Amid rising employment pressure and structural constraints, Chinese university graduates increasingly prefer highly competitive public sector jobs. Based on reflexive thematic analysis of interviews with recent graduates, this study examines reasons for this preference. Findings show that career choices are shaped by interactions among social context, family expectations and resources, and individual risk tolerance and self-perceptions. Public sector work is widely viewed as stable, secure, and socially respected, while familial cultural capital and intergenerational expectations function as important influences. The study reveals the limits of Western public service motivation theories in explaining Chinese employment behavior and highlights sociocultural factors.
We explore the impact of leader gratitude expression on subordinates’ proactive career behaviors, job crafting (seeking resources, seeking challenges, and reducing demands) and voice behaviors (promotive and prohibitive voice), and the mediating mechanism by subordinate promotion focus. A survey data from 597 full-time employees, analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analyses, supported hypothesized relationships. Promotion focus mediated the relationship between leader gratitude expression and all dimensions of job crafting and voice behaviors. This study contributes to the literature on leadership and regulatory focus. We discuss future research and implications for leadership practice and career self-management.
Migrant university students navigate career transitions shaped by diverse systemic influences. Career adaptability is key to navigating the twenty-first-century labor market, yet little is known about the practical link between qualitative career assessment instruments and career adaptability. This study explores the My System of Career Influences (MSCI) for systemically narrating career adaptability. Data from 7 migrant students across 14 semi-structured interviews were analyzed using a theory-driven deductive thematic analysis. Findings highlight the MSCI’s role in helping students reflect on their systemic career influences and reconstructing career adaptability narratives. Implications for career research, practice, and future directions are discussed.
Grounded in the career construction model of adaptation, this study examines the relationship between personality traits and online proactive career behaviors among higher education students (N = 299), focusing on the mediating role of career adaptability. Structural equation modeling through path analysis was used to test (in)direct effects. Results show that personality traits are differentially associated with online proactive behaviors. Career adaptability partially mediates these relationships as key resource to adaptive actions in digital contexts. By clarifying how personal dispositions and adaptability interact in digital contexts, the study supports the development of online career intervention practices in higher education. Practical implications are also discussed.
This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Polish Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale–Short Form (CDSES-SF) in two university student samples (N = 116 and N = 465). Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical structure, where five specific factors load onto a strong general factor. The scale and its subscales demonstrated good internal consistency. Convergent validity was supported through expected correlations with self-efficacy, self-esteem, and career indecision. Results provide evidence for the Polish CDSES-SF as a reliable and valid instrument for career counseling and research in Poland, supporting both a general score and a nuanced five-domain assessment.
Grounded in psychological contract theory, this mixed-methods research reveals that parenting pressure significantly increases faculty willingness to postpone retirement. This finding highlights a culturally specific mechanism where work–family interdependence shapes late-career intentions. Emotional attachment to children shows a stronger mediating effect than perceived responsibility, suggesting affective obligations play a key role in shaping faculty members’ retirement intentions. Furthermore, the interplay between professional identity and intensive parenting expectations creates a dual-role dynamic, reinforcing prolonged employment. The results offer practical implications for culturally responsive human resources (HR) policies and support systems addressing work–family integration in academia.
This study explores the integration of career guidance and counseling into Lesotho’s high school curriculum, focusing on challenges and best practices. Using qualitative secondary analysis of interviews and focus group transcripts from 123 participants across 10 schools, the research was guided by Krumboltz’s Social Learning Theory of Career Decision Making. Thematic analysis revealed five interrelated themes: resource limitations, teacher training gaps, curriculum rigidity, informal influences, and emerging best practices. Findings underscore the urgent need for systemic support, professional counselors, and curriculum reform to embed career guidance as a core component of secondary education, enhancing equity and student preparedness.
Career decidedness (CD) is a critical developmental task for college students and is closely related to their capacity to smoothly transition into adult occupational roles. Based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT), emotion regulation theory (ERT), and cognitive-affective system theory of personality (CAPS), this study examined how learning goal orientation (LGO) influences CD. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 967 Chinese college students. Results showed that LGO positively predicted CD, mediated in parallel by career exploration and decision self-efficacy (CEDSE), and cognitive reappraisal (CR). Furthermore, college students’ career stress (CS) negatively moderated the positive effects of LGO on CEDSE and CR, as well as their mediating effects between LGO and CD. These findings not only broaden the theoretical framework for the effect of LGO on CD, but also open up a new horizon for improving college students’ CD in practice.
Learning engagement exhibits heightened sensitivity to both external environment and intrinsic psychological factors. To illustrate the underlying mechanisms, this study surveyed 927 vocational college teacher students in China. This study reveals that perceived classroom climate significantly associates learning engagement. Career calling and major satisfaction mutually predict each other. Each played an independent mediating role, and their bidirectional chain mediation was also significant. The results clarify how environmental, cognitive, and affective factors interact to influence the learning engagement. Future colleges should optimize classroom climate and implement positive psychological interventions to cultivate both calling and satisfaction.
Indonesian early-career academics (ECAs) face substantial challenges that may impede their academic career. Guided by the SCCT, this study examined factors of ECAs research interest among 364 lecturers (Mage = 38.1 years; SD = 4.40) with less than 10 years of experiences. Using PLS–SEM, the findings showed that research self-efficacy and resilience were significant predictors of research interest through both direct and indirect pathways. By contrast, perceived environmental support was not significantly associated with research interest. This findings highlight the importance of psychological resources in fostering research engagement and support the application of the framework in higher education contexts.
Transformations in the world of work have made traditional career models insufficient, requiring more comprehensive approaches. For women, this reality adds to persistent gender inequalities. This systematic review examined how Career Construction Theory (CCT) has been used to understand women’s career trajectories. Seventeen studies, primarily qualitative and conducted in the Global South, employed CCT as a theoretical lens, narrative intervention, or via Career Adaptability. The findings highlight structural and economic barriers, indicating that CCT can be a powerful resource for promoting self-awareness and meaningful career construction in contexts of vulnerability.
This multi-method study examined how family functioning relates to adolescent career exploration through a survey (N = 1481) and scenario experiment (N = 222). Study 1 showed that family functioning was associated with greater career exploration through psychological capital and the sequential pathway from self-differentiation to psychological capital. Study 2 demonstrated that self-determined motivation moderated the direct family-functioning pathway and the psychological–capital pathway: these associations, as well as the conditional indirect pathways, emerged under autonomous motivation but not controlled motivation, with Bayesian analyses supporting the robustness of the null slopes. These findings highlight motivational boundary conditions in family-based career development.
This study contributes to the global discourse on millennials’ evolving relationship with work by highlighting the underexplored Indian sociocultural and economic context, in contrast to dominant Western perspectives. Drawing on the Status Attainment Model, Self-Determination Theory, and Social Cognitive Career Theory, it examines how socioeconomic status shapes the career aspirations of Indian millennials and explores the interrelations among aspiration types. A multistage mixed-method design integrates qualitative insights with quantitative validation to ensure conceptual depth and empirical rigor. Career aspirations were assessed through a semantic differential scale adapted from (Osgood et al., 1957). Data from 912 millennials across India were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that socioeconomic status indirectly influences aspirations linked to purpose and well-being, with mediating effects on motivation. The study highlights the interconnected nature of millennial aspirations and offers implications for organizations, policymakers, and human resources (HR) professionals seeking to align strategies with the priorities of a new generation.
Previous research suggests that socioeconomic factors may influence a physician’s career choices, yet the link between pre-medical socioeconomic status and practice setting after graduation remains unclear. This study aims to clarify this relationship by investigating how pre-medical neighborhood income and multidimensional deprivation predict whether physicians pursue academic or community-based practice. We conducted a retrospective cohort study with students matriculating between 2011 and 2013 at a medical school in Canada. Pre-medical neighborhood income quintiles and deprivation levels, using the Canadian index of multiple deprivation (CIMD), were calculated from their high school postal codes. Practice data were sourced to compare academic versus community-based practice across different levels of pre-medical neighborhood income and deprivation. Logistic regression analysis explored average deprivation scores as predictors of practice setting. From 372 physicians with data available at both time points, we found no significant association with pre-medical income quintile and practice setting (p = 0.587). However, higher composite deprivation scores (more marginalization) were associated with a 1.5 times greater likelihood of practicing in an academic setting. Multidimensional marginalization significantly influences pathways to academic practice, while physicians from rural high schools were significantly more likely to practice in rural settings. These findings underscore the need for a nuanced understanding of deprivation and geographic background in shaping medical career trajectories.
Career-related parental support matters for adolescents’ career development and links to family factors. Past studies lacked focus on its heterogeneity and longitudinal changes. This study used a person-centered approach with 3378 Chinese adolescents (three waves, 1-year intervals), identifying three support profiles: low support, low verbal encouragement, and positive support. It found stability and changes in profiles over high school, and family SES and parent–child relationship significantly shape such support.
This qualitative study explores how young adults in the USA, France, Switzerland, and Finland perceive the impact of climate change on their career development. Semistructured interviews with 40 participants revealed that while national contexts shape responses, students identified similar issues related to climate change. Participants reported that climate activism contributed to a sense of social connection and optimism about the future. The Psychology of Working Theory (Duffy et al., 2016) was used to conceptualize participants’ experiences. Career counselors are encouraged to address climate anxiety and provide activism resources to help young adults navigate career development during this ecological crisis.
The present study examined the relationship between career optimism and academic outcome expectations, the mediating role of academic self-efficacy, and the moderating role of age in this relationship. The study participants consisted of 287 university students from Türkiye. The structural equation modeling results demonstrated that career optimism and academic outcome expectations were positively related, and academic self-efficacy mediated this relationship. Results also showed that age moderated the relationship between career optimism and academic outcome expectations, with the relationship between career optimism and academic outcome expectations not being significant for relatively older college students. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
This study examined factors influencing the career aspirations of 1640 high school students in Qatari schools. Guided by the systems theory framework, a survey including factors within the intrapersonal, social, and environmental–societal systems of influence was devised. Results indicated the complex, dynamic, and interrelated nature of the factors influencing career aspirations, with some demographic characteristics playing a more prominent role than others. Regarding the systems of influence, the factors with the highest average percentages were those pertaining to the environmental–societal system, while intrapersonal factors were not significant influencers on career aspirations. These results have implications for career development professionals and schools.
The pandemic highly impacted the working world and career construction, and emerging adults are one of the most affected groups. Through in-depth interviews, the study aimed to identify, understand and contrast the future working prospects in the post-pandemic among 20 low- and high-skilled emerging adults in Brazil, using consensual qualitative research. Findings indicated both demanded stability, the need to study to improve job skills and greater solidarity. However, while low-skilled participants expressed hopelessness and the need to improve the quality of work, high-skilled ones sought to be promoted within their current job, looked for new opportunities or intended to be entrepreneurs.
Social support plays a vital role in shaping individuals’ career aspirations and building confidence to overcome academic and professional challenges. Within social support, family support and parental role modeling are particularly influential in guiding career development. This meta-analysis examined the association between family support and career adaptability. A systematic search of Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest yielded 26 quantitative studies comprising 28 independent samples (N = 35,821). Using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software, results indicated a positive and statistically significant association, moderated by cultural orientation, developmental stage, and the measurement of career adaptability. Overall, the findings suggest that while the relationship remains positive, its magnitude varies across developmental, cultural, and measurement contexts.
