Contemporary Theories of Career Development

International Perspectives

Nancy Arthur, Mary McMahon, Nancy Arthur, Mary McMahon

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351995566
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Labour Economics
• Index: Economics

In response to the complexities of social change that have become evident in the 21st century, there is a need for innovation in career theory that takes into account new perspectives and the fluctuating contexts of people's lives. Contemporary Theories of Career Development: International Perspectives brings together the contributions of theorists from around the globe whose work represents current, cutting-edge international approaches to career development theory. Emphasizing the new perspectives that are needed for this field to be relevant in a contemporary era, this book considers the cultural applications of theory in a diverse range of populations.

Structured in three parts with chapters written by internationally renowned leaders in the field, this collection features a critical examination of the current history of the field; thirteen theory chapters, each enhanced by a case study; and a final chapter that draws the previous chapters together through key themes, broadening the reader's knowledge of theoretical perspectives and their interrelations. Each theory chapter author comments on and critiques his or her own theory, inviting readers to engage with these theories at both a practical and theoretical level through the case studies.

Detailed, with reader-friendly descriptions and supplemented by international research, case examples, and discussion questions, Contemporary Theories of Career Development: International Perspectives is the ideal reference work for students studying the topic as well as a stimulus for researchers and practitioners looking to implement the theories in their work.

part I

Career theory

History, challenges, and practical applications

Part I sets the stage for this book by presenting three chapters that overview the history of career development as a professional discipline and its foundational theories, consider the importance of theory for informing practice, and critique the status of career development theories.

1 Career development theory

Origins and history

Richard A. Young and José F. Domene

Learning objectives

The purpose of this chapter is to:

• introduce the origins of career theory,
• overview historical trends in career theory, and
• consider the relationship between theory and practice.

Introduction to the chapter

The origins of career development, as a helping profession designed to assist individuals with work and learning decisions, has a long history that spans many, primarily Western, countries. Characteristic of the early history of career development in the mid to late 1800s, is its emergence in periods of rapid economic development and social change such as urbanisation, industrialisation, and immigration, and associated rising social inequality. The first documented efforts to provide career guidance were committed to achieving socially just employment outcomes for individuals who may have been disenfranchised as a result of such changes. Assistance was originally provided in the 1800s primarily in the form of placement services (Patton, forthcoming; Pope, 2000). For example, in Australia, an early attempt to assist people to find work is that of Carolyn Chisholm who in the 1840s, assisted young women arriving in the fledgling colony from England to find safe employment (Patton, forthcoming).

Vocational guidance, as the forerunner of career development, emerged toward the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century in Europe and the USA (Watts, 1996b) and other Western countries such as Australia (Patton, forthcoming), Canada (Van Norman, Shepard, & Mani, 2014), England and Scotland (Killeen & Kidd, 1996; Law, 1996). For example, in Canada, guidance was first introduced in 1851 when the YMCA provided “character education, and vocational and education programming” (Van Norman et al., 2014, p. 13) to young people and assisted people who were unemployed and those in the “emerging middle class to discover their sense of identity” (p. 13). Subsequently in Canada, in the early 20th century, Etta St. John Wileman, a believer in social responsibility and “a true pioneer in career development” (Van Norman et al., 2014, p. 13), advocated for the establishment of government labour employment services, the first of which was established in Hamilton Ontario in 1914. In England, Juvenile Employment Bureaux were established in the early 20th century when the school leaving age was thirteen or fourteen and children could be exempted from school at age eleven or twelve if they had part-time employment (Killeen & Kidd, 1996). Concern was expressed at this time that too many children were drifting into unskilled work with poor long-term prospects. The purpose of the Bureaux was to advise young people and their parents to take a longer-term view and to encourage them to consider skilled employment and taking advantage of educational opportunities (Killeen & Kidd, 1996). In Scotland, the Scottish Education Act (1908) and the Education (Choice of Employment) Act (1910) permitted local authorities to offer services that assisted young people to transition into work (Killeen & Kidd, 1996). Labour Exchanges were established nationally in 1909 and separate Juvenile Employment Offices were created. China witnessed the emergence of career guidance in the early 20th century when, in 1916, career development lectures were organised by Mr. Zhou Yichun to assist students choose majors and overseas universities (Jin, 2017). In Japan, vocational guidance was introduced in 1915 and Dr. Hiraku Sandaya was a pioneer in providing vocational guidance for youth, including youth with disabilities (Mimura, 2016).

The international nature of the emergence of vocational guidance is frequently overlooked, possibly as a result of the influential work of Frank Parsons (1909), a social reformer who in 1908 founded the Vocation Bureau in Boston and wrote one of the earliest theoretical works on vocational guidance, Choosing a Vocation. Reflecting its origins in social reform, Brewer (1919) described vocational guidance as a “civic force”, a “moral force” and an “agent of culture” (p. viii). In these words, Brewer provided insight into the potential contribution of career development to individuals and to society. These early social reform efforts to assist people to find jobs and make occupational decisions paved the way for the development of numerous theories and models that focus on vocational guidance and career development.

In orienting this chapter to introduce career theory, it is useful to first consider the nature of theory and what purpose it serves. According to Swanson and Fouad (2015), “theories guide us in making sense of complex sets of information about how humans behave to help us understand them and to predict their behaviour in the future” (p. 12). More simply, theory may be regarded as a map, a guide, a hypothesis, a model, or an explanation that helps us to understand a phenomenon such as career development (McMahon, 2014); career theories are “used to understand and describe people’s career development and work experiences” (Ali & Brown, 2017, p. 73).

Since the time of Parsons (1909), a myriad of theories has been proposed and offer explanations for the many facets of career development including personal traits, developmental stages over time, the career decision-making process, the career learning process, and contextual influences on career development. Some of these theories that may be regarded as foundational in the field were developed in the early to mid-20th century and naturally reflected the context and time in which they were developed. Moreover, theories reflect the disciplines in which they were developed and theories about career development have been proposed in disciplines such as vocational psychology, sociology, and organisational psychology. As the 21st century approached and the world was again witnessing rapid economic and social change, scholars pondered how well career theories positioned the field for the more complex, diverse, and challenging world that was shaping (e.g., Savickas & Lent, 1994). New theories began to emerge that were more accommodating of the contemporary world and provide the focus for this book. This chapter however, considers the origins and history of career development theory. The aim is to introduce and overview foundational career theories that have influenced career development for more than half a century and continue to do so. It is not possible in the space of this chapter to provide detailed accounts of career theories. Rather, a brief description of highly influential theories is presented. Cultural considerations related to the extant theory are also presented.

Overview of career theory

Career theory may be confusing to those new to the field who find themselves confronted with many theories, each with a different focus. Those new to the field may wonder if they should choose one theory to focus on, and if so, how to choose it, or attempt to gain a broad understanding of as many theories as possible. Career development, however, is a complex and multifaceted phenomena that recognises the inseparability of work and life as reflected in this description proposed almost half a century ago that continues to resonate well with contemporary thinking:

Career development involves one’s whole life, not just occupation. As such, it concerns the whole person. . . . More than that, it concerns him or her in the ever-changing contexts of his or her life. The environmental pressures and constraints, the bonds that tie him or her to significant others, responsibilities to children and aging parents, the total structure of one’s circumstances are also factors that must be understood and reckoned with. In these terms, career development and personal development converge. Self and circumstances – evolving, changing, unfolding in mutual interaction – constitute the focus and drama of career development.

(Wolfe & Kolb, 1980, pp. 1–2)

A further cause of confusion to those new to the field of career development is the array of terms that by and large are used synonymously and, in addition to career development, include vocational guidance, vocational psychology, career psychology, and career/s guidance. Within the confines of this chapter, it is not possible to consider in detail the origins of each term, suffice it to say that the terms may reflect disciplinary allegiances and the time and place in history when they were introduced.

The contribution of Frank Parsons

To begin to understand career development, it is necessary to turn to one of the earliest theoretical formulations, that of Frank Parsons (1909). In providing assistance to young people who were poor and disadvantaged, Parsons advocated a tripartite model, which has provided a foundation for career development to the present day, specifically:

1 A clear understanding of yourself, aptitudes, abilities, interests, resources, limitations, and other qualities;

2 A knowledge of the requirements and conditions of success, advantages and disadvantages, compensation, opportunities, and prospects in different lines of work; and

3 True reasoning on the relations of these two groups of facts

(Parsons, 1909, p. 5).

Parsons’ tripartite model encouraged a ‘matching’ of self-knowledge with world of work knowledge to arrive at a career decision. This matching process underpins the trait-and-factor and more recent person–environment fit approaches which have made a lasting impact on career development.

Parsons invited his clients to complete a “personal record and self-analysis” (p. 27) questionnaire comprising over 100 questions. The questionnaire sought information on personal traits such as abilities and interests, as well as contextual influences such as clients’ health, resources, financial status, mobility, friends, and relatives, who were also asked to participate in an interview. In essence, Parsons pioneered career assessment and career counselling and emphasised the need to understand the world of work, all of which remain key elements of career development services. Parsons subsequently worked briefly with Hugo Münsterberg, who is widely regarded as the founder of applied psychology and who proposed the first theory of vocation, which was not widely accepted or adopted (Porfeli, 2009). This association represents the beginning of career development’s longstanding association with the discipline of psychology.

Parson’s (1909) theoretical work also warrants consideration in relation to two philosophical positions (worldviews) that underpin career theory, logical positivism, and constructivism. Logical positivism is reflected in the seemingly simple matching process proffered by Parsons in that it emphasises a rational linear approach based on objective knowledge. Core assumptions which underpin logical positivism include the following: behaviour is measurable, observable, and linear; individuals can be studied separately from their environments; and context is less important than action (Patton & McMahon, 2014). Constructivism, however, emphasises contexts and posits that individuals are active agents in the construction of their lives across time and that they make meaning of their contextually based experiences and in doing so construct their identity (Patton & McMahon, 2014). Reflecting the tenets of constructivism, Parsons encouraged the individuals with whom he worked to take an active role in self-analysis and to consider a wide range of contextual influences on their career decision-making. That evidence of both worldviews coexist in Parsons’ work is significant as they have sometimes been polarised in career development; both worldviews however, have a contribution to make to how career development is understood and practice is enacted.

Career theory evolves

Psychological career theory has, to date, made a significant contribution to understanding career development. Indeed, two strands of psychology have strengthened our understanding of career development, specifically vocational and organisational psychology. Vocational psychology has contributed to our understanding of individual career development including that of children, adolescents, and adults and focuses more on how career decisions and choices are made. Both organisational psychology and the discipline of management have focused primarily on adult career development after career choice has been made (M. B. Arthur, 2009) and contribute to our understanding of the interface between individuals and the organisations in which they work. Psychology is not, however, the only discipline that has contributed to understandings of career development; individuals’ participation in work is also highly relevant to management and to many social science disciplines, including anthropology, economics, education, geography, history, political science, and sociology (Gunz, 2009), and reflects Audrey Collin’s (2009) claim that career development’s “richness, complexity and ambiguity cannot be grasped from one perspective alone” (p. 3). To the present day, however, career theory and research in these disciplines has remained siloed despite calls for multidisciplinarity (e.g., Collin & Patton, 2009).

Subsequent to the work of Parsons (1909), vocational guidance expanded its influence into the field of education in many countries in the form of educational and vocational guidance in schools, colleges, and universities (Law, 1996; Patton, forthcoming; Pope, 2000; Watts, 1996a), stimulated in the United States by fe...