Social cognitive career theory at 25: Empirical status of the interest, choice, and performance models

Proactive Personality and Turnover Intention: The Mediating Role of Career Aspiration and the Moderating Effect of Organizational Career Management

As proactivity becomes vital for organizational success, retaining proactive employees becomes increasingly important, making the relationship between a proactive personality and turnover intention a key research topic. While existing studies have largely depicted turnover as a consequence of dissatisfaction and have identified negative indirect relationships, this study seeks to challenge that perspective by proposing that, in today's boundaryless career environment, people also engage in voluntary turnover for career advancement. Using a self-regulation career management model, we propose that proactive employees set ambitious career goals influenced by career aspirations, leading them to seek external opportunities and thus exhibit higher turnover intention. However, when organizations implement career management practices, this relationship weakens as proactive employees perceive opportunities to achieve their goals within their current organizations. We tested these hypotheses with a sample of 342 respondents using the SPSS macro PROCESS. The findings support our propositions, revealing a positive indirect effect through career aspirations, which diminishes when perceived organizational career management is strong.

Longitudinal effects of peer victimization on adolescents' future educational and work expectations: Depressive symptoms as a mechanism

Leveraging six waves of data, this study examined the effects of ninth-grade peer victimization on adolescents' future work and education expectations 2 years later, testing depressive symptoms as a mechanism. Participants (N = 388, Mage = 14.05; 61% female, 35% male, 3% non-binary, trans, or other gender; 46% White, 19% Black, 17% Asian, 6% AMENA, 6% Multiracial, 6% other race) completed surveys from ninth through 11th grade. Results indicated that adolescents who experienced more frequent relational, but not overt, peer victimization in ninth grade were subsequently more pessimistic about their educational and occupational prospects beyond high school; depressive symptoms mediated this link. The findings suggest that relational victimization and its psychological harm may undermine adolescents' confidence in achieving postsecondary success.

Perceptions of Skills Needed for STEM Jobs: Links to Academic Self-Concepts, Job Interests, Job Gender Stereotypes, and Spatial Ability in Young Adults

Gender gaps in spatial skills-a domain relevant to STEM jobs-have been hypothesized to contribute to women's underrepresentation in STEM fields. To study emerging adults' beliefs about skill sets and jobs, we asked college students (N = 300) about the relevance of spatial, mathematical, science and verbal skills for each of 82 jobs. Analyses of responses revealed four job clusters-quantitative, basic & applied science, spatial, and verbal. Students' ratings of individual jobs and job clusters were similar to judgments of professional job analysts (O*NET). Both groups connected STEM jobs to science, math, and spatial skills. To investigate whether students' interests in STEM and other jobs are related to their own self-concepts, beliefs about jobs, and spatial performance, we asked students in another sample (N = 292) to rate their self-concepts in various academic domains, rate personal interest in each of the 82 jobs, judge cultural gender stereotypes of those jobs, and complete a spatial task. Consistent with prior research, jobs judged to draw on math, science, or spatial skills were rated as more strongly culturally stereotyped for men than women; jobs judged to draw on verbal skills were more strongly culturally stereotyped for women than men. Structural equation modeling showed that for both women and men, spatial task scores directly (and indirectly through spatial self-concept) related to greater interest in the job cluster closest to the one O*NET labeled "STEM". Findings suggest that pre-college interventions that improve spatial skills might be effective for increasing spatial self-concepts and the pursuit of STEM careers among students from traditionally under-represented groups, including women.

Effect of proactive personality on career adaptability of higher vocational college students: the mediating role of college experience

For higher vocational students, the college stage is an important period in their career development, and the college experience plays an important role in the relationship between their proactive personality and career adaptability, which in turn has a significant impact on their future career development. From the perspective of social cognitive career theory and taking 476 vocational students as samples, this paper explores the mediating role of college experience between proactive personality and career adaptability of vocational college students. The college experience scale is revised for higher vocational students, and it is verified to have good reliability and validity. SPSS and Amos were used to conduct correlation analysis，and the PROCESS macro was used for mediating effect analysis. The results show that the college experience of vocational students plays a partial mediating role in the effect of proactive personality on career adaptability. This work innovatively uses social cognitive career theory to explore the role of college experience in the relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability among vocational students. The theoretical models are established and empirical verification is conducted, confirming that higher vocational students' college experience can affect their career adaptability. These results provide empirical evidence for vocational colleges to improve the career guidance of college students, and intervention measures are proposed to enhance students' career adaptability during school years, thus promoting their sustainable development.

Understanding South Korean women workers' career transition experiences: using the career decision tree model

Introduction

Relatively little research has explored non-Western women workers and their career transitions within their unique cultural contexts. Thus, more context-sensitive approaches to women's career trajectories are needed.

Methods

Based on Bian and Wang's Career Decision Tree Model (2019) as a conceptual framework, the reasons for South Korean women workers' career transitions and influencing factors were explored using a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews with 35 South Korean women workers at various career stages.

Results and Discussion

Their main motive of career transitions was difficulty maintaining their physical and mental health, which stemmed from their demanding work life. A typical issue, the burden of child rearing and family responsibilities, was also reported, but it was not the primary reason for their career transitions. Instead, the women workers often mentioned these responsibilities along with other reasons. Other reasons were unresolved career interests and expectations associated with their lack of career goals and preparation prior to joining the labor market. These factors led to significant changes in women's values and priorities along their career path, which finally triggered a decision to make a career transition. South Korean socio-cultural characteristics embedded in the South Korean women's personal and organizational lives provide insights on how to interpret the findings. Although on the surface some of our findings appeared to confirm previous studies on women's career transitions in Western-based literature, noteworthy differences were discovered when delving deeper into women's career transitions in the South Korean context.

Reciprocal Associations Between Science Efficacy, STEM Identity and Scientist Career Interest Among Adolescent Girls within the Context of Informal Science Learning

Limited research has explored the longitudinal pathway to youth career interests via identity and efficacy together. This study examined the longitudinal associations between science efficacy, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) identity, and scientist career interest among girls who are historically considered as an underrepresented group among scientists. The sample included 308 girls (M age = 15.22, SD age = 1.66; 42.8% White) from six STEM youth programs, each at a different informal science learning site within the U.K. and the U.S. Longitudinal structural equation modelling demonstrated that science efficacy consistently predicted STEM identity and scientist career interest, and similarly, STEM identity consistently predicted science efficacy over a two-year period. Scientist career interest at 12 months predicted science efficacy at 24 months. The coefficients of efficacy predicting STEM identity and scientist career interest were significantly larger compared to STEM identity and scientist career interest in predicting science efficacy from 12 months to 24 months. Further mediation analysis supported a significant pathway from STEM identity at 3 months to scientist career interest at 24 months via 12-month science efficacy. The findings highlight that science efficacy and STEM identity for girls relate to their scientist career interest and these longitudinal associations are reciprocal. This study suggests that science efficacy and STEM identity mutually influence each other, and enhancing science efficacy and STEM identity is key to promoting adolescents' interest in being a scientist.

Career self-efficacy as a mediator between career-specific parental behaviors and school career support on career doubt

This study evaluates whether career-specific parental behaviors and school career supports predict career doubt via the mediation of career self-efficacy. 227 participants aged between 18 and 25 completed an online questionnaire. Structural equation model (SEM) analysis showed that school career support was significantly related to career doubt via the mediation of career self-efficacy. However, the hypothesized mediation of career self-efficacy between career-specific parental behaviors and career doubt was not supported. Limitation and implications are discussed.

Impact of a Regional Grant Program Through the Lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory: A Mixed-Method Evaluation

PURPOSE

Evaluations of educational grant programs have focused on research productivity, with few examining impacts on grantees or effective program characteristics. This evaluation examined the regional grant program sponsored by Group on Educational Affairs to examine if and how grantees' careers were affected by funding, and if these experiences aligned with program goals.

METHOD

In this concurrent, mixed-methods theory-driven evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed independently and then integrated to examine complementarity. Quantitative data examined differences among 4 geographic regions and included proposal and grantee characteristics abstracted from administrative records of 52 funded proposals from 2010-2015 grant cycles. Qualitative data from 23 interviews conducted from 2018 to 2019 explored the impact on grantees, with Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) serving as a framework for deductive thematic analysis. To facilitate integration of findings, quantitative data were layered onto each interview to permit exploration of associations between the 2 data types.

RESULTS

Although significant regional differences existed in project length and amount of funding, there were few regional differences in grantee experiences. Despite small funding amounts, grants were perceived as career launching pads. The SCCT framework accounted for grantee experiences, including researcher identity formation and subsequent research, but did not capture collaboration phenomena. Integration of the 2 data types identified experience patterns unique to different groups of grantees (e.g., more or less research experience). The diversity among grantees suggests that clarification of program goals and stronger alignment with criteria for funding may be warranted.

CONCLUSIONS

This evaluation illuminates why small educational grant programs may or may not impact interest and productivity in research. Implications exist for funders, including clarifying program goals and providing support for less experienced grantees. Future research should explore grantee subsets (e.g., underrepresented in medicine) to further identify what fosters or inhibits careers of medical education scholars.

The generation mechanism underlying the career decision-making difficulties faced by undergraduates in China during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study based on SCCT theory

As COVID-19 continues to spread worldwide, the record number of graduates in China and pressure resulting from the economic downturn have led to low confidence in employment among college students, and the difficulties associated with career decision-making have gradually developed into a psychological barrier to the successful employment of Chinese college students. Using the "purposive sampling" approach to qualitative research, this study selected 20 undergraduates exhibiting delayed employment from a university as our research sample and used the career self-management model of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) as an analytical framework to conduct semistructured interviews with the aim of exploring influencing factors associated with and generation mechanism underlying the career decision-making difficulties experienced by Chinese undergraduates during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the career self-management model of SCCT theory, the four variables of individual, parents, peers and social environment influence Chinese undergraduates' career decision-making difficulties. On this basis, this study proposes a multivariable and single-subject generation mechanism to explain undergraduates' career decision-making difficulties and tries to explicate the mental changes associated with the career decision-making difficulties encountered by undergraduates exhibiting delayed employment by reference to mind sponge theory.

"Programming Is Not That Hard!" When a Science Center Visit Increases Young Women's Programming Ability Beliefs

To increase engagement with science and technology, young people around the world are encouraged to attend activities at science centers. But how effective are these activities? Since women have weaker ability beliefs and interest in technology than men, it is especially important to learn how science center visits affect them. In this study, we tested if programming exercises offered to middle school students by a Swedish science center would increase ability beliefs and interest in programming. Students in grades 8 and 9 (n = 506) completed a survey before and after visiting the science center, and their ratings were compared to a wait-list control group (n = 169). The students participated in block-based, text-based, and robot programming exercises developed by the science center. The results showed that programming ability beliefs increased for women, but not men, and that interest in programming decreased for men, but not women. The effects persisted at a follow-up (2-3 months). The young men reported stronger ability beliefs and interest than the young women at all timepoints. The results imply that science center activities can make programming feel less hard, but adaptations may be needed to also increase interest.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41979-023-00094-w.

A community pharmacy practice-based research network: A protocol for a realist evaluation

BACKGROUND

Community pharmacists' active participation in research is essential to build a robust, translatable evidence base. Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) have been established to support collaborative research and knowledge translation in community pharmacies. However, PBRNs' effectiveness in supporting research engagement and knowledge translation remains unexplored. A new PBRN will be implemented in southeast Queensland, Australia. This realist evaluation seeks to explain whether, how, why, for whom, in what context and over what duration the PBRN supports community pharmacists to engage in research.

OBJECTIVES

1. to generate transferable knowledge about the different circumstances in which-and the mechanisms by which-a PBRN influences research engagement outcomes for different community pharmacists, in the form of a program theory. 2. To use the program theory to develop evidence-informed recommendations for use by PBRN stakeholders.

METHODS

A realist evaluation will be conducted in four iterative phases: (1) theory development, (2) hypothesis generation, (3) observations, and (4) theory refinement. A two-year multi-method study will be conducted, including interviews with pharmacists, surveys, participatory and observational data collection. The evidence will be used to confirm, refute, and/or refine the program theory. The evaluation will adhere to the Realist And Meta-Narrative Evidence Synthesis (RAMESES) publication and quality standards.

CONCLUSIONS

The evaluation will contribute to the body of knowledge by generating a realist program theory to explain how, why, for whom, in what contexts, to what extent, in what respects, and over what duration the PBRN supports community pharmacists to engage in research. The findings will support the broader implementation of PBRNs and future network activities.

The subjective career success of women: The role of personal resources

Introduction

Research on women’s career success has been the subject of extensive investigations, emphasizing the barriers they encounter in their careers. However, far less attention has been given to the personal resources that promote women’s career success. The purpose of our study was to provide more conclusive evidence regarding the role that personal resources such as resilience and grit can play in the relationship between women’s person-environment fit and the perceptions of their career success. Underpinned by the Job Demands Resources and social cognitive theory, our study aims to investigate whether resilience and grit could either explain how person-environment fit translates into feelings of subjective career success or could strengthen this relationship.

Method

A cross-sectional online survey research design was used, and a convenience sample of 408 female employees was obtained. Relationships were explored through structural equation modelling.

Results

When controlling for age, the findings of this study revealed significantly positive relationships between the constructs, with person-environment fit, resilience, and grit, explaining a large portion of the variance in subjective career success. Although our data supported the mediating role of grit and resilience in the person-environment fit and subjective career success relationship, the moderating effects of grit and resilience could not be established.

Discussion

These findings illustrate both grit and resilience as mechanisms that indirectly affect the person-environment fit and subjective career success relationship of women. However, our findings indicate that resilience and grit cannot be considered mechanisms that would buffer against poor person-environment fit’s effect on their career success perceptions. Firstly, our study advances our understanding of the roles personal resources such as resilience and grit play in women’s career success as ways to overcome obstacles and workplace barriers. Secondly, using the motivational process of the Job Demands Resources Framework as theoretical background, we contribute by shedding light on how personal resources (resilience and grit) can be considered underlying factors influencing the person-environment fit and career success relationship for women. If women experience good person-environment fit, there is a greater opportunity for developing resilience and grit and, consequently, subjective career success.

The Influence of Individual and Contextual Factors on the Vocational Choices of Adolescents and Their Impact on Well-Being

Adolescents who have to make decisions regarding their future career or academic path can be greatly influenced by parental expectations and other individual and contextual factors. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of adolescent–parent career congruence on adolescents’ well-being and future intention to enroll in a university course. The recruitment of participants took place through a combination of convenience sampling and snowball sampling. A sample of 142 high school students who are managing their decisions for the future completed an online questionnaire. Data were analyzed through a path analysis (SEM) with observed variables, and different indices were evaluated to check the model goodness of fit. The data show that congruence with parents’ wishes has a significant effect on academic motivation, work hope and mattering, which in turn have a positive and significant effect on both future intentions to undertake university studies and on the participants’ occupational well-being. In line with past studies, our results demonstrate correlations between adolescent–parent career congruence in career exploration and decision making, pointing out in particular the influence due to complementary congruence with mothers. Furthermore, our study underscores the important role played by both individual and contextual factors in adolescent well-being and intentions for their future. Finally, implications for the practice of vocational guidance practitioners are discussed.

The effect of a multidimensional teaching strategy on the self-efficacy and critical thinking dispositions of nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Internships in pediatric nursing often reveal that nursing students lack critical thinking dispositions and self-confidence, which are important and necessary for nursing practice. Therefore, preparing nursing students to engage in critical thinking is an important goal for educators.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this study was to explore whether a teaching model combining the 5E learning model and self-efficacy would be effective in enhancing participants' self-efficacy and critical thinking dispositions in a course on child-friendly care.

DESIGN

The quasi-experimental method was single-blind, as the study was conducted with two parallel and unequal groups to address the research questions.

SETTING

Two campuses of a university located in Northern and Southern Taiwan.

PARTICIPANTS

Fifty-eight participants completed this study.

METHODS

Participants completed the pre-test questionnaire in Week 1, after which participants in the experimental group learned via the teaching strategy that combined the 5E learning model and self-efficacy, while participants in the control group were taught the same course via conventional teaching methods. A post-test questionnaire was completed in Week 18. An independent sample t-test was used to determine any mean differences of outcome variables between groups over time.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were found in self-efficacy, t (56) = 3.93, p < 0.01, but non-significant results for the outcome of critical thinking disposition t (56) = 0.88, p > 0.05. A t-test was also performed on the four subscales of critical thinking disposition for the two groups, showing that the only difference for overall reflective thinking was statistically significant, t (56) = 2.09, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The multidimensional teaching strategy introduced in this study is more effective than conventional teaching strategies in improving students' self-efficacy and the overall reflective thinking aspect of critical thinking disposition.

"Finding My Piece in That Puzzle": A Qualitative Study Exploring How Medical Students at Four U.S. Schools Envision Their Future Professional Identity in Relation to Health Systems

PURPOSE

Health systems science (HSS) curricula equip future physicians to improve patient, population, and health systems outcomes (i.e., to become "systems citizens"), but the degree to which medical students internalize this conception of the physician role remains unclear. This study aimed to explore how students envision their future professional identity in relation to the system and identify experiences relevant to this aspect of identity formation.

METHOD

Between December 2018 and September 2019, authors interviewed 48 students at 4 U.S. medical schools with HSS curricula. Semistructured interviews were audiorecorded, transcribed, and analyzed iteratively using inductive thematic analysis. Interview questions explored how students understood the health system, systems-related activities they envisioned as future physicians, and experiences and considerations shaping their perspectives.

RESULTS

Most students anticipated enacting one or more systems-related roles as a future physician, categorized as "bottom-up" efforts enacted at a patient or community level (humanist, connector, steward) or "top-down" efforts enacted at a system or policy level (system improver, system scholar, policy advocate). Corresponding activities included attending to social determinants of health or serving medically underserved populations, connecting patients with team members to address systems-related barriers, stewarding health care resources, conducting quality improvement projects, researching/teaching systems topics, and advocating for policy change. Students attributed systems-related aspirations to experiences beyond HSS curricula (e.g., low-income background; work or volunteer experience; undergraduate studies; exposure to systems challenges affecting patients; supportive classmates, faculty, and institutional culture). Students also described future-oriented considerations promoting or undermining identification with systems-related roles (responsibility, affinity, ability, efficacy, priority, reality, consequences).

CONCLUSIONS

This study illuminates systems-related roles medical students at 4 schools with HSS curricula envisioned as part of their future physician identity and highlights past/present experiences and future-oriented considerations shaping identification with such roles. These findings inform practical strategies to support professional identity formation inclusive of systems engagement.

Reciprocal Effects of Career Adaptability and Occupational Self-Efficacy: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study With Varying Time Lags

Researchers widely agree upon the pivotal role of career self-management in vocational development. Yet, little is known about how core self-management constructs denoting agentic capacity affect each other reciprocally over time. We address the shortage of existing longitudinal change investigations by proposing and testing a reciprocal model in which career adaptability and occupational self-efficacy as core career self-management constructs are reciprocally interrelated. Cross-lagged panel analyses of three-wave data from a large and heterogeneous sample of employees indicate support for the presence of substantial reciprocal effects of career adaptability and occupational self-efficacy across time lags of three, six, and nine months. From a series of exploratory multigroup analyses, this pattern of results emerges as robust across a range of sociodemographic variables, including gender, age, education, leadership position, and organizational tenure. Moreover, the results remained stable after considering further controls (e.g., future temporal focus, grade point average). Our findings broaden the scope of dynamic vocational research by demonstrating the utility of a change-oriented approach in elucidating the emergence of individuals’ career self-management. We discuss practical implications concerning career intervention strategies, study limitations, and prospects for future research.

An exploration of the professional identity of clinical academics using repertory grid technique

BACKGROUND

Clinicians who divide their time between clinical work and research have contributed to some of the most fundamental breakthroughs in medicine in recent history, yet their role is not always well-understood or valued. Understanding the factors which contribute to career success for clinical academics is critical for supporting this workforce. Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) provides a conceptual framework for career success, incorporating personal and environmental factors.

PURPOSE

The aim of this study is to explore clinical academics' construal of successful clinical academic practice and to contribute to a holistic view of the professional identity of the clinical academic.

METHODOLOGY

Using a constructivist technique, repertory grid, the authors interviewed ten clinical academics at different career stages in one-to-one structured interviews conducted virtually between November 2020 and April 2021. Data from the interviews were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. Common themes were identified, analysed, and ranked according to importance with respect to successful clinical academic practice. Using SCCT as a framework, constructs were categorised as personal factors, organisational factors, competencies and person-environment fit. A differential analysis between established/trainee and female/male participants was carried out.

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

One hundred and thirty-three constructs were elicited and categorised into 20 themes (constructs). There was consensus among participants that 6 were of high importance with respect to successful clinical academic practice, 8 of intermediate and 4 of low importance, with no consensus on 2 constructs. Personal factors of high importance include innovation and integrity. Competencies including research and teaching skills are highly important, and ability to collaborate is also considered central to successful clinical academic practice. Female participants expressed greater concerns about the impact of familial responsibilities on career progression.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the importance of interactions between the person and environment, and characterises the important attributes of successful clinical academics including personal factors such as integrity and innovation.

The role of continuing medical education programs in promoting iranian nurses, competency toward non-communicable diseases, a qualitative content analysis study

BACKGROUND

Continuing medical education is essential for nurses to provide quality patient care and upgrade their professional skills and competence. The need for continuing medical education (CME) has become more apparent in the face of advances in medical science, the ever-changing healthcare system, and nurses' vital role in improving health care. It is, therefore, imperative to explore the nurses' experience of CME courses and the extent to which such programs are effective.

OBJECTIVE

The present qualitative study aimed to explore and describe nurses' experiences of the effect of CE programs in promoting their competencies toward non-communicable diseases.

METHODS

This qualitative content analysis study was conducted from December 2019 to April 2020 at various hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (Shiraz, Iran) and based on the principles of conventional content analysis. The target population was nurses who actively worked in the chronic wards of these hospitals. The participants were selected using maximum variation sampling, including nine nursing managers, education and clinical supervisors, and staff nurses. Data were collected through individual, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews guided by an interview guide, and data collection continued until data saturation was achieved. Each interview took about 30-45 min. Follow up questions were used for clarification when needed. Data trustworthiness was assessed according to the criteria proposed by Guba and Lincoln.

RESULTS

Analysis of the interview data resulted in 230 primary codes, based on 8 categories, and three themes were identified. The extracted themes were gaps in the planning of the CME program, problematic context, and training to improve professional skills and competency. The associated categories were gaps in the planning of the CME program, problematic context, and training to improve professional skills and competency.

CONCLUSION

Professional competence and performance of nurses can be improved through intrinsic motivation stimulation, planning, and implementation of training programs based on professional needs and effective assessment of the teaching/learning process.

The Relationships among Proactive Personality, Work Engagement, and Perceived Work Competence in Sports Coaches: The Moderating Role of Perceived Supervisor Support

Grounded in the job demands-resources model, this study examines the moderating role of supervisor support and the mediating role of sports coaches' work engagement in the relationship between proactive personality and perceived work competence. A total of 261 school sports coaches in Taiwan participated in the study. The results indicated that work engagement positively mediates the relationship between sports coaches' proactive personality and perceived work competence. Separately, supervisor support weakens the link between proactive personality and work engagement but strengthens the relationship between work engagement and perceived work competence; however, taken together, supervisor support weakens the indirect effects of proactive personality on perceived work competence through job engagement. Under the boundary condition of perceived supervisor support, the sports coaches' proactive personality is a critical antecedent of perceived work competence through work engagement. We suggest that proactive sports coaches are assets for schools because they possess the drive and energy for self-improvement, promoting organizational progress automatically.

Enhancing Career Decision Status of Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Through Learning Engagement: Perspective of SOR Model

Higher education plays the role of cultivating talents in national development and meets the talent sources needed by the development of the state, industries and enterprises. Besides, for students, higher education can provide stimuli to improve the development of family and personal career. Especially for socioeconomically disadvantaged Students, higher education means the main factor for turning over the Socio- Economic Status. Universities endow students with abundant employment skills, so as to make them more confident in contending with the challenges in the job market. However, innate pessimism or negative attitudes and cognition may exist in socioeconomically disadvantaged Students, thereby providing effective learning context to improve their learning engagement. This study explores the influence on students’ career decision status from deep approach to learning, problem-based learning, self-efficacy and employability. A total of 627 valid questionnaires are collected in this study. PLS-SEM was adopted to verify the structural relationship in data analysis via SmartPLS. The results indicate that deep approach to learning and problem-based learning have significant impacts on students’ self-efficacy and employability; self-efficacy has significant impacts on employability and career decision status; employability has significant impact on career decision status; and that self-efficacy and employability play significant mediating roles in the research framework.

Development and Validation of the Academic Persistence Outcome Expectations Scale

Outcome expectations, an integral theoretical component of social cognitive career theory, remains almost completely unexamined in the domain of academic persistence, or the decision a student makes to remain in college. This study sought to develop a theoretically derived scale to measure outcome expectations. An initial item pool was developed and sent to a sample of college students. A second, confirmatory sample of undergraduate students was collected via an online crowdsourcing platform. Results suggested the presence of a two-factor structure was the most parsimonious solution across both samples. The two factors retained across both samples reflected positive and negative outcome expectations that students perceived about remaining in college for the year. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Engineering Learning Experiences: A Scale Adaptation and Validation into Turkish

Undergraduate students' learning experiences are thought to have a significant impact on their future career choices. The Engineering Learning Experience Scale (ELES) was created within the framework of Social Cognitive Career Theory to accurately evaluate learning experiences arising from direct or indirect learning activities in or out of school. The purpose of this research is to adapt and validate the ELES in Turkish. The scale was given to two groups of engineering students from a large public university in Turkey. In order to provide evidence of the reliability and validity of the scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to analyze the psychometric properties of the instrument. According to the confirmatory factor analyses, the correlated four-factor model suited the data well. This study strengthens the standing of the ELES as a useful measurement tool in the field of engineering.

Academic Satisfaction of Women Students of Color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Roles of Discrimination, Proactive Personality, and Critical Consciousness

Underrepresentation of women and students of color has been a longstanding issue in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The present study examined factors that contribute to academic satisfaction among 585 women college students of color ( Mage = 21.42, SDage = 3.25; nBlack = 174, nLatina = 171, nAsian = 240), based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory satisfaction model. Experiences of discrimination was selected as an environmental obstacle and proactive personality as a person input in the model. In addition, critical consciousness was included as a personal resource variable. Multigroup measurement invariance tests and multigroup structural equation modeling were conducted to examine the racial/ethnic differences in constructs and their interrelationships. The findings showed that discrimination, proactive personality, and critical consciousness contributed to academic satisfaction via self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and goal progress. Theoretical, clinical, and institutional implications are discussed in light of the findings. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

Social Cognitive Career Theory Predictors of Goal Persistence in African American College Students With Disabilities

The Black Lives Matter movement exposed the broad and deep issues of institutional racism in the United States. Helping young African Americans with disabilities persevere in their pursuit of college degrees and obtain entry-level professional jobs as career pathways to the middle class will contribute to workplace equity for young adults who are at the intersection of race, disability, and poverty. The Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) has been validated extensively as a model of goal persistence for women and minority college students majoring in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). The present study evaluated SCCT constructs as predictors of goal persistence in a sample of African American college students with disabilities across various academic majors, using hierarchical regression analysis. The final model accounted for 53% of the variance in goal persistence scores, a large effect size. Academic milestone self-efficacy and career self-efficacy were the most important predictors of goal persistence, followed by academic barrier self-efficacy, deep learning style, and career outcome expectancy. The SCCT interventions designed to increase academic and career efficacy and outcome expectancy will increase the likelihood that African American college students with disabilities will complete their degrees and successfully obtain professional jobs.

Stability and changes in high school students' STEM career expectations: Variability based on STEM support and parent education

INTRODUCTION

Why do some students maintain their career expectations in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), whereas others change their expectations? Using situated expectancy-value and social cognitive career theories, we sought to investigate the extent to which STEM support predicted changes in students' STEM career expectations during high school, and if these processes varied by whether the student had college educated or noncollege educated parents.

METHODS

Using the nationally representative data set of the High School Longitudinal Study, we investigated the predictors of changes in US students' STEM career expectations from 9th to 11th grade (n = 13,100, 54% noncollege educated parents, 51% girls, 55% White, 21% Latinx, 12% Black).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Students with noncollege educated parents were significantly more likely to change from STEM to non-STEM career expectations by 11th grade or to have stable non-STEM career expectations (compared to having stable STEM expectations or changing from non-STEM to STEM expectations). Additionally, students with noncollege educated parents were less likely to receive STEM support from parents and attend extracurricular activities compared to students with college educated parents. However, when examining the predictors among students with noncollege educated parents, students were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career from 9th to 11th grade (compared to switching to a non-STEM career) if they had parental STEM support. Additionally, all students regardless of parents' level of education were more likely to maintain their expectations for a STEM career (vs. switching to a non-STEM career) through high school if they received teacher STEM support. Furthermore, students were more likely to develop STEM career expectations (vs. maintaining non-STEM career expectations) if they had parent STEM support. These findings highlight how parent and teacher STEM support may bolster STEM career expectations, particularly among students with noncollege educated parents.

Entrepreneurial Orientation and Venture Creation in Nigerian Context: Assessing Mediating and Moderating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Entrepreneurial Support among Graduates

Over-reliance on hired jobs in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy has discouraged most graduates from becoming entrepreneurs. This leads to unemployment, poverty and low economic growth that breed insecurity. Drawing from the formative perspective, this study analyzed the mediating role of self-efficacy (SELF) and the moderating effect of entrepreneurial support (ENTSP) in relation to individual-level entrepreneurial orientation (ILEO; innovativeness, risk taking and proactiveness) and venture creation (VC) among Nigerian graduates. A reflective/formative type II method was applied to test the model’s relationships using 291 survey responses. The result of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) reveals that the indirect relationship between ILEO and VC through SELF was positive and significant but negatively moderated by ENTSP, implying that not all instances of ILEO will result in VC through SELF because ILEO can directly lead to VC. The finding also indicates ENTSP did not have an impact on strengthening the relationship between SELF and VC. A limitation lies in the chosen method that weakens the generalizability of the result, but future studies considering a longitudinal survey are suggested. This study extends the entrepreneurial orientation model to enhance the venture creation literature theoretically and practically. We recommend intervention agencies to initiate effective ENTSP covering financial, non-financial and incubation services required to boost VC activities.

Career Development in Highly Sex-typed Postsecondary Vocational Technical Education Programs: A Social Cognitive Analysis

Using social cognitive career theory (SCCT), we examined the career development of students in sex-typed postsecondary Vocational Technical Education (VTE) programs in the Chilean context. We assessed the moderating effects of students’ socioeconomic background, sex, membership to the sex-atypical group, and the intersection of these attributes across SCCT measures and the model’s predicted relationships. The results showed that students in sex-atypical careers, particularly low-income students, perceived supports and barriers differently, and that supports and barriers have different effects on self-efficacy and outcome beliefs. We also found differences between female and male students in these careers path, which suggests that the former face more challenges. However, we also found that their career development process unfolds similarly, suggesting that strategies designed to support these groups may be equally helpful for female and male students. We discuss the findings in light of prior literature and offer practical implications for VTE institutions.

The labour market integration of migrants and refugees: career guidance and the newly arrived

This scoping paper sets out to consider various aspects of the phenomenon of people on the move, and to examine some of the ways in which career guidance has responded to the challenge of integrating the newly arrived. The paper is informed by a recognition of the dignity of individuals above any classificatory system that places persons in a hierarchy, with some having access to rights that others are denied. This stance requires career practitioners to confront the prevalent vocabulary, discourses and attitudes circulating in the mainstream in order to become aware of-and to overcome-personal prejudice, thus opening up possibilities for more socially just forms of service. A synthesis of relevant literature concerning the integration of migrants and refugees in the labour market is provided in order to signpost emancipatory forms of career guidance, ones that move beyond an emphasis on individual resilience to take seriously the impact of exclusionary social practices and structures. The paper concludes by highlighting a number of initiatives that suggest that career guidance is rising to the challenge of catering for a diverse group of newly arrived by mobilising theoretical frameworks that are fit for purpose, by developing bespoke training programmes for practitioners, and by sharing the lessons learnt from the field.

Enhancing employee wellbeing – an employability perspective

Purpose

Skill obsolescence among employees can be detrimental to organizational performance and can lead to an ensuing decline in the wellbeing of employees. Today's organizations bank on the employability skills of their human capital to stay afloat in business. The current study examines the impact of developing an employability culture in the organization, the perceived internal employability developed in the employees and impact on employee wellbeing.

Design/methodology/approach

Research data were gathered from a sample of 421 software engineers in private IT companies in India. Structural equation modeling using SPSS and AMOS was conducted to examine the impact of employability culture and perceived internal employability on the three dimensions of employee wellbeing.

Findings

The study found a positive relationship between employability culture and the components of employee wellbeing. A partial mediation by perceived internal employability was reported between employability culture and the three components of employee wellbeing.

Research limitations/implications

The study is a focused attempt on discerning the effect of organizational elements in the form of employability culture on the employee perceptions and the state of wellbeing, which are considered valuable resources in the career context. The study reiterates the prominence of contextual factors in employees' resource enhancement.

Originality/value

The study is a unique approach to determine the effect of perceived internal employability and employability culture on employee wellbeing based on the social cognitive career theory and the conservation of resources theory.

Evidence for “Pushed Out” and “Opt Out” Factors in Women’s Career Inclusion Across the World of Work in the United States

There is an ongoing debate over the extent to which women “opt out” and/or are “pushed out” of various occupations ( Kossek et al., 2017 ). To advance this debate, we explore the correspondence of women’s interests in stereotypically masculine work activities with the work activities of their occupations/occupational-aspirations. We examine 42,631 responses to a survey of employed and unemployed persons in the United States and analyze associations along all six of Holland’s ( 1997 ) interest/work-activity dimensions. Overall, we find support for a “pushed out” perspective as women’s interests in hands-on/practical, analytic/scientific, and managerial/sales-related work activities are less strongly associated with being employed in occupations with those activities – in comparison to similarly interested men. However, these effect sizes are small and we find support for “opt out” dynamics in relation to hands-on/practical occupations. Altogether, our results indicate the need to continue looking beyond women’s vocational interests as explanations of their underrepresentation.

Autoeficácia para Regulação Emocional e Autoeficácia Social: Busca de Evidências de Validade de Construtos Relacionados

Resumo O presente estudo teve como objetivo buscar evidências de validade para a Escala de Autoeficácia para Regulação Emocional (AERE) por meio da relação com a Escala de Autorregulação Emocional (EARE) e a Escala de Autoeficácia Social (AES). Para tanto, 549 participantes com idades entre 13 e 23 anos (M = 16,82, DP = 1,551), de Belém (72,7%, n = 399) e do Rio de Janeiro (27,3%, n = 150) compuseram a amostra. Eles responderam a EARE e outros dois instrumentos, um que avalia a autorregulação emocional diante da tristeza (Escala de Autorregulação Emocional - EARE) e outro, que avalia a autoeficácia social (Escala de Autoeficácia Social - AES). Os resultados indicaram que a autorregulação emocional mostrou maiores índices de predição em relação à autoeficácia para regulação emocional, do que para a autoeficácia social, embora ambos os construtos tenham gerado coeficientes significativos. Os achados corroboram a literatura, confirmando a evidência de validade para a Escala de Autoeficácia para Regulação Emocional e são discutidos à luz dos pressupostos teóricos.

Silent but Damaging: Exploring the Link Between Air Pollution and Vocational and General Well-Being

Air pollution has become a daunting challenge with the potential to endanger people’s lives across the globe. However, little is known about the psychological and vocational implications of air pollution. Drawing on feeling-as-information theory, we investigate the within-person relationships of ambient air pollution with vocational and general well-being outcomes (i.e., career choice anxiety and state optimism) through the mediating mechanism of mood state. We tested our hypotheses using an experience sampling method (ESM) with survey data from 67 undergraduate students in South Korea collected over 10 consecutive days. Results showed that daily ambient air pollution predicted higher career choice anxiety and lower state optimism via an increased negative mood. Furthermore, the indirect relation of air pollution with career choice anxiety was found to be stronger for individuals with lower family socioeconomic status. In a supplementary study, we interviewed 16 undergraduate students in South Korea to explain the ESM results in greater depth. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as study limitations, are discussed.

Understanding the Impact of the Psychological Cognitive Process on Student Learning Satisfaction: Combination of the Social Cognitive Career Theory and SOR Model

In higher education, student learning satisfaction is a significant predictor of learning that indicates the commitment students have to their learning and future academic achievement. The study combines the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) model to explore the psychological cognition and attitudes derived from students during their learning, discusses the pattern of student learning satisfaction enhancement from the aspect of process, and further understands the relationships among social support systems, interaction relationships, self-efficacy, generic skills, and learning satisfaction. In this study, 800 valid copies of questionnaires were collected from 12 universities through purposive sampling, and the structural model was analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that the relationships among all the constructs were positive and showed a significant effect; furthermore, the research results showed that self-efficacy and student generic skills had a significantly indirect effect in the model-specifically, a mediating effect. Finally, corresponding theoretical and practical implications were put forward based on the research results.

The role of career competencies and proactive personality in early-career employee career adaptability

Purpose

Employees with high career competencies are more successful in career development. However, it is unclear whether proactivity matters for early-career employees. Thus, this study aims to investigate the influence of career competencies and proactive personality on career adaptability and the moderating role of proactive personality in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a quantitative methodology, collecting data through online questionnaires from respondents (n = 400) who had less than five years of work experience in the UAE. A measurement model and hypotheses testing were conducted using AMOS software. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to test the moderation model.

Findings

The results show a direct relationship between career competencies and career adaptability. However, a proactive personality is insignificantly related to career adaptability. Further, early-career employees with low proactive personality benefit from high career competencies.

Originality/value

This study offers contributions to the emerging understanding of career construction by emphasising the important role of career competencies for early-career employees who manifest a low proactive personality.

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Tests of Social Cognitive Model of Well-Being in Korean College Students

This study examined the cross-cultural utility of a modified social cognitive model of academic and life satisfaction (Lent & Brown, 2008) by adding independent and interdependent self-construals with Korean college students in a cross-sectional (Study 1) and a longitudinal design (Study 2). In Study 1, 604 participants completed measures of academic self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goal progress, environmental support, positive affect, academic satisfaction, life satisfaction, and self-construals. In Study 2, 171 participants completed the same measures at two time points with a 15-week interval. Results of Study 1 indicated that the modified model provided a good fit to the data and that 21 out of 25 of the hypothesized paths were significant. In Study 2, the bidirectional model, which included three theorized sets of reciprocal relations (i.e., academic satisfaction to life satisfaction, positive affect to both environmental support and self-efficacy, and self-efficacy to both outcome expectations and goal progress) demonstrated an optimal fit to the data. Overall, the findings of the present study provide evidence for the validity of the modified social cognitive well-being model in Korean populations.

The Effects of Peers’ Career Goal Appraisals on School to Work Transition Outcomes

Despite the growing body of research on the transition from school to work, an important aspect of young people’s social realities in this phase has been largely overlooked: their peers. This study investigates to what extent peer networks in late adolescence, and particularly peers’ appraisals of their own career goals, are related to young people’s subjective early transition outcomes in a Finnish sample ( N = 322) between the ages 17 and 20. The results show that having peers who positively appraise their goals as attainable is associated with more positive transition outcomes as young people more often reported having reached a (temporarily) satisfactory transition outcome which they intended to maintain unchanged. Negative peer appraisals showed no associations with transition outcomes. The present study offers an important step toward a comprehensive understanding of the social lives of young people in career transitions and provides new directions for research and counseling.

Pandemics: Implications for research and practice in industrial and organizational psychology

Pandemics have historically shaped the world of work in various ways. With COVID-19 presenting as a global pandemic, there is much speculation about the implications of this crisis for the future of work and for people working in organizations. In this article, we discuss 10 of the most relevant research and practice topics in the field of industrial and organizational psychology that will likely be strongly influenced by COVID-19. For each of these topics, the pandemic crisis is creating new work-related challenges, but it is also presenting various opportunities. The topics discussed herein include occupational health and safety, work–family issues, telecommuting, virtual teamwork, job insecurity, precarious work, leadership, human resources policy, the aging workforce, and careers. This article sets the stage for further discussion of various ways in which I-O psychology research and practice can address the issues that COVID-19 creates for work and organizational processes that are affecting workers now and will shape the future of work and organizations in both the short and long term. This article concludes by inviting I-O psychology researchers and practitioners to address the challenges and opportunities of COVID-19 head-on by proactively adapting the work that we do in support of workers, organizations, and society as a whole.

Women in Engineering: Almost No Gap at University but a Long Way to Go for Sustaining Careers

Engineering is one of the career fields where women’s underrepresentation has been tenacious. In Korea, the government has made continuous efforts in the last decades to make a difference, yet the rate of women who pursue an engineering career pathway is still low. In this study, we analyzed 415 survey responses at a large private university in Korea to fulfill the aims of the current study: (1) to examine the gender difference on the 11 major- and career-related variables using t-test, (2) to test the adjusted social cognitive career theory (SCCT) model for the engineering undergraduate students’ intention to pursue an engineering career using path analysis. The independent t-test results revealed that the gender differences were found not in any major-related variable, but in three career-related variables, indicating the female students perceived their future career less vested than the male students. The path analysis results indicated that the adjusted SCCT model fitted to the data well and the relations among the variables were generally in the expected way with some exceptions. The highlighted implication is that removing systematic barriers and gender stereotype threats is as important as providing supports for gender equity in pursuing an engineering career.

Ignatian Spirituality and Career Development: New Evidence for Age-Old Practices

Given the importance of career discernment in emerging adulthood, we evaluated an understudied career development approach for higher education students. Specifically, we tested the relationship between spiritual discernment exercises and sense of purpose and calling through the indirect effects of self-concept clarity, career decision self-efficacy, and knowledge of occupational information. Participants ( N = 127) were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions and were surveyed at a 10-week interval. Results indicated significantly higher posttest scores for purpose ( B = .169, p = .026) and calling ( B = .134, p = .013) in the spiritual discernment condition compared to the general adjustment (i.e., control) and traditional career development conditions. Mediation analyses also revealed a significant indirect effect of self-concept clarity on sense of purpose ( B ab = .059, p = .033). These findings suggest that spiritual discernment practices can significantly enhance the effectiveness of career development interventions for discerning purpose and calling.

How Does COVID-19 Pandemic Influence the Sense of Belonging and Decision-Making Process of Nursing Students: The Study of Nursing Students' Experiences

Financial consideration, internal and external influence, personal goal, and educational achievement always influence the decision-making process and behavior of individuals. Using nursing students as the population, the researcher employed the Social Cognitive Career Theory as the theoretical framework to examine the nursing human resources shortages and how would the COVID-19 pandemic influence the experiences, sense of belonging, and career decision-making process of 58 nursing students in South Korea. The researcher categorized the sharing into two groups, which were before the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the changes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicated that financial consideration was the significant reason why South Korean nursing students decided to study nursing regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic. More importantly, almost all participants decided to leave the nursing profession due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the consideration between financial factor and personal sacrifice. The outcomes of this study provided a blueprint for human resources professionals, government leaders, policymakers, school leaders, and hospital managers to reform their current curriculum and human resources planning to overcome the potential human resources gaps in the soon future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.