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Vocational Psychology: An Analysis and Directions for the Future
Journal of Vocational Behavior 59, 226–234 (2001) doi:10.1006/jvbe.2001.1828, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on
Vocational Psychology: An Analysis and Directions for the Future Joyce E. A. Russell Department of Management and Organization, Robert H. Smith School of Business, The University of Maryland In the past decade, research and practice in the field of vocational psychology has substantially enhanced our understanding of individuals’ career choices, decisions, adjustment, and work performance. With the changing definitions of careers in the workplace, the field faces some exciting challenges and opportunities. The purpose of the present article is to briefly review some of the key directions that the field of vocational psychology has taken and to articulate a vision for the future. °C 2001 Academic Press
These are exciting times for the field of vocational psychology. With the existing new perspectives (e.g., “boundaryless career” and “protean career”), there are numerous challenges confronting career researchers and practitioners (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996, Hall, 1996). No longer is career planning and occupational choice a matter of choosing a field of work and one employer. Today’s rapid technological changes and evolving organizational structures have changed the nature of job contracts both from the perspective of the employer and the employee (Sullivan, Carden, & Martin, 1998). Employers have streamlined their firms through downsizing and more efficient work methods. Traditional career paths and career management by the firm are less likely to exist. Thus, employees now assume a greater responsibility for career self-management. To be successful, they manage their own careers by developing portable skills and knowledge, engaging in meaningful work and on-the-job learning opportunities, and establishing networks and mentoring relationships (Sullivan, 1999). As London (1998) notes, this requires that adults participate in continuous learning opportunities in order to develop and utilize their own talents to the fullest. With the new career definitions, the field of vocational psychology has undergone substantial changes, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior has been able to illuminate many of these issues to a large and diverse readership. The future awaits and offers new directions for inquiry in the field of vocational psychology as well as the continuation of many current research avenues. The purpose of this article is Address correspondence and reprint requests to Joyce E. A. Russell, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, 3347 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD 20742-1815. E-mail: [email protected]. 226 0001-8791/01 $35.00 C 2001 by Academic Press Copyright ° All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
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to briefly review some of the key directions that the field has taken and to articulate a vision for the future. A BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS: THE FIELD OF VOCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR Internal Strengths There are many internal strengths in the field of vocational psychology. Some of these include the following. 1. The field appeals to a large, diverse audience of researchers from areas in psychology (careers, counseling, industrial/organizational, etc.) and other disciplines including management, sociology, organizational behavior, and so on. This means that the field is more likely to be interdisciplinary in nature and researchers are more likely to integrate literature from a variety of sources. 2. The strategic mission seems to be clear—that is, to expand knowledge about vocational choice and adjustment across the life span. The focus is clearly on the individual rather than the organization (i.e., organizational behavior). 3. The field can be distinguished from competitors especially those with a greater focus on other topics or on the organization as the unit of analysis. 4. The field seems strong in advancing theories of career choice and adjustment, although more research is still needed to examine these issues with other groups, such as minorities and international samples. 5. The issues studied in vocational psychology cover an individual’s entire life span, thus the topics have relevance to adult audiences of all ages (from precareer periods to late career stages). 6. Researchers in the field employ a variety of methodologies for exploring issues, such as qualitative analyses, reviews, empirical studies, and interviews. The Journal of Vocational Behavior, as a premier journal publishing work in the field of vocational behavior, also has a number of internal strengths. These include the following. 1. A high citation impact rating, indicating a broad and large readership using articles published in the journal to advance theory and practice. 2. A strong editorial board including a mix of vocational psychologists, counseling and career psychologists, industrial/organizational psychologists, and individuals specializing in various research techniques and methodologies. 3. A diversity of issues has been addressed which illustrates the breadth of fields of interest in vocational psychology. 4. A relatively quick review process, enabling articles to reach the audience sooner and thus be more timely in the literature. 5. Over time, the journal has been quick to change the nature of special articles from yearly reviews to reviews of special topics and issues. This has been done in order to better reflect the needs of researchers for advanced specialized knowledge on certain topic areas.
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6. A clear emphasis on the individual as the focal point of the research published. 7. The journal publishes a diversity of research methodologies, including theoretical reviews, empirical or quantitative analyses, and qualitative papers. Thus, it brings in current methodologies important for studying vocational issues. 8. A relatively large number of submissions indicating that the journal appeals to a broad audience of researchers. Internal Weaknesses As any area, the field of vocational psychology has internal weaknesses. Some of these are described below. 1. The strategic mission seems to be clear, and yet due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, it may sometimes appear to be unfocused or fragmented since there are so many diverse areas. 2. While the focus is on the individual, there are topics that involve both the organization and the individual that sometimes make the lines somewhat blurry. For example, topics of recruitment and occupational adjustment can be examined from the standpoint of the organization’s needs as well as the individual’s needs. 3. Researchers often examine similar issues and yet draw from literature in their own specific subfield (counseling psychology vs industrial psychology). Their work would be greatly aided if they would utilize literature from multiple disciplines. We can learn much from other fields, without having to reinvent areas of inquiry. For example, research in the area of adult training and learning can draw from industrial psychology, educational psychology, and school psychology, among others. It is important for researchers to thoroughly review the literature and attempt to pull together differing literatures. 4. The methodologies employed are diverse (which is a strength), and yet rigor and consistency may suffer as a result. It is important for researchers to be well trained in both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The Journal of Vocational Behavior as the leading journal in the area also suffers from some weaknesses. Some of these include the following. 1. While attempts have been made to bring in more articles with an international focus by exploring career and vocational issues with individuals throughout the world, more work is needed in this area. 2. Greater marketing efforts are needed to attract more domestic and international high-quality submissions. It is important for the journal to publicize its mission and more thoroughly educate researchers about the journal. 3. The articles published make solid contributions and extensions to the field, but can be even more rigorous in offering even stronger contributions to the discipline. 4. A journal is only as good as its editorial board and its submissions. Occasionally, the board reviews may not be as high quality as desired, and this impacts on the final products published in the journal (e.g., articles that should be
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rejected are accepted, articles that could be made publishable are rejected, and reviewers’ comments lead some good researchers not to submit to the journal again). Opportunities For the field of vocational psychology, there are a number of opportunities that exist. Some of these are described below. 1. There is a greater need for theory building and practical knowledge in areas such as career decisions and choices, issues of work adjustment facing individuals across the life span, and job and career changes. 2. There is a greater need for guidance on how individuals make career and occupational choices. With greater career opportunities for diverse individuals, counselors need to conduct more research and provide more assistance to help individuals make career decisions. Vocational psychologists need to document the new and changing types of jobs and careers in order to educate others about them. 3. Across the life span, individuals make various adjustments at work. With the changing nature of careers, the issues facing early, middle, and late career employees differ. Research is needed to continue to document these issues and to offer strategies and recommendations for assisting employees at various life stages (Moses, 1999). 4. Employees are changing their views of jobs and careers and many are more likely to change jobs more frequently (Rousseau & Arthur, 1996). This may be due in part to the recent economic conditions that have opened up multiple job opportunities for skilled employees. They will continue to need assistance in making these changes. Likewise, employers have been struggling with retaining good employees and will need assistance in order to avoid losing their valuable employees. 5. Work and family issues have been on the forefront and will continue to require study in order for individuals and employers to utilize effective strategies to maximize their work and family experiences. 6. With the increasing number of new business start-ups, researchers and practitioners have the opportunity to examine issues facing entrepreneurs (i.e., how they make their career choices and decisions). Some researchers have already begun exploration into the career issues facing entrepreneurs (Marshack, 1998), yet much more work is needed in this area, particularly since many of the new entrepreneurs are women and minorities (Moore, 2000). 7. Since the field is interdisciplinary, it has the potential to reach an extremely large audience of readers and thus make a strong contribution to future research and practice. 8. There may be alternative ways to reach the audience. In addition to using journals and publications as ways to communicate, the field could establish newsletters (similar to the Careers Division with Academy of Management), network groups, mailing lists, and Internet groups. In addition, leaders in the field could sponsor
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workshops and seminars or hold special conferences for forums on special topics. There are a number of opportunities that exist for the Journal of Vocational Behavior. Some of these include the following. 1. The Journal of Vocational Behavior has always published literature examining diverse issues and should continue to do so. 2. The journal must continue to stay on the cutting edge of topics and issues and even provide guidance on what some of the new issues are that are facing the field of vocational psychology. 3. The journal must stay focused on publishing in a stream of research, yet at the same time be willing to cover a wide breadth of topics within the discipline. This is especially important since the readership covers a wide array of readers from multiple disciplines. 4. The journal should continue to provide special topic reviews with papers by experts that stimulate additional research and inquiry in specialized areas. 5. There must be an openness to new perspectives within a content area that might go against commonly accepted views. In other words, the journal and field must be willing to entertain new views and theories and not be wedded to the previously accepted views. 6. The journal should continue to bring in top-quality articles by leading scholars. Threats The field of vocational psychology faces some threats that must be confronted if the discipline is to grow and advance. First, researchers must be willing to learn from theorists in other areas. This is especially important in an interdisciplinary field such as vocational psychology, where some topics are studied by researchers in multiple fields. Similarly, practitioners must be able and willing to provide guidance to adults or employees as well as to employers. Ideally, teams of experts from multiple areas of training (e.g., counseling psychologists and industrial psychologists) would work together to assess situations and to provide recommendations to meet the needs of employees and employers. For the Journal of Vocational Behavior, there are a number of threats facing it. Some of these include the following. 1. An enormous number of relevant journals exist and are being developed that compete with Journal of Vocational Behavior. A benefit of this is that researchers have an increasing number of choices regarding where to publish their work in the field of vocational psychology. For the Journal of Vocational Behavior, it means the journal must maintain its high-quality standards and provide a stimulating forum to maintain its readership and to encourage authors to submit their work. 2. It is critical that the journal keep its mission and goals clear to its contributors so they know what types of articles to submit.
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS There are a number of trends in the field that will shape the field of vocational psychology. These trends will affect how we educate people about careers, how we prepare and train them for their chosen careers, how we assist them in changing careers, how we prepare them for working with individuals from other countries or cultures, how we help them in adjusting to their careers, and how they will become successful performers. Some of these trends are described below. Research must be conducted in these areas and practitioners must be willing to assist employees and employers. By focusing on these trends, the field of vocational psychology will be able to capitalize on its strengths, explore its opportunities while overcoming its weaknesses, and confront the threats against it. Some of the key areas for future research that also have implications for practice are described below. Changing Structure of Organizations In the past decade, organizations have downsized their workforces to contain fewer levels of management and employ more cross-functional work teams with more decentralization of work and less reliance on core employees and more on temporary employees or contractors. Instead of guaranteeing lifetime employment, employers are more likely today to provide opportunities for continued professional growth and development or employability (Waterman, Waterman, & Collard, 1994). With the increased layoffs has come an accompanying loss of corporate loyalty among employees due to a perception that their psychological contract has been violated (Robinson, Kraatz, & Rousseau, 1994). Thus, both employers and employees have lower levels of commitment to one another and have adopted a short-term transactional psychological contract (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2000). This new relationship has changed and will continue to alter the nature of research and practice in career counseling. Changing Views of Employees toward Their Careers Employees no longer wait for their employer to determine their career progression. Recently, employees have taken a more active stance toward their careers and have designed a variety of career options for themselves (Moses, 1999). Some researchers have labeled the career movement of employees as “career pandemonium” or making major moves across occupational areas and disciplines (Brousseau, Driver, Eneroth, & Larsson, 1996). Counselors need to assist these employees in learning how to improve their marketability and skills. Diversity of Career Developmental Opportunities Counselors and practitioners should be aware of a variety of opportunities that can be used to develop employees (e.g., sabbaticals, skill-building programs, career workshops, and mentoring). As employability and marketability become increasingly important to individuals, they will be seeking developmental opportunities to an even greater degree.
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International Focus An increasing emphasis and focus on international aspects will be necessary to help us describe the career decisions, progress, adjustment, and performance of various types of individuals. This will also help us prepare individuals for career assignments in various countries around the world and to deal with individuals of various cultures as well as assignments once they return (issues of expatriates and repatriates). Increasing Workforce Diversity Within the United States, the increasing diversity of the workforce and internationalization of the workforce requires that we need to conduct more research that examines different peoples’ career progress, adjustment, and performance. It also means we need to examine issues facing how individuals work with others of differing cultures and backgrounds. Changing Nature of Technology As technology continues to increase and change the ways in which work is done, we need to be able to redefine jobs and careers as well as what is involved in those jobs. We need to better prepare individuals for the increasing technology in their jobs (address issues of obsolescence). We also need to better prepare varying workforces—those who have more experience in technology who are working with those with less technological skills. Changing Educational Systems Educational systems in the world are changing with advanced technology. The use of a variety of learning pedagogies, including distance learning, has altered how and where students learn. This has implications for how students learn about careers and make career and occupational choices. It affects how they make career changes or midcareer moves. Vocational psychologists must be familiar with the variety of ways in which students learn today so that they can better meet their needs in informing them about career choices and possibilities. Increasing Number of Entrepreneurial Careers With the greater numbers of new business start-ups, especially among women (Moore & Buttner, 1997; Moore, 2000), it will become even more important to study the issues facing these types of individuals and to document the strategies that will be needed to assist them. In addition, since many people explore and start entrepreneurial careers while still employed in a firm (Drucker, 1999), it is important to examine the reasons they leave the firm to create a new venture. Perhaps new career programs within firms could be designed to retain valuable employees.
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Work and Family Issues As work and family roles overlap, conflict and stresses between work and family life continue to be an issue that will confront employees over the next decade. Both employers and employees must address these issues and design effective strategies to assist individuals and meet employers’ needs. Some couples have made great alterations in their careers. For example, an increasing number of couples have become entrepreneurial couples (Marshack, 1998) where they have created their own business and are working together. The career issues and needs they face may be different from traditional employees. Thus, additional research is needed to better assist them. Careers and Leisure As careers collide with employees’ leisure time, it is expected that individuals will seek different types of career opportunities or other leisure pursuits. Research will be needed to explore the career choices that individuals make and their adjustment. An examination of generational differences in career–leisure conflict also might prove interesting and have implications for practice. The mission of the field of vocational psychology is to expand knowledge regarding individuals across the life span in terms of vocational choice, adjustment, and performance. This knowledge should be used to advance theories and to aid adults and employers. Thus, the field must focus on both theoretical development and practical recommendations. The customers to serve include adults across the life span (young adults in the early stages of career and occupational choices, early career employees, and middle and late career employees), employers, counselors, and psychologists, among others. For the field to continue to be successful in meeting its goals, an interdisciplinary approach in terms of research exploration and practice is vital. With the recent dramatic changes in organizations’ and employees’ interests, the field of vocational psychology has become one of the most critical disciplines to enhance an understanding of the future workplace. The challenges and opportunities facing career researchers and practitioners are great. Now is the time to shape the future of careers and to move the vocational psychology field to the next level. REFERENCES Arthur, M. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (1996). A career lexicon for the twenty-first century. In D. M. Rousseau & M. B. Arthur (Eds.), The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Brousseau, K. R., Driver, M. J., Eneroth, K., & Larsson, R. (1996). Career pandemonium: Realigning organizations and individuals. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 52–66. Drucker, P. F. (1999). Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review, March–April, 65–72. Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., & Godshalk, V. M. (2000). Career management (3rd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Dryden Press. Hall, D. T. (1996). Protean careers of the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 8–16.
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London, M. (1998). Career barriers: How people experience, overcome, and avoid failure. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Marshack, K. (1998). Entrepreneurial couples: Making it work at work and at home. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Moore, D. P. (2000). Careerpreneurs: Lessons from leading women entrepreneurs on building a career without boundaries. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Moore, D. P., & Buttner, E. H. (1997). Women entrepreneurs: Moving beyond the glass ceiling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Moses, B. (1999). The good news about careers: How you’ll be working in the next decade. San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass. Robinson, S. L., Kraatz, M. S., & Rousseau, D. M. (1994). Changing obligations and the psychological contract: A longitudinal study. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 137–152. Rousseau, D. M., & Arthur, M. B. (1996). The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. New York: Oxford University Press. Sullivan, S. E. (1999). The changing nature of careers: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 25(3), 457–484. Sullivan, S. E., Carden, W. A., & Martin, D. F. (1998). Careers in the next millennium: Directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 8(2), 165–185. Waterman, R. H., Waterman, J. A., & Collard, B. A. (1994). Toward a career resilient workforce. Harvard Business Review, July–August, 87–95. Received March 1, 2001
Vocational Psychology: An Analysis and Directions for the Future Joyce E. A. Russell Department of Management and Organization, Robert H. Smith School of Business, The University of Maryland In the past decade, research and practice in the field of vocational psychology has substantially enhanced our understanding of individuals’ career choices, decisions, adjustment, and work performance. With the changing definitions of careers in the workplace, the field faces some exciting challenges and opportunities. The purpose of the present article is to briefly review some of the key directions that the field of vocational psychology has taken and to articulate a vision for the future. °C 2001 Academic Press
These are exciting times for the field of vocational psychology. With the existing new perspectives (e.g., “boundaryless career” and “protean career”), there are numerous challenges confronting career researchers and practitioners (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996, Hall, 1996). No longer is career planning and occupational choice a matter of choosing a field of work and one employer. Today’s rapid technological changes and evolving organizational structures have changed the nature of job contracts both from the perspective of the employer and the employee (Sullivan, Carden, & Martin, 1998). Employers have streamlined their firms through downsizing and more efficient work methods. Traditional career paths and career management by the firm are less likely to exist. Thus, employees now assume a greater responsibility for career self-management. To be successful, they manage their own careers by developing portable skills and knowledge, engaging in meaningful work and on-the-job learning opportunities, and establishing networks and mentoring relationships (Sullivan, 1999). As London (1998) notes, this requires that adults participate in continuous learning opportunities in order to develop and utilize their own talents to the fullest. With the new career definitions, the field of vocational psychology has undergone substantial changes, and the Journal of Vocational Behavior has been able to illuminate many of these issues to a large and diverse readership. The future awaits and offers new directions for inquiry in the field of vocational psychology as well as the continuation of many current research avenues. The purpose of this article is Address correspondence and reprint requests to Joyce E. A. Russell, Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, 3347 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD 20742-1815. E-mail: [email protected]. 226 0001-8791/01 $35.00 C 2001 by Academic Press Copyright ° All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
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to briefly review some of the key directions that the field has taken and to articulate a vision for the future. A BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS: THE FIELD OF VOCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR Internal Strengths There are many internal strengths in the field of vocational psychology. Some of these include the following. 1. The field appeals to a large, diverse audience of researchers from areas in psychology (careers, counseling, industrial/organizational, etc.) and other disciplines including management, sociology, organizational behavior, and so on. This means that the field is more likely to be interdisciplinary in nature and researchers are more likely to integrate literature from a variety of sources. 2. The strategic mission seems to be clear—that is, to expand knowledge about vocational choice and adjustment across the life span. The focus is clearly on the individual rather than the organization (i.e., organizational behavior). 3. The field can be distinguished from competitors especially those with a greater focus on other topics or on the organization as the unit of analysis. 4. The field seems strong in advancing theories of career choice and adjustment, although more research is still needed to examine these issues with other groups, such as minorities and international samples. 5. The issues studied in vocational psychology cover an individual’s entire life span, thus the topics have relevance to adult audiences of all ages (from precareer periods to late career stages). 6. Researchers in the field employ a variety of methodologies for exploring issues, such as qualitative analyses, reviews, empirical studies, and interviews. The Journal of Vocational Behavior, as a premier journal publishing work in the field of vocational behavior, also has a number of internal strengths. These include the following. 1. A high citation impact rating, indicating a broad and large readership using articles published in the journal to advance theory and practice. 2. A strong editorial board including a mix of vocational psychologists, counseling and career psychologists, industrial/organizational psychologists, and individuals specializing in various research techniques and methodologies. 3. A diversity of issues has been addressed which illustrates the breadth of fields of interest in vocational psychology. 4. A relatively quick review process, enabling articles to reach the audience sooner and thus be more timely in the literature. 5. Over time, the journal has been quick to change the nature of special articles from yearly reviews to reviews of special topics and issues. This has been done in order to better reflect the needs of researchers for advanced specialized knowledge on certain topic areas.
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6. A clear emphasis on the individual as the focal point of the research published. 7. The journal publishes a diversity of research methodologies, including theoretical reviews, empirical or quantitative analyses, and qualitative papers. Thus, it brings in current methodologies important for studying vocational issues. 8. A relatively large number of submissions indicating that the journal appeals to a broad audience of researchers. Internal Weaknesses As any area, the field of vocational psychology has internal weaknesses. Some of these are described below. 1. The strategic mission seems to be clear, and yet due to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, it may sometimes appear to be unfocused or fragmented since there are so many diverse areas. 2. While the focus is on the individual, there are topics that involve both the organization and the individual that sometimes make the lines somewhat blurry. For example, topics of recruitment and occupational adjustment can be examined from the standpoint of the organization’s needs as well as the individual’s needs. 3. Researchers often examine similar issues and yet draw from literature in their own specific subfield (counseling psychology vs industrial psychology). Their work would be greatly aided if they would utilize literature from multiple disciplines. We can learn much from other fields, without having to reinvent areas of inquiry. For example, research in the area of adult training and learning can draw from industrial psychology, educational psychology, and school psychology, among others. It is important for researchers to thoroughly review the literature and attempt to pull together differing literatures. 4. The methodologies employed are diverse (which is a strength), and yet rigor and consistency may suffer as a result. It is important for researchers to be well trained in both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The Journal of Vocational Behavior as the leading journal in the area also suffers from some weaknesses. Some of these include the following. 1. While attempts have been made to bring in more articles with an international focus by exploring career and vocational issues with individuals throughout the world, more work is needed in this area. 2. Greater marketing efforts are needed to attract more domestic and international high-quality submissions. It is important for the journal to publicize its mission and more thoroughly educate researchers about the journal. 3. The articles published make solid contributions and extensions to the field, but can be even more rigorous in offering even stronger contributions to the discipline. 4. A journal is only as good as its editorial board and its submissions. Occasionally, the board reviews may not be as high quality as desired, and this impacts on the final products published in the journal (e.g., articles that should be
ANALYSIS AND DIRECTIONS
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rejected are accepted, articles that could be made publishable are rejected, and reviewers’ comments lead some good researchers not to submit to the journal again). Opportunities For the field of vocational psychology, there are a number of opportunities that exist. Some of these are described below. 1. There is a greater need for theory building and practical knowledge in areas such as career decisions and choices, issues of work adjustment facing individuals across the life span, and job and career changes. 2. There is a greater need for guidance on how individuals make career and occupational choices. With greater career opportunities for diverse individuals, counselors need to conduct more research and provide more assistance to help individuals make career decisions. Vocational psychologists need to document the new and changing types of jobs and careers in order to educate others about them. 3. Across the life span, individuals make various adjustments at work. With the changing nature of careers, the issues facing early, middle, and late career employees differ. Research is needed to continue to document these issues and to offer strategies and recommendations for assisting employees at various life stages (Moses, 1999). 4. Employees are changing their views of jobs and careers and many are more likely to change jobs more frequently (Rousseau & Arthur, 1996). This may be due in part to the recent economic conditions that have opened up multiple job opportunities for skilled employees. They will continue to need assistance in making these changes. Likewise, employers have been struggling with retaining good employees and will need assistance in order to avoid losing their valuable employees. 5. Work and family issues have been on the forefront and will continue to require study in order for individuals and employers to utilize effective strategies to maximize their work and family experiences. 6. With the increasing number of new business start-ups, researchers and practitioners have the opportunity to examine issues facing entrepreneurs (i.e., how they make their career choices and decisions). Some researchers have already begun exploration into the career issues facing entrepreneurs (Marshack, 1998), yet much more work is needed in this area, particularly since many of the new entrepreneurs are women and minorities (Moore, 2000). 7. Since the field is interdisciplinary, it has the potential to reach an extremely large audience of readers and thus make a strong contribution to future research and practice. 8. There may be alternative ways to reach the audience. In addition to using journals and publications as ways to communicate, the field could establish newsletters (similar to the Careers Division with Academy of Management), network groups, mailing lists, and Internet groups. In addition, leaders in the field could sponsor
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workshops and seminars or hold special conferences for forums on special topics. There are a number of opportunities that exist for the Journal of Vocational Behavior. Some of these include the following. 1. The Journal of Vocational Behavior has always published literature examining diverse issues and should continue to do so. 2. The journal must continue to stay on the cutting edge of topics and issues and even provide guidance on what some of the new issues are that are facing the field of vocational psychology. 3. The journal must stay focused on publishing in a stream of research, yet at the same time be willing to cover a wide breadth of topics within the discipline. This is especially important since the readership covers a wide array of readers from multiple disciplines. 4. The journal should continue to provide special topic reviews with papers by experts that stimulate additional research and inquiry in specialized areas. 5. There must be an openness to new perspectives within a content area that might go against commonly accepted views. In other words, the journal and field must be willing to entertain new views and theories and not be wedded to the previously accepted views. 6. The journal should continue to bring in top-quality articles by leading scholars. Threats The field of vocational psychology faces some threats that must be confronted if the discipline is to grow and advance. First, researchers must be willing to learn from theorists in other areas. This is especially important in an interdisciplinary field such as vocational psychology, where some topics are studied by researchers in multiple fields. Similarly, practitioners must be able and willing to provide guidance to adults or employees as well as to employers. Ideally, teams of experts from multiple areas of training (e.g., counseling psychologists and industrial psychologists) would work together to assess situations and to provide recommendations to meet the needs of employees and employers. For the Journal of Vocational Behavior, there are a number of threats facing it. Some of these include the following. 1. An enormous number of relevant journals exist and are being developed that compete with Journal of Vocational Behavior. A benefit of this is that researchers have an increasing number of choices regarding where to publish their work in the field of vocational psychology. For the Journal of Vocational Behavior, it means the journal must maintain its high-quality standards and provide a stimulating forum to maintain its readership and to encourage authors to submit their work. 2. It is critical that the journal keep its mission and goals clear to its contributors so they know what types of articles to submit.
ANALYSIS AND DIRECTIONS
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FUTURE DIRECTIONS There are a number of trends in the field that will shape the field of vocational psychology. These trends will affect how we educate people about careers, how we prepare and train them for their chosen careers, how we assist them in changing careers, how we prepare them for working with individuals from other countries or cultures, how we help them in adjusting to their careers, and how they will become successful performers. Some of these trends are described below. Research must be conducted in these areas and practitioners must be willing to assist employees and employers. By focusing on these trends, the field of vocational psychology will be able to capitalize on its strengths, explore its opportunities while overcoming its weaknesses, and confront the threats against it. Some of the key areas for future research that also have implications for practice are described below. Changing Structure of Organizations In the past decade, organizations have downsized their workforces to contain fewer levels of management and employ more cross-functional work teams with more decentralization of work and less reliance on core employees and more on temporary employees or contractors. Instead of guaranteeing lifetime employment, employers are more likely today to provide opportunities for continued professional growth and development or employability (Waterman, Waterman, & Collard, 1994). With the increased layoffs has come an accompanying loss of corporate loyalty among employees due to a perception that their psychological contract has been violated (Robinson, Kraatz, & Rousseau, 1994). Thus, both employers and employees have lower levels of commitment to one another and have adopted a short-term transactional psychological contract (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2000). This new relationship has changed and will continue to alter the nature of research and practice in career counseling. Changing Views of Employees toward Their Careers Employees no longer wait for their employer to determine their career progression. Recently, employees have taken a more active stance toward their careers and have designed a variety of career options for themselves (Moses, 1999). Some researchers have labeled the career movement of employees as “career pandemonium” or making major moves across occupational areas and disciplines (Brousseau, Driver, Eneroth, & Larsson, 1996). Counselors need to assist these employees in learning how to improve their marketability and skills. Diversity of Career Developmental Opportunities Counselors and practitioners should be aware of a variety of opportunities that can be used to develop employees (e.g., sabbaticals, skill-building programs, career workshops, and mentoring). As employability and marketability become increasingly important to individuals, they will be seeking developmental opportunities to an even greater degree.
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International Focus An increasing emphasis and focus on international aspects will be necessary to help us describe the career decisions, progress, adjustment, and performance of various types of individuals. This will also help us prepare individuals for career assignments in various countries around the world and to deal with individuals of various cultures as well as assignments once they return (issues of expatriates and repatriates). Increasing Workforce Diversity Within the United States, the increasing diversity of the workforce and internationalization of the workforce requires that we need to conduct more research that examines different peoples’ career progress, adjustment, and performance. It also means we need to examine issues facing how individuals work with others of differing cultures and backgrounds. Changing Nature of Technology As technology continues to increase and change the ways in which work is done, we need to be able to redefine jobs and careers as well as what is involved in those jobs. We need to better prepare individuals for the increasing technology in their jobs (address issues of obsolescence). We also need to better prepare varying workforces—those who have more experience in technology who are working with those with less technological skills. Changing Educational Systems Educational systems in the world are changing with advanced technology. The use of a variety of learning pedagogies, including distance learning, has altered how and where students learn. This has implications for how students learn about careers and make career and occupational choices. It affects how they make career changes or midcareer moves. Vocational psychologists must be familiar with the variety of ways in which students learn today so that they can better meet their needs in informing them about career choices and possibilities. Increasing Number of Entrepreneurial Careers With the greater numbers of new business start-ups, especially among women (Moore & Buttner, 1997; Moore, 2000), it will become even more important to study the issues facing these types of individuals and to document the strategies that will be needed to assist them. In addition, since many people explore and start entrepreneurial careers while still employed in a firm (Drucker, 1999), it is important to examine the reasons they leave the firm to create a new venture. Perhaps new career programs within firms could be designed to retain valuable employees.
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Work and Family Issues As work and family roles overlap, conflict and stresses between work and family life continue to be an issue that will confront employees over the next decade. Both employers and employees must address these issues and design effective strategies to assist individuals and meet employers’ needs. Some couples have made great alterations in their careers. For example, an increasing number of couples have become entrepreneurial couples (Marshack, 1998) where they have created their own business and are working together. The career issues and needs they face may be different from traditional employees. Thus, additional research is needed to better assist them. Careers and Leisure As careers collide with employees’ leisure time, it is expected that individuals will seek different types of career opportunities or other leisure pursuits. Research will be needed to explore the career choices that individuals make and their adjustment. An examination of generational differences in career–leisure conflict also might prove interesting and have implications for practice. The mission of the field of vocational psychology is to expand knowledge regarding individuals across the life span in terms of vocational choice, adjustment, and performance. This knowledge should be used to advance theories and to aid adults and employers. Thus, the field must focus on both theoretical development and practical recommendations. The customers to serve include adults across the life span (young adults in the early stages of career and occupational choices, early career employees, and middle and late career employees), employers, counselors, and psychologists, among others. For the field to continue to be successful in meeting its goals, an interdisciplinary approach in terms of research exploration and practice is vital. With the recent dramatic changes in organizations’ and employees’ interests, the field of vocational psychology has become one of the most critical disciplines to enhance an understanding of the future workplace. The challenges and opportunities facing career researchers and practitioners are great. Now is the time to shape the future of careers and to move the vocational psychology field to the next level. REFERENCES Arthur, M. B., & Rousseau, D. M. (1996). A career lexicon for the twenty-first century. In D. M. Rousseau & M. B. Arthur (Eds.), The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. New York: Oxford Univ. Press. Brousseau, K. R., Driver, M. J., Eneroth, K., & Larsson, R. (1996). Career pandemonium: Realigning organizations and individuals. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 52–66. Drucker, P. F. (1999). Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review, March–April, 65–72. Greenhaus, J. H., Callanan, G. A., & Godshalk, V. M. (2000). Career management (3rd ed.). Fort Worth, TX: Dryden Press. Hall, D. T. (1996). Protean careers of the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 8–16.
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London, M. (1998). Career barriers: How people experience, overcome, and avoid failure. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Marshack, K. (1998). Entrepreneurial couples: Making it work at work and at home. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Moore, D. P. (2000). Careerpreneurs: Lessons from leading women entrepreneurs on building a career without boundaries. Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black. Moore, D. P., & Buttner, E. H. (1997). Women entrepreneurs: Moving beyond the glass ceiling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Moses, B. (1999). The good news about careers: How you’ll be working in the next decade. San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass. Robinson, S. L., Kraatz, M. S., & Rousseau, D. M. (1994). Changing obligations and the psychological contract: A longitudinal study. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 137–152. Rousseau, D. M., & Arthur, M. B. (1996). The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. New York: Oxford University Press. Sullivan, S. E. (1999). The changing nature of careers: A review and research agenda. Journal of Management, 25(3), 457–484. Sullivan, S. E., Carden, W. A., & Martin, D. F. (1998). Careers in the next millennium: Directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 8(2), 165–185. Waterman, R. H., Waterman, J. A., & Collard, B. A. (1994). Toward a career resilient workforce. Harvard Business Review, July–August, 87–95. Received March 1, 2001