The relationship between goal orientation and career striving in young adolescents

The Mediating Effect of Self-Regulation on the Association Between Growth Mindset About Work and Living a Calling Among Primary and Secondary School Teachers

PURPOSE

Given that extensive studies have documented the wide-ranging benefits of living a calling, determining whether and how living a calling can be improved is of great importance. Although recent research implies that a growth mindset about work may link to self-regulatory processes and living a calling, little research to date has directly examined the relationships between these variables. Building on Burnette's SOMA model, this study was designed to examine the premise that a growth mindset about work was a predictor of living a calling and to explore the mediating role of self-regulation in the growth mindset about work-living a calling link.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted among educational professionals in China. Data were collected from 608 primary and secondary school teachers on growth mindsets about work, self-regulation and living a calling. A structural equation model was used to test the hypothesis that self-regulation would mediate the relationship between a growth mindset about work and living a calling.

RESULTS

Consistent with our premise, a growth mindset about work was positively associated with living a calling. Also, a growth mindset about work was significantly associated with self-regulation strategies in terms of goal setting, perseverance, decision making, and learning from mistakes. As hypothesized, a growth mindset about work was related to higher levels of living a calling via goal setting, perseverance, and learning from mistakes.

CONCLUSION

The findings contribute to the increasing breadth of the growth mindset literature across various contexts and its consequences for one's living a calling, which expand the nomological web of correlates of growth mindset about work. Furthermore, these findings suggest that fostering a growth mindset about work may facilitate adaptive behaviors and, thereby, serve as a calling intervention.

Career Planning in Elite Soccer: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy, Career Goals, and Athletic Identity

This study proposed a model to examine the role of self-efficacy, career goals, and athletic identity (AI) on the career planning of elite soccer players. Two hundred and eighty-one elite soccer players (males) participated in this study. Means, SD, and bivariate correlations were calculated for the variables under analysis. The hypothesized effect of self-efficacy, career goals, and AI on career planning was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results supported the adequacy of the proposed model in explaining the career planning. Career planning is positively influenced by the level of self-efficacy of players through the definition of career goals and is negatively influenced by the level of AI. At the same time, the self-efficacy of players through the definition of career goals positively influenced AI. These findings reinforce the important role of self-efficacy and career goals for the development of AI and career planning and at the same time the opposite relationship between AI and career planning. Thus, it is suggested that a balance on AI, maintaining high levels of self-efficacy and career goals, is required to improve the process of career planning and retirement.

Evaluating a job search strategy model of fit perceptions: a construct validation amongst unemployed job seekers

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the (1) psychometric properties of Crossley and Highhouse's job search strategy scale and (2) the predictive utility of the scale on fit perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from unemployed job seekers in Ghana (nT1 = 720; nT2 = 418). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the data.

Findings

Exploratory factor analysis on the first random sub-sample (n = 362) supported a three-factor model. Confirmatory factor analysis on the second random sub-sample (n = 358) confirmed the three-factor structure and was invariant across job search contexts and genders. Moreover, structural path results showed that the use of focussed and exploratory job search strategies facilitated positive fit perceptions and the use of haphazard job search resulted in poor job fit perceptions.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine the dimensionality of job search strategies based on different job search context by linking it to fit perceptions. Moreover, the authors provide evidence that the job search strategy scale has a valid psychometric property and a promising instrument to assess job search behaviour across job search contexts and genders in an understudied population.

An Application of the Social Cognitive Career Theory Model of Career Self-Management to College Athletes' Career Planning for Life After Sport

Drawing on Lent and Brown (2013) recently developed Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) model of Career Self-Management (CSM), we aimed to determine the key predictors and underlying theoretical mechanisms of college athletes' career planning processes for life after sport. Ten variables were operationalized (i.e., career planning for life after sport, career decision self-efficacy, career goals, perceived career planning support from coaches, perceived career planning barriers, conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, neuroticism, and agreeableness) to assess the hypothesized CSM model. A survey design was utilized on a sample of 538 NCAA Division I college athletes in the United States to test the model. The measurement and hypothesized models were tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The measurement model demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity for all measures. Several significant direct, indirect, and moderating relationships of the cognitive, contextual, and personality variables on career planning were observed. The CSM model was found to be a useful theoretical framework that explained 62.7% of the variance on career planning. The model, along with the validated measures that support it, can help both researchers and practitioners to leverage facilitating (i.e., self-efficacy, career goals, conscientiousness, openness, and extraversion) and impeding (i.e., career barriers) factors of the career planning processes in their work.

Vocational Anticipatory Socialization

Framed by social cognitive career theory, this study identified college students’ perceptions of the most influential sources and content of encouraging/discouraging career messages (vocational anticipatory socialization [VAS]). A survey of 873 university students found that mothers, followed by teachers/professors, friends, and fathers, were perceived to be the most influential encouraging VAS sources. However, first-generation college students were more likely to identify teachers/professors as their most influential VAS source. Friends were identified as most influential source of discouraging messages. The most frequently identified VAS messages gave career details. Mothers were most often described as conveying messages telling their children to pursue a passion for their career, while teachers/professors were frequently reported as providing career detail messages. Based on the VAS messages reported, we speculate that some VAS messages help students overcome perceived barriers by boosting self-efficacy and outcome expectations, confirming students’ individual skills and helping students envision themselves in particular career settings.