A quasi-experimental longitudinal intervention study utilizing intervention and comparison groups was carried out with first-year Malaysian college students in order to evaluate the effectiveness of ...a careers course designed to help students in their career decision-making. Participants in both groups were given questionnaires assessing career decision self-efficacy (CDSE), career indecision, and career decision-making difficulties at various time points. Career indecision and decision-making difficulties (CDDs) are different constructs in that research on career indecision encompasses a wider area wherein the identification of sources of career indecision, often referred to as decision-making difficulties, is one line of research. Gender differences at the outset and over the duration of the course were also examined. Results indicated that upon completion of the course participants in the intervention group experienced increased CDSE and reduced career indecision compared to the comparison group. An overall decrease in career decision-making difficulties was also observed, but further investigation revealed that the decrease was not significant in 1 of 10 subcategories of difficulties. Although gender differences in career indecision and career decision-making difficulties were observed at the outset, these disappeared over the course of the intervention. Implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.
In the current work, we investigated the relationship between career decision ambiguity tolerance (CDAT) and career decision-making difficulties among French-speaking university students. In a ...preliminary validation study (N = 246), we examined the psychometric properties of the CDAT Scale. Our results showed that the French CDAT Scale had satisfactory levels of scale score reliability, that its factor structure was consistent with the original three-factor structure, and that it had incremental predictive power over general ambiguity tolerance when predicting career decision self-efficacy and career adaptability. In a second study (N = 412), building on social cognitive career theory, we hypothesized that career decision self-efficacy mediates the relationship between CDAT and career decision-making difficulties. Results were consistent with our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Career indecision may be the primary reason people go to career counselors. Much effort has been exerted to identify and investigate the causes of clients' career decision‐making difficulties. With ...the aim of facilitating clients' career decision making, the use of career indecision assessments can promote the effectiveness and efficiency of face‐to‐face career counseling. The authors review three evidence‐based, cost‐free assessments derived from decision theory: the Career Decision‐Making Difficulties Questionnaire, the Emotional and Personality‐Related Career Decision‐Making Difficulties questionnaire, and the Career Decision‐Making Profile questionnaire. The unique features of these assessments are described, and the ways they can contribute to facilitating career decision making in career counseling are explored with a case study example.
Individuals are challenged by increasingly more career transitions in the 21st century. Each of these transitions entails making a career decision, typically by locating promising alternatives, ...collecting information about them, comparing the alternatives on the short list and choosing one. Finding the areas where individuals are experiencing difficulties in this process is important for helping them and facilitating their career decision making. The goal of the present review is to propose a taxonomy for analyzing, comparing, and classifying assessments of the career decision-making process in terms of three facets: (i) Antecedents – assessments of the challenges that may emerge prior to or during this process and cause difficulties, (ii) Effects of the challenges and difficulties on the process, namely, the individual's behavioral responses, and (iii) Effects on the decision, as reflected in individuals' career decision status and their feelings about the process and the outcome. Based on theoretical considerations and the constructs underlying the assessments, there are three categories of assessments in Antecedents: (1) Readiness includes assessments of dysfunctional beliefs about career decision making, career decision-making self-efficacy, willingness to engage in the process, and career indecisiveness; (2) Orientation includes assessments of career decision-making styles and profiles, ways of coping with career decision-making, and adaptability; and (3) Information includes assessments of difficulties that stem from feelings of Lack of information – about the self, the world of work, and how to make career decisions – or the Use of Information – unreliable information, internal conflicts, and external conflicts. The associations between Antecedents and their Effects on the Process and on the Decision are discussed. The psychometric properties of each assessment were evaluated, using the evidence-based assessment approach of Hunsley and Mash (2008). Inspecting and evaluating of the assessments show that most of them have a well-defined focus and evidence for acceptable reliability, but more evidence is needed for validity. The advantages of unidimensional/multidimensional and homogeneous/heterogeneous assessments are discussed. Ways of incorporating the assessments of the antecedents of career decision-making difficulties effectively into career counseling are suggested, to help career counselors better tailor their interventions to their clients' needs. The proposed categorization can also help researchers locate the most relevant career decision-making process-based assessments and decide how to use them to measure specific constructs.
•We reviewed and evaluated assessments of the career decision-making process.•We distinguished among Antecedents, Effects on the Process, and Effects on the Decision.•We classified 27 assessments into 5 categories and 15 subcategories.•The assessments' psychometric properties and applicability were evaluated.•This classification can help researchers and counselors locate relevant assessments.
Career decision making is among the key notions in vocational psychology. At the core of career decision making is the process comprised of compiling a list of promising alternatives, confirming ...which are suitable to the individual, and, after comparing them, identifying the best one. This review begins by delineating career decision making, highlighting its unique features, and justifying focusing on the process involved in reaching a career choice. Next, we describe three types of decision-making models—normative, descriptive, and prescriptive—and briefly review constructs related to the career decision-making process. While focusing on prescriptive models that promote a more systematic process in career decision-making, the challenges in applying general decision-making models to a career decision-making process are also discussed. Given the rise in the frequency of career decisions, it is of utmost importance for individuals, organizations, and society that individuals' career decision-making process be optimal, thereby decreasing the prospect of regret and facilitating individuals' transitions from job to job in the course of their careers. Four related issues have grown in salience in today's world—willingness to compromise, adopting a maximizing or satisficing strategy, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, and grasping the role of unconscious processes. We reflect on the future of career decision making and its role in confronting the emerging challenges of the 21st century. Career decision making will benefit by adopting AI-based career decision-support systems designed to cope with the job market's unpredictable nature. The challenge is how to promote embracing ICT to enhance the quality of individuals' current and future career-transition decisions.
•The core of career decision making is the process of choosing among career alternatives.•Decision-making models have been adapted to the unique features of career decisions.•Prescriptive career decision-making models propose ways of making decisions.•The goal of prescriptive models is to facilitate making better career decisions.•The challenge is to embrace technology to achieve this goal.
Career decision‐making is a critical task for high school students, yet little is known about how career interventions affect their decision‐making skills and self‐efficacy. We investigated the ...outcome of a career intervention in a Chinese high school setting to determine whether it would reduce the difficulties students faced in making a career decision and elevate their self‐efficacy in career exploration. A career intervention course was delivered to 413 high school students (228 female, 185 male) who completed a demographic questionnaire, the Major Decision‐Making Self‐Efficacy Scale (Peng & Long, 2003), and the Career Decision‐Making Difficulties Questionnaire–Chinese Version (Shen, 2005) before and after the intervention. Results indicated that the intervention had a positive impact on reducing students' difficulties making career decisions but had mixed results on career self‐efficacy. Proactive, systematic, multilevel, and structured interventions over longer periods of time would likely help youth develop their career decision‐making skills.
We conducted a moderation analysis with a sample of 96 international students in the United States to examine the relationship among three study variables. Results indicated that international ...students’ acculturation modes (i.e., marginalization, separation, assimilation, and integration) significantly moderated the relationship between career decision‐making difficulties and career decision self‐efficacy. This finding not only corroborated the well‐documented inverse correlation between career decision‐making difficulties and career decision self‐efficacy, but further contextualized this relationship within the international students’ population, wherein acculturation plays a crucial role in their cross‐cultural living and learning experience. Implications for career development practitioners and future research directions were provided.
Emotions and confidence are said to play an important role in the career decision-making process. The present study, comprising 472 students attending a large university in the United Kingdom, ...advances current thinking in this area in two ways. First, by identifying specific emotional intelligence (EI) abilities that are key to decision making, and second, by exploring the role of career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) as a potential mediator in the relationship between EI and career decision-making difficulties (CDD). Regression and mediation analyses indicated that EI was negatively related to CDD and that effects were strongest for self-emotion appraisal. EI was also positively related to CDSE, with use of emotion eliciting the strongest effect. Career decision self-efficacy was largely found to mediate the relationship between overall and specific abilities of EI and CDD, with full mediation effects observed for self-emotion appraisal and use of emotion and various difficulties. The findings and limitations are discussed with reference to the literature together with practical implications for career counseling and suggestions for future research.
•High emotional intelligence leads to reduced career decision-making difficulties.•Self-emotion appraisal and use of emotion are the strongest predictors of outcomes.•Career decision self-efficacy a key mediator between emotions and career outcomes
This study aimed to validate career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form applicable to a Korean sample. In study 1, 17-items from the original 18-item career decision ambiguity tolerance ...scale were valid based on IRT. In study 2, using the confirmatory factor analysis, we showed that excluding item 4 from the original scale is better than including it in the three factors model. Given the results of study 1 and 2, the constructs in the 17-item career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form were valid. In study 3, career decision ambiguity tolerance positively predicted career decision-making self-efficacy, career indecision, and career adaptability, respectively, after controlling for calling and career search self-efficacy. Thus, the incremental validity of the career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form was ensured. In study 4, the reliability of the scale was retained as the test-retest (conducted over a 4-week period) demonstrated adequate results.This study aimed to validate career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form applicable to a Korean sample. In study 1, 17-items from the original 18-item career decision ambiguity tolerance scale were valid based on IRT. In study 2, using the confirmatory factor analysis, we showed that excluding item 4 from the original scale is better than including it in the three factors model. Given the results of study 1 and 2, the constructs in the 17-item career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form were valid. In study 3, career decision ambiguity tolerance positively predicted career decision-making self-efficacy, career indecision, and career adaptability, respectively, after controlling for calling and career search self-efficacy. Thus, the incremental validity of the career decision ambiguity tolerance scale-Korean form was ensured. In study 4, the reliability of the scale was retained as the test-retest (conducted over a 4-week period) demonstrated adequate results.
The authors investigated the impact of emotional intelligence on 2 career decision variables: daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. They also examined the mediating ...effects of daily positive affect on these variables. At baseline, 103 Korean undergraduate and graduate students completed questionnaires about emotional intelligence. Using a daily diary method, the authors also collected data on participants’ daily positive affect, daily career decision self‐efficacy, and daily career choice anxiety for 21 consecutive days. Hierarchical linear model analyses indicated that emotional intelligence predicted daily career decision self‐efficacy and daily career choice anxiety. These findings suggest that fostering emotional intelligence and daily positive affect could help students determine their future career. For individuals experiencing difficulty in the career decision process, counselors may foster career decision self‐efficacy and reduced career choice anxiety via enhancing clients’ emotional intelligence and daily positive affect.
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