The career decision-making competence: a new construct for the career realm

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to link findings from laboratory-based decision-making research and decision-making competence (DMC) aspects that may be central for career-related decision-making processes. Past research has identified individual differences in rational responses in decision situations, which the authors refer to as DMC. Although there is a robust literature on departures from rational responses focused on heuristics and biases (H&B) in decision-making, such evidence is largely confined to group-level differences observed in psychology laboratories and has not been extended to the realm of career development and workforce behavior. Design/methodology/approach By first introducing the concept of DMC and contextualizing it within organizations and the work environment, the paper outlines a review on recent development concerning debiasing interventions in organizations and provides insights on how these may be effective with regard to organizational performance and individual career development. Findings The contribution presents a perspective to improve knowledge about career decision-making competence (C-DMC) by presenting an approach linking decision-making research to interventions aiming at managing H&B and systematic misperceptions in career processes. Originality/value This contribution is one of the few linking decision-making research to the applied context of organizations and of career competences. Moreover, while some research has treated decision-making skills as traits, this contribution provides support to consider them developable as competencies.

The Relationship between Job Demands and Employees’ Counterproductive Work Behaviors: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Detachment and Job Anxiety

“…Moreover, before starting work each day, it is helpful for employees to create a list (in order of priority) of work tasks that need to be completed that day ( Fritz et al, 2010b ): workers can, thereby, complete tasks through a planned approach, avoiding the need to engage in work-related thoughts or activities during off-work time. In addition, debiasing trainings are the useful strategies to help employees to set priority ( Ceschi et al, 2017 ). Further, both mangers and co-workers should not be available for and should avoid work-related communication with employees during off-work time.…”

How uncertainty affects career behaviour: A narrative approach

“…A general state of indecision may influence the multi-faceted processes of career construction (Germeijs & De Boeck, 2003;Osipow, 1999). A discrete set of difficulties in the decision making process includes the roles of emotions (Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008), individual differences (Gati, Landman, Davidovitch, Asulin-Peretz, & Gadassi, 2010), and cognition (Kleiman et al, 2004), which together assist understanding career related decisions (see also Amir, Gati, & Kleiman, 2008;Bimrose & Brown, 2015;Ceschi, Costantini, Phillips, & Sartori, 2017;Gati et al, 1996).…”

Decision-Making Processes in the Workplace: How Exhaustion, Lack of Resources and Job Demands Impair Them and Affect Performance

“…Explicability limits related to such a construct belong to the paradigm of decision-making research, traditionally based on laboratory studies and focused on the internal validity of such constructs. In general, these decision-making approaches adapted to workplace studies lack an adequate consideration of the work environment role, especially in relation to the effects of the last economic crisis, the business downsizing and consequently higher job demands for leftovers, increasing job insecurity and uncertain professional paths (Ceschi et al, 2016). Organizational jobs that traditionally occurred within a single context are nowadays replaced by boundaryless, self-managed individual work stories, where people are constantly asked to shift roles, enhance capabilities, and re-adapt to new work environments (Leana and Barry, 2000).…”