Social cognitive predictors of academic persistence and performance in engineering: Applicability across gender and race/ethnicity

The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectations in the Relationship Between Peer Context and Academic Engagement: A Social Cognitive Theory Perspective

Student engagement in learning has well-recognized positive effects on both academic and non-academic aspects of development. However, there has been limited research on the factors that shape it. This study examined the influence of peers' academic norms, educational aspirations, and effort socialization on students' academic engagement, placing self-efficacy and outcome expectations as mediators. Grounded in Bandura's social cognitive theory, data were collected cross-sectionally from 596 high school students (male = 315) in Ethiopia. The results of the path analysis demonstrated a good model-data fit. Peers' academic norms, educational aspirations, and effort socialization positively predicted academic engagement. Bootstrap analysis with 5000 samples revealed that academic self-efficacy (β = 0.022, BC 95% CI = [0.008, 0.041], p < 0.01) and outcome expectations (β = 0.053, BC 95% CI = [0.028, 0.086], p < 0.001) partially mediated the relationship between peer educational aspirations and students' academic engagement. The partial mediated effects of peers' academic norms on academic engagement via self-efficacy (β = 0.030, BC 95% CI = [0.014, 0.054], p < 0.001) and outcome expectations (β = 0.037, BC 95% CI = [0.014, 0.062], p < 0.01) were also significant. Additionally, peer effort socialization showed significant positive indirect effects on academic engagement, mediated by academic self-efficacy (β = 0.024, BC 95% CI = [0.009, 0.044], p < 0.01) and outcome expectations (β = 0.078, BC 95% CI = [0.050, 0.112], p < 0.001). Overall, the mediation analysis revealed that outcome expectations and self-efficacy partially mediated the link between academic engagement and the peer context, highlighting the importance of these mediators in enhancing student engagement.

"Walking with Dreams": The Categories of Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy and Its Influence on Learning Engagement of Senior High School Students

Career decision-making self-efficacy is a key factor influencing high school students' ability to make informed choices. It is closely associated with their professional interests, learning engagement, and academic performance. This study aims to explore the latent categories of career decision-making self-efficacy among Chinese high school students and analyze the differences in learning engagement across students with different types of career decision-making self-efficacy. A convenience sampling method was employed to recruit 510 Chinese high school students as participants. A questionnaire survey was conducted using the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale and the Learning Engagement Scale. The validity of the questionnaire was analyzed using Amos 23.0, descriptive statistics and correlation analyses were performed with SPSS 26.0, and a latent profile model was constructed using Mplus 8.0. The results indicate that there are four latent categories of career decision-making self-efficacy among high school students. In terms of learning engagement levels, the categories are ranked from highest to lowest as follows: high career decision-making self-efficacy type, lack of external exploration type, lack of internal exploration type, and low career decision-making self-efficacy type. Students with high and low career decision-making self-efficacy demonstrated significantly higher levels of learning engagement compared to those categorized as lacking external or internal exploration. Therefore, the design of career education curricula for high school students should focus on enhancing career decision-making self-efficacy to stimulate their intrinsic motivation for learning. Differences among various student types should be acknowledged, allowing for tailored and individualized instruction. Additionally, efforts should be made to strengthen integrated career guidance that links academics, career interests, and future professions, guiding all stakeholders to shift away from entrenched practices of "exam-oriented education" and utilitarian perspectives.

Reciprocal Relationship Between Learning Interest and Learning Persistence: Roles of Strategies for Self-Regulated Learning Behaviors and Academic Performance

Learning interest (internal driving motivation) and learning persistence (explicit behaviors) are important factors affecting students' academic development, yet whether they operate reciprocally and how to bolster them are still issues requiring attention. This study aimed to examine the reciprocal relationship between learning interest and persistence as well as the potential mechanisms behind the relationship from the perspectives of internal self-regulation and external feedback (i.e., academic performance). 510 students (Mage = 13.71, SD = 1.77, 44.1% girls) were tracked for one year using questionnaires. Results showed that higher learning interest was linked to greater subsequent learning persistence and vice versa; and both predicted each other over time indirectly through academic performance and the multiple mediating paths from strategies for self-regulated learning behaviors to academic performance. Ancillary analysis verifies the robustness of these results. The findings not only provide evidence of a dynamic relationship between learning motivation and behaviors, highlighting the important role of positive performance feedback in leading to a benign cycle, but also contribute to understanding the potential avenue (i.e., teaching strategies for self-regulation) for optimizing student learning.

Predictors of academic engagement of high school students: academic socialization and motivational beliefs

The potential of academic engagement to enhance academic outcomes and well-being has been empirically supported, yet studies addressing its predictors are too limited. Hence, the current study collected self-report cross-sectional data from randomly selected 614 (male = 323) high school students in Ethiopia and examined the relations of academic socialization (parental and peer), self-efficacy, and outcome expectations in explaining variance in academic engagement, guided by an integrative model of engagement. Structural equation modeling with the maximum likelihood method indicated that (a) the hypothesized model fit the data well, (b) direct paths from parental and peer academic socialization to self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and academic engagement were positive and significant, (c) the relationships of the constructs in the model explained a significant portion of the variance in academic engagement, and (d) self-efficacy and outcome expectations significantly and positively but partially mediated the pathway from academic socialization to academic engagement. The findings' implications for boosting student academic engagement were forwarded.

Predictive model of the dropout intention of Chilean university students

Dropping out of university studies is one of the current problems of Higher Education; the increased rates during the first year of the study programme is considerable around the world. Dropping out has negative social implications that are reflected at the personal, family, institutional, and educational levels. The aim of this study was to evaluate a predictive model considering the mediation of university social satisfaction and perceived academic performance within the relations between perceived social support, social self-efficacy and academic purposes with career satisfaction and dropout intention in Chilean university students. A non-experimental explanatory design of latent and observed variables was used. Structural equation analyses with Mplus software were performed. The sample consisted of 956 first year university students. The study complied with the ethical requirements for research with human subjects. As a result, a predictive model with adequate adjustment indexes was obtained. When evaluating the explanatory capacity through the coefficient of determination (R² ), it was observed that it explains 38.9 and 27.4% of the variance of the dropout intention and career satisfaction, respectively. This percentage of explanation indicates a large effect size in Social Sciences; therefore, they are considered adequate predictive models. The mediation of university social satisfaction on the relationships between social support, social self-efficacy, and academic purposes with academic adjustment and dropout intention was, respectively, confirmed. The perception of academic performance has less influence on dropout intention and on career satisfaction among first-year students. The model obtained allows explaining the dropout intention and career satisfaction in first year students. In addition, it is composed of variables that can potentially be modified in the interaction of students and professors.

Improving self-regulated learning competencies of service employees: roles of regulatory appraisals and supportive resources

Purpose

In the era of technological advancements such as artificial intelligence and robotics, the working environment of service employees is changing, and the need to self-regulate their learning efforts has reached a pinnacle. The purpose of this study is to investigate how supportive resources (organizational investments in social capital, supervisor support and favorable customer feedback) facilitate service employees' self-regulated learning competencies (SRLCs) and how individual factors (self-efficacy and goal orientation) regulate service employee performance outcomes (commitment to service quality and job performance).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on the social cognitive theory and social capital perspectives, a quantitative survey was implemented with 516 service employees of a corporation operating in Turkey in various service sectors (i.e. retailing, health and technology). The data are analyzed through a covariance-based structural equation model.

Findings

Results showed that organizational, supervisory and customer-level supportive resources improved SRLCs and subsequently performance outcomes. Service employees' goal orientation and self-efficacy attenuate the relationship between supportive resources and SRLCs.

Originality/value

This paper enhances the current literature by investigating SRLCs of frontline service employees who need more dynamic and adaptive self-managed self-regulated learning rather than passive training activities. Moreover, the unexpected negative effect of regulatory mechanisms (goal orientation and self-efficacy) on the relationship between supportive resources and SRLCs opens new avenues for managers.

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.

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 Predictors of Music Majors’ Academic Well-Being and Persistence Intentions

Vocational psychology has devoted limited attention to factors that promote or hinder the career development of musicians. We combined features of social cognitive career theory’s (SCCT) well-being and choice models to examine the experiences of musicians at a formative point in their career development – the first few years of college, during which many would-be musicians either reaffirm or abandon their career paths. Consistent with SCCT, we posited that academic satisfaction and stress would be predicted by favorable levels of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, goal progress, and trait negative affect. We also expected that satisfaction and stress levels would, along with self-efficacy and outcome expectations, predict intentions to persist in undergraduate music majors. Participants were 260 first- and second-year undergraduate music majors. The hypothesized model and a slightly revised version (which added a direct path from goal progress to persistence intentions) produced good fit to the data and accounted well for variation in academic satisfaction, stress, and persistence intentions.

Influence of Person-Vocation Fit on Satisfaction and Persistence in Vocational Training Programs

Positive effects of person-environment fit on job satisfaction and persistence are well documented. However, little is known about the consequences of person-vocation (P-V) fit for vocational education and training (VET). Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we examine the influence of selected P-V fit indicators (educational match, interest congruence, skill congruence) on training satisfaction and premature contract termination (PCT) for 4,097 trainees in VET. We find that most P-V incongruences do not lead to negative consequences. Training satisfaction is not affected by interest congruence and skill congruence. However, moderate overeducation (intermediately qualified adolescents working in occupations with high shares of low-qualified trainees) enhances training satisfaction. For PCT, there is a general effect of undereducation; undereducation increases the probability of PCT independent of educational qualification for the occupation. PCT is not affected by skill congruence and only for Realistic interests, congruence with the vocational environment reduces PCT probability.

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.

The applicability of social cognitive career theory in predicting life satisfaction of university students: A meta-analytic path analysis

Derived from the social cognitive career theory (SCCT), the present study developed a model for the empirical examination of factors affecting the life satisfaction of university students. A random-effects meta-analysis of zero-order correlations observed the results of 16 studies (20 samples, n = 7,967), and associations among the SCCT variables were examined by using a meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) according to a pooled correlation matrix. An alternative model was offered and then assessed. The findings showed a satisfactory fit of the new model as compared to the original SCCT. The results demonstrated support for the alternative model of SCCT in predicting life satisfaction. The present study suggested that researchers should embrace this alternative model when synthesizing SCCT factors. Limitations and avenues for future research were put forward for further consideration.

Social Cognitive Career Theory at 25: Progress in Studying the Domain Satisfaction and Career Self-Management Models

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) was introduced 25 years ago. The theory originally included three interrelated models of (a) career and academic interest development, (b) choice-making, and (c) performance. It was later expanded to include two additional models, one focusing on educational and occupational satisfaction, or well-being, and the other emphasizing the process of career self-management over the life span. On this, the silver anniversary of SCCT, we consider the progress made in studying these two most recent models. In addition to reviewing existing findings, we cite promising directions for future research and application. Examples include additional study of model combinations that may shed greater light on choice persistence, possibilities for using the self-management model to study aspects of career development that are relevant to other theories, and the importance of theory-guided applications to aid preparation for, and coping with, uncertainties in the future world of work.

Turning Around to Look Ahead: Views of Vocational Psychology in 2001 and 2019

Ten scholars in vocational psychology identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in a 2001 issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior. This article reviews the state of the field in 2001 and then identifies to what extent the strengths and concerns have changed in the past two decades. While the field continues to have a strong theoretical and empirical tradition, old concerns about insularity, methods used to examine research questions, gulfs between science and practice, and turf wars remain a serious threat to the field. We outline the nature of these concerns and propose recommendations from the literature to these concerns.

A Latent Growth Modeling Analysis of the Effects of Perceived Supports, Perceived Barriers, and Coping Efficacy on Latina/o Engineering Students’ Life Satisfaction

Using latent growth modeling (LGM) procedures, this study tested a model of Latina/o engineering students’ life satisfaction based on Lent and Brown’s social cognitive well-being model with a sample of 342 Latina/o engineering students attending a Hispanic-serving institution. Participants completed measures of perceived supports, perceived barriers, and coping efficacy at 3 points, each approximately 1 year apart, and life satisfaction at Time 3. The results indicated that perceived supports, perceived barriers, and coping efficacy changed across time. Specifically, perceived supports and coping efficacy decreased and perceived barriers increased over time. Individual differences were found in the growth patterns of these constructs, with participants with low perceived supports and coping efficacy at Time 1 demonstrating more decrease and those with low perceived barriers at Time 1 demonstrating more increase in these variables over time. In the multivariate LGM analysis, the proposed model fit the data, but only partial support was found for the relations among the variables. Specifically, high perceived barriers were negatively related to low coping efficacy, high perceived supports were positively related to high coping efficacy, and high coping efficacy was positively related to high life satisfaction. However, coping efficacy did not mediate the relations between supports and barriers to life satisfaction. Finally, growth in perceived barriers was negatively related to the decline of coping efficacy. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Reciprocal Associations Between Career Self-Efficacy and Vocational Identity: A Three-Wave Longitudinal Study

We examined the changes in career decision-making self-efficacy (CDSE) and vocational identity (VI) and their reciprocal associations among 1,026 senior high school students, comprising 493 from Hong Kong (age in 10th grade: M = 16.31, SD = 0.65; 238 girls) and 533 from Shanghai (age in 10th grade: M = 16.50, SD = 0.56; 237 girls). They completed measures for assessing their CDSE and VI annually from 10th to 12th grades. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that both CDSE and VI significantly increased over time in the Hong Kong sample. Cross-lagged path analyses indicated that the reciprocal positive effects between CDSE and VI over time were supported in both samples. These findings indicated that CDSE and VI are generally dynamic and interrelated dimensions for Chinese adolescents’ career development with some regional differences.

The Joint Roles of Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Personality Traits in the Prediction of Career Decidedness and Decisional Difficulty

We examined the differential roles that career decision-making self-efficacy and the Big Five traits of neuroticism, extroversion, and conscientiousness may play in relation to career decision status and decisional difficulty. Following assumptions of the social cognitive model of career self-management, we hypothesized that the relations of the personality traits to level of decidedness and choice/commitment anxiety (CCA), a key source of indecision, would be mediated by self-efficacy. We also examined the possibility that the traits could function to moderate the relation of self-efficacy to the dependent variables. Employing a sample of 182 undergraduates, we found support for a mediational model in which each of the personality traits relates to self-efficacy which, in turn, predicts CCA and decidedness. In addition, conscientiousness was found to moderate the relation of career decision-making self-efficacy to CCA, and extroversion moderated the relation of self-efficacy to decidedness. We consider the findings in relation to the social cognitive model and discuss their implications for future research and career decision-making interventions.

Testing a Social Cognitive Model of Well-Being With Women Engineers

The present study tests the utility of the Social Cognitive Model of Well-Being (SCWB) in the context of work, with a sample of 348 women engineers. Using structural equation modeling, we examined the relations of positive affect, self-efficacy, work conditions, goal progress, and environmental supports and barriers that were assumed to account for job satisfaction and life satisfaction of women engineers. Overall, the model provided a good fit to the data, and SCWB predictors accounted for a significant amount of variance in job satisfaction (63%) and life satisfaction (54%) with our sample of women engineers. As expected, most paths of the SCWB model were significant; however, we also found nonsignificant relations among variables in the model. In particular, goal progress did not play a critical role in the present study. In addition, we examined the indirect effects of environmental variables (e.g., supports and barriers) on job satisfaction via sociocognitive variables (e.g., self-efficacy and perceived work conditions) in the engineering work domain. Implications for practice, theory, and future vocational and organizational research in engineering are discussed.

O papel do apoio social nas intenções de prosseguir profissões científico-tecnológicas

A Teoria Sociocognitiva da Carreira (TSCC) argumenta que vários resultados do desenvolvimento de carreira são função da interação contínua entre variáveis pessoais, contextuais e comportamentais. Neste estudo pretende-se testar a plausibilidade da hipótese derivada da TSCC do efeito de moderação do apoio social nas intenções de escolha vocacionais dos alunos. Usou-se uma amostra de 440 alunos dos 11º e 12º anos de escolaridade (54% do sexo feminino). Os resultados mostraram que o modelo estrutural apresenta um bom nível ajustamento em ambas subamostras e que é invariante no que respeita aos coeficientes de regressão e às variâncias dos fatores examinados.

Do You Think I’m Worth It? The Self-Verifying Role of Parental Engagement in Career Adaptability and Career Persistence Among STEM Students

Parents contribute a great deal to their children’s career development. Despite the central importance of the self-concept to career development, little research has examined the role played by parental engagement in the link between the child’s self-concept and career development. Integrating self-verification and career construction theories, we develop and test the prediction that parental engagement indirectly contributes to career adaptability and career persistence by serving as a tacit signal of the child’s positive worth. Using a time-lagged survey design, we tested the proposed moderated mediation model in a sample of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) university students. The results show full support for the hypothesized model. Consistent with self-verification theory, STEM students’ self-esteem was only associated with subsequent career adaptability and career persistence if they also perceived high levels of parental engagement. This result held despite statistically controlling for parent-reported parental engagement. We discuss implications for career development, STEM career persistence, and career counseling.