of a counselor is in asking questions, not in providing answers.
Clients usually know implicitly the answers yet cannot formulate words
with which to think about them. Often, they are unaware that they are
unaware (Morf & Koole, 2016). To explicate their implicit unthought
known (Bollas, 1987), career construction dialogues prompt client to
deliberate and say what they know. Responding to the interview questions
enables clients to hear their own stories and witness themselves in the
company of an expert consultant. Clients intuitively select the stories that
they themselves must hear. So very often, experienced practitioners hear
explicitly in the problem narrative the counseling outcome a client
implicitly seeks. However, the counselor's role is not to state that solution
but to help clients hear their own stories and their purpose in choosing
them, as they gradually come to understand their problem from a new
perspective.
To prompt clients to reflect on what they know implicitly, career
construction practitioners begin with the first story‐crafting question in the
career construction interview (CCI; Savickas, 1989, 2015) by inquiring
about characteristics of three role models to learn about the client as a social
actor. Elaine stated that Anne of Green Gables had spirit and a temper, set
goals and went after them, did what she wanted, showed integrity, and had
fun. The heroine in the book A Wrinkle in Time led her friends in a
showdown against creatures trying to take over their minds. She thought of
ways to stick together and fight the creatures. Laura, in the book Little
House on the Prairie, had wild ideas of things to do and enjoyed competing
with and outdoing others. Second, the counselor listened for manifest
interests and preferred occupational environments, as Elaine responded to a
question about favorite television shows, magazines, and websites. She
liked Vogue because it is about fashion, BusinessWeek because it is about
advertising campaigns, and Details because it is about men's clothing. Her
favorite television show was Laverne & Shirley because they do things off
the norm without getting into trouble. The third story‐crafting question
deals with a client's implicit script for the next occupational move. When
the counselor asked Elaine about her current favorite story from a book or
movie, she said it was The Search of Mary Kay Malloy, the story of an Irish
girl's voyage to America by herself. As for her advice to herself, Elaine
reported two favorite sayings. The first, from Curious George, was “I am
curious about things.” The second was “Do it well,” which to her meant
nearly perfectly. To complete the CCI, the fifth story‐crafting question
aimed to learn her perspective on the current career concern. Elaine
reported the following early recollection:
“Going to Disneyland with my grandparents and uncle and his
girlfriend. I was in the back of the camper trying to sing and dance for
my grandmother. She told me to sit down so I would not get hurt. I got
on my uncle's girlfriend's nerves by trying to talk to her. I tried to talk
but she did not think I should move around at the same time.”
Elaine gave the story this headline: “Little girl annoyed because she must
sit still.” The headline succinctly states her perspective on the career
problem.
ASSESSMENT PROTOCOL
Before beginning counseling with clients, practitioners review the CCI
stories to assess their meaning in relation to the client's goals for
counseling, and prepare to retell the stories in a manner that describes the
social actor's characteristics, highlights the motivated agents' manifest
interests, and envisions the autobiographical author's script for extending
the occupational plot. To guide this assessment, CCC discourse provides a
protocol with eight elements. The assessment protocol can aid practitioners
heed the advice of the novelist Eudora Welty (1983)—listen for a story
rather than listen to a story. Listening to a story means absorbing it by being
passive and receptive. Listening for a story means actively discerning and
collaboratively shaping it. To focus their discernment, counselors keep in
mind that, from many available stories, clients tell those that they
themselves in the moment need to hear.
To make sense of Elaine's stories, the counselor first reviewed how she
wanted to use the counseling experience. Elaine asked the counselor to help
her understand why she could not choose as well as move her closer to
making a choice, whether medicine or something else. Using her goals to
contextualize her career stories, the counselor examined the vignettes for
instances of career control and experiences with making decisions.
Second, after considering her goals for counseling, the counselor examined
Elaine's early recollection, inferring that it alluded to the perspective from
which she viewed her career problem. The first verb in an early recollection
usually indicates a particularly important form of movement for a client. In
Elaine's early recollection, the first verb was “going.” This may mean that
she wants to move, be on the go, and travel. The counselor then inspected
the remaining stories for evidence to support this idea. The inspection found
the phrases “moving around” and “dancing” and then further support in her
favorite book, which tells the story of a girl's journey to another country.
“Singing and dancing” seem important to her. She is enthusiastic about life.
Also “try” appears three times in the early recollection, suggesting that
Elaine may be industrious and persistent in pursuing difficult goals.
“Talking” also appears in the early recollection, so she likes to
communicate and attempts to convince others to change their minds.
However, when Elaine tries to talk, her audience will not listen. And finally,
in the early recollection, an adult woman tells her to sit down and stop
dancing. The counselor recognized a tension in Elaine's perspective
between wanting to express herself yet being told to sit still. It is important
to remember that her early recollection does not cause her behavior; rather,
she has re‐membered it to convey her perspective on the current situation.
Third, the counselor considered the headline that Elaine composed for the
early recollection as a rhetorical compression that expresses the gist of her
story from her perspective. From Elaine's vantage point, she is a “little girl”
who is annoyed because powerful others stop her from enthusiastically
pursuing her dreams. They will not listen to her and insist that she stay put
where they place her. It is worthwhile to read the headline in two ways. On
the one hand, it indicates in the here‐and‐now, the perspective that Elaine
takes on her career problem. On the other hand, it may suggest a career
theme that will shape her occupational plot. She wants the counselor to
encourage her movement and her gusto for life, as well as teach her how to
persuade others to accept her plan rather than steal her life.
Fourth, the counselor attended to Elaine as a social actor by considering the
characteristics she values. How Elaine described her role models reveals
core elements in her self‐concept and articulated how she wishes to act in
the world. Elaine's key figures model spirit, enthusiasm, playfulness, goals,
competitiveness, persistence, temper, fighting wrong‐headed authority, and
enlisting compatriots in these battles. These qualities find expression in her
other stories. She is not frightened by wild ideas and doing things off the
norm as long as they are fun and do not get her into trouble
(promotion/prevention hybrid).
Fifth, the counselor sought to understand how Elaine was attempting to
solve her problems in constructing a career, and which occupations might
help her actively master the problems she faced. To do so, the counselor
compared the perspective narrated in the early recollection to the tentative
solutions displayed by her role models. In Elaine's case, the early
recollection described a playful girl being told to sit still and do as she is
told. This, of course, resonates with her current dilemma—sitting still as her
mother pressures her to declare a premed major. The sitting still might be
her metaphor for indecision. The counselor summarized this understanding
by drawing a lifeline from the perspective of sitting still to the effort to
increase the confidence she needs to fight for her independence, as her role
models might.
Sixth, the counselor appraised Elaine's vocational preferences by viewing
her manifest interests through the lens of Holland's (1997) realistic,
investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional (RIASEC)
hexagon. She showed interest in fashion, clothing design, and advertising.
She likes to do things off the norm without getting into trouble. Looking
through the RIASEC lens, the counselor sees that Elaine most resembles the
artistic and enterprising types. Individuals with strong interest in creating
and persuading usually show potential for creative leadership and
innovative problem‐solving, yet do not fit easily into occupational niches.
They also like to travel, have adventures, and display uniqueness.
Enterprising–artistic types also seem more comfortable being second in
command or on a team because the first in command usually resembles the
enterprising–conventional type. The lack of investigative characteristics
among Elaine's manifest interests seemed atypical for someone in
engineering (IRE) or medicine (IRS). To brainstorm possible jobs, the
counselor consulted the O*NET to find occupations coded as enterprising–
artistic and artistic–enterprising. Among those listed were advertising,
fashion design, and public relations. Adding realistic to artistic–enterprising
identified the occupations that design new computer systems technology,
improve existing uses of computers, and solve complex problems in
computing for business, medicine, and other fields. If Elaine pursues
engineering, then it may lead to a specialty that emphasizes management or
computer systems. If she pursues medicine, then it may lead to an
enterprising‐type specialty such as hospital administration or artistic‐type
specialties such as dermatology and plastic surgery.
Seventh, the counselor turned to Elaine's anticipated script that imagines a
young girl who travels the country in search of herself. Elaine is beginning
to live this script, as she searches for herself during counseling. She is using
an informational strategy for forming a vocational identity, yet has not
made a commitment to an occupational choice. Elaine was fighting off her
mother's attempt to confer on her the vocational identity of a physician. Her
vocational indecisiveness was a temporary position that had her sitting in a
prevention‐focused position of doing what she “ought” rather than a
promotion‐focused position of pursuing what she “wants.” CCC probably
should concentrate on identity interventions and occupational exploration‐
in‐breadth rather than exploration‐in‐depth. Her tactical advice to herself
for moving forward suggested that she combine being curious (promotion
focus) with doing things right (prevention focus).
Eighth, the counselor profiled Elaine's career adaptability. Her strategy
coincided with her indecisiveness and identity ambiguity. She was coping
with the vocational development task of crystallizing a vocational identity
and tentative preferences for occupational fields as a prelude to specifying
an academic major and occupational choice. She was deeply concerned
about the future, as shown by her entering career counseling for a third
time. From her remarks, it was clear that the major deficiency in her adapt‐
abilities was the absence of career control. The counselor decided to
encourage Elaine to view her indecision as a strength, not a weakness.
Sitting still in indecision was her way of fighting powerful creatures who
are trying to control her career. She showed some curiosity about possible
selves and alternative occupations. For example, she has written to another
college for information. She already knows implicitly that exploratory
behavior is paramount because her advice to herself was to be curious. She
could use more confidence in her ability to make it happen without doing
things perfectly. With an increased sense of control and more information‐
seeking, her career confidence will grow.
The final assessment task in CCC is to synthesize the micronarratives into a
macronarrative. To do this, the counselor composed a life portrait
(Lawrence‐Lightfoot & Hoffman Davis, 1997) to portray Elaine's situation,
leaving room to insert and elaborate the finishing touches that she must add
during counseling. The portrait included tentative answers to implicit
questions such as “Who am I?” “What is my quest?” and “How can I grow
and flourish?” The portrait emphasized the major career theme, affirming
its significance and authenticating its validity. The counselor used the theme
to unite the meaning of the client's separate career stories into a narrative
structure that integrated the micronarratives. To enhance Elaine's ability to
decide, the macronarrative highlighted what was at stake and the choices to
be made. After the counselor sketched a portrayal that included the
character (innovative leader or leader of innovation) whom the client
wishes to play, the stage on which she wishes to locate the action (travel
and adventure), the script she wishes to enact now (self‐discovery), the
advice she gives herself (be curious yet conscientious), and her point of
view on the problem (struggling to stop sitting still and live with
enthusiasm), the counselor was ready to engage Elaine in a dialogue
directed toward the goals she had brought to counseling.
PHASE II: RECONSTRUCTING THE STORY WITH A
MACRONARRATIVE
Good movie directors set up a vista before they take viewers into a scene
and then a moment. Thus, to begin the second session, the counselor
delineated the vista by reviewing Elaine's response to the opening inquiry
regarding how she wanted to use counseling. Then the counselor presented
the life portrait in a way that highlighted her developmental trajectory,
especially her move from problem to strength, so that she could actually
feel her own movement from tension to intention. The counselor presented
the portrait as a tentative sketch and invited Elaine to amend and alter it to
fit her understanding. In the end, the validity of the co‐constructed portrayal
was arbitrated by its utility to the client.
The portrait depicted Elaine as fighting powerful creatures who are trying to
steal her mind or, in this particular instance, her career. She rebels by sitting
still and refusing to decide in their favor while she marshals personal
resources and social support to make her own choice. Then the counselor
paused to get her reaction and revisions. The counselor explored her
feelings about the portrait, because affect helps to create meaning. They
also looked at her strengths, especially the personal characteristics of which
she was most proud. They then discussed how the problems she currently
faced were really the best solutions that she could come up with so far. For
example, Elaine and her counselor reconstructed her indecision from being
a problem to being the best solution she has found for trying to fight off the
creatures who are trying to steal her career by making her sit still for what
they want. In this way, the counselor encouraged her to use her own
language, especially her own favorite metaphors and verbs, as a means of
controlling the situation and increasing feelings of agency. Then the
counselor helped Elaine understand how her early recollection aligned with
her interests in activities labeled as artistic (singing and dancing) and
enterprising (communicating and persuading). In the end, Elaine and her
counselor co‐constructed the version of the life portrait that she wanted to
use to address her career concerns.
Co‐construction of Elaine's career narrative already had addressed her first
concern—understanding why she did not, rather than cannot, make a
decision regarding her academic major. Thus, the counselor moved to her
second question—how well would a career in medicine suit her. They
considered her manifest interests and how she might wish to position
herself in society. They discussed her interests in being a leader, manager,
or supervisor who is independent, creative, and on the go. The counselor
commented that if she were to become a physician, then she would
probably be attracted to an enterprising medical specialty such as public
health or an artistic medical specialty such as dermatology. They talked
about exploring majors in computer science (because she mentioned that
she had requested information from another college where they have
integrated computers into their chemical engineering curriculum),
advertising, marketing, and business management. They also discussed the
importance of being on the move, traveling, and having adventures, as she
thinks of possible selves and future scenarios. Most of all, they discussed
discovering ways she could flourish in places where self‐definition and self‐
determination would be possible.
Having addressed, to her satisfaction, the issue of how poorly a career in
medicine suited her and which other occupations merited exploration, the
counselor turned to her third question, which was how to move toward
choosing a major. They discussed ways forward from where she now sits,
including alternative resolutions and possible selves. The counselor
explained that development arises from activity and overcoming difficulties
met in the world. They then engaged in a conversation about self‐
construction activities that might move her closer to being the person she
wanted to be, such as working at a summer job away from home, living in a
college dormitory, taking a workshop on assertiveness, and meeting with a
counselor to discuss family issues.
PHASE III: CONSOLIDATING CHANGE
In the few minutes remaining in the second session, the counselor prompted
Elaine to compare her old story and the anticipated story as well as
conceptualize the process by which she had authored and authorized the
change. Elaine explained that recognizing differences between her
problematic past and anticipated future began when she viewed her current
situation in light of the perspective in her early recollection. She thought
that this was the moment in which she shifted her perspective. Elaine stated
that the transformation was reinforced by comparing the early recollection
headline to the characteristics she admired in her role models. She
conceptualized the difference between the old and new story as sitting still
in her past versus getting up to go into her future. In summarizing her plans,
Elaine highlighted her own agency in changing the perspective in the
problem narrative to her new outlook on the anticipated story. She was
encouraged by the conversation and felt that looking back over her life had
given her the ability to move forward and the resolve to do so. They agreed
to meet again during the summer.
FOLLOW‐UP
When visiting the counselor the next summer, Elaine reported that she had
taken a continuing education course in assertiveness, worked with a college
counselor for five sessions to improve her relationship with her mother and
reduce her perfectionism, lived away from home while working a summer
job at an amusement park, moved into a college dormitory, and completed
elective courses in computer science and advertising. She had declared a
major in chemical engineering with a minor in computer science, yet still
wondered if marketing would better fit her. With regard to the concept of
the “unthought known” (Bollas, 1987), recall from Elaine's opening
statement that she had requested information from another college where
they have better integrated computers into their chemical engineering
curriculum.
The counselor next saw Elaine after she graduated with a major in chemical
engineering and a minor in computer science. She told the counselor how
much she had enjoyed her courses but detested the sexism exhibited by
many of her male instructors. To combat their bias, she had organized a
club for females who were majoring in engineering. She was proud of what
they had achieved in combating the sexism of those who would steal their
careers. She was even more proud of the occupational position that she had
recently secured. In two weeks, she would begin a job as a computer
systems analyst for a large chemical company. This position required
traveling to regional branches throughout the United States where with a
team of colleagues she would solve problems in computer systems.
Furthermore, Elaine told the counselor that her mother was proud of her
accomplishments and pleased with her prospects. Elaine looked forward to
being a woman on the go, one encouraged by a mother who now tells her
not to sit still when she faces sexism at work. She glowed as she told the
counselor how she had used the things that they had talked about to help her
friends make career choices. Six years later, after obtaining a master's
degree in systems engineering consulting, she was working as a consultant
in chemical product design and enjoyed designing clothing during her
leisure time.
CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICE
IMPLICATIONS
CCT explains the interpretive and interpersonal process that individuals as
actors, agents, and authors use to make a self, shape an identity, and build a
career. The theory highlights the self‐constructing processes of organizing,
regulating, and conceiving that produce cognitive schemas and performance
strategies for coping with vocational tasks, occupational transitions, and
work troubles. Concentrating on self‐constructing processes and
constructed patterns may be useful to practitioners and researchers in
comprehending an individual's behaviors as a vocational actor, strivings as
an occupational agent, and explanations as a career author.
The discourse about CCC concentrates on clients making meaning, forming
intentions, and taking purposive action to deal with their career challenges
and changes. During counseling, practitioners assist clients to articulate
vocational stories, deconstruct demoralizing beliefs, reconstruct an identity
narrative, co‐construct the next episode in an occupational plot, and take
actions to manage their careers and live more satisfying lives.
Practitioners who wish to develop their skill at CCC have access to free
resources at www.Vocopher.com, including a manual, workbook, and two
inventories. To learn more about the counseling process, they may consult
the Career Construction Counseling Manual (Savickas, 2019b). My Career
Story (Savickas & Hartung, 2012) is a client workbook that practitioners
may use in delivering the intervention. Two psychometric inventories
designed to measure components in the career adaptation model are the
Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale (Porfeli & Savickas, 2012) and the Student
Career Construction Inventory (Savickas, Porfeli, Hilton, & Savickas,
2018). For advanced study of career‐constructing as a narrative
intervention, practitioners may consult an article that explains innovative
moments in the construction of career change (Cardoso et al., 2019) and a
special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior that deals with
reflexivity by career clients (Savickas & Guichard, 2016). The American
Psychological Association has published a book on counseling for career
construction (Savickas, 2019c) and two DVDs that show live
demonstrations of the intervention. The first DVD shows CCC completed in
a single session (Savickas, 2006). The second DVD (Savickas, 2009) shows
three sessions each for the cases of Ryan and Michael, which were analyzed
separately by Cardoso, Silva, Gonçalves, and Duarte (2014b, 2014c) using
the IMM. The case of Ryan was also analyzed by Taveira, Ribeiro,
Cardoso, and Silva (2017) using the Therapeutic Collaboration Coding
System to demonstrate how collaboration becomes therapeutic.
The first step in developing greater narrative competence in conducting
CCC may be to explore and elaborate your own career story and then how
you use the profession of counseling to advance that story as well as make a
social contribution. It may be useful to complete the My Career Story
workbook yourself, and maybe review the results with a colleague or
mentor.
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CHAPTER 7
Psychology of Working Theory
DAVID L. BLUSTEIN1 AND RYAN D. DUFFY2
1Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
2University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
The field of career choice and development has generated a number of
robust theories, many of which are summarized in this volume. Some of the
notable theories were well‐established by the end of the twentieth century,
which seemed to provide a natural marker point for a serious appraisal of
the state of research and practice in career development. This period of
reflection and critique provided inspiration for the development of a new
and different approach to studying and intervening in people's work lives—
psychology of working theory (PWT; Blustein, 2001, 2006; Duffy,
Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016). (We use PWT to refer to the full body of
work that includes the initial conceptual framework known as psychology
of working framework [PWF] and the more recent theoretical model.) The
earliest contributions by Blustein (2001, 2006) emerged during a period
when career choice and development theories tended to focus on helping
people with some degree of volition make decisions about their work‐based
options and adjust to their work lives. PWT has been designed to expand
the scope of our field's extant perspectives and to provide an inclusive set of
ideas to support all those who work and who wish to work (Blustein, 2006,
2013; Blustein, Kenny, Di Fabio, & Guichard, 2019; Duffy et al., 2016). In
this chapter, we provide a historical overview of the intellectual and social
foundations of PWT, review its major tenets and research support, and
provide implications for counseling practice and systemic interventions.
HISTORY AND INTELLECTUAL ROOTS OF
PWT
The history of PWT, particularly its intellectual roots, dates further back
than Blustein's (2001, 2006) initial publications in this area. In actuality, the
field of career development has long had an interest in those whose work
lives were challenging. Parsons's (1909) original work generated a
framework for vocational guidance in North America by focusing on the
lives of immigrants and working class individuals from urban communities
who were struggling to earn a living (Pope, 2015). Over time, Parsons's
contributions, along with others in North America and across the globe (see
Hartung, 2012, for a review of international influences), spawned a
movement that sought to facilitate “wise choices” for students, adults in
transition, clients emerging from physical and psychiatric struggles, and all
others who strove to make a living via work (Pope, 2015). The post‐World
War II years brought a vibrant economy to selected (although not all)
communities across the globe (especially the Global North), which gave
impetus to the notion that developing a viable work life would also
encompass finding a career that would be a “good fit” in relation to
interests, values, and abilities (Blustein, 2017). Although vocational
guidance, in its earliest iterations, had sought to maximize choices for a
wide array of career decision‐makers, the post‐World War II economic era
fostered a sense that the career development enterprise, particularly in
North America, ought to focus on those with relative access to educational
and social capital (see Blustein, 2017, for a review).
In the mid‐part of the twentieth century, theories were developed to describe
the career choice and development process, using ideas from developmental
(Super, 1980; Vondracek, Lerner, & Schulenberg, 1986), trait–factor
(Holland, 1997; Lofquist & Dawis, 1991), and cognitive and social
cognitive learning theories (Krumboltz, 1979; Lent, Brown, & Hackett,
1994), as well as theories from outside of psychology (e.g., sociology;
Johnson & Mortimer, 2002; Roberts, 1995). Many of these theories,
particularly the work of Super, Lent et al., Krumboltz, Roberts, among
others, acknowledged that volition was not a given for many people
navigating their work lives. However, the emphasis in many industrial and
postindustrial states was to focus on the career development of people who
were moving into professional, technical, and managerial roles and who had
a relative degree of volition in their work lives (Blustein, 2006, 2017).
At the same time, the later decades of the twentieth century were a fertile
time for scholars, practitioners, and activists concerned about women,
people of color, poor and working‐class individuals, and others on the
margins of the labor force. When considered collectively, these prescient
contributors were telling a somewhat different story about work and career
that focused on those who were not part of the “great big beautiful
tomorrow” of the post‐World War II era (e.g., Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987;
Harmon & Farmer, 1983; Smith, 1983). A particularly important
manifestation of these efforts was the infusion of feminist thought into
vocational psychology, leading to the identification of social forces that
created unequal conditions for women at work (e.g., Betz & Fitzgerald,
1987). Similar initiatives emerging from studies of race and culture
identified the pernicious impact of racism and other forms of discrimination
that date back eons, but continue to plague our communities (e.g., Smith,
1983). Career development theories also began to shed some of their
insularity by examining diverse life roles (e.g., Super, 1980) and the impact
of social and economic forces on access to meaningful work (e.g.,
Krumboltz, 1979; Lent et al., 1994).
DEFINITIONAL DEBATES
In 1993, Richardson published a seminal article that brought together and
advanced many of these critiques, advocating for a critical examination of
the nature and role of work in people's lives. One of the notable
contributions from Richardson's article was her critique of the reliance on
the term “career” as the foundation of vocational psychology and career
development. Richardson argued that career was “embedded in an ethos of
self‐centered individualism and in an ethnocentric conception of the self…”
(1993, p. 428). She argued that the term “work” was more inclusive and
connected people to their social roles, responsibilities, and communities. In
the initial PWF publications, Blustein (2001, 2006) argued that the notion
of career is not sufficiently inclusive, as it implies a level of volition and
intentionality that arguably is not the prevailing experience for most
workers around the globe. By contrast, a focus on working provided a way
of dignifying the efforts of all who are engaged in efforts to earn a living,
while also including those who are devoted to caregiving. In addition,
Blustein (2006) proposed that working furnishes people with an identity
that serves to cohere their psychological, social, and economic interactions.
The emergence of a work‐based discourse in career development has
provided a means of expanding the mission and impact of research,
practice, and advocacy efforts. Lent and Brown (2013) offered an insightful
analysis of the various terms that are used in the career choice and
development literature. They argued that the term career should be
maintained in our literature because of its history in our field, its relevance
to clients, and the observation that many people without as much volition
do indeed have work lives that may provide meaning and purpose. We are
sympathetic to this position, which underscores a reality that many people
do experience work in a developmental way and that there may be sources
of meaning and purpose even in jobs that are not necessarily a “good fit” or
satisfying. Moreover, the career discourse remains vibrant in vocational
psychology, which would support continued attention to careers across the
life span.
However, in PWT, we focus on working which we believe has the capacity
to connect our efforts broadly in career development to a wider array of
colleagues (particularly outside of psychology), client populations, and
advocacy efforts. As such, we are comfortable with using the terms work
and career; however, we propose that they should not be used
interchangeably. In PWT, work is the broader concept, encompassing a
wider array of activities and projects—as well as caregiving work—that is
performed by people to meet needs for survival as well as higher‐order
needs such as social contribution, interpersonal connection, and self‐
determination. A key attribute of our conceptualization of working is its
integral connection to human activities that have been essential in the
existence, survival, and well‐being of most adults across the globe
throughout the eons. By contrast, vocational psychologists generally refer to
career as “a sequence or collection of jobs one has held over the course of
one's work life” (Lent & Brown, 2013, p. 8). For many scholars and
practitioners, career also implies some degree of self‐determination or
agency in designing and implementing one's direction and plans (e.g.,
Savickas, 2002; Super, 1980).
Another complex definitional space is in differentiating between PWT and
its predecessor—the PWF. PWF began with a critique of traditional career
discourse and a conceptual framework for the psychological study of
working. Based on a synthesis of existing contributions of PWF (Blustein,
2001, 2006, 2013), the major features of this body of work include the
following ideas, assumptions, and perspectives:
Work functions as a major context for individual well‐being and the
welfare of communities.
Work shares psychological space with many other salient life domains
with mutual and recursive impact.
Access to work is constrained by powerful social, economic, and
political forces.
Working includes both efforts in the marketplace and in caregiving
contexts.
Psychological and systemic interventions need to include all of those
who work and who want to work (Blustein, Kenny, Di Fabio et al.,
2019, p. 5).
As an outgrowth of PWF, Duffy et al. (2016) developed a more specified
linear model—PWT—which sought to integrate the broad‐based ideas in
Blustein's (2006) original work and subsequent research into a theoretical
statement that is well‐suited for quantitative empirical research. Rather than
maintaining two related sets of terms (PWF and PWT), we have decided to
integrate the growing movement to study and intervene in the work lives of
people across the globe by using PWT as the inclusive term for the Duffy et
al. model as well as the broader body of work that has emerged in the past
two decades.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING FRAMEWORK:
THE FOUNDATION OF PSYCHOLOGY OF
WORKING THEORY
The cohering agenda of PWF has been to deepen our understanding about
the complex ways in which people relate to work in their psychological,
relational, social, and economic lives. In the earliest statement about PWF,
Blustein (2001) critiqued the status quo in career development and outlined
the direction for a deep and inclusive psychological study of working. Core
elements of this argument include an open embrace of intellectual and
epistemological diversity, encompassing both logical positivist and social
constructionist perspectives. In addition, Blustein proposed that work
should be examined from multiple life roles and from diverse
methodologies.
CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS
Central in the development of PWF was the articulation of a social justice
agenda that countered the notion that science and practice should
necessarily aspire to be value free (Blustein, McWhirter, & Perry, 2005).
The overriding mission of PWF was to develop a body of knowledge that
would describe work‐related experiences and behavior and that would
inform change efforts at the individual and systemic levels. Building on the
innovative work of Prilleltensky (1997), Blustein et al. (2005) adopted the
emancipatory communitarian perspective as a means of articulating a
specific set of values that fit the mission of PWF. The emancipatory aspect
of Prilleltensky's perspective captured the liberation agenda of PWF by
describing how many existing social and economic policies and practices
served to constrain access to opportunities. Moreover, the emancipatory
perspective provided a relevant body of knowledge about how to create
sustainable changes in social and economic contexts that would support the
promotion of decent and dignified work for all. The communitarian aspect
of this perspective affirms the need for collaboration and power‐sharing,
including the participation of the communities that are the target for a given
intervention or initiative. This metaperspective provided PWF with a
roadmap to create a change agenda to identify and transform conditions that
have created lack of access to work for so many people around the globe.
PWF also included the development of a taxonomy, which integrated
existing formulations of the ways that working functions in fulfilling basic
human needs (Blustein, 2006). At its best, working has the capacity to meet
needs for survival/power, social connection/social contribution, and self‐
determination. Survival needs are met when work allows individuals access
to food, shelter, and social capital. Social connection/contribution needs are
met when work allows individuals to connect with others in the workplace
as well as to the broader society (Duffy et al., 2016). Self‐determination
needs refer to “the experience of being engaged in activities that are
intrinsically or extrinsically motivating in a meaningful and self‐regulated
fashion” (Duffy et al., 2016; p. 139; Ryan & Deci, 2002).
Another key feature of PWF is its interdisciplinary nature. Building on
literature in sociology (e.g., Johnson & Mortimer, 2002; Wilson, 1996) and
other areas within psychology (e.g., community and critical psychology;
Prilleltensky, 1997), PWF has included macrolevel factors at the same level
of analysis as psychological factors. The macrolevel factors included labor
market conditions, the full array of marginalized and oppressed social
identities (e.g., race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, social class,
ability/disability status, ageism), historical and political forces, and
economic factors (Blustein, 2006). At the psychological level, PWF has
identified the important role of work volition and critical consciousness.
Arguing that the question of volition was a missing piece in existing career
choice and development theories, Blustein (2006) proposed that a
comprehensive understanding of work in the human experience needed to
explicitly incorporate volition, which refers to the degree to which
individuals have perceived ability to choose desired careers.
Building on the emancipatory communitarian perspective, Blustein argued
that the concept of critical consciousness would serve a significant function
in people's working lives. Critical consciousness, derived from Freire's
(2007) work on liberation pedagogy, describes the importance of
developing a critical perspective about the complex causes of macrolevel
factors and individual psychological development. As reflected in PWF,
critical consciousness has particular relevance for career practitioners as
well as their clients (e.g., Diemer, 2009; Diemer & Blustein, 2006). For
practitioners, critical consciousness fosters a systemic analysis of client
input and informs complex and nuanced analyses of issues that arise. For
clients, critical consciousness functions to reduce self‐blame, enhance
agency in dealing with stressors, and mobilize collective and community
support (Diemer, Rapa, Voight, & McWhirter, 2016).
PWF also has informed counseling practice and systemic interventions,
which will be presented toward the conclusion of the chapter. In the
following section, we review research and theory development that has
been generated from PWF, which set the stage for the development of the
PWT linear model.
RESEARCH AND THEORY DEVELOPMENT
Since the first publications introducing PWF, considerable research and
theory development has served to enhance the depth and scope of a
psychologically informed examination of working. In this section, we
highlight the major themes of these efforts.
Psychological experience of working. One of the most notable critiques
that emerged from PWF and related contributions (e.g., Richardson, 1993)
was the identification of the relative distance that existed between scholars
and many career practitioners in relation to the lived experience of people at
work. This criticism was particularly relevant in relation to sources of
marginalization, which often left communities of color and poor/working
class on the margins of career development theory and practice. To address
this gap, qualitative methods, based on interviews or written responses,
have been used to explore how people understand and make meaning of
working.
Chaves et al. (2004) analyzed written responses of urban high school
students which explored their definitions of working, their family's views of
work, and whether they would work if they had access to money without
working. The findings from 80 randomly selected responses (from an
overall sample of most of the 9th grade students in two urban high schools)
revealed that working to sustain oneself financially emerged as a major
theme. However, a majority of participants also indicated that they would
continue to work even if they had access to financial support without work.
In a qualitative study using grounded theory methods, Eggerth, DeLaney,
Flynn, and Jacobson (2012) explored the input from focus groups with 53
Latina immigrant workers in the United States. The participants in the
Eggerth et al. study identified the challenges of an excessive workload,
work hazards, cultural tensions, family–work balance, and sexual
harassment as central concerns in their work lives. These factors underscore
the complex and intersectional aspects of work, which is particularly
challenging for individuals who are on the margins.
Relational aspects of working. A key aspect of PWF has been the focus on
the relational embeddedness of working. Outside of family life, working is
one of the most important contexts that provides people with access to
relational supports and connections. Yet, working can evoke relational
stress, as people need to manage hierarchical relationships with people who
may not be supportive or understanding. The advent of the relational
revolution of the late twentieth century, which sought to affirm natural
human needs for connection (e.g., Gilligan, 1982), began to influence
vocational psychology prior to the development of PWF via applications of
Bowlby's (1988) attachment theory to traditional career development issues,
such as career exploration and decision‐making (e.g., Blustein, Prezioso, &
Schultheiss, 1995). By the early twenty‐first century, research and theory
development emerged that sought to explore the relational context of
working (e.g., Blustein, 2011; Richardson, 1993). A number of studies
identified the contribution of adults from family, community, and school
settings in supporting students, as they navigated the developmental
challenges of the school‐to‐work transition (e.g., Kenny & Bledsoe, 2005;
Kenny, Blustein, Chaves, Grossman, & Gallagher, 2003).
In a review of the research on relationships and work in an adult context,
Kenny and Medvide (2013) affirmed the importance of social support at
work and also noted the potential for relational problems to affect worker's
well‐being. They reported that workplace bullying and work–family
conflict can become serious stressors for people. The authors also
summarized research on the importance of supportive relationships in the
work‐related journeys of women who have experienced intimate partner
violence (e.g., Chronister & McWhirter, 2006).
Social class, poverty, and marginalization. The shift to a more explicitly
contextual view of working has encompassed attention to the role of social
class, poverty, and the impact of social identities in one's work life. A
substantive literature in sociology and economics has clearly implicated
economic and social affordances such as good schools, decent health care,
safe housing, and secure neighborhoods as critical elements in shaping the
educational, relational, and vocational lives of youth and adults (e.g.,
Roberts, 1995; Wilson, 1996). PWF offered a more psychologically
informed examination of the ways in which social class, poverty, and
marginalization affected people, as they interacted with the work‐related
tasks in their lives.
Two studies by Blustein and colleagues in the late 1990s and early 2000s
(e.g., Blustein et al., 2002; Blustein, Phillips, Jobin‐Davis, Finkelberg, &
Roarke, 1997) examined in‐depth interviews with 60 non‐college‐educated
young adults between the ages of 18 and 29. A key takeaway from both of
these studies was the significant influence of social class in determining the
nature and trajectory of the school‐to‐work transition. First, Blustein et al.
(1997) found that the broader social and economic context played a major
role in the lives of the non‐college‐educated youth in the sample. The job
and career opportunities that many of the participants had attained were
constricted, and often left them in situations wherein even their more
adaptive psychological skills (such as planning and exploring) were not
sufficient to help them find work that paid a decent wage and offered
dignified conditions.
In the Blustein et al. (2002) study with the same data set, the impact of
social class became much clearer. In this study, the sample was divided into
two cohorts of working adults—one cohort was from the upper third of
socioeconomic status groups (SES; as indexed by parental income) and the
second cohort was from the lower third of the SES groups. The findings
revealed that the young adults in the upper third of SES were more satisfied
with their jobs, which seemed congruent with their interests; by contrast,
the responses from the participants in the lower third SES sample reported
that they were not generally satisfied. Even more revealing was the sense
that the participants in the higher SES group viewed their jobs as a
temporary stop in their career journey, which they felt would ultimately
lead to more meaningful careers. The participants from the lower SES
group seemed to be “traveling on a one‐way journey to a world of unskilled
and dead‐end jobs” (Blustein et al., 2002; p. 321).
PWF also has informed a number of studies of marginalized communities
with a focus on the pernicious impact of race and racism in the workplace.
As an example, Flores and her colleagues (Flores et al., 2011) conducted an
intensive qualitative study of 11 Latinx immigrants to explore the nature of
their work experiences; this study found that the PWF needs taxonomy was
a useful way of documenting the impact of marginalization on the lives of
these particular immigrant workers. The difficulty of the jobs that the
participants had, coupled with anxieties about the immigration process,
served to create difficult work‐based contexts. At the same time, the
striving for a self‐determined and meaningful work life emerged as a
powerful theme, providing an important counterpoint to the distress of
work.
Critical consciousness. As reflected earlier, critical consciousness was
integral to the development of the emancipatory aspects of PWF.
Considerable empirical research and theoretical development on this
construct has been conducted separately from the PWF community (e.g.,
Freire, 2007; Watts, Griffith, & Abdul‐Adil, 1999). Simultaneous with the
initial publications of PWF, Diemer and his colleagues began an
illuminating line of empirical work that has served to elevate knowledge of
critical consciousness, particularly in relation to working. Diemer et al.
(2016) identified three core elements of critical consciousness: critical
reflection (becoming aware of the broader social and political context);
critical motivation (or efficacy) capturing the capacity and intention to take
action; and critical action (referring to the actual implementation of active
steps to combat injustice). Within the working context, critical
consciousness serves two interrelated functions. First, being critically
conscious provides a level of psychological protection in the face of
marginalization and oppression; second, critical consciousness can promote
individual and collective action to address the core sources of lack of access
to decent work, marginalization, and other forms of social oppression.
Research on critical consciousness and work‐related phenomena has been
very revealing. In a longitudinal study of youth from the National
Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS), Diemer (2009) found high levels
of sociopolitical development (which served as an index of critical
consciousness) in 12th grade had a positive influence on occupational
expectations which in turn was predictive of adult career attainment. This
finding underscores the impact of critical consciousness and affirms one of
the core tenets of PWF that has advocated that liberation‐based
interventions can serve individuals as well as social causes.
Work volition. Given the centrality of volition in the PWF, it would seem
logical that empirical work on work volition would receive considerable
attention. Duffy and his colleagues began a productive line of inquiry on the
nature of work volition, which is defined as an “individual's perception of
choice in career decision‐making” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 135; Duffy et al.,
2012). Beginning with the development of a scale for college students
(Duffy, Diemer, & Jadidian, 2012) and adults (Duffy, Diemer, Perry,
Laurenzi, & Torrey, 2012), Duffy and his colleagues then defined the
parameters of work volition and its relation with other related constructs
and outcomes. Recent reviews of research on work volition have found that
it is associated with a number of theoretically predicted positive outcomes
including career maturity, sense of control, work meaning, congruence, and
job and life satisfaction (see Duffy et al., 2016, for a review). Duffy et al.
(2016) further explored some of the potential confounds with the possibility
that work volition might serve as a proxy of perceived barriers; however,
their analysis of empirical research using the Work Volition Scale in relation
to a wide array of other barrier‐related constructs revealed that the volition
construct is a unique psychological attribute that reflects the internalization
of external barriers. Research on work volition has served as a powerful
affirmation of many of the core tenets of PWF, and has set the stage for the
development of the linear PWT model, which is described in the next
section.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING LINEAR
MODEL
In 2016, Duffy and colleagues drew from this research and theory base to
construct an overarching PWT (Duffy et al., 2016). The goals of this theory
were to (a) consolidate key ideas and propositions made via PWF‐infused
work and (b) provide a linear model that could be tested using quantitative
methods, thereby spurring increased research. The PWT model presented
by Duffy et al. offers a graphical depiction of 32 theoretical propositions
(see Figure 7.1). The centerpiece of the model is “decent work.” Duffy et al.
(2016) conceptualized this construct based on guidelines from the
International Labor Organization (ILO, 2008, 2012) and focused on
capturing individuals' perceptions of their current work situation.
Specifically, the ILO defined decent work as work consisting of: (a)
physically and interpersonally safe working conditions (e.g., absent of
physical, mental, or emotional abuse), (b) hours that allow for free time and
adequate rest, (c) organizational values that complement family and social
values, (d) adequate compensation, and (e) access to adequate health care
(p. 130). Duffy et al. (2016) suggested decent work would only be accessed
if all of these components were present in one's current job. The model is
split into two halves—predictors and outcomes of decent work—along with
moderator variables associated with the predictor portion of the model.
PREDICTORS OF DECENT WORK
Four primary predictors of decent work are proposed in the model:
economic constraints, marginalization experiences, work volition, and
career adaptability. Economic constraints are defined as “limited economic
resources (e.g., household income, family wealth), which represent a
critical barrier to securing decent work” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 133).
Marginalization represents “the relegation of people (or groups of people)
to a less powerful or included position within a society” (Duffy et al., 2016,
p. 132). Duffy et al. positioned these constructs as the two structural,
exogenous predictor variables in the model, each of which are meant to
capture individuals' lifetime experiences within that specific domain.
Work volition and career adaptability are also positioned as direct,
psychological predictors of decent work while simultaneously functioning
as mediators between the structural factors (economic constraints and
marginalization) and decent work. Career adaptability is defined as “a
psychological construct that denotes an individual's readiness and resources
for coping with current and anticipated tasks of vocational development”
(Savickas, 2002, p. 156). Duffy et al. (2016) proposed that a partial reason
why individuals who are economically constrained and marginalized have
less access to decent work is because they have less choice in their career
decision‐making (work volition) and have fewer resources to cope with
challenges in the world of work (career adaptability). Collectively, these
four constructs are proposed to explain why certain individuals are able to
access decent work and why others struggle.
FIGURE 7.1 Theoretical model. Proactive personality, critical
consciousness, social support, and economic conditions are proposed to
moderate the paths from economic constraints and marginalization to work
volition.
Source: From Duffy, R. D., Blustein, D. L., Diemer, M. A., & Autin, K. L. (2016). The
psychology of working theory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63, 127–148. Reprinted with
permission of American Psychological Association).
MODERATOR VARIABLES
In the predictor portion of the model, Duffy et al. (2016) suggest that
certain variables may strength or weaken the effects of the two structural
constructs on work volition, career adaptability, and decent work. These
four variables are critical consciousness, proactive personality, social
support, and economic conditions. Proactive personality refers to “a
disposition toward taking personal initiative to influence one's
environment” (p. 395; Li, Liang, & Crant, 2010). Social support is defined
as the “degree to which individuals feel supported from their family,
friends, significant others, and broader community for coping with the
stress and adversity associated with marginalization and economic
constraints” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 137; Cohen & Wills, 1985). Finally,
economic conditions are described as “an index of contemporary
macrolevel factors that moderate the relations of the model that are
embedded in the PWT” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 138), such as the
unemployment rate or the accessibility of living wages in a specific country
or region of the world.
Duffy et al. (2016) suggest that the effects of economic constraints and
experiences of marginalization on the psychological constructs and decent
work will be less pronounced for individuals who evidence higher levels of
critical consciousness, proactive personality, and social support. Also, these
effects are suggested to be more pronounced when individuals are living in
countries or regions of the world with poor economic conditions.
Importantly, this part of the model remains the most speculative, with little
existing research testing these propositions.
OUTCOMES OF DECENT WORK
The back half of the PWT model pertains to outcomes of decent work, or
rather what is proposed to occur when individuals achieve decent work. The
ultimate outcomes of the model are work fulfillment (e.g., work meaning,
job satisfaction) and well‐being (e.g., life satisfaction, physical health).
However, decent work is proposed to link to these two outcomes primarily
via the ability of work to satisfy basic needs. These needs were grouped
into three general categories in the original model: the need for survival, the
need for social connection, and the need for self‐determination, which were
described earlier. The original PWT article did not provide additional
elaboration on how to assess the self‐determination needs construct.
However, in an instrument development study aimed at building tools to
assess needs within PWT, Autin et al. (2019) drew directly from self‐
determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2002) and proposed that self‐
determination needs were composed of three sub‐needs: relatedness,
competence, and autonomy. Relatedness refers to feeling close with others
in the workplace; competence refers to feeling good about what one is
doing; and autonomy refers to being able to work the way one desires
(Deci, Olafsen, & Ryan, 2017).
The study by Autin et al. (2019) advanced the initial PWT in two ways.
First, as noted in the preceding text, it introduced three specific, measurable
subfactors that are grouped together to represent the self‐determination
needs construct. Second, by including relatedness as a sub‐dimension of
self‐determination, the social connection construct was reconceptualized to
be purely focused on connections to a broader society (e.g., contributing to
the greater good, making a difference) versus interpersonal connection in
the workplace, which is covered by the relatedness dimension of self‐
determination. Accordingly, the social connection needs construct has now
been renamed social contribution needs. Specifically, three need sets are
proposed: survival, social contribution, and self‐determination (which is
comprised of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs). Despite these
slight modifications, the structure of the outcome portion of the PWT
remains intact. Accessing decent work is theorized to lead to increased
work fulfillment and well‐being because this work optimally allows
individuals to meet three sets of needs: survival, social contribution, and
self‐determination.
RESEARCH SUPPORT FOR PWT
The research base examining core tenets of the PWT linear model has been
growing at a steady rate since the model's publication in 2016. As noted
earlier, a number of the key ideas and constructs from the theory have been
empirically examined prior to its publication (e.g., work volition, economic
barriers and constraints, relational factors). Additionally, numerous studies
since its publication have used PWT as an underlying framework, often
exploring individual model variables. These include studies examining
work volition in undergraduate populations (Autin, Douglass, Duffy,
England, & Allan, 2017; Bouchard & Nauta, 2018) and studies linking
aspects of vocational privilege and volition with the attainment of
meaningful and prosocially driven work (Autin & Allan, 2019; Duffy,
Autin, England, Douglass, & Gensmer, 2018; Duffy, England, Douglass,
Autin, & Allan, 2017; Kim & Allan, 2019). These types of PWT‐informed
studies demonstrate the possible ways the theory could be extended.
However, in the current sections, we focus on studies that have advanced
core constructs and propositions within the theory as it was originally
proposed. These include: (a) instrument development studies, (b) qualitative
studies, and (c) studies that have quantitatively examined parts of the core
model.
INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
The PWT model is composed of seven main classes of variables. Upon the
model's publication, each of these classes of variables had varying degrees
of existing assessment tools to measure the constructs as they were
theoretically conceptualized. This ranged from no instruments existing at all
(decent work) to well‐validated measures directly tied to the theory's
construct conceptualization (work volition; Duffy, Diemer, Jadidian, 2012).
In recent years, scholars have made attempts to develop theoretically based
instruments in a rigorous fashion.
Decent work. Duffy et al. (2017) developed and validated the Decent Work
Scale (DWS) with survey data from two diverse samples of working adults
in the United States. The final scale ultimately consisted of five 3‐item
subscales, each representing one of the five dimensions of decent work
originally proposed in PWT. The subscales and overall scale were reliable
and correlated in the expected directions with job satisfaction, meaningful
work, and withdrawal intentions. Duffy, Allan, et al. (2017) found that a
bifactor model best fit the data, with individual items being indicators of
their associated subscale as well as an overall decent work factor. This
structure suggests that the items for the five subscales do capture an overall
decent work construct and that the five individual subscales also are unique,
standalone factors.
Nine follow‐up studies have been completed seeking to adapt and validate
the DWS with populations outside of the United States in eight different
countries (Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, Switzerland, Turkey,
and United Kingdom). Eight of these articles were part of a 2019 special
issue in the Journal of Vocational Behavior on decent work. The majority of
these articles also found a bifactor structure to best fit the data, and all
studies found the scale to be reliable and predictive of outcomes informed
by PWT, such as work meaning, job satisfaction, and withdrawal intentions.
Importantly, most of the articles revised the access to healthcare items in
some fashion given universal healthcare options for all workers via the
government. Overall, early indications are that this empirical measure of
decent work may be applicable cross culturally (Buyukgoze‐Kavas &
Autin, 2019; Di Fabio & Kenny, 2019; Dodd, Hooley, & Burke, 2019;
Ferreira et al., 2019; Masdonati, Schreiber, Marcionetti, & Rossier, 2019;
Nam & Kim, 2019; Ribeiro, Teixeira, & Ambiel, 2019). Numerous other
studies have used the DWS in more complex model tests (discussed later),
typically using a bifactor structure and finding the scale to be reliable and
associated with hypothesized PWT constructs.
Economic constraints and marginalization. The majority of studies
examining PWT propositions have used established measures of social
class, social status, and discrimination experiences to capture the economic
constraints and marginalization constructs proposed in PWT. However,
although these measures are good proxy variables, they do not capture the
construct as it was originally defined within PWT. Duffy et al. (2019)
sought to address this concern by developing new measures that were
specifically tied to the original definitions. Duffy et al. (2016) intended both
constructs to capture lifetime experiences of constraints or marginalization,
versus feelings in the present or for a specific period of time (e.g., last
month) or in a specific domain (e.g., work). Across three studies, the
authors developed and validated short, user‐friendly instruments to assess
each of these constructs (Economic Constraints Scale (ECS) and Lifetime
Experiences of Marginalization Scale (LEMS)). Scores evidenced strong
internal consistency reliability and correlated in the expected directions
with previously used indicators of the constructs (e.g., social status, annual
income, everyday discrimination). They were also more predictive of
decent work than other previously used measures. These instruments are
recommended when researchers seek to assess these two constructs as they
were originally conceptualized within the PWT.
Need satisfaction. A robust literature exists using self‐determination theory
as a frame to examine need satisfaction at work (see Deci et al., 2017).
There are also several validated instruments that assess work need
satisfaction (e.g., Broeck, Vansteenkiste, Witte, Soenens, & Lens, 2010;
Deci et al., 2001). However, these instruments only assess the three self‐
determination needs (autonomy, relatedness, and competency), whereas
PWT includes these as well as survival and social contribution needs.
Additionally, most established instruments contain item stems or
instructions that do not precisely match how needs were intended to be
measured within PWT. To remedy this limitation, Autin et al. (2019)
conducted two studies developing and validating an instrument assessing all
five needs (Work Need Satisfaction Scale; WNSS). Based on their findings,
the authors recommended that in PWT model tests, needs optimally should
be examined in three distinct sets: survival, social contribution, and self‐
determination. Survival and social contribution needs would simply be
captured by individual scale items and self‐determination needs would be
captured by three self‐determination subscales (autonomy, relatedness, and
competence).
Eschelman and Rottinghaus (2019) also developed need satisfaction scales
using a PWT framework concurrent with the Autin et al. (2019) measure.
Also using two studies, the authors developed and validated an instrument
with five subscales (Work and Human Needs Inventory; WAHNI). Like the
WNSS, the WAHNI contains subscales assessing survival, relatedness, and
autonomy needs. However, instead of competence and social contribution,
the two remaining subscales address meaning (the sense of meaning and
purpose derived from work experiences) and power (social power, prestige,
and status) needs. Although these two subscales do not precisely align with
PWT conceptualizations of the five core work needs, power and meaning
needs were integral components of Blustein's (2006) original work
developing PWF. In this study, the five subscales correlated in the expected
directions with meaning in life and other indicators of economic resources
and social status. Overall, both instruments are valid measures of need
satisfaction that may be used to suit the specific goals of a given research
project.
In sum, PWT initially contained a group of empirically testable constructs,
only some of which had previously established and validated instruments.
Over the last several years, with the publication of new scales, the theory
now has validated instruments for each core model variable, which will be
of significant use to future scholars studying the theory.
QUALITATIVE STUDIES
Akin to theoretically informed studies, a number of studies have used PWT
to frame qualitative research. These studies did not test specific empirical
model paths, but rather detail the in‐depth experiences of individuals in the
world of work using a PWT lens.
Autin et al. (2018) conducted a study with 12 undocumented young adults
between the ages of 18 and 26, with the goal of understanding how PWT‐
informed barriers (e.g., economic constraints) and resources (e.g., social
support) may impact the work volition and general career development of
this underrepresented population. Using consensual qualitative research
(CQR; Hill, 2012), the authors identified the following five categories that
were discussed by all or all but one of the participants: (a) limited mobility
and (b) economic constraints as barriers, and (c) social support, (d)
institutional support, and (e) public policy changes as supports. Based on
these results, Autin et al. (2018) concluded that within this marginalized
population, economic constraints were a primary driver hindering choice in
one's career. However, this impact was mitigated when support existed
interpersonally, within institutions (e.g., college advisors), and within the
larger society (e.g., the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA]
policy implemented in 2012).
Kossen and McIlveen (2018) used a PWT lens to analyze archival
interviews concerning individuals' experience with unemployment. Thirty‐
two interviews were analyzed with individuals who were over the age of 45
and felt that discrimination and/or marginalization had negatively affected
their experiences in the world of work. Using thematic analysis, the authors
identified main themes that fit well with PWT's core constructs; these
included feeling marginalized due to age, financial concerns, and economic
conditions, which many felt had affected their ability to choose desired
careers and adapt to the changing world of work. The authors also
documented participants' resources to cope with these struggles, in
particular leaning on social support and developing critical consciousness
around the way unemployed individuals lack power and control.
Cadaret et al. (2018) interviewed nine individuals who panhandled, a
marginalized population engaged in work that would not be considered
decent. Using a similar CQR method to Autin et al. (2018), Cadaret et al.
(2018) identified seven common themes, such as barriers to stability and
interpersonal aspects, and found that much of what participants discussed
related to the back half of the PWT model. Specifically, participants
discussed how panhandling was mainly used to meet basic survival needs,
that it resulted in negative and positive forms of social connection, and that
the work mainly limited a sense of self‐determination. A common theme
from participants was not feeling recognized or valued.
Kozan, Blustein, Paciorek, Kilbury, and Işık (2019) explored workers'
perspectives on optimal ways to manage crises in the American workforce.
They used a modified version of CQR to analyze data from 42 adults—
representing a range of background and employment statuses—on the
following question, “In your opinion, what is the best possible solution for
the crises facing the United States currently about work?” The replies
varied, with no one answer being endorsed by more than 40% of the
sample. However, the majority of responses addressed the need for larger
structural changes, from more proactive government and corporate policies
to allocate resources and create jobs to the society at large being more
focused on promoting social justice in the world of work. Overall, the
results highlight the perceived role of structural, policy level change in
promoting decent work at the individual level.
Finally, a qualitative component was included in each of the studies in the
Journal of Vocational Behavior's special issue on decent work across
cultures (Buyukgoze‐Kavas & Autin, 2019; Di Fabio & Kenny, 2019; Dodd
et al., 2019; Ferreira et al., 2019; Masdonati et al., 2019; Nam & Kim,
2019; Ribeiro et al., 2019). Specifically, participants in each study were
asked to reply to the following prompt: “Decent work is employment that
meets the minimum acceptable standards for a good life.” Given this
definition, what components do you feel a job needs to have to be
considered “decent” or “acceptable?” Across all eight cultures, common
themes emerged around decent work needing to provide (a) adequate
compensation, (b) safe and/or healthy working conditions, and (c)
manageable working hours. For many of these cultures, healthcare was
minimized in responses, likely due to most having a government‐run
system. Additionally, aspects related to work meaning and social
connection at work were endorsed to a greater extent in various cultures
than would be expected by PWT's definition of decent work (these would
be considered outcomes in the theory).
In sum, results from this set of PWT‐framed qualitative studies reveal
important insights from very diverse individuals about what decent work
consists of, why it is important, the traits and life circumstances that can
promote or detract from access to decent work, and what it means
emotionally and psychologically when decent work is absent. These studies
are important in documenting core ideas from PWT in real world narratives,
while also showcasing a number of fruitful areas for practical intervention.
MODEL TESTING
The final set of studies reviewed are those that have formally tested parts of
the PWT model, exploring some set of the 32 propositions originally
proposed by Duffy et al. (2016). The most theoretically consistent studies to
date have focused on the predictor portion of the model, examining how
indicators of economic constraints/resources and/or marginalization
experiences relate to decent work directly and indirectly via work volition
and/or career adaptability. As the core predictor variable of marginalization
is based on a specific identity, studies that have included this have
specifically targeted marginalized populations with their research.
Predictors of decent work. Douglass, Velez, Conlin, Duffy, and England
(2017) was the first study to examine the interrelations among the four core
PWT predictor variables and decent work. The authors surveyed a group of
employed adults identifying as a sexual minority. They used measures of
work volition, career adaptability, and decent work, assessed economic
constraints with two indicators of social class, and assessed marginalization
with an instrument measuring heterosexist discrimination experienced over
the past year. Work volition, social class, and marginalization were all direct
predictors of decent work; social class and marginalization were predictors
of work volition; and work volition partially mediated the relation of social
class and marginalization to decent work. Although career adaptability was
correlated with work volition, it was unrelated to social class,
marginalization, and decent work.
Three other studies have tested the predictor portion of the PWT model
including only the five constructs in this section of the model: economic
constraints, marginalization, volition, adaptability, and decent work. These
include two studies with Racial and ethnic minority employed adults (Duffy
et al., 2018; Duffy et al., 2019, study 3) and one with disabled employed
adults (Tokar & Kaut, 2018). Results have provided mixed support for
model propositions. For example, across all four studies, marginalization
experiences directly predicted decent work and indicators of economic
constraints were a direct predictor of work volition. Across three studies,
work volition predicted decent work, work volition predicted or correlated
with career adaptability, and work volition mediated the effect of economic
constraints on decent work. In none of the studies to date did
marginalization predict career adaptability nor did adaptability function as a
mediator to decent work.
A group of other studies have examined predictors of decent work with
slight variants from the original full PWT model. For example, Wang et al.
(2019) only looked at subjective social status (a proposed indicator of
economic constraints) and work volition as predictors of decent work
among a sample of urban Chinese workers, finding each to be direct
predictors of decent work and for work volition to partially mediate the
relation of social status to decent work. Allan, Tebbe, Bouchard, and Duffy
(2019) studied a sexual minority population measuring social class,
workplace climate, and work volition. The authors found work volition and
climate to directly predict decent work, for social class and climate to
directly predict volition, and for social class and climate to predict decent
work indirectly via work volition. Kozan, Işık, and Blustein (2019) gathered
data from a group of low‐income Turkish workers, including three of the
four predictor variables (except marginalization). The authors found social
class, work volition, and career adaptability all directly predicted decent
work; social class directly predicted work volition and career adaptability;
and volition and adaptability each functioned as significant mediators
between social class and decent work.
England, Duffy, Douglass, Gensmer, and Kim (2019) included all five main
PWT predictor constructs in a test of the theory with a population of
working women. However, the authors added workplace climate as an
additional possible predictor in an attempt to compare the effect of lifetime
experiences of marginalization with present experiences of a supportive or
hostile climate in the workplace. The authors found work volition,
economic constraints, and climate to all significantly predict decent work;
economic constraints, climate, and marginalization directly predicted
volition; and work volition partially or fully mediated the effect of
economic constraints and marginalization experiences on decent work.
Finally, in the one study to apply the model to a college student population,
Kim, Duffy, Lee, Lee, and Lee (2019) examined predictors of future decent
work perceptions among students from diverse backgrounds in South
Korea. Like Kozan, Işık, and Blustein (2019), marginalization was not
included as a predictor variable. The authors found work volition and career
adaptability to each predict perceptions of future decent work and economic
resources to directly predict both work volition and career adaptability.
In sum, this brief review of extant studies on predictors of decent work
allows for some initial, tentative insights. Each study surveyed a unique
population and each study used varied instruments to assess the model's
core constructs, although no one study used the same set of instruments.
This is not surprising given the recency of both PWT and the development
of instruments measuring its main constructs. However, these limitations
make it difficult to derive concrete, overarching conclusions about
predictors of decent work and how the model variables function
collectively. Tentatively, marginalization experiences, indicators of
economic constraints/resources, and work volition all appear to be
consistent direct or indirect predictors of decent work. However, questions
remain about the role of career adaptability in the model, which may differ
depending on the population and the way in which it is measured.
Outcomes of decent work. Finally, several studies have examined
propositions regarding the back half of the model; however all are cross‐
sectional and should be interpreted with caution. Specifically, within PWT,
decent work is proposed to link with work‐related and general well‐being
via the fulfillment of three basic needs—survival, social contribution, and
self‐determination. Several of the studies reviewed in the previous section
testing larger models included direct paths between decent work to work‐
related and well‐being outcomes. For example, Allan et al. (2019) found
decent work to predict work meaning, Wang et al. (2019) found decent
work to predict work satisfaction and lower withdrawal intentions, and
Kozan, Işık, and Blustein (2019) found decent work to predict job and life
satisfaction.
Only one study has examined the outcome portion of the PWT model
including need satisfaction as a potential mediating mechanism. Duffy et al.
(2019) explored the relation of decent work to physical and mental health
with a sample of employed adults earning less than $50 000 a year. The
authors also measured survival, social contribution, and self‐determination
needs, positioning these as partial mediators between decent work and
mental and physical health. Each of the three need satisfaction constructs
served as a significant mediator between decent work and mental health,
fully explaining this relation. However, only survival needs partially
mediated the relation of decent work and physical health, suggesting that
other variables in addition to need satisfaction may explain the decent
work–physical health connection.
In sum, only a handful of studies to date have explored outcomes of decent
work through the lens of the PWT model. In general, findings match core
theory propositions that decent work promotes greater work and general
well‐being and that one reason for this connection is that attaining decent
work helps individuals meet needs for survival, social contribution, and
self‐determination.
APPLYING PWT TO PRACTICE AND POLICY
Since its inception, PWT has maintained a strong focus on informing
individual interventions and systemic changes. The initial foray into
practice was detailed by Blustein (2006) who developed a framework for
inclusive psychological practice, which is reviewed initially in this section.
Recently, Blustein, Kenny, Autin, and Duffy (2019) developed a more
detailed model to inform counseling that concludes this section.
INCLUSIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRACTICE
Emerging from the broad agenda of PWF, Blustein (2006) sought to
transform work‐based counseling practice by moving beyond the relatively
circumscribed world of career choice and development counseling. Blustein
envisioned a modality of practice wherein work‐based issues would be
naturally woven into the counseling process. This integrative vision
provided a rationale and framework for infusing work‐based issues into
psychotherapy. At the same time, Blustein advocated for an expanded
vision for work‐based counseling that would embrace traditional career
choice and development issues while also attending to a broad array of
issues such as job loss, precarious work and indecent work, marginalization,
and harassment at work.
The goals of inclusive psychological practice include empowerment, skill
building, and fostering critical consciousness, which capture the agentic
aspects of individual change as well as tools to enhance clients'
understanding of their contexts (Blustein, 2006). The change elements in
the counseling process are constructed around the following core elements
of evidence‐based psychotherapy: development of a working alliance;
interpretation; exploring discrepant beliefs and behaviors; and helping
clients change. As a means of creating PWT‐informed ideas to guide work‐
based counseling, Blustein integrated counseling frameworks that had been
developed for various marginalized client populations, such as women,
people of color, individuals with disabling conditions, lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) clients, and unemployed clients. A
major takeaway from this synthesis is dignifying survival needs along with
self‐determination needs; additionally, this integration revealed the
importance of using a wide array of culturally embedded counseling and
advocacy interventions.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING AS A THEORY OF
CHANGE
As a means of elevating and enhancing the practice implications of PWT,
Blustein, Kenny, Autin et al. (2019) developed a theory of change paradigm
to guide the design of interventions for individuals and systems. The goal of
theory development in psychology and related fields generally is to
understand and predict individual and group behavior (Osipow &
Fitzgerald, 1996). While espousing the explanation and prediction aspects
of theory building, Blustein, Kenny, Autin et al. (2019) also argued that an
overarching objective of the knowledge produced by PWT is to foster
change for individuals and systems. The theory of change paradigm fits
many other career choice and development theories; however, a distinction
of PWT is its focus on identifying and changing the structural forces that
uphold and sustain inequity, marginalization, oppression, and social
stratification. We next review the conceptual infrastructure for this theory of
change paradigm, followed by summaries of psychology of working
counseling (PWC) and psychology of working systems intervention
(PWSI).
Needs assessment. We propose that the first step in intervening in any
context is to assess the nature and roots of the problems that are being
presented. Using the needs taxonomy that was developed by Blustein
(2006), we have developed the following assessment framework for both
individuals and systems:
Need for survival/power: For many individuals, organizations, and
institutions, survival is the bottom line. For clients, assessing the
nature of access to the resources needed for survival and
empowerment is essential, generally as a first step in an intake. At the
systems level, a focus on survival and power informs an assessment of
the extent to which the organization is able to survive. Another angle
in examining needs for survival and power at the systems level is to
assess the ways in which institutions support or inhibit survival for
individual workers, their families, and communities.
Need for social connection/contribution: At the individual level,
assessment of need fulfillment in the relational context would suggest
an appraisal of how well a given client is cared for and nurtured in
family, work, and community contexts. It also includes understanding
how well individuals feel they are contributing to the lives of others.
Within a systems context, this aspect of the needs assessment entails
examining the extent to which organizations and institutions support
individuals and the broader social world in establishing relationship
and communities.
Need for self‐determination: Another critical aspect of needs
assessment is ascertaining the extent to which an individual is able to
engage in self‐determined and authentic activities. Understanding the
barriers to self‐determination naturally entails an exploration of
internal psychological attributes and relevant contextual factors. At the
systems level, it is important to assess how well organizations and
institutions create structures and policies that support self‐
determination for individuals and communities.
The assessment of these sets of needs provides a useful starting point for
developing individual interventions and systemic change efforts. In the
following section, we present the sources of agentic action, which can be
used in both PWC and PWSI.
Sources of agentic action
In an integration of various perspectives on psychotherapy, career
counseling, and social change interventions (e.g., Blustein, 2006;
Prilleltensky, 1997; Prochaska, DiClemente, & Norcross, 1992), a tripartite
cluster of sources of agentic action were identified.
Critical reflection and action: Drawing from critical consciousness
and liberation psychology literatures (e.g., Diemer et al., 2016; Freire,
2007), this cluster taps into the capacity to read and act on the subtle
and overt forces that shape opportunities and access. In addition, this
cluster captures a critical perspective of one's own behavior, attitudes,
and interactions, thereby providing a lens that encompasses inner
experience and external influences and the complex relationship
among these factors. An emerging literature has attested to the
important role of critical reflection and action as a source of resilience,
empowerment, and agentic action (e.g., Diemer et al., 2016; Watts et
al., 1999).
Proactive engagement: Taking action is an essential part of the
change process for both individuals and systems. The proactive
engagement cluster includes such attributes as proactive personality,
work volition, and career adaptability; when considered collectively,
these attributes provide people with both the direction and initiative to
take action on their work‐related tasks. Considerable research supports
the utility of the factors that comprise proactive engagement in
fostering progress in decision‐making and managing diverse work‐
related challenges (e.g., Duffy et al., 2016; Lent & Brown, 2013). At
the systems level, proactive engagement might be expressed by
actively challenging policies that diminish human rights for workers.
Social support and community engagement: Building on the
important role of relationships in so many aspects of work‐related life
(Blustein, 2011; Richardson, 1993), we have included a third cluster,
social support and community engagement. This cluster includes
relational connections and social contribution as well as community‐
based collaboration, community organizing, and advocacy. In the
individual counseling context, social support and community
engagement would encompass a caring therapeutic alliance, support
from one's family and peers, and the capacity to experience a broader
contribution to the social good (Blustein, 2019; Brown & Ryan Krane,
2000). From a systemic perspective, this cluster would be manifested
by workers' organizations, such as labor unions or workers' circles
(Blustein, Kenny, Autin et al., 2019).
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING COUNSELING
Building on the advances of inclusive psychological practice, Blustein,
Kenny, Autin et al. (2019) described a change‐oriented counseling model
(PWC) that incorporates needs assessment as an initial step in ascertaining
what a given client would benefit from. Consistent with best practices in
psychological interventions, PWC necessitates careful attention to
developing a sound working alliance. The three clusters are not presented in
a specific order; rather, counselors can employ these sets of resources to fit
the specific needs of a client. PWC can be woven into other theoretical
approaches, including psychotherapy and specific interventions designed to
foster career choice and exploration (e.g., Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000;
Savickas, 2002). However, PWC can also be applied as the major
theoretical perspective for a given client.
In relation to the work‐related tasks that are located in the pre‐
implementation phase of career development (such as exploring,
crystallizing, and making decisions about education, work, and training),
PWC offers an array of flexible guidelines. When considering the
transitions from non‐work contexts (such as school) to work, clients would
need to consider the extent to which their options help to fulfill their needs
for survival and power. As in most career choice and development theories,
counselors using PWC also would attend to a clients' aspirations about their
future—their interests, dreams, and plans for a meaningful and sustainable
life. As such, the exploratory tools that are available in the career
development field would be employed as needed (e.g., interest assessments,
narrative tools). A unique feature of PWC at this phase would be a focus on
expanding a client's knowledge about the world, writ large. In addition to
learning about potential career directions of interests, clients would be
encouraged to develop a critical lens about work that explores the
connections between power and privilege in the labor market. This
approach dovetails with multicultural and class‐based interventions (e.g.,
Sue, Sue, Neville, & Smith, 2019) in its focus on a deep and critical
contextual analysis of one's options and capacity to achieve self‐determined
goals. The development of a career plan, for example, might take shape in
PWC by having the client write a narrative or construct a visual goal map
about where one hopes to be in 5–10 years, identifying both resources,
barriers, and alternate plans (Kenny, Sparks, & Jackson, 2007).
The developmental challenges that occur in the postimplementation phase
of the career development process are equally complex, invoking all of the
relevant clusters of agentic action. Perhaps the prototypical case that
emerges for counselors during this phase has to do with unexpected changes
in one's access to work, such as unemployment, underemployment, and
precarious work (Blustein, 2019). Critical reflection and action would be
particularly important in helping clients to not engage in self‐blame, which
are regrettably endemic, as people are cast aside in their work lives
(Sharone, 2014). Taking a more critical view of the way in which workers
are treated as commodities, while painful, is also liberating in that people
may no longer magnify their past mistakes or interpersonal struggles at
work as the cause of their current plight. Proactive engagement is clearly
needed for individuals who experience ruptures at work; however, the
psychological attributes that are needed for proactive engagement (e.g.,
confidence, resilience) are often constrained by the experiences of losing
access to stable and safe work. In these cases, the counseling process needs
to lean on best practices in psychotherapy to help clients engage in adaptive
problem‐solving, get in touch with disavowed feelings of anger and
betrayal, and to work through the often traumatic experience of losing one's
full‐time job (Blustein, Kenny, Autin et al., 2019). The importance of social
support and community engagement is also integral in working with clients
facing postimplementation challenges. As the literature on unemployment
and job search reveals (Liu, Huang, & Wang, 2014; Paul & Moser, 2009),
relational and community connections are essential for managing the
psychological challenges and in networking to locate new employment
opportunities.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING SYSTEMS
INTERVENTIONS
Given the interdisciplinary nature of PWT, applying the theory and existing
research literature to organizations, institutions, and macrolevel systems
occupies a central role in the theory of change paradigm (Blustein, Kenny,
Autin et al., 2019). The systems that we are focusing on include those that
support or inhibit access to decent work (such as labor policies; educational
resources; training institutions; economic structures and policies). We are
aware that this is a daunting list that is overwhelming at first glance (and
subsequent glances). However, we are advocating that counselors and
psychologists learn about systems change as a way to inform policy
advocacy, political action, and other community efforts. Naturally, we do
not expect that all readers will have the support in their jobs and practices to
move into community‐based work, but we do believe that this approach is
integral to the social justice ethic that underlies PWT.
The direction of systems change efforts, clearly, is an individual decision
that will vary across our field. For the sake of transparency, we would like
to provide our particular priorities, which are derived from the underlying
assumptions of PWT and the research findings that have been reported to
date. As suggested by Blustein (2006, 2019) and supported by the ILO and
United Nations (Blustein, Kenny, Di Fabio et al., 2019), work is a human
right, one that should be granted to all. In order to support this view of
work, we have argued in support of the Decent Work Agenda by the ILO,
which was reviewed earlier in this chapter. In addition, we strongly support
actions that will provide greater support for workers, such as the
reinvigoration of labor unions and the development of other workers'
organizations. We also believe that governments need to plan for the work
lives of their citizens and not leave this crucial part of life up to the vagaries
of financial markets. Finally, as Blustein (2019) noted, the erosion of the
workplace is mirrored in a similar sense of psychological erosion, which
requires activist interventions to combat the aversive consequences of the
commodification of work in many regions of the globe.
As reflected in the PWT linear model, the impact of economic constraints,
marginalization, and economic conditions is essential in evaluating the
ways in which systems function. In addition, the three needs assessment
domains are very relevant for systemic change efforts. Understanding the
relation between survival and the implicit and explicit forces that sustain a
given set of structures or institutions is essential for developing a plan for
change. For example, the diminishment of unions during the advent of
neoliberal economics (beginning in the mid to later part of the twentieth
century) ostensibly was designed to increase competitiveness for the private
sector, thereby enhancing workers' capacity to survive in a global context.
However, the loss of union support negatively impacted the survival
capacity for many working people. Assessing the ways in which systems
support or detract from our natural desire for connection is also crucial,
especially in societies that value individualism. Finally, the degree to which
systems support strivings for self‐determination requires a careful
assessment with a focus on how organizational priorities interface with
individual aspirations and dreams.
Using this broad vantage point, the needs assessment optimally would
identify how systems function to sustain themselves and to create
conditions that may powerfully frame individual experiences at work. As an
example of using the sources of agentic action in a systems change
intervention, we explore the issue of precarious work, which has become a
major problem in many economies (Kalleberg & Vallas, 2017). The critical
reflection and action cluster would inform a careful interrogation of the
functions of precarious work for the various economic interests that seem to
thrive on providing workers with short‐term contracts or gig jobs (e.g.,
Uber drivers). Proactive engagement might be manifested by lobbying
political leaders and candidates to create more humane labor protections for
precarious workers. One obvious example in the United States is the
connection between stable work and health insurance; creating better health
care for all citizens would be a powerful way of mitigating some of the
erosion of work that is reflected in precarious jobs. Community support and
engagement would entail developing social action advocacy groups to
support precarious workers and mobilizing communities to lobby their
political leaders for more regulation of workers. Of course, a theme running
through the precarious work dilemma is one of opportunity structure;
without access to decent work, people will take what they can to support
themselves. This issue, naturally, calls for systemic advocacy and action (cf.
Blustein, 2019; Lent, 2018).
CONCLUSION AND PRACTICE
IMPLICATIONS
PWT has emerged rapidly over the past two decades into an innovative and
pluralistic body of work that is now amassing considerable research
support. The foundation for this work precedes the twenty‐first century;
however, the promise of PWT as a major theoretical contribution for the
current and future era is clearly apparent. As work becomes more unstable
due to growing globalization, infusion of automation into the workplace,
and the hegemony of neoliberal policies that shift the risk of work to
employees (Blustein, 2019), PWT will become even more relevant and
vital. In the practice realm, new advances in PWC and PWSI provide
practitioners and advocates with useful structures to guide action for clients
and change for systems.
In closing, PWT began as an effort to bring those on the margins to the
center stage of career development theory and practice. In doing so, we
have also developed a theory and set of practices that are relevant to all who
work and who seek to work. The struggles of those on the margins during
the twentieth century are now becoming the norm in many countries (and,
of course, were the norm in most regions of the world). In short, the context
matters in our lives as does our own agency and self‐determination.
Locating the shared space between these macrolevel and psychological
factors is the broad mission of PWT, which we believe can transform work‐
based research, counseling practice, and systemic interventions.
As summarized in the previous section, PWT offers practitioners both an
orientation toward enhancing the dignity of all work as well as specific
recommendations to implement the multifaceted goals of fostering
individual well‐being and fostering systemic change (adapted from
Blustein, Kenny, Autin et al., 2019):
Develop a caring and empathic alliance with clients that affirms the
full spectrum of their experiences, including but not limited to work
and career issues.
Conduct a needs assessment encompassing survival, social
connection/contribution, and self‐determination.
In exploring issues, identify how macrolevel and psychological factors
intersect for each client, which will inform the development of an
effective conceptualization and counseling plan.
Enhance client agency via fostering critical consciousness and
proactive engagement.
Help clients build on existing relational supports and develop new
sources of social support and connection.
Consider the systemic issues that emerge in counseling and discern
ways for engagement in policy advocacy.
Connect to professional associations and other organizations to explore
advocacy work for clients and for changing the systems that may be
sustaining marginalization and economic constraints.
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CHAPTER 8
Emerging Perspectives: Calling, Meaning,
and Volition
BRYAN J. DIK1, MICHAEL F. STEGER1, AND KELSEY L. AUTIN2
1Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
2University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
Why do you do the work you do? Whether your answer involves meeting
survival needs, finding a fit, implementing your vocational self‐concept,
exercising personal agency, or some combination of these, you probably
have a desired end in mind. Beyond a paycheck, does (or will) your work
offer a sense of happiness, satisfaction, self‐esteem, contribution, success,
personal growth, or meaning? At its best, work can produce outcomes like
these. Vocational psychology has always acknowledged the diverse
functions that work plays within the context of life, yet the field has
traditionally emphasized a relatively limited range of outcomes, usually
targeting job satisfaction and job performance (Fritzsche & Parrish, 2005;
Russell, 2005).
In recent years, researchers have expanded their field of vision to target
eudaimonic aspects of well‐being with the work domain as well, such as
personal growth, meaningfulness, and altruism. These considerations serve
as a foundation for human flourishing (Ryff & Singer, 1998) and offer a
contrast to (although overlap with) hedonic or pleasure‐driven well‐being.
Eudaimonic research has been especially vigorous on calling and
meaningful work, both of which are more likely to emerge when people feel
they are able to make career choices despite barriers and constraints, a
construct known as work volition (Allan, Autin, & Duffy, 2016; Duffy,
Autin, & Douglass, 2016). This chapter summarizes the emerging research,
theory, and practice implications stemming from these three variables (i.e.,
calling, meaning, and volition).
Within the work domain, the term “calling” has been defined in diverse
ways—more on that shortly—but usually refers to a sense of purpose that
leads a person toward a personally fulfilling and socially significant
engagement with work, sometimes with reference to a spiritual or religious
perspective, sometimes to a sense of passion, and sometimes to altruistic
values. This overlaps substantially with the notion of meaningful work,
typically present when people understand what their work accomplishes and
view it as significant (even of existential importance) and worthwhile.
Calling and meaningful work research is often difficult to parse because
some scholars define and measure calling in a way that is nearly
synonymous with meaningful work. However, most recognize meaningful
work as the broader construct, with calling representing a particular
expression of meaningfulness. Work volition, by contrast, emerged from the
psychology of working perspective (Blustein, 2006) and recognizes that
many people experience severe constraints in their ability to make career
choices. Work volition is usually considered a prerequisite to living a
calling or experiencing meaningful work; that is, a sense of calling and
meaningfulness are more likely when people feel they have the capacity to
make choices (Allan et al., 2016; Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016).
Themes related to calling and meaningful work are indirectly and implicitly
addressed by each of the major career development theories (Chen, 2001;
Dik & Duffy, 2015). Person–environment fit theories, for example,
encourage clients to satisfy interests and values and express strengths by
choosing or modifying work environments to facilitate this (Hansen, 2013).
Super's (1980) developmental theory focuses on the broader context in
which career choices are made, and urges clients to successfully implement
their occupational self‐concept, a process that naturally involves
considering how work may contribute to a sense of purpose and meaning.
Social cognitive career theory articulates how personal, behavioral, and
environmental factors interact to influence well‐being broadly, including
meaningfulness, though self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and personal
goals (Lent, 2013). Career construction theory proposes a meaning‐making
strategy through which people can author their career stories “in ways that
heed the call of the heart” (Hartung & Taber, 2013, p. 18). Finally, the
psychology of working theory (PWT) proposes that “work fulfillment” is a
distal outcome of decent work, which is itself predicated on work volition
(Duffy, Blustein, et al., 2016). The theories offer helpful strategies for
assisting clients in finding or creating satisfying work, and while work
volition is a core PWT variable, none of the major career theories
specifically address questions of work meaningfulness. As we explore next,
new theory and counseling strategies are emerging from efforts to
investigate these constructs.
WORK AS A CALLING
Work as a calling is one of the fastest‐growing areas of scholarly inquiry
within vocational psychology and organizational behavior, rocketing from
fewer than 10 published papers to more than 500 within the last 15 years.
Although the idea that work can be pursued as a calling has a short past
within the social sciences, it has a long cultural history, dating at least to the
sixteenth century. That is when Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer,
established the view (controversial at the time) that any honest area of work
can have spiritual significance, not only monastic life. As Weber (1904–
1905/1958) and others (e.g., Hardy, 1990) noted, this perspective
significantly shaped societal attitudes about work in Western thought during
the intervening centuries. In recent decades, the notion of calling has surged
in visibility, evidenced by an influx of popular books, websites, and
consulting offerings. Furthermore, linguistic evidence suggests that use of
the phrase “work as a calling” in English language printed material has
risen tangibly since the 1950s and continues to rise; within the last decade,
for example, its usage frequency is twice what it was between 1998 and
2008 (Thompson & Bunderson, 2019). Clearly, interest in the notion of
work as a calling is building.
DEFINING AND MEASURING CALLING
Most research papers investigating calling now begin with acknowledgment
that the term means different things to different people. In fact, no fewer
than 14 distinct formal definitions are present in the literature (Thompson &
Bunderson, 2019). Early studies of calling adopted the tripartite work
orientation framework proposed by Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, and
Tipton (1985) in their famous book Habits of the Heart. They suggested
that people approach their work via one of three distinct orientations: job
(i.e., a focus on financial rewards), career (i.e., a focus on achievement and
advancement), or calling (i.e., a focus on meaningful, fulfilling work). Most
research has since investigated calling on its own rather than as one of three
orientations.
Bunderson and Thompson (2009) differentiated between “neoclassical” and
“modern” definitions of calling. Neoclassical perspectives retain, but
broaden, traditional understandings of the term derived from its historical,
religious roots. For example, Dik and Duffy (2009) defined calling as a
“transcendent summons” toward purposeful work that serves the greater
good. This transcendent summons dimension is the most distinctive aspect
of the calling construct (Brown & Lent, 2016). By contrast, modern
conceptualizations frame calling as a secularized concept focused on self‐
actualization and self‐fulfillment. For example, Dobrow and Tosti‐Kharas
(2011) defined calling as “a consuming, meaningful passion people
experience toward a domain” (p. 1005). Still other definitions fall
somewhere between the poles of a continuum anchored by neoclassical and
modern definitions. Nevertheless, the differences are often subtle and the
overlap substantial.
In an effort to reorient the neoclassical/modern distinction, Thompson and
Bunderson (2019) drew from an earlier characterization of calling by
Abraham Maslow (1967) to suggest that the most powerful experiences of a
calling reflect both the “inner requiredness” of self‐actualization
emphasized by modern definitions and the “outer requiredness” of self‐
transcendence emphasized by the neoclassical views. When both inner
requiredness and outer requiredness are high, they argued, the result is a
“transcendent calling.” Some authors have suggested that a common core
(e.g., a sense of purpose) undergirds diverse calling definitions. This idea is
consistent with evidence from cluster (Hirschi, 2011) and taxometric
analyses (Shimizu, Dik, & Conner, 2019) indicating that people's sense of
calling likely differs in degree rather than kind. Indeed, studies investigating
correlates of calling have yielded remarkably consistent results despite the
diverse ways calling is conceptualized (Dik & Shimizu, 2019).
The diverse definitions of calling also form the basis of different measures
of the construct. For example, the definition of Wrzesniewski, McCauley,
Rozin, and Schwartz (1997) gave rise to their single‐item calling paragraph;
the three‐dimensional definition of Dik and Duffy (2009) undergirds their
24‐item, multidimensional Calling and Vocation Questionnaire (CVQ; Dik,
Eldridge, Steger, & Duffy, 2012); and the definition of Dobrow and Tosti‐
Kharas (2011) led to their unidimensional Calling Scale (CS). Only one
study (Duffy, Autin, Allan, & Douglass, 2015) has directly compared these
scales, along with two others: the Brief Calling Scale (BCS; Dik, Duffy, &
Steger, 2012) and the Multidimensional Calling Measure (MCM; Hagmaier
& Abele, 2012). Results from a sample of working U.S. adults revealed that
scores on all five measures appear reliable, relate to work‐related outcomes
in hypothesized directions, and are highly intercorrelated, although
evidence on whether they load onto a single factor was mixed. They also
found scores on the BCS and CVQ to serve as the best predictors of
people's endorsements of having a calling, while the CS and MCM were
stronger predictors of work outcomes such as work meaning, career
commitment, and job satisfaction.
Scores on other measures of having a calling—such as the Neoclassical
Calling Scale (NCS; Bunderson & Thompson, 2009), the Career Calling
Scale (CCS; Praskova, Creed, & Hood, 2015), and the expansive, seven‐
factor Unified Multidimensional Calling Scale (UMCS; Vianello, Dalla
Rosa, Anselmi, & Galliani, 2018)—also demonstrate support for reliability
and validity but were not included in the comparative study of Duffy,
Austin, Allan and Douglass (2015). All of these instruments measure a
person's sense of having a calling; two (BCS and CVQ) also assess people's
search for a calling. As research on calling has evolved, measures of other
aspects of the construct have been introduced as well, such as individuals'
motivation to pursue a calling (the Calling Motivation Scale; Duffy, Bott,
Allan, & Autin, 2015) and the extent to which people feel they are living a
calling (Living a Calling Scale; Duffy, Bott, Allan, Torrey, & Dik, 2012).
RESEARCH ON CALLING
Social science research on calling has followed a natural progression. Early
studies employed mainly cross‐sectional designs to establish associations
between calling and numerous career‐related and general well‐being
variables (e.g., Davidson & Caddell, 1994; Wrzesniewski et al., 1997).
Most of these studies have also approached calling as a unidimensional
construct by examining total scores rather than subscale scores. These
studies offer a useful starting point, but cross‐sectional studies cannot be
used to make causal inferences, and examining only total scores prevents a
more nuanced understanding that incorporating the dimensions of calling
(e.g., transcendent summons, purposeful work, prosocial orientation) could
provide. Their limitations aside, these studies have consistently (but not
universally) established calling as a construct associated with numerous
benefits, a foundation on which ongoing research can build.
Correlates of calling. People who perceive a calling tend to report
numerous benefits within their careers, both in terms of general work
attitudes (e.g., career decision self‐efficacy, career commitment, job
satisfaction) and performance. This general pattern of results has been
demonstrated globally, as samples from more than 20 nations are now
represented in the literature (e.g., Goldfarb, 2018; Hagmaier & Abele, 2012;
Praskova, Hood, & Creed, 2014; Rothmann & Hamukang'andu, 2013; Shim
& Yoo, 2012; Zhang, Dik, Wei, & Zhang, 2015). For example, among
students, a sense of calling is moderately‐to‐strongly positively associated
with academic satisfaction (Duffy, Allan, & Dik, 2011). Other research with
students has found a sense of calling to relate positively with occupational
self‐efficacy, or confidence in handling job‐related tasks (Domene, 2012;
Hirschi & Herrmann, 2013), and career decision self‐efficacy, or confidence
in successfully navigating the career decision process (Dik, Sargent, &
Steger, 2008). Those with a calling also report greater career choice
comfort, occupational importance, intrinsic work motivation, work
meaning, and career adaptability (e.g., Dik, Duffy, & Steger, 2012;
Douglass & Duffy, 2015; Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007). Such studies paint a
picture in which students with a calling generally feel comfortable and
confident in making career decisions, and have a strong readiness for
coping with challenges. However, it bears repeating: causal directions
cannot be inferred from cross‐sectional studies. A sense of calling may
cause, and/or be caused by, these variables; all of them may also be
influenced by third variables not assessed in these studies.
Among working adults, perceiving a calling is consistently positively
associated with job satisfaction, with correlations using the CVQ typically
in the .3–.5 range. Working adults with a stronger sense of calling also tend
to express stronger attachments to their organizations (Duffy, Dik, & Steger,
2011) and occupations (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009). They also report
lower burnout (Yoon, Daley, & Curlin, 2017) and lower turnover intentions
(e.g., Cardador, Dane, & Pratt, 2011). There is far less research on job
performance than on job attitudes, but initial evidence with a sample of
salespersons suggests that living a calling is positively associated with total
sales commissions (Park, Sohn, & Ha, 2016). Other studies, albeit using
self‐report ratings, have found a sense of calling to correlate positively with
task and contextual performance (Lee, Chen, & Chang, 2018), career
success (Chen et al., 2016), employability (Lysova, Jansen, Khapova,
Plomp, & Tims, 2018), and professional competence (Guo, Guan, Yang,
Xu, Zhou, et al., 2014). Workers with a calling, compared to other workers,
also miss fewer days (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997), put in more effort
(Praskova et al., 2014), work more hours (Clinton, Conway, & Sturges
2017), are more willing to make sacrifices for their work (Schabram &
Matlis, 2017), and engage in more supervisor‐reported organizational
citizenship behaviors (Xie, Xia, Xin, & Zhou, 2016). The evidence suggests
that workers with callings likely offer substantial benefit to organizations.
Approaching work as a calling is also linked to overall psychological well‐
being. Numerous studies have found positive, moderate‐to‐strong
correlations between perceiving a calling and meaning in life (e.g., Dik,
Duffy, & Steger, 2012). A sense of calling is also linked with greater
enthusiasm and zest (Peterson, Park, Hall, & Seligman, 2009), greater self‐
rated health and health satisfaction (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997), lower
emotional exhaustion (Rawat & Nadavulakere, 2015), greater psychological
adjustment (Steger, Pickering, Shin, & Dik, 2010), and greater affective
well‐being (Conway, Clinton, Sturges, & Budjanovcanin, 2015). This
evidence suggests a possible spillover from pursuing a calling in work to
experiencing well‐being in life generally. Indeed, one study found that
people seeking meaning in life are more likely to experience meaning when
they viewed their work as a calling (Steger & Dik, 2009).
Mechanisms linking perceptions of calling to criterion variables. As
consistent links were established between calling and career‐related and
general well‐being, researchers began to investigate the mechanisms
underlying those relations. As is summarized in recent reviews (e.g., Dik,
Reed, Shimizu, Marsh, & Morse, 2019; Duffy, Dik, Douglass, England, &
Velez, 2018; Thompson & Bunderson, 2019), several variables moderate
the link between calling and positive criterion variables, including core self‐
evaluations, motivation to pursue a calling, nationality, self‐transcendent
goals, and self‐identified source of a calling (e.g., external summons,
destiny, or perfect fit). An even wider range of variables has been found to
mediate the relation between calling and criterion variables. These include
academic satisfaction, emotional regulation, engagement orientation,
intrinsic and identified motivation, self‐congruence, career goal self‐
efficacy, self‐efficacy for handling job‐related tasks, strengths use, work
effort, work hope, vocational identity achievement, and organizational
instrumentality. Among the most consistently supported mediators are work
meaningfulness and career commitment, which have been found to explain
the links between calling and work engagement and job satisfaction in
several studies (e.g., Duffy, Dik, & Steger, 2011; Hirschi, 2012; Steger et
al., 2010). They reveal a pattern in which a sense of calling is linked to
positive outcomes because those with a sense of calling experience meaning
in, and feel more attached to, their work. These experiences of
meaningfulness and commitment are also associated with engagement and
satisfaction.
Perhaps the most important mediating variable to date is the construct of
living a calling. Nearly half of college students and working adults in the
United States resonate with the notion that their work is a calling (Duffy &
Sedlacek, 2007; White, 2018), but fewer people feel they are living their
calling in their current job. In part, this is because not everyone with a
calling has access to educational and employment opportunities through
which they can live it out. Indeed, income and education levels positively
predict living a calling, but are unrelated to perceiving one (e.g., Duffy &
Autin, 2013). Correlations between perceiving and living a calling range
from .35 to .54 across studies, suggesting that the constructs overlap, yet are
distinct. Evidence also suggests that living a calling is a stronger predictor
of positive outcomes than is perceiving a calling, and fully mediates the link
between perceiving a calling and outcomes (e.g., Duffy, Allan, Autin, &
Bott, 2013). In sum, people with a sense of calling often experience positive
outcomes, and a key reason is that many (but not all) find or create ways to
live out their calling.
Over time, longitudinal designs have started to tease out the causal
directions between calling and criterion variables. Several studies have
found that calling predicts work‐related well‐being and behavioral
outcomes over time (e.g., Dobrow & Tosti‐Kharas, 2011; Hirschi &
Herrmann, 2012; Praskova et al., 2014). However, studies that have
examined more than two time points have found that the causal arrows
between calling and positive criterion variables often point in both
directions. For example, one study of undergraduate students found that
calling predicted an increase in career planning and self‐efficacy for
handling job‐related tasks, which in turn predicted an increase in calling
(Hirschi & Herrmann, 2013).
Still other studies suggest that calling may function better as an outcome
than as a predictor. One examined the link between calling and authenticity
and found authentic living led to increases in a sense of calling, but the
reverse was not true; an increase in a sense of calling predicted a decrease
in authentic living, perhaps because participants were students who were
not yet working in their chosen field (Zhang, Hirschi, Dik, Wei, & You,
2018). Another study, this one with working adults, found that work
meaningfulness and living a calling affected each other reciprocally over
three time points, although work meaning functioned more effectively as a
predictor than as an outcome of calling (Duffy et al., 2014). Finally, a recent
study of students found that across three time points, calling was predicted
by engaged learning, clarity of professional identity, and social support, but
the reverse did not hold. This suggests that students who are engaged in
their learning, have a clearer sense of their career path, and are well‐
supported are more likely to develop a sense of calling over time (Dalla
Rosa, Vianello, & Anselmi, 2019).
Qualitative studies. A small proportion of studies on calling—roughly 10%
—have used qualitative methods (Thompson & Bunderson, 2019). Most of
these consist of interviews with participants representing a specific group of
individuals who already perceive or are living out a calling, such as students
(French & Domene, 2010), counseling psychologists (Duffy, Foley, et al.,
2012), physicians (Bott et al., 2017), working mothers in academia (Sellers,
Thomas, Batts, & Ostman, 2005), animal care workers (Schabram &
Maitlis, 2017), zookeepers (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009), and career
changers (Ahn, Dik, & Hornback, 2017). Qualitative research provides a
thick description of the complex lived experience of individuals, offering
nuanced insights that cannot test theories but are useful in generating them.
Qualitative studies in the calling literature have generally aligned with
results from quantitative research, highlighting the positive work and well‐
being outcomes for individuals and describing their effort and dedication.
However, new directions for research have also emerged from qualitative
studies, such as the “double‐edged” nature of calling in which the positives
are balanced by difficult sacrifices (Bunderson & Thompson, 2009;
Schabram & Maitlis, 2017), and unfulfilled callings that cause regret and
consternation (Berg, Grant, & Johnson, 2010). This “dark side” of calling
has become a fruitful topic of subsequent quantitative research (e.g., Gazica
& Spector, 2015).
WORK AS A CALLING THEORY (WCT)
In many areas of psychology, theories are articulated and then subsequently
tested by programs of research. Scholarship on calling has followed the
reverse path, with research rapidly accumulating without an overarching
theory to guide it. Only recently has a formal theory emerged, one that pulls
together consistent patterns of results in the calling literature into an
integrative model while also proposing new research directions. This work
as a calling theory (WCT; Duffy, Autin, England, Douglass, & Gensmer,
2018) frames perceiving a calling as a predictor of work outcomes, positive
and negative, with living a calling positioned as the key mediating variable
(see Figure 8.1).
More specifically, WCT summarizes research described earlier in this
chapter by postulating that perceiving a calling is linked to job satisfaction
and job performance through living a calling. The rest of the theory builds
around this core mediating relationship. According to the theory, the
association between perceiving a calling and living a calling is also
mediated—by work meaningfulness and career commitment. Perceiving a
calling also predicts work meaningfulness and career commitment directly,
but also indirectly through person–environment fit. This link between
perceiving a calling and P–E fit, in turn, is moderated by three variables:
one's motivation to express a calling, one's expression of job crafting
behaviors, and the level of organizational support a person receives.
People's access to opportunity also is proposed to influence work meaning,
career commitment, and living a calling.
FIGURE 8.1 Solid lines indicate proposed positive associations.
Source: From Duffy, R. D., Dik, B. J., Douglass, R. P., England, J. W., Velez, B. L. (2018). Work
as a calling: A theoretical model. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65, 423-439. © 2018
American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission of American Psychological
Association
The theory proposes that living a calling is directly linked to job satisfaction
and job performance, but that in some circumstances negative outcomes can
result as well. For example, some individuals who are living a calling may
rationalize an overinvestment in their work, resulting in workaholism and,
eventually, burnout. Others, because of their high levels of intrinsic
motivation, may be subject to exploitation on the part of unscrupulous
employers. (Identifying a possible “tipping point” where the positive
outcomes give way to negatives is an important and fascinating topic for
future research to address). These negative outcomes are postulated,
naturally, to negatively influence job satisfaction and performance. Finally,
the theory proposes that the strength of the relationship between living a
calling and negative outcomes varies as a function of personality factors
(e.g., Big Five traits, perfectionism, high need for achievement, low self‐
esteem) and the psychological climate within the workplace.
Much of WCT was informed by existing evidence, but the theory also
presents numerous new testable hypotheses to drive further research. In an
initial test of the predictor side of the model, examining the proposed
mediator and moderator relationships that link perceiving and living a
calling, full (17) and partial (1) support was found for 18 of 20 WCT
propositions, providing overall strong support for this part of the model
(Duffy, Douglass, Gensmer, England, & Kim, 2019). Additional research is
obviously needed to replicate this study and test the remaining portions of
the model. Notably, WCT targets only the pathways between perceiving a
calling and outcomes; it does not address the processes people may go
through to perceive a calling, another important question for research to
address. Also, as currently proposed, WCT suggests that living a calling
leads to satisfaction and performance, but research should also test the
reverse path, and the possibility of mutual causation. Furthermore,
contextual factors are only indirectly addressed in the theory. Exploring the
role of cultural influences is another need for future research, one likely to
be addressed as international scholarship on calling continues to grow.
Finally, the theory is focused on traditional work‐related outcomes
experienced within the career domain. Expanding these outcomes,
examining general well‐being, and developing theory for how callings are
experienced and expressed within other life domains (e.g., parenting,
retirement, leisure, voluntarism) represent other promising future directions.
MEANINGFUL WORK
Contemporary social science scholarship on meaningful work begins with
the assumption that work is an important pillar of a fulfilling life. Despite
generally agreeing with this premise, researchers have advanced diverse
definitions of meaningful work. Most seem to have emerged from efforts to
measure the construct, rather than directly from theory. Perhaps the most
satisfying theoretical definition argues that to be meaningful, work must
create a subjective sense of meaningfulness in a worker and also be judged,
morally or ethically, to have significance beyond the individual worker
(Yeoman, Bailey, Madden & Thompson, 2019). Adopting this perspective,
the study of meaningful work not only needs to account for whether careers
offer normatively desirable psychological (e.g., autonomy, respect) and
structural (e.g., freedom, safety) goods, but also whether the nature of the
work creates ethical or moral benefits.
Earlier conceptualizations of meaningful work contrasted with this view,
focusing instead on whether people experienced their specific work
activities as important or useful. For example, Heim (2010) noted the
important contributions of Swiss psychiatrist Auguste Forel, who
incorporated meaningful work into treatment for individuals suffering from
psychiatric disorders in the 1910s–1920s. Meaningful work in this case was
framed simply as spending time performing tasks that were reasonably
enjoyable and that resulted in some identifiable product or outcome. In
other words, meaningful work was more or less the opposite of pointless
busywork.
Most recent scholarship on meaningful work conceptualizes the concept
broadly, as people's pursuit of personally meaningful career and
occupational lives, and not just simple job tasks. This approach emphasizes
the importance of grounding meaningful work in one's own values,
strengths, motivations, and interests, yet increasingly scholars also
acknowledge the importance of context. While a basic psychological
definition of meaningful work puts individual perceptions in the driver's
seat—e.g., “work that that is personally significant and worthwhile”
(Lysova, Dik, Allan, Duffy, & Steger, 2019, p. 2)—a more comprehensive
conceptual treatment of meaningful work also considers contextual factors
such as social justice, access to decent work, the ethical and moral
outcomes of completed work or organizational activity, and factors such as
class, race, and sex. Despite such acknowledgments of context,
contemporary meaningful work research continues to heavily prioritize the
individual's own subjective judgment of whether one's work is meaningful.
MEANINGFUL WORK SCHOLARSHIP
Perhaps the strong psychological emphasis on the subjective experience of
meaningful work in research is not surprising given that its earliest history
derives from psychiatry (e.g., Forel, described in the preceding section).
While this psychological emphasis has remained constant, the scope of
meaningful work research has expanded substantially. Meaningful work
first began to receive serious scrutiny when it was brought into business and
management scholarship as a positive psychological state mediating
between fairly objective job characteristics and both performance and job
satisfaction (i.e., job characteristics model; Hackman & Oldham, 1976).
The influential model of Hackman and Oldham borrowed the early
twentieth‐century view of meaningful work arising from fairly simplistic
“task characteristics,” which could be tweaked. This model dominated
meaningful work research until the late 1990s when Wrzesniewski et al.
(1997) drew on the related concept of calling to present an idea of
meaningful work that placed meaningful work in relationship to people's
whole life.
Despite referring to “calling,” Wrzesniewski's ideas did not include
classical hallmarks of the calling construct, specifically a transcendent
summons. Instead, Wrzesniewski described a state of finding work to be
pleasing, feeling good about work, loving work, feeling it is a vital part of
who one is, believing one's work makes the world a better place, bringing
one's work home, finding social needs to pivot around work, and even
feeling upset if one was forced to stop working even through retirement.
Although this sweeping characterization entangles meaningful work with
other similar constructs, its main contributions were to clarify that the
inputs to meaningful work are much bigger than simple task characteristics
and the potential outcomes of meaningful work are much more
encompassing than job satisfaction and performance. Indeed, this kind of
meaningful work could be a foundation for well‐being and social
contribution.
There is substantial continuity between Wrzesniewski's characterization of
meaningful work (vis‐à‐vis calling) and current meaningful work
scholarship, with new approaches generally offering refinements rather than
refutations. Chalofsky (2003) synthesized the existing literature to identify
three core components of meaningful work: (a) sense of one's whole self,
purpose, and potential brought to work; (b) sense of balance among
multiple aspects of self with work; and (c) the work itself as an act of
autonomous challenge and execution of one's purpose. Lips‐Wiersma and
Morris (2009) as well as Rosso, Dekas, and Wrzesniewski (2010) carried
forward Chalofsky's themes of developing and using one's self in work and
balancing one's own needs with those of others. Lips‐Wiersma and Morris
(2009) conducted action research investigating four dimensions of
meaningful work that had emerged in previous qualitative work. They
gathered comments regarding expressing the self, developing and becoming
the self, unity with others, and expressing full potential. Rosso and
colleagues added a distinction between whether one's work activities are
directed at one's self, or at others, which might include the idea that one's
work makes the world a better place. Steger, Dik, and Duffy (2012) bridged
older and newer theories to incorporate the degree to which people find
sense and purpose in their work activities, as well as how they achieve fit
between their overall life and work, and how they see their work
contributing to the greater good.
At present, there is no single theory of meaningful work that guides the
field, but there are strong family resemblances for how meaningful work is
characterized. We suggest that current scholarship makes three primary
claims about meaningful work. First, meaningful work retains the early
functional emphasis on job tasks that have an ample degree of utility and
purpose. Second, meaningful work includes strong emphasis on the
psychological experience of meaningfulness, such that work comes to be
viewed as a key way for someone to express their true selves, sustain
intrinsic motivation, and strive toward their full potential. Third,
meaningful work includes moral and ethical claims on the importance of
joining with others and the ability of work to enact benefits beyond the self,
to make the world a better place.
RESEARCH ON MEANINGFUL WORK
Measures of meaningful work. Measures of meaningful work can be
categorized as unidimensional or multidimensional. The oldest and most
prominent unidimensional measure of meaningful work was developed to
support the job characteristics model. Hackman and Oldham introduced a
measure to assess meaningful work, which they described as how
meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile employees perceived their job to be
(Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS), Hackman & Oldham, 1975). This four‐item
measure asks about both respondent perceptions and perceived coworker
perceptions on two items (i.e., job tasks are trivial or useless, and work is
meaningful). These items formed the foundation for two other measures:
Spreitzer's (1995) meaning subscale, and the meaningful work scale of
May, Gilson, and Harter (2004). The scores on the latter measure have good
internal consistency (α = .90), and its items gauge perceptions of work as
important and meaningful, and work tasks as significant, worthwhile,
valuable, and meaningful. Unfortunately, there has been very little
psychometric evaluation of this measure, and most job characteristics
model research has not included it, or has used proxies for meaningful
work. Two other unidimensional measures have been published by Arnold,
Turner, Barling, Kelloway, and McKee (2007) and Treadgold (1999). Both
have acceptable internal consistency, but as with other unidimensional
measures, no systematic psychometric evaluations have been conducted, so
it is unknown whether they are indeed unidimensional or how they perform
across cultures.
Multidimensional measures have generally been developed using more
rigorous methods, including superior reporting of psychometric properties.
Lips‐Wiersma, building on earlier qualitative research, developed a seven‐
dimensional Comprehensive Meaningful Work Scale (CMWS; Lips‐
Wiersma & Wright, 2012). The factor structure of the CMWS was
demonstrated through a process of exploratory and confirmatory factor
analyses and winnowing of items, resulting in 28. Its seven dimensions are
unity with others, serving others, expressing one's full potential, developing
and becoming one's self, reality, inspiration, and balancing tensions among
competing motivations. The CMWS has the advantage of reflecting
interesting qualitative research on how workers view meaning, but the
reported fit indices for the final model are poor, indicating that the subscales
may not reflect a stable number or configuration of dimensions. Further
refinement of this promising measure would be ideal. Steger et al. (2012)
developed the Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI), a 10‐item measure
assessing three dimensions: positive meaning at work; meaning‐making
through work, and greater good motivations. Its three dimensions were
established through a literature review and exploratory and confirmatory
factor analysis. The WAMI appears to be psychometrically sound (Both‐
Nwabuwe, Dijkstra, & Beersma, 2017), has been translated and used in
multiple languages and countries, and is the most widely used of the
multidimensional meaningful work measures (Bailey, Yeoman, Madden,
Thompson, & Kerridge, 2019).
In sum, those interested in studying meaningful work have numerous
choices to measure the construct, each of which shares a core focus on
people's experiences of meaningfulness in their work. Some unidimensional
scales include additional content on the importance of work (e.g., May et
al., 2004) or work in the service of a higher good (e.g., Arnold et al., 2007),
and multidimensional scales include a range of additional content thought
to be conceptually fundamental to meaningful work. Of all existing
measures, only the multidimensional WAMI (Steger et al., 2012) shows
evidence of robust psychometric properties.
Basic research. Along with a new generation of measurement tools, public
attention to meaningful work has seemed to bloom, inspiring new research
around the world. Following an influential white paper published by Kelly
Services in 2009, consulting companies began releasing other white papers
describing the performance and motivation benefits of meaningful work
(sometimes referred to as purpose at work). Following the lead of global
management and human resource consultants, the pace of published
research increased. According to Web of Science, citations on meaningful
work have risen from 183 in 1997, when Wrzesniewski's seminal paper
appeared, to 698 in 2009, when the Kelly Services white paper appeared, to
2185 in 2018. Several detailed reviews of this research are available (e.g.,
Bailey et al., 2019; Lysova et al., 2018; Steger, 2017, 2019), as is a
handbook (Madden, Yeoman, Bailey, & Thompson, 2019) and a more
practitioner‐oriented academic book (Dik, Byrne, & Steger, 2013). The
purpose of the present review is to provide a sense of the breadth of this
research, along with the most common results.
Research has linked meaningful work to a host of desirable individual and
organizational variables. At the most obvious level, people report positive
attitudes toward work they judge to be meaningful. For example, people
who view their work to be meaningful are more satisfied with their work
(Kamdron, 2005; Sparks & Schenk, 2001), see work as more valuable and
central (e.g., Harpaz & Fu, 2002; Nord, Brief, Atieh, & Doherty, 1990), are
more engaged (e.g., Johnson & Jiang, 2017; Steger, Littman‐Ovadia, Miller,
Menger, & Rothmann, 2013), feel more creative (Cohen‐Meitar, Carmeli, &
Waldman, 2009), involved, and committed (Leiter & Harvie, 1997;
Montani, Boudrias, & Pigeon, 2017), and are more intrinsically motivated
in their work (Johns, Xie, & Fang, 1992; Steger et al., 2012). Meaningful
work also is associated with lower absenteeism (Soane et al., 2013; Steger
et al., 2012) and intentions to leave one's job (Fairlie, 2011; Steger et al.,
2012). More research is needed to evaluate whether perceptions of
meaningful work cause or are caused by each of these variables, or whether
mutual causation or third variables are at work.
Research also suggests that people who experience meaningful work
contribute to the overall climate of workplaces, via organizational
citizenship behaviors (e.g., Chen & Li, 2013; Steger et al., 2012) and
greater commitment to their employers and their professions (Steger et al.,
2012). Such positive climates often result from effective leadership. Several
specific leadership styles have been linked to meaningful work, too. For
example, meaningful work is higher among people who perceive their
leaders to use transformational leadership (e.g., Judge & Piccolo, 2004),
spiritual leadership (Duchon & Plowman, 2005), or participative and
constructive management approaches (e.g., McCrae, Boreham, & Ferguson,
2011). The measures used in these leadership studies shared a core
emphasis on work being experienced as meaningful, although the study on
spiritual leadership used a measure of meaningful work that included
additional emphasis on joy and contributing to the greater good.
Finally, a significant proportion of research on meaningful work has
examined its association with overall well‐being. Several studies have
reported correlations between meaningful work and greater meaning in life
(e.g., Steger et al., 2010), life satisfaction (Douglass, Duffy, & Autin, 2016),
well‐being (Arnold et al., 2007), positive emotions (e.g., Steger et al.,
2013), and resilience (Van Windgerden & Poell, 2019), and lower levels of
stress and depression (Daniel, 2015). Furthermore, several studies have
linked meaningful work to healthier work–life balance (e.g., McCrae et al.,
2011; Tummers & Knies, 2013). Most of this research used the WAMI to
measure meaningful work.
Whether researchers have used the WAMI or other measures, they have
consistently found positive correlations between meaningful work and well‐
being, work satisfaction, and work commitment. The mechanisms by which
meaningful work is linked to these variables are less well‐known.
According to theory, meaningful work benefits individuals and supports
greater commitment and performance at work for at least three reasons: (a)
meaningful work is centrally linked to one's identity; (b) meaningful work
is a means through which people pursue their life purpose and make a
difference in the world; and (c) people are intrinsically motivated when
engaged in meaningful work, helping to sustain effort over the long term
and rewarding progress with greater well‐being (e.g., Steger, 2017).
However, little research has tested such assumptions, aside from estimating
indirect effects within cross‐sectional studies. In an exception to the cross‐
sectional approach, one longitudinal study demonstrated that practices
intended to increase the meaningfulness of work can be successful.
Specifically, workers who used their strengths, and those who engaged in
job crafting to better meet the demands of their work, reported higher levels
of meaningful work (Tims, Derks, & Bakker, 2016).
WORK VOLITION
When considering issues of living a calling or experiencing meaningful
work, a pivotal question is the extent to which people possess the volition to
pursue such work. That is, although some may feel called to meaningful
work, many lack resources and power that would allow them the freedom to
choose that path (Blustein, 2006). Scholars define work volition as one's
perceived freedom of work choice despite barriers (Duffy, Diemer, Perry,
Lorenzi, & Torrey, 2012). The construct has garnered focus in vocational
psychology, as the field has increasingly emphasized the role of privilege in
making career choices. Historically dominant career development theories
(e.g., person–environment fit theories, social cognitive career theory, career
construction theory) emphasize agentic action on the part of the individual
(Blustein, 2006). These theories acknowledge and identify contextual
factors as important to the career development process to varying extents,
but in more recent theory development (e.g., PWT; Duffy, Blustein, et al.,
2016), scholars have positioned these factors as central driving forces in
explaining in career outcomes. Accordingly, scholars have integrated work
volition and related constructs more explicitly to augment traditional
research paradigms focused on matching one's interests, skills, goals, and
values to a complementary occupation.
The construct of work volition is embedded in questions of power and
privilege (Blustein, 2006; Duffy, Bott, Allan, et al., 2012). Although highly
privileged people might certainly feel constrained in their career choices
(e.g., a highly paid White male bound by “golden handcuffs” to an
unsatisfying job), the systemic oppression of those with marginalized
identities (e.g., women, people of color, LGBQ and trans populations) was
the driving force in work volition's theoretical development (Blustein,
2006). Although these populations have been of interest to work volition
scholars because of the structural and economic barriers they often face,
work volition is not synonymous with barriers. Specifically, structural
barriers are theorized as predictors, whereas work volition is the perception
of work choice despite barriers, and is hypothesized to be influenced by
within‐person inputs as well (e.g., global personality traits, occupational
self‐efficacy, core self‐evaluations; Duffy, Bott, Allan et al., 2012).
WORK VOLITION AND THEORY
Inclusion of work volition in career development models gained traction
when volition was presented as a key variable in the psychology of working
framework (PWF; Blustein, 2006; Blustein, 2013). The PWF is a
comprehensive framework of career development largely grounded in the
critique that extant vocational theories are biased toward the privileged
(e.g., college‐educated middle and upper classes). The PWF forms the basis
of PWT (Duffy, Blustein, et al., 2016), which proposes both predictors (e.g.,
marginalization, economic constraints) and outcomes (e.g., fulfillment of
basic needs, subjective well‐being) of decent work. Within PWT, work
volition is placed as a direct predictor of decent work and a key mediator in
the relation of contextual barriers with decent work (see Blustein & Duffy,
Chapter 7, this volume, for a detailed review of PWT). Specifically, work
volition is theorized to mediate the relation from both economic constraints
and experiences of marginalization to decent work. In other words, from
PWT's perspective, one reason why contextual factors predict decent work
is because they impact people's perceptions about their freedom to choose
their work (Duffy, Blustein, et al., 2016).
Although research is only beginning to study them, the underlying
mechanisms within this chain of variables are likely complex and
multidimensional. For example, a Black woman from a low socioeconomic
status (SES) background might face structural and economic barriers (e.g.,
lack of financial resources for higher education), environmental barriers
(e.g., few Black women in her field of interest), interpersonal barriers (e.g.,
others underestimating her academic ability due to racial stereotypes), and
intrapersonal barriers (e.g., internalized racist beliefs), all of which are
mechanisms of marginalization. However, she might also draw strength
from a highly supportive family (social support), possess a critical
understanding of her social context and how best to advocate for herself and
others like her (critical consciousness), have a tendency toward personal
initiative (proactive personality), and live in a region with a robust economy
(economic conditions). Clearly, complex predictive pathways at individual,
interpersonal, and institutional levels must be considered when studying
how contextual variables and work volition are linked.
RESEARCH ON WORK VOLITION
Measures of work volition. Measures of work volition are available for
both working adult and college student populations, given the differences in
the developmental tasks faced by each. Specifically, the Work Volition
Scale (Duffy, Diemer, Perry, et al., 2012) uses present‐oriented items and
the Work Volition Scale (student version) (Duffy, Diemer, & Jadidian,
2012) uses future‐oriented items. Both scales measure both volition and
constraints to volition.
The Work Volition Scale consists of three subscales: volition (i.e., one's
perceived general capacity to make career choices), financial constraints
(i.e., one's perceived capacity to make career choices in the face of financial
barriers), and structural constraints (i.e., one's perceived capacity to make
career choices in the face of structural barriers). The student version
contains two subscales: a volition subscale (e.g., “Once I enter the work
world, I will easily find a new job if I want to”) and a constraints subscale
(e.g., “I feel that my family situation limits the types of jobs I might
pursue”). In the initial validation studies, scores on both instruments
demonstrated evidence of reliability (e.g., Cronbach's alphas ranging from
.70 to .89 for subscale scores and .86–.92 for total scores) and validity (e.g.,
construct validity, incremental validity). For example, scores on the Work
Volition Scale correlated in expected directions with work locus of control,
core self‐evaluations, adaptive personality traits, career barriers, and career
compromise. Scale scores also explained variance in job satisfaction above
and beyond established predictors (e.g., core self‐evaluations, work locus of
control, and personality traits; Duffy, Diemer, Perry, et al., 2012). Scores on
the student version correlated in expected directions with career decision
self‐efficacy, core self‐evaluations, career locus of control, career barriers,
and the Big Five personality traits (Duffy, Diemer, & Jadidian, 2012).
Basic research. Along with the recent theoretical development of the work
volition construct, dozens of studies have been conducted. This empirical
work has focused on three primary areas: predictors of work volition, work
volition as a mediator of privilege, and work volition as a predictor of work
fulfillment (e.g., job satisfaction, meaningful work).
Given the theorized correlation in both external and within‐person inputs to
work volition, empirical studies have tested predictors that tap into both of
these categories. As a whole, findings have supported the idea that work
volition is a product of complex relations between individuals and their
environments. For example, studies examining work volition in college
students have found nuanced relations between within‐person and
environmental variables. Duffy, Douglass, Autin, and Allan (2016)
examined demographic characteristics, positive affect, sense of control, and
career barriers as predictors. Of these, social class, career barriers, and
sense of control demonstrated the most predictive power. Furthermore, the
authors found that, whereas work volition acted as a unidimensional
predictor of sense of control over time, it had reciprocal relations with
career barriers and was predicted by, but not predictive of, social class. In
other words, results provided temporal evidence that having a lower social
class background and greater likelihood of future career barriers resulted in
lower levels of work volition and, in turn, a decreased sense of control over
time. Career barriers also predicted work volition in a reciprocal fashion,
suggesting that these variables predict each other over time. A study
examining work volition among university students in the United States and
Hong Kong found similar results, with psychological resources and career‐
related resources acting as both predictors and moderators of work volition.
Finally, a study of university students in Turkey revealed that proactive
personality predicted both work volition and constraints (Büyükgöze,
2018), highlighting the role that personality may play in the perception of
work choice.
Studies in non‐student adult populations offer additional support for the
dynamic interplay of within‐person and external variables in predicting
work volition (Cheung, Wu, & Yeung, 2016; Duffy, Jadidian, Douglass, &
Allan, 2015). For example, one study found that U.S. military veterans
reported greater levels of work volition if they had higher levels of
education, higher incomes, were married, and were employed (Duffy,
Autin, & Bott, 2015). Beyond these contextual variables, within‐person
inputs that were associated with work volition included fewer posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, lower levels of neuroticism, higher levels
of conscientiousness, and higher internal locus of control. Although much
more research is needed to have a complete picture of what might lead to
high levels of work volition, it is likely that predictors of this variable are
diverse, multidimensional, and vary by population.
Another area that has received a great deal of attention is work volition as a
mediating variable between socioeconomic privilege and work outcomes.
PWT hypothesizes work volition as a mediator in the link from economic
constraints and marginalization to decent work (Duffy, Blustein, et al.,
2016). How marginalization is operationalized has varied across studies
based on the particular population of interest. However, these studies have
consistently shown that indicators of economic constraints and
marginalization are reliable predictors of work volition and that work
volition is, in turn, highly predictive of decent work. These results provide
evidence that work volition is a key mechanism in explaining why people
from socially and economically marginalized backgrounds are less likely to
access decent work. This same pattern of results has been demonstrated in
ethnic (Duffy, Velez, England, Autin, Douglass, et al., 2018), sexual (Allan,
Tebbe, Bouchard, & Duffy, 2019) and gender minority populations (Tebbe,
Allan, & Bell, 2019), as well as in a sample of people with Chiari
malformation (Tokar & Kaut, 2018). The model positioning work volition
as a mediator between indicators of socioeconomic privilege and decent
work also has been demonstrated cross‐culturally in the United States (e.g.,
Tebbe et al., 2019), China (Wang et al., in press), Switzerland (Masdonati,
Schreiber, Marcionetti, & Rossier, 2019), and Korea (Kim, Duffy, Lee, Lee,
& Lee, 2019).
In addition to evidence supporting work volition as a predictor of decent
work, there is a modest body of research documenting its role in predicting
meaningful work and living a calling. Similar to the positioning of work
volition as an antecedent of decent work, scholars studying eudaimonic
aspects of working have argued that to pursue fulfilling work, one must
have sufficient volition to do so. This notion has been supported by research
testing the relations between work volition, calling, and meaningful work.
For example, Duffy and Autin (2013) found that, although people across
education and income backgrounds were equally likely to discern a calling,
those who were more highly educated and with higher incomes were more
likely to endorse living their calling. These results were replicated and
extended with longitudinal data showing that work volition is an important
mediator explaining why those with higher social class backgrounds are
more likely to agree they are living a calling (Duffy, Autin, et al., 2018).
Evidence also shows that one reason why work volition is a strong predictor
of meaningful work is because more work volition allows people to feel a
greater sense of internal motivation toward their work (Allan et al., 2016).
Researchers have also shown work volition to be a direct predictor,
moderator, and mediator of job satisfaction (Duffy, Autin, & Bott, 2015;
Duffy, Bott, Torrey, & Webster, 2013) and academic satisfaction (Jadidian
& Duffy, 2012). These significant predictive relations to meaningful work,
calling, and satisfaction suggest that work volition may be an underlying
mechanism for general well‐being in the workplace as well as a pathway to
specific aspects of fulfilling work.
CALLING, MEANING, VOLITION, AND
CAREER COUNSELING
A sense of calling and meaningful work have been linked repeatedly with a
wide range of highly consequential individual and organizational variables
of interest. As multidimensional variables that may integrate diverse aspects
of human flourishing beyond the workplace (e.g., sense of self, well‐being,
organizational identification, altruism, generativity, meaning in life), calling
and meaningful work warrant close attention in career counseling. Calling
and meaningful work are both tied to existential concerns, focus on
eudaimonic more so than hedonic well‐being, and value making
contributions to the common good or societal well‐being.
These distinctions inform three overarching goals for career intervention
intended to foster a sense of calling and increase meaningful work (Dik &
Duffy, 2015). A first goal is to explore the relationship between clients'
career development and matters of existential importance. For example,
given the ties of calling to religious traditions (Cahalan & Schuurman,
2016), for clients who operate from a religious or spiritual worldview, the
concept of calling may offer a mechanism for integrating faith and work in
a way that promotes coherence and wholeness (Hardy, 1990). Similarly, for
nonreligious clients who are oriented to existential questions, discerning
and living a calling—or examining the meaning of work within the context
of life—can link one's global meaning framework to the day‐to‐day
experience of meaning within one's work. A second goal is to target
eudaimonic well‐being primarily and hedonic well‐being secondarily.
Eudaimonic well‐being can be powerful; meaningfulness buffers against
depression and anxiety and promotes numerous indicators of healthy
psychological functioning (Steger, Frazier, Oishi, & Kaler, 2006). Third,
career counseling that targets calling and meaning actively promotes
prosocial values in career development. This involves encouraging clients
to explore how their work activity might have a positive impact on the
world around them. Some readers may wonder if this approach is ethical,
tantamount to imposing counselor values on clients. There was a time when
value neutrality was considered a goal in counseling, but it is now widely
recognized that the counseling process is inherently value‐laden (e.g.,
Patterson, 1989). The ethical principle of beneficence (i.e., to do good and
help others) requires that counselors and clients clarify what constitutes a
good outcome (Tjeltveit, 2006), which is rooted in beliefs about the good
life and good society, all matters that should be addressed in the counseling
context (Blustein, McWhirter, & Perry, 2005). We assume (in part due to
research evidence; Dik, Duffy, & Steger, 2012) that promoting the well‐
being of others is a universal good, and we assume that a good outcome
from career counseling occurs when clients find or create work they
experience as meaningful through which they can express their abilities for
direct or indirect benefit to the common good.
Intervention strategies that build on these goals can address both career
choice and work adjustment concerns. Minimally, there is a viable rationale
for including measures of calling and meaningful work in career counseling
to enable clients to reflect on the extent to which their present career paths
and work experiences provide fulfillment, opportunities for self‐expression,
a sense of contribution, or a suitable venue for devoting one's efforts and
time. For clients with career choice concerns, counselors can (a) encourage
active engagement in a career decision‐making process rather than
passively waiting for answers to be revealed in an aha moment; (b) explore
the overlap of client strengths with opportunities in the world of work; (c)
explore “social fit,” or the fit between an individual's patterns of interests,
values, personality, and abilities not only with opportunities (i.e., job titles)
but with salient social needs in their communities and beyond; and (d) align
career goals with life goals (see Dik & Duffy, 2015, for a more detailed
discussion of these points).
For clients with work adjustment concerns, job crafting may serve as a
useful tool for kindling greater meaning in their current work (Berg, Dutton,
& Wrzesniewski, 2013). Similar to how Dawis and Lofquist (1984)
describe work adjustment behavior, job crafting involves the active shaping
of a work environment and/or the self to foster greater meaningfulness. This
can occur by altering tasks, or the way one's tasks are completed; altering
one's relationships at work so they more fully align with the client's
relational values; and reframing or recalibrating the meaning and potential
impact of one's work. Engaging in these crafting strategies can help clients
proactively elicit greater meaningfulness from their work. Finally, for
clients with very little latitude to craft their jobs, a more fruitful strategy
may be cultivating a sense of calling or greater meaningfulness from life
roles outside of paid work (e.g., Berg et al., 2010).
Given the empirical evidence for work volition as a key variable in
predicting access to decent, satisfying, and meaningful work, it is also
important that career counselors assess for work volition in clients and, if
appropriate, work with clients to increase levels of work volition by helping
them navigate barriers using effective self‐advocacy. Practitioners may find
it helpful to assess work volition with a validated instrument such as the
two described earlier (Duffy, Diemer, Perry, et al., 2012; Duffy, Diemer, &
Jadidian, 2012) to tap into constraints that clients may have difficulty
verbalizing. Although these instruments can be helpful in getting a snapshot
of clients' volition, it is important to spend ample time discussing their
qualitative experience.
Once the counselor has an understanding of the client's level of work
volition, it is important to understand what barriers—both internal and
external—may be impeding the client from freedom of work choice. Often,
these barriers will include factors that cannot be surmounted on an
individual level. For instance, institutional racism is a systemic issue that
must be addressed at the community and policy levels. However, counselors
may help clients to cultivate a sense of critical consciousness regarding how
systemic problems may create obstacles in their work lives and explore how
they might express adaptability and build resilience in navigating them.
Clients may draw from critical consciousness as an internal resource for
coping with external barriers by increasing their awareness of, and sense of
agency to act upon, sociopolitical forces (e.g., via activism and
sociopolitical development; Diemer, 2009; Diemer & Blustein, 2006;
Diemer, Rapa, Voight, & McWhirter, 2016). Furthermore, it is important
that career counseling professionals engage in advocacy outside of the
counseling setting to promote equity for the clients they serve.
Unfortunately, applied research testing interventions designed to promote
calling, meaningful work, and work volition is (provided “research” is the
subject) sparse. Of the research that has been undertaken, most has
examined strategies designed to increase a sense of calling. For example,
randomized controlled trials have examined a two‐session workshop (Dik &
Steger, 2008) as well as a religiously tailored five‐session structured group
intervention designed for Christian clients (Dik, Scholljegerdes, Ahn, &
Shim, 2015). Both studies found the calling‐infused intervention to increase
positive outcomes compared to a control group, but not compared to a
“standard” career development intervention. Another experiment found that
participants instructed to use their highest character strengths more
frequently at work over 4 weeks reported an increased sense of calling and
life satisfaction (Harzer & Ruch, 2016). However, outside of one pilot study
with middle school students (Dik, Steger, Gibson, & Peisner, 2012), we are
unaware of any intervention studies targeting meaningful work. Similarly,
although extant empirical findings may be helpful in guiding discussions
about volition in career counseling practice, there is a major gap in the
literature regarding interventions to facilitate the development of work
volition as well as how interventions targeting work volition may impact
other counseling outcomes.
In response to the paucity of intervention research, we suggest that future
research begin to more thoroughly test key assumptions of the dominant
theories of meaningful work. A reasonable starting place would be the job
characteristics model (Hackman & Oldham, 1976), which predicts that skill
variety, task significance, and task identity should increase meaningful
work. These proposed antecedents of meaningful work help people avoid
monotony and bridge the gap between the discrete actions of their job tasks
and the final output of the organization. Researchers also might examine
more closely the assumptions that working in the interests of a greater good
increases meaningful work. An organization might develop a sensible
corporate social responsibility program, which would create a natural
experiment enabling a test of whether employees respond with a greater
sense of meaning. Another organizational change that creates a natural
experiment would include rollouts of flexible work hours and remote
working, which would increase the potential for people to balance work and
other life domains. In an integrated view of multiple theorized causal
factors, Steger (2017) has suggested two frameworks for anticipating the
factors that may help individual workers find meaningful work. This also
may enable leaders and organizations to create conditions that increase the
likelihood that workers experience their work as meaningful.
With respect to work volition, we offer the following recommendations for
future research. First, research should focus on identifying moderators of
work volition's association with criterion variables. When moderating
factors are identified, they may serve as target variables in interventions to
buffer negative predictors and bolster positive predictors of work volition.
Second, scholars should investigate the developmental trajectory of work
volition. Research shows that perceptions about work choice begin at an
early age (Porfeli & Lee, 2012; Rojewski & Yang, 1997). However, most of
the research on work volition has focused on college students and working
adults without adopting a developmental framework. Designing
developmentally appropriate work volition interventions requires better
understanding how the construct unfolds over the lifespan. Finally, it is
imperative that as researchers develop work volition interventions, they
place cultural responsiveness at the forefront. Given the intersecting
contexts in which one's work volition is embedded, understanding culturally
specific ways the construct develops and is manifested across diverse
groups is essential.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Research and theory on work as a calling, meaningful work, and work
volition have much in common. All three are relatively new, emerging areas
within vocational psychology that have demonstrated a rapidly increasing
research trajectory and very recent theoretical development. All three are
rooted in what makes people uniquely human as they endeavor to do work
that matters to them—that is, the desire for purpose and significance, and
the ability to influence one's own life trajectory in positive ways. And all
three show immense promise for constructively informing career
counseling interventions, despite a great need for additional research.
Practitioners are encouraged to do the following in their work with clients:
Explore the relationship between clients' career development and
matters of existential importance.
Target eudaimonic well‐being primarily and hedonic well‐being
secondarily.
Engage clients in discussion of how their work may contribute to the
greater good.
Assess calling, meaningful work, and work volition to inform client
reflection.
Encourage job crafting to foster meaningfulness.
Support efforts to balance callings within multiple life domains, not
only work.
Assist clients in navigating barriers using effective self‐advocacy.
Help clients cultivate critical consciousness as an internal resource for
coping, while striving to address systemic barriers via advocacy at the
community and policy levels.
We urge readers to not only establish a stronger and more rigorous
empirical base to support ongoing theory and application related to those
constructs, but also to engage in continued creative development of
intervention strategies and applications. Doing so offers encouragement for
vocational psychologists eager to help clients more effectively leverage
what matters most to them in ways that cultivate satisfying, meaningful, and
agentic careers.
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SECTION TWO
DIVERSITY AND
SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS IN
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 9
The Role of Gender in Career Development
DONNA E. SCHULTHEISS
Cleveland State University, Cleveland,, OH
Despite great strides in our knowledge of how gender impacts career
development throughout the life span, much still needs to be learned about
climate and contextual factors relevant to gendered occupational
experiences (Fouad, Diaz Tapia, Kozlowski, Weber, & Schams, 2019). A
recent review of women's career development indicates that the majority of
research on the topic has focused on a very limited portion of the
population, and has been conducted under the assumption that individuals
have equal access to resources (Fouad et al., 2019). Furthermore, despite
data clearly signifying occupational disparities, wage gaps, and stereotypes
and discrimination, attitudes across age cohorts in the general population
suggest a lack of awareness and concern that these problems persist
(Piacenza, 2019). This lack of awareness and concern, coupled with
unfriendly organizational climates and practices, creates resistance to
gender equity in the United States and around the world (Hausmann, Tyson,
& Zahidi, 2010).
Recent data suggest that there are gaps between men's and women's
awareness of workplace gender inequality (Piacenza, 2019). Similar to men
in older generations, younger men (i.e., aged 18–29) tend to show limited
awareness of the gender‐related challenges that women face in the
workplace. Notably, men are more likely than women to believe that it is
more of a myth than a reality that it is harder for female leaders to recover
professionally from mistakes or failures than it is for men, that male leaders
are still more comfortable promoting other men to leadership positions, and
that women are often steered toward supporting roles that do not lead to top
leadership positions (Piacenza, 2019). Such assumptions contribute to
workplace climate disparities and to difficulties in effecting change in
contexts that sustain gender inequities.
This chapter examines gender in career development by acknowledging
persistent occupational disparities in the workplace, recognizing workplace
incivility, sexual harassment, gender stereotyping, and stereotype threat.
Gender inequities associated with unpaid work, parenthood, and work and
family integration are also discussed. Men's career development is
reviewed, and the major theories of career development are considered from
the perspective of gender. Finally, implications for practice and take‐home
messages for practitioners are offered.
The chapter begins by acknowledging the non‐binary nature of gender as
well as the need to consider the intersectional identities of students and
workers. The term gender includes the psychosocial implications of being
male or female, whereas the term sex generally refers to the binary
categories of male and female. In this chapter, the term “gender” refers to
socially constructed roles, behaviors, norms, and activities that a cultural
group regards as appropriate for males and females. When examining
gender and career development, it is important to consider the personal,
social, familial, and cultural contexts of work experiences (Heppner &
Jung, 2013; Schultheiss, 2006).
It has been proposed that instead of viewing gender, class, and race as
disconnected systems of oppression and privilege, an intersectional
approach would account for how each of these systems co‐constructs each
other (Collins, 1998). Intersectionality represents the crossroads of multiple
identities that have a substantial effect on individuals' lives (Crenshaw,
1989). An intersectional conceptualization of women's and men's identities
could minimize the risk of making assumptions that homogenize gendered
career development and work experiences (cf., Schultheiss & Davis, 2015).
Considerations of parenthood status also contribute to understanding
gendered experiences in the workplace. For example, workplace climate,
including workplace mistreatment and discrimination related to parenthood
status, can greatly influence the work experiences of men and women
(Gloor, Li, Lim, & Feierabend, 2018).
PERSISTENCE OF OCCUPATIONAL
DISPARITIES
Despite increased numbers of women and Racial/ethnic minorities in the
labor force, occupational disparities between men and women and across
Racial and ethnic groups persist (Hallett et al., 2018). A recent report
(LeanIn, 2018) presented data from a study of women in corporate America
indicating that women continue to be significantly underrepresented in the
corporate pipeline, citing data demonstrating that 1 of 5 senior leaders is a
woman, and 1 in 25 is a woman of color. The report concluded that attrition
does not account for this underrepresentation. Instead, it suggested that
women are left behind from the start, as evidenced by trailing percentages
of women in ascending leadership positions (i.e., 48% entry level, 38%
manager, 34% senior manager/director, 29% vice president, 23% senior
vice president, and 22% chief corporate officers and directors). Although
women represent 44.7% of all employees in S & P 500 companies, this
percentage drops precipitously in higher‐level positions from 36.9% of
first‐/mid‐level officials and managers, to 26.5% of executive‐/senior‐level
officials and managers, 21.2% of board members, 11% of top earners, and
5% of CEOs (Catalyst, n.d.).
Corporate women leaders report an uneven playing field, less support from
men, less access to senior leadership, more everyday discrimination and
sexual harassment, more difficulty advancing, being the only woman in a
leadership position, and perceptions of the workplace as less fair as
compared to men (LeanIn, 2018). In comparison with men, women report a
pervasive experience of bias, including likeability bias (i.e., likeability and
success are negatively correlated for women and positively correlated for
men), performance evaluation bias (women's performance is
underestimated, men's is overestimated), performance attribution bias
(women get less credit for successful work and more credit for unsuccessful
work), maternal bias (women, and not men, are assumed to struggle with
work and family balance), and less‐effective professional networks (LeanIn,
2015).
Beyond priorities for gender equity and inclusion fueling an interest in
increasing the representation of women in top organizational leadership
positions, there is strong evidence that organizations whose top
management teams are more gender diverse tend to perform better than
those that are not (Hobbler, Masterson, Nkomo, & Michel, 2016). Despite
this evidence, inequity persists. It is essential to understand gender and race
differences in workplace opportunities.
One area of empirical research has been gender differences in personality
characteristics in executive leadership. In a large‐scale study comparing
executive and non‐executive employees (Wille, Wiernik, Vergauwe,
Vrjdags, & Trbovic, 2018), results generally supported a gender‐similarities
perspective with a common profile of leadership emergence‐relevant traits
(i.e., conscientiousness, emotional stability, extraversion) for men and
women. Specifically, findings indicated that men and women executives
tended to demonstrate similar personality characteristics (referred to as a
leader personality) comprised of assertiveness, high‐level strategic thinking,
and decisiveness traits. Moreover, similar traits distinguished executives
from non‐executives for both genders. However, the magnitude of the
differences between executive and non‐executive women was much greater
than the differences between executive and non‐executive men in the areas
of being extraverted, decisive, results‐oriented, strategic, and autonomous.
The authors suggested that this pattern of more pronounced differences for
women than men may suggest that women face pressure to adopt masculine
personality styles so that they are judged by themselves and others as
qualified for their leadership positions (Wille et al., 2018). Wille et al.
suggest that organizations need to attend to reducing gender biases and
removing structural barriers to help men and women reach their similar
leadership potentials.
Disparities in access to opportunities have widespread social and economic
implications. In a systematic review of the literature on the gender pay gap,
Bishu and Alkadry (2017) identified three recurring themes: (a) disparities
in access to workplace authority, (b) access to hiring and promotion, and (c)
institutional gender representation. Access to workplace authority (e.g., top
leadership and executive positions with power and influence) refers to
conditions in which equally qualified individuals are denied access to
authority opportunities based on non‐work‐related attributes such as race,
gender, and other factors. Gender‐based disparities in workplace authority
can also infer that women are denied access to these positions—and even
when they are granted access, the level of authority and economic benefits
may differ. Evidence of this phenomenon is observable in the small number
(i.e., 23) of female chief executive officers in the 500 largest companies in
the United States (Kim & O'Brien, 2018).
Access to hiring and promotion concerns discriminatory practices, as they
are often based on subjective appraisals, which limit women's access to
financial rewards. A number of conceptual frameworks illustrate this
phenomenon (i.e., glass ceiling, sticky floors, leaky pipelines, glass cliff).
Institutional gender representation is the third theme identified by Bishu
and Alkadry (2017) to explain the gender pay gap. This refers to position
segregation related to conditions in which women are disproportionately
concentrated in lower‐level positions in organizations, agency segregation
(i.e., concentration of men in policy‐influencing agencies), and
occupational segregation (i.e., women concentrated in education and social
services, and men concentrated in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics [STEM] and finance).
Glass ceiling signifies gender discrepancies and inequities in women's
advancement to higher management positions as compared to men. It has
been defined as the presence of invisible barriers based on attitudinal or
organizational bias, which impedes women and minorities' upward mobility
in organizations, and is not attributable to a lack of competency or skills.
Outcomes intensify over the course of one's career, resulting in inequalities
in income and occupational status (Bishu & Alkadry, 2017). Leaky pipeline
and sticky floors are other frameworks used to explicate these phenomena.
Leaky pipelines reflect the disadvantages women and those from
underrepresented groups face at different stages of the career trajectory that
cause them to “leak out” before reaching top management positions (Zeng,
2011). Producing similar consequences, sticky floors refer to the
concentration of women and underrepresented groups in lower positions
within organizations and large associated pay gaps in wage distribution
(Cotter, Hermsen, Ovadia, & Vannema, 2001). Finally, the term “glass cliff”
reflects the tendency for women who do break through the glass ceiling to
be more likely than men to be hired into leadership positions that are risky
and precarious (Ryan & Haslam, 2005, 2007).
Several underlying processes have been identified which are thought to
contribute to the glass cliff phenomenon (Ryan et al., 2016). These include
selection bias (i.e., when companies are performing well, they tend to hire
men in top positions, whereas when they are performing poorly, women are
more likely to be chosen). A second process relates to stereotypes and
implicit theories of leadership and gender, referred to as “think crisis, think
female” (Ryan et al., 2016). This perspective is based on gendered beliefs of
women leaders as communal, warm, good‐natured, and caring, as compared
to men leaders as agentic, competent, competitive, and confident (Koenig,
Eagly, Mitchell, & Ristikari, 2011). Other potential underlying processes
include a strategic need for organizational change and women's choices to
accept riskier positions, possibly because they are the only positions to
which they have access.
FROM WORKPLACE INCIVILITY TO SEXUAL
HARASSMENT
Workplace incivility has been defined as “low intensity, disrespectful or
rude deviant workplace behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target
and is in violation of workplace norms for mutual respect” (Andersson &
Pearson, 1999, p. 457). This behavior, which demonstrates a lack of respect
or consideration for the dignity of others, tends to be reported more
frequently and be rated as more offensive and inappropriate by women than
men (Loi, Loh, & Hine, 2015). Furthermore, research suggests that when
women experience high rates of tolerance for workplace incivility by the
organization, they also report more work withdrawal. Given the ambiguous
nature of workplace incivility, it is difficult to identify and may be as
psychologically damaging as harassment and other forms of mistreatment
(Loi et al., 2015).
Sexual harassment occurs across all levels and sectors of the workforce, and
has been shown to harm women, men, their workgroups, and the
organizations in which they work (Fitzgerald & Cortina, 2018). A recent
report has shown that 35% of all women have experienced sexual
harassment over the course of their career; 55% of women in senior level
positions, 48% of lesbian women, 45% of women in technical roles, and
30% of women of color (LeanIn, 2018). Women also experience
microaggressions at a greater rate than men, and these experiences add up.
Microaggressions, as opposed to incivility, are denigrating communications
directed toward people from marginalized groups such as people of color
(Sue et al., 2007). In addition to mental and physical health consequences,
sexual harassment has serious consequences on people's work lives.
Although these consequences can be equally severe for men and women,
women tend to report this at a much higher rate. Evidence shows that sexual
harassment on the job is associated with reduced job satisfaction,
productivity, performance, and organizational commitment, more impaired
work relationships, and greater organizational and work withdrawal (see
Fitzgerald & Cortina, 2018, for a review).
GENDER, SOCIAL CLASS, AND RACE
To emphasize the powerful role of gender and social class on career
development, Heppner and Jung (2013) developed the gender and social
class model (GSCM) of career development. This model emphasizes the
interactions between individuals and society in influencing career paths. It
highlights gender, social class, and their intersection in the role they play in
unique perspectives, opportunities, barriers, and contexts over the life
course. Gender and social class impact the construction of self, and thereby
career development, occupational attainment, and work experience, via the
accessibility of resources and early class and gender socialization.
The GSCM of career development notes that the social construction of
gender begins in childhood through early socialization leading to
occupational stereotyping based on the gender traditionality of occupations.
For example, women continue to hold jobs in caring fields, such as health,
clerical work, and education, while men more frequently work in
administrative, scientific, manual labor, and managerial jobs. Similar to
Gottfredson (2005) who identified early childhood experiences that
influence the range of gender‐appropriate career choices, Heppner and Jung
(2013) emphasized that early self‐constructions can restrict later
considerations of the range of work settings and occupations, and bias
childhood self‐assessments of career‐related abilities. Research indicates
that family gender socialization experiences in middle childhood (e.g.,
parents' attitudes about work and family life) contribute to gender
traditionality of occupational attainment in young adulthood (Lawson,
Crouter, & McHale, 2015), resulting in gender segregation in the
workforce, a gender wage gap, and a limited number of skilled job
applicants. These outcomes contribute to gender differences in power and
influence in society (Lawson et al., 2015; Lawson, Lee, Crouter, & McHale,
2018).
Evidence suggests that gender discrepancies may have their roots in youth.
In a study that assessed how anticipated racial and gender discrimination
related to the development of career decision self‐efficacy, outcome
expectations, and career goals among low socio‐economic status (SES)
youth of color, slightly different patterns emerged for boys and girls
(Conkel‐Ziebell, Gushue, & Turner, 2019). For boys, an anticipated hostile
racial work environment was negatively related to career decision self‐
efficacy, although for girls it was negatively related to vocational outcome
expectations. In turn, career decision self‐efficacy and vocational outcome
expectations were positively related to career goals for boys, but only
outcome expectations were positively related to career goals for girls.
Contrary to expectations, anticipated gender discrimination was not
significantly related to either career decision self‐efficacy or vocational
outcome expectations when accounting for race. It was suggested that
perhaps these findings were related to the intertwined nature of these
variables, resulting in the suppression of a gender effect. These results point
to the importance of considering intersectional identities in relation to
gender.
GENDER ROLE STEREOTYPES
Gender role stereotypes can lead to biased evaluations and hinder women's
career progress, resulting in few women in top management positions, and
underrepresentation in traditionally male occupations (Caleo & Heilman,
2013). It is assumed that stereotypes function in two primary ways: by
being descriptive (i.e., describe what men and women are like) and
prescriptive (i.e., prescribe what men and women should be like).
Descriptive stereotypes promote negative expectations, while prescriptive
stereotypes establish normative expectations for behavior and result in the
devaluing of those who violate gender norms. Descriptive stereotypes act as
obstacles for women's career progress by promoting the impression that
women lack what it takes to be successful in male‐dominated fields (Caleo
& Heilman, 2013).
Gender role occupational stereotypes are assumptions about appropriate
occupations for men and women. Evidence suggests that gender‐related
occupational stereotypes begin to develop in the preschool years and can
significantly limit children's views of gender‐appropriate occupations
(Gottfredson, 2005). Gender role socialization can explicitly and implicitly
encourage women and men to enter gender‐traditional occupations
irrespective of their interests, suggesting it is a contributing factor in the
development of gender role stereotypes and the circumscription of
academic and career pursuits. For example, girls and women have
traditionally been socialized to engage in child‐rearing and caregiving,
contributing to less attention to other life roles and educational and
occupational paths. Conversely, boys are traditionally socialized to be
strong and independent, and later are encouraged to prioritize work goals
and construct work identities that emphasize men as breadwinners
(Kantamneni, 2013). Gender role socialization can also significantly impact
work identities, and men's and women's perceptions of their own abilities.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING,
AND MATHEMATICS (STEM)
STEM fields are considered to be crucial to global economies, and as such
continue to expand at an unprecedented pace. Despite continued growth,
concerns persist related to the availability of an educated and skilled labor
force to meet growing demands. There has been a great increase in the
number of women participating in the workforce and earning STEM
degrees; however, growth in the number of women employed in STEM
fields has not kept pace. In 2018, women earned 50% of the bachelor's
degrees in science and engineering, constituted 47% of the overall
workforce, but comprised only 28% of the science and engineering
workforce (NSF, 2018). Moreover, women employed in science and
engineering were concentrated in different occupational fields than men.
The percentage of women in STEM subfields was as follows: social
sciences (60%), life sciences (48%), mathematical sciences (26%), and
engineering (15%) (NSF, 2018). Women's participation in the STEM
workforce consistently reflects underemployment, fewer leadership and
management positions, and lower salaries (Fassinger & Asay, 2006).
Similar discrepancies are seen in the subfields of earned bachelor degrees
for women and men. Within science and engineering, men earned the
majority of bachelor's degrees in engineering (81%), computer science
(82%), and physics (61%); women earned a majority of degrees in
psychology, biological sciences, and social sciences (NSF, 2018).
Much research has traced STEM discrepancies to a range of discriminatory
practices in educational and occupational preparation, entry, retention, and
advancement (Fassinger & Asay, 2006). These factors include a lack of
mentors, a masculinized and inhospitable climate, and exclusion of women
from formal and informal informational and social networks (Fassinger &
Asay). Gender‐related disadvantage has been explored in terms of
microinequities (e.g., lab space, slightly lower salaries) that alone can be
overlooked and appear insignificant, but together produce a cumulative
disadvantage for women (Fassinger & Asay). Fassinger and Asay (2006)
advocated for large‐scale changes, including developing educational and
workplace policies to affirm and support all workers to counter
discriminatory attitudes, implementing social policies and laws to support
families, and impacting gender socialization practices. Research has
indicated that the type of workplace support matters (Fouad, Singh,
Cappaert, Chang, & Wan, 2016). Content‐specific supports, such as tangible
advancement opportunities and support from managers for balancing work
and life roles, were key factors that distinguished women who left the
engineering field from those who did not.
Gender role stereotypes have been identified as a key factor in the unequal
distribution of gender in STEM fields (Kantamneni, 2013). This topic has
generated much research with regard to women's relatively lower self‐
efficacy in math and science and relatively greater self‐efficacy in gender‐
traditional activities. For men, non‐traditional activities and occupations can
pose a threat to masculinity and perceived power. A lack of women role
models and supports and the presence of barriers and chilly educational and
occupational climates also contribute to women's underrepresentation in
STEM fields. These forces combine to hinder women's choices by limiting
their opportunities to find satisfying and well‐paid jobs (Fouad, Singh, et
al., 2016).
Stereotype threat can further impair the actual performance of girls and
women in STEM fields (Correll, 2010; Spencer, Steele, & Quinn, 1999).
Stereotype threat is experienced when individuals perceive themselves to be
at risk of being viewed or evaluated in a manner that confirms a negative
stereotype about a group they belong to (Steele & Aronson, 1995). Hence,
the individual feels threatened about being negatively stereotyped. This
threat can cause people to perform less well than they are capable of
performing as a result of pressure and anxiety that poor performance will
confirm a negative stereotype (Spencer et al.; Steele & Aronson).
Research has demonstrated that when males and females achieved
comparable math grades, males' assessment of their mathematical
competence was higher than that of females (Correll, 2010). In turn, these
relatively higher perceptions of math competence led to the pursuit of
activities that facilitated entry into a math‐related career field. Hence,
gender‐biased beliefs impacting self‐perceived competence may be an
important factor that contributes to gender disparities in STEM (Correll,
2010). Correll (2010) presented additional evidence that math grades had a
more positive effect on girls' confidence levels as compared to boys,
suggesting that positive performance experiences may help to counter
societal messages regarding the gender appropriateness of careers (Heppner,
2013). Research has demonstrated that awareness of sexism and negative
attitudes about women is negatively associated with women's confidence in
their abilities to complete an engineering college degree (Cadaret, Hartung,
Subich, & Weigold, 2017). Threatening gender stereotypes undermine
women's identification with science and women's science career choice
intentions (Deemer, Thoman, Chase, & Smith, 2014).
Empirically based strategies for reducing stereotype threat in organizations
have been suggested. Two complementary strategies include changing
environmental cues by removing and replacing cues that signal threat (e.g.,
diversify the workforce), and changing people's interpretation or construal
of these cues and the meaning they assign to them (Walton, Murphy, &
Ryan, 2015). Changing environment cues can be accomplished by
organizational efforts at recruitment, selection and promotion, socialization
and onboarding, and training. Individuals' interpretation of these cues can
be altered with interventions that increase social belonging and value
affirmation (Walton, Logel, Peach, Spencer, & Zanna, 2015; Walton,
Murphy, & Ryan, 2015). Social‐belonging interventions provide people
with a positive narrative for understanding the challenges and worries about
belonging (e.g., loneliness, disrespect, criticism) that they may encounter in
a new social context. Value‐affirming interventions include helping people
to make salient diverse aspects of their identity to help them to manage the
stress of marginalizing situations. For example, individuals might be
encouraged to reflect on valued aspects of their self‐concept and situations
in which these values are important (Walton, Logel, et al., 2015).
Consistent with theoretical predictions from social cognitive career theory
(SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994), research points to the effects of
self‐efficacy and outcome expectations as playing a key role in the STEM
participation of women (Kantamneni, 2013; Lent et al., 2018). A recent
meta‐analysis assessed the fit of the interest and choice models of SCCT in
STEM fields in samples as a whole as well as in subsamples by gender and
race/ethnicity (Lent et al., 2018). The model fit well with the general
sample, as well as with separate analyses by gender and race/ethnicity. This
suggested that the model may explain STEM interests and choices equally
well across gender and across race/ethnicity majority and minority groups.
However, there were some differences. Supports and barriers were more
strongly negatively correlated in samples of women as compared with men,
and the negative relation of barriers and self‐efficacy was stronger in
samples of men as opposed to women. A separate meta‐analysis
investigated the unique contribution of each source of self‐efficacy beliefs
(i.e., performance accomplishments, vicarious learning, social persuasion,
affective arousal) to STEM self‐efficacy by race/ethnicity and gender
(Byars‐Winston, Diestelmann, Savoy, & Hoyt, 2017). Results indicated that
gender moderated the relationship between STEM self‐efficacy and three
sources of self‐efficacy beliefs (i.e., performance accomplishments,
vicarious learning, and social persuasion), such that each correlation was
lower for women than for men. The authors concluded that women may still
have relatively less access to sources of learning in STEM than men.
Singh et al. (2013) found that supportive practices, such as training and
professional development programs, were positively related to women's
engineering self‐efficacy and outcome expectations. In turn, outcome
expectations were positively associated with job attitudes (i.e., job
satisfaction and organizational commitment) and lower intentions to leave
their organizations. Other research shows that women leave engineering
because they experience low self‐efficacy and outcome expectations in
engineering tasks, managing work, family, and other roles, and navigating
organizational culture (Fouad, Fitzpatrick, & Lui, 2011).
FROM WORK AND FAMILY BALANCE TO A
WORK–HOME PERSPECTIVE
Literature on work and family balance began to emerge at a time when
women's participation in the paid workforce burgeoned. The percentage of
women in the labor force grew from 33.9% in 1950, to 46.3% in 1975, to
56.8% in 2016. Labor force participation of mothers whose youngest child
was under 18 years of age grew from 47.4% in 1975 to 70.80% in 2016
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Despite the growing number of
women in the paid workforce, the strength of gender‐based role
expectations regarding women and men in work and family roles persists
(Greenhaus & Parasuraman, 1999; Schultheiss, 2006). Given these
widespread demographic changes in the workforce, attention became
focused on how families manage the work and family domains of life.
Initially, the work–family issue was construed as a problem of maternal
employment, focusing on the potential negative impact of mothers'
employment on children's well‐being (Moen, 2011). Attention later shifted
to balancing work and family as primarily a woman's problem, given that
women who engaged in paid work also continued to be the primary
caregivers for their families. Over time, research became focused on work–
family conflict (WFC) and work–family enrichment (WFE) (see Allen &
Martin, 2017, for a review).
The most commonly used definition of WFC is “a form of interrole conflict
in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually
incompatible” (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985, p. 77). It is typically
operationalized as a bidirectional construct with three dimensions of
conflict (i.e., time‐based, strain‐based, and behavior‐based). WFE
(Greenhouse & Powell, 2006) concerns a positive bidirectional relationship
between the domains of work and family, wherein the experiences and
resources in one domain facilitate or improve one's functioning and quality
of life in the other domain. This construct has also been referred to as
positive spillover (e.g., Crouter, 1984), work–family facilitation (e.g.,
Grzywacz & Bass, 2003), and work–family enhancement (e.g., Ruderman,
Ohlott, Panzer, & King, 2002).
Throughout the 1980s, work–family issues remained women's issues, the
balancing of roles, and women's need for childcare and flexibility. The
social organization of work remained fixed on rules and expectations based
largely on a male workforce with no family care responsibilities (Moen,
2011). In recognition that not all workers have children, a focus on work–
life began to emerge to include men and women and caring for extended
family. However, the idea that managing work and family was more
challenging for women than for men remained. Research assessing gender
differences in WFC has been inconsistent, and theoretical predictions
remain contradictory (Shockley, Shen, DeNunzio, Arvan, & Knudsen,
2017). To address this, Shockley et al. conducted a meta‐analysis to assess
the relationship between gender and WFC.
Contrary to common belief, the results indicated that men and women
generally do not differ in reports of WFC. However, data pointed to
moderating effects of dual‐earner status, parental status, and type of WFC
(i.e., time, strain, or behavior based). Specifically, mothers reported greater
family interference with work (FIW) than fathers, women in dual‐earner
couples reported greater FIW than men, men in dual‐earner couples
reported greater work interference with family (WIF) than women, and
women in the same job as men reported more WIF. With regard to parental
status, the authors suggested that the finding that mothers report greater
FIW than fathers may reflect observations that the demands of children and
family tend to fall disproportionately on women. Based on these findings,
Shockley et al. concluded that there appears to be unknown processes and
mechanisms at work, that gender is deeply engrained in work–family
issues, and that challenges remain to be explored in future research.
Despite a broadening of the construct of work–family throughout the first
decade of the twenty‐first century, Moen (2011) argues that the work–
family concept is out of date, too narrow, and excludes too many people and
work and home contexts. Indeed, much of the extant work and family
literature either explicitly or implicitly implies a traditional view of family
as a European American middle class married couple with children—even
though all people living interconnected communal lives are affected by
work and home challenges (Schultheiss, 2006; Schultheiss, Bransteter,
Wallace, Quinn, & Rispinto, 2014). Moreover, the term “work–family”
implies that the roles one performs in or for family are not work. This bias
is pervasive in the vocational literature which views family and home
responsibilities as roles, not work, and neglects or devalues unpaid work as
legitimate work (Jung & O'Brien, 2019; Schultheiss, 2009). To replace the
work–family concept, Moen (2011) proposed a focus on the gendered life
course and fit or match between the demands and resources at work, home,
and in the community for women and men at all life stages. Moen argued
that the concept of balance has been used all too often to focus on
individuals' private problems, rather than the public issues of the structure
of work and social conditions. She proposed that it is these environmental
conditions, and not working families, that require restructuring—such that
paid work needs to be redesigned to be compatible with caregiving and
community engagement. Bailyn (2011) also argued for redesigning work
for gender equity and work–personal life integration by using a gender lens
to reveal more nuanced aspects of institutions and present possibilities of
greater actual change in the way that work is designed and accomplished.
Moreover, in addition to family friendly policies, supportive supervision is
key (Greenhaus, Ziegert, & Allen, 2012).
Drawing on a gendered life course approach, Moen and Flood (2013)
examined women's and men's work and volunteer activities in the “encore
life course stage,” a period of later adulthood (approximately age 50–75)
beyond career building, when individuals can pursue other forms of
meaningful engagement in education, work, and public (e.g., non‐profit
organizations) and private (e.g., caregiving and other assistance to family
and friends) volunteer activities (Laslet, 1987). Similar to career contexts,
Moen and Flood noted that education, age, gender, race, health, and
disability mark inequality in volunteer and other post‐career activities, and
cumulative advantages and disadvantages over the life course. Hence, it is
important to attend to gender differences in transitions out of paid work, an
area largely overlooked in the empirical literature and in need of further
research.
A contemporary work–home perspective on careers was recently introduced
to recognize the interdependencies between individuals' work and home
domains in a given culture over the life course (Greenhaus & Kossek,
2014). This perspective requires incorporating home issues into theory and
research to enrich our understanding of the factors that influence career
decisions and the consequences of those decisions on work and home.
Importantly, these interdependencies extend beyond work–family conflict
and enrichment to include aspects that are not inherently positive or
negative, such as the relationship between home experiences (e.g., extent of
a woman's family responsibilities) and career decisions (e.g., likelihood of
starting her own business), and the impact of career commitment (e.g.,
accepting a high‐demand promotion) on a home‐related decision (e.g.,
postponing having a child) (Greenhaus & Kossek).
The work–home perspective (Greenhaus & Kossek, 2014) requires attention
to the impact of gender on how people experience and make meaning of
their careers. It incorporates an understanding of the role of gender norms in
prescribing and describing the participation of men and women in work and
home domains, including a broad array of nonwork roles and settings (e.g.,
extended family, friends, community, and leisure and self‐development
activities). For example, evidence suggests that women tend to view career
decisions relationally by accounting for the needs of other people in their
lives, life balance, and personal work goals (Mainiero & Sullivan, 2005).
Research also suggests that women's career decisions are more strongly
influenced by family responsibilities than men's career decisions
(Greenhaus & Kossek).
By noting the connection between home life and career success, a work–
home perspective brings attention to how career success has been viewed
through a gender lens. Greenhaus and Kossek (2014) presented evidence to
demonstrate that women's career success can be more severely constrained
by home demands than men's, by noting that family responsibilities can
restrict success‐enhancing activities such as job relocation and working
long hours. Home demands can also restrict women's salary and
advancement. Women's subjective assessment of their careers goes beyond
traditional objective indicators of success by incorporating relationally
oriented criteria. Hence, practitioners need to attend to gender role
traditionality and gender‐related constructs such as belief systems and
values when intervening in the work–home domain. This is particularly
relevant to career self‐management and career success.
UNPAID WORK
With a few exceptions (e.g., Super, 1980), vocational theory has historically
overlooked the role of unpaid work (i.e., caregiving, housework) on
people's lives. Workforce data indicate that a disproportionate number of
women engage in unpaid work (Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, 2018) and suffer its deleterious effects on mental,
physical, and relational health, and on occupational achievement and
earnings (Jung & O'Brien, 2019). This suggests that this unequal
involvement weighs heavily on gender equity. Women's unpaid caregiving
work remains at odds with the demand and reward structure of the paid
workforce, putting women in a precarious position: to mother or matter in
the workplace, society, and family where they are often overburdened
(Schultheiss, 2009). Although fathers whose primary work is caregiving
suffer similar consequences, when considered in the broader patriarchal
society, women and men face substantially different equity‐based outcomes
(Betz, 2006). The percentage of fathers who engage in full‐time unpaid
caregiving (16% in 2012) remains far less than mothers (84% in 2012)
(Livingston, 2014a). Moreover, the reasons that fathers and mothers engage
in full‐time caregiving vary dramatically. Reports indicate that 35% of stay‐
at‐home fathers stay home due to illness or disability, 23% stay home
mainly because they cannot find a job, and 21% indicate the main reason is
to care for their family. This is in contrast to 73% of mothers who stay
home mainly to care for their families (Livingston, 2014b). For fathers,
staying at home does not tend to lead to mental health difficulties; however,
these men tended to report social scrutiny related to not earning a salary
(Doucet, 2004).
Given the gender equity issues evident in women's unpaid working lives,
there have been repeated calls for attention to the demands and outcomes of
unpaid work for women (e.g., Blustein, 2011; Jung & Heppner, 2015;
Richardson, 2012; Schultheiss, 2009). There is limited evidence suggesting
that motherhood is associated with fewer paid working hours, thereby
influencing women's career success, while fatherhood has not been
associated with these outcomes (Abele & Spurk, 2011). Other research
indicates that expectations of involvement in housework and childcare can
negatively impact the career choices, aspirations, and plans of young
women (O'Brien, Friedman, Tipton, & Linn, 2000). Women who mother or
intend to mother need guidance and support to navigate the obstacles and
rewards associated with this work (Schultheiss, 2009).
GENDER INEQUITIES ASSOCIATED WITH
PARENTHOOD
A widening gender gap is notable at the early career phase for women who
are at prime childbearing age (Livingston, 2015). For many women at this
career stage, considerations of the work–life interface are often clouded
with perceived uncertainty and incompatibility between their private and
professional roles. “Maybe baby” expectations may negatively influence
hiring decisions and workplace environments (Gloor et al., 2018). In other
words, uncertainty about workplace accommodations needed to cover a
potential new mother's work during a maternity leave may manifest as a
subtle form of mistreatment, or incivility, toward childless women in the
workforce, particularly in institutions with large differences between
maternal and paternal leave (Gloor et al., 2018).
A recent study presented evidence to suggest that women experience more
workplace incivility than do men, and even more so if they are childless
(Gloor et al., 2018). This difference was greater when maternal leave was
longer than paternal leave in the organization. Moreover, workplace
incivility was associated with career withdrawal. The authors concluded
that parental leave policies can create counterintuitive consequences for
working women. When parental leave policies were more equitable
between mothers and fathers, fathers reported more workplace incivility,
and more career withdrawal, than mothers. This fatherhood penalty is
inconsistent with other research that suggests a fatherhood bonus (e.g.,
hiring, promotions; Gloor et al.).
Pregnancy discrimination, which now exceeds discriminatory biases based
on women's gender alone, has been identified as a unique form of
discrimination faced by mothers in the workforce (Chrisler & Johnston‐
Robledo, 2011). These biases have been implicated in hiring, promotion,
and salary decisions. Moreover, evidence suggests that these biases
continue once the baby is born (Chrisler & Johnston‐Robledo, 2011;
Ridgeway & Correll, 2004). Mounting evidence also points to gender‐
related and motherhood‐related biases faced by women in leadership
positions and promotions (Gloor et al., 2018; Heilman & Okimoto, 2008).
Studies are beginning to emerge on women opting out and back into paid
work (e.g., Lovejoy & Stone, 2012). Opting out describes a trend for about
20% of young educated professional women who choose to leave their
careers to become full‐time mothers (Lovejoy & Stone). Initial evidence
indicates that over 50% of young mothers who return or opt back into the
paid labor force return to alternative careers in traditionally female‐
dominated jobs and often shift from full‐time to part‐time work (Hewlett &
Luce, 2005; McGrath, Driscoll, & Gross, 2005). Family inflexible
workplaces, perceived skill deficits, age discrimination, and new constraints
and opportunities in the home were found to lead to this shift toward jobs
with lower status and pay (Lovejoy & Stone).
MEN'S CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Although the study of work began with an almost exclusive focus on men,
contemporary theory and research related to men's work have been less
abundant when compared with the literature on women's work (Heppner &
Heppner, 2014). Studies focusing specifically on men tend to focus on the
loss of identity during the post‐retirement period, low‐income workers who
are more susceptible to layoffs (e.g., construction, manufacturing), and
unemployment and its relationship to depression and anxiety (Fouad,
Whiston, & Feldwisch, 2016; Paul & Moser, 2009). For example, research
suggests that low‐income male workers may suffer more in an uncertain
economy, and that the transient nature of work may lead to feelings of
worthlessness (Fouad, Whiston, et al., 2016). Men in non‐traditional careers
are often presented with challenges to their identity as men, and to their
masculinity (Fouad, Whiston, et al., 2016; Lupton, 2000).
Heppner and Heppner (2014) identified four issues relevant to the work
lives of men: (a) unemployment and its relationship to mental health issues,
(b) the changing workplace, (c) men in gender non‐traditional careers, and
(d) men's work–family integration. During the most recent recession, men
were disproportionately affected by unemployment, such that
approximately 75% of the unemployed were men previously employed in
manufacturing, construction, and finance (Kochhar, 2011). Because
employment is likely to be the most salient aspect of men's identity, it has
been suggested that men might disproportionately experience more severe
mental health outcomes as a result of unemployment (Heppner & Heppner).
The changing workplace has resulted in a shift from a focus on individual
accomplishments to teamwork, requiring interpersonal and verbal skills, the
ability to work with diverse individuals, social intelligence, and conflict
management. For some gender‐traditional men, these skills may not be as
ingrained and strongly practiced (Heppner & Heppner, 2014). Men have not
participated in gender non‐traditional careers (e.g., nursing, education) in
large numbers, and thus have not been studied extensively. Limited findings
suggest that men can find satisfaction and success in these careers,
particularly if they receive adequate social support (Dodson & Borders,
2006). The “glass escalator” is said to lead to higher wages and upward
career mobility for men who enter female‐dominated occupations (Dill,
Price‐Glynn, & Rakovski, 2016).
Similar to the study of women, it is essential to consider intersectional
approaches in the study of men to include intersections with other social
identities such as race, social class, sexual identity, disability status, and
other salient identities. The sparse literature on men's career development
has generally tended not to take that approach, with a few exceptions
(Heppner & Heppner, 2014). For example, in a study that examined the
career choice goals of Mexican American adolescent men, Flores, Navarro,
Smith, and Ploszaj (2006) found that adolescent men's non‐traditional
career self‐efficacy was related to parental support and acculturation, as
well as father's career non‐traditionality.
Men face other challenges associated with gender, particularly men of color.
For example, Shelton, Delgado‐Romero, and Werther (2014) have noted
that men of color face issues associated with integrating a dual identity,
internal and external barriers, and cultural variables. More specifically, it
may be difficult to maintain a privileged male identity while also being a
member of a marginalized group. External barriers include racial
discrimination and prejudice, stereotypes, and lack of opportunities.
Stereotypes may also be internalized and work in covert as well as overt
ways to limit the career development and advancement of men of color.
Hence, the diversity of these intersectional identities are vital factors to
consider in the career development of men (Shelton et al.).
GENDER AND CAREER THEORIES
Traditional career theories have come under criticism for not adequately
attending to contextual factors and intersecting identities, including gender.
Fouad et al. (2019) conducted a literature review of empirical studies
specific to women's career development in the period of 1995–2018. They
found that the top five theories used as a foundation for this research were
SCCT (Lent et al., 1994; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 2002), Bronfenbrenner's
ecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 1994), Super's (1980) theory of career
development, and Holland's (1997) theory of career choice. Among these,
Super's life‐span, life‐space theory (see Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume)
was identified as a useful framework for organizing the literature, as it has
some utility in understanding women's career development and provides a
means for discussing life roles outside of paid work. Limitations of this
theory were noted as well. Specifically, Super's theory was developed with
a limited segment of the population in mind, and it assumed equal access to
resources. Fouad et al. (2019) concluded that the question of whether these
theories work for women still remains. To address this question, they
recommended longitudinal research, well‐validated measures, adherence to
APA journal article reporting standards for qualitative studies, and attention
to the intersectional identities of women across educational levels, ages, and
work settings. Several career development theories will be discussed next,
together with their relevance to gender.
MINNESOTA THEORY OF WORK ADJUSTMENT
The Minnesota theory of work adjustment (TWA) (Dawis, 2005; Dawis &
Lofquist, 1984; Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2, this volume) is a theory
of person–environment fit that focuses on vocational adjustment and
choice. The theory suggests that the fit between the person and the
environment predicts job satisfaction, satisfactoriness as an employee (i.e.,
how well a person's abilities and skills meet job requirements), and
longevity. Reinforcers in work environments, and their match with
individuals' needs and values, are important factors related to gendered
work experiences. For example, women face circumstances in their work
environments such as sexual harassment, glass ceilings/sticky floors, and
inequitable salaries. Non‐traditional men also face issues with work
environments that are not positively reinforcing or a good fit. TWA can be
used as a guide to help both women and men in these situations (Heppner,
2013). For example, counselors might assist clients experiencing low job
satisfaction by helping them to explore their values and the degree to which
these values are being met by their work environment. If their needs are not
being met, clients could be encouraged to engage in various strategies to
achieve greater correspondence. Similarly, clients with low satisfactoriness
could be helped to explore the match between their abilities and the
requirements of their current jobs. Strategies to resolve discorrespondence
could be employed (Swanson & Schneider).
HOLLAND'S THEORY OF VOCATIONAL PERSONALITIES
AND WORK ENVIRONMENTS
Holland's (1997) theory relies on six clearly delineated types of interests
and environments (see Nauta, Chapter 3, this volume). Much research has
demonstrated that men tend to score higher than women on realistic,
investigative, and enterprising interests, whereas women tend to score
higher than men on social, artistic, and conventional interests. Based on
these trends, career counselors should be careful in interpreting interest
inventories based on Holland's typology, given the tendency for women to
score high on interests and occupations that are highly dominated by
women and are lower paid. Counselors could help clients understand why
they scored high in certain areas and encourage them to develop skills and
interests in new areas so that their skills become more reflective of what
they are capable of doing, and not just what they have experience doing.
Using gender‐based norms, as in the strong interest inventory (see Hansen,
Chapter 15, this volume), can also support consideration of non‐
stereotypical choices (Heppner, 2013). In career counseling with women, it
is important to encourage clients to consider factors beyond interests when
choosing a career, because there are a host of other variables that may
influence occupational preferences (e.g., flexible schedules) (Heppner,
2013).
GOTTFREDSON'S THEORY OF CIRCUMSCRIPTION AND
COMPROMISE
Gottfredson's (2005) theory of circumscription and compromise highlights
situations which might constrain career choices based on the perceived
appropriateness of a career in terms of perceived sex appropriateness,
context, power differentials, and prestige (Heppner, 2013). This theory
suggests that from an early age, boys and girls are likely to view careers in
terms of their level of masculinity/femininity and level of prestige, thereby
shrinking the number of acceptable career options (Heppner, 2013). Thus, it
has been suggested that counselors help youth reconsider and explore
occupational choices that they previously ruled out as a result of
constraining their choices to gender‐stereotypical options (Heppner, 2013).
SUPER'S DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY AND CAREER
CONSTRUCTION THEORY
Super's theory (1980) specified a number of roles that people can play
across the life span (see Hartung, Chapter 4, this volume). It has been
suggested that Super's theory has helped counselors to understand that
career development is not a one‐time event, and instead is a process that
plays out over time and across life roles (Heppner, 2013). For example,
caring for one's family and involvement in one's community are roles that
women and men assume over time. Therefore, Super's theory provides a
foundation from which practitioners can discuss with their clients the
meaning, interdependent nature, and management of life roles (Heppner,
2013).
Savickas's career construction theory (Savickas, Chapter 6, this volume)
evolved from Super's (1980) developmental theory. This theory purports
that individuals' identities are shaped by their social contexts, including
gender (Heppner, 2013). The focus of this theory is that everyone develops
a life narrative, or story, and that these narratives help clients attend to the
subjective aspects of their career development process. The theory
maintains that there is no fixed truth. Instead, people construct their own
understandings by being active agents in creating their life stories.
Practitioners use this information to encourage clients to consider how their
social contexts, such as gender, culture, and social class, are intertwined in
the construction of their career future.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE CAREER THEORY
SCCT (Lent et al., 1994; Lent, Chapter 5, this volume) explicitly
incorporates gender and culture as factors that impact learning experiences.
In turn, these experiences influence self‐efficacy and outcome expectations,
which then impact the development of interests and goals. Sources of self‐
efficacy and outcome expectations include performance accomplishments,
vicarious learning, physiological states and reactions, and verbal
persuasion. Researchers have used SCCT to examine gender differences in
self‐efficacy, and evidence suggests that men tend to demonstrate greater
self‐efficacy in science and math, and lower self‐efficacy in communal or
social areas (Fouad, Singh, et al., 2016). Hence, women's and men's career
pursuits can be influenced by learning experiences, self‐efficacy, and
outcome expectations (Lent). SCCT has also generated much research on
women and people from underrepresented groups in the STEM fields.
Women with gender‐traditional learning experiences tend to have lower
self‐efficacy in gender non‐traditional areas, such as STEM, and higher
self‐efficacy in gender‐traditional areas (e.g., caring professions and
education; Fouad, Singh, et al., 2016).
In applying SCCT to practice, counselors can assist clients in exploring
how their previous learning experiences have impacted their self‐efficacy,
outcome expectations, and interests, and help them to reconsider previously
foreclosed options. For example, practitioners might encourage clients to
gain new learning experiences and skills in previously underexplored areas
in order to open new possibilities for their future. In addition, by facilitating
consideration of supports and barriers with clients, practitioners can have an
impact on women's and men's intentions, as well as their actions to explore
a broader range of career choices (Lent, Chapter 5, this volume; Heppner,
2013).
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING
The psychology of working (Blustein, 2006; Blustein & Duffy, Chapter 7,
this volume) focuses on the context of work as shaping peoples' lives. It
highlights the importance of the work of all people, not just those with more
privilege and choice. Using the psychology of working perspective,
Kantamneni (2013) offered a view of the complex ways in which gender
influences the three core functions that working has the potential to fulfill:
work as a means of survival, social connection, and self‐determination. A
primary function of work is providing individuals with access to resources
necessary for survival, and to meet the human need for economic and social
power. However, structural barriers contribute to the inequitable distribution
of resources, leaving many with limited or no access to the resources
needed to serve these functions. Many women, particularly those from
underrepresented groups, are employed in low‐paying gender‐traditional
jobs and continue to face financial challenges. These challenges are
compounded by the cost of childcare and other gender‐based barriers (e.g.,
discrimination, sexual harassment), which limit the degree to which needs
for survival and power can be fulfilled.
Working can serve as a means of social connection for both men and
women by providing a context in which to build connections with others
who have similar work interests (Blustein, 2006). However, due to gender
role socialization that generally reinforces a view of men as strong and
autonomous, some men may be uncomfortable or unwilling to embrace
social connections within the workplace (Heppner & Heppner, 2009). The
support of social connection within and across work and home domains has
been identified as important to outcomes, such as promoting adaptive career
decision‐making (Kenny, Blustein, & Meerkins, 2018); well‐being in
unemployed individuals isolated by the absence of work (Paul & Moser,
2009); and the development of interests, aspirations, school‐to‐work
transitions, well‐being, and relational health (Blustein, Kenny, Autin, &
Duffy, 2019). Working as self‐determination, or the ability or privilege to
pursue activities and occupations that are intrinsically interesting, is not
realistically achievable for all people. For example, gender role
socialization can explicitly and implicitly lead women to enter gender‐
traditional occupations regardless of their interests. Given that many
traditional gender role occupations for women are low‐paying, access to the
occupational structure greatly influences self‐determination (Kantamneni,
2013).
RELATIONAL THEORIES
Relational perspectives on career development have now taken hold in a
field that has traditionally been based on the merit of independent thought
and judgment (e.g., Blustein, 2011; Flum, 2001, 2015; Schultheiss, 2003,
2007, 2013). These perspectives, or approaches to understanding and
intervening in career progress, are not signified by one singular theoretical
model. They are, instead, represented by a growing number of theoretical
approaches which rest on the assumption that relationships reflect human
strivings for connection, affirmation, support, attachment, and mattering
(Blustein, Schultheiss, & Flum, 2004; Flum, 2001). These perspectives
allow for an appreciation of the intertwined nature of people's relational and
career worlds, and acknowledge the function of interpersonal connection in
approaching career development tasks and validating individuals' real life
decision‐making experiences (Schultheiss, 2003). Originating in feminist
theory (e.g., Gilligan, 2000), relational frameworks provide a means of
understanding and intervening in the career development of both men and
women.
The intersectionality of identities began to assume a central location in
discussions of work and relationships to provide a more inclusive and
integrative perspective of career development across culture, race, gender,
sexualities, and social class (Schultheiss, 2007, 2013). To emphasize the
interwoven nature of culture and relationships, a relational cultural
paradigm for vocational psychology was introduced (Schultheiss, 2007,
2013). Four tenets of this paradigm point to a view of individuals embedded
within family, social, and cultural contexts (cf., Blustein, 2001; Savickas,
2013). These include: (a) relational discourse as a challenge to the cultural
script of individualism, (b) the psychological experience of work as
embedded within relational contexts, (c) the influence of the family as
critical to understanding the complexities of career development, and (d)
the interface of work and family life (Schultheiss, 2007).
The relational theory of working (Blustein, 2011) builds upon critical
perspectives in vocational psychology and relational discourses to highlight
the conceptualization of work as an inherently relational act. This theory
distinguishes itself as one which relates to the lives of people with less than
optimal educational and career choices, in addition to those with greater
privilege. As such, this theoretical perspective emerges from the
psychology of working (Blustein, 2006), and thereby refocuses attention on
a more inclusive conceptualization of work and informs more inclusive
psychological practice. The relational theory of working advances a number
of propositions to establish a conceptual infrastructure for relational theory.
They include the internalization of relationships and the role they play in
working, acknowledging the interconnectedness of work and relationships
in the market place and caregiving contexts, the role of relationships in
exploration and decision‐making, relational influence on work‐based
interests and values in conjunction with individual differences and
socialization, the meaning of work through relational discourse within
cultural contexts, and the function of culture as a holding environment
within which individuals confront work‐based challenges.
Counseling for work and relationship (Richardson, 2012) is a social
constructionist perspective that exemplifies a shift in vocational psychology
from helping people develop their careers to helping them construct their
lives through work and relationship. Informed by feminist theory and social
justice, this approach focuses on four major social contexts within which
individuals construct their lives. These contexts include market work,
market relationships, personal care work, and personal relationships. By
focusing on public and private spheres of paid and unpaid work and
relationships, this holistic perspective marks an important shift to a
broadened view of working lives.
Flum (2015) offers an integrative approach that examines work and career
through a relational lens. This approach focuses on how relationships take
an active foundational role in interconnecting individual and social
processes. Similar to Schultheiss (2007), Flum suggests that cultural values
are mediated by relational processes in work and family experiences. This
approach emphasizes work as an inherently relational process, and points to
embeddedness as a foundational relational quality that relates to one's sense
of security. Furthermore, Flum points to relationships as embedded in
networks that fuel social capital.
An integrative perspective of existing relational theories and models was
recently proposed by Kenny et al. (2018). The aim was to provide a useful
lens for practice to facilitate the work of career counselors in the
contemporary context of precarious work and relational challenges. The
goal of this integration was to underscore the critical role that work and
relationships play, and to highlight the intersection of work and non‐work
domains of life. Four tenets common to existing relational theories and
models were identified: (a) work is a vehicle for human connection (i.e.,
sense of belonging, relations as a source of meaning, mattering, and
validation), (b) family and other close relationships are vital domains of life
experience that interact with work in reciprocal and complex ways (e.g.,
work–family interface), (c) relationships affect the career development
process and trajectory, choices, decisions, exploration, job‐seeking, and
adaptation and career advancement, and (d) culture, social marginalization,
and economic status exert critical roles in shaping work and relational
experiences, their meaning, and work–family–community life,
opportunities, and outcomes.
These tenets highlight the critical role relationships and work play in
providing context for life experiences that influence well‐being. Such
experiences might include adjusting to losses associated with
unemployment or unstable work, disruptions in close relationships, job
search, and career changes. For example, job losses can engender feelings
of anxiety and depression that need to be addressed so that clients can
effectively engage in career exploration and job search activities. This
might be accomplished by assisting clients in identifying new sources of
support and developing relational skills to contribute to their work success
(Kenny et al., 2018).
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Career interventions to promote gender equity and career satisfaction for
men and women have been suggested in the literature. These include
practices to reduce occupational gender typing by boys and girls, reduce
stereotype threat, increase women's career self‐efficacy, and encourage girls
and women to enter STEM fields (Heppner & Jung, 2015). Practitioners can
help clients identify family expectations and cultural assumptions about
gender roles and assist them in discussing the personal, relational, and
career consequences of choices that are incongruent with these expectations
(Fouad, Whiston, et al., 2016).
Practitioners can use relational interventions to help clients become better
equipped to face relational and career dilemmas, progress effectively in
their careers, and draw effectively on relationships as a resource in the
career development process (Schultheiss, 2003). Relational resources
include support from role modeling, social support, networking, and
mentoring (Blustein, 2011; Flum, 2015). Thus, practitioners could help
clients examine the role of relationships in their life and career, including
how relationships influence career development, career decisions,
leadership style, and work–life integration. Clients could be encouraged to
seek out relational support from supervisors and colleagues, as well as
mentoring support to foster self‐efficacy and a positive vocational identity,
which can in turn facilitate the development of skills and goals (Allen, Eby,
Poteet, Lentz, & Lima, 2004).
Practitioners can also help clients develop strategies to successfully
confront gender bias, prejudice, sexism, and discrimination, and to
understand the role of occupational segregation, gender role stereotyping of
careers, sexual harassment, and lack of comparable pay (Heppner, 2013).
Heppner (2013) suggested that practitioners examine the potential gap in
aspirations and expectations experienced by men and women, and identify
theories that are most helpful in informing gender aware interventions. Jung
and O'Brien (2019) recommended that practitioners attend to both paid and
unpaid work in career counseling to facilitate better‐informed decisions
which take into account career, relationships, and life management. They
encouraged assisting young adults in learning how to discuss and negotiate
unpaid work in their relationships.
Clients can be supported in reconsidering options that were formerly
eliminated due to gender role expectations by exploring self‐concept and
congruence with occupational choices, and examining the role of work and
other life roles such as caregiver and community work (Fouad, Whiston, et
al., 2016). Fouad, Whiston, et al. (2016) suggested exploring self‐efficacy
for career choice, outcome expectations, as well as contextual barriers and
supports to promote consideration of a broader range of career options.
Exploring gender‐based definitions of success and developing skills to seek
and benefit from role models and mentors are other interventions that
practitioners can consider to support clients in exploring careers beyond
traditional gendered paths. Validating, supporting, and nurturing self‐worth
and competence that can emerge from work are particularly important when
one is considering or engaging in gender non‐traditional occupations
(Fouad, Whiston, et al.).
Counselors working from an SCCT perspective could have clients consider
their self‐efficacy for available career choices, career decision‐making self‐
efficacy, outcome expectations, and potential barriers and supports. In so
doing, they could discuss foreclosed options related to gender role
socialization (Fouad, Whiston, et al., 2016) and inaccurate self‐efficacy
beliefs and/or outcome expectations (see Lent, Chapter 5, this volume). It
has also been suggested that practitioners encourage clients to examine
careers beyond those that are gender‐traditional. Family expectations and
cultural assumptions about the influence of gender roles on career choice
could be identified (Fouad, Whiston, et al., 2016).
Counselors working with men are encouraged to understand their own
biases about men and work, use nontraditional strategies for working with
men (e.g., career coaching), and make use of group formats and strategies
to build on clients' existing skills and help them to develop new ones
(Heppner & Heppner, 2014). Nontraditional approaches have been
suggested as a more acceptable option for many men who value self‐
sufficiency, control, and directive solution‐focused interventions that place
less emphasis on emotion (Rochlen & O'Brien, 2002). Coaching provides
an opportunity to focus on the strengths men bring to career planning, such
as the ability to persevere, persist, sacrifice, and logically solve problems
(Heppner & Heppner, 2014).
Recommendations at the organizational level are evident in this review.
LeanIn (2018) suggested a number of means by which inequities evident in
the workforce could be altered, including: (a) setting targets for gender
representation, (b) ensuring fair hiring and promotion practices, (c) making
senior leaders and managers champions of diversity, (d) fostering inclusive
and respectful workplace cultures, (e) making “only woman” experiences
rare, and (f) providing flexible experiences to help employees fit work into
their lives. Supervisors and organizations can minimize resentment toward
employees who are (or intend to be) parents by monitoring and promoting a
more inclusive workplace climate and providing family leave benefits for
both men and women. Role modeling of senior leadership is crucial (Gloor
et al., 2018). Promoting restructuring of work and social conditions to be
more compatible with caregiving and community engagement has also been
proposed (Bailyn, 2011).
Organizations could promote gender equity among their leadership by
ensuring female executives are not penalized for exhibiting agentic
masculine personality traits, countering biases by raising awareness of
gender stereotypes, taking a zero tolerance approach to gender‐based
devaluations, implementing more structured evaluation and promotion
processes, and providing women with adequate resources, support, and
mentoring to foster leadership development and success (Wille et al., 2018).
Programing could be implemented to minimize the likelihood that women
with high leadership potential will opt out of high‐level positions. For
example, feedback regarding formal leadership potential could be provided
to reinforce accurate perceptions of ability. Career planning programs that
explicitly involve exploring leadership pathways could also be
implemented, together with practices to promote work–life balance (Wille
et al., 2018).
CONCLUSION
Despite increased numbers of women and people from underrepresented
groups in the labor force, occupational disparities continue to persist
between men and women and across Racial and ethnic groups. These
disparities are most salient in STEM fields, where women are
underrepresented in the broad field and within many STEM subfields.
Disparities in access to opportunities in educational and occupational
preparation, entry, retention, and advancement contribute to widespread
social and economic inequities. Discrimination, workplace incivility, and
sexual harassment have all been implicated in workplace environments
perceived as less fair to women than to men. The intersection of gender and
social class plays a key role in socialization, accessibility of resources, and
opportunities and barriers. Gender role stereotypes promote and maintain
negative expectations that act as obstacles for women's career progress.
Men also face career challenges, particularly those in non‐traditional
careers that may disrupt their identity as men and masculinity. Men of color
confront maintaining a privileged male identity while also being a member
of a marginalized group facing discrimination, prejudice, stereotypes, and a
lack of opportunities. Other challenges include the loss of identity after
retirement and the susceptibility of low‐income workers to layoff and
unemployment.
A work–home perspective highlights how career success has been viewed
through a gender lens, resulting in women's career success potentially being
more severely constrained by home demands than men's based on the
relative salience of family and home responsibilities. Similarly, women's
unpaid caregiving work remains at odds with the demand and reward
structure of paid work. Men engaged in caregiving can experience similar
outcomes, however, overall women face substantially different equity‐based
consequences. Early career women who are typically at prime childbearing
age begin to face a widening gender gap with regard to hiring decisions and
workplace environments. Career interventions to promote greater gender
equity and satisfaction for men and women have been offered for
individuals and organizations. These recommendations for practice are
aimed at facilitating career progress and confronting gender bias,
discrimination, and their associated consequences. Finally, a list of take‐
home messages for practitioners is offered in the following text.
TAKE‐HOME MESSAGES FOR
PRACTITIONERS
Practitioners are encouraged to be aware of their biases and not impose
them on clients.
Counter client's biases by raising awareness of gender stereotypes.
Assist clients in developing strategies to successfully confront gender
bias, prejudice, sexism, and discrimination.
Discuss foreclosed options related to gender role socialization and
expectations.
Encourage clients to examine careers beyond those that are gender‐
traditional.
Explore self‐efficacy for career choice, outcome expectations,
contextual barriers, and supports.
Attend to both paid and unpaid work in career counseling to facilitate
better‐informed decisions that take into account career, relationships,
and life management.
Recognize that relational needs are not solely met in the family, and
emphasize the importance of relational support in the workplace from
supervisors and colleagues.
Help clients become better attuned to their relationships and the role
they play across life and career domains.
Explore the impact of gender on how people experience and make
meaning of the careers and define success.
Develop skills to seek out and benefit from role models and mentors.
Use nontraditional strategies for working with men (e.g., career
coaching).
Help men identify family expectations and cultural assumptions about
male gender roles that influence career choices.
Assist vulnerable low‐income workers in uncertain economies.
Attend to gender differences in transitions out of paid work.
Organizations are encouraged to:
Promote gender equity among their leadership.
Promote a more inclusive workplace climate—including family‐
friendly policies in the context of supportive supervisors and role
models among senior leadership.
Attend to overlooked gender inequities and vulnerabilities of early
career young adult women of childbearing age.
Enact career programs that explicitly involve exploring leadership
pathways.
Implement practices to promote work–life balance.
Provide and support equitable family leave benefits for both men
and women.
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CHAPTER 10
The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Career
Choice, Development, and Adjustment
NADYA A. FOUAD1 AND NEETA KANTAMNENI2
1University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI
2University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
In an ideal world, every individual would be free to choose the optimal
occupation for themselves, have the resources to pursue that occupational
dream, and successfully implement that goal. That is, in a nutshell, the
American dream, which James Truslow Adams (1931) defined as the
“dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for
every [person], with opportunity for each according to ability or
achievement” (p. 404). This definition implies that each person's ability
should be the sole determinant of their success and that opportunity should
be available to all to seek that success. Career counseling grew out of
efforts at the beginning of the twentieth century to help recent immigrants
and others with limited resources achieve the American dream (Flores,
2009).
However, then, as well as today, the fundamental assumptions underlying
this notion of an ideal world may not fit the worldviews of some
individuals, may not be available as a dream for other individuals, and may
not be possible for others. Not everyone makes decisions about work based
on their abilities. Opportunities available to individuals, and their resources
to take advantage of those opportunities, differ dramatically by social class
and race/ethnicity. And finally, not everyone's dream to be better and fuller
is achieved through work, and not everyone has a dream to be richer.
Dreams and expectations about work and career are very much shaped by
individuals' cultural expectations and by the society in which they live. It is
critical, therefore, for vocational psychologists and career counselors to
have an understanding of the role that cultural context plays in helping to
form perceptions of work, in the factors that go into decision‐making about
work, and in the ways that counselors can help clients with career‐ and
work‐related concerns.
We focus on one aspect of cultural expectations in this chapter, that of
Racial and ethnic background. Other chapters will provide a review of
research and recommendations for other contextual influences, such as
gender and social class. It is important to provide a critical lens on specific
aspects of culture to help elucidate research and practice due to those
specific influences. However, we and others have argued elsewhere that it is
important to understand the multiple contextual influences on work‐ and
career‐related choices (Flores, Martinez, McGillen, & Milord, 2019;
Kantamneni & Fouad, under review). Thus, we encourage readers to note
that although these chapters focus on various aspects of cultural context
separately, in reality individuals are influenced by multiple contextual
influences simultaneously.
In this chapter, we first provide some background on the role of
Racial/ethnic disparities in educational and occupational attainment to
provide a basis for our argument that it is important to understand the role
of Racial/ethnic background in understanding influences on individuals'
career‐ and work‐related decisions. We then review the available research
from the past two decades on the cultural validity of many of the major
vocational theories, including those presented in Chapters 2 through 8 of
this volume. Following this review, we consider recent research on specific
culture‐relevant factors that have been shown to differ across Racial/ethnic
groups, such as barriers and supports, the role of racism, acculturation, and
the role salience of the worker role. Although some of the research we
discuss has been tied to specific theoretical perspectives (e.g., barriers and
supports are featured in social cognitive career theory; SCCT; role salience
is a central construct in Super's theory of career development), much of the
research on race/ethnicity in relation to career behavior has not been tied to
a particular theoretical framework. Finally, we focus on the implications of
this research for practitioners and end with recommendations for both
researchers and practitioners.
EDUCATIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL
DISPARITIES
A great deal has been written about the large disparities in educational and
occupational attainment between White European Americans and
individuals from Racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. The data clearly
indicate that Racial/ethnic minority individuals are disproportionately likely
to drop out of high school, not complete college, and be overrepresented in
lower‐paying and lower‐skilled occupations (Bureau of Labor Statistics,
2019). There has also been much written about the causes of these
educational and occupational disparities. We will not revisit those debates
here and instead focus on the consequences of disparities on occupational
outcomes.
First, it is important to understand the proportion of various Racial/ethnic
groups in the United States. The 2018 census contains the most recent data
collected on individuals' self‐identification of Racial/ethnic group
membership (Census Bureau, 2019). Individuals could identify as
Hispanic/LatinX (as an ethnicity) and also could identify as a member of a
racial category. This is a recent change in census data collection that
recognizes that those of South or Central American descent may belong to
many different racial groups. The percentage of individuals identifying as
White, non‐Hispanic, was 60.4%, continuing a downward trend that has
been apparent since the 1970 census (i.e., the percentage of those
identifying as White has decreased from 87% in 1970 to 83% in 1980 to
80% in 1990 to 69% in 2000 and to 63% in 2010; Census Bureau, 2019).
Those identifying as Hispanic/LatinX in 2018 grew the most of any
Racial/ethnic group to 18.3% from 12.6% in 2000 (Census Bureau, 2019).
Those identifying as Black/African American, American Indian or Native
American, and Asian or Pacific Islander, represented, respectively, 13.4%,
1.3%, and 6.1% of the population. Finally, 2.7% of the population identified
as belonging to two or more races. Geographically, Racial/ethnic diversity
has increased across all regions of the United States, suggesting that career
counselors across the country are very likely to be called upon to serve
clients who represent Racial/ethnic backgrounds different than their own.
We noted earlier that poorer educational and occupational outcomes are
disproportionately represented among Racial/ethnic minorities relative to
their numbers in the population. For example, in 2018, 94% of Whites had
completed high school by the time they were 25; these figures were slightly
lower for African Americans (92%), higher (97%) for Asian Americans,
lower for Hispanics (87%), and substantially lower (75%) for American
Indian/Alaska Natives. These Racial/ethnic educational disparities become
even more pronounced in considering college participation rates. In 2018,
nearly 41% of all Whites, 36% of Blacks, 36% of Hispanic, 65% of Asian
Americans, and 20% of American Indians had attended college (U.S.
Department of Education, 2018). There continued to be disparities in
college completion as well. For those entering college in 2010, 6‐year
graduation rates differed by race/ethnicity, with 64% of Whites, 40% of
Blacks, 54% of Hispanics, 74% of Asians, and 39% of American Indians
graduating.
As may be expected, these educational disparities also play out in
occupational attainment. Although Racial/ethnic groups do not differ
markedly in their overall participation in the workforce, with about 63% of
Whites, 61.6% of African Americans, 59.6% of Native Americans, 63.2%
of Asians, and 65.8% of Hispanics in the civilian labor force in 2016
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019), they do differ in the types of occupations
in which they are employed. African Americans, Native Americans, and
Hispanics are underrepresented in management and professional
occupations and overrepresented in food preparation, building cleaning,
protective services, transportation, and service occupations (Bureau of
Labor Statistics, 2019). Asian Americans are overrepresented in scientific
and engineering occupations and underrepresented in many service
occupations (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). In June 2018, the
unemployment rate nationally was 3.9% but only 3.5% for Whites and
3.0% for Asians, yet 7.5% for African Americans and 4.7% for Hispanics
(Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). Even though the national unemployment
rate is relatively low, and despite four decades of affirmative action policies
and relatively even educational attainment, as we noted earlier, there
continue to be dramatic differences in employment across specific
occupational areas; these differences have not substantially changed since
1980 (Byars‐Winston, Fouad, & Wen, 2015).
The statistics presented here highlight the differences in educational and
occupational outcomes for Racial/ethnic minority clients and students.
These differences may have resulted partly from individual choices but can
also represent choices constrained by structural barriers to educational and
occupational attainment. Each individual's career and work choices are
shaped by his or her cultural context, and Racial/ethnic background is a
large component of that context. Understanding the role of race and
ethnicity in work and career decision‐making is a critically important part
of cultural competence for all researchers and practitioners.
CROSS‐CULTURAL VALIDITY OF CAREER
THEORIES
In this section, we discuss the role that race and ethnicity may play in most
of the major career theories and also review research on race and ethnicity
that has been conducted in relation to these theoretical perspectives. We
acknowledge that some scholars (e.g., Leong & Pearce, 2011; Young,
Marshall, & Valach, 2007) have exhorted the field to build theories from
within each culture's perspective, rather than trying to make existing
theories more culturally relevant. We agree with them, but we also believe it
is important to examine the cultural validity of the major career theories.
HOLLAND'S THEORY
Holland's theory (1997) asserts that career choice is an expression of an
individual's personality. Holland argues that cultural and personal factors
work together to create distinctive personality types; in turn, environments
are also characterized by personality types. People and their environments
may be described in terms of six basic personality and environment types
(realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional
[RIASEC]). The main premise in Holland's theory is to help people
understand their personality types in order to find a match with work
environments (see Nauta, Chapter 3, this volume). A strong match between
an individual's personality and his or her work environment is hypothesized
to be related to job satisfaction and job tenure.
Extensive research has examined the cross‐cultural validity of Holland's
theory. This line of research has examined whether the six vocational
personality types exist and correspond to Holland's hypothesized RIASEC
pattern in various cultural groups, whether cultural variables predict
vocational interests, and whether key tenets proposed by Holland (e.g.,
congruence) are applicable in cross‐cultural populations. Numerous studies
have investigated whether vocational interests fall in a RIASEC pattern;
several methodologically rigorous studies have found similar structures of
the six interest types for the major U.S. ethnic groups (e.g., Armstrong,
Hubert, & Rounds, 2003; Day & Rounds, 1998; Kantamneni, 2014; Tracey
& Rounds, 1993). However, there have been a few exceptions. For
example, Flores, Spanierman, Armstrong, and Velez (2006) found that adult
LatinXs did not have a circular RIASEC ordering, and Kantamneni and
Fouad (2011) found that African American females and LatinX males did
not possess a circular RIASEC ordering, suggesting that the perceived
structure of the world of work may be different for these groups.
Research has provided limited evidence that cultural variables predict
vocational interests. In an investigation of the vocational interests of South
Asian Americans, Kantamneni and Fouad (2013) found that acculturation
and cultural values predicted interests. Participants who identified more
strongly with their South Asian cultural background had higher realistic
interests, those who possessed strong individualistic values measured low in
social interests, and those with stronger collectivistic values reported higher
social interests. Similarly, Tang, Fouad, and Smith (1999) found that family
influences and acculturation predicted vocational interests for Asian
American college students. Asian Americans who were Anglo‐acculturated
displayed atypical interests. Cultural variables can also moderate the
relationship between personality and vocational interests. In a study
including data from 20 countries, Ott‐Holland, Huang, Ryan, Elizondo, and
Wadlington (2013) found that personality traits were not as strongly related
to occupational interests in cultures with high collectivistic values.
Relatively little research has examined key tenets proposed by Holland
(e.g., congruence, differentiation) within diverse Racial/ethnic populations.
A meta‐analysis conducted by Tsabari, Tziner, and Meir (2005) found that
culture moderated the relationship between congruence and job satisfaction;
participants from individualistic societies displayed a stronger relationship
between interest congruence and satisfaction than did those from
collectivist societies. Gupta and Tracey (2005) and Kantamneni and Fouad
(2013) each found that cultural factors, such as dharma, Asian values, and
collectivistic values, did not affect congruence between expressed and
measured interests.
Despite extensive research on the cross‐cultural validity of Holland's theory,
there continue to be areas where more research is needed. First, despite
Holland having listed barriers and lack of resources as factors that affect
congruence–outcome relations, research on Holland's theory has largely
ignored the barriers and limited opportunities faced by many individuals
(Hardin, 2007). Second, Holland's theory does not explicitly address the
role of culture in developing vocational identities, and the few studies in
this area have found contradictory evidence as to how cultural variables are
related to vocational interests. More research is needed that investigates
how cultural factors directly and indirectly affect interest development.
Third, Holland's theory does not pay marked attention to the various
societal influences that may affect how an individual perceives his or her
environment (Hardin, 2007). Discrimination, barriers, or other forms of
prejudice in the workplace may affect how work environments are
experienced.
In sum, much of the research examining the cultural validity of Holland's
theory has provided evidence for its use with diverse populations. However,
some studies (e.g., Flores et al., 2006; Kantamneni & Fouad, 2011) have
not found a circular or hexagonal RIASEC pattern of interests for specific
Racial/ethnic groups, and the research examining the direct and indirect
influence of cultural variables on vocational interests and other important
constructs (e.g., congruence, differentiation) in Holland's theory is limited.
Existing research has suggested that cultural factors may play a role in the
development and expression of vocational interests. More research is
needed to reach definitive conclusions as to whether Holland's theory is an
appropriate and valid theoretical framework for people of color in the
United States.
THEORY OF WORK ADJUSTMENT
The theory of work adjustment (TWA) is another person–environment fit
model that predicts how well individuals will adjust to their job
environments (Dawis, 2005). The model focuses on how well individuals'
abilities match the abilities required by the job (e.g., individuals'
satisfactoriness) and how well individuals' needs and work values are met
by the reinforcers in the environment (e.g., individuals' satisfaction). If
individuals are both satisfied and satisfactory, they are predicted to stay in
the job environment (see Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2, this volume).
The theory is based on an individual differences perspective, a perspective
that Dawis (1994) embraced as viewing “people as individuals and not as
members of groups” (p. 41). He noted that focusing on group membership
was an inaccurate way to estimate abilities and needs and recommended
instead that researchers focus on individuals' reinforcement history. In
essence, he predicted that race and ethnicity influence person–environment
fit, which in turn influences a person's job satisfaction. Rounds and Hesketh
(1994), however, argued the importance of making explicit the effect of
race and ethnicity on work adjustment, particularly for variables, such as
discrimination, that may moderate an individual's satisfaction.
Lovelace and Rosen (1996) studied the relationship between cultural
variables and person–environment fit, hypothesizing that Racial/ethnic
minority group members may feel less of a fit to their environments than do
White managers. They found that African American managers reported
lower satisfaction with fit than White or Hispanic managers. However, the
effect size was very small (.03). Lyons and O'Brien (2006) and Lyons,
Velez, Mehta, and Neill (2014) studied TWA for African Americans. Lyons
and O'Brien found that need–reinforcer correspondence was highly related
(r = .66) to satisfaction and that racial climate did not moderate the
relationship between satisfaction and intentions to leave the organization for
African American employees. Lyons et al. studied TWA with economically
distressed African Americans, also finding support for the model, but also
noting the importance of racial climate as a contextual variable added to the
model. Eggerth and Flynn (2012) also identified TWA work values in their
qualitative study with LatinX immigrants. They conducted ten interviews
with LatinXs who held low‐wage jobs. They found that most of the
reinforcers were described in the women's narratives about their favorite
and least‐liked jobs, with TWA's compensation and security values noted by
each participant.
In sum, the limited research on the role of race/ethnicity in TWA has been
shown to support Dawis's (1994) contention that race and ethnicity
influence the perception of person–environment fit, which influences TWA
outcome variables, such as job satisfaction. The two studies that specifically
analyzed TWA constructs have found that the reinforcers proposed by the
theory may be used to describe the work values and needs of LatinX and
African American participants and that need–reinforcer correspondence
explained a substantial amount of variance in African American workers'
satisfaction. Clearly, more research is needed to extend these findings to
other groups. We also recommend that researchers focus on reinforcers that
may be unique to Racial/ethnic minority populations, such as working with
other minority individuals, or on perceptions of racial fit that may not be
applicable to White participants.
THE THEORIES OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT AND
CAREER CONSTRUCTION
Super's developmental theory is one of the most influential in vocational
psychology. As Betz (2008) noted, it revolutionized the field when first
introduced in 1953. The theory is summarized by Hartung (Chapter 4, this
volume). Savickas's career construction theory (see Chapter 6, this volume)
can be seen as an update to Super's theory, one that views career
development from a constructionist perspective. The latter emphasizes the
view “that individuals actively create their own subjective and personal
career realities” (Hartung & Taber, 2008).
Super, Savickas, and Super (1996) included Racial and ethnic background
as part of the cultural milieu in which children begin to develop a sense of
self‐concept that becomes implemented in occupational choices. Super's
early work was extensively researched primarily on White, upper‐middle‐
class men, although by the 1980s, researchers examined the applicability of
the theory to women and people of color. More recent research has
examined factors related to career adaptability and exploration (e.g., Kenny
& Bledsoe, 2005). The latter study defined adaptability as career planning,
career outcome expectations, school identification, and perceptions of
barriers, finding that parents and teachers were significant sources of
support for urban youth. Specifically, family support was related to
perceptions of barriers and career outcome expectations, and teacher
support was related to identifying with school.
Savickas (2019) further defines the self as shaped by culture, noting that
“identities are co‐constructed by a psychological self and a social context”
(p. 18). By definition, the social context is shaped by the individual's
cultural group memberships. As the individual grows and develops and
expresses his or her identity through narratives, there are many influences
on the narrative that will be shaped by cultural messages. Savickas notes
that this perspective is influenced by Western cultural values, which assume
that the career narrative is composed individually. However, he also notes
that individuals are always influenced by others: “identity is seldom an
individual project” (p. 19). Thus, in collectivist societies, individuals'
narratives may be highly influenced by the expectations of others because
of the importance placed on valuing others' views.
Blustein et al. (2010) examined the role of race and ethnicity in a qualitative
study based on career construction theory. They found that half of 32
students in their study had incorporated the perception of barriers due to
racism into their construction of their careers and future, and half were
unaware of the effect of their race or ethnicity. Of those who had
incorporated a perspective on racism into their overall career narrative, half
had developed mechanisms to counter or be resistant to that racism, and
half were more pessimistic about their futures because of racism. The
authors concluded with a suggestion that career intervention programs
incorporate tools to foster resistance to racism.
In sum, much more research is needed to understand how Racial and ethnic
group background influences career development across the life span,
including the ways in which individuals construct their careers. Future
research needs to investigate how career adaptability is shaped by different
cultural values and different barriers due to racism and its effects. Career
adaptability, as a behavior, has now also been incorporated into the social
cognitive career self‐management (Lent & Brown, 2013) model as well as
the psychology of working theory (Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin,
2016), and the latter, in particular, has begun to examine the effects of
racism on career choices. The research of Blustein et al. (2010) is a
promising beginning, but more research needs to be done to see if career
narratives differ in systematic ways across Racial/ethnic groups.
SOCIAL COGNITIVE CAREER THEORY
SCCT was developed to understand and explain the vocational development
of individuals from a broad range of backgrounds (Lent, Brown, & Hackett,
1994, 2000). Briefly stated, the social cognitive career framework asserts
that both person inputs (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, ability status) and
background contextual affordances create the learning experiences to which
an individual is exposed; these learning experiences influence self‐efficacy
expectations and outcome expectations, which, in turn, influence interests,
goals, and actions. SCCT integrates both individual variables (e.g.,
interests, values, abilities) and cultural and contextual variables (e.g.,
environmental factors) to fully understand the career development process
(see Lent, Chapter 5, this volume). SCCT operates from an understanding
that the environment “plays an undeniable, potent role in helping to
determine who gets to do what and where, for how long, and with what
sorts of rewards” (Lent & Sheu, 2009, p. 692).
Due to its emphasis on contextual and sociocultural influences on the career
development process, research utilizing SCCT has greatly enhanced our
knowledge of how individuals from minority Racial/ethnic backgrounds
make career decisions. For example, numerous studies have tested the
theory's hypotheses within LatinX and Mexican American student
populations (e.g., Berbery & O'Brien, 2018; Lee, Flores, Navarro, &
Kanagui‐Munoz, 2015; McWhirter, Garcia, & Bines, 2018), African
American student populations (e.g., Dickinson, Abrams, & Tokar, 2017;
Gainor & Lent, 1998), and Asian American student populations (e.g., Hui
& Lent, 2018; Kantamneni, Dharmalingam, Orley, & Kanagasingam,
2018). Additionally, a plethora of research (e.g., Fouad & Smith, 1996;
Gainor & Lent, 1998; Lee et al., 2015; Lent et al., 2005; Lent, Lopez,
Lopez, & Sheu, 2008; Navarro, Flores, & Worthington, 2007) has examined
the predictive nature of social cognitive variables (e.g., self‐efficacy,
outcome expectations) on math‐ and science‐related interests and goals.
Much of this research has examined either tests of SCCT's larger models
(e.g., interest, choice) or the predictive nature of specific contextual and
individual input variables on social cognitive career constructs (e.g., how
cultural factors affect career decision‐making self‐efficacy).
Research has found that self‐efficacy and outcome expectations predicted
math and science interests and goals in Mexican American, Latinx, and
African American high school students (Fouad & Smith, 1996; Navarro et
al., 2007), African American college students (Byars‐Winston, 2006;
Ezeofor & Lent, 2014; Lent et al., 2005, 2008; Waller, 2006), and Asian
American students (Kelly, Gunsalus, & Gunsalus, 2009; Kantamneni et al.,
2018). For example, in two separate investigations, Lent et al. (2005, 2008)
compared the social cognitive choice model in African American and
European American students majoring in engineering. They found that the
model accounted for academic interests and choices in both groups of
students. Lee et al. (2015) found longitudinal support for an academic
persistence model for Latinx and White engineering students; engineering
self‐efficacy was related to engineering goals, which in turn predicted
future persistence. Byars‐Winston, Estrada, Howard, Davis, and Zalapa
(2010) also found support for the social cognitive model in predicting
interests and goal commitment among biological science and engineering
majors in diverse samples of African American, LatinX(a), Asian
American, and Native American college students. More recently, Byars‐
Winston and Rogers (2019) found that self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations predicted career intentions to become researchers among
African American/Black, Latinx, and Asian American students.
In sum, because of its emphasis on contextual influences, SCCT lends itself
well to understanding the role of cultural influences on the career
development process for Racial/ethnic minorities. In fact, a review of
current multicultural research with Racial/ethnic minorities found that much
of the recent research examining the role of cultural influences on career
development has utilized a social cognitive framework (Kantamneni &
Fouad, under review). As a whole, this research has provided cross‐cultural
support for the social cognitive career model with various Racial/ethnic
groups. However, there continues to be a need for additional research that
examines how social cognitive career variables operate with other cultural
variables, such as ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural values.
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING THEORY
The psychology of working theory (Duffy et al., 2016) was developed to
explicitly incorporate the contextual factors that constrain individuals' work
and career choices. The theory, described by Blustein and Duffy (Chapter 7,
this volume), predicts that economic constraints and being marginalized
(e.g., due to sexism or racism) affect willingness to work. Willingness to
work and career adaptability interact to affect finding decent work. Decent
work, as defined by the International Labor Organization (Duffy et al.,
2016), is physically safe work, in which workers have adequate free time
and rest, have adequate compensation, access to health care, and work–life
balance. Finding decent work has the positive work outcomes of meeting
survival, social connectedness, and self‐determination needs, which lead to
work fulfillment and an overall sense of well‐being.
The theory also postulates four additional variables that moderate the
relationships between economic constraints and marginalization and
between work volition and career adaptability: proactive personality, critical
consciousness, social support, and external economic conditions. The
construct of marginalization is based on Cole's (2009) perspective on
intersectionality, that relegation to a less powerful (or marginalized
position) is multiplicative, or that marginalization from social class
intersects with marginalization from racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism,
and other forms of discrimination. The authors note that “social
marginalization and oppression reduce access to resources and to decent
work … [creating] barriers that constrain opportunities for people around
the globe” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 132).
Though very new, the model is receiving extensive study, both
quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, a qualitative study with 12
undocumented immigrants (Autin, Duffy, Jacobson, Dosani, Barker, &
Bott, 2018) found that economic constraints and limited mobility were
significant barriers for work volition, but social support and public policy
changes were facilitative of work volition. Guerrero and Singh (2013)
found that 27 Mexican American women with low educational attainment
(3/4 had not finished high school) reported work needs in all three areas:
survival, social connectedness, and self‐determination. However, in a study
of 526 culturally diverse adults, Duffy et al. (2018) found mixed support for
the model's predictors of decent work. Specifically, they found that
experiences of marginalization and economic constraints were negatively
related to work volition, while work volition and career adaptability were
related to decent work. They did not, however, find that economic resources
were related to marginalization, and economic constraints were not directly
related to decent work, but the relationship was mediated by work volition.
Much more research is needed on the application of this theory to Racially
and ethnically diverse populations, but as the theory was explicitly
developed to incorporate contextual factors known to affect Racial/ethnic
individuals, the model promises to help us further understand factors that
influence their work choices and outcomes.
CULTURAL FACTORS RELATED TO CAREER
DEVELOPMENT
In the previous section, we briefly reviewed multicultural considerations
and applications of the major vocational theories. However, a number of
cultural factors deserve attention in their own right, based on the
assumption that they have the potential to influence the career behavior of
diverse persons. Some of these factors have been studied in relation to
particular career theories; others are not currently aligned well with the
major theories. This section discusses how these factors—in particular,
cultural values, acculturation, ethnic identity, role models, perceptions of
discrimination, barriers and supports, and differences between aspirations
and expectations—may shape the vocational development of Racial/ethnic
minority persons.
CULTURAL VALUES
Cultural values can have a meaningful impact on the career choices of
Racial/ethnic minorities. Take, for example, a LatinX college student who
comes from a cultural background that emphasizes the values of familismo
and colectivismo. This student may make career decisions that meet cultural
or family expectations or that allow her to give back to her community,
regardless of her interests, and family values may be a social outcome
expectation. Despite the potentially powerful influence cultural values can
have on the career development process, little research to date has fully
explicated the relationship between cultural values and career decision‐
making. Only a handful of studies have examined the influence of cultural
values on the career development process of Racial/ethnic minority
populations. As mentioned previously, Tsabari et al. (2005) investigated
whether culture moderated the relationship between congruence and job
satisfaction, finding that interest congruence was more predictive of job
satisfaction in societies that possessed an individualistic value orientation.
Kantamneni and Fouad (2013) found that the cultural values of
individualism and collectivism predicted social interests in South Asian
American college students. Kantamneni et al. (2018) also found that Asian
values positively predicted greater self‐efficacy in occupations in which
Asian Americans have high representation, which in turn predicted greater
interests in these occupations. These findings suggest that Asian values may
be related to stronger interests in more traditional careers. Similarly, a study
by Garriott, Raque‐Bogdan, Zoma, Mackie‐Hernandez, and Lavin (2017)
examined a social cognitive career model for math and science career goals
with Mexican American students. They found that the value of familismo
positively predicted performance accomplishments, which in turn predicted
self‐efficacy and interests in math and science. Family supports also
directly predicted self‐efficacy and goals, suggesting that both the cultural
value of familism and supports from family can directly and indirectly play
a role in math and science interests and choices for Mexican American
students.
Hui and Lent (2018) proposed a culture‐specific social cognitive career
model for Asian Americans. Rather than incorporating familial and cultural
influences as proximal factors in the social cognitive career model as
previous research has done, Hui and Lent adapted the model itself to
include family support as a predictor of self‐efficacy and outcome
expectations as well as a moderator between interests and choice/goals.
Asian cultural values were also hypothesized to directly predict family
support and choice/goals, and to moderate the relationships between family
influences and choice/goals and between interests and choice/goals.
Research on this model with Asian American students found the model fit
the data well for both traditional and nontraditional career domains,
suggesting that a culturally adapted social cognitive career model for Asian
American students may be a valid framework.
Two studies also examined the influence of cultural values on the process of
career counseling. Kim and Atkinson (2002) found that Asian American
clients who expressed a strong adherence to Asian cultural values rated
Asian American career counselors higher on dimensions of effectiveness
than clients with low adherence to Asian cultural values. Clients with low
adherence to Asian cultural values rated European American counselors
higher on empathic understanding than their Asian American counterparts.
Kim, Li, and Liang (2002) investigated the effect of career counseling
orientation and cultural values on Asian Americans' perceptions of
counselors' effectiveness. Results indicated that clients with high adherence
to Asian cultural values perceived higher empathic understanding and a
stronger working alliance with their counselor than did clients with low
adherence to Asian cultural values, regardless of the counselor's
Racial/ethnic background.
A series of qualitative investigations have examined the vocational
development of African American (Pearson & Bieschke, 2001), LatinX
(Gomez et al., 2001), Native American (Juntunen et al., 2001), and Asian
American (Fouad et al., 2008) adults. These studies highlighted the
influential role that cultural values can have on the vocational development
of Racial/ethnic minorities. Gomez and colleagues found that cultural
variables such as cultural values, gender role messages, and familial career
aspirations were related to participants' vocational development.
Specifically, participants indicated that cultural values of familism and
collectivism influenced how they made career decisions; participants'
families were typically oriented toward a collective identity, and
participants indicated that they had a responsibility toward the well‐being of
their family and community. Similarly, Juntunen and colleagues
demonstrated that collectivism was strongly related to career development
among Native Americans; career success was viewed as a collective
experience, and success was often measured by an ability to contribute to
the well‐being of others within their community. Pearson and Bieschke
(2001) investigated the role of cultural factors on persistence in maintaining
successful careers for African American women finding that participants
perceived receiving messages about work values (e.g., work ethic, altruism)
from their families.
Finally, Fouad et al. (2008) found that cultural values emerged as a typical
category in their qualitative analysis of Asian American career
development; cultural values were found to be related to participants'
communication styles at work, their ideas of career and vocational success,
their sense of family obligations, and how career exploration was
facilitated. Interestingly, Fouad and her colleagues noted that cultural values
were primarily transmitted through the families of their participants, and it
was often difficult for the participants to delineate between cultural and
familial values. As a whole, both qualitative and quantitative investigations
highlight the influential role of cultural values in constructing meaning
through work for individuals from Racial/ethnic minority backgrounds.
Although this research is limited, it has suggested that cultural values may
be an essential component of the career development process for
Racial/ethnic minority group members; further research is needed to clarify
this relationship.
ACCULTURATION
Acculturation has long been hypothesized to play an important role in the
career development process of ethnic minorities and is often linked to
educational and career aspirations, vocational interests, career self‐efficacy,
job satisfaction, and career maturity. Much of the current research has
focused on LatinX(a)s and Asian Americans. A small number of studies
have investigated the relationship between acculturation and educational
and career outcomes. For example, Ojeda et al. (2012) examined the
relationship between acculturation and career decision self‐efficacy in
seventh‐grade students. They found that acculturation predicted career
decision self‐efficacy for girls but not for boys, suggesting that
acculturation may play different roles in boys' and girls' career
development.
In an investigation of the role of acculturation on aspirations, McWhirter,
Hackett, and Bandalos (1998) proposed a structural model to predict the
educational and career expectations of Mexican American high school girls,
finding support for acculturation as a predictor of educational aspirations.
Similarly, Flores and O'Brien (2002) found that acculturation was
significantly correlated with career choice traditionality, career choice
prestige, and career aspirations for Mexican American students; women
who were more assimilated to mainstream culture chose more gender‐
traditional and less‐prestigious occupations than women who were less
assimilated to mainstream culture. Rivera, Chen, Flores, Blumberg, and
Ponterotto (2007) found that Anglo acculturation significantly predicted
self‐efficacy regarding female‐dominated career options in Hispanic
women.
In regard to educational goals and aspirations, Flores et al. (2008) found
that Anglo‐oriented acculturation was positively related to educational goal
expectations and aspirations in Mexican American high school students;
students who were acculturated to mainstream society expressed higher
educational aspirations and expectations. Similarly, Flores, Ojeda, Huang,
Gee, and Lee (2006) found that Anglo‐oriented acculturation emerged as a
significant predictor of high educational goals. Mexican American students
who indicated high levels of Anglo‐oriented acculturation were more likely
to have higher educational goals than students who were less acculturated to
Anglo culture. In a working adult sample, Valdivia and Flores (2012) found
that Anglo acculturation was positively related to job satisfaction in Latinx
immigrant workers. Specific to math and science, Navarro et al. (2007)
found that generation status, Anglo orientation, and Mexican orientation did
not significantly predict math and science performance accomplishments;
neither did these accomplishments predict math and science outcome
expectations or math and science goals.
Vocational research has also examined the relationship between
acculturation and vocational outcomes in Asian Americans. Leong (2001)
examined the relationship between acculturation and job satisfaction,
occupational stress, and supervisors' performance ratings. He found that
acculturation to mainstream culture (Anglo orientation) was positively
related to job satisfaction and supervisors' performance ratings, and
negatively related to occupational stress and strain. Similarly, Nadermann
and Eissenstat (2018) found that Korean international students'
acculturation to American culture was related to their career decision self‐
efficacy both directly and indirectly, through job networking. Hardin,
Leong, and Osipow (2001) compared the relationships between career
maturity, self‐construals, and acculturation for Asian Americans and
European Americans. Results indicated that low‐ and medium‐acculturated
(medium to high Asian identification) Asian Americans had significantly
higher interdependence and lower career maturity scores than European
Americans; however, highly acculturated (high Western identification)
Asian Americans did not significantly differ from European Americans.
Finally, Tang et al. (1999) investigated the relationship between
acculturation and social cognitive variables and reported a significant
negative relationship of acculturation to career self‐efficacy, vocational
interests, and career choice. Self‐efficacy was strongly associated with
acculturation, which in turn predicted interests and career choice.
Individuals who were more Asian acculturated displayed interests in and
chose careers that were more typical and representative of Asian Americans
(i.e., science or engineering occupations). Asian Americans who were
higher in acculturation (Anglo‐acculturated) displayed interests and choices
in career fields that were less typical and representative for Asian
Americans.
On the whole, these studies suggest that acculturation is intimately related
to vocational development; many of the studies highlight the important role
that acculturation plays in career and educational aspirations, career
maturity, and job satisfaction. Yet research in this area is still minimal, and
further research is needed to investigate the relationship between
acculturation and vocational outcomes. For example, how is acculturation
related to the development of vocational interests, perceptions of vocational
opportunities, and perceptions of discrimination? Further, the research
examining the relationship between acculturation and career development
has primarily focused on Asian American and LatinX populations, with
little research examining other groups (e.g., individuals of African or
Middle Eastern descent) in the United States.
ETHNIC IDENTITY
Only a few studies to date have fully examined how Racial/ethnic identity
and attitudes affect the career development process. Gainor and Lent (1998)
investigated the relationship between racial identity attitudes and social
cognitive career variables (math self‐efficacy, math outcome expectations,
math and science interests) for African American college students. They
found that social cognitive career variables predicted interests across
varying levels of racial identity attitudes. Racial identity attitudes were
minimally related to social cognitive variables and did not affect the
relationship of social cognitive variables to interests and choices in math
and science options. These results suggest that the social cognitive career
model may be applicable across different racial identity statuses with
African American college students.
Similarly, Gushue and Whitson (2006) examined how ethnic identity and
parent and teacher support were related to career decision self‐efficacy and
outcome expectations in African American ninth‐grade students; they found
that ethnic identity was not related to career decision self‐efficacy or
outcome expectations. However, studying Latinx high school students,
Gushue (2006) found that ethnic identity was related to career decision‐
making self‐efficacy; he also found that the relation of ethnic identity to
career decision‐making outcome expectations was mediated by self‐
efficacy. Bonifacio, Gushue, and Mejia‐Smith (2018) studied ethnic
identity, perceptions of microaggressions, career decision‐making self‐
efficacy, and outcome expectations in LatinX college students. They
reported that higher ethnic identity was positively related to career decision‐
making, but experiencing microaggressions was related to lower self‐
efficacy. Specific to math and science, Kelly et al. (2009) investigated how
ethnic identity, self‐efficacy, outcome expectations, and career interests
predict science and nonscience goal intentions among Korean American
college students; they found that ethnic identity did not predict goal
intentions.
Two studies have found some relationships between ethnic identity and
career variables. Byars‐Winston et al. (2010) found that ethnic identity,
other‐group orientation, and perceived campus climate were predictive of
academic self‐efficacy and outcome expectations in a group of African
American, LatinX, Southeast Asian, and Native American undergraduates
majoring in biological science and engineering; other‐group orientation was
found to significantly predict self‐efficacy. Similarly, Byars‐Winston (2006)
examined how racial ideology (i.e., nationalist, humanist, assimilationist,
and oppressed minority) is related to career self‐efficacy, career outcome
expectations, career interests, and perceived career barriers in African
American college students. She found that two racial ideologies (nationalist
and assimilationist) were predictive of career self‐efficacy, outcome
expectations, interests, and barriers. A racial ideology that emphasized the
uniqueness of being of African descent (nationalist) and an ideology that
emphasized commonalities between African Americans and other
Americans (assimilationist) were related to career self‐efficacy, outcome
expectations, interests, and barriers.
In sum, these studies provide a preliminary understanding of how ethnic
identity is related to vocational development. A majority of the studies that
have examined the relationship of ethnic identity to career variables have
used a social cognitive career framework and have provided support for the
use of this model with individuals of varying levels of Racial/ethnic identity
development or racial ideologies. However, more research is needed to fully
understand the relationship between ethnic identity and various career
constructs, using both the SCCT framework as well as other career theories
that are influential in career development.
ROLE MODELS
Role models can act as mentors, provide vocational information, and both
directly and indirectly influence career decisions, often playing a critical
role in career development (Gibson, 2004). Yet, little empirical research has
examined how role models specifically influence the career development
process for Racial/ethnic minorities. Karunanayake and Nauta (2004)
examined differences in role models between Whites and Racial/ethnic
minorities; they found no differences in the overall number of role models
identified by either White or minority students or in the influences of role
models on students' career development, although they did find that
participants identified role models who were of the same race as their own.
Qualitative investigations have also found that role models are influential in
the vocational development of LatinXs (Gomez et al., 2001) and Asian
Americans (Fouad et al., 2008). In an investigation by Gomez and her
colleagues, role models were identified as critical influences in the career
development of LatinX women. Participants identified their mothers as role
models, although several of the participants stated that they lacked LatinX
professional role models and thus sought role models across professions,
ethnicity, race, gender, and age. Fouad and her colleagues also found that
role models emerged as an influential contextual influence for Asian
Americans' career development. Participants identified models who
contributed to their community and reported receiving emotional support
from their models. Additionally, family members were most commonly
identified as role models for the participants.
PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION
Experiences of discrimination can have a lasting impact on the career
decisions that individuals from Racial/ethnic minority backgrounds make,
which may be evidenced in the occupational segregation found in the U.S.
labor force. Occupational segregation and differential rates of
unemployment between Racial/ethnic groups may, in part, be due to
restrictions of career and work choices based on bias and prejudice in the
hiring process; individuals from Racial/ethnic minority backgrounds may
experience discrimination that restricts their opportunities for employment.
Anticipated discrimination may further restrict vocational choices; for
example, individuals may not choose to enter certain types of careers based
on fears that they will be discriminated against because of their
race/ethnicity or other individual difference factors (e.g., gender, sexual
orientation).
Minimal research has been conducted to investigate the role of
discrimination empirically. An important investigation by Chung and
Harmon (1999) found that ethnic minorities perceived more discrimination
in the workplace than did their White counterparts. In a study on urban
students' constructions about school, work, race, and ethnicity, Blustein et
al. (2010) demonstrated that half of their participants had incorporated
perceptions of racism into their career construction. McWhirter et al. (2018)
found that Latinx students who reported greater frequency of discrimination
experiences and greater barriers were more likely to consider dropping out
of school. Similarly, Bonifacio et al. (2018) found that higher endorsement
of recent microaggression experiences predicted lower positive outcome
expectations, lower career decision‐self‐efficacy, and greater anticipated
future barriers.
Conkel‐Ziebell, Gushue, and Turner (2019) examined the effects of
anticipated racial and gender discrimination on career development for
urban youth of color and found different pathways for girls and boys. For
girls, anticipating a future racially hostile workplace climate negatively
predicted outcome expectations which, in turn, predicted (less ambitious)
career goals. For boys, anticipating a future hostile workplace climate
negatively predicted career decision self‐efficacy, which also predicted
career lower goals. Findings also indicated that career decision‐making self‐
efficacy mediated the effects of racial discrimination on vocational outcome
expectations for boys. As a whole, the findings from these studies suggest
that experiencing or anticipating discrimination in education and workplace
contexts can be related to negative educational and career‐related outcomes,
such as reduced career goals.
PERCEIVED BARRIERS AND SUPPORTS
Perceived barriers (in addition to discrimination) and supports have been
identified as important factors in understanding how individuals from
diverse backgrounds construct their vocational identity (Lent et al., 1994,
2000). Gender and ethnic differences in career and educational barriers
have been well‐documented in the vocational psychology literature. For
example, Luzzo and McWhirter (2001) found that ethnic minority college
students perceived more educational and career barriers than European
American students; the ethnic minority students also perceived themselves
to have lower efficacy to cope with their perceived barriers. Students'
perceptions of barriers and supports can play a role in their academic and
career development. A longitudinal study by Garriott and Flores (2013)
found that Mexican American high school students' perceptions of future
barriers predicted future educational goals and GPA; greater perceived
future barriers predicted lower educational goals and GPA one year later. A
recent meta‐analysis conducted by Brown et al. (2018) examined the
relationship between supports and barriers with various academic and
career outcomes in 249 published articles. Their findings indicated that
race/ethnicity did not moderate the relationship between perceived barriers
and GPA, self‐efficacy, and outcome expectation. However, race/ethnicity
was a significant moderator between perceived supports and school
engagement and GPA. Specifically, the relationship between supports and
school engagement was lower for Latinx and African American students
when compared to White students. African American students also had a
smaller relationship between social support and GPA than White and Latinx
samples. These findings suggest that African American and Latinx students'
school engagement may be less responsive to social supports than White
students. Discrimination, as a barrier, was also found to be negatively
related to school persistence for all Racial/ethnic groups. It is important to
note that the Racial/ethnic minority sample size was small, resulting in a
limited number of tests examining relationships between barriers, supports,
and academic and career outcomes. More research is needed to fully
understand the relationships between various types of supports with
educational and career outcomes.
Coupled with the qualitative investigations of Racial/ethnic minority
women described earlier (e.g., Gomez et al., 2001; Pearson & Bieschke,
2001), the research reviewed here suggests that supports can be a very
positive influence for students. As a whole, studies examining barriers and
supports suggest that high school and college students of color may
perceive greater educational and career barriers than their White
counterparts. However, supports, particularly relational supports, have been
found to have a protective influence for students. More research is also
needed on how institutional supports can help students of color. For
example, Holloway‐Friesen (2018) found that acculturation and a
welcoming college environment were related to lower perceived barriers
among Latinx students. More research is needed on ways institutions can
create supportive environments with fewer barriers.
OCCUPATIONAL ASPIRATIONS AND EXPECTATIONS
It is important to understand the career aspirations and expectations of
individuals from minority Racial/ethnic backgrounds. Career aspirations
represent vocational preferences or career possibilities if ideal conditions
are present, whereas career expectations can be thought of as career pursuits
that are realistic and accessible (Metz, Fouad, & Ihle‐Helledy, 2009). Fouad
and Byars‐Winston (2005) conducted a meta‐analysis of 16 studies and did
not find significant differences in career aspirations based on Racial/ethnic
identity. However, race/ethnicity was related to perceptions of barriers and
opportunities; ethnic minorities perceived fewer opportunities and greater
barriers than White Americans. These findings suggest that career
aspirations may not be related to ethnic background, but the perception of
barriers and opportunities to achieve those aspirations is related to ethnic
background.
Metz et al. (2009) examined discrepancies between occupational aspirations
and expectations in over 600 diverse college students and found ethnic
differences in the students' aspirations but not in their expectations. The
career aspirations and expectations of minority students were more
congruent than those of White students; however, career barriers, self‐
efficacy, and differential status predicted discrepancies between aspirations
and expectations for ethnic minority students, but not for White students.
Howard et al. (2011) examined the relationship between gender,
socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity, and career aspirations in more
than 22,000 eighth‐ and tenth‐grade students and found that Native
American students reported lower aspirations than students from other
racial–ethnic groups, yet these differences were moderated by gender and
social class. Native American male students reported aspirations lower than
other males, and Native American and Asian/Pacific Islander students from
low‐SES backgrounds had lower aspirations than students who were not
from low‐SES backgrounds.
Two studies examined factors related to career aspirations for African
American college students. Tovar‐Murray, Jenifer, Andrusyk, D'Angelo,
and King (2012) found that ethnic identity moderated the relationship
between racism‐related stress and career aspirations for 163 students, in a
somewhat surprising, but important way. As one would expect, a negative
relationship was found between racism‐related stress and career aspirations
among those with weaker ethnic identities (i.e., higher levels of stress were
related to lower aspirations). However, the direction of the relationship
reversed to a positive one among those with more robust ethnic identities
(i.e., higher levels of stress were associated with higher aspirations). The
authors concluded that ethnic identity served as a buffer for the negative
effect of racism‐related stress on career aspirations. However, it appeared to
more than buffer this negative effect, but actually may have reversed it.
Brown and Segrist (2016) examined the effect of internalized racism on
career aspirations for 315 African American adults, finding that those who
devalued an African worldview had lower career aspirations, but that there
was not a relationship between career aspirations and other aspects of
internalized racism (such as internalization of negative stereotypes,
alteration of physical appearance, or biased representation of history). As a
whole, these studies suggest that experiences‐associated racism may indeed
affect career aspirations and expectations in a negative way, but that ethnic
identity might serve as an important buffer against the aspiration‐limiting
effects of race‐related events. More research is needed to understand
nuances within Racial/ethnic groups.
SUMMARY
Empirical investigations have found that cultural influences are indeed
related to the vocational development of Racial/ethnic minorities. Yet, much
of this research is preliminary in nature, and we are just beginning the
process of fully understanding how culture affects career development and
the meaning that Racial/ethnic minorities construct of their work. In
general, vocational researchers have not fully examined cultural factors
with specific Racial/ethnic populations or subpopulations; neither have they
examined the complex ways in which these factors interface with one
another. As a result, the field has a very limited understanding of how the
career development process may be affected by one's cultural background.
Further, much of the research in this section has been conducted with
college student samples. Simply attending college is a privilege that many
individuals do not have; thus, the findings of these studies may not be
generalizable beyond a relatively privileged portion of the Racial/ethnic
minority population in the United States.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
So how should career counselors incorporate this information into their
practice? How can career counselors be culturally competent when working
with Racial/ethnic minority clients? We have several suggestions and
recommendations for career counselors to consider, including developing
foundational knowledge of the cultural values and history of different
Racial/ethnic groups in the United States. In this section, we briefly review
models of career counseling that explicitly incorporate a consideration of
culture, offer our recommendations regarding counselors' metacognitions
when they work with any client who is culturally different from themselves,
and, finally, consider counseling implications related to the specific cultural
factors discussed earlier.
CAREER COUNSELING MODELS INCORPORATING
CULTURE
Several models have been developed within the past two decades to help
counselors integrate and infuse culture into career counseling. They
complement each other, each providing some helpful detail on part of the
process. Leung's (1995) model concentrates on career interventions. He
argues that all career interventions (at the systemic, group, or individual
level) need to include a focus on educational outcomes, as well as on career
choices, to help buttress clients against oppression and discrimination in
educational preparation as well as in choice of career. The culturally
appropriate career counseling model of Fouad and Bingham (1995)
emphasizes the effect of Racial/ethnic identity on the identification of
career issues and the influences of the dominant culture on career processes
and decisions. The most recent model is the cultural formation approach
(CFA; Leong, Hardin, & Gupta, 2011). Building on the integrative‐
sequential conceptual framework for career counseling of Leong and
Hartung (1997), the CFA identifies five dimensions: (a) cultural identity, (b)
cultural conception of career problems, (c) self in cultural context, (d)
cultural dynamics in the therapeutic relationship, and (e) overall cultural
assessment. The application of the CFA to various Racial/ethnic groups was
articulated in a series of articles in a special issue of the Journal of Career
Development (June 2010).
Taking various elements from these models, career counselors are
encouraged to consider how culture influences the development of the self,
how culture shapes the view of career concerns as a problem, and how
culture helps to shape the goals that clients have for counseling. The
dominant U.S. culture fosters a sense of self as an independent individual
who makes autonomous decisions about his or her life. Other cultures foster
a sense of self as someone who is interdependent with others (such as
family or clan members), with individuals being expected to achieve group
goals, such as pursuing a particular occupational goal to bring honor to the
family. Clearly, a client's sense of self as pursuing individual goals versus
the goals of his or her family will influence the career counseling process
and the career counseling relationship. Counselors need to understand their
own cultural sense of self to ensure that they do not impose their values on
their clients. But counselors also need to be prepared to help clients
understand when their own sense of self is in flux. As the studies on
acculturation point out, many clients navigate two worlds, those of their
parents' culture as well as the U.S. dominant culture, with potentially
conflicting messages about what is the appropriate path to take as an
independent adult. Sometimes clients are confused about which set of
expectations to follow: their parents' expectations to adhere to group goals
or the larger society's expectations to develop independence. Career choices
are part of those expectations, and career counselors can often play an
important role in helping clients discover solutions to this dilemma.
Counselors can help by assessing the degree to which family conflict may
be contributing to career decision‐making concerns and can also help
clients negotiate intergenerational family conflict that may arise due to
acculturation differences.
COUNSELOR COGNITIONS
Arguing that culturally competent career counseling needs to be an active
process that involves career counselors' constant development of insight and
monitoring, Byars‐Winston and Fouad (2006) proposed a set of
metacognitive skills for career counseling. They focused on three processes:
developing a plan of action, implementing the plan and self‐monitoring, and
evaluating the plan. In developing the plan, career counselors need to
consider their own cultural identity, their knowledge of the client's
Racial/ethnic background and identity (or identities), and identify what they
do not know about the client's background. Their plan needs to be flexible
enough to be readjusted as they learn more about the client. Counselors
consider their goals for the client and reflect on the cultural values related to
those goals. For example, is the goal focused on achievement, and does this
match the client's values? As they plan strategies and interventions, career
counselors consider how the strategies were chosen and which strategies
might be more appropriate for the client's concerns.
The second process is implementing the plan and developing mechanisms
to self‐monitor. This process involves actively monitoring what information
they are paying attention to and how that may be related to their own (i.e.,
the counselor's) cultural values. Self‐monitoring also includes
understanding when some issues or concerns are not addressed because of
the counselors' discomfort. Finally, self‐monitoring includes being open to
information that is not consistent with the cultural assumptions made about
the client and that may, therefore, call for modification of the counseling
plan.
The final process is evaluating, that is, bringing into conscious thought the
question of how effective the counselor has been with interventions. Asking
“how effective have I been?” is part of this process, but career counselors
are also encouraged to consider what data they will use to assess this. Were
the client's goals for counseling met? Did these change over time and, if so,
how might that be related to cultural values and the cultural fit of the
interventions? How did the career counselor feel at various stages of career
counseling?
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH ON THE
CULTURAL FACTORS
As we noted, several cultural factors have been studied in relation to
Racial/ethnic minority group individuals. It is critical for career counselors
to understand the complex and dynamic ways in which cultural variables
related to race and ethnicity affect many aspects of career decision‐making.
We have several specific recommendations based on our review of the
research:
Explicitly attend to racism and oppression and the role that they may
have played in suppressing options or creating barriers. It is important
that counselors create a safe environment to ask about experiences
with and perceptions about discrimination.
Help clients develop strategies to augment resistance to racism.
Ask clients about the expectations their family or significant others
have for their career choices and who have been important positive or
negative role models.
Cultural background may affect the perception that career or work
choices are (or are not) exclusively individual choices. In addition to
family expectations, there may be cultural assumptions about the
desirability (or lack thereof) of some choices. Ask clients whom they
will consult on their decision‐making.
Culture shapes the perception that career concerns are a problem or
that career development is a process. For some individuals, the concept
of a career trajectory may be quite foreign. Ask clients how they
envision the process of making a decision or a series of decisions
about their career or future work.
Culture will shape career adaptability, including how clients develop
resiliency and future orientation. Ask clients how they typically
overcome obstacles or barriers. Assess a client's support system and
coping skills. Assess whether the client is oriented to future planning
or is more focused on the present.
Cultural values are more influential for some clients than are
traditional career planning variables such as interests. Ask clients
about the strongest influences in their decisions or choices.
Ask about both potential barriers and supports, focusing on the client's
strengths to facilitate the development of supports and to counter the
barriers.
Determine if the client identifies differences between his or her
aspirations (or ideal occupations) and realistic occupational goals. If
so, help them to clarify, understand, and address this gap.
CONCLUSIONS
It is critical to understand that all clients belong to one or more cultural
groups, that they may adopt (or discount) the cultural values of their groups,
and that the cultural values of their different group identities may
sometimes conflict. This is true for individuals who identify as European
American as well as for members of Racial/ethnic minority groups. We
argue that culturally competent career counseling is good for all clients
because it brings their culture into the center of counseling. However, it is
also true that career counselors need to understand how Racial/ethnic
background may influence their clients.
We have discussed research that has investigated various aspects of the
major career theories. We agree with Young et al. (2007) that, ideally, career
theories are best developed using an emic approach, from within the
cultural framework of Racial/ethnic groups. Only then will we fully
understand the cultural values that may be influencing work‐related
decisions. However, the research on how Racial/ethnic groups differ on
constructs in the major career theories has shown, for the most part, that
culturally competent career counseling may be informed by any of the
theories, as long as career counselors explicitly use metacognitive skills to
culturally adapt the theory. It is clear that cultural values, barriers and
supports, acculturation, and perceptions of discrimination must be
incorporated, no matter which theoretical perspective a counselor uses. Our
overall conclusion is that, at this point, rigorous research is still needed to
more fully explain how career choices and adjustment are influenced by
Racial/ethnic background.
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CHAPTER 11
Social Class and Poverty: A Renewed Focus
in Career Development
CINDY L. JUNTUNEN1, SABA RASHEED ALI2, AND KIPP R.
PIETRANTONIO3
1University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
2University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
3University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
The constructs of social class and career development are uniquely
interwoven, with each sharing core underlying constructs. Socioeconomic
status (SES) is reflected by indicators such as income, occupation,
occupational prestige, benefits, access to health care, social network,
cultural privilege, and the ability to influence the community around you
(Fouad & Fitzpatrick, 2009; Hollingshead, 1975). In addition, for many the
goal of engaging in career development is to transcend economic
constraints and to elevate their social resources and social standing. Further,
SES has been shown to influence preparation for and entrance into the labor
market, making it inextricably linked with career development (Diemer &
Ali, 2009). Despite this clear connection, historically, the examination of
SES in vocational studies has been neglected (Blustein, 2006; Juntunen,
Ali, & Pietrantonio, 2013). This is a paradox, as vocational psychology was
founded to aid the working class (Parsons, 1909), yet for much of its
history, this original goal was overlooked (Blustein, 2006; Walsh, Savickas,
& Hartung, 2005).
Fortunately, career scholars have begun to challenge the status quo and, in
effect, return to the roots of the profession. For example, in 2006, David
Blustein authored The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for
Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy. Whereas many career
theories had neglected social class or treated it as an extraneous variable,
Blustein's theory (see Chapter 7, this volume) refocused career development
to put the intersection of labor, socioeconomic conditions, and vocational
psychology front and center. Considerable work has now been done to
examine the psychology of working framework and its relationship to SES
(Allan, Autin, & Duffy, 2014; Blustein, 2013; Duffy et al., 2018). At the
time of this chapter's publication, Blustein's text had been cited over a
thousand times in the 14 years since its release. This marks a revitalization
of the long‐standing connection between vocational theory and economic
justice, which has extended into research across many vocational theories.
Further evidence of this revitalization is apparent in the growing trend of
prioritizing SES research in social cognitive career theory (SCCT) (Lent,
Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000), arguably the most thoroughly researched
contemporary vocational theory. Though SES had been incorporated into
the theory from its inception, early research on SCCT tended not to focus
on SES. Flores, Navarro, and Ali (2017) completed a meta‐analysis of
SCCT research studies that incorporated SES as a primary variable. They
found that 77% of the studies they examined were produced between 2005
and 2015. This marks a categorical shift in the direction of vocational
psychology and career development concerning SES. With the history of
vocational psychology being steeped in service for low‐income and
economically marginalized (LIEM; American Psychological Association,
2019) populations, the resurgence of this integration marks a promising
return to form for the field (Walsh et al., 2005). With that being said, we are
only at an early stage of examining this relationship theoretically and
empirically, and even farther from creating individual and systemic
interventions that improve the lives of economically marginalized people.
Given the profound link between social class and career development
(Diemer & Ali, 2009), it is critical that career specialists develop a
foundational understanding of the influence of social class on access to and
achievement in the world of work. Further, it is necessary to assess the tools
already at our disposal to work effectively with clients from LIEM
backgrounds, including people living in poverty, and to improve our ability
by adding new and relevant knowledge and skills.
A full discussion of social class must include groups with sufficient and
even significant resources, and there is some evidence that individuals who
are identified as privileged (i.e., wealthy, upper, or upper‐middle class) may
also confront important issues that limit their career options (Lapour &
Heppner, 2009). However, people with limited incomes are both more
likely to be in need of vocational resources and less likely to have them.
Given that reality, this chapter focuses primarily on working with clients
living with lower social status, fewer economic resources, and less job
security, including the working poor and the unemployed.
For career counselors to work effectively with social class issues, they need
to have some familiarity with the sociological and social work perspectives
related to social class, as well as vocational and career development
perspectives. To that end, this chapter offers a discussion of different
perspectives on social class, drawing from sociological and psychological
theories. We also review existing empirical literature relevant to the
influence of class issues on work and vocational behavior across the life
span. The chapter concludes with specific suggestions for practitioners,
designed to increase both understanding of class and poverty issues and the
usefulness and relevance of career interventions.
THE DEFINITION PROBLEM
The integration of social class into career counseling can be challenging
because of the lack of clarity in identifying what is actually meant by social
class (Liu, 2011; Liu, Ali, Soleck, Hopps, Dunston, & Pickett, 2004).
Traditionally, social class has been defined as a variable comprised of an
individual's income, educational attainment, and occupation (Hollingshead,
1975). More complex considerations of social class include the experience
of class as a worldview (Liu et al., 2004), access to resources and education
(Blustein, Juntunen, & Worthington, 2000), and complex interactions
among multiple indicators of social status (Brown et al., 2002). In 2019, the
American Psychological Association (APA) took steps to resolve this
challenge in the social class literature by including operational definitions
in its Professional Practice Guidelines for Low‐Income and Economically
Marginalized People (2019). The APA definition states, “Social class is
categorized broadly as a relative social rank based on income, wealth,
education, status and/or power, and can be both objective and subjective”
(p. 118).
Objective social class can be identified as “variables that are external to the
individual, such as educational attainment, income, assets, occupational
prestige scores, and family size, among others. Any of these variables can
be utilized as an indicator of social class, and they can be evaluated
individually or collectively.” (APA, 2019, pp. 118–119).
By contrast, subjective social class is concerned with an individual's
understanding of his or her own social class in comparison to others.
Subjective social class can influence aspirations and expectations relevant
to career counseling and may make it more difficult for people from LIEM
backgrounds to benefit from vocational and educational opportunities
(Manstead, 2018). Subjective social class can also play a role in individuals'
emotional and cognitive reactions if they move between different social
class groups due to increasing income or prestige related to education or
work advancement (APA, 2019; Liu et al., 2004).
An additional concern in defining and operationalizing social class is
whether social class and SES are constructs that can be used
interchangeably. Although there is no absolute answer to this question and
there exists debate within the field, the differentiation between these terms
is both inconsistent and relatively small in the extant psychology and
counseling literature. Therefore, the terms will be utilized interchangeably
in this chapter.
INEQUALITY, DECENT WORK, AND
PRECARIOUS LABOR
The shift for vocational psychology to focus on the economic lives of
people from LIEM backgrounds has never been more important. Economic
inequality has reached an unprecedented magnitude worldwide. The top
10% of income earners hold 55% of wealth in the United States/Canada,
37% in Europe, 41% in China, 46% in Russia, 55% in sub‐Saharan Africa,
and 55% in India (Alvaredo, Chancel, Piketty, Saez, & Zucman, 2018).
Despite unprecedented innovation, new wealth continues to go to the top
across the globe and poverty rates stay consistent year after year. As of
2017, there were 39.7 million people, or 12% of the population, living in
poverty in the United States (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2019), and
this number is likely an underestimate due to the lack of inclusion of those
who are undocumented in census data. Of this number, 9.5 million (23%)
are considered working poor (defined as spending at least 27 weeks of the
year in the workforce per year) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016). This
statistic, of course, only represents those that fall below the federal poverty
line and does not count the millions of families living paycheck to
paycheck.
The average laborer is working longer hours for relatively stagnant wages
with a rise of precarious labor and decline of decent work (Bureau of Labor
Statistics, 2019; Frey & Osborne, 2015). Decent work can be defined as
work that is sustainable, provides social protection, promotes
communication between government, employers, and worker organizations,
and affirms dignity in the workplace as a human right (ILO, 2008).
By contrast, precarious labor is work that “exhibits uncertainty, instability,
vulnerability, and insecurity where employees are required to bear the risks
of work” (Hewison, 2016, p. 428). Examples of this type of work include
contract work, temporary and “gig” work, work that does not provide a
living wage/benefits, unpaid internships, and cell phone “app”‐based work.
These forms of labor generally do not have the social protection of
traditional labor nor do they provide sustainability over time. One of the
primary causes of precariousness in the workplace is the potential of being
laid off or having one's job outsourced. In 2018, 21.8 million employees
were laid off in the United States (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018).
Economic trends do not look kindly on the future of low‐wage labor, as it
has been predicted that up to 47% of U.S. jobs could fall prey to automation
and computerization in the next two decades. The vast majority of these
jobs are considered working class, including work such as truck driving,
shipping, retail, manufacturing, and food service (Frey & Osborne, 2015).
Since 1980, productivity measures have indicated a rising “productivity
gap” with production growing by 2% annually, compared to just 1% of
growth for hourly wage compensation in the United States (Frey &
Osborne, 2015). The average American now works 8.8 hours per day (45
hours per week) with many more competitive industries such as technology
and finance working well beyond this (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). In
addition, the virtual world has extended the workday through the ability to
work remotely and expectations to respond to texts/email off the clock. As a
result, the “clean break” from work at 5:00 p.m. has slowly eroded, with
many employees never really leaving the world of work (Berkowsky, 2013;
Dettmers, 2017). These extended work hours are generally unpaid and have
been linked to greater emotional exhaustion for laborers (Dettmers, 2017).
The impact of stagnant wages, rising costs, threats of being laid off, and
longer hours is profound. Unsurprisingly, Americans have reported stress
related to money and work as their top stressors every year for the past
decade (APA, 2018).
These labor market realities, and the impact they have on individuals,
families, and communities, present important lessons for career counselors
(see also Allan & Kim, Chapter 24, in this volume). We can expect that
clients with financial and work concerns are going to be experiencing a
wide range of complex and potentially difficult circumstances. Further, their
concerns and stressors may well be anchored in social realities that we
cannot directly impact in counseling interventions. Community‐ and policy‐
level interventions may be necessary to get to the root of the inequity and
precarious work challenges that clients living in poverty or with limited
economic resources encounter. Fortunately, we have tools based in career
counseling theory and research that can support individuals, and those same
tools can be applied to community and social structural change.
RESEARCH ON SOCIAL CLASS AND
POVERTY USING MAJOR CAREER
DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
As labor market forces and economic conditions became increasingly
integrated into the work of career and vocational theorists, the field
developed a new focus on contextual factors. This is clearly reflected in a
definition offered by Richardson, Constantine, and Washburn (2005):
“a field, comprised of theory, intervention, and research practices, that
is committed to the importance of work and relationships in people's
lives, to helping people live healthy and productive lives, and to social
justice, especially with respect of providing access to opportunity for
those marginalized or disadvantaged due to social locations such as
gender, race, and class.” (p. 59)
This renewed emphasis on marginalized populations contributed to research
that furthered the application of major career theories to people from LIEM
backgrounds, as exemplified by the studies presented in the following
section.
PERSON–ENVIRONMENT FIT THEORIES
The first and possibly most widely employed approach to career counseling
is person–environment (P–E) fit theory, which posits the importance of
matching an individual's values, abilities, and interests with characteristics
of a work environment. Both Holland's (1997) RIASEC (realistic,
investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional) model (see
Nauta, Chapter 3, this volume) and the Minnesota theory of work
adjustment (TWA; Dawis, 2005; Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2, this
volume) focus on the fit between the individual and the work environment.
Both theories provide important information about obtaining work that is
likely to be satisfying and satisfactory, based on individual and work
environment characteristics. Dawis and Lofquist (1984) have also outlined
the use of TWA for on‐the‐job adjustment and counseling for career change.
Further, Dawis (2005) outlined adjustment styles that individuals apply
when they feel either satisfactoriness or satisfaction is threatened. These are
important aspects of TWA that have applicability for social class and
poverty issues, via averting the risk of unemployment. Importantly, the
adjustment models assume that individuals will be given an opportunity to
react, through actions such as increasing their skills or changing their work
styles, in order to improve their satisfactoriness or will at least be aware that
their employment may be in jeopardy. Although people do lose jobs as a
result of a lack of “fit” or satisfactoriness, for many employees the risk of
job loss is tied to external factors (e.g., organizational downsizing). Such
economic realities have not been routinely considered in research
examining the interaction between the individual and the work
environment, but new efforts are emerging.
We found a single study that identified social class as a key factor with
TWA (Lyons, Velez, Mehta, & Neill, 2014). Examining the application of
TWA tenets with economically marginalized African American employees,
the authors concluded that the theory generally worked as well for those in
economic distress as had been found in previous samples with greater
economic resources. The authors found evidence that job satisfaction was
positively correlated with person–occupation fit and negatively correlated
with turnover intentions, as proposed by TWA theory. The authors also
posited that employees from economically marginalized circumstances may
be less likely to raise concerns about their workplace, and therefore
environmental factors, such as inclusion, discrimination, and racial climate,
may be of heightened importance for lower‐wage workers. This study
provides support for TWA hypotheses of the relationship of need–reinforcer
fit and job satisfaction for the marginalized worker. It also suggests the need
for more research on the application and efficacy of TWA with employees
representing the broad range of social classes.
A tremendous amount of research has provided validity for the tenets of the
RIASEC model. However, SES, poverty, or wealth disparities are seldom
among the topics examined. We identified only three published manuscripts
that addressed socioeconomic factors and the Holland model. Ryan and
colleagues (Ryan, Tracey, & Rounds, 1996) concluded that no differences in
the structure of the RIASEC hexagon could be identified across
socioeconomic groups. However, Turner and Lapan (2003) found that
social class was a factor that could potentially contribute to different career
interests among adolescents. Finally, Dik and Hansen (2011) found that
congruence (i.e., Holland's term for P–E fit) was more strongly related to
job satisfaction among workers who perceived less rather than more control
over their work environments. Although this finding requires replication, it
does suggest that P–E‐fit‐oriented counseling might be especially helpful
for those with less rather than more resources. Unfortunately, no additional
research has followed up on these three works, leading to an incomplete
understanding of how to best apply the Holland model when working with
individuals from LIEM backgrounds.
Although there is limited attention to social class in research on the person–
environment fit approaches, they remain relevant to career counseling for
individuals from LIEM backgrounds. In fact, limited research (e.g., Dik &
Hansen, 2011; Lyons et al., 2014) suggests that these theories may have
much to offer to people with limited control over their work environments.
The plethora of evidence‐supported assessments, interventions, and tools of
P–E fit theories might be useful for clients with limited means and reduced
opportunities for employment. However, counselors need to understand the
social context of clients when applying these tools. For example, rather than
generating many options for clients with limited resources and restricted job
options, it might be more helpful to assist these clients to ascertain the fit of
jobs available to them, make possible modifications in their current work
environments, or explore how their major values and interests can be
satisfied outside of the work environments. When working with clients who
choose to challenge the restrictions that accompany limited resources, it is
important for career counselors to maintain awareness of economic realities
and leverage community and other resources, as described in the
implications for practice suggestions later in this chapter.
DEVELOPMENTAL CAREER THEORIES
The career theory approaches of Donald Super (Hartung, Chapter 4, this
volume; Super, 1990; Super, Savickas, & Super, 1996), Mark Savickas
(Chapter 6, this volume), Linda Gottfredson (2005), and Vondracek, Lerner,
and Schulenberg (1986) all address career development as an inherent part
of human development. They vary substantially in their recognition of the
influence of social class and poverty.
The field of career counseling owes a debt of gratitude to Super (1990) for
his innovative ideas about career activities across the life span, which
shifted the focus from vocational guidance to career counseling and
contributed to important counseling skills. Nonetheless, his conceptual
framework was ensconced in the experience of White, male, middle‐class
individuals who represented the dominant culture at the inception of his
theory. Over time, Super (Super et al., 1996) began to integrate a broader
spectrum of life experiences and adjusted important constructs in his theory
to address social influences, particularly through attending to the need to be
prepared to recycle in careers.
Vondracek et al. (1986) proposed a career life‐span development model that
explicitly examines the interaction of the individual and his or her social
context. A basic assumption of this approach is that both the individual and
the environment in which he or she exists are viewed as changing
interdependently over time (Vondracek & Lerner, 1982), which has
interesting implications for thinking about clients dealing with the external
forces of the labor market and national and global economies. This
ecological approach to development can easily be transferred to career
development for lower‐income and poor individuals, who are often in the
situation of having to respond and adapt to numerous forces outside their
control. Several vocational scholars (Brown et al., 1996; Heppner &
O'Brien, 2006) have argued that the ecological framework is a valid tool for
addressing the vocational issues presented by social class and poverty.
Although Gottfredson's (2005) theory of career development has had
limited impact in career counseling, it does have relevance when
considering social class and wealth disparity. Gottfredson proposed that
career interests develop via the social spaces that children occupy during
their childhood and early adolescent years. She explicitly addressed social
class through her attention to the role of social valuation perceptions in the
circumscription process that occurs in childhood and early adolescence
(fourth through eighth grade). Specifically, she hypothesized that children
start to eliminate (i.e., circumscribe) work options based on social class
between the ages of 9 and 13. That is, children rule out from further
consideration work options that they consider either beyond or beneath
them based on social class‐based experiences (e.g., reference groups,
community norms). Despite limited empirical attention to the theory, it does
suggest that efforts to challenge social class views in the fourth through
eighth grade may help children from poor backgrounds expand the range of
work options that they consider appropriate for them. Efforts to broaden
girls' perceptions of sex‐role appropriateness (e.g., by exposing them
vicariously to models of women working in non‐traditional careers) have
been highly successful (e.g., Falco & Summers, 2019). Perhaps similar
efforts aimed at challenging social class views can be equally impactful in
helping lower‐class children expand the range of work options they
consider. The importance of examining this potential is strengthened by the
finding in recent research that prestige remains a differentiating factor for
identifying acceptable occupations among adults, prior to the introduction
of compromises (Wee, 2014).
Savickas extended Super's developmental approach via career construction
theory (Chapter 6, this volume), which has also attended only minimally to
social class issues. Within career construction theory, there is a fundamental
assumption that individuals make active choices that create a career
narrative. Unfortunately, careers in the lives of low‐income people often are
reactions of necessity rather than choice. The application of career
construction theory with economically marginalized individuals has not
been empirically examined.
However, an interesting case study (Maree, 2015) of life‐design career
counseling (Savickas et al., 2009) has demonstrated the power of applying a
counseling approach derived from career construction to an impoverished
community. Stating that “it is the task of every counselor to strive toward
empowering clients to deal with and transcend their poverty” (Maree, 2015,
p. 238), Maree presented a school‐based life‐design intervention that
focused on students' life stories and situations of the community. Through
this intervention, counselors focused on community‐level changes,
including the development of a soup kitchen and community garden. The
program had been running for more than 8 years at the time of publication,
and several qualitative indicators of success have emerged, including
participant reports of increased self‐awareness, participants feeling inspired
to support their community, and increased collaboration among community
members. This approach offers an innovative strategy that can mitigate
some of the limitations of the individually oriented career counseling
strategies that are often criticized as being less relevant to economically
marginalized persons.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES
Career counseling theories that specifically address the influence of social
factors are, not surprisingly, more likely to have included considerations of
social class and poverty, and they also address the systems and settings
identified in the ecological approach. Two specific theories worthy of note
in this arena are social learning theory (Krumboltz, 1979) and SCCT (Lent,
Brown, & Hackett, 1994; Lent, Chapter 5, this volume). Krumboltz (1979)
identified four variables that contribute to identifying and making decisions
about vocational goals: (a) genetic endowments and special abilities, (b)
environmental situations and events, (c) associative and instrumental
learning experiences, and (d) task approach skills. The explicit attention to
genetic endowments, including sex, race, and special abilities, provided a
framework for examining differences in vocational attainment across sex,
Racial/ethnic, and other biologically identified groups of career decision
makers. It is the inclusion of social and cultural factors, such as geography,
legislation, labor market forces, family factors, and educational settings that
both sets social learning theory apart from previous vocational theories and
makes it theoretically useful for considering social class issues.
Specifically, Krumboltz (2009) suggested that the goal of career counseling
is to help clients learn to take action, but to do so with a full understanding
of social determinants, including economic factors. This dual approach can
support career counselors in selecting effective counseling interventions.
SCCT is a theory that takes into account many of the issues discussed
throughout the chapter so far and does so in the form of distal, proximal,
and background factors that may influence individuals' career choices
(Lent, Chapter 5, this volume). A recent review of social class in SCCT
research (Flores et al., 2017) found 47 studies that have included social
class variables in the SCCT model. The findings from these studies were
mixed, but there do appear to be some trends that have promise for future
research. Of note, two studies included in the analysis (Mau & Bikos, 2000;
Mello, 2009) included large national samples that represented a wide range
of social class statuses. Mau and Bikos (2000) found a strong relationship
between social class and educational aspirations among high school seniors.
Mello (2009) found that educational and occupational expectations of youth
at 14 years of age were predictive of their educational and occupational
expectations at age 26. Mello also found that social class had a strong
negative influence on age 14 educational and occupational expectations.
These two studies together suggest that social class experiences in
childhood and early adolescence can have a profound long‐term influence
on adult educational and occupational aspirations. In their response to
Flores et al., Brown and Lent (2017) joined Flores et al. (2017) in pointing
out that future research needs to include samples of appropriate size and
range of social class representation, in order to ensure that the relationships
between social class and SCCT are not underestimated.
Flores et al. (2017) pointed out that much of the extant research includes
social class as a personal input variable; in other words, as a feature of the
individual that might influence SCCT variables such as self‐efficacy and
outcome beliefs. However, they suggest that an important addition to the
research is to examine social class as a contextual variable, recognizing that
social class operates in the larger society to impact career development
among individuals. Specifically, they suggest that researchers study
classism as a contextual variable that could affect self‐efficacy, outcome
beliefs, and other SCCT variables. Classism can be defined as the
assignment of characteristics of ability and worth to individuals, based on
their perceived or known social class (Collins & Yeskel, 2005). The
experience of classism parallels other discriminatory perceptions, such as
racism, which have been shown to impact important SCCT outcomes,
including self‐efficacy and expectations. Finally, Flores and colleagues
suggested there is value in examining community wealth or poverty as a
group‐level variable, supporting the comparison of the relationship between
SCCT variables and social class across high‐ and low‐income groups.
Additional development of these ideas can contribute to additional SCCT
research (Brown & Lent, 2017).
PSYCHOLOGY OF WORKING AND WORK AS CALLING
The psychology of working framework (PWF; Blustein, 2006; Chapter 7,
this volume) has fully integrated issues of social class since its inception,
through its focus on work and its meaningfulness as a source of power and
survival, as well as social connection and self‐determination (Blustein,
2006). The evolution of PWF into the work as calling theory (WCT; Duffy,
Dik, Douglass, England, & Velez, 2018) has also attended to social class
indicators in its emerging empirical base (Duffy & Autin, 2013; Duffy,
Autin, & Douglass, 2016; Duffy, Douglass, Gensmer, England, & Kim,
2019). In a recent study of the major tenets of WCT, the authors concluded
that “individuals who have a strong sense of calling and high levels of
career choice likely enter work environments that … they draw meaning
from” (Duffy et al., 2019, p. 337). This highlights the opportunity for
choice and the individual focus of WCT, which may limit the application of
this theory to clients with limited financial and social resources. Duffy et al.
(2016) acknowledged this potential limitation in a study of vocational
privilege that was anchored in an integration of PWF and WCT principles.
Although they did not offer a specific definition of vocational privilege,
they note that “access to opportunity, higher social class, freedom of career
choice, and positive workplace experiences” (Duffy et al., 2016, p. 416)
were aspects of vocational privilege.
Duffy et al. (2016) examined the variables of career commitment,
meaningful work, and living a calling in a sample with various levels of
vocational privilege, which was measured by self‐identified childhood and
current social class, annual income, and educational attainment. They
concluded that individuals with greater vocational privilege had higher
levels of career commitment and work meaning, as a function of having
greater levels of work volition, or freedom of career choice. They
recommended interventions that increase work volition for all clients, and
also acknowledge that systemic removal of barriers to meaningful work is
required to truly increase work volition. So far, the construct of vocational
privilege has not appeared again in the career literature. However, this is an
idea that poses many opportunities for additional research and theory
development.
APPLICATION OF CAREER THEORY TO
ISSUES OF SOCIAL CLASS
Research on the diverse theories of TWA (Lyons et al., 2014), Holland (Dik
& Hansen, 2011), life‐design counseling (Maree, 2015), SCCT (Flores et
al., 2017), and WCT (Duffy et al., 2016) has suggested the potential
usefulness of each theory in working with persons living in poverty.
Strikingly, both Maree (2015) and Flores et al. (2017) focused on the
importance of community‐level action and assessment, even though the
approaches and underlying theories are notably different. Although it is
clear there is much work to be done in this area, pathways are emerging that
can link major career theories to a new perspective on social class and
poverty.
In order to maximize their understanding of class and wealth issues, career
counselors may want to critically analyze these career theories using other
perspectives. Extant theories of career development have played a pivotal
role in our understanding of how individuals plan and prepare for careers.
Yet, one common issue within career development theories is that they
often focus on the individual as both the unit of understanding and the basis
for change. This makes sense as vocational psychologists and career
counselors are not in the business of creating work opportunities and are not
trained to make systemic changes. However, recently some scholars have
argued that the individual focus is increasingly problematic especially in the
current sociopolitical climate where unemployment, underemployment, and
wage stagnation are major issues for workers (Ali, Fall, & Hoffman, 2013;
Blustein, 2013). These issues are especially salient in poor communities
where local neighborhood economic and community contexts drive
employment opportunities or lack thereof (Duffy et al., 2016). The
importance of community‐level economic factors has recently been
highlighted by work of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (2019),
which has focused on zip code economies as a way to understand the
differential impact of neighborhood circumstances and actions in individual
lives. Zip code economies are the microeconomies that shape individual
communities, potentially serving to hinder or foster the opportunities of the
people who live in them.
Career theories address social class, SES, and poverty typically as variables
that predict individual career or employment outcomes, which is an
important goal. Factors that need to be considered within career and
employment outcomes include the effects of multigenerational
unemployment and underemployment, which along with issues of systemic
discrimination, are among the root causes of poverty. Given that our
theories focus heavily on explaining individuals' development and
trajectories, it can be very difficult to account for larger systemic forces
such as neighborhood and community characteristics, labor market
fluctuations, geographical isolation, and economic downturns—and it is
even more daunting to figure out how to intervene with these issues.
One approach that has been propagated multiple times is to integrate
multidisciplinary research into vocational psychology to address larger
systemic understanding of the impact of social class and poverty on
individual career trajectories (Flores, Martinez, McGilen, & Milord, 2019).
For example, the spatial mismatch hypothesis (Kain, 1964, 1968) was
developed within economics to suggest that “a worker with locally inferior
access to jobs is likely to have worse labor market outcomes” (Andersson,
Haltiwanger, Kutzbach, Pollakowski, & Weinberg, 2018, p. 203). Kain
(1964) originally developed this hypothesis to explain how pervasive and
constant unemployment in urban Black communities might be due to a
movement of jobs away from urban communities into suburbia, while
housing discrimination in the suburbs prevented Black Americans from
relocating closer to suburban jobs.
The spatial mismatch theory suggests that poverty created by lack of job
opportunity is driven by neighborhood characteristics. The spatial mismatch
theory has been well‐supported through research in economics. Sociologist
William Julius Wilson's body of research extended this hypothesis to
describe what happens to urban Black communities when manufacturing
jobs are relocated and then replaced by technological jobs (Wilson, 1996).
Blustein, Ali, and Flores (in press) suggested that research by Wilson and
others from different disciplines focusing on macrolevel analyses of work
opportunities and their effect on different communities may provide tools
needed to better study community level variables' impact on career
development.
For example, geography and social work researchers have worked to
develop tools that can be used to measure community loss of employment
opportunities as well as other neighborhood losses; such tools can also be
used by vocational researchers. More specifically, the community loss
indicator (CLI; Abramovitz & Albrecht, 2013), developed by social work,
computational, and theoretical geography researchers, measures collective
loss defined as “chronic exposure of neighborhood residents to multiple
resource losses at that same time” (p. 667). Community losses include rates
of unemployment, untimely death of loved ones, incarceration, foster care
placement, long‐term hospitalization, deportation, deployment, eviction,
and foreclosure that a community experiences simultaneously.
Abramovitz and Albrecht (2013) developed and used the CLI to investigate
the characteristics of people who live in high‐ and low‐loss neighborhoods
in New York City. They found that high loss more frequently occurred in
high‐poverty neighborhoods than high‐income neighborhoods, suggesting
that a community's susceptibility to community losses depends on its
location and existing resources. Blustein et al. (2019) suggested that this
tool can be used by vocational researchers to study how community loss
affects access to decent work for individuals living in high‐poverty areas.
While the original research was conducted in New York City, the CLI has
the potential to aid understanding of the strain and loss experienced in rural
areas of the world where access to decent work is becoming increasingly
scarce.
Scholars have begun to offer a more forceful critique of current career
theories and practice suggesting that we must move beyond simply
integrating tools from other disciplines to better understand the economic
and political forces that shape our theories (Hooley, Sultana, & Thomsen,
2018; Richardson, 2012). This critique suggests that career theories and
practice are shaped by the economic contexts in which they were
developed. They argue that modern career theories have overly focused on
individual career success situated within a free market capitalistic
perspective. This focus places a heavy burden on individuals for their
success and failures in achieving market work without consideration of the
powerful economic forces that also, and perhaps disproportionately, shape
opportunity. Richardson (2012) wrote:
A discourse about market work contexts enables people to more
clearly understand their market work trajectories as a product of their
own efforts and actions and of the economic and social realities they
are confronting. Market work trajectories are co‐constructed. They are
not solely a product of our own efforts, even though many with highly
successful market work trajectories might like to think so. This
contextualized discourse may help to mitigate some of the damage that
is done to those who struggle unsuccessfully to develop satisfying and
meaningful market work trajectories. Rather than consider their
struggles solely the result of personal failures, a contextualized
understanding of how market work trajectories are co‐constructed by
both personal and social forces will enable the kind of critical
consciousness that is an essential ingredient for a social justice
approach to vocational psychology. (Blustein et al., 2005) (p. 207)
In their edited book on career guidance and social justice, Hooley et al.'s
(2018) critique takes a much stronger tone, suggesting that career theories
are products of and tools used in the service of neoliberal capitalist
framework promulgating neoliberal (free and unregulated market) views of
working. Neoliberalism is an economic and political philosophy that
embraces competition and the free and unrestricted flow of capital that
enables private businesses to thrive. The ultimate goal of neoliberalism is
that economic factors are shaped by private enterprise as opposed to
governmental or citizen regulation (Harvey, 2007). Hooley et al. (2018)
suggest that career theories are entrenched in the neoliberal perspective and
one of the major ramifications of this entrenchment is an overemphasis on
self‐interest, competition, and individual responsibility rather than
collective action and social good. The perspective of Hooley et al. argues
that theories may treat individuals as solely responsible for their career
trajectories and employment statuses, neglecting the responsibility that
communities, businesses, and governments have toward individuals' rights
to decent work.
In a section entitled “Building Theories for Change” in the book by Hooley
et al. (2018), a series of chapters outline a radical approach to enhancing
and building theories that address the political, economic, and societal
forces that are rooted in local community contexts. The common theme
among these chapters is that authors advocate for both helping individuals
with career concerns and issues while also helping them to develop critical
consciousness, political skills, and a sense of collectivism that can be used
to enact collective action in the face of unjust systems.
Despite the critique by Hooley et al., it is important to note that the
construct of critical consciousness has also been researched by several
vocational psychologists who have found that critical consciousness and
sociopolitical development are related to career outcomes for youth from
lower SES backgrounds (Diemer, 2009; Diemer, Rapa, Voight &
McWhirter, 2016). For example, Diemer (2009) found that the level of
sociopolitical development achieved by poor youth of color in tenth grade
predicted (along with academic achievement) their twelfth grade
occupational aspirations and later (age 26) occupational attainment.
Subsequent research in this area has highlighted the important contribution
to career development of critical consciousness, which includes awareness
of social inequities, motivation to create social change, and the willingness
to take action for social change (Rapa, Diemer, & Banales, 2018).
Specifically, in a study using longitudinal data gathered from poor and
working class African Americans, critical action was found to increase
career expectancies among adolescents and predict higher levels of
occupational achievement (Rapa et al., 2018).
Rice (2017) suggests that while it may be beyond the capacity of career
counselors, researchers, and their clients to alter economic structures, career
development professionals can develop theories and practices “that value
different forms of social contribution, support people to form broader goals
encompassing both paid and unpaid work and help them understand and
challenge the forms that shape their experiences with little restraint or
accountability” (p. 138). Helping adolescents develop critical consciousness
(e.g., sociopolitical development) and the skills to take critical action also
seems within the capacity of counselors, students, and clients.
THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL CLASS AND
POVERTY ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT
TASKS
Social class, SES, and poverty significantly shape the career trajectories of
individuals and communities. As such, it is important to attend to the ways
in which they may impact major career milestones, and the opportunities
for intervention, across the life span. In this section, we explore three major
career development content areas: developing career aspirations and
choices, finding and transitioning among jobs, and achieving work meaning
and satisfaction.
CAREER ASPIRATIONS AND CAREER CHOICE‐MAKING
Theory and research. In 2018, 14.1 million children in the United States
(20% of the child population) lived in low‐income families, and the
proportion of children of color living in poverty is even greater (Annie E.
Casey Foundation, 2019). The influence of childhood poverty is persistent,
as children raised in low‐income families are more likely to earn less as
adults (Holzer, Schanzenbach, Duncan, & Ludwig, 2007) and less likely
than children in higher‐SES families to advance economically relative to
their parents (Isaacs, Sawhill, & Haskins, 2008). Shipler (2005) eloquently
described the educational and work experiences of children living in
working‐poor families, noting that the lack of financial resources can
exacerbate other concerns and interrupt educational opportunities. “Money
may not always cure, but it can often insulate one problem from another”
(p. 76). Children without the insulation offered by financial safety are more
likely to have health concerns and less likely to flourish in school.
The impact on future college or work readiness can be seen as early as
entrance to elementary school, as children from lower‐income families have
weaker math skills at the point of entrance to kindergarten and demonstrate
less growth in math skills than do children from middle‐income families
(Jordan & Levine, 2009). Similarly, lower‐income children demonstrate
lower reading abilities than their middle‐class counterparts both at entrance
to school and at the end of third grade, which is associated with a greater
likelihood of dropout from high school (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010).
SES has also been identified as having a complex effect on adolescent
aspirations and expectations for work and education. As already mentioned,
Mello (2009) showed that social class experiences served to limit
educational and occupational expectations of youth at age 14 which were,
in turn, highly predictive of the educational and occupational expectations
they held in adulthood (age 26). Eshelman and Rottinghaus (2015)
examined SES and perceived social class in relation to educational and
occupational aspirations and expectations among adolescents. They found
that perceived or subjective social class was associated with educational
aspirations, whereas a more objective indicator of SES was associated with
occupational aspirations and expectations.
In a large (N > 9000) longitudinal study in Great Britain, socioeconomic
disadvantage was identified as a significant deterrent to academic potential
(Schoon, Parsons, & Sacker, 2004). However, the relation between
disadvantage and academic potential was substantially lower among
children whose teachers and parents expected them to succeed and whose
parents were educationally involved and had high aspirations for their
children, indicating that both teacher and parental expectations are powerful
moderators of the relationship between SES and academic potential.
Similarly, among rural poor youth in Appalachia, student self‐efficacy and
parental support predicted expectations to attend college after high school,
more so than SES as measured by parental education and occupation (Ali &
Saunders, 2006).
Thompson, Her, Nitzarem, Sampe, and Diestelmann (2018) conducted a
qualitative study that explored how information about social class and
world of work is transmitted between parents and adolescents. Thompson et
al. interviewed parent–adolescent dyads who mostly identified as middle to
upper middle class. Findings indicated that parents struggled to
communicate certain world‐of‐work information to adolescents and that
adolescents most sharply diverged from their parents' beliefs in the
importance of higher education. Parents believed in the importance of
higher education, while the adolescents reported feeling doubtful of the
utility of college degrees in obtaining a high‐paying job.
Work hope (Juntunen & Wettersten, 2006) has also been the focus of a
small number of investigations. In the development of the Work Hope
Scale, work hope was shown to detect differences between populations with
differential access to financial resources, leading the authors to conclude
that it may contribute to a unique understanding of the internal factors
contributing to work behaviors among economically disenfranchised youth
and adults (Juntunen & Wettersten, 2006). Subsequently, work hope has
been shown to be lower among adolescents living with higher levels of
financial strain and hardship (Thompson, Nitzarim, Her, Sampe, &
Diestermann, 2017).
Implications for practice. With the shifting landscape of career and work, it
is unsurprising that adolescents and young adults may themselves have
shifting perspectives on the security of careers or the value of education.
This may suggest a need for new paradigms of career counseling practice as
suggested by several career researchers (Diemer, et al., 2016; McWhirter &
McWhirter, 2016; Hooley et al., 2018) where individuals are made aware of
sociopolitical realities and how these affect their career choices and access
to opportunity. Using this knowledge to help children develop a greater
sense of critical consciousness or sociopolitical development seems to be a
logical next step for helping adolescents and young adults develop a better
future for themselves and others.
Career counselors can support informed career exploration activities and
choices by being prepared with market labor information and by
demonstrating understanding of social status and class differences. This
may lead to a discussion between the counselor and client on how to
navigate the differences in social status, as the client is making career
choices and applying for jobs. Further, understanding potential financial
stressors and social barriers demonstrates empathy and credibility,
increasing the likelihood that a client will see the counselor as a viable
source of support.
JOB FINDING AND TRANSITIONS
Theory and research. Career theory and research tend to focus more
heavily on the processes by which people prepare for, select, and maintain
careers and attend less to the actual steps involved in obtaining work or
looking for a job. Two exceptions to this are examination of the school‐to‐
work transition and the welfare‐to‐work transition, which have also been
studied by social work researchers. The salience of social class in the
transition from welfare to work is readily apparent, as is the lack of
economic resources that necessitated the original receipt of welfare. The
school‐to‐work transition is arguably a transition that most young adults
experience but in the context of the current chapter represents the transition
from high school to work navigated by youth who are not bound for
college, which is often associated with limited economic resources
(Blustein et al., 2000).
A set of studies drawn from the longitudinal data of the youth development
study (YDS; Mortimer, 2003) provide important insight into the school‐to‐
work transition. In one study, job search activity, employment status, and
hourly wages of more than 1000 youth were assessed over a 13‐year period
that included the school‐to‐work transition (Vuolo, Staff, & Mortimer,
2012). Socioeconomic factors were not found to predict employment status
or income. However, parental education, which is an indicator of family
social class, was related to higher levels of agency in the job pursuit
process, and high agency was in turn related to higher hourly salary and less
unemployment. The authors suggest that agency, or agentic striving, may
foster resiliency that supports the school‐to‐work transition even in times of
economic difficulty.
In a second study designed to identify predictors of the school‐to‐work
pathway, Vuolo, Mortimer, & Staff (2014) concluded that successful
completion of postsecondary education (including vocational or associates
degrees) was a major predictor of a stable career. They further determined
that students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds were more
likely to leave college and less likely to have acquired a career by the age of
31. The authors recommended high school interventions focusing on steady,
moderate employment and developing positive orientations toward higher
education to improve the pathway from school to work.
Drawing from the same dataset, Mortimer and colleagues (Mortimer, Kim,
Staff & Vuolo, 2016) examined parental financial support and self‐efficacy
among young adults (in their 20s and 30s) who were unemployed. They
found that unemployment was associated with lower self‐efficacy among
young adults in the sample, and each month of unemployment resulted in
increasingly lower self‐efficacy. Further, they determined that parental
financial support was correlated with lower self‐efficacy, although housing
support was not. Clearly, employment and financial factors have substantial
influence during the important transition years that extend from adolescence
through early adulthood.
Together these studies examining the school‐to‐work transition indicate the
need for parental and teacher support, particularly in the areas of
developing a positive orientation toward work and higher education. In
addition, interrupting periods of unemployment and engaging in strategies
to increase agency and self‐efficacy are particularly important for students
with lower economic resources to increase the likelihood of establishing a
pathway to work.
The job search for recipients of welfare (Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families; TANF) is complicated by numerous barriers. In one longitudinal
study of more than 1000 TANF recipients in a metropolitan area, 89% of
the sample endorsed at least one of a set of 10 potential barriers identified
by the researchers (Dworsky & Courtney, 2007): lack of high school
diploma or General Equivalency Diploma (GED) (57%), met diagnostic
criteria for depression (47%), health concerns (25%), mental health
concerns during the past year (22%), disability (21%), having an infant
under 1 year old (20%), being in an abusive relationship in the past year
(15%), never held a previous job (9%), caring for family member with a
disability (8%), and substance abuse within last year (6%). Further, 80% of
the sample reported having two or more barriers. Note that the researchers
did not assess potential access barriers, such as having transportation or
childcare available, which have also been identified as common concerns
(American Psychological Association, 2019; Haley‐Lock & Shah, 2007)
and could make other barriers even more challenging to navigate. Dworsky
and Courtney (2007) found that participants who endorsed barriers were
less likely to be employed than those without barriers and were also more
likely to earn a lower wage when they did work; these effects were
increased, as barriers multiplied. There is some evidence that living in a
low‐income neighborhood can also be a barrier to the job search process, as
people living in poor neighborhoods may be less likely to refer friends and
acquaintances for job openings (Hamm & McDonald, 2015).
To support the transition from welfare to work, federal and state dollars
finance a variety of employment services agencies. The outcomes of the
interventions provided by such agencies are mixed and can vary
significantly in response to state and local labor market issues. In one large
evaluation of TANF programs, Gueron and Hamilton (2002) concluded that
adopting a rigid one‐size‐fits‐all approach was less successful than
programs that included a mix of training and job search activities that best
fit the needs of individual participants. Of particular importance to career
counselors, the authors concluded that there is a clear need for welfare‐to‐
work transition programs to include skills‐enhancing activities and for
programs that foster career advancement, in addition to meeting the goal of
obtaining initial employment.
There is strong research support for the JOBS program that was developed
by the Michigan Prevention Research Center that helps unemployed
individuals find work. According to Whiston, Rossier, and Barón (2017),
the JOBS program is a five‐session intervention that focuses on increasing
job search self‐efficacy and navigating difficulties for those who have
experienced chronic unemployment (Vuori & Price, 2013). Several
randomized clinical trials found that the program is successful in reducing
depressive systems, increasing re‐employment success, and job search self‐
efficacy (Caplan, Vinokur, Price, & van Ryn, 1989; Vinokur, Price, &
Schul, 1995; Vinokur, Schul, Vuori, & Price, 2000).
Implications for practice. Research on job search and job finding seems to
be more hopeful than research on career aspirations. In particular, it appears
that interventions with unemployed and transitioning adults hold promise
for successful outcomes. In a meta‐analysis of research examining the
impact of job search interventions, Liu, Huang, and Wang (2014) concluded
that participants in job search intervention programs were 2.67 times more
likely to obtain work than those who did not participate in such
interventions. They also found that interventions were more effective for
younger and older (than middle‐aged) job seekers, and the effects did not
vary by gender, race, or level of education. They further concluded that
interventions were most effective when they included both emotional or
motivational factors and skills training to support the job search. A
noteworthy aspect of these programs is the impact they may have on mental
health (e.g., anxiety) and well‐being (e.g., job and life satisfaction)
outcomes (see Brown, Chapter 22, this volume for a detailed discussion of
this meta‐analysis and its implications for practice).
WORK ROLE SALIENCE AND SATISFACTION
Theory and research. In a review of the literature on career development
and social class in the early 1990s, Brown et al. (1996) concluded that
workers of lower social class saw the work role as less salient or central to
their self‐concept; experienced fewer psychological, financial, or physical
rewards from work; and were more likely to have higher rates of
absenteeism and turnover. The authors were very cautious, however, in
overgeneralizing from these findings, given the small numbers of studies
that examined each issue.
The recent surge of research testing the tenets of both PWF (Blustein, 2006;
Duffy et al., 2016) and WCT (Duffy et al., 2018) has provided substantially
more information on the relationship between social class and work
salience and satisfaction. In a study of low‐income workers in Turkey,
Kozan and colleagues (Kozan, Işık, & Blustein, 2019) found that social
class predicted decent work, through the mediators of work volition and
adaptability. Workers from lower social classes who had less perceived
choice in work were also less likely to secure decent work. Having decent
work, in turn, predicted higher levels of job and life satisfaction. The
authors noted that low‐income workers reported more job satisfaction when
work included a safe environment, health care, adequate compensation,
time for leisure, and support for their social and family values, the
identified components of decent work (Duffy et al., 2016). This suggests
that satisfaction can be increased by finding valued workplace
characteristics, even if financial resources are not higher. Decent work and
work volition have also been found to predict job satisfaction in
Switzerland (Masdonati, Schreiber, Marcionetti, & Rossier, 2019).
One interesting example of the individual nature of decent work was
identified in a qualitative study of bathroom attendants in Belgium
(Adriaenssens & Hendrickx, 2019). Overall, the findings support the
perception that toilet attending is a “bad job” and is likely to be associated
with low levels of job satisfaction. However, an important difference
emerged among participants, based on whether they took the job out of
necessity or saw it as an opportunity for work. Those who saw the job as an
opportunity reported intrinsic rewards and higher levels of satisfaction. The
authors concluded that jobs are not necessarily bad by their own nature but
become so when people have too few choices and too much financial and
socioeconomic pressure. In other words, decent work may be defined by the
perception of how it was obtained and the purpose it serves, as well as by
the actual type of work.
Sage (2019) identified an intriguing relationship between life satisfaction
and work ethic among unemployed people. He challenged the argument that
the best way to respond to the negative effects of unemployment is to
support people to find work. Instead, he suggested that the emphasis on
work as a central need may be responsible for decreasing life satisfaction.
In support of this argument, he examined the data from the European Values
Study, which included data from 66 000 people from 47 countries. He
concluded that unemployed people with a strong work ethic had low levels
of life satisfaction, but those with a weak work ethic had higher levels of
life satisfaction. He suggested that in order to combat negative outcomes in
a labor market that continues to include unemployment, it may be time “to
reconsider, challenge, and ultimately weaken the importance paid work has
to human identity: to transform how employment is a signifier of status and
unemployment a signifier of shame” (p. 220). This suggests there may be
value in working with some clients to highlight the value of non‐paid work
and leisure activities, particularly if they are not highly invested in
employment. Such interventions could increase well‐being and life
satisfaction, and decrease shame related to unemployment or
underemployment.
Implications for practice. Together, the studies reviewed here provide some
implications for practice that may be particularly useful for counselors and
psychologists addressing the salience of work as well as work and life
satisfaction. One area to explore with clients is the idea of decent work.
Although decent work may contain objective components (Duffy et al.,
2016), it is also worthwhile to explore with clients how they define decent
work. This can open doors to thinking about work and career opportunities
that go beyond standard assessment strategies.
Another area to explore with clients will be the value they assign to work,
in a nonjudgmental and open fashion. Work may be less important to some
clients than counselors tend to assume. It may be useful to match the energy
and commitment of career counseling to the work salience of the client. For
clients with less work salience or work ethic, it may be important to focus
on other sources of life satisfaction.
One challenging reality that is reaffirmed by this research is that the
presence of individual freedom of choice is directly and indirectly tied to
work satisfaction, which is likely to spill over to life satisfaction for many
clients. When working with clients who do not have many degrees of
freedom, it is critical to recognize this reality and not be naïve about the
nature of social barriers and access to meaningful work. In these instances,
counseling may focus on prioritizing the options that are available, and
perhaps focusing on ways to cope with a less‐than‐ideal work situation and
achieve greater P–E fit in it. It may also be necessary to address stress
management or symptoms of depression. The integration of work and
personal concerns is likely to be of primary importance when economic
resources are limited.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR CAREER COUNSELORS
Social class and poverty present significant challenges to career counselors
and psychologists, yet the research demonstrates that numerous points of
leverage can be used to intervene in the multigenerational pattern of
sustained poverty. The following is a list of suggestions that career
counselors can implement to increase their ability to meet the needs of low‐
income and poor families and to ensure that the profession does not
overlook this significant population of clients.
IMPLEMENT EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED
INTERVENTIONS
Many of the career interventions associated with major career theories are
relevant for counseling with clients from LIEM backgrounds. Exploring
interests and values, engaging in strategies to increase self‐efficacy, and
identifying sources of work and life satisfaction are all relevant for clients,
regardless of social class status. Recognizing that these strategies may not
be sufficient to counteract the challenges that accompany financial
insecurity, interventions for clients from LIEM backgrounds may be even
more effective when the following strategies are integrated:
a. Career counselors are encouraged to implement interventions or seek
out local groups, such as job clubs, that include the opportunity to
learn from models or engage in mastery of skills through hands‐on
experiences, as these are likely to increase the effectiveness of job
search interventions (Liu et al., 2014).
b. Career counselors need to consider the meaning that clients ascribe to
work, and work with clients to achieve their goals related to that work,
rather than evaluating a priori what is or is not decent or meaningful
work (Adriaenssens & Hendrickx, 2019). This might include
understanding family goals and values related to work, particularly
when working with children and young adults.
c. Career counselors may contribute to increased work and life
satisfaction and success among clients by focusing on developing
career adaptability, critical consciousness, and work volition (Duffy et
al., 2016). These characteristics may be increased by working with
clients to develop strategies to overcome barriers (Autin, Douglass,
Duffy, England, & Allan, 2017) and increase self‐confidence.
LEVERAGE COMMUNITY RESOURCES
Although career theories and counseling strategies are overwhelmingly
focused on individual interventions, the social reality of poverty and class
issues suggests that community efforts will be necessary to effect lasting
change. To this end, career counselors are encouraged to augment
individual interventions with the following community‐based strategies:
a. Career counselors need to be familiar with, and preferably have
collaborative relationships with, job service and employment services
training agencies in their community. Counselors can lend their
expertise to group and community efforts to increase access to
employment opportunities.
b. Career counselors need to be willing to advocate with local employers
to support programs and policies that facilitate employment
opportunities for clients.
c. Career counselors need to be prepared to work with local schools to
support and implement training programs that will promote
employment options for youth and young adults.
d. One network that is often overlooked by counselors is faith‐based
organizations, many of which have been national leaders in the war on
poverty for decades (Bauman, 2019). Counselors are likely to find
willing partners to support families and individuals living in poverty
through local faith leaders.
CONSIDER CHANGES IN SERVICE DELIVERY
Many clients living with reduced financial resources will encounter
challenges attending traditional counseling sessions. Lack of flexible
childcare, limited access to transportation, or inability to take even small
amounts of time away from hourly work can all make it difficult or
impossible to come to a counseling session. Counselors can be more
accessible to clients from LIEM backgrounds if they make adjustments to
their typical practices.
a. Counselors can offer career services through outreach to formal and
informal groups, perhaps focusing initially on general topics such as
job search tools and moving into more complex topics such as social
barriers as trust and credibility are established.
b. Career counselors need to have time available outside of the hours
when most clients are working. Setting periodic evening or weekend
hours can accommodate the needs of people who cannot take time
away from work.
c. Career counselors are encouraged to use distance technologies to make
counseling available to people who cannot travel to the office.
Distance sessions can accommodate individuals, families, or groups,
and may be less threatening than coming into an agency or office for
some clients.
ENGAGE IN SELF‐AWARENESS AND REFLECTIVITY
A commitment to increasing competency to work with issues of class and
poverty is a critical step that all career counselors can take. The tendency of
professionals to distance themselves from the poor (Lott, 2002) is a
significant barrier that all counselors have the power to dismantle.
a. Career counselors need to examine their own classist beliefs.
b. Career counselors need to examine the tendency to distance or protect
themselves from poverty, as well as other barriers that might be
keeping them from working with the poor.
c. Career counselors need to increase their competency in social class
and poverty issues by reading broadly from the sociological and social
work literatures, in addition to the vocational literature.
GET INVOLVED IN POLICY AND GOVERNMENTAL
SYSTEMS
As noted several times in this chapter, the realities facing people living in
poverty and with limited financial means are bigger than can be solved by
counseling interventions. Nonetheless, counselors have the power to
influence the social structure by talking with policy‐makers and sharing
stories of client needs with agents of the social system.
a. Career counselors need to advocate for policies, programs, and
resources that will support access to decent work and educational
opportunities.
b. Career counselors need to get involved in government advocacy that
supports appropriate social services and living wages for workers.
c. Career counselors need to contribute to interventions and research that
can be shared with policy makers to demonstrate effective programs
that support sustainable employment for all.
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CHAPTER 12
Career Development of Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Individuals
HEATHER Z. LYONS1, JEFFREY P. PRINCE2, AND BRADLEY R.
BRENNER3
1Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD
2University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
3Therapy Group of DC, Washington, DC
The speed of social, political, and legal advancements in the lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community over the last 10 years has
been breathtaking. Such changes would not have been imaginable 50 years
ago when the modern LGBT rights movement began over clashes between
patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City and local police. High‐
profile court cases have secured the right for same‐sex couples to marry in
the United States (e.g., Obergefell et al. vs. Hodges, 2015). Visibility of the
LGBT community has greatly increased in popular culture and government
(Ng, 2013). Transgender characters have leading roles in television shows,
the number of out Olympians is at an all‐time high, gay men have been
confirmed to some of the highest military positions in the United States, and
several lesbians have been elected to lead major U.S. cities and to be a
governor (Johnson, 2019; Kirchick, 2019). How these LGBT people have
ascended to pinnacles of their respective careers is likely based on many
factors that career counselors would recognize as key to vocational
attainment: (a) a good fit between their interests and skills and respective
careers, (b) formative experiences guiding their choices, (c) an enduring
belief in their abilities, and (d) concordance between their values and that of
the places where they work. Yet, their career development experiences, like
other marginalized groups, are impacted by discrimination, negative
stereotyping, and the lack of legal protections.
The literature pertaining to the career development of LGBT people has,
however, progressed in fits and starts (Garriott, Fais, Frazier, Nisle, &
Galluzzo, 2017). The first conceptual and practical articles emerged in the
late 1980s and early 1990s (Elliott, 1993; Hetherington, Hillerbrand, &
Etringer, 1989), and increasingly sophisticated, empirical investigations
began to follow within a decade (Bieschke & Matthews, 1996; Chung,
2001). Today, lesbian and gay issues appear increasingly in the career
literature (e.g., Douglass, Velez, Conlin, Duffy, & England, 2017; Lyons,
Velez, Mehta, & Neill, 2014; Rummell & Tokar, 2016). Nevertheless, the
literature focusing on the array of theoretical and practical career issues
encountered by the diversity of LGBT populations remains limited. There is
no literature specifically relating to the career development or career
counseling of bisexual individuals, and only recent developments devoted
to that of transgender populations (e.g., Brewster, Velez, Mennicke, &
Tebbe, 2014). Consequently, although many scholarly works, including this
one, contain the term LGBT in their titles, the content of most has been
focused primarily on lesbian and gay concerns, with limited attention to
career issues specific to bisexual and transgender individuals.
This chapter highlights findings from the range of scholarly contributions
that have informed our understanding and practice of career development
and career counseling with LGBT people. First, major vocational theories
are evaluated for their applicability to sexual minority populations; this is
followed by a discussion of additional issues unique to the career
development and career counseling of LGBT individuals. The intention of
this chapter is to bring together theoretical and empirical work with
practical recommendations to enable career professionals to work more
effectively with sexual minority clients.
Before turning to the literature in this domain, it might be helpful to clarify
terminology. Sexual orientation and sexual identity are terms that are
frequently used when discussing LGBT individuals; these terms are not
interchangeable. Simply put, sexual orientation refers to a person's
attraction (emotional, sexual, spiritual) toward an individual of the same or
different sex (Chung, Szymanski, & Markle, 2012). Sexual orientations can
be described along a continuum of multiple dimensions of behavior,
attraction, fantasy, and partner choice (van Anders, 2015) that can change
over time (Hu, Xu, & Tornello, 2016; Mock & Eibach, 2012). Fully
defining the nuances of sexual orientation is beyond the scope of this
chapter, and there does not appear to be consensus on its definition in the
literature (Salomaa & Matsick, 2018).
Sexual identity, by contrast, refers to the way in which people identify and
represent themselves in social contexts in reference to their sexual
orientation (e.g., identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, questioning, or
heterosexual). Identities are fluid and socially constructed and might not be
predictive of behaviors (Salomaa & Matsick, 2018). For simplicity, the term
LGB will be used in this chapter to represent the range of sexual identities
that are typically referenced in the career literature because most studies
have used these categories rather than more complex terms.
Both sexual orientation and sexual identity are separate from gender
identity, which refers to a person's internal identification as male, female,
neither, or a combination of both (Budge & Moradi, 2018). Those who are
cisgender identify with the biological sex assigned to them at birth.
Whereas, the term transgender applies to a range of people whose gender
identities are not the same as the biological sex assigned to them at birth or
who do not identify within the gender binary (Budge & Moradi, 2018).
Despite the common use of the term transgender in research, a variety of
other terms such as “genderqueer” or “gender expansive” are often adopted
by those who do not identify as cisgender (White, Moeller, Ivcevic, &
Brackett, 2018).
Transgender (and cisgender) populations include individuals with a range of
sexual orientations. The developmental and career concerns specific to
transgender individuals can be quite different from those specific to LGB
individuals; at the same time, LGBT populations as a group have a number
of career experiences in common due to their shared marginalized status in
heterosexual and cisgender dominant cultures. Consequently, this chapter
uses the terms LGB or LGBT, depending on the groups being referenced,
and includes a section that reviews the limited but growing vocational
literature related to transgender career development and counseling.
Definitions aside, all LGBT individuals share experiences of stigma and
marginalization that impact their career development in a variety of ways.
At the same time, LGBT individuals develop strengths and experiences that
enhance career development as a result of going through life with sexual
minority status. The important question is, what factors have emerged in the
literature to help us understand and work more effectively to promote the
career development of LGBT individuals?
CAREER THEORIES
Over the past 25 years, scholarly contributions that apply theories of
vocational psychology to LGBT populations have increased. This section
draws attention to these writings, evaluates the relevance and usefulness of
a number of current theories, and clusters this work into four theoretical
categories: person–environment (P–E) fit, developmental, social
learning/social cognitive, and the psychology of working theories. The
extent of this literature remains limited, however, and significant future
research in this domain is needed to fully evaluate the validity of using any
extant career theory with sexual minority populations (Garriott et al., 2017).
PERSON–ENVIRONMENT FIT THEORIES
The earliest publication to examine a theory of person–environment (P–E)
fit for its relevance to sexual minority populations was an empirical study
by Chung and Harmon (1994). This investigation was stimulated by the
earlier work of Hetherington (1991), who proposed that influences on the
career decision‐making of lesbians and gay men may be quite different than
those for heterosexuals. Chung and Harmon used Holland's Self‐Directed
Search (Holland, 1985) to evaluate how an individual's sexual orientation
might impact measured interest patterns. They compared the interests of
gay men with heterosexual men for each of Holland's six types and found
that gay men demonstrated lower realistic and investigative interests and
higher artistic and social interests. Their study highlighted the importance
for counselors to consider the career aspirations and interest patterns of gay
men, not only with respect to measured interests but also relative to
environmental forces, such as stereotyping and homophobia, that influence
expressed career goals and choices.
Another early contribution by Mobley and Slaney (1996) challenged the
adequacy of Holland's theoretical assumptions (Holland, 1997; Nauta,
Chapter 3, this volume) in accounting for the career behaviors of lesbians
and gay men. They suggested expanding the working assumptions and
principles of Holland's theory by using Cass's (1979) model of lesbian and
gay identity development to capture the dual (i.e., career and sexual
identity) developmental challenges faced by lesbian and gay individuals.
They described how vocational measures that assess Holland's constructs
are influenced not only by the level of one's career identity but also by the
stage of one's sexual identity. For example, they postulated that younger
lesbian and gay individuals may experience greater career indecision and
lack of clarity in their career interests and values because of the
simultaneous challenge of recognizing and integrating a marginalized
sexual identity. Furthermore, they suggested that assessing Holland's
construct of congruence for lesbian and gay clients, compared to
heterosexual clients, requires counselors to address not only the role of
vocational interests but also the significant influence of workplace climate
(i.e., discrimination or support based on one's sexual minority status).
Early contributions such as these laid the groundwork for more
sophisticated empirical investigations into the environmental and personal
factors specific to LGBT populations that influence P–E fit. In fact, work
that followed (Lyons, Brenner, & Fassinger, 2005; Lyons & O'Brien, 2006)
indicates that theories of P–E fit may better account for the career behaviors
and workplace experiences of sexual minority and other marginalized
populations than of nonmarginalized populations when workplace climates
are experienced as supportive (Velez & Moradi, 2012). However, when
workplace climates are experienced as less affirming, the relationship
between P–E fit and theorized outcomes such as job satisfaction appears to
weaken (Lyons et al., 2014). In particular, the variable of workplace climate
(whether discriminatory or supportive) appears to be a critical factor in
assessing fit. According to Out & Equal Workplace Advocates (2017), up to
52.8% of LGB employees experience workplace discrimination. In a related
vein, the Human Rights Campaign (2019) reported that 53% of LGB
employees heard jokes about lesbian and gay people at work. Furthermore,
federal sexual orientation discrimination cases are increasing (Equal
Employment Opportunity, 2018).
An individual's decision to identify as LGBT in the workplace and the
environmental response to this decision highlight important aspects of
workplace characteristics. Disclosure—being out to their supervisors,
colleagues, and clients—may result in increased physical (Mereish &
Poteat, 2015) and mental health benefits (Pachankis, Cochran, & Mays,
2015; Ryan, Legate, Weinstein, & Rahman, 2017). At the same time,
disclosure comes with the risks of overt and covert prejudice and
homophobia (Pachankis et al., 2015), such as limited job advancement and
stigmatization (Eliason, Streed, & Henne, 2018; Falzarano & Pizzi, 2015),
but might also be related to greater job satisfaction when the work
environment is affirming (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2014; Velez et al., 2013;
Tatum, 2018). These findings highlight the importance of assessing
contextual factors in the workplace. Interestingly, this research contrasts
with the view that disclosure is uniformly a positive step for LGBT
individuals; concealment actually may be a necessary and adaptive decision
for individuals in hostile environments.
The theory of work adjustment (TWA; Dawis & Lofquist, 1984), a classic
P–E fit theory, has been widely researched in relation to career choice and
work adjustment (see Swanson & Schneider, Chapter 2, this volume). The
basic tenets of the theory hold that P–E fit (in terms of match of person
values to environment reinforcers and of person abilities to environment
ability requirements) influences work adjustment. Although TWA was not
designed to explain LGBT career development, researchers have extended
it to this context. The line of reasoning has been that group‐specific cultural
variables, such as those relevant to LGBT populations, influence P–E fit,
which, in turn, influences job satisfaction, performance, and tenure. For
example, workplace contextual variables related to LGBT status could be
expected to produce different work experiences (e.g., encountering
heterosexism versus LGBT supportive climates); such experiences could
lead to individuals being more or less in correspondence with their
environments and more or less satisfied with their jobs. Thus, when
counseling LGBT clients on job/career choice and adjustment, a TWA
approach might focus both on traditional (value, ability) fit dimensions and
on the workplace climate specifically for LGBT workers. Counselors then
can help clients identify aspects of work environments that are affirming or
harmful to clients' job functioning and well‐being.
Prior to empirical tests of the theory, some authors predicted that P–E fit
would play a minimal role in influencing workplace satisfaction and tenure
of marginalized populations because of significant structural barriers to job
opportunities and choices (Fassinger, 2001). In other words, given that
marginalized individuals have limited access to the full array of
employment options, they may not leave a job that is a bad fit for them
because they perceive that they have limited alternatives. However, research
evaluating TWA with marginalized populations has demonstrated the
opposite (Lyons et al., 2005; Lyons & O'Brien, 2006). Lyons et al. (2005),
for example, found that the importance of P–E fit for LGB workers was not
overshadowed by discrimination. Instead, LGB workers' perceptions of P–E
fit took on greater significance, compared to workers in general. They
found that almost half of the variance in LGB employees' job satisfaction
was attributable to how well they perceived fitting their current work
environment. The authors suggested that perceived P–E fit may take on
greater importance because the nature of LGB employees' stigmatized
status may lead them to be more highly attuned to the culture of their work
environments when making workplace decisions.
Velez and Moradi (2012) later confirmed the relevance of fit for LGB
employees. Specifically, their research supported theoretically consistent
links between P–E fit and job satisfaction (positive), P–E fit and turnover
intentions (negative), and the negative relation between fit and turnover
intentions through job satisfaction. As predicted by TWA's authors (Dawis,
1994; Dawis & Lofquist, 1993), Velez and Moradi found that fit mediated
the relation between LGB supportive climates and outcomes specified in
the theory. The presence of heterosexist discrimination was related to TWA
outcome variables (i.e., job satisfaction and turnover intentions), but the
role of heterosexist discrimination was reduced in the presence of
supportive climates in tests of mediation.
However, updates to TWA investigations that followed reflect the wisdom
in early postulations that the model might be most relevant for
economically privileged groups. Testing TWA with an economically
distressed sample, Lyons et al. (2014) found that only when workplace
climates were moderately to highly supportive of LGB persons did the link
between P–E fit and turnover intentions (i.e., stronger fit predicted less
turnover intent) remain significant. When the environment was
unsupportive, the relation of fit to turnover intentions did not hold,
suggesting that economically distressed employees were willing to weather
a poor sense of fit in order to remain employed, as Fassinger (20