Current Career Theories Research Articles

Unexpectedly Pursuing Employment in a New Country: How Refugees Overcome Vocational Barriers

Our goal in the current symposium is to build on this base of knowledge regarding the barriers faced by refugees, and to present research that unpacks the processes and factors that enable refugees to overcome tremendous challenges in pursuing successful employment from multiple perspectives. In doing so, we provide deeper insight into the problems and challenges that refugees face, provide preliminary solutions, and make theoretical contributions in the field. Finding solutions to the barriers that refugees face is necessary, as research has found that the single most important factor for successful refugee resettlement is securing employment (Porter & Haslam, 2003). From a theoretical standpoint, researchers have started to criticize current career theories for failing to describe the careers of underprivileged people, such as refugees, as underprivileged people often lack agency and choice in their careers (Duffy, Blustein, Diemer, & Autin, 2016). Thus, the scholarship presented here aligns with the 2021 conference theme Bringing the Manager Back in Management, as managers increasingly face the challenge of shaping how organizations are perceived by society. Our symposium addresses critical questions pertaining to the successful management of organizations, such as factors that can enable refugee career adaptability, how managers successfully and ethically integrate refugees into their workplace and identifying potential barriers refugees may face during their job search process. We focus on the two major career choices refugees face: traditional employment and entrepreneurship. Uncovering the Relationship Between Openness to Experience and Career Adaptability in Refugees Presenter: Alexander Newman; Deakin U. Presenter: Karen Dunwoodie; Deakin U. Presenter: Zhou Jiang; Flinders U. Presenter: Ingrid Nielsen; Monash U., Australia Gender Similarities and Differences in Experiences in Refugee Entrepreneurs Presenter: Hans Van Dijk; Tilburg U. Presenter: Sophie Alkhaled; Lancaster U. Management School Presenter: Lena Knappert; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Silke Van Herk; Tilburg U. Fostering Refugees' Labor Market Integration: The Roles of Businesses and Host Country Agencies Presenter: Katja Wehrle; Justus-Liebig U. Giessen Presenter: Ute-Christine Klehe; Justus-Liebig U. Giessen Presenter: Mari Kira; U. of Michigan Organizational Socialization Practices, Refugees’ Experiences, and Polyrhythmic Socialization Presenter: Elena Glauninger; U. of Graz Presenter: Renate Ortlieb; U. of Graz Presenter: Silvana Weiss; U. of Graz Development of the Refugee Job Search Stressor Scale Presenter: Matthew Hanson; SUNY, Albany Presenter: Lisa E. Baranik; U. at Albany, State U. of New York Presenter: Rachel Williamson Smith; Louisiana State U. Presenter: Liyue Fan; U. of North Carolina, Charlotte

When People Don’t Realize Their Career Desires: Toward a Theory of Career Inaction

Career decisions are at the core of the career literature. Most current career theories focus on how career decisions are enacted and, in the end, realized. However, empirical evidence shows that p...

Measuring Career Orientations in the Era of the Boundaryless Career

Schein proposed his career anchor construct more than 40 years ago. The purpose of our research is to use current career theory perspectives to reconceptualize and develop a measure that is grounded in the career anchor framework but better reflects the boundaryless nature of careers today. We conducted two studies in which we develop and validate a measure of career orientation by examining its internal structure (Study 1) and external validity within a nomological network of conceptually related variables (Study 2). Results suggest that career orientation is best represented by a six-dimension factor structure: entrepreneurial creativity, security, managerial competence, lifestyle, technical competence, and service to a cause. Five of the six factors that emerged were correlated as expected with proactive personality, ambition, career self-management behaviors, mentoring relationships, and workplace attitudes, providing support for our conceptualization and measure of career orientation. The implications for both theory and practice are discussed.

The Interdependent Family‐Centric Career: Career Perspective of the Overseas Chinese in Indonesia

This theoretical article presents an interdisciplinary approach to extend the scope of current career theories and their application to the overseas Chinese (OC) in Indonesia. Using an ecological model to analyze culture and an emic perspective, the article discusses several factors that affect careers of OC Indonesians. Factors such as culture, discrimination, subjective careers, Confucian values, and family business structure are discussed as variables that create a bounded career perspective. This conceptual view is used as a foundation to discuss the needs for future research and the development of a cross‐cultural career model that is applicable in bounded career environments.

The Potential Impact of Global Changes in Work for Career Theory and Practice

This article presents an analysis of current career theory and practice around the globe. It briefly describes important changes that are impacting working life and considers how these changes have prompted innovations in career counselling theory and practice. Innovations and emerging developments in career theory include constructivism, systems theory, action theory, and a series of fragmentary theoretical developments that highlight the importance of paradoxical thinking. In terms of career counselling practice, some of the new developments include a greater emphasis on active engagement, more holistic methods, an expanded counselling focus, and an increased emphasis on counselling efficacy. These developments present new opportunities and challenges for career counselling theorists and practitioners.

A qualitative study of Latino lesbian and gay youths’ experiences with discrimination and the career development process

Eight Latino lesbian and gay (LG) youth were interviewed for this descriptive qualitative study. The purpose of this study was to examine the Latino LG youth career development process and to increase our understanding of how multiple identities intersect with each other and the career development process. Six themes emerged: knowing you are different, within-group prejudice, no restrictions to career choice, intersecting developmental tasks, resilience in the face of heterosexism, and contradictory identity management in the workplace. Findings from these themes are discussed in relation to current career theory and research, and in particular Social Cognitive Career Theory.

Positive Compromise: A New Perpective for Career Psychology

One of the main challenges in the current world of work is the constant change and adjustment individuals encounter. To deal with such uncertainty, a person often has to give up something less feasible and achievable in order to accomplish career goals and projects that are more practical and obtainable. As a result, compromise becomes an inevitable vital construct in a person's career. This article explores the importance of maintaining an open stance in your work life—paying particular attention to the role of compromise in the career development process. It reviews the meaning of compromise in the current career theories; expands on the existing conceptualisation of compromise; and proposes a new perspective—positive compromise—to redefine the role and function of compromise in vocational and career psychology. Following this new conceptual framework, implications for career development intervention and career counselling are illustrated.

Girls and women: Challenges for careers guidance practice

This article reviews the position of women in the UK labour market and the increasing complexity of their employment patterns. It criticises current career theory for girls and women and examines enhancers and inhibitors of women's career development. Finally, some promising developments in theory-building for girls and women are briefly discussed, together with some implications for practice.

Women Lawyers and Their Working Arrangements: Time Crunch, Stress and Career Paths

AbstractLife in industrial societies is governed by different kinds of “time”: mathematical or monochronic time predominates in the workplace but sociocultural or polychronic time prevails at home, particularly where young children are present. Many women report high levels of “time crunch” as they move between these two spheres and these effects are heightened for women in the professions. In this study, I test four hypotheses: women lawyers have higher time crunch levels than women in the general population. Time crunch is heightened among women who take primary responsibility for the care of young children and those who work in large law firms. As women grow older and shed some of the demands of child care, their time crunch levels drop. This study incorporates both quantitative and qualitative approaches: a regression analysis of “time crunch stress” is used to test the major hypotheses and excerpts from unstructured interviews deal with time management problems in the lives of these women. Findings from the regression analysis reveal heightened time crunch stress for the women in this study, particularly if they assume major responsibility for child care. Neither firm size nor age has a statistically significant effect on time crunch stress. Women lawyers are caught between two kinds of time and, over the long term, their careers assume shapes that differ from those of their male counterparts. These divergent career patterns suggest that current career theories are in need of reassessment and revision.

How Do Women Scientists Perceive Their Own Career Development?

Examines the applicability of current career theory to women scientists. Data were collected from a group of New Zealand women scientists and interpreted using the Concept Mapping technique which produces a two‐dimensional visual map of the participants′ responses. The results show that the respondents see their own personal attributes and their organizational environment as equally important for their career development. They attribute success to internal qualities and do not perceive significant barriers to their career development from external sources. This finding is in conflict with many studies which show that women experience significant barriers to entry and barriers to participation, especially in professional fields. In the case of the science profession, however, women continue to be such a small minority of the workforce that survival may necessitate their adoption of the male values which inevitably dominate in their workplaces.