Pursuing Money and Power, Prosocial Contributions, or Personal Growth: Measurement and Nomological Net of Different Career Strivings

Hirschi. A. & Pang, D. (2023). Pursuing Money and Power, Prosocial Contributions, or Personal Growth: Measurement and Nomological Net of Different Career Strivings. Journal of Career Development. https://doi.org/10.1177/089484532311829

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Abstract

There is considerable agreement that individuals need an “inner compass” to manage their careers as self-directed and values-driven. However, how different career strivings (i.e., long-term, values-related career goals) affect career development remains largely unaddressed. To tackle this issue, we conducted a study to develop and validate new scales to assess self-enhancement, self-transcendence, and personal growth career strivings, representing key self-focused and other-focused extrinsic and intrinsic career goals. The validation of the scales among 389 U.S. and 490 German workers confirmed that career strivings are differentially related to existing measures of intrinsic and extrinsic career goals, work values, and motivational work strivings. Moreover, we confirmed with a time-lagged study among 354 German workers that career strivings (especially personal growth strivings) relate positively to career commitment, career satisfaction, and life meaningfulness. The studies support the utility of examining different career strivings as critical motivational factors in self-directed career management in future research.

Keywords: career strivings; career motivation; career goals; career self-management

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Contemporary Career Orientations and Career Self-Management: A Review and Integration

Hirschi, A. & Koen J. (2021). Contemporary Career Orientations and Career Self-Management: A Review and Integration. Journal of Vocational Behavior.

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Abstract

Successful career development requires increased career self-management and contemporary career orientations accordingly stress the importance of being self-directed, values-driven, and flexible. This paper provides an overview of key perspectives on contemporary career orientations in relation to career self-management (CSM), as well as a systematic review of these two streams of literatures. With a focus on highly influential classic and recent papers as well as on all papers published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior on these topics, we aim to integrate the literatures on career orientations and CSM and advance future research. To this purpose, we present an integrative framework of career self-regulation which views CSM as a dynamic process consisting of goal setting and development, information seeking, planning and execution of behaviors, and monitoring and feedback processing. This process is influenced by, and subsequently affects, individual career orientations. We finish the paper by providing several directions for future research in terms of examining more dynamic and self-regulatory processes, unpacking the role of context, integrating the larger proactivity literature, applying a work-nonwork perspective, and developing and testing interventions.

Keywords: career orientations; career self-management; self-regulation; protean career; boundaryless career; proactive career behavior

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Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Career Values Questionnaire: A Measure Integrating Work Values, Career Orientations, and Career Anchors

Abessolo, M., Hirschi, A., & Rossier, J. (2019). Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Career Values Questionnaire: A Measure Integrating Work Values, Career Orientations, and Career Anchors. Journal of Career Development. doi:10.1177/0894845319846567

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Abstract

Work values, career orientations, and career anchors are conceptually and empirically linked, and the aim of this article was to develop a new questionnaire that assesses their underlying common dimensions from a set of newly generated items. A first study, using a sample of Swiss French–speaking employees (N = 239) and exploratory factor analysis techniques, enabled the identification of eight career values: social, management, specialization, mobility, independence, salary, work–life balance, and variety. In a second study with another sample of Swiss French–speaking employees (N = 313), we confirmed this eight-factor structure and showed that these dimensions are reliable and stable over time. The measured career values were also meaningfully related to different work meanings and to job and career satisfaction. This newly created questionnaire enables an integrative assessment of career values and should be useful for researchers and practitioners to better understand and assist people in their career choices.

A Whole-Life Perspective of Sustainable Careers: The Nature and Consequences of Nonwork Orientations

Hirschi, A., Steiner, R., Burmeister, A., & Johnston, C. S. (2019). A whole-life perspective of sustainable careers: The nature and consequences of nonwork orientations. Journal of Vocational Behavior. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2019.103319

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Abstract

Developing a sustainable career necessitates actively considering nonwork roles relative to one’s career. However, little is known about who is more or less likely to consider nonwork roles, and what consequences this entails for a sustainable career development. To address this issue, we investigated the nomological net of nonwork orientations (NWO) in two studies, with five samples (total N= 2,679). Study 1 explored the nomological net of NWO and found that among students and employees, people high in agreeableness more strongly considered the family and community role, whereas those high in extraversion and openness showed higher NWO for private life and community. Moreover, students and employees who endorsed self-transcendence work values scored higher on NWO. Study 2 examined how different combinations of NWO and work role commitment relate to work–nonwork conflict and enrichment with latent profile analysis. Across three samples including younger, age-heterogenous, and older workers, we identified five distinct profiles: average levels, work focused, personal life focused, family and personal life focused, and whole-life focused (i.e., high in NWO and work role commitment). Notably, people with a whole-life profile (between 6% and 29% of the samples) reported more work–nonwork enrichment, and a tendency for less work–nonwork conflict compared to individuals predominately focused on either work or personal life. Moreover, we found some meaningful age group differences which call for more research into lifespan dynamics in sustainable careers. Overall, the results of the studies help to better understand the meaning of NWO and how they relate to a sustainable approach to career development. 

Keywords: nonwork orientations; personality; work values; work commitment; work–nonwork interface

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Basic values, career orientations, and career anchors: Empirical investigation of relationships.

Abessolo, M., Rossier, J., & Hirschi. A. (2017). Basic values, career orientations, and career anchors: Empirical investigation of relationships. Frontiers in Psychology, 8(1556). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01556.

Free open access

Abstract

In today’s dynamic and uncertain career context, values play an important role for career choice and lifelong career self-management. Values are desirable goals that are sought by individuals to satisfy their needs and are important for understanding career orientations in terms of protean and boundaryless career orientations and career anchors. However, how career orientations or career anchors fit into a well-established and supported model and into the structure of basic human values remains an important and under-investigated question. The aim of this study was to use Schwartz’s model of structural values to empirically explore the relationships and structural correspondences among basic values, career orientations, and career anchors. A heterogeneous sample of 238 employees from French-speaking Switzerland (Mage = 35.60, SD = 13.03) completed the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ5X), the Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes Scales (PCAS, BCAS), and the Career Orientation Inventory (COI) via an anonymous and confidential survey questionnaire. The results showed that it was possible to meaningfully position both career orientations and career anchors in Schwartz’s values structure. The protean and boundaryless career orientations were positively related to Schwartz’s basic values that emphasized openness to change and career anchors and meaningfully followed the motivational continuum of these basic values. Overall, the overlap among the basic values, career orientations, and career anchors appeared relatively important, suggesting that these basic values, orientations and anchors should be considered simultaneously to understand and address the factors and processes underlying individuals’ career choices and paths.