Applying career human agency theory to practice

Chen, Charles P.; Hong, Julie Wai Ling

doi:10.1177/1038416220901808

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…While we agree that the Korean context negatively influenced women's careers (Kim et al, 2019), our study also showed how highly educated women responded to negative chance events such as in childcare, the gendered workplace and the current jobs that did not match with their career goals. Negative chance events do not necessarily bring about negative career outcomes (Akkermans et al, 2018;Chen and Hong, 2020): our participants' negative work experiences motivated them to pursue a doctoral degree as an alternative, which led them to obtain a doctoral degree and to land in academic jobs as positive career outcomes, though not all secured tenure positions.…”

Section: Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Some women choose career breaks voluntarily while others involuntarily decide career interruptions. Such different responses result from an interplay of human agency and social and cultural contexts as suggested in extant research on career chance events (Akkermans et al, 2018(Akkermans et al, , 2020Chen and Hong, 2020;Hirschi and Valero, 2017;Kim, 2020;Kim et al, 2019;Kindsiko and Baruch, 2019;Krumboltz, 2009;Rice, 2014) and on career interruptions (Bian and Wang, 2019;Elley-Brown et al, 2018;Grant-Vallone and Ensher, 2011;Harman and Sealy, 2017;Zimmerman and Clark, 2016). When women encounter unpredictable events in their careers, their decisionmaking about career interruptions is determined by their individual characteristics, social and cultural contexts.…”

Section: Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Career chance events of highly educated women with doctoral degrees in South Korea

Cho

You

Choi

et al. 2022

EJTD

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Purpose The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore how highly educated women respond to career chance events in a Korean context where traditional cultural values and male-dominated organizational culture coexist. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted 50 semi-structured interviews with highly educated women operationalized as women with doctoral degrees in and out of Korea. The authors used a collaborative research process with a team of ten Korean-born researchers who have built consensus on research themes through discussions on the collection and analysis of a large data set, thus reducing the researcher bias issue inherent in qualitative research. Findings In an analysis of the interview data collected, the authors report on three themes: before obtaining a doctoral degree, during and after their doctoral study and responses (coping strategies) to chance events in their careers. Highly educated women’s pursuing a doctoral degree was a way to maintain work–life balance in Korea where women are expected to take a primary caregiver role. After obtaining a doctoral degree, participants struggled with limited job opportunities in the male-dominated higher education. Women’s unplanned and unexpected chance events are intertwined with the male-dominated culture in Korea, and career interruptions as such a chance event, whether voluntary or involuntary, happened largely due to family reasons. In this context, highly educated women responded to chance events largely at individual and family levels and articulated the need for support at organizational and government levels. Research limitations/implications The study findings confirm the literature that women’s careers are limited by traditional family roles in non-Western countries where strong patriarchal culture is prevalent. Particularly, women’s career interruptions surfaced as a critical chance event that either disrupts or delays their careers largely because of family issues. Future research is called for to identify both individual and contextual factors that influence women’s decisions on voluntary and involuntary career interruptions as their responses to chance events. Practical implications Based on highly educated women’s coping strategies largely at individual and family levels, we suggest national human resource development policies put in place not to lose out on the opportunity to develop highly educated women with doctoral degrees as a quality workforce for a nation’s sustainable economic growth. Additionally, organizations need to be aligned with the government policies and programs for the provision of developmental programs for women in the workplace, beginning with highly educated women’s career planning, while creating organizational culture to promote gender equality as a long-term goal. Originality/value The participants’ voluntary career breaks helped them care for their children, be involved in their children’s education, reflect on work–life balance after having long hours of work for many years and move forward with personal satisfaction. Voluntary career breaks can be understood as highly educated women’s unique way of responding to chance events.

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Section: Motivationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Career chance events of highly educated women with doctoral degrees in South Korea

Cho

You

Choi

et al. 2022

EJTD

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“…Keele et al (2020) analyse career choice issues through student personal management, recognizing their uniqueness and core values, informing and educating about career opportunities and the active market, and safe career planning with the help of competent mentors and family participation. Chen & Hong (2020) point out such elements as career intentionality through comprehensive information, career forethought with rational goals, career self-reflectiveness, i.e. the ability to know and reflect on oneself and one's actions in a social, cultural, immediate environment.…”

Section: Previous Literature Reviews and Synthesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, students need help in choosing a career so that in the future they could become self-confident citizens, able to integrate in the ever-changing labour market conditions (Surgėlienė, 2014). However, according to Surgėlienė (2014), Keele, Swann, & Davie-Smythe (2020), Chen & Hong (2020), Yang & Wong (2020), even though the system of career education at school has received great interest and is constantly updated it is still not consistent. There are multiple barriers for pupils to explore their future career possibilities and to take the right actions on that, especially for various vulnerable groups to whom this service is restricted due to certain internal and external conflicts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Career Education Opportunities for Children With Behavioral Problems at School

Augustinienė

Šimkienė²,

Stanišauskienė

2022

SIE

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Researchers, analysing career education, note that although the topic has recently received a great deal of global interest and schools are actively working to modernize their career education system, however, it is still inconsistent (Surgėlienė, 2014; Falco, 2016; Ho, Sum, Wong, 2018; Seward Gaesser, 2018; Chuang, Lee, Kwock, 2020; Keele, Swann, Davie-Smythe, 2020; Yang Wong, 2020; Gati Kulcsár, 2021). Actually, most graduates are unsure about their future career decisions, tend to change their choices. In this context, there are doubts about the quality of career education in schools as the evaluation of career education at school reveals various vulnerable groups to whom this service is restricted due to various internal and external conflicts (Hu, Hood, Creed, Shen, 2020; Xu, 2020). The analysis, based on the PRISMA 2020 (Page et al., 2021), aims to answer the questions 1) What are the main institutional (school) empowerment conditions that enable students to gain quality career education? 2) How to encourage students with behavioural problems to take advantage of these opportunities? The review of the research allowed to construct a conceptual framework of career education for children with behavioural problems at secondary school.

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“…Positive compromise (Chen, 2004) and life–career reengagement (Chen, 2011a) illustrate pertinent attempts toward this end. Along with the same line, much is to be gained via the presentation of the most recent endeavors in meta-theory development and theoretical integration as a viable alternative to describe and understand the human intention and action in their career contexts (Chen & Hong, 2020).…”

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confidence: 99%