Career Decision Making Process

The current study investigated the Emotional and Personality-related Career decision-making Difficulties model and questionnaire (EPCD) by studying its associations with various personality measures in three samples: (a) 691 deliberating individuals who entered a career self-help website, (b) 197 students in a university preparatory program, and (c) 286 young adults from the general population. As hypothesized, higher levels of emotional and personality-related career decisionmaking difficulties, as measured by the EPCD, were associated with higher levels of neuroticism, agreeableness, perfectionism, and need for cognitive closure, and lower levels of extraversion, openness to experience, and career decision self-efficacy. In addition, higher levels of these difficulties were associated with a more external locus of control (LoC), and with being less advanced in the career decision-making process.

A general theoretical taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties, based on decision theory, has been developed. To examine the proposed taxonomy empirically, a questionnaire was constructed in which the various possible difficulties in the theoretical model were represented by respective statements. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 259 young Israeli adults who were at the beginning of their career decision-making process and to an American sample of 304 university students. The observed relations among the 10 scales, which represent the 10 theoretical categories of difficulties, and those among the items within 2 selected categories, were similar in the 2 samples and compatible with the expected relations derived from the theoretical model. The implications for career counseling and research are discussed.

Abstract 1. A general theoretical taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties, based on decision theory, has been developed. To examine the proposed taxonomy empirically, a questionnaire was constructed in which the various possible difficulties in the theoretical model were represented by respective statements.

This study investigated the influence of personality traits on career decisions among secondary school students in Yakurr Local Government Area of Cross River State, Nigeria. The research design adopted was the survey design. 200 students drawn from 10 public schools in the area of study, made up the sample of the study and this was done through stratified random sampling technique. The major instrument used for data collection was the personality traits and students’ career decisions questionnaire (PTSCDQ) and data generated were analyzed using the independent t-test analysis. The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result obtained indicated that personality traits of attitude and perception have a significant influence on career decision among secondary school students. Based on this among others, it was concluded that career decision among students are not only influenced by their parents and image figures but their attitude, perception and individual traits depending on how they think about such careers. It was therefore recommended that, professional counselors, parents/guardians, teachers and administrators alike should strive to create career awareness and give more attention to the personality trait of attitude and perception as displayed by students.

Abstract This research focuses on developing a theoretical framework for analyzing the emotional and personality-related aspects of career-decision-making difficulties. The proposed model is comprised of three major clusters: pessimistic views, anxiety, and self-concept and identity. In Study 1, the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD) was developed, refined, and used to empirically test the model with an Israeli Internet sample (N= 728).

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the cultural and motivational perspectives associated with the occupational or vocational decision-related processes of senior high school students. Two theoretical frameworks were developed to guide the investigation by integrating theories from the culture, motivation, decision-making, and vocational decision-making literatures. One theoretical framework investigated the roles of culture and motivation in the vocational decisions made by senior high school students, while the other examined the vocational decision-related processes of senior high school students in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated about choosing a future occupation. A mixed methods approach (incorporating a cross-sectional and correlational research design for the quantitative component) was implemented using a specially developed questionnaire. In the first phase of the investigation, the questionnaire was administered to 492 Year 11 students attending a stratified random sample of six Independent high schools located in the Sydney metropolitan area. In the second and main phase, a refined version of the questionnaire was administered to 566 Year 11 students attending a stratified random sample of 16 government high schools located in the Sydney metropolitan area. Structural equation modelling, discriminant analyses, and qualitative techniques were used to analyse the data collected in the two phases. The major findings of the investigation included the development and confirmation (after modifications) of two new theoretically-justifiable models of vocational decision-related processes. One model provided empirical support for relationships between cultural orientation, values, and attitudes/intentions toward occupations, while the other identified relationships between amotivation, indecision toward occupations, expectancy-value variables, and influences from the family. Multiple themes that were identified in the qualitative data analyses supplemented and partially supported elements of the two empirical models, and enabled a richer understanding of the issues surrounding the vocational decision. The findings of the investigation may be used by career advisors, psychologists, educators, and families to advise and assist senior high school students faced with the vocational decision. The investigation may contribute to reducing the gap in the literature on the roles of culture and motivation in the vocational decision-related processes of senior high school students.

The current study investigated the Emotional and Personality-related Career decision-making Difficulties model and questionnaire (EPCD) by studying its associations with various personality measures in three samples: (a) 691 deliberating individuals who entered a career self-help website, (b) 197 students in a university preparatory program, and (c) 286 young adults from the general population. As hypothesized, higher levels of emotional and personality-related career decisionmaking difficulties, as measured by the EPCD, were associated with higher levels of neuroticism, agreeableness, perfectionism, and need for cognitive closure, and lower levels of extraversion, openness to experience, and career decision self-efficacy. In addition, higher levels of these difficulties were associated with a more external locus of control (LoC), and with being less advanced in the career decision-making process.

Previous research on individual differences in career decision-making processes has often focused on classifying individuals into a few types of decision-making styles based on the most dominant trait or characteristic of their approach to the decision process (e.g., rational, intuitive, dependent; Harren, 1979). In this research, an alternative approach, which offers a multidimensional profile characterization of individuals' career decisionmaking processes based on a simultaneous consideration of 11 dimensions, is presented. Thus, the proposed model refers to career decision-making profiles rather than career decision-making styles. The model, which emerged from a systematic analysis of previous research, was refined on the basis of preliminary empirical tests (five samples, N = 2764) using the Career Decision-Making Profile (CDMP) questionnaire. Study 1 reports the psychometric properties and the results of an exploratory factor analysis of the CDMP questionnaire, in a sample of young adults deliberating their career decisions (N = 285). Study 2 presents the results of a confirmatory factor analysis, based on Israeli (N = 431) and US (N = 208) samples of young adults. The results of both studies supported the hypothesized 11 dimensions. The implications for future research and for counseling are discussed.

ÖZ Bilgi iletişim teknolojilerinde yaşanan gelişmeler, küreselleşme ve kuşaklar arası sosyokültürel mesafenin açılması gibi gelişmeler ile birlikte sosyoekonomik sahada yaşanan dönüşümden kariyer seçimi ve kariyer planlama davranışları da etkilenmektedir. Kariyerin çok yönlü bir kavram olması ve kariyer seçimini etkileyen içsel ve dışsal pek çok unsurun varlığı alan yazınına pek çok kariyer seçim kuramı ve sınıflandırması kazandırmıştır. Alan yazınında yer alan psikodinamik yaklaşımlar, özellik-faktör yaklaşımları, gelişimsel yaklaşımlar ve sosyo-bilişsel yaklaşımların yanı sıra son yıllarda kariyer seçiminde manevi yaklaşımlar öne çıkmakla birlikte bu sahada çalışmalar halen yeterli seviyeye ulaşmamıştır. Bu araştırmanın amacı kariyer seçimi ile ilgili çalışmalardaki manevi yaklaşım ile sosyal bilişsel yaklaşım modellerini bütüncül bir bakış açısıyla değerlendirmektir. Bu maksatla araştırmada, betimsel araştırma yöntemi ile manevi yaklaşımlar ile 1990'lı yılların "Sosyal Öğrenme (Krumboltz vd., 1976), "Bilgi İşleme (Peterson vd., 2002)" ve Sosyal Bilişsel Kariyer (Lent vd., 1994) yaklaşımları bütüncül bir yaklaşımla incelenerek birlikte değerlendirilmiştir. Manevi yaklaşımlar çalışma hayatına; sadece sıradan, mecburi gündelik mesleki faaliyetlerini yerine getirmekten çok daha öte manevi ve derinlikli anlamlar yüklemektedir. Sosyal-bilişsel yaklaşımlar ise kariyer seçimini, bilgi toplama, bilgileri analiz etme, yorumlama, alternatifler arasında değerlendirme ve eylem planı ile planın uygulanması şeklinde sistematik olarak ele almaktadır. Araştırma sonucunda kariyer seçiminde manevi yaklaşımlar ile sosyal-bilişsel kariyer yaklaşımlarının optimal kariyer seçimi yapma konusunda birbirlerini tamamlayıcı özelliklere sahip olduğu değerlendirilmiştir.
ABSTRACT
Career choice and career planning behaviors are also affected by the transformation in the socioeconomic field with developments such as developments in information communication technologies, globalization and the opening of socio-cultural distance between generations. The fact that career is a versatile concept and the existence of many internal and external factors that affect career choice have brought many career choice theories and classifications to the literature. In addition to psychodynamic approaches, feature-factor approaches, developmental approaches and socio-cognitive approaches in the literature, spiritual approaches are among career choice theories in recent years, but studies in this field have not reached a sufficient level. The aim of this study is to evaluate the spiritual approach and social cognitive approach models in career choice studies from a holistic perspective. In the study conducted with descriptive research technique, spiritual approaches, “Social Learning Theory, (Krumboltz, 1976)”, "Cognitive Information Processing (Peterson et al., 2002)" and Social Cognitive Career (Lent et al., 1994) approaches were examined and evaluated with a holistic approach. Spiritual approaches to working life; it imparts spiritual and profound meanings far beyond simply fulfilling ordinary, compulsory daily professional activities. Social-cognitive approaches systematically address career choice in the form of collecting information, analyzing and interpreting information, evaluating among alternatives and preparing an action plan and implementation of the plan. As a result of the research, it was evaluated that spiritual approaches and social-cognitive career approaches in career choice complement each other in making an optimal career choice.
Keywords: Career Selection, Career Decision, Spiritual Career Approach, Social Cognitive Approach, Career Calling

This study tested a new model of the occupational decision-making processes of senior high-school students, which incorporates cultural and motivational perspectives. A theoretical framework guided the study. A refined version of a previously used survey instrument was administered to 566 Australian Grade 11 students attending a stratified random sample of 16 government high schools in the Sydney metropolitan area. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The major finding of the study is the confirmation of a new model of the occupational decision-making processes of senior high school students, that incorporates the predictive roles of idiocentrism oriented toward the future and allocentrism toward the family, and the strong mediating role of occupational interest/enjoyment, in arriving at occupational attitudes, and ultimately, occupational intentions. Psychologists, career managers, counselors, educators, and families may be able to use the findings to understand, and guide, the occupational decisions of senior high school students.

A general theoretical taxonomy of career decision-making difficulties, based on decision theory, has been developed. To examine the proposed taxonomy empirically, a questionnaire was constructed in which the various possible difficulties in the theoretical model were represented by respective statements. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 259 young Israeli adults who were at the beginning of their career decision-making process and to an American sample of 304 university students. The observed relations among the 10 scales, which represent the 10 theoretical categories of difficulties, and those among the items within 2 selected categories, were similar in the 2 samples and compatible with the expected relations derived from the theoretical model. The implications for career counseling and research are discussed.

This study developed and (statistically) confirmed a new model of the occupational decision-related processes of adolescents, in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated about choosing a future occupation. A theoretical framework guided the study. A questionnaire that had previously been administered to an Australian adolescent sample was refined and then administered to a sample of 566 Australian Grade 11 students attending a stratified random sample of 16 government high schools in the Sydney metropolitan area. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The major finding was the development and empirical confirmation of a model of the occupational decision-related processes of amotivated Australian adolescents, which suggested that within the context of the study: (a) social influences from the family may allow adolescents to see the relationship between making an occupational decision and its consequences, (b) occupational amotivation may be associated with a lack of decidedness about a future occupation, a non-expectancy for occupational success, and a non-valuing of interest/enjoyment in occupations, (c) those who value recognition are likely to be expect success in a future occupation, and (d) those with an expectancy for occupational success are likely to be undecided about their future occupation. Psychologists, career managers, counselors, educators, and families may be able to use the findings to assist amotivated adolescents in their occupation-related decisions.

This exploratory study investigated the occupational decision-related processes of senior high school students, in terms of the extent to which they may be amotivated in choosing a future occupation. Data were gathered using a newly developed questionnaire, which was largely adapted from a number of psychometrically proven instruments, and administered to 492 Grade 11 students attending a stratified random sample of six independent high schools in Sydney, Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. The major findings of the study include the development of a new empirically supported model that relates amotivation and vocational decision-related processes. The findings may be used by career advisors, psychologists, educators, and family members to advise and assist amotivated senior high school students to make occupational decisions.

This study investigates the entrepreneurial intention levels and career decisions of a sample of 340 university students studying sport sciences. Entrepreneurship refers to a career-related choice that is driven by a risk-taking and innovation imperative. Entrepreneurs of the future are expected to make their career related choices well before they move into labor markets. In this context, this study attempts to designate young adults' entrepreneurial intentions which are considered to be highly related with their career decisions. The study also tests the potential effects of career decisions on entrepreneurial intentions. The findings of the study evidence the significant effect of conscious career choice on entrepreneurial propensity. A blind career choice is found to be also correlated with entrepreneurial intentions, albeit less so than the conscious career choice. The environmental factors subscale of career choice proves to be insignificant in terms of entrepreneurial propensity within the scope of this study's sample group. Findings are discussed with a view to practical implications.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of culture and motivation in the occupational decisions of senior high school students attending private schools. A theoretical framework guided the study. A questionnaire was administered to 492 Grade 11 students attending a stratified random sample of six independent (private) schools located in the Sydney (Australia) metropolitan area. Structural equation modelling was performed on the data collected. The major findings of the study centre on a new model of vocational decision-making, which provides empirical support for relationships between cultural orientation variables, expectancy-value variables, and related constructs. The findings may be used to advise senior high school students making occupational decisions.