MonographToward a Unifying Social Cognitive Theory of Career and Academic Interest, Choice, and Performance
Abstract
This article presents a social cognitive framework for understanding three intricately linked aspects of career development: (a) the formation and elaboration of career-relevant interests, (b) selection of academic and career choice options, and (c) performance and persistence in educational and occupational pursuits. The framework, derived primarily from Bandura′s (1986) general social cognitive theory, emphasizes the means by which individuals exercise personal agency in the career development process, as well as extra-personal factors that enhance or constrain agency. In particular, we focus on self-efficacy, expected outcome, and goal mechanisms and how they may interrelate with other person (e.g., gender), contextual (e.g., support system), and experiential/learning factors. Twelve sets of propositions are offered to organize existing findings and guide future research on the theory. We also present a meta-analysis of relevant findings and suggest specific directions for future empirical and theory-extension activity.
References (0)
Cited by (4279)
Tourism vocational education: Relations of input and output
2024, Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism EducationThis study examines the contribution of vocational education (VE) inputs of career-related interest and self-attributes of attitude, skills, and knowledge (ASK) to career-related decision outputs using the lens of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). Data from 407 tourism students were analysed by structural equation modelling. Positive attitude is related significantly to resilience. Self-efficacy of relevant skills is related significantly to lifelong career choice. Students’ interest in tourism is the strongest predictor of lifelong career choice amidst the unfavourite industry environment of Covid-19. Vocational education institutions should differentiate provisions of specific educational inputs for specific outputs to fulfil societal demands.
Do STEM women feel ethically and emotionally better prepared for their careers than men?
2024, Acta PsychologicaDespite a growing imperative for graduates to possess STEM skills, both to boost their employability prospects and their perceived economic value, it is critical to also consider the professional or ‘soft skills’ that will enable these graduates to thrive in their careers. Ironically, gender differences in personality and occupational choice are larger, not smaller, in more gender-equal countries. This is known as the gender equality paradox and in STEM it highlights the importance of purposeful initiatives throughout the educational trajectory, even in countries with higher levels of gender equality. This study employed an online self-assessment of perceived employability (PE) using a validated instrument and analyzed the data from 2493 STEM students studying at multiple Australian universities. The findings, underpinned by Social Cognitive Careers Theory, indicate that female report greater confidence than their male peers in ethical literacy and in some emotional literacy skills; these are understood to be critical soft skills for STEM graduates. This distinction is more pronounced in the natural and physical sciences and within information technology fields. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.
Unveiling the impacts of performance-contingent incentivized reviews on subsequent supplementary reviews
2024, Information Processing and ManagementIn this paper, we track 856 products with 309,385 online reviews over eight weeks on a leading e-commerce platform to investigate the effects of Performance-contingent Incentivized Reviews (PIRs) on subsequent Supplementary Reviews (SRs). Our results demonstrate that the emergence of PIRs in an online review system has a positive spillover effect on subsequent SRs. We further conduct a randomized controlled experiment to provide a theoretical interpretation for these effects through the sense of self-efficacy. Additionally, we found two moderating effects, indicating that the beneficial effects of PIRs on SRs will be stronger for the experiential products (vs. search) and the products with non-video description (vs. video display). These findings provide guidance for the operators of incentive review programs to enhance campaign performance by leveraging these boundary conditions.
Self-esteem, entrepreneurial mindset, and entrepreneurial intention: A moderated mediation model
2024, International Journal of Management EducationEntrepreneurial intention has been extensively debated; however, research on factors influencing entrepreneurial intention is still in development. This study examines the relationship between self-esteem, entrepreneurial mindset, and self-efficacy with entrepreneurial intention connections among students from five prominent public Iranian universities. It proposes a moderator role for entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the interaction between self-esteem, mindset, and entrepreneurial intention. Data were collected through a survey questionnaire, and 406 students were collected from five universities in Iran. The SPSS MACRO Process and PLS-SEM software examined the analysis data. The results indicated that the impact of self-esteem and entrepreneurial mindset on entrepreneurial intention was supported, but the influence of self-esteem on entrepreneurial mindset was not supported. However, self-esteem positively affects entrepreneurial intention through mindset only when self-efficacy is low and medium. Furthermore, the direct effect of self-esteem and mindset on intention decreases as self-efficacy increases; this means that when self-efficacy is medium and high, it becomes the most important predictor of intention. Finally, this study provides evidence to families, educational institutions, and policymakers at educational, cultural, and support levels in Iran as a developing country that strengthens self-esteem, self-efficacy, and the entrepreneurial mindset to evolve entrepreneurship. The implications of our findings were discussed.
Facilitation or hindrance: The contingent effect of organizational artificial intelligence adoption on proactive career behavior
2024, Computers in Human BehaviorThe advent of Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is catalyzing significant transformations in human work dynamics. Nonetheless, there exists no unanimous consensus among researchers regarding whether organizational AI adoption has a favorable or unfavorable impact on employees' career development. Building upon social cognitive theory, we explores the underlying mechanism through which organizational AI adoption influences employees' proactive career behavior. A three-wave time-lagged survey involving 348 employees from three hotels and five advanced manufacturing enterprises in Chengdu, China, was conducted. The findings revealed that organizational AI adoption led to a reduction in employees' self-perceived employability. The prominence of an employee's future work self-salience was found to be a determining factor in how their self-perceived employability influenced proactive career behaviors. Specifically, this impact manifested negative for employees exhibiting high levels of future work self-salience, while it appears positive for those with low levels. Finally, this study confirmed the moderating role of future work self-salience in the indirect impact of organizational AI adoption on proactive career behavior through self-perceived employability. Our study underscores the significance of considering individual characteristics, such as future work self-salience, in analyzing how organizational AI adoption affects employees' career-related behaviors.
Chinese high school students' career development: Associations with academic self-efficacy and motivation
2024, Journal of Applied Developmental PsychologyThis research explored the interconnection between career and academic progress in the context of Gaokao pressure among Chinese high school students. Employing a three-wave longitudinal design, 1260 students were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) over two years. Findings unveiled a positive correlation between career development and academic motivation and self-efficacy. Moreover, the study revealed that career action moderated academic self-efficacy based on the trajectory of career development. Increasing career development positively impacted academic self-efficacy, while declining career development had a negative effect. These results underscore the necessity for tailored career education interventions. Students with well-established career development can benefit from practical opportunities, whereas those with less mature development can benefit from comprehensive career information. This study offers valuable insights for educators and policymakers to foster optimal academic and career advancement among Chinese high school students.