Development and Validation of the Career Identity Development Inventory

The primary aims of this study were to address existing measurement concerns in the neo-Eriksonian identity literature and fill a gap in the vocational identity literature by developing and validating the Career Identity Development Inventory (CIDI). As the processes of identity formation and career development share close conceptual ties, we introduced an integrated conceptual model of career identity development from which CIDI was developed to be comprised of two subscales, CIDI-E and CIDI-C, that were each composed of four career identity dimensions. In Study 1, we delineated how CIDI was constructed and reported initial evidence of validity and reliability using a sample of 398 US college graduates. We further tested the psychometric properties of CIDI in Study 2 using confirmatory factor analyses with another sample of 419 US college graduates. Implications for using CIDI at the variable and person level, and future research directions are provided to further the understanding of the career identity development process.

Gendered Vocational Identities – Female Students' Strategies for Identity Formation During Workplace-Based Learning in Male-Dominated Work

Purpose: This article investigates female vocational students' strategies for becoming part of a workplace community, what these strategies are and how they are tied to the formation of vocational identities within male-dominated industrial work. Of particular interest is how female students enrolled on Swedish upper secondary industrial programmes experience workplace-based learning at industrial workplaces as part of their vocational education. The theoretical framework derives from Wenger's concept of community of practice, but his theoretical concept does not explicitly include gender dimensions. Therefore, the concept of community of practice is also combined with Paechter's assumption of gender, whereby femininity and masculinity can be considered as different communities of practice. Methods: The article draws on evidence from a Swedish study based on interviews with 20 female students enrolled on the industrial programme at six upper secondary schools. In this vocational programme, there is a distinct gender distribution and only a small minority of the students on the programme are girls. In the analysis, the focus is on the female students' strategies used during workplace-based learning to become part of the work community which consists almost exclusively of male workers.Findings: The female students deliberately negotiated vocational identities as female industrial workers to become accepted in the male-dominated work community. The findings highlight three specific strategies that the female students used: Acting like gender does not matter, acting like boys (not like drama queens), and acting tough and joking around. The female students' strategies were part of – and tied to – a complex vocational identity formation process that featured contradictory requirements. By taking individual responsibility, they identified relevant information for becoming industrial workers and chose to act like boys. The female students saw no problem with being a girl, yet they struggled with implicit, diffuse and hidden gender structures and prejudices in the male-dominated industrial companies. Nevertheless, they strived for what they perceived to be an attractive vocational identity as industrial workers; it was an alternative, atypically feminine way of being that attracted the female students. Conclusions: The study concludes that female students mostly rely on their individual agency when interacting with others in the male-dominated workplace community. A "gendered vocational identity" is formed which shows that the identity formation of female students is a complex double process, in which vocational and gender identities are formed simultaneously and in parallel within the male-dominated workplace.

Relationship between Career Decision, Self Efficacy and Vocational Identity among UiTM Shah Alam Generation Z

The concept of career decision self-efficacy has been a topic of discussion for a long time and remains an important concept up to this day. Career counselling is effective in helping students in their career development. The current study examined the relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. We followed the expectations of the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and hypothesized that there is a significant relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. We also studied the differences between genders on the two variables and the effect of career decision self-efficacy on vocational identity. The sample of the study comprised of 243 Generation Z participants from UiTM Shah Alam. The finding shows that there are no differences between genders on the career decision self-efficacy and female and vocational identity and female, which finding is in contrast to previous findings. The result of the study also shows that there is a significant relationship between career decision self-efficacy and vocational identity. The last finding shows a statistically significant result where career decision self-efficacy contributes significantly to vocational identity and career decision-making self-efficacy explains 13 % of the variance in Vocational Identity. Therefore, this research provides information that can help to enhance students in the context of career counselling.

‘I Felt Like Being Upgraded’: Emerging Adults’ Experiences of Socioeconomic Resources in Relation to Their Vocational Identity Development in Turkey

The present study aimed to explore how economic and social resources interact with emerging adults’ vocational identity development. Emerging adults ( N = 108) from different socioeconomic backgrounds in Turkey were interviewed. Participants' reflections on the intersection between socioeconomic resources and vocational identity development were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results revealed that access to economic and social resources was described as a mediating factor between vocational choices and identity expression. Participants’ reports also showed that economic and social resources interacted with vocational identity development by affecting vocational exploration, expectations of vocational choices, perceived support and guidance, and future projections. While participants’ socioeconomic background was a significant factor affecting the prevalence of participants’ experiences, connections between the subthemes also indicated different clusters of experiences. Results provide important insights regarding the intersection between socioeconomic resources and vocational identity and the boundary and promoting factors leading emerging adults to pursue their vocational aspirations.

A Path Towards a Possible Future – Adult Students’ Choice of Vocational Education

Today’s society is characterized by high unemployment, a prevailing trust in and demands for an academic degree, and an emphasis on the individual’s own responsibility for their educational choices. This study aims to examine adults’ vocational education choices, their intentions in connection with municipal adult education (MAE) studies, and how this relates to identity formation. The study is based on 18 interviews and compares students from two vocational MAE training programmes in assistant nursing and floor laying. The analysis has identified different pathways concerning adult students’ decisions to enrol in municipal adult education and a specific vocational education and training (VET) programme. We see educational choices and paths in terms of underlying causes or as forward-looking rationalities. The results show that the process of identity formation is larger than simply one of vocational becoming within a vocational community of practice, since MAE studies involve a student’s whole being, including both their personal identity trajectories and their vocational identity formation. With this article we hope to provide a foundation for a pedagogical discussion about student intentions, focusing on how different subjectivities affect students with regard to their future vocational becoming.

The influence of experienced violence and the clinical learning environment on vocational identity in nursing students

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the influence of the learning environment on nursing students' clinical practice education and the violence experienced during clinical practice on vocational identity. Methods: The design of the study was a descriptive survey, and data were collected from November 15 to November 27, 2019. The data of the study were obtained from 515 nursing students attending three universities using self-administered questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 program. Results: For the experience of violence, verbal violence (98.3%) was the type most commonly experienced, and patients (97.7%) were the most frequent perpetrators. The clinical learning environment was perceived differently according to gender, personality, interpersonal relationship, satisfaction with nursing, clinical practice satisfaction, violence prevention education, the need for violence prevention education, sexual violence experiences, and violent perpetrators. The most influential factor on vocational identity was satisfaction with the nursing major (β=0.24, p<.001), followed by extroverted personality (β=0.18, p<.001), clinical learning environment (β=0.15, p=.001), satisfaction with clinical practice (β =0.15, p=.002), and the experience of violence by patients (β=-0.10, p=.016), which together explained 24.1% of the variance in the model. Conclusion: It is necessary to make efforts to ensure that students do not experience violence during clinical practice, to maintain a close cooperative relationship between university and clinical institutions to improve the learning environment for clinical practice, and to make the clinical field an educational learning environment.

A Tale of Two Capitals: How Task-Oriented and Guanxi-Oriented Psychological Capitals Lead to a Sustainable Workforce in Rural China

Psychological capital (PsyCap) is documented to be positive in influencing employees’ behavior. However, little attention has been paid to its role in maintaining a sustainable workforce in underprivileged rural areas. Also less known is the complex relations between PsyCap and other consequence variables. Moreover, previous studies in this field did not adequately address the cross-cultural applications of positive resources, though many facets of PsyCap are culture related. To address the gaps, the current study explored the complex relationships linking PsyCap and organizational commitment in a sample of public civil servants (gongwuyuan cadres, n=583) at the township level in the rural areas of northwestern China. Two types of PsyCap, task-oriented PsyCap, which is similar to the PsyCap in the west, and guanxi-oriented PsyCap, which is unique in the Chinese culture, were measured. Task-oriented PsyCap is composed of enterprise-diligence, resiliency-perseverance, optimism-hope, and confidence-courage. Guanxi-oriented PsyCap is composed of toleration-forgiveness, modesty-prudence, thanksgiving-dedication, and respect-courtesy. AMOS 23.0 software was used to establish structural equation models. The results show that both types of PsyCap were positive predictors of organizational commitment. Vocational identity and job satisfaction mediated the relation between task-oriented PsyCap/guanxi-oriented PsyCap and organizational commitment. The chained relationship from the two types of PsyCap to vocational identity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment was also significant. These results and their implications for workforce stability are discussed.

Vocational identity of veterans with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders

BACKGROUND: No studies have examined vocational identity among individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. OBJECTIVE: Influenced by Blustein’s relational theory of working (2011), this study examined the relationships between several social-environmental variables (external/relational conflicts, employment barriers, substance abuse stigma) and vocational identity. METHODS: Eighty-four veterans receiving treatment from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders participated in this survey study. RESULTS: Education, employment, clinical, disability, and substance abuse factors were not associated with vocational identity, but external/relational conflicts, employment barriers, and substance abuse stigma were. Multiple regression analysis found that these variables accounted for 34%of the variance in vocational identity and that external/relational conflicts was the only significant predictor. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that more conflictual messages about work from external/relational sources is related to less clarity around one’s vocational interests, goals, and talents.

Social Media Context Collapse: The Consequential Differences Between Context Collusion Versus Context Collision

Context collapse blurs the boundaries between public, private, and professional selves and has emerged as an important research focus in relation to vocational identity. However, the conditions under which context collapse occur have been empirically neglected in the literature. Utilizing Davis and Jurgenson’s theoretical framework of context collapse (i.e., context collusion and context collision) and Erving Goffman’s theory of face-work, this study seeks to determine the consequential outcomes associated with the different context collapse conditions in two phases (Quasi-experimental in Phase 1 and open-ended questions in Phase 2). Specifically, a quasi-experimental study with scenarios was used to examine whether intentionality within context collusion and context collision influenced participants’ perception of loss of face and affect. First-year tertiary students ( N = 151) who were also working were randomly selected from a capital state university student population and asked to respond to hypothetical online context collapse scenarios. Multivariate analysis of variance was conducted and the results indicated that context collapse has significant impact on participants’ loss of face and affect (emotion). In addition, a follow-up analysis of variance reveals partial support for the significant impact of context collapse on loss of face and affect.