Vocational Decision Research Articles

Factors influencing career adaptation: The positive effects of mastery goal orientation, social support, and vocational decision self-efficacy

In the highly competitive employment environment, most college students have left their jobs for a short time after employment, and attention should be paid to students’ career adaptation. However, the further influence of skilled goal orientation, social support and career-determined self-efficacy on college students’ career adaptation needs to be confirmed. This study analyzes the effects of these factors on college students’ career adaptation. This study aims to analyze the impact of mastery goal orientation, social support, and vocational decision self-efficacy on career adaptation among 224 university students in East China. The results indicated that university students generally exhibit positive levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and overall career adaptation. Female students demonstrate higher levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and career adaptation compared to male students. As students progress in their academic years, their levels of mastery goal orientation, social support, vocational decision self-efficacy, and career adaptation tend to increase. Students majoring in humanities and social sciences have higher level than students majoring in science and engineering in all factors. Students majoring in humanities and social sciences exhibit more optimism in all factors compared to students in science and technology fields. The relationships among these factors show positive correlations. Mastery goal orientation, social support, and vocational decision self-efficacy all have positive effects on career adaptation. Among these, family support stands out as the most influential subordinate factor of social support on career adaptation. The most influential subordinate factor of vocational decision self-efficacy on career adaptation is conscious decision-making. Therefore, male, lower grade, science and engineering college students are the groups that need to be paid attention to in improving career adaptation. Skilled goal orientation, family support and conscious decision making have a better effect on the improvement of career adaptation. These results can provide important reference information for universities, counselors and college students in the training of career planning, and theoretically enrich the relevant research on college students’ career adaptation, and provide certain enlightenment for future researchers.

Acceptance of Gig Economy as a Source of Halal Income Among Muslim Graduates

In the current landscape, recent university graduates face challenges in securing sustainable income to cover daily expenses and establish future financial reserves. The gig economy, known for its flexibility and alignment with academic pursuits, has gained significance in addressing this need. The objectives of this study are two-folds, namely: (a) to assess the acceptance of the gig economy as a legitimate source of halal income among Muslim graduates in Kelantan, and (b) to determine the factors influencing their choice of gig-type jobs. Utilizing qualitative methods, the research employs purposive sampling, conducting semi-structured interviews with nine Muslim graduates from diverse academic backgrounds. Findings reveal that not all research participants have a right understanding of halal income although all of them accept the gig economy as a source of halal income. The findings also indicate that factors impacting their engagement in the gig economy include the need to earn a living, flexibility in their work schedules and acquisition of new skills. In conclusion, the study illuminates the intricate interplay of economic considerations, religious values, and vocational decisions. It can be implied from this study that valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and industry stakeholders supporting the aspirations of Muslim graduates elsewhere amid the evolving landscape of work. Future work should focus on a comprehensive investigation including multiple states can be undertaken to obtain a more elucidating perspective on this issue.

The Effect of Career Anxiety on High School Students' Career Decision Making

This study aimed to examine the effect of career anxiety on high school students' career decision-making. The study group of the research consists of a total of 449 students, 146 boys (32.5%) and 303 girls (67%), who continue their education in different high schools in Konya center and districts. Research data was obtained using the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researchers, the "Career Anxiety Scale" developed by Çetin-Gündüz and Nalbantoğlu-Yılmaz (2016) and the "Vocational Decision Making Inventory" developed by Çakır (2004). A relational screening model based on a descriptive method was used in the research. In the analysis of the data, parametric statistical techniques such as t test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey test, correlation and regression analysis techniques were used according to the normality test. According to the research findings, there is a significant relationship between both career anxiety regarding family influence and career anxiety regarding career choice and all sub-dimensions of career decision-making. In addition, there is a low level positive relationship between students' career concerns related to family influence and the sub-dimensions of internal conflicts, not knowing oneself well enough, lack of profession and field knowledge, and irrational beliefs about career choice, and a moderate positive relationship between the students' career concerns and the external conflicts sub-dimension. It was found that there was a relationship.

Influence of executive functioning and emotional regulation on effective career choice

Although emotional management and executive functioning have been widely associated with effective decision making, not much attention has been paid to their role in vocational decision making. This study analyzed the relationship between insecurity in career choice, executive functioning, and emotion regulation in university students. Results show how executive dysfunction significantly predicted insecurity in vocational choice. Its mediating role between emotional management and the academic-vocational decision-making process was also confirmed. Our findings contribute to the understanding of vocational choice in youth and suggest the need to consider both variables in guidance programs, to prevent subsequent dissatisfaction with the vocational decision.

Determinants of College Career Choice by Students: A Review of Factors Influencing Vocational Decision Making

La elección de una carrera universitaria es un proceso importante y complejo en la vida de los estudiantes. Esta investigación se centró en analizar los factores que influyen en los estudiantes al momento de seleccionar su carrera universitaria. Se examinaron diversos elementos determinantes, como los factores motivacionales y culturales. Por otro lado también destaca la importancia de comprender los factores motivacionales y culturales que influyen en la elección de carrera de los estudiantes universitarios. Los resultados subrayan la necesidad de proporcionar orientación y apoyo adecuados, considerando los intereses personales, las aptitudes y habilidades, las perspectivas laborales, la influencia social y familiar, así como los valores y expectativas culturales. Al entender estos factores, se puede ayudar a los estudiantes a tomar decisiones informadas y significativas que les permitan desarrollarse profesionalmente y encontrar satisfacción en su vida laboral.

L’approche existentielle dans l’accompagnement de personnes au chômage en perte de repères : les processus de construction du sens de la vie et du travail (études de cas)

The guidance design for unemployed people in changing career must increasingly take into account their existential concerns about career meaning. The literature about life and work meaning has highlighted the multifactorial complexity of meaning definition and determinants of meaning. This fact does not facilitate their use in counselling design. Bernaud et al. (2020) “Guidance for life and work meaning” device takes into account this problem; it offers many thinking prospects that organize meaning questioning in order to help people who loosed professional and personal markers. By analyzing an application of this device with the multiple cases method, our article examines how a meaning guidance helps unemployed people in giving a new direction of their career. The study of five cases with chronologic analysis unities shows how various meaning dimensions help people to clarify, to enrich and to transform their initial problematic during accompaniment and how they progress with different rhythms to major personal and vocational decisions.

Personality predictors of career exploration: A meta‐analysis

AbstractIn this meta‐analysis, correlations of personality traits and career decision‐making self‐efficacy with self and environmental career exploration were estimated across 71 samples and a pairwise sample of 19,846. Traits included the Big Five personality traits, shyness, locus of control, vocational decision styles, and stress. Many measures of career exploration were based on scores of self and environmental exploration on the Career Exploration Survey. Results varied by characteristics with the largest effects for locus of control, vocational decision style: thinking‐feeling and self‐efficacy. Environmental exploration and self‐exploration were moderately correlated and demonstrated different relations with traits that were consistent with theory. Self‐exploration was related to openness to experience and unrelated to extraversion, while environmental exploration was correlated with extraversion. Both were similarly correlated with conscientiousness such that conscientious individuals were more likely to engage in career exploration.

Vocational Decision Making and Anxiety during the Coronavirus 19 Pandemic

Vocational decision making and anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic. The objective of this research is to identify the relationship between vocational decision making and anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic. The study is descriptive, cross-sectional, non-experimental, correlational. The study subjects are high school students who are at the time of making a vocational decision. The students were selected using the snowball technique since they were not in the classrooms of educational institutions during the semester period from January to July 2021. The variables of the study are vocational decision-making and anxiety in times of coronavirus pandemic. The reliability of the evaluation instruments such as the Herrera and Montes Interests and Aptitudes Questionnaire and the Beck anxiety test were obtained. Locating the correlation between the variables. The SPSS statistical package was used for data analysis. The obtained results, in terms of the reliability of the instruments that place them on a Cronbach's Alpha, are between .8 and .9 each of them. The main conclusion is that the relationship between anxiety and vocational decision is not important for vocational decision making since anxiety during the coronavirus pandemic does not affect vocational decision.

Reducing vocational education inequality for students from refugee backgrounds

ABSTRACT Vocational decisions made at school have significant long term impacts on young people’s life chances, their opportunities for securing decent jobs and economic growth for themselves, their families and communities. In the short term, their aspirations dictate the decisions they make about educational pathways in post-compulsory years of schooling and vocational and higher education. For young people from already marginalised backgrounds, the quality of support they have in making these decisions is crucially important. This paper examines a rapidly expanding vocational education program specifically designed for students with refugee backgrounds that was codeveloped between a state education authority and a community service provider in Sydney, Australia. Through an ecological understanding of individuals as nested within interrelated networks, this paper explores the perspectives of stakeholders ranging from the educators, careers teachers, employers, civic partners, and, crucially, the young people themselves in order to determine whether and through what means key program elements meet the needs of students from a refugee background and where gaps in the program ecology need to be addressed.

Vocational counseling and the aspiration of achieving a university admission of students with a migratory background in The United States, Latin America, and South Europe. A systematic literature review

There is limited research that considers students with migratory background cultural characteristics within vocational counseling processes in high schools of the United States, Latin America, and South Europe. A systematic literature review was made, guided by the question: In young migrants and second-generation migrants, how vocational counseling influences the achievement of being admitted into a university, comparing their life trajectories during secondary and high school? A total of ten articles, out of three hundred eleven initially found, were selected based on a protocol for the literature review (available on request). All these articles belong to the United States context. One also considered the Spain reality. Based on the protocol used, neither another Southern Europe article, nor any article on the Latin American context was selected. All the analyzed articles pointed up the central role of counseling processes regarding students' vocational decisions. Nonetheless, there is not much attention to counseling processes given to students with a migratory background and their specific needs. Among others, this fact reveals one of the failures of the system in giving post-secondary opportunities to these students. Limitations and recommendations to improve the vocational counseling processes and their influence on the achievement of admission into a university for these students are presented. Besides, some gender differences and the transcendental role of families in the vocational decisions of students are analyzed within the literature review.

Cuestionario de riesgo de deserción universitaria (CDUe) basado en el modelo ecológico

Antecedentes. La Teoría Ecológica del desarrollo humano permite comprender la deserción universitaria como fenómeno multidimensional y multivariado; pero los cuestionarios existentes no han sido estructurados ni validados bajo esta perspectiva teórica. Objetivo. Construir y validar un cuestionario para evaluar el riesgo percibido de deserción en estudiantes universitarios, desde la percepción de las incongruencias en los procesos de interacción del estudiante y sus entornos ecológicos próximos y distales que generan incumplimiento de las expectativas de formación profesional. Metodología. Estudio psicométrico con enfoque empírico-analítico, de tipo cuantitativo, metodología descriptiva, con medidas transversales individuales. Se usó muestreo probabilístico estratificado para seleccionar 729 estudiantes, de dos universidades colombianas. Resultados. La estructura factorial del cuestionario explica el 38% de la varianza, con 49 ítems (α>,68; w>,67), agrupados en cinco escalas (nivel micro: autoeficacia y decisión vocacional; nivel meso: redes de apoyo funcionales y disfuncionales; nivel macro: estructura de soporte curricular e inserción laboral). La escala unidimensional de inserción laboral para estudiantes de último año de carrera, agrupó 14 ítems (α>,8; w>,8) y explica el 22,45% de la varianza. Las escalas autoeficacia, redes de apoyo y soporte curricular poseen buenos niveles de sensibilidad y la escala decisión vocacional posee alto nivel de especificidad. Conclusiones. Existe evidencia de validez de constructo y convergente y de fiabilidad psicométrica del cuestionario para detectar alertas tempranas de deserción en estudiantes desde la teoría ecológica. El cuestionario es útil para seguimiento longitudinal; este modelo multidimensional asocia el análisis del tiempo, el género y la universidad (público o privado).

The Parental Influence on the Educational and Vocational Decisions of Adolescents: A Retrospection of International Research

This paper deals with the analysis of family factors that influence the educational and therefore professional decisions of adolescents. The educational-professional decisions of adolescents are products of complex and parallel processes and the influence of parents on them is internationally diachronic and important. Initially, a presentation and analysis of the conceptual approaches of decision-making is attempted and then a historical presentation of research data concerning the parental connection and influence on the educational-vocational decisions of adolescents is made. The influencial factors that are being considered are those of the parents’ professions, the grammatical knowledge and the educational background of the family, the family’s economic situation, the gender of adolescents and the expectations and unfulfilled wishes of the parents. It is also required to mention the crucial role of functional-authoritative parenting and the negative influence of parental over-involvement.

Personal Identity and Vocational Decision Difficulties: The Teenager Greek Immigrants of the Hellenic High School of Wuppertal, Germany

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between the identity formation of adolescent Greek immigrants in Germany and the difficulties they encounter in making vocational decisions, as a prerequisite to the consequent selection of relevant education and training. The psychometric tools Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ) and The Career Decision Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), as well as an improvised demographic questionnaire, were handed out to 100 pupils of the Hellenic High School of Wuppertal. The research results were interpreted in the light of Marcia’s identity typology and Gati’s theoretical model and revealed that: (a) Adolescents with an Identity Achievement had little difficulty in choosing a career, while others had considerable difficulty. (b) There was no relevance between age groups and identity typology. (c) Genders did not differ in identity typology and vocational decision-making difficulties. Both sexes seemed to have equal difficulty in their vocational pursuits. (d) School performance did not differ according to the type of identity. (e) The higher the school grades/performance, the higher the identity inquiry. (f) The greater the difficulties of adolescents in their vocational choices, the less committed they became. (g) The high and middle educational level of mothers (but not of fathers) led to higher rates of Identity Achievement. The difficulties of adolescents’ vocational decision-making did not differ according to the educational level of their parents. (h) The duration of staying of adolescent immigrants in Germany was not correlated with difficulties in their vocational choices.

Características vocacionales y comportamiento social de la Generación Z. Caso El Triunfo, Ecuador

El objetivo principal de este estudio fue caracterizar a la generacion Z y cuales son sus intereses y aptitudes profesionales como indicador de la construccion de sus proyectos de vida, asi como, explorar el comportamiento social que conlleva la accion en la toma decisiones vocacionales. La muestra la conforman 161 estudiantes, se caracteriza por tener 45% de mujeres y 55% de varones de un rango de edad entre 13 y 19 anos. Los resultados indican que este grupo de analisis construye sus proyectos de vida en base a intereses enfocados en el arte y aptitudes hacia la medicina y ciencias de la salud, con caracteristicas del comportamiento social direccionada a tener consideracion con los demas, pero con una necesidad latente de indicadores de liderazgo.

Vocational and academic decisions in ‘classed’ school environments

ABSTRACT By studying population-wide panels of 10th graders in Norway, I investigate the association between the social class composition of cohorts in schools and choosing an academic as opposed to a vocational track at upper-secondary level. Two steps are used to study this relationship. First, I use multilevel models estimating the group level model simultaneously with the regression of the individual-level model. Second, by using 11 panels of 10th graders, I employ school fixed effects to get closer to an estimate of school compositional effects happening within the school. Both models find that the proportion of upper-class peers at lower-secondary schools is associated with the increased likelihood of choosing academic tracks at the upper-secondary level, and especially for students who are not from upper-class backgrounds. This suggests that the ‘classed’ nature of educational decision-making is also embedded in contexts beyond familial ones.

Entrepreneurship as a vocational choice in contested entrepreneurship communities: The role of entrepreneurs' justification strategies

Research on the vocational decision to become an entrepreneur highlights how culture justifies such decisions when entrepreneurs align with the dominant cultural norms. Less is known about such justification when entrepreneurship is seen as less culturally appropriate. This qualitative study explores how entrepreneurs in Santiago, Chile and Nairobi, Kenya use strategies that comply, combine, and defy frames to justify vocational choices. Our framework sheds new light on how entrepreneurs act as purposeful cultural agents and use justification strategies to navigate constraining societal frames.

Moral and Vocational Dilemmas Meet the Common Currency Hypothesis: a Contribution to Value Commensurability

Moral dilemmas have long been debated in moral philosophy without reaching a definitive consensus. The majority of value pluralists attribute their origin to the incommensurability of moral values, i.e. the statement that, since moral values are many and different in nature, they may conflict and cannot be compared. Neuroscientific studies on the neural common currency show that the comparison between allegedly incompatible alternatives is a practical possibility, namely it is the basis of the way in which the agent evaluates choice options. Indeed, both in economic and moral decision-making, the value of options is represented and directly compared in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Therefore, we contend that moral dilemmas do not originate from value incommensurability and, on the basis of the neuroscientific discoveries on the neural currency, we derive the implications for the philosophical debate on moral dilemmas. We also provide a possible connection between the experience of moral dilemmas and their neural representation: one of the causes of the individual’s indecision is the neural tie, i.e. the condition in which two options have the same value at neural level, and her regret could be due to the motivational force of the rejected option that is still signalled by affective processes in the brain. We apply this interpretation and the common currency hypothesis to vocational decisions and propose that, although from the agent’s perspective the options are qualitatively different, they may be nevertheless equivalent at neural level. This can be seen as a reason for downgrading the importance commonly attributed to the risk of making the “wrong choice”.

العـلاقـة بین الـذکـاء وقـدرة الصـم على اتخـاذ القـرار المهنـی لــدى الطـــلاب ذوی الإعــاقــــة السمعیــــة The relationship between Intelligence and Vocational Decision-making Ability among Students with Hearing Impairment

هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى التعرف على العلاقة بين الذکاء والقدرة على اتخاذ القرار المهني لدى الطلبة ذوي الإعاقة السمعية. شملت عينة الدراسة مجموعة من الطلاب ذوي الإعاقة السمعية والبالغ عددهم (157) طالب في مدارس الصم بالأردن، ممن تتراوح أعمارهم بين (13 – 16.12) سنة. ومن أجل تحقيق أهداف الدراسة تم تحويل فقرات مقياس وکسلر4 للذکاء إلى لغة الإشارة وتم التوصل إلى دلالات عن صدق وثبات ومعايير لمقياس وکسلر-4 تبرر استخدامه مع ذوي الإعاقة السمعية. کما تم تطبيق مقياس لاتخاذ القرار المهني تتوفر فيه دلالات صدق وثبات مناسبة. أظهرت النتائج أن مستوى ذکاء الطلاب ذوي الإعاقة السمعية کان طبيعيا وأن مستوى اتخاذ القرار المهني لديهم ضمن المتوسط. کما أظهرت النتائج أنه لا توجد علاقة ذات دلالة إحصائية ما بين الذکاء والقدرة على اتخاذ القرار المهني لدى الطلبة ذوو الإعاقة السمعية على المقياس الکلي، إلا أنه يوجد فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في المقياس الفرعي المتعلق بذاکرة العمل يعزى لمتغير الجنس وکان لصالح الإناث. کما تبين عدم وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في مستوى اتخاذ القرار المهني لدى الطلاب ذوي الإعاقة السمعية يعزى لمتغير الجنس. کما أظهرت النتائج وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في مستوى الفهم الکلامي، وذاکرة العمل، والذکاء الکلي يعزى لمتغير درجة الإعاقة السمعية لدى الصم لصالح فئة الإعاقة السمعية البسيطة، مع عدم وجود فروق ذات دلالة إحصائية في مستوى اتخاذ القرار المهني لدى الصم يعزى لمتغير درجة الإعاقة السمعية. وتوصي الدراسة بإجراء المزيد من الدراسات والأبحاث المتعلقة بمدى فاعلية طرق التواصل للطلبة الصم وأثرها على اتخاذ القرار المهني. ورفع مستوى الوعي لدى العاملين مع الصم بضرورة التهيئة المهنية لتلک الفئة. This study aims at investigating the relationship between intelligence and vocational decision-making ability among students with hearing impairment. To achieve the study aim, the items of Wechsler Intelligence Scale (Fourth Edition) were converted to sign language. Reliability, validity, and norms were approved for the scale among deaf students utilizing sign language. The study sample consisted of 157 students with hearing impairment who were enrolled in schools for deaf students in Jordan. The students’ age ranged from 13 to 16.12. Results revealed that the intelligence of students with hearing impairment distributed normally. The students’ abilities to make vocational decision were moderate. There was no significant statistical relationship between intelligence and vocational decision-making among the students, but there was a statistically difference in the Working Memory sub-scale according to the students gender in favor of female. The study recommends that conducting further research in terms of the effectiveness of communication methods for deaf students and the effect of these methods on vocational decision-making. Further, the study recommends increase the professional's awareness who work with deaf students regarding to the necessity of vocational perpetration.

A content analysis of research on masculinity ideologies using all forms of the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI).

Since its development in the late 1980s, the Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI) and related forms have been used in 91 studies to examine masculinity ideologies through male role norms in the United States and other countries with over 30,000 participants. The study of male role norms and masculinity ideologies has remained a prominent area of study in the psychology of men and masculinities since at least 1995. Since the last formal review of the MRNI in 2007, 2 new forms of the MRNI have been developed, including short form and adolescent versions, and various forms of the measure have been used in at least 70 additional studies. After describing the development and psychometric properties of the MRNI, this article reports the results of a content analysis of all studies on male role norms using the MRNI in all forms, describing sample demographics, methodologies, topics, and findings. Results of the present study show the MRNI has been used to investigate men’s psychological, physical, and sexual health, romantic relationships, quality of friendships, and vocational decisions. The MRNI has also been utilized in examining negative attitudes toward People of Color and sexual minority and gender nonconforming men. This content analysis also highlights understudied areas such as body image, sports, religiousness/spirituality, and fatherhood. Finally, it calls for more representative samples in terms of ethnic, racial, sexual orientation, and gender diversity. Implications for clinical applications of previous findings are discussed and recommendations for further investigating male role norms and masculinity ideologies research are presented.

Una nueva oficina en el liceo: la instalación de los orientadores como política educacional en Chile (c.1946-c.1953)

In the context of the internationalization of educational policies after the Second World War, school counselling was an emerging field in the reforms undertaken in secondary education in Chile. It was understood as a realm with a double function. On the one hand, it had to guide students towards vocational decisions according to the needs of the country. In addition, it should induce processes of knowledge and emotional regulation in students. In this paper, it is synthetically addressed some aspects of the establishment of school counselors in the Lyceums as well as some of its challenges, especially regarding the second mentioned function.