Careers in a Cultural Context

Abstract

This article gives an overview of research on Super's theory across cultures within the United States as well as internationally. Research indicates that the theory has some cross‐cultural validity, yet there seem to be measurement concerns. The article also discusses two areas for future investigation: development of ethnic identity as a vocational task and research on developmental contextualism (Vondracek, Lerner, & Shulenberg, 1986).

A lifespan perspective on psychological contracts and their relations with organizational commitment

“…Moreover, the somewhat older employees in the taxi company may be more normatively committed. Thus, further research is needed to investigate the robustness of our findings, and to determine the extent to which our findings generalize to other occupational settings and/or to other countries (Fouad & Arbona, 1994).…”

Lifespan career development.

“…Given an emerging awareness of cultural differences, Fouad and Arbona (1994) focused attention on those for whom demographic characteristics, opportunity limitations, and cultural constraints might vary from that inherent in the early theoretical formulations. Although their analysis largely supported the applicability of developmental theory cross-culturally, they also pointed to culturally relevant developmental tasks (such as ethnic identity development) that may need to be included in consideration of a more universally applicable model of career development.…”

Remembering the Life and Work of Donald Super (1910–1994)

“…nature if notalways intiming. Fouad and Arbona (1994) The life-eareer rainbow andconcepts of relative importance ofvarious life roles have been investigated inseveral research studies, butmost prominently inthebook describing theWIS andtheresults achieved inmany different countries (Super & Sverko, 1995). Itisexpected that these concepts willstimulate further research.…”