Abstract
This article for the 50th anniversary issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior theoretically integrates, reviews, and critically discusses research that investigates vocational behavior and development based on life stage, lifespan, and life course perspectives. First, we describe key tenets of these perspectives and associated theories of vocational behavior and development. Second, we present a theoretical framework that integrates the lifespan and life course perspectives by addressing (a) relationships between age and important work and career outcomes (i.e., career decisions and success, job search and turnover, work motivation and behavior, attitudes, occupational health and well-being), (b) age-related person and contextual mechanisms of these relationships, and (c) interactive effects of age with person characteristics, contextual characteristics, and/or work and career outcomes. Third, based on the theoretical framework, we summarize cumulative empirical evidence for these age-related associations and effects for the various work and career outcomes. Moreover, we review conceptual and empirical articles on aging, life stage, lifespan, and life course development published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior over the past 50 years. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of theoretical implications and directions for future research that adopts an integrated lifespan and life course perspective on vocational behavior and development.
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