Guest Editors' Introduction

JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR ARTICLE NO.

52, 271–274 (1998)

VB981639

Guest Editors’ Introduction International Perspectives on Vocational Psychology Frederick T. L. Leong The Ohio State University

Beryl L. Hesketh Macquarie University

and Mark L. Savickas Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine

During the past two decades, psychologists have become increasingly interested in the cross-cultural and international dimensions of their professional and scientific endeavors. Increasing numbers of psychology textbooks and scholarly volumes have included cross-cultural and international perspectives on behavioral science topics (e.g., see Bond, 1996; Kitayama & Markus, 1994; and Triandis, 1995). The American Psychological Association has established a new division (52) of International Psychology devoted to advancing international perspectives in American psychology and promoting more international exchange between psychologists in the United States and other parts of the world. At the same time, globalization has become a significant force in business, politics, and educational activities (e.g., see Kofman & Youngs, 1996; Lenn & Campos, 1997) In recognition of these trends as well as to advance cross-cultural and crossnational studies in vocational psychology, we have prepared a special issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior on International Perspectives on Vocational Psychology. With the advice and generous support of Dr. Howard E. A. Tinsley, Editor of the Journal of Vocational Behavior, we selected and invited authors from around the world to submit articles for this special issue over a year ago. In our selection, we paid careful attention to the need for both conceptual and empirical articles for the special issue. We also selected authors so that as many 271 0001-8791/98 $25.00 Copyright © 1998 by Academic Press All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

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regions of the world as possible would be represented in the final set of contributions. The current special issue consists of five conceptual articles and seven empirical articles with four articles from Asia, three from Europe, two from Australia, and one each from Israel, Canada, and South Africa. Beginning with the conceptual articles, Kidd provides a review of the recent career literature in the United Kingdom and proposes that greater attention be given to the role of emotion in career development. She argues that the research literature on emotion can be useful in elaborating the career transitions that individuals undergo. She also points out that the use of the psychological literature on emotion can help us improve our understanding of the dynamics of career counseling and in the development of narrative approaches to such counseling. Stead and Watson critically review career research conducted in South Africa from 1980 to 1997. They grouped the literature into four categories namely theory, theoretical constructs, career counseling, and education and career assessment. They also suggest directions for future research on career development in South Africa. Watanabe-Muraoka, Kawasaki and Sato provide an interesting perspective on career development in late adulthood in Japan. As in other countries, the Japanese workforce is aging, placing pressure on the maintenance of the public pensions system. This has resulted in changes in the pattern of employment in late adulthood. New arrangements include early retirement prior to the official age and a wider range of employment options in later years. The authors report research undertaken in Japan examining the pattern of factors influencing decisions under these new circumstances and the predictors of successful preparation for transition. Santos and Ferreira discuss the political context of vocational psychology and career counseling services in Portugal. They examine the historical changes and the transition of Portugal from an agrarian to a modern industrialized society and the political climate in view of those changes and how they are affecting career development. They also propose the use of the European Union life-long planning approach to conceptualize career development and career intervention. They argue for the use of a person– environment (P–E) fit model and a broader conceptualizion of career and career interventions taking into account the development of the whole person in the cultural and historical context and in light of the political dynamics in reality. Tan traces the development of vocational psychology in the Republic of Singapore. Emphasizing developments since 1985, she reviews the career development literature that has emerged in Singapore and suggests important future directions for vocational psychology research and career counseling practice in her country. Seven of the articles in this special issue present empirical studies of various vocational psychology models and issues which served as an excellent illustration of the dynamic and active nature of career psychology research being conducted around the world. Gati reports on an extensive program of research undertaken in Israel which uses career related aspects as a framework for decision-making and person– environment fit. The article discusses the relation of

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an aspects approach to traditional P–E fit theories, such as the Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment and Holland’s theory, highlighting the contribution that attributes make beyond traditional concepts such as interests and values. The aspects approach provides an opportunity to deal with career compromise and a sequential consideration of options, either in face-to-face career counseling or in computer-assisted guidance systems. Claes and Ruiz-Quintanilla apply a developmental perspective to the emergence of career attitudes and competencies during the establishment stage of a career. They use data from their ongoing longitudinal, cross-national research project to examine development trends in career behaviors in several different countries. They conclude that national culture, occupation, and employment experience systematically relate to variations in proactive career behaviors such as planning, networking, and skill development. Smart reports a sophisticated, empirical test of Super’s model of career stages using a sample of Australian professional women. She demonstrates that Super’s career stage model is a useful framework for comprehending the career develop of the women in her sample. Furthermore, the stages relate as predicted to work adjustment variables such as pay satisfaction, job involvement, and plans to relocate. Also in Australia, Hesketh examines the career services provided in Australia in light of the multicultural context of Australia, the distinctive issues faced by the indigenous people, and the current industrial relations climate in Australia. In addition, she summarizes three studies that illustrate the influence of structures on the tertiary education decision-making and adjustment processes of high school students in one Australian state. Continuing with the developmental theme, Perron, Vondracek, Skorikov, Tremblay, and Corbiere provide insights into the vocational maturity and ethnic identity of majority and minority groups in Quebec. Positive relations were obtained between ethnic identity and vocational maturity for both majority and minority groups in a large longitudinal study, but the trends were different in the two groups. Minority adolescents demonstrated higher levels of ethnic identity than the majority adolescents at younger ages, but the gap between the two groups of adolescents narrowed over time. Different patterns in vocational maturity also were observed. The last two articles examine the cultural validity and utility of Holland’s person– environment theory in other cultures. Farh, Leong, and Law test the cross-cultural validity of Holland’s theory of vocational personality types using a large sample of university freshmen in Hong Kong. Their results generally support the applicability of the RIASEC model in Hong Kong but identify issues that may require cultural accommodation to make the model more useful in this culture. The finding that the RIASEC model worked best with students who scored lower on traditional values led the authors to hypothesize that Western models of vocational behavior may be more relevant to Hong Kong students who are most Westernized and less attuned to traditional Chinese values. Leong, Austin, Sekaran, and Komarraju examine the cross-cultural validity of Holland’s

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theory for a sample from India that completed the VPI. The study provides an example of the different ways in which cultural equivalence can be established. Although the internal structural aspects of Holland’s theory held up across cultures, the findings raise doubt about the predictive validity and the linguistic and conceptual equivalence of the VPI. We offer this special issue on International Perspectives on Vocational Psychology, not as a definitive state-of-the-art document, but rather as a representative sampling of the exciting conceptual and empirical work being conducted on vocational psychology throughout the world. We hope that this special issue will prompt many of you to conduct international and cross-cultural research in vocational psychology. At the very least, we hope that reading this special issue will provide you with an opportunity to have a ‘‘culturally decentering’’ experience that reduces your cultural encapsulation in the daily practice of career counseling and vocational psychology research. REFERENCES Bond, M. H. (1996). Handbook of chinese psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press. Lenn, M. P., & Campos, L. (1997). Globalization of the professions and the quality imperative. Madison, Wisconsin: Magna. Kitayama, S., & Markus, H. (1994). Emotion and culture: empirical studies of mutual influence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Kofman, E., & Youngs, G. (1996). Globalization: Theory and practice. New York: Pinter. Triandis, Harry C. (1995). Individualism & collectivism. Boulder: Westview Press.