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Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 39644

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ilaria Di Maggio

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Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology, Padua University, 35131 Padua, Italy
Interests: life-design; positive psychology; and inclusive and sustainable vocational designing in young people and adults with vulnerabilities such as stories of substance abuse; immigration, and disability and the analysis of individual and contextual factors involved in social inclusion processes

Prof. Dr. Sara Santilli

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Guest Editor

Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology at Padua University, 35131 Padua, Italy
Interests: career counseling; inclusion; life and career design; attitudes towards disability; barriers and support to educational; career inclusion

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Today, vocational guidance, career counseling, and life design have to consider that supporting clients to deal with the future means reflecting on how to face alarming risks. Some of these risks are, for example, increasing inequality, the concentration of prosperity and of job opportunities within an increasingly narrow band of people, the increasing movement of peoples across borders, the depletion of natural resources, the impact of technology on working environments and on quality of life, and job conditions that are at the same time more insecure and less decent.

Having considered all these factors, it is hard to avoid the fact that vocational guidance, career counseling, and life design need a change of pace that, according to us, can only be associated with investments in inclusion and sustainability. Vocational guidance and career counseling have to focus on new trajectories in order to manage the challenges that we are facing, working to promote the growth of the individuals and social development, ‘moving’ from a mainly individualistic view of growth and of people’s realization to a more markedly contextualistic view, focused on a representation of the future that involves high attention on the ‘social’, on the common good, and on sustainable development. In this respect, this Special Issue draws on the premise that effective vocational guidance and career counseling, also from the Life Design paradigm, could contribute to promoting an inclusive and sustainable development of society. Scholarly work can contribute to building inclusive and sustainable contexts: It is related to variables such as career adaptability, self-determination, resilience, and other positive resources.

This call for manuscripts is an invitation to career counseling theorists, researchers, and practitioners to share your views on how we should respond, individually and collectively, to the challenges discussed above. This Special Issue welcomes a variety of articles types, from empirical to theoretical studies.

Prof. Dr. Ilaria Di Maggio
Prof. Dr. Sara Santilli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

sustainable development
inclusion
vocational guidance
career counseling
life design
career adaptability
self-determination
resilience
career intervention

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 2730 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Embedding Life Design in Future Readiness Efforts to Promote Collective Impact and Economically Sustainable Communities: Conceptual Frameworks and Case Example

by Chong Myung Park, Angelica Rodriguez, Jazmin Rubi Flete Gomez, Isahiah Erilus, Hayoung Kim Donnelly, Yanling Dai, Alexandra Oliver-Davila, Paul Trunfio, Cecilia Nardi, Kimberly A. S. Howard and V. Scott H. Solberg

Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 13189; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313189 - 29 Nov 2021

Viewed by 3335

Abstract

This is the first of two sequential papers describing the design and first-year implementation of a collaborative participatory action research effort between Sociedad Latina, a youth serving organization in Boston, Massachusetts, and Boston University. The collaboration aimed to develop and deliver a combined STEM and career development set of lessons for middle school Latinx youth. In the first paper, life design and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals are described in relation to the rationale and the design of the career development intervention strategy that aims to help middle school youth discover the ways that learning advanced-STEM skills expand future decent work opportunities both within STEM and outside STEM, ultimately leading to an outcome of well-being and sustainable communities. In addition to providing evidence of career development intervention strategies, a qualitative analysis of the collaboration is described. The second paper will discuss two additional frameworks that guided the design and implementation of our work. As an example of translational research, the paper will provide larger national and regional contexts by describing system level career development interventions underway using Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological and person–process–context–time frameworks. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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21 pages, 2895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Preliminary Analysis of the Perception Gap between Employers and Vocational Students for Career Sustainability

by Ali Rizwan, Suhail H. Serbaya, Muhammad Saleem, Hemaid Alsulami, Dimitrios A. Karras and Zobia Alamgir

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11327; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011327 - 13 Oct 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2527

Abstract

(1) Background: Nowadays, technological advancement plays a key role in the economic uplift of developing countries, and it is paramount that the youth of these countries are well-equipped with both vocational and technical skills to bring about sustainability in their careers. (2) Methods: The present study aims to investigate the perception gap between vocational students and industrial employers with regard to employability skills. In this regard, data were collected from 683 vocational students from urban/rural areas studying in the public/private vocational institutions of a developing country. Similarly, 82 vocational employers were contacted about their perception of employability skills. A questionnaire comprising 20 questions was administered online to both students and employers for registering their responses. Data were analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics, interval plots, and an Ishikawa diagram. (3) Results: The findings reveal that vocational employers give maximum importance to interpersonal, technical, and entrepreneurial skills, while students perceive that their technical and computing skills are vital for sustainable careers. Similarly, the rural/public students showed minimum levels of competency in these skills as compared with their counterparts living in rural areas and studying in the private institutions. Furthermore, structured interviews were conducted with the concerned stakeholders to develop a remedial framework for the sustainable careers of these vocational students. (4) Conclusions: The results of the study not only bring sustainability to the vocational sector of developing countries, but to all those countries enjoying similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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13 pages, 234 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Early-Career Challenges of Youth Development Extension Educators and Effective Strategies

by Koralalage S. U. Jayaratne, Daniel P. Collins and Shannon B. McCollum

Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9017; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169017 - 12 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1831

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to determine the challenges faced by early-career youth development extension educators and strategies helpful in managing those challenges. This study used the modified Delphi method of three rounds with a specifically selected expert panel of 24 members to build consensus on the challenges that early-career youth development extension educators faced and managing strategies of those challenges. The expert panel of this Delphi study was selected from two south-eastern states in the U.S. based on their proven success and effectiveness in youth development extension programming in their respective counties. The three-round Delphi study led to building the consensus on 16 challenges faced by early-career youth development extension educators and 14 strategies helpful in managing those challenges. The findings of this study have implications for planning onboarding training programs for early-career youth development extension educators. Future research is needed to understand how identified strategies contribute to managing early-career challenges faced by youth development extension educators. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

10 pages, 272 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Validation of an Instrument to Assess Pro-Pensity to Cosmopolitanism in Adolescence

by Ilaria Di Maggio, Sara Santilli, Maria Cristina Ginevra and Laura Nota

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8253; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158253 - 23 Jul 2021

Viewed by 1499

Abstract

The study was designed to provide the initial validation of the instrument “How cosmopolitan do I think I am?” to assess the propensity to cosmopolitanism in adolescents interested in reflecting about their future career choices. Two studies were carried out to test psychometric requisites of the instrument “How cosmopolitan do I think I am?” Specifically, in the first study, after developing items and examining content validity, the factorial structure and the reliability of the scale were tested. The results showed good fit indexes for a factor structure characterized by three-correlated factors and for a second order-factor structure. This last factor structure model suggests that three hypothesised factors can be considered indicators of a global dimension of cosmopolitanism. In the second study, discriminant validity was evaluated. The results confirmed that the three dimensions of cosmopolitanism are related but distinct from career adaptability (CA) and the tendency to consider systemic challenges to attain sustainable development (TCSC). Overall, the results observed supported the use of the questionnaire in career vocational guidance and counseling activities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

14 pages, 820 KiB

Open AccessArticle

For the Future Sustainable Career Development of College Students: Exploring the Impact of Core Self-Evaluation and Career Calling on Career Decision-Making Difficulty

by Xueping Shen, Xueying Gu, Huaruo Chen and Ya Wen

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6817; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126817 - 16 Jun 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6093

Abstract

As one of the important factors to predict future sustainable development, the difficulty of career decision-making has aroused widespread concern in psychological research. Core self-evaluation and career calling have a positive impact on college students’ career development, employees’ organizational behavior, life satisfaction, and life meaning, thus promoting individual sustainable development. Based on the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study mainly discusses the positive role of core self-evaluation and career calling in overcoming college students’ career decision-making difficulties, which provides support for strengthening theory and proposing educational countermeasures. This study investigates the relationship among core self-evaluation, career calling, and career decision-making difficulties for 483 Chinese college students. The results show that core self-evaluation positively predicts career calling, while core self-evaluation and career calling negatively predict career decision-making difficulties. Accordingly, career calling plays a partial mediating role between core self-evaluation and career decision-making difficulties. Therefore, college students’ career calling can be enhanced by improving their core self-evaluation, so as to further solve the difficulties in career decision-making. In the future, effective strategies should be taken to reduce the career decision-making difficulty for students’ sustainable development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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12 pages, 938 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Key Soft Skills in the Orientation Process and Level of Employability

by Ana Rodríguez Martínez, Verónica Sierra Sánchez, Carolina Falcón Linares and Cecilia Latorre Cosculluela

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3554; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063554 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3757

Abstract

We understand soft skills as an integrated set of knowledge, skills and values that facilitate the effective, affective and efficient development of a skill or activity. The objective of this study was to identify the soft skills that are most often used in the orientation process and those that improve employability, according to Spanish counselors. A qualitative methodology was used. The participants (n = 57) were orientation professionals. A total of 273 interviews were conducted over five years. The results and conclusions show that communication and decision-making are the most important competencies in the orientation process and at the level of employability, followed by intrapersonal skills, skills in interpersonal relationships, teamwork, problem solving, adaptation to new situations, creativity and leadership. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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14 pages, 265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Career Adaptability on Subjective Well-Being of Middle-Aged and Older Employees

by Makiko Takao and Nobutaka Ishiyama

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2570; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052570 - 27 Feb 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3125

Abstract

This study aimed to elucidate how career adaptability (CA) affects subjective well-being by focusing on the psychological adjustment of middle-aged and older workers. Two web-based surveys were conducted at 1-year and 3-month intervals with 3540 workers aged 40 to 64 years, including those eligible for both position-retirement and reemployment. Factor analysis of CA in the first wave extracted two factors “control and confidence” and “concern and curiosity”. Multiple regression analysis, adjusted for important covariates, was conducted with the overall CA and the two factors of CA as the independent variables, and scores of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) as the dependent variable. For satisfaction with life, only concern and curiosity had a significant positive association, while control and confidence had no significant association. Analysis by employment stage indicated that only concern and curiosity had a significant positive association with satisfaction with life, while control and confidence had no significant association with any employment stage. The results suggest that the effect of CA on satisfaction with life remains the same, even among those who are position-retired or reemployed at the end of their vocational lives, which is a transition period in their lives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

17 pages, 308 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“What Can I Be When I Grow Up?”—The Influence of Own and Others’ Career Expectations on Adolescents’ Perception of Stress in Their Career Orientation Phase

by Angela Ulrich, Kerstin Helker and Katharina Losekamm

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 912; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020912 - 18 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3355

Abstract

The future that adolescents are growing up to live and work in becomes increasingly complex and vague, making job choice a moving target. Thus, adolescents develop and are confronted with a number of different options for what job they wish to take up and have to balance their own and their social environment’s job aspirations for them. Prior research has suggested including more dynamic approaches to understanding career choice and counseling. In this research, we therefore draw on the possible selves approach and aim at understanding how far imbalance between adolescents’ own and their social environments’ expectations for their vocational future will cause stress. In an online mixed-methods study, 163 adolescent participants, aged 14–22, reported their own and their parents’, teachers’, and friends’ emotions, future orientation, and perceived stress regarding the career choice. Results showed a variety of expectations for future careers held by participants and their social environment, as well as emotions regarding these expectations. Positive deactivating emotions (satisfaction and relief) negatively predicted adolescents’ stress and strain and the older and closer to final job choice participants were, the more they reported stress and strain. These findings suggest including adolescents’ social environment in the career choice process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

14 pages, 290 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘Looking to the Future and the University in an Inclusive and Sustainable Way’: A Career Intervention for High School Students

by Sara Santilli, Ilaria di Maggio, Maria Cristina Ginevra, Laura Nota and Salvatore Soresi

Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9048; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219048 - 30 Oct 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3660

Abstract

Career guidance needs new perspectives, considering the challenges that characterize our future, and it cannot exist without solidarity, inclusion, and attention to environmental challenges. It should also positively influence stakeholders to invest in the values of the 2030 Agenda recently proposed by the United Nations, and its encouragement to think about some of the emergencies that new generations will have to face in the future. Based on these premises, we designed and validated a sustainable career guidance intervention for high school students. The participants (N = 75) were assigned to an experimental or a control group. All of the participants answered questions pre- and post-intervention to measure career adaptability, training, future investment, and wishes about the feature. The students from the sustainable career intervention group increased their post-intervention scores on control, curiosity, confidence, training, and future investment. They also indicated future wishes that take into more account attention to relationships and social challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

24 pages, 505 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Behind Dislike: Adaptive Purposes for Undergraduates’ Negative Emotions in the Career Decision-Making Process

by Keith A. Puffer and Kris G. Pence

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8071; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198071 - 30 Sep 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2370

Abstract

The first career interest inventory emerged in the late 1920s. The response options for the questions in the Strong Vocational Interest Blank included ‘like’ and ‘dislike.’ Both answers are emotional reactions. Regrettably, clients within the context of vocational counseling often regard negative feelings (e.g., dislikes) as inconsequential. Yet, negative emotionality can be adaptive and feasibly assist career decision-makers. In the literature on college students’ career development and emotional functioning, there is a paucity of information about how negative emotions advance the career decision-making process and how career decision-makers apply such knowledge. Hence, a sample of undergraduates (n = 256) was recruited to ascertain imaginable adaptive career decision-making benefits from negative affect. Employing a Mixed Methods-Grounded Theory methodology, the present study tabulated the negative emotional reactions of college students to vocations that were self- or computer-reported. In addition, their answers to two investigative questions about the selection of their negative emotions were analyzed. From the data, three negative meta-emotions emerged as reactions to participants’ reported occupations; four adaptive purposes for their selected negative affect were also discovered. A theoretical framework and applicative suggestions from the findings are presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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14 pages, 438 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Work and Surroundings”: A Training to Enhance Career Curiosity, Self-Efficacy, and the Perception of Work and Decent Work in Adolescents

by Andrea Zammitti, Paola Magnano and Giuseppe Santisi

Sustainability 2020, 12(16), 6473; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12166473 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3724

Abstract

The development of professional identity starts with childhood. In adolescence, individuals should have appropriate resources to make choices; high levels of self-efficacy and professional curiosity, as well as better representations of the concept of work and decent work, could support adolescents in their planning of the future. For this reason, we developed a training aimed at providing adolescents with resources of professional curiosity and self-efficacy, which would also increase their representation of the concepts of work and decent work. A longitudinal study compared a control group (n = 80) with an experimental group (n = 80). The second group participated in mainly qualitative career counseling activities and showed an improvement in the levels of professional curiosity and self-efficacy; moreover, after the training, the experimental group showed a better representation of work and decent work. Consequently, the training managed to improve the dimensions set out above. The results show that career counseling activities can help increase adolescent resources and increase their chances of finding a qualitatively good job. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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Review

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Apprenticeships as a Unique Shaping Field for the Development of an Individual Future-Oriented “Vocationality”

by Bernd-Joachim Ertelt, Andreas Frey, Melanie Hochmuth, Jean-Jacques Ruppert and Silke Seyffer

Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 2279; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13042279 - 20 Feb 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3117

Abstract

With the labor market and work environments becoming increasingly dynamic, the question of how young people can find their way to a sustainable professional future becomes ever more complex. This paper looks from different perspectives at apprenticeships, at their advantages and limitations. The first step is a description of the prerequisites that are necessary for a sustainable career choice. In this respect, the role of career guidance is particularly relevant, as guidance needs to take into account both individual characteristics as well as labor market aspects in order to support a sustainable career choice. Based on a comprehensive critical literature review of current interdisciplinary and international papers, as well as of basic career choice theory literature, the theoretical framework is set out and linked to empirical results. The conclusion emphasizes the high importance of apprenticeships for the holistic personality development of young people and a positive as well as a sustainable effect on their lifelong employment careers. It should be stressed that this success depends, to a large extent, on the structure of the vocational education and training system, on labor market developments, and on individual advanced qualifications in the course of working life. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Vocational Design for a Sustainable and Inclusive Future: The Role of Career Adaptability, Self-Determination, and Other Positive Dimensions)

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