A Longitudinal Study of Relationships Between Vocational Graduates’ Career Adaptability, Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy, Vocational Identity Clarity, and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Career construction theory proposes that high career adaptability leads to positive adaptation outcomes during career transition. However, the specific pathways of how this happens remain underexplored. Drawing on the career construction model of adaptation, we hypothesized that career decision-making self-efficacy mediates the link of career adaptability with vocational identity clarity and life satisfaction as two measures of adaptation outcomes. We conducted a three-wave survey with an initial sample of 3126 Czech upper-secondary vocational graduates transitioning from vocational school to the labor market. Structural equation modeling revealed that career decision-making self-efficacy fully mediated the relationship between career adaptability before graduation and vocational identity clarity 20 months later. In contrast, the mediation effect of career decision-making self-efficacy on the relationship between career adaptability and life satisfaction was not supported. Additionally, in contrast to the previous literature, career adaptability was not directly related to vocational identity clarity and life satisfaction. Nevertheless, our findings demonstrated a positive long-term association of career adaptability with adaptation outcomes within the working life domain. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.

Vocational Choice: A Narrative Identity Approach Conceived from Cultural Psychology

“…Thus, the two conceptualizations have made possible the statistical association of vocational identity with significant rates of progress in the career development of adolescents and young adults. In this regard, different research can be consulted (Creed et al, 2020;Hirschi, 2011c;Kvasková et al, 2022;B. Lee et al, 2020;Y.…”

“…Another theoretical and empirical association that has been made of vocational identity is with some constructs as psychological well-being, purpose, satisfaction, and meaning in life (di Palma et al, 2021;Green, 2020;Hirschi, 2011aHirschi, , 2012aHirschi, , 2012bHirschi & Herrmann, 2012;Kvasková et al, 2022;Strauser et al, 2008). These constructs constitute manifestations of a protean career orientation (Hall, 2004), a notion to which vocational identity has also been related (Hirschi et al, 2017;Steiner et al, 2019).…”

Boosting Students' Entrepreneurial Career Choices through the Role of Community Support: Evidence from Structural Equation Modeling

“…This becomes reasonable if it is related to the meaning of high school as a secondary level of education designed to prepare students to continue on to higher education. However, in reality, not all high school graduates continue to higher education and do not have sufficient skills to face challenges in the community (Haasler, 2020;Kvasková et al, 2023). One of the causes is a lack of skills and knowledge in entrepreneurship and a mindset that is oriented towards being an employee or job seeker.…”

Tracing the trajectory of vocational education research on career adaptability: a bibliometric study

“…To illustrate further, this management also describes the transition period from the school to the start of working period, a time when students prove their own individual capabilities [14]- [17], and the roles of skill trainings and vocational education resulting in many professional manpower with the ability to contribute to the business developments through technical studies, collaborative practices, systematic feedbacks from instructors, and supporting training materials aligned with the implementation [18], [19]. The other recent example as one contributing factor leading to the emergence of the career adaptability study is the transition problems from working offline to online due to COVID-19 pandemic situation that surely needs high degree of adaptability [20], [21] and therefore, a well-organized career plan is required as one scenario to attain welfare [22], [23]. The pandemic's activities have improved digital literacy, which benefits students' capacity to transition to new careers and lifestyles [24].…”