Career decision-making in unemployed Portuguese adults: Test of the social cognitive model of career self-management.

Abstract

Most research applications of the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM; Lent & Brown, 2013) to career exploration and decision-making have involved U.S. college students. To extend research on the model, we tested its fit to the data in a sample of 345 unemployed adult workers in Portugal. Participants completed measures of career decision self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, conscientiousness, neuroticism, exploration goals, decisional stress, and career choice certainty. The model test yielded good overall fit to the data and accounted for significant variance in goals, stress, and choice certainty. When compared with prior findings, the results suggest that the CSM model may offer explanatory utility relative to the making of initial as well as subsequent career decisions and across national boundaries. Implications of the findings for the social cognitive model as well as for future research and practice are considered. Public Significance StatementWe tested a theoretical model of career decision-making in unemployed Portuguese adult workers. The findings suggest that the model may help to explain how adult workers remake career decisions in the context of unemployment, extending prior research testing the model largely with college students in the U.S. who are making initial career decisions.

Improving the Quality of Career Decision-making of Students in Chinese Higher Vocational Colleges

“…The CSM model has different applications for different career behaviors such as career exploration and CDM (Ireland & Lent, 2018;Lent et al, 2016Lent et al, , 2017. Based on the CSM and through the results of an empirical study of 345 unemployed adult workers, in Portugal, Lent et al (2022) showed that the CSM model can provide explanatory utility relative to initial and subsequent CDM and across national boundaries. Stremersch et al (2021) incorporated the job search quality of college students into the CSM model, and the results confirmed the validity of this integration.…”

“…The manifestation of goals in professional behavior, which can be called ''career goals,'' plays an important role in career management. However, it is often implicit and is usually understood as a person's intention to engage in a certain activity or to achieve a specific level of performance (Lent et al, 2022). Intention is a prerequisite for relevant behavior, and the stronger the intention, the greater the likelihood of converting the intention into action (Ajzen, 1991).…”

A test of the career self-management model with Turkish undergraduate students

“…According to a meta-analysis study, individuals with positive beliefs related to career development and positive expectations about the outcomes of their efforts have increased active participation in decisions related to career development and experience reduced career indecisiveness (Choi et al, 2012). Similarly, research showed that self-efficacy and outcome expectations positively related to decisional outcomes (e.g., decisional stress, choice certainty) (Lent et al, 2022), exploratory goals and career decidedness (Lent et al, 2016(Lent et al, , 2019.…”

“…Additionally, personality traits in the CSM model are assumed to affect career adjustment by activating the individual's affective coping tendencies and making behavioral performance easier (Lent & Brown, 2013). Studies found positive correlations between a variety of personality traits with CDMSE (Ojeda et al, 2012), career goals (Hirschi, 2010), choice certainty (Lent et al, 2022), and career decidedness (Lounsbury et al, 2005; Penn & Lent, 2019). Among these five-factor personality traits, individuals with high conscientiousness levels may approach the career research process with more self-confidence and optimism due to higher probability of determining career goals, and being organized and persistent (Lent et al, 2016).…”

Scarring Dreams? Young People’s Vocational Aspirations and Expectations During and After Unemployment

“…Studying this particular age group is of special importance because aspirations formed in early adulthood may remain comparably stable across the life course (Low et al, 2005). Hence, periods of unemployment in these formative years may shape career goals and expectations (Lent & Brown, 2013;Lent et al, 2022). As early-career unemployment spells have become more common in recent decades, studying the heterogenous consequences of youth unemployment becomes increasingly relevant (O'Reilly et al, 2015;Ralston et al, 2021).…”