Searching for the self: an identity control theory approach to triggers of occupational exploration

Young Adults’ Self-Regulatory Responses to Positive Career Goal Discrepancies: Testing Cross-Lagged Relationships

Researchers have assessed young people’s outcomes when they do not meet their career goals, but little is known about the consequences when they do better than expected (positive discrepancies). We (a) tested the cross-lagged relationships between positive career goal discrepancies and the career-related outcomes of upward goal revision, career exploration, and career coasting, and (b) assessed the indirect relationships between positive career goal discrepancy and outcomes through self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Using a sample of 314 young adults (76% female, Mage 19.13 years), we found that the standard causation model was the most parsimonious. Positive discrepancies predicted more upward goal revision and exploration and less coasting after a 6-month time lag, both directly and indirectly through outcome expectations. The findings highlight the importance of positive career goal appraisals in career goal setting, exploration, management and clarify the roles of agency (self-efficacy and outcome expectations) as explanatory mechanisms in these relationships.

The Effect of Grit on Career Adaptability of Chinese College Students Based on the Self-Regulatory Processes

Intelligence is innate, but grit is something everyone can develop. Grit not only enables students to stick to their goals, but also to persevere even when they fail. Career adaptability is an important concept in vocational education of college students, which is a person engaged in some work, must have a certain physical and psychological quality. Base on the self-regulation theory, this study investigated the relationship between grit and career adaptability of Chinese college student based on the self-regulatory processes. We surveyed 839 Chinese college students and tested a self-regulation model. As expected, grit was related to greater career adaptability via greater career exploration and decision self-efficacy, positive affect, and goal commitment. These findings not only broaden the theoretical framework for the effect of grit on career adaptability, but also open up a new horizon for improving college students' career adaptability in practice.

How Does Negative Career Feedback Affect Career Goal Disengagement? The Mediating Roles of Career Planning and Psychological Well-Being

The social cognitive model of career self-management postulates that negative career feedback will prompt individuals to reconsider career goals, and a study by Hu, Hood, and Creed reported a positive relationship between negative career feedback and goal disengagement. Drawing on this model, we theorized that negative career feedback will trigger cognition in the form of career planning and affect in the form of well-being and that career planning and well-being in turn will inform the decision to reengage or disengage from career goals. Using data collected through surveys from faculty members (Study 1) and managers (Study 2) from Pakistan, we found strong support for the mediating influence of career planning and psychological well-being. Interestingly, and contrary to expectation, negative career feedback negatively related to career goal disengagement. Using a two-study constructive replication format enhances confidence that our results are repeatable and not artifactual to particular samples and/or settings. We discuss implications of results for theory and offer suggestions for future research.

Vocational Identity and Career Progress: The Intervening Variables of Career Calling and Willingness to Compromise

Few studies have assessed potential underlying mechanisms related to vocational identity development. Informed by goal-setting and self-regulatory theories, this study ( N = 286 young adults; mean age = 20.5 years) tested the relationship between vocational identity and career goal–performance discrepancy (i.e., the appraisal that unsatisfactory progress is being made in one’s career) and assessed the process roles of willingness/unwillingness to compromise (as mediator) and career calling (as moderator) in this relationship. As expected, we found that a stronger vocational identity was associated with less willingness to compromise and fewer perceptions of career-related discrepancy and that willingness to compromise partially mediated the relationship between vocational identity and career goal–performance discrepancy. Additionally, career calling strengthened the negative relationship (i.e., moderated) between vocational identity and willingness to compromise and strengthened the negative relationship (i.e., moderated the mediation effect) between vocational identity and career goal–performance discrepancy.

Professionalism as proxy for business education: Considering Arts and Science majors pursuing business minors

With increased scrutiny over the value and promise of higher education, liberal arts degrees face criticism, in favor of professional degrees like business that position students for a linear career path to lucrative work. Research for this article is based on 20 interviews with college students majoring in Arts and Sciences, who completed a summer program to obtain a business minor. Our findings demonstrate that participants talk about the business minor as a key factor in ‘selling themselves’ to potential employers by (1) highlighting the discipline required to complete the program, (2) acting as a conversation starter with potential employees, and (3) emphasizing the broad applicability of a business minor. Implications demonstrate the power of professionalism to render specialized knowledge (like business knowledge) insignificant while offering an extension of Williams’ ideal-worker norm to young people.

Career Goal Importance as a Moderator in the Relationship Between Career Feedback and Career-Related Stress

Based on goal-setting theory, this study examined the relationship between negative career goal feedback and career-related stress, tested whether career goal–performance discrepancy operated as a mediator in this relationship, and assessed whether career goal importance strengthened the indirect effect of negative feedback on stress via discrepancy. Using a sample of 317 health profession university students (mean age = 19.5 years), we found that negative feedback was associated positively with stress and that discrepancy mediated this relationship. Consistent with goal-setting theory, we also found that discrepancy was higher at higher levels of negative feedback for those with higher goal importance, and the indirect effect of negative feedback on stress through discrepancy increased with increasing goal importance. These findings highlight important roles for career goal feedback and career goal importance in young peoples’ career goal pursuit.

The Development and Initial Validation of a Scale to Assess Career Goal Discrepancies

Career goal discrepancy, which is at the heart of goal-oriented, career models of motivation and agency, is the perceived gap between an individual’s career goal (i.e., future self or situation) and the progress being made toward achieving that goal (i.e., current self or situation). There are no existing scales that assess this construct. To progress research in this area, we devised a brief, 12-item measure suitable for use with young adults. Devising a scale for this population is appropriate, as young adulthood is the age when occupational goals and occupational goal progress are important foci. We generated initial items for four underlying domains of goal discrepancy (achievement, effort, ability, and standard discrepancy), had the items rated by experts, and then administered them to a large, diverse sample of young adults ( N = 615, mean age 20.9 years). We reduced the number of items and tested the factor structure of the scale using exploratory factor analysis, confirmed the structure on a holdout sample using confirmatory factor analysis, and assessed construct validity by testing hypothesized relationships with existing measures (career goal commitment and career distress). Being able to assess discrepancy in the career domain will stimulate research into the career development of young adults and will allow practitioners to explore issues around career goal setting and adaptive responses to career setbacks.