Journal of Career Development

The current research aims to shed light on the role of culture in the formation of career intentions. It draws on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen), which has been widely employed to predict intentions, including entrepreneurial career intentions, but past research has almost exclusively been conducted in “Western” countries. The current research specifically explores the extent to which both the strength of relationships of TPB predictors with entrepreneurial career intentions and the TPB predictors themselves are invariant across cultures. The study compares six very different countries (Germany, India, Iran, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands), drawing on an overall sample of 1,074 students and their assessments of entrepreneurial career intentions. Results support culture universal effects of attitudes and perceived behavioral control (self-efficacy) on entrepreneurial career intentions but cultural variation in the effects of subjective norm.

According to the Career Construction Model of Adaptation, career decision-making difficulties (CDD) and life satisfaction are important adaptation results, and career adaptability is a crucial resource to attain positive adaptation results. This study focused on the influence of parental career-related behaviors on career adaptability, CDD and life satisfaction, and the mediating role of career adaptability between parental career-related behaviors and CDD and life satisfaction. Five hundred thirteen Italian students (182 of middle school, 141 of high school, and 190 of university) were involved. The results showed that parental support influences CDD and life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through the mediation of career adaptability. Parental interference and lack of engagement have a positive direct effect on CDD. Finally, CDD and life satisfaction are significantly and negatively associated. The data support the key role of parental support and career adaptability in CDD and life satisfaction. Practical implications are discussed.

Family influence is a key factor in many aspects of career development; however, very little research has examined the relationship between family and well-being. Drawing on social cognitive career theory, this study examined the influence of the family on college students’ academic and overall life satisfaction. The participants were 312 college students at a south Brazilian university who completed measures of family influence, along with measures of environmental supports and barriers, academic self-efficacy, goal progress, academic satisfaction, life satisfaction, and positive affect. Academic and life satisfaction were each well predicted in the model ( R² = .69 and .42, respectively). Results suggest that family expectations had a negative contribution in the model, and family support seemed to be very positive for academic and life satisfaction. The findings inform the practice, evidencing which family factors can booster and which can hamper college students’ academic and overall life satisfaction.

This study examined the relationship between attitudes toward career counseling, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Nine hundred and fifty six undergraduate students from United Arab Emirates (UAE) University participated in this investigation. Attitudes Toward Career Counseling Scale (ATCCS; Rochlen, Mohr, & Hargrove, 1999) was adapted to Arabic language. ATCCS was factor analyzed to examine its construct validity in the UAE culture. The findings revealed two factors: value and stigma. Men showed higher stigma levels and lower value levels of career counseling than women. Women majoring in humanities and social sciences showed higher stigma levels for career counseling than those majoring in the hard sciences. The Value subscale of the ATCCS was positively related to self-esteem and self-efficacy for both men and women. Likewise, Stigma scores of men and women were related negatively to both self-esteem and self-efficacy. The findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided.

This article tests an integrated model of financial planning for retirement (FPR), with 948 Spanish workers aged between 30 and 63. Overall, the three model dimensions—capacity, willingness, and opportunities to plan and save—show a significant association with financial planning for retirement. The moderator role of age in the relationships between antecedents and financial planning was tested. Consistent with our hypothesis, younger participants showed a greater level of FPR if they were characterized by a high level of education. The interaction between both age and psychological preparation for retirement and retirement goals clarity failed to reach statistical significance. We discuss how financial planning effectiveness could be increased based on the results of importance-performance map analyses.