The same, but different: career orientation profiles in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland

Career orientations, career success and perceived self-efficacy of women employees in relation to their gender identity were studied. It was hypothesized that gender identity is related to career orientations such that women with a masculine gender identity strive for more upward mobility as compared to women with a feminine gender identity, whereas the latter strive more for balancing work and private life. A masculine gender identity was furthermore predicted to be positively related to career success in terms of income and hierarchical position. Finally it was expected that women with a feminine gender identity, in comparison to those with a masculine gender identity, express a lower self-efficacy with respect to stereotypical male and gender-neutral tasks and equal self-efficacy with respect to stereotypical feminine tasks. To test the hypotheses, a questionnaire was distributed among women working for a large multinational corporation. The results provided support for the first two hypotheses. Mixed support was obtained for the third hypothesis.

In the context of universal higher education and labor market polarization, undergraduates in universities of applied sciences (UAS) face growing challenges in forming career orientation. Drawing on data from a UAS in China (N = 3138), this study examines how perceived career advising influences students’ career orientation. Three key findings emerge: (1) Only perceived perspective advising (PPA) exhibits significant and direct effects on career orientation, underscoring the developmental value of structured guidance. In contrast, perceived emotional advising (PEA) and perceived growth advising (PGA) show no direct effect. (2) Both PPA and PGA are positively associated with career exploration, whereas PEA exhibits a negative association. This suggests that when advising interactions are overly affective, they inadvertently reduce students’ initiative to explore. (3) Career exploration fully mediates the effects of PEA and PGA, while it partially mediates the effect of PPA. This reflects that different types of career advising influence career orientation through distinct mechanisms, with PEA and PGA relying more heavily on exploratory engagement. The cultural and educational context in China shapes how students respond to different types of career advising. This study offers theoretical and practical insights for building career advising systems to actively foster students’ autonomous, cognitively engaged exploration processes.

Background: There is limited empirical research on the role of individuals’ career orientations, digital-era world of work awareness and career agility mindset in purposive career exploration.Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which career orientations and awareness of the digital-era world of work contribute to a career agility mindset.Method: The cross-sectional quantitative survey involved a sample of 486 adult learners (65% women; 35% men; 85% black learners; 15% white learners; and mean age 34 years) in the economic and management sciences field.Results: Regression analysis revealed the protean-type career orientations of technical and functional competence, autonomy and independence, and pure challenge career orientations as significant predictors of digital-era world of work awareness. Digital-era world of work awareness and the technical and functional competence, pure challenge and general management career orientations acted as significant antecedents of the career agility mindset.Conclusion: The associations between the study constructs offer promising support for applying principles of career exploration theory in digital-era purposive career exploration counselling.

Using data from a national survey, this article focuses on career-related attitudes and behaviors of social work academics, paying particular attention to the status of female academics. Although the women and men in the sample were similar in many ways, the women experienced certain sources of stress and dissatisfaction that were not identified by the men, and thus their academic careers seem to have differed significantly from those of the men. The women aspired to be like their male counterparts. To do so, however, would require that they slant their careers more toward research than toward teaching.

The adolescence stage is the turning point in the life of a student as their career depends on the subjects they select for further studies. During this stage, the adolescent setup their career goals and focus on it and they make future educational plans in the field of education. Life of 21st century is full of struggles and an individual has to face many challenges. They need to take right decisions in the field of technology, science and materialistic life. It is believed that education enables the individual to earn his living. Career aspiration plays an important role in career preference. A career decision of a person affects social, mental and economic status of his/her life. It is also necessary for development of skilled manpower for society and country. Career decision is a part of overall personality development of child. Some studies show that career choice depends on family background, peer effect, interest, values, attitude and aptitude of a child. So, it is important to know how these factors affect the career decision of a child in overall development. This study was proposed to know the relation between career preference and peer pressure of 600 girl students of higher secondary school of Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Jashpur, Janjgir and Korba districts, using standardized tool Career preference scale constructed by Dr Vivek Bhargava and Rajshree Bhargava and Peer Pressure Scale developed by researcher. This study revealed that urban and rural girls significantly differ in career preference. A positive effect of peer pressure is found on career preference of girl students.

An Australian sample (N = 467) of high school students was administered scales tapping optimism, self-esteem, career expectations, career goals, career planning and career exploration. The study tested a career mediational model based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and cognitive-motivational-relational theory (CMR). It was hypothesised that the stable person inputs of optimism and self-esteem would predict career planning and career exploration through the variables of career expectations and career goals differentially for young males and females. For males, optimism and self-esteem influenced career expectations, sequentially predicting career goals, career planning and career exploration. A different pathway was identified for females, with optimism directly influencing career goals, which subsequently predicted career planning and career exploration. Self-esteem predicted career expectations, which then directly influenced career planning and career exploration by bypassing career goals. Results are discussed in the context of SCCT and CMR.

PurposeThe present study has two purposes. One is to investigate the relationship between an Inter‐Organizational Career Orientation (IOCO) of employees and their career strategies. The second is to investigate the effects of the career attitudes that an IOCO has on employee career strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe facts and conclusions presented in this paper were obtained from a study of 365 employees from 16 companies. A multiple regression analysis was adopted for testing hypotheses.FindingsWith regard to the first objective, it was determined that IOCO has a positive effect on inter‐organizational career strategies (career exploration) and a negative one on organizational career strategies (self‐nomination). With regard to the second objective, the moderating effects of career attitudes toward the relationships described as follows became clear: job involvement of employees with regard to the relationship between IOCO and creating career opportunities; job involvement of employees with regard to the relationship between IOCO and self‐nomination; job involvement of employees with regard to the relationship between IOCO and career insight; and career goal commitment of employees with regard to the relationship between IOCO and challenging work behavior.Research limitations/implicationsAn analysis according to demographic factors and the implementation of longitudinal research are suggested as future research subjects.Originality/valueThis paper showed that IOCO contributed not only to the rejection of organizational career strategies but also to that of organizational and inter‐organizational career strategies. “Domain fit hypothesis” was verified in new organizational behavioral concepts between career orientation and a career strategy.

The Antecedent Role of Proactive Personality in Career Self-Management Lulu Yu (bio), Weiqiao Fan (bio), Zhiwei Wang (bio), Xiaofang Wang (bio), and Chuan Yu (bio) After the implementation of the Chinese Higher Education Enrollment Policy in 1999, the Ministry of Chinese Education (2017) reported that the number of undergraduates had increased dramatically, up to nearly 8 million in 2018. Meanwhile, because of global competition, technological advances, and job insecurity, personal career development for these students has become more and more sophisticated and even beyond their understanding (Inkson, 2004). This may result in a series of adaptation problems for undergraduates in their career development, such as low awareness of the need to seek professional and career information and lack of career goals. Wang (2018) reported that only 49% of 2017 undergraduates were hired into jobs that matched their majors, only 67% were satisfied with their jobs, and around 33% left their positions within 6 months. A survey in 2010 showed that only 58% of employers were satisfied with the overall performance of those employees who had graduated from universities within the preceding 5 years (Department of Employment Promotion, 2011). Accordingly, it is of great importance to increase the level of career self-management among Chinese undergraduates so that they can improve their career development and adaptation. According to the career self-management model (Lent & Brown, 2013), two factors should be important predictors of undergraduates' career goals: personality traits and social cognitive variables. Personality traits are the relatively stable tendencies that coordinate behavioral performance and regulate emotions; these traits influence undergraduates' career exploration. Social cognitive variables include such attributes as sense of self-efficacy, outcome expectation, and career goal. Self-efficacy refers to the belief about one's own ability to manage and address specific tasks and unusual challenges, which is relevant in the process of career exploration and decision making. Outcome expectation involves the anticipated consequences of performing those behaviors that are seen as leading to a specific result. Career goal refers to an individual's career exploratory plans and intentions to perform a particular behavior in their career development. The career selfmanagement model has been empirically supported in the literature. For example, Lent et al. (2016) reported that the personality trait of conscientiousness has direct effects on career self-efficacy and goals and indirect effects on career outcome expectations. Proactive personality, a type of personality disposed toward proactive behavior, is regarded as having a relatively stable tendency to affect individuals' activities (Bateman & Crant, 1993). It is empirically supported to predict work performance, innovative behaviors, and job satisfaction (Zhang & Yang, 2017). A sample of international students showed that their proactive behaviors, particularly [End Page 351] information-seeking behaviors, were positively linked to their communication satisfaction with instructors and to their school-life satisfaction (Cho & Lee, 2016). The results from a sample of 180 full-time employees and their supervisors over 2 years indicated that proactive personality was related to career initiative, which in turn had a positive relationship to career progression (salary growth and the number of promotions during the previous 2 years) and career satisfaction (Seibert et al., 2001). Some researchers have reported that those people with higher levels of proactive disposition are more conscientious (Major et al., 2006) and that proactive personality is related to career self-efficacy in career exploration (Qu et al., 2015; Shang & Gan, 2009). In other words, undergraduates who have a stronger sense of responsibility might willingly develop much more selfefficacy or outcome expectations, which in turn may lead to more specific goals in their career development. Few studies have been designed to examine the association among personality variables (e.g., proactive disposition) and career goal intentions, particularly in Chinese undergraduates. Our aim for this study was to verify the antecedent role of proactive personality in terms of the career self-management model among a sample of Chinese undergraduate students. We hypothesized that proactive personality would have effects on career goal via career self-efficacy and outcome expectation. This may provide not only some new evidence for the relationship between personality traits and career goal intentions, but also a new perspective for helping undergraduates develop their career interests and plans and carry out career...

This paper focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on college students' career preferences. Based on a survey and literature analysis, the study reveals that the pandemic has prompted students to place greater emphasis on job stability while also increasing their attention to flexible employment forms and emerging industries. However, the research also identifies several prevalent issues, such as insufficient career planning, significant career anxiety, and limited access to information. To address these challenges, the following strategies are proposed: (1) at the societal level, improve career guidance and counseling systems, build employment information-sharing platforms, and enhance psychological support services; (2) at the university level, deepen practical education, optimize career planning courses, and encourage students to clarify their career goals and strengthen their sense of social responsibility; (3) at the individual level, strengthen professional skills and practical experience, expand information channels, and adopt a positive and rational approach to employment challenges. This study provides scientific reference for college students' career planning and aims to help them achieve the balanced integration of personal development and social value in a complex employment environment.

Self-image and career orientations determine the formation and development of the future teacher as part of career advancement and professional socialization. During university studies there is a formation and development of career orientations, as well as a change of self-perception in future teachers. By understanding the prospects for career advancement and comparing them with educational opportunities and abilities, the future teacher can successfully direct self-development at achieving career goals. The effectiveness of career planning of a teacher depends largely on his/her self-confidence and ideas about career orientations, his/her satisfaction with professional activity, the consistency of professional and personal development. Aim. The purpose of the article is to identify the relationship between self-image and career orientations of future teachers. Materials and methods. The study involved 162 students of the South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University aged from 17 to 24 years. The study was based on two methods: “Career Anchors” (E. Shane), which determine the career orientations of a person; life-orientation (D.A. Leontiev), allowing to assess the degree of conviction of the subject in the ability to control his/her own life. To determine the relationship between the two variables, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used with SPSS Statistics v. 22. Results: an empirical study conducted on a sample of future teachers (n = 162) showed that there were significant correlations between self-perception and career orientations. Dependencies between two career orientations (“service”, “challenge”) with self-image (“The master of life”, “I control my life”), characterized by the ability to influence the life of the teacher, were revealed. The dominant (“work stability”, “service” and “integration of lifestyles”) and weakly expressed (“residence stability”) career orientations of future teachers were determined. It is shown that future teachers expressed a desire to shape themselves as a specialist, to transfer their experience and knowledge to their students, to embody their universal human, spiritual and moral values and ideas in their work. Students were convinced that they would be able to make the right decisions and cope with any professional difficulties. Conclusion. The results allow us to conclude that there are significant correlations between self-perceptions and career orientations in future teachers. Self-image largely determines the goals and values of the future teacher in the field of educational activities. Self-perception determines the semantic side of career orientations, while the degree of understanding of the leading career orientations affects the personal and professional development of students during training, as well as their ideas about themselves. By receiving education, future teachers strive for self-development and self-realization in the framework of "horizontal career" and clearly demonstrate their willingness to serve people and society, which confirms the need to support and develop the autopsychological competence of future teachers.

This study identified underlying career orientation types of clinical research coordinators (CRCs) using cluster analysis. Select career (satisfaction, engagement, and planning) and competency-related (perceived competence) information was used to identify four distinct career orientation types. A web-based survey was administered to CRCs employed in one of four research institutions affiliated with a National Institutes of Health-funded Clinical and Translational Research Award (CTSA) in the southeastern USA. Each respondent completed a survey containing questions about personal background, individual attributes, perceived professional competence, and career orientation. The first CRC type (35.2%) possessed a positive, knowledge-seeking orientation, characterized by high career-related scores but a conservative assessment of perceived competence. The second CRC type (18.6%) represented an optimistic and confident career orientation reflected in moderate to high scores on each of the four identifying factors. The third CRC type (27.6%) reflected an inconsistent career orientation highlighted by lowered perceived competence. The final CRC type (18.6%) reflected a disengaged orientation characterized by negative responses to all career and competence factors. Understanding the career orientation of CRCs can be helpful to institutional administrators and clinical investigators as they seek to support the professional development of CRCs through tailored training efforts or work-related supports. Knowledge of career orientation may also inform individual CRCs as they manage their personal career paths by assessing current levels of functioning, career-related strengths or weaknesses, and training needs.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to further develop Global Talent Management (GTM) and the career literature by conceptualizing a model that uses widely discussed contemporary career concepts such as boundaryless career, protean career and kaleidoscope career, with a special focus on gender issues and contextual impact factors. This model contributes to the understanding of how GTM in multinational enterprises (MNEs) can be designed to fit lifelong career courses and to reduce talent scarcity by increasing the deployment of female talent. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a theoretical model of a talent’s lifelong development of career orientations, and draw insights from many discreet literature bases. Through a review of the relevant literature, this paper synthesizes a holistic approach to understand why MNEs need a tailor-made GTM with a particular focus on gender and a life phase-specific career orientation with strong local responsiveness. Findings – The Dynamic Career Cube is a hermeneutic model that helps to visualize the individual career course of talented employees and the fit of talent’s career orientations and GTM. Research limitations/implications – A research agenda that includes a retrospective analysis of biographies, especially considering contextual factors such as culture and role stereotypes, is proposed as a starting point for research in this field. Practical implications – The design and implementation of current GTM must be questioned to fit the contextual factors and to currently match the needs of talented male and female employees throughout their lifelong career course. Tailor-made GTM measures depending on the career phase are proposed. Originality/value – The paper provides a novel synthesis of the existing research and literature on GTM, gender and careers. By showing the complexity of individual career decisions that are influenced by internal and contextual factors, the paper emphasizes the importance of flexible, locally responsive and gender-inclusive GTM. The paper is useful for academics who seek insight into a talent’s decision-making process and practitioners who manage talent globally.

This research was conducted based on empirical findings which showed that the problem of the low career orientation of students. Therefore it is necessary to know clearly in addressing the situation, so that problems related to career orientation experienced by students can be analyzed in depth. This study aims to determine the career orientation of the Guidance and Counseling Study Program students. The method used in this research is descriptive method in the form of survey research. Research Subjects are students of guidance and counseling study program Academic Year 2019/2020. Based on the analysis of the data in the study it can be concluded that career orientation is included in the sufficient category. This can be interpreted that career awareness, career exploration, and student career planning are quite good. Keywords : career orientation, student guidance and counseling.

This study investigates the interrelationships among 10th-grade students’ career preferences, science-related anxiety, perceived science competence, and transversal skills using a mixed-methods approach. Data from 95 Estonian students were analyzed through Latent Class Analysis, revealing six distinct self-perception profiles. The largest group (40.6%) exhibited low anxiety, high science competence, and strong transversal skills – characteristics aligned with high self-efficacy and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics(STEM)-oriented career interest. Other profiles demonstrated more complex combinations, such as elevated anxiety paired with strong transversal skills but low competence, or moderate competence with domain-specific anxieties. Violin plot visualizations illustrated nuanced differences in central tendency, dispersion, and distribution shape across classes, uncovering intra-group variability often obscured by mean comparisons. The findings underscore the need for differentiated educational strategies that address both emotional and cognitive dimensions of learning. Specifically, reducing science-related anxiety and fostering transversal skills may support more equitable and inclusive engagement in STEM education and career exploration.

<span lang="EN-US">Career orientation competency (COC) plays a crucial role in preparing students for lifelong learning and labor market adaptability. However, existing research has largely overlooked how this competency develops among indigenous ethnic minority students in culturally diverse and educationally disadvantaged contexts such as Vietnam’s Central Highlands. Addressing this gap, the present study adopts the social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to examine how personal, contextual, and behavioral factors interact to shape COC in this population. SCCT serves not only as a conceptual lens but also informs the development of the research model and interpretation of findings. A quantitative approach was employed using cross-sectional survey data collected from 669 ethnic minority students. Analytical techniques included reliability analysis (Cronbach’s alpha), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for construct validation, and multiple linear regression to test predictive relationships. Results revealed six key determinants of COC: self-awareness (SA), expectations for results (ER), personal goals (PG), community connection (CC), career exploration (CE), and cultural identity (CI). Notably, CI had the most significant effect (β=0.308), suggesting its central role in guiding career-related behaviors. These findings have important implications for both theory and practice. They extend SCCT by integrating culturally specific constructs relevant to marginalized communities and they highlight the need for context-responsive career guidance programs that recognize and leverage students’ cultural identities. The study contributes to the empirical foundation for inclusive education policy reforms targeting ethnic minority youth in Vietnam.</span>