Career Adaptability and Vocational Identity of Commercial Apprentices in the German Dual System

Abstract

The construct of career adaptability has recently gained importance in research on vocational development and has led to a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. Alongside with vocational identity it has been theorised as the crucial meta-competency of modern career construction. Due to its roots in adolescent career development, career adaptability is not limited to the vocational adjustments of working adults, but is also highly relevant for the pre-occupational orientation processes of adolescents initially developing a vocational identity. Despite the recent increase in empirical research on career adaptability, the field of vocational education has been largely neglected so far. Therefore, a quantitative survey among nearly N = 400 commercial apprentices within the German dual system of VET has been conducted. This study focuses on the replication of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) among commercial apprentices within the German dual system, and its discrimination against alternative operationalisations of career adaptability. Furthermore, the relationship between career adaptability and vocational identity (operationalised as occupational and organisational identification) was explored. Results showed that the four-dimensional structure of career adaptability covered by the CAAS could be largely replicated in the dual system. In addition, it was found that the CAAS can in part be separated from alternative operationalisations. Finally, the results confirmed career adaptability positively predicts both foci of identification in a cognitive and affective manner. This indicates that career adaptability can be seen as a beneficial factor for vocational education and training as it fosters the vocational ties of apprentices in terms of their identity.