Annual Review 

Practice and Research in 
Career Counseling and 
Deveiopment—2008 

Wendy Patton 
Peter Mcllveen 


The career development literature published in 2008 is summarized and presented 

thematically: (a) professional issues, (b) career assessment, (c) career development, 

(d) career theory and concepts, (e) career interventions, (f) advances in technology, 
(g) employment, (h) international perspectives, and (i) research design and methodology. 
Traditional and emerging theories and practices are robust and vibrant. 
It was an honor to be invited by The Career Development Quarterly 
(CDQ) editor to be the author of the 2008 annual review. As the first 
Australian to be invited, I consider the invitation to be a measure of 
the increasing international nature and reach of the career development 
profession. It was particularly satisfying to have a recent doctoral graduate 
of mine, who has already contributed significantly to the field, agree 
to be coauthor. In addition, this review marks the 20th anniversary of 

CD^annual reviews, with the inaugural review having been completed 
on the 1988 literature by Mark Savickas. 

We are indebted to the many review authors who have previously mastered 
this daunting, yet inherently challenging, task. Through their past efforts, 
we were able to have a list of journals to begin the literature search process, 
as well as some ideas about the methodology of search and the structure 
for writing. As with previous review authors, we decided to remain basically 
faithfiil to the organizing categories previously used—^we agree that 
this assists readers with a measure of continuity across reviews. Indeed, it 
also assists greatly with the categorizing and writing process. 

The process of search and compilation began midyear 2008, and conceptualizing 
and writing in earnest commenced from December. By that 
time, almost all full compilations of issues for 2008 journals were available. 
On the basis of data provided in previous reviews, we compiled a 
list of journals that could contain relevant articles. This list was divided 
into groups according to primary and secondary career development 
focus. For the first group of journals, every article included in all 2008 

Wendy Patton, Paculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, 
Queensland, Australia; Peter Mcllveen, Paculty of Education, University of 
Southern Queensland, Queensland, Australia. The authors offer sincere thanks to 
Carlie Jackson for her diligent support in sourcing and coding the vast literature 
and thank their respective institutions for their support in the time and resourcing 
required for such a significant undertaking. Correspondence concerning this 
article should be addressed to Wendy Patton, Executive Dean, Faculty of Education, 
Queensland University ofTechnology, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, 
Queensland, Australia, 4059 (e-mail: w.patton@qut.edu.au). 

© 2009 by the National Career Development Association. All rights reserved. 

118 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


issues was read. This group consisted of CDQ Career Planning and 
Adult Development Journal, Journal of Career Assessment, Journal of 

Career Development, Journal ofEmployment Counseling, and Journal of 

Vocational Behavior. 

The tables of contents for the other groups of journals were scanned 
and all relevant árdeles identified. These groups of journals included all 
other American Counseling Association division journals and American 
Psychological Association journals that typically publish árdeles on work 
and career development (e.g., American Psychologist, The Counseling 
Psychologist, Journal of Counseling Psychology). Thefinal group of journals 
reviewed included those that represent sometimes small readerships, many 
from outside the United States. As authors who began our publishing 
careers in a journal with a relatively small readership, we believe these 
journals are important to include in a truly international review of the 
field. These journals included, among others, the Australian Journal of 
Career Development, Australian Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 
International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, Career 
Development International, British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 
and International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling. 

As acknowledged by previous reviewers, it is impossible to maike a claim 
to full comprehensiveness. As much as possible, we have attempted to 
provide broad coverage to provide the reader who has an interest with 
enough stimulus to locate and read the particular work reviewed. We 
have attempted to minimize any commentary on individual work, but 
where deemed appropriate, we have provided an evaluative comment 
on an aspect of the field as a whole that has been highlighted in the 
2008 review. Decisions about articles that were not included in the 
review were difficult to make—in most cases we looked at uniqueness 
of contribution and value that would add to the field as a whole in the 
decision to include particular articles or themes. All articles cited are 
for 2008 unless otherwise indicated. 

For the most part, the review follows major topics as used in previous 
reviews: Professional Issues; Career Assessment; Career Development 
(focused on children); Career Theory and Concepts (including a focus 
on Career Constructs); Career Interventions; Advances in Technology; 
Employment—Personnel Selection, Placement, and Retention; and International 
Perspectives. Each section is followed by a brief summary. 
Within each major topic, we highlighted issues that were preeminent 
in the literature in 2008. In addition, we created the section Research 
Design and Methodology—Advances and Challenges, given that our 
reading of a year's worth of literature in the field yielded several areas 
worthy of observation under this topic. 

Profp.ssional T.s.sne.s 

Well-Being and Work 

The professional issue of the association between health and well-being 
and career and work was highlighted in the literature, particularly with a 
special issue of xhc Journal of Career Assessment (Vol. 16[1]) introduced 
by W. B. Walsh and a special issue of The Counseling Psychologist (Vol. 
36[1]), in which the relationship between work and health/illness was 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 119 


explored by Werth, Borges, McNally, Maguire, and Britton using HIV 
as a locus of enquiry. In a study of full-time working women, Pearson 
found that role overload predicted psychological health. Steinmetz, 
Frese, and Schmidt presented evidence indicating a vicious circle: job 
Stressors linking to depression, to work-home interference, and reiterating 
to job Stressors. Coleman Gallagher, Harris, and Valle found that job 
tension in an organization predicted the use of aggressive intimidation 
behaviors by staff and that negative affectivity exacerbated the situation, 
whereas positive affectivity had no mediating effect. Furthermore, Lim, 
Cortina, and Magley found that incivility, as a lower level aggression in 
the workplace, had a direct effect on intention to quit and employees' 
mental health. Frone found a relationship between work stress and the 
use of illicit drugs and alcohol at specific times ofthe day (i.e., before, 
during, after work). Bacharach, Bamberger, Biron, and Horowitz-Rozen 
found that blue-collar workers' perception of forced or involuntary retirement 
was associated with problematic alcohol consumption, whereas 
volitional or voluntary retirement was associated with a lower risk of 
problematic drinking behavior. 

Russell reviewed the relationship between well-being and work performance 
and offered strategies for promoting well-being at work. Russell 
also discussed the value of transformational leadership within organizations. 
Jacobs and Blustein advanced the notion of mindfulness., which has 
received considerable attention in the therapy and counseling literature. 
They argued that mindfiilness and its application by practitioners can 
play a role in sustaining individuals' well-being at work in the face of 
uncertainty. Tanigoshi, Kontos, and Remley indicated the potential benefit 
of Wellness counseling among law enforcement officers. An exploratory 
study by Kinjerski and Skrypnek revealed four dimensions of spirituality 
in work: individuals always experiencing spirit in and through work, a 
sense of everything finally coming together, transformative events, and 
a contextually bound spirituality. Kidd's study explored the positive and 
the negative dimensions and emotions of career well-being. Similarly, 
Bakker and Demerouti posited a model of work engagement in which 
workers feel vigor, dedication, and absorption and are more willing to 
be creative and productive. The notion of workflow (i.e., absorption, 
work enjoyment, and intrinsic work morivarion) was investigated by Bakker, 
who presented a measure ofthe construct. Dik and Hansen argued 
that passionate pursuit of career interests may contribute to well-being. 
Boehm and Lyubomirsky turned the tables on career success and happiness 
and reviewed evidence to promote their position that happiness 
predicts measures of success and workplace satisfaction. 

Work-Life Balance 

As in previous annual reviews (Tien, 2007), balancing the commitments 
of work and family—broadly conceived—featured strongly as a professional 
issue. Peruniak reviewed the notion of quality of life and related it 
to career development. The choice of flexible work arrangements would 
seem to be a prerequisite of work-life balance. Lambert, Marier, and 
Gueutal found that individuals who had longer tenure and supervisory 
responsibilities and who worked with colleagues who used flexibility 
arrangements or had lifestyle applications for flexibility, were likely to 
take advantage of the opportunities for flexibility that were available. 

120 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


However, employees who were without supervisory responsibilities and 
who did not perceive their colleagues as using the flexible arrangements 
or who were without lifestyle need for such flexibility were less likely to 
take advantage of the arrangements. 

The work-life balance literature highlighted the importance of research 
and intervention on the family itself. Hennessy and Lent offered a new 
measure of work-family conflict in their English version of the Self-Efficacy 
Scale to manage work-family conflict. Dillaway and Pare critically explored 
the notions of stay-at-home mothers and working mothers and challenged 
readers to reconsider definitions of work, home, and motherhood. 
From the perspective of traditional and egalitarian styles of gender roles, 
Livingston and Judge found that traditionalists experienced more guilt 
from family-interfering-with-work, whereas egalitarians experienced more 
guilt fi-om work-interfering-with-family. Traditional men also experienced 
higher levels of guilt for family-interfering-with-work. Fagan and Press 
found that mothers with a traditional outlook on family reported higher 
levels of work-family balance when the father had a flexible job and was 
able to contribute to the care of children. 

Chait Barnett, Gareis, and Brennan found that the work conditions of 
mothers doing shift work in households with dual-working couples predicted 
work-family conflict and mothers' psychological distress. Lleras found 
that single mothers who had part-time or low-wage employment or who 
worked nonstandard hours in their work had poorer quality home environments. 
Ezzedeen and Ritchey studied the support behavior provided by 
male spouses of executive women in relation to emotional support, career 
support, esteem support, and husbands' career and lifestyle choices. The 
study of ten Brummelhuis, van der Lippe, Kluwer, and Flap showed that 
although household chores and young children may be exhausting, the 
presence of children in a household may have beneficial effects on burnout. 
Allen, Shockley, and Poteat explored how work interfered in family life at 
the family dining table. 

In a multinational study of managers, Lapierre et al. found that employees 
working in a family-supportive environment had lower levels of 
work-to-family conflict, which predicted job and family satisfaction and 
also overall life satisfaction. Rantanen, Kinnunen, Feldt, and Pulkkinen 
demonstrated the effect of job exhaustion on general psychological 
well-being. Major, Fletcher, Davis, and Germano provided evidence 
that organizations with a positive work-family culture are better able 
to manage workplace relationships and interference with family. Cook 
and Minnotte found that the percentage of women in an industry or 
an occupation influences women's and men's perceptions of the levels 
of support and work-family conflict—with more women in an industry, 
women feel more coworker support, whereas men feel less supported. 
In a survey of 9,627 managers in a multinational study that included 
33 countries, Lyness and Judiesch found that participants with a higher 
level of work-life balance were at an advantage for career advancement 
potential, as contrasted with those with a lower level of work-life balance. 
This was particularly true for women in high gender egalitarian 
cultures and men in low gender egalitarian cultures. In a study of legal 
practitioners, Wallace and Young found limited evidence of the benefits 
for women of working in a family-friendly firm; instead, they found that 
fathers benefited more from this situation. 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 121 


Multicultural Practice 

An emphasis on multicultural practice was evident again in the counseling 
literature of 2008, highlighted by a special issue ofthe Journal of Counseling 
& Development {Yol. 86[3]). In their introduction to the special issue, 
D'Andrea and Heckman noted signs of alignment of multicultural practice 
with social justice. Hays did an overview of instruments for the assessment 
of multicultural counseling competencies in counselors, and Brinson, Brew, 
and Denby described an intensive, class-based approach to developing 
awareness, knowledge, and skill in multicultural competencies. 

The study of Mexican American high school students by Flores, Navarro, 
and DeWitz indicated a need for practitioners to assist students 
in generating realistic expectations and aspirations for higher education. 
Ojeda and Flores found that Mexican American high school students' 
perceptions of educational barriers predicted their educational aspirations. 
Perry's study found that career planning and positive racial internalization 
(with low levels of dissonance) influenced the school engagement 
of urban youth of color. The career issues and barriers for Black women 
were presented by Reynolds-Dobbs, Thomas, and Harrison. Similar results 
were found internationally. For example, Cardoso and Marques found 
that gender and ethnicity influenced Portuguese women's perceptions 
of barriers and career expectations, particularly if they were of African 
descent. Fouad et al. usefully explored the career development of Asian 
Americans, finding themes of culture and family predominant. 

Disability 

The relevance of disability as a career-related issue was more evident in 
the literature of 2008 than in the past. Estrada-Hernández, Wadsworth, 
Nietupski, Warth, and Winslow indicated that severity of disability is 
related to employment outcomes. Ferrari, Nota, and Soresi found that 
individuals with an intellectual disability, just as do individuals without 
such a disability, valued work, particularly as a means of survival and 
social connection. Brislin outlined key counseling and vocational issues 
for children and adolescents with spina bifida, and Fusick discussed the 
professional issues and competencies required for counseling individuals 
with hearing loss. The relationship between stigma and mental illness 
was highlighted by Overton and Medina. Painter, Prevatt, and Welles 
provided evidence that individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity 
disorder are at risk of experiencing dysfiinctional career beliefs, confusion 
in making decisions, and anxiety. 

Gender 

Gender continued to be a major topic of interest in the literature. In an 
issue of The Counseling Psychologist (Vol. 36[3]) devoted to gender role 
conflict, Heppner and Heppner considered gender role conflict in relation 
to men and commented on the limited research available on gender 
role conflict in the workplace. Kelan explored information technology 
workers' sense of risk and employment uncertainty and found a theme 
of "being the breadwinner" evident in men's concerns. A study by 
Wooten and Valenti demonstrated the complexity of affective reactions 
to unemployment in a study indicating that gender-related differences 
in affective reactions disappeared when the variables age, ethnic back


122 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


ground, marital status, education, tenure, salary, job classification, and 
financial strain were controlled. Although the study's generalizability 
was limited, it provided a reminder that caution is warranted in the 
interpretation of gender-related variables. 

Ericksen, Jürgens, Garrett, and Swedburg presented a model to assist 
counselors in understanding women's reentry to the workforce following 
time out of work for parenting; they suggested that group counseling 
may be beneficial in dealing with this adjustment. Shapiro, Ingols, and 
Blake-Beard challenged the double-bind that women face—be in the 
career mainstream or be conceptualized as out of it—and posited the 
we are self-employed approach for the enhancement of career self-agency 
in women's career development. 

In a longitudinal study, Earle Reybold and Alamia explored the career 
development of female academics and conceptualized their faculty identity 
in terms of transience and resilience. Domestic violence against women 
was highlighted by Chronister, Linville, and Kaag. They discussed the 
importance of women having access to career services and revealed a need 
for providers to be cognizant of the emotional impact of abuse, fear of 
new situations, concerns over others' judgments, and practical barriers to 
engaging in career services. In a study by Sheridan, aggression was also 
revealed to be an issue for unemployed women managers. 

Sexuality 

The infiuence of sexuality on career development has been further emphasized 
in the 2008 literature. A cluster of articles by Kirk and Belovics 
(b); O'Neil, McWhirter, and Cerezo; and Pepper and Lorah highlighted 
the need for career development practitioners to be better trained for 
practice with individuals of the transgender and transsexual communities. 
Pepper and Lorah described some of the key workplace issues and 
provided a useful summary of terminology; for example, the broad term 
transcender subsumes other terms including transsexual, transitionin¿, 
and cross dresser. The development issues of lesbians were explored by 
Wheeler-Scruggs. The construct of internalized heterosexism was treated 
in a special issue of The Counseling Psychologist (Vol. 36[4]) and Szymanski, 
Kashubeck-West, and Meyer raised the question of its relevance to 
career issues. An implication of this body of scholarship pertains to how 
career practitioners and researchers are prepared for their work. Pepper 
and Lorah, for example, argued that several competencies are required 
for working with transsexual clients: organizational policies, work-related 
implications of the experience of transgender transition, career assessment 
procedures, and identity management in the workplace. 

Education, Training, and Professional Deveiopment 

The literature of career development remains rich with a number of 

notable comprehensive monograph publications for practitioners in the 

field and for academics who teach career development studies, particularly 

evident in the works of Epstein and Lenz, of Osborn, and of Sampson. 

In conducting their review of articles published in the Journal of Ap


plied Psycholo¿ry znd Personnel Psychology iiom 1963 to 2007, Cascio and 

Aguinis found the topics of methodology-psychometric issues, predic


tors of performance, work motivation and attitudes, and performance 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 123 


measurement-work outcomes to be in the top five topics for both 
journals. Moreover, they expressed concerns that the divide between 
theory and practice in the career development field keeps the science 
and the practice of industrial and organizational behavior separated and 
that this was evident in the topics of research being more relevant to 
theory than to practice. They argued for a new approach to training 
and socialization of professionals to ensure the discipline's relevance. 
They also suggested the following applied topics to enhance the nexus 
of research and practice: leadership development, compensation and 
benefits, executive compensation, work-life issues, retirement of baby 
boomers, attitudes toward aging, work intensification, talent management, 
culture transformation, managing change, increasing diversity, 
globalization, and ethics and ethical leadership. 

Professional Issues: Summary and Conclusion 

Well-being and work-life balance were predominant themes in the literature 
of 2008, with a focus particularly on the relationship between 
work and family. This extends the significant body of family-related literature 
documented in the previous annual review conducted by Chope. 
Although multiculturalism issues were present in the literature of 2008, 
they were not as predominant as in the 2007 literature documented in 
the previous annual review. It was of course pleasing to see a solid body 
of work pertaining to issues of justice related to disability, gender, and 
sexuality. Erom our perspective of the 2008 literature, we see that the 
field is making strong inroads in understanding and positively enhancing 
the role of work in people's lives. As demonstrated in subsequent sections 
of this annual review, there is a considerable body of research and 
development regarding theory and practice; however, we observed that 
the scholarship concerning educating and training career practitioners 
was rather limited. If the field is to progress, then research and development 
regarding the pedagogy of tiie teaching and learning of career 
development practice warrants a stronger place in the literature. 

Career A.sse.s.smenf 

Interests 

As previous annual reviewers have found (see Chope), the study of interests 
remains one of the most researched areas in the field, with many 
studies over the year advancing and refining assessment instruments or 
creating modifications for particular cohorts. Leierer, Strohmer, Black-
well, Thompson, and Donnay developed an occupational scale for the 
Strong Interest Inventory (SII) using data from rehabilitation counselors. 
The newly developed Rehabilitation Counselor Scale (included as part 
of the newly revised SII) proved to be successful in discriminating the 
pattern of interests of rehabilitation counselors from interests of people 
in general. The authors reported appropriate psychometric data for the 
new scale and suggested implications for its use in confirming rehabilitation 
counseling as a distinct profession and, therefore, in identifying 
and recruiting new people into the profession. The distinctiveness of the 
interest patterns should also assist people to identify their own interest fit 
before committing to educational programs for entry to the profession. 
In a complementary article, Leierer, Blackwell, Strohmer, Thompson, 

124 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


and Donnay developed prototypical SII profiles for male and female 
rehabilitation counselors. As would be expected, these profiles drew on 
people skills, verbal abilities, listening and understanding capacities, and 
a preference for settings that foster creativity. 

The SII also featured in a study by Bailey, Larson, Borgen, and Gasser, 
who conducted the first reported study to examine the equivalence of 
the 1994 and 2005 versions ofthe SII using the parallel content scales. 
These scales included the six General Occupational Themes (GOTs), 
22 ofthe 25 Basic Interest Scales (BISs), and four ofthe Personal Style 
Scales (PSSs). The scale correlations between the two versions were 
equal to or greater than .85 for the GOTs and all but one ofthe PSSs. 
The BIS correlations ranged from .64 to .97. 

The Personal Globe Inventory (PGI; Tracey, 2002) was the subject 
of two articles that evaluated the Spherical Model of Interests in both 
Serbia (Hedrih) and Croatia (I. Sverko). Hedrih's data were collected 
from participants of different ages, educational levels, and genders and 
demonstrated good fit to Tracey's model as well as Holland's hexagonal 
model. I. Sverko also gathered data on the PGI from late primary 
school, late secondary school, and university students. The data from 
this study demonstrated several key findings that not only contribute to 
the assessment literature and data on the PGI but also add to the body 
of knowledge on the structure of interests across cultures. I. Sverko 
reported that the Croatian data confirmed three factors that were underlying 
interest items. In addition, the spherical representation and 
structural stability of interests across age and gender groups in Croatian 
adolescents and young adults was supported. 

Sodano and Tracey also furthered the work of the PGI in exploring 
the place of prestige in interest activity assessment. Two samples of college 
students rated each activity item from the PGI for prestige, effort 
required, skill required, competition involved, and female and male sex-
typing. The analyses ofthe data included matching of ratings with the 
theoretical structure for the first sample and the empirical structure of 
PGI items for the second sample. In both samples, following both sets 
of analyses, "the PGI prestige dimension was highly related to ratings 
for prestige, effort, skill, and competition, but unrelated to sex-typing" 
(Sodano & Tracey, p. 310). 

Complementary studies by Liao, Armstrong, and Rounds and by 
Armstrong, Allison, and Rounds addressed the limitations in the use of 
interest measures based on Holland's RIASEC (i.e.. Realistic, Investigative, 
Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) types that have 
been commercially developed and that are often lengthy and subject to 
copyright restrictions. Both studies report on research that aimed to 
develop and validate publicly available short versions of the measures 
to facilitate their greater usefiilness in research settings. Liao et al. developed 
public domain Basic Interest Markers (BIMs), which are freely 
available on the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Information 
Network (see O*NET Interest Profiler; http://www.onetcenter. 
org/IP.html). These items were reviewed through numerous phases of 
test development (e.g., review by small numbers of students, completed 
by several samples of college students). Reliability and several forms of 
validity data are reported, with the authors concluding that the freely 
available BIMs are psychometrically sound. Implications for research 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 125 


and for applied settings are provided. In recognition of the prominence 
of the Holland RIASEC model in vocational psychology, the authors 
emphasized the need for a follow-up study to develop a set of RIASEC 
markers to complement the BIMs. This follow-up work is reported 
by Armstrong, Allison, and Rounds, who discuss the development of 
short-form RIASEC scales for the public domain. Two sets of eight-
item scales to examine activity-based RIASEC assessment and two sets 
of eight-item scales to examine occupation-based RIASEC assessment 
were developed. The preliminary data support the utility of the short-
form scales, indicating acceptable levels of reliability and convergent 
validity with other interest measures. 

Additional work on Holland's model of vocational interests was conducted 
by Gupta, Tracey, and Gore. These authors used the Unisex Edition of the 
ACT Interest Inventory to test the structural validity of Holland's model 
across racial/ethnic groups, using data from high school juniors in two 
states of the United States. The fit of the Circumplex Model was evaluated 
for the general sample and five subgroups: Caucasians/Euro-Americans, 
African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. 
The article provides data on four methods of analysis to test circumplex 
structure: randomization test of hypothesized order relations, constrained 
multidimensional scaling, circular unidimensional scaling, and structural 
equation modeling. In general, although these different analyses provided 
various levels of support for the model fit, no differences in fit of the 
Circumplex Model were found across the ethnic groups in the sample. 

Hirschi and Läge (b) explored the empirical relationship between the 
accuracy of adolescents' self-estimates of their interest test scores and career 
choice readiness. Accuracy of students' self-estimation was moderate to 
high, and female students were better able to predict their interest type. 
However, overall, the results failed to demonstrate a relationship between 
accuracy of self-estimation and career choice readiness. 

Other Assessment Instruments 

A range of other assessment instruments was featured in research conducted 
during 2008. Zytowski's revised version of Super's Work Values 
Inventory was examined in a study reported by Robinson and Betz with 
an aim to extend the very early psychometric data on the revised scale. 
Data obtained from a mixed sample of college students provided support 
for the revised scale's internal consistency, construct validity, and discriminant 
validity. The authors emphasize that further work is necessary with 
broader and larger samples as well as further examination of the stability 
of the measure and its concurrent and predictive validity. 

Amir, Gati, and Kleiman developed and tested a procedure for interpreting 
individuals' responses in assessments with multiple scales. The 
authors used the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire as 
an example to attempt to clarify the process for Internet and paper-andpencil 
administration to enable clearer understanding and interpretation 
of survey responses. Expert judges were used in a number of studies to 
develop and apply the process. Implications for both career counseling 
and research are proffered. 

In line with what has appeared as a common theme in the studies reviewed 
for this section—developing short forms of assessment measures—Rigotti, 
Schyns, and Mohr developed a short six-item version of the Occupational 

126 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


Self-Efficacy Scale. The six-item version showed sound psychometric properties. 
Data were gathered fi-om employees in five countries to examine 
construct validity. In addition, hypotheses exploring the relationship between 
occupational self-efficacy and performance, job satisfaction, commitment, 
and job insecurity were supported in the expected direction. 

Hofmans, Dries, and Pepermans gathered data from Dutch managers to 
examine gender differences in response to the Career Satisfaction Scale. 
The authors reported that gender invariance does not hold and provided 
considerable detail about measurement invariance in the scale and suggestions 
for operationalizing and measuring subjective career success. 
With a similar focus. Bowling and Hammond conducted a meta-analysis 
to examine the construct validity ofthe Job Satisfaction subscale (JSS) of 
the Michigan Organizational Assessment Questionnaire (MOAQ). The 
authors reported acceptable reliability, construct validity, and antecedents 
of and correlations with a number of constructs as per their hypotheses 
(e.g., "Job characteristics, social and organizational support, and person-
environmentfit were positively related to and job Stressors were negatively 
related to the MOAQ-JSS," Bowling & Hammond, p. 72). 

The following article has been included here, although it does not focus 
on a particular assessment scale. Rather the article by Ganster provides a 
comprehensive review of work stress measurement, with a focus on mental 
and physical well-being outcomes. Ganster discusses the theoretical and 
substantive literature related to work stress and provides a summary of 
the measurement literature, including a discussion on issues regarding 
self-report versus observational ratings. He offers suggestions on ways 
to proceed with job stress research. 

Two other articles focus on sense of coherence and career thoughts 
for individuals with disabilities (Lustig & Strauser) and a psychometric 
evaluation ofa French version ofthe Career Transition Inventory (CTI-F; 
Fernandez, Fouquereau, & Heppner). Lustig and Strauser reported that 
a strong sense of coherence correlates with lower levels of dysfunctional 
career thoughts for individuals with disabilities, although they noted 
that these individuals had lower levels of sense of coherence and higher 
levels of dysfunctional career thoughts than did a sample of college 
students without disabilities. Suggestions for rehabilitation counselors 
were proffered. Fernandez et al. reported sound psychometric properties 
for the CTI-F and noted that the development of" this measure affords 
opportunities for cross-cultural research in this area. 

Finally in this section, we review the article by Zytowski, who provides 
a comprehensive history of test scoring. He discusses such topics as the 
pragmatics of test and score sheet provision; scoring by the test taker for 
interpretation by the independent expert and the inherent issue of error; 
and forms of machine scoring and, ultimately, paperless testing through 
the use ofthe Internet. With the latter approach, tests can be completed 
and outcomes provided almost immediately. Zytowski concludes that "the 
highly developed contemporary status of psychological and educational 
assessment now rests as much on the technology of test scoring as it 
does on the development of psychometric science" (p. 509). 

Career Assessment: Summary and Conclusion 

Numerous themes are evident in the review ofthe assessment literature. 
Many instruments are being developed in different languages for more 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 127 


effective cross-cultural evaluation as well as a more global understanding 
of career constructs and their application. The need for more efficient 
and cost-effective instruments for widespread use has led researchers to 
find alternatives to long and expensive commercially available tests. To 
this end, short forms of instruments are being developed and tested for 
psychometric appropriateness. Short forms are also necessary because 
researchers and counselors want to gather data on multiple constructs 
in one sitting. The increase in the use of the Internet and the provision 
of instruments for free public access are also driving this work. Finally, 
interests remain a primary focus in the assessment literature. 

Career Development 

Career development in childhood was the subject of a special section 
in CDQ{Vo\. 57[1]). In introducing this special section, McMahon 
and Watson (a) emphasize the criticism about the lack of focus on this 
important developmental period, despite writers having called for more 
attention to this area for decades. McMahon and Watson (a) cite reviews 
of this literature that have emphasized the need to place career development 
of children within the area of life-span career development and the 
need to explore the "how and what of children's career development" 

(p. 5). They particularly noted the disparate nature of the theoretical 
and research work that have been reported. In reviewing the Skorikov 
and Patton (2007a) book on career development in childhood and 
adolescence, which is another indicator of the field's current attempt to 
draw attention to this period of development, McCowan emphasized 
that the career development community needs to derive theorizing and 
practice recommendations from work with children and adolescents, not 
through generalizing from work with adults. 
The present review of career development focuses on the CDQ special 
section contributions on childhood career development and also 
reviews numerous other articles that focus on this age group. In doing 
so, the contribution of Porfeli is noted in this growing literature, with 
his contribution to two of five articles in the CDQ^ special section and 
two of three of other articles reviewed. 

In the first article in the CD ß special section, Palladino Schultheiss 
reviewed the current status and future agenda for the theory, research, 
and practice of childhood career development. She emphasized the 
fragmented nature of the current literature, noting the limited number 
of theories that have explored this period of development, the extant 
nature of empirical work, and a "paucity of literature that describes 
various career intervention practices" (Palladino Schultheiss, p. 11). 
She also framed the field within a SWOT (i.e., strengths, weaknesses, 
opportunities, and threats) analysis, and offered suggestions for fiiture 
directions, including learning from developmental psychologists' work; 
regenerating theories; focusing on more inclusive research, including 
qualitative and grounded theory approaches to research and longitudinal 
designs; and conducting work in contexts wherein children live their 
lives, such as families, communities, and schools. 

Porfeli, Härtung, and Vondracek clearly are addressing the issues that have 
been identified. They acknowledge the importance of identifying appropriate 
constructs that describe children's career development and effectively mea


128 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


suring them. They descdbe vocadonal development during childhood and 
present a useful model delineating constructs and pathways. Issues related to 
current research into children's career exploration are discussed. The article 
descHbes very promising work that has developed a fiilly Web-based set of 
instruments with the aim of conducting extensive longitudinal research. The 
pilot testing has produced both positive practical outcomes with respect to 
the research mediodology and sound psychomettic outcomes. 

Helwig described a 15-year longitudinal study that examined how 
several career development concepts of children changed from 2nd to 
12th grade. The study used a structured interview form with an initial 
group of elementary students who were reinterviewed in 4th, 6th, 8th, 
10th, and 12th grades. Students were followed up 5 years after their 
graduation from high school, by which time usable data could only be 
gathered from 35 of the original 208 children. In describing the findings 
from his study, Helwig acknowledged the difficulties of the methodology 
of long-term longitudinal work. 

Tracey and Sodano emphasized the key nature of interests in career 
development interventions and research. Their article focuses on measuring 
children's and adolescents' interest development over time and, in 
particular, longitudinal research on interests. They report on a program 
of research that explored four methods for examining stability and change 
over dme, aiming to describe the multidimensional process of children's 
and adolescents' interest development over time: relative stability, absolute 
stability, profile stability, and structural stability. The findings generally 
indicate "that interests are at least moderately stable with respect to both 
interindividual and intraindividual (i.e., profile) differences across time" 
(Tracey & Sodano, p. 59), with this stability increasing from childhood 
through to late adolescence, "indicating that there is still a good deal 
of stability in scores among children and adolescents, especially at the 
younger ages" (Tracey & Sodano, p. 59). 

Härtung, Porfeli, and Vbndracek situate childhood vocational development 
within the theoretical paradigms of human life-span development, 
life-course development, developmental systems theory, and developmental 
psychology. They then focus on career adaptability in childhood in 
particular, and, through the dimensions of career adaptability described 
by the career construction approach (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, 
and confidence; Savickas, 2005), they delineate a model of career adaptability 
along developmental lines. The authors emphasize that this work 
assists in planning interventions and in developing a measurement scale 
that could assist counselors and researchers with an aid to appraise both 
rate and degree of career adaptability. 

In summarizing the CD ß special section, Watson and McMahon proposed 
specific ways to move forward in this area of study. In pardcular, 
they noted the need for the study of childhood career development to be 
contextualized within an interdisciplinary framework and for a regeneration 
of the theoretical base to its study. There is also a need to reconsider 
research methodologies, including samples, locadons, design, and assessment. 
Finally, Watson and McMahon encouraged a greater promotion of 
career development interventions at the elementary-school level. 

Regarding other articles categorized here under career development, 
all three focus on children and adolescents. In a study with 11-year-olds, 
Porfeli, Wang, and Härtung contribute to the literature on childhood 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 129 


career development and the infiuence of contexts, emphasizing the importance 
of the infiuence on children's work and school motivation of 
their family members' work experiences and affect about work. Participants 
in Keller and Whiston's study had a mean age of 12 years. Using a 
range of quantitative measures, these authors also noted the importance 
of perceived parental behaviors for young adolescents' career development. 
Porfeli sourced longitudinal data from the Youth Development 
Study (Mortimer, principal investigator) to investigate the relationship 
between work values and part-time work experiences from the 9th 
through the 12th grades. It is of interest that he found relatively weak 
relationships between work values and part-time work experiences and 
noted that "seemingly being a worker has a weaker infiuence over career 
development than does the image invoked when we imagine becoming 
a worker during the high school years" (Porfeli, p. 157). 

Career Development: Summary and Conclusion 

The literature categorized under career development focused during the 
2008 year on childhood career development. The work emphasizes a 
renewed interest that began with the reviews of Härtung, Porfeli, and 
Vondracek (2005) and Watson and McMahon (2005). These reviews 
also stimulated the publication of Skorikov and Patton (2007a). It clearly 
remains now for the field to maximize this renewed focus in the fields 
of theory, research, and practice. 

Career Theory and Concepts 

The ongoing dynamic nature of theorizing about career continues, 
and the year has seen renewed takes on this field's theoretical history, 
honoring of its pioneers, and ongoing evidence of theorizing applied 
to research and counseling practice. Much of this work continues to 
validate theories that have long held a place in the literature; however, 
it also continues to develop the understanding of new frameworks (e.g., 
the systems theory framework, chaos theory, and the psychology of 
working paradigm). 

Theoretical History and Pioneers 

Hershenson presents a challenging article in which he questions the 
conventional view that Parsons is the founder of career counseling. Citing 
science's sometimes selective approach to recording its history, he 
argues that a phrenologist. Nelson Sizer, was the true original founder 
ofthe field, suggesting that he has been excluded because of his focus on 
phrenology. Hershenson emphasizes the close connections between the 
turn-of-the century work of Sizer, of Richards, and of Parsons, noting 
that they each viewed vocational guidance as involving the assessment 
of the individual, the knowledge of the requirements of different occupations, 
and the connection between these two. Hershenson argues 
that the only difference between these three scholars was Sizer's use of 
phrenology in his work. 

CD^(Vol. 56[3]) devoted a special section to the work of David 
Tiedeman, recognized as a leader and forerunner of 21st-century career 
counseling. However, this work occurred late in the career of Tiedeman, 

130 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


as noted in the contribution by Savickas: "Being the first psychologist to 
systematically apply constructivist epistemology to the comprehension of 
careers, Tiedeman broke with intellectual traditions to lead the counseling 
profession in a new direction" (p. 217). Savickas commented that Tiedeman 
"should be honored as the prime engineer of career construction" 

(p. 223), the theoretical formulation Savickas himself has been developing 
for over a decade, and emphasized that Tiedeman's work laid the foundation 
for other constructivist, social construction, and narrative theories. 
Other contributions to this special section include Jepsen's exhortation to 
current career professionals to read Tiedeman's work; an article by Duys, 
Ward, Maxwell, and Eaton-Comerford that focuses on Tiedeman's 
decision-making process, emphasizing its current application; and the 
final piece by Anna Miller-Tiedeman, which highlightsfive key areas that 
were essential to Tiedeman's professional contribution. 
Psychology of Working Perspective 

Another notable feature of 2008 is the increasing focus on the psychology 
of working paradigm (Blustein, 2006; Richardson, 1993, 2000). In an 
interview in the Australian Journal of Career Development (Athanasou), 
Blustein provided illuminating insight into the length of dme involved in 
gestation of this new perspective, commenting on the key thinkers who had 
influenced his work, which began with a "critique of the reality that most 
of career counseling practice has focused on clients with choice and volition 
in their lives" to "a more inclusive view of working fi'om a psychological 
perspective" (Athanasou, p. 11). Blustein, Kenna, Gill, and DeVoy explain 
that the psychology of working advocates for a refocusing of career theory, 
research, and practice on all work and thereby addressing the lives of those 
traditionally ignored, providing "a more inclusive and ideally more just vision 
for the counseling field" (p. 294). Blustein et al. also noted that the 
psychology of working perspective can be applied in conjunction with more 
traditional theories. The article in CDß(Blustein et al.) expands the work 
of Blustein (2006) by highlighting the three sets of human needs fulfilled by 
working—survival and power, social connection, and self-determination—^and 
offers implications for counseling practice and an illustrative case example. 
Blustein (2006, pp. 275-301 ) proposed what he termed an inclusivepsycholo£[ieal 
practice to emphasize the importance of a broad understanding of work 
in individuals' lives. Within this practice, two recommendations are that a 
space be created in counseling for work-related issues and that the client and 
the counselor need to mutually agree on the goals for inclusive practice. In 
the Blustein et al. article, four overarching objectives are outlined for such 
practice: fostering empowerment, fostering critical consciousness, promoting 
clients' skill-building for the changing workforce, and providing scaffolding 
in support of volition and the role of advocacy. Blustein et al. finish with a 
discussion on implications for public policy. 

Coutinho, Dam, and Blustein extend the discussion of public policy in 
their article on the psychology of working in the International Journal for 
Educational and Vocational Guidance. In this article, the impact of globalization 
in relation to the psychology of working perspective is examined, 
and counselors are encouraged to develop broad systemic interventions to 
reduce social injustice that focus on communities as well as on individuals. 
The psychology of working perspective is also emphasized by Blustein 

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in an introduction to a special section on work and psychological health 

and well-being in the American Psychologist (Vol. 63[4]). 

Career Theory, Assessment, and Subjective Well-Being 

The issue of work and well-being was predominant in a number of articles, 
and this review focuses on a special issue oí the Journal of Career Assessment 
(Vol. 16[1]) in this Career Theory and Concepts section, although 
this topic also has application to assessment and practice issues. This 
focus was also described in the Professional Issues section earlier in this 
review. The Journal of Career Assessment speáa.1 issue extends the theme 
ofthe importance ofthe role of work in people's lives and focuses on the 
role of vocational psychology in assisting people to maximize subjective 
well-being. Several articles promote theoretical application to appropriate 
models of work and well-being: Lent and Brown discuss social cognitive 
career theory (SCCT), G. D. Gottfredson and Duffy discuss Holland's 
theory of vocational behavior, Eggerth discusses an extension of the 
Lofquist and Dawis work adjustment theory into person-environment 
correspondence counseling, and Härtung and Taber discuss the connection 
between counseling that is based on career construction theory and 
the promotion of well-being. Also in this special section, Borgen and 
Betz present a report on research using the Healthy Personality Inventory 
and the Career Confidence Inventory and discuss conclusions relevant to 
healthy personality and career decision making. 

Systems Theory Framework (STF) 

As highlighted in previous reviews, STF (Patton & McMahon, 2006) 
continues to stimulate relevant research and practice. Mcllveen, Patton, 
and Hoare describe the use of a qualitative counseling tool. My Career 
Chapter, that was theoretically informed by three theoretical fi-ameworks: 
STF, the theory of dialogical self (Hermans & Kempen, 1993), and career 
construction theory (Savickas, 2005). McMahon and Watson (b) also 
describe the ongoing reach of STF by providing a counseling example 
of the use of the My System of Career Influences (McMahon, Patton, 
& Watson, 2005), a qualitative counseling tool developed directly from 
the theoretical framework of STF. 

Chaos Theory 

The application of chaos theory to practice also continued to feature in 
the literature, with Pryor and Bright applying the theory to archetypal 
narratives in counseling and Pryor, Amundson, and Bright discussing 
its strategic counseling implications by focusing on probabilities and 
possibilities. Bright and Pryor present a discussion of the applicability 
of chaos theory to shiftwork., an expanded paradigm of career counseling 
based on complexity, change, and uncertainty. 

SCCT 

Empirical and practical articles featuring SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 
1994) emphasize its ongoing dominance in the literature. Bennett 
proposed that SCCT's provision of theoretical understanding of how 

132 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


cultural differences and barriers may affect vocational choices through 
the construct of contextual affordance will be useñal in examining the 
career development of marginalized and underrepresented populations, 
focusing in particular on residents in the Appalachian regions 
of the United States. Brown et al. again tested the SCCT academic 
performance model using combined meta-analytic and structural equation 
modeling methodologies. Although Brown et al. acknowledge 
that their two-stage model is still a relatively new development, they 
note that their study demonstrated that "SCCT does an adequate to 
excellent job of modeling academic performance and persistence, but 
that model fit was better when general cognitive ability versus high 
school [grade point average] was used to operationalize the ability/past 
performance variable" (p. 298). 

A range of studies with college and high school students were reported 
to illustrate SCCT's application to understanding career behavior with 
these populations. Each of the studies used complex analyses and multiple 
variables, an opportunity afforded by the SCCT model. Rogers, Creed, 
and Glendon extended SCCT through testing the role of personality, 
social supports, and the SCCT variables of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, 
and goals in understanding the career planning and exploration 
of Australian high schools students. Tang, Pan, and Newmeyer used 
SCCT to examine the interaction between learning experiences, career 
self-efficacy, outcome expectations, career interests, and career choices 
in a study exploring factors that influence high school students' career 
aspirations. A study by Lent, Lopez, Lopez, and Sheu, with data from 
1,208 university students enrolled in computing disciplines, reported 
that the SCCT choice model generalized across gender, university 
type, and educational level. A path model based on SCCT was used 
by Byars-Winston and Fouad to investigate the infiuence of parental 
involvement and perceived barriers on mathematics/science goals in a 
sample of undergraduates. In a similar study. Lent, Sheu, et al. undertook 
longitudinal research to investigate whether self-efficacy acts as a 
temporal precursor of outcome expectations, interests, and goals. Path 
analyses provided some support for that assertion, although there was 
less support for the reciprocal path. 

Finally, in reviewing the relationship between attachment and career 
development, Wright and Perrone note that there is a lack of a theoretical 
framework to account for the factors and variables in this relationship. 
They propose that the combination of attachment theory and SCCT 
could provide a useful and comprehensive framework for fiiture research 
in this area. A helpful inclusion in this article is a summary of scales used 
to measure attachment and career-related variables. 

Cognitive Information Processing Approach 

In a welcome expansion of the application of career counseling work to 
a broader cohort base, Clemens and Milsom discuss the application of 
cognitive information processing theory to work with enlisted military 
personnel who are transitioning to the civilian workforce. An example 
of its application with a soldier is provided, with additional recommendations 
for use with existing military resources. Paivandy, Bullock, 
Reardon, and Kelly investigated the relationship between people's 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 133 


thoughts and beliefs about themselves and their career decision making. 
In particular, they explored two previously unresearched factors, 
decision-making styles and a ruminative thought pattern. Results 
suggested that maximizing and rumination are related to negative 
career thoughts. The results are discussed in the context of cognitive 
information processing theory. 

Holland's RIASEC Theory 

Again, as in previous reviews, work based on Holland's vocadonal interests 
theory continues to be prominent. Sidiropoulou-Dimakakou, 
Mylonas, and Argyropoulou tested the hexagonal person-environment 
fit for Holland's model with a sample of Greek university students. They 
concluded that the validity of Holland's model is applicable in Greece 
and that the structure of interests is similar to those found in samples in 
the United States. The authors noted that the model is applicable for use 
in research and counseling in Greece. Using the technique oí property 

vectorfitting, Armstrong and Rounds tested the structural hypothesis in 
Holland's model and developed a picture of the relationship between work 
and leisure interests. They emphasize the usefulness of this connection in 
that counselors can assist clients to engage in a broader discussion of interests 
that will assist them in exploring their career development plans. Bullock 
and Reardon's study used the Self-Directed Search and the NeuroticismExtraversion-
Openness Five-Factor Inventory personality measure to explore 
the relationships among interest profile elevation, secondary constructs 
in RIASEC theory, and personality. Specific suggestions to aid counselors 
to expand their understanding of data provided by these measures were 
provided. Armstrong, Day, McVey, and Rounds propose an Adas of Individual 
Differences—an overarching framework that would subsume a 
variety of individual differences constructs including personality, interests, 
and abilities. Moreover, using multiple sets of previously published data, 
they demonstrated the potential utility of Holland's RIASEC model as 
the foundation for such an integrative framework. 

L. S. Gottfreason's (1981,1996) Circumscription 
and Compromise Developmental Theory 
Tsaousides and Jome investigated the effects of career compromise on 
positive and negative work affect and work-related satisfaction. The study 
provides a useful extension to previous work on L. S. Gottfredson's 
(1981,1996) theory, demonstrating expected relationships between the 
variables, that is, higher compromise related with higher negative affect, 
lower positive affect, and lower work-related satisfaction. Using several 
theoties (Astin, 1984; L. S. Gottfredson, 1981, 1996; and Lent et al., 
1994) as his basis, Baird investigated the importance for young women's 
occupational aspirations of community context, in particular divorce 
rate, percentage of women working, and number of people employed in 
the wholesale and retail sectors. Results provided partial support for the 
theoretical propositions. Teig and Susskind explored occupational status 
and gender roles in groups of young children. Girls preferred feminine 
to masculine occupations, and status only affected boys' preferences. 
Younger boys' preferences were based on gender and status, although 
older boys' preferences were based on status alone. 

134 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


Protean and Boundaryiess Careers—^Theoretical Investigations 

Many articles in 2008 have explored the literature theorizing about 
protean and boundaryiess careers. Accordingly, it seemed important to 
include a summary of these articles in this annual review under a special 
themed heading. These articles are refiective ofan important move in the 
career development field, expressed by Arthur and further developed in 
the recently published book by Collin and Patton (2009), that emphasizes 
the need for the field to more closely integrate vocational psychology 
and organizational perspectives of career. The articles reviewed in this 
section all cite data from a wide range of research participants, thereby 
extending the research base of the field. 

Segers, Inceoglu, Vloeberghs, Bartram, and Henderickx gathered data 
from more than 13,000 people across nine countries to explore the 
matching of motives to protean and boundaryiess careers. They contend 
that their findings generally support the theorizing about protean and 
boundaryiess careers given that their hypotheses regarding gender, age, 
managerial experience and level of education, and contextual factors (i.e., 
culture, country, and industry sector) were confirmed. 

Smith-Ruig conducted a qualitative study with accountants to explore (a) 
how they make sense of career through the lens of metaphor and (b) the 
different metaphors relevant for traditional versus boundaryiess careers. 
These metaphors provided evidence of different perceptions of career paths 
and emphasized the importance of perception of career success in career 
development. Dries, Pepermans, and Carlier note that discussion about 
the new career has led to "a noticeable evolution in the way career and 
career success are defined" (p. 254). The authors conducted two studies 
to develop a multidimensional model to demonstrate a more inclusive 
model of career success. A notable feature of this article is the presentation 
of a table that proposes hypothesized correspondences between existing 
models of career success and the model proposed in the article. 

De Vos and Soens tested a model to examine the notion of a protean 
career attitude (i.e., the person rather than the organization shaping the 
career) being a determinant of career success. They reported that this 
relationship does indeed exist, although it is mediated by the development 
of career insight. To understand how protean and traditional career 
perspectives were operating with a group of employed mothers, Valcour 
and Ladge explored the effects of family and career path characteristic 
on objective and subjective career success. Valcour and Ladge aimed to 
test a comprehensive set of predictors and reported that "women who 
began childbearing at relatively older ages, who had fewer children, and 
whose childbearing commenced longer ago earned higher incomes, as did 
women with few career gaps, less interorganizational mobility, and less 
part-time work in their career histories" (p. 307); that is, income models 
were related to traditional career. More related to the concept of the 
protean career are these results; "subjective career success was positively 
related to career identity, self-efficacy, years elapsed since first [child's] 
birth and income, and was negatively related to career priority favouring 
the husband's career, and career gaps" (Valcour & Ladge, p. 307). 

Pachulicz, Schmitt, and Kuljanin explored objective and subjective career 
success in a study with physicians trained for emergency work that was based 
on the meta-analysis of predictors of career success in a 2005 study by Ng, 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 135 


Eby, Sorensen, and Feidman. Overall, the authors reported confirmation 

of the Ng et al. model and offer multiple insights into variables related to 

these broad constructs of objective and subjective career success. 

Articles extending work on the new career focus on the changing nature 
of the psychological contract between employers and employees, 
and work that informs psychological contract theory are included here. 
Ng and Feidman have extended work on the psychological contract 
by exploring whether employees' commitment to current employers 
is influenced by perceptions that they could repeat their present psychological 
contract elsewhere in the labor market. Ng and Feldman's 
longitudinal study of organizational commitment indicated that both 
affective commitment and normative commitment were related to a 
perception that psychological contracts could not be replicated elsewhere. 
A number of variables were found to be significant moderators 
of these relationships, including age, work experience, and career stage. 
Payne, Culbertson, Bosweil, and Barger investigated the relationship 
between socialization activities and newcomer psychological contracts. 
They reported an interaction between employee obligations and time 
with mentor and time in training (socialization activities), noting that 
this interaction depended on the employee's perceptions of what the 
employer owed the employee. K. Walsh and Gordon pointed out that 
very little research has linked an organization's identity with the ways 
in which its members think about themselves. K. Walsh and Gordon 
define individual work identity as "a work-based self-concept, constituted 
of a combination of organizational, occupational and other identities, 
that shapes the roles individuals adopt and the corresponding ways they 
behave when performing their work in the context of their jobs and/or 
careers" (p. 47). Although work identity is only one of an individual's 
identities, it is central to job performance. K. Walsh and Gordon review 
the literature to show how an individual's work identity is connected to 
their identification with their organization/occupation; their perception 
of their work as a job, a career, or a calling; and whether the individual 
is pursuing a traditional or boundaryless career. 

Career Constructs 

In a number of cases, discussion of articles that cover particular constructs 
has been provided under the relevant theoretical discussion. This 
distinction is not that straightforward, however, and there are other 
articles that refer to key constructs often used in research, which we 
have included here under a separate heading. 

Career self-efficacy. McNatt and Judge undertook an experiment to investigate 
the effect of self-efficacy interventions on job attitudes and job 
retention, randomly assigning professional accounting auditors to treatment 
and control conditions. Data indicated that the interventions, which 
consisted of a formal interview and written communications from firm 
management, raised participants' job attitudes and reduced turnover. In 
response to calls for more research-based vocational development theory 
and models that relate specifically to the experiences of people with disabilities. 
Breeding reported on a study that developed a framework 
of empowerment for rehabilitation counseling. He noted that there 
were significant effects related to career-decision self-efficacy for 

136 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


participants who received a program of proactive vocational assessment 
that was designed to promote self-understanding in relation to 
environmental opportunities (e.g., understanding the self in relation 
to personal context). The same effects were not evident for participants 
who received a program of traditional assessment activities, 
thereby supporting the use of the proactive activities in promoting 
empowerment in rehabilitation counseling. 

Personality. In a study with European workers, Blickle et al. investigated 
whether the Big Five personality constructs (Costa & McCrae, 
1992) of agreeableness and conscientiousness (used to conceptualize 
getting along and getting ahead., respectively) would predict job 
performance when each was combined with political skill. Although 
the existence of both interactions was supported, the interaction of 
conscientiousness with political skill was not as precise as hypothesized. 
In a survey-based study of registered members on an Internet site 
(participants who had expressed willingness to complete surveys), 
Maurer, Lippstreu, and Judge undertook to investigate personality 
constructs (in particular, conscientiousness and openness to experience) 
with employee career development activity, in particular motivation 
and goal orientation constructs. They reported that personality had 
indirect effects on motivation and involvement constructs, whereas 
goal orientation had direct effects. 

Career decision making. Corkin, Arbona, Coleman, and Ramirez investigated 
career indecision in Puerto Bican college students, in particular, 
the relationship between anxiety and career indecision. In doing so, the 
cross-cultural validity of the Career Decision Scale, using a Spanish version, 
was investigated. The four factors yielded were similar to those ofthe 
original version and the expected relationship between career indecision 
and anxiety was reported. Saka, Gati, and Kelly undertook the development 
ofa model with three major clusters (pessimistic views, anxiety, and 
self-concept and identity) for analyzing emotional and personality-related 
aspects of career decision-making difficulties. In doing so, the researchers 
developed the Emotional and Personality Career Difficulties Scale (EPCD), 
with data from an Israeli sample derived from an Internet site that provided 
career guidance and information. Cross-cultural validity for the measure 
was then provided with data from a U.S. college student sample. The 
authors suggest that the EPCD, which assists in locating emotional and 
personality-related factors involved in career decision-making difficulties, 
will be useful in counseling. In a different study with college students, 
Bubany, Krieshok, Black, and McKay undertook a mixed-methods study 
that involved brief telephone interviews and the development of a ratings 
instrument based on the thematic analysis ofthe interview data. The 
interviewees were asked about their decision-making strategies, and the 
data demonstrated consistency with approaches to decision making that 
include interdependence, experience, intuition, and emotion, rather than 
supporting the rational approach that has been dominant in the career 
decision-making literature. 

Career Theory and Concepts: Summary and Conclusion 

The theoretical and conceptual base for the career counseling and de


velopment field continues to be dynamic. New understandings of tra-

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 «Volume 58 137 


ditional theories, challenges to traditional understandings of theoretical 
positions, honoring of giants of the field, and new theories continually 
being developed and applied are testament to this assertion. In addition, 
core constructs continue to be empirically examined, and frequently 
within theoretical frameworks, thus addressing previous criticisms that 
the theoretical underpinning of too much of the research and practice 
in the field is not sufficiently connected. 

Career Interven tion.s 

In this section, we highlight some of the process and outcome research 
and development. We then give some treatment to particular areas of 
practice that were prominent or of significance for the future of the 
discipline and the profession. 

Process Research and Deveiopment 

Reporting on the process of career interventions is vital to the field's 
advancement, and the 2008 literature contained useful examples of 
models for process research. To encourage such research, Lambie, Sias, 
Davis, Lawson, and Akos provided a timely reminder of the importance 
of scholarship and publication for academics and practitioners, including 
advice on the process of publication. Similarly, Neault and Pickerell 
argued in favor of proper evaluation of career services being conducted 
in the field to provide a means to demonstrate their valué to funding 
agencies such as the government. 

Amundson presented the three Ms metaphorical model for career 
counseling using figurative notions such as breaking the mold (i.e., 
being more flexible), preventing the growth of mould (i.e., working in 
healthy and action-oriented places), and the idea that unlike the blind 
burrowing mole., workers should strive for clear vision in theirfield. Parker 
discussed the Intelligent Career model with its three ways of knowing 
and presented implications for career counseling in terms of individuals 
self-managing their careers and sustained employability. In a special issue 
of Professional School Counseling (yo\. 12[2]) devoted to strengths-based 
counseling, Kosine, Steger, and Duncan expounded the application of 
the strengths-based approach to career development with students, 
particularly to enhance the development of meaning in career. 

Tracey recommended that the RIASEC concept be explored early and 
explicitly in college- and university-level career education classes. In a 
study of 20 dyads. Young et al. demonstrated that adolescents' transition 
to adulthood can be conceptualized in terms of a joint, goal-directed, and 
intentional project between parents and youth. They suggested that career 
counselors could seek to better integrate parents' and youths' joint projects 
of transition to adulthood in career counseling practice. In a study with Italian 
students, Di Fabio and Bernaud found that the value ascribed to career 
counseling by students predicted their intentions to consult a professional, 
followed by their appraisal of the attractiveness of the professional, whereas 
fear of stigma played no role in their intentions. Littman-Ovadia found 
that career counseling clients' attachment style and their perceptions of the 
counselor as a provider of social comfort and personal security positively 
influenced the range and effectiveness of their career exploration. The role 

138 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


of the practitioner was explored by Dik and Steger, who found that counselor 
self-disclosure had a moderate effect on the self-efficacy of students 
in a career development workshop. The use and appraisal of portfolios and 
personal development plans by teachers, career development pracdtioners, 
and students was explored by Mittendorff, Jochems, Meijers, and den Brok, 
who found that the interventions were valued by students when they were 
part of a dialogue with a teacher or a counselor. However, portfolios were 
valued less by students when delivered as a stand-alone intervention without 
a teacher or a counselor. Duffy and Lent explored the role of college 
students' religious beliefs and their career decision making and found it to 
be a tentative avenue for supporting students. In a design using case study 
methodology, Paul demonstrated the constructive-developmental approach 
to the meaningfialness of a client's religion. 

Outcome Research and Development 

In recent years, there has been an increasing preponderance of literature 
demonstrating the outcome of career interventions. Scott and Ciani 
reported that a career education class for undergraduate students was 
found to have positive a impact on their adaptive self-efficacy beliefs and 
sense of vocational identity, with women experiencing a greater effect for 
efficacy, career planning, and problem solving. A number of longitudinal 
studies attested to the positive impact and outcome of career interventions. 
Hirschi and Läge (a) found that a career education workshop for 
high school students, based on the cognitive information processing approach 
(Sampson, Reardon, Peterson, & Lenz, 2004), had a significant 
impact on career decidedness, career planning, career exploration, and 
vocational identity when assessed at a follow-up 2 to 3 weeks after the 
intervention, with effect sizes of .46, .39, .59, and .30, respectively. The 
positive effects on career exploration and vocational identity remained 
statistically significant at a 3-month follow-up, although effect sizes had 
reduced over time to .39 and .18, respectively. In a longitudinal follow-up 
of counseling clients. Greenwood provided evidence of the outcome of 
a career intervention program for clients who adhered to their intervention 
recommendations for up to 3 years or more compared with those 
who did not. The study found that those who continued practicing their 
interventions over the years were more committed to their careers, but 
they derived no more or less enjoyment from their career than those 
who did not adhere to the program. Although generalizations from 
the study were limited, it provided a useñil piece of evidence from the 
field of private practice. In a 6-month follow-up study of counseling 
clients, Verbruggen and Sels found that counseling improved career 
self-directedness. A study by Vuori, Koivisto, Mutanen, Jokisaari, and 
Salmela-Aro found that an educational program for Finnish high school 
students that entailed career management skills, academic skills, stress 
inoculation, and the development of supportive peer networks had a 
positive impact on students' progression in the school system and assisted 
students who were at risk of mental health problems. 

Mentoring 

Mentoring again featured strongly in the literature, evident in a special 
issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior (Vol. 72[2]), as well as in 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 139 


numerous articles in other journals. In their introduction to the special 

issue, Eby and Allen called for interdisciplinary research and, for the 

purposes of the issue, offered a summary of the defining features of 

mentoring: mentoring entails a dyadic relationship; the relationship is 

reciprocal, yet paradoxically asymmetrical; the primary aim is to benefit 

the mentee, although the mentor may benefit too; the process is dynamic; 

the processes and outcomes change over time; and mentors are distinct 

from other persons of importance in a protege's life. 

Allen, Eby, O'Brien, and Lentz performed a qualitative review of research 
methodologies used to investigate mentoring. They found that 
quantitative research was predominant—correlation (83.7%), cross-
sectional (90.9%), andfield (96.0%) research designs—with survey as the 
major form of data collection (94.4%). Kammeyer-Mueller and Judge 
performed a quantitative review of research into the impact of mentoring. 
The meta-analytic study by Kammeyer-Mueller and Judge confirmed 
that mentoring has a positive impact on job and career satisfaction, after 
accounting for stronger effects of demographics, human capital, and 
core self-evaluations. The authors suggested that fiiture research into the 
impact of mentoring should take into account organizational context, 
including the power or infiuence ofthe mentor in an organization. In 
another meta-analytic study by Eby, Allen, Evans, Ng, and DuBois, 
mentoring was found to have a positive but small effect on behavioral, 
attitudinal, health-related, relational, motivational, and career outcomes. 
In a pretest-posttest randomized field experiment study with a control 
group, Egan and Song found increases in job satisfaction, organizational 
commitment, person-organization fit, and performance for participants 
in both high- and low-level facilitated mentoring programs, with high-
level mentorship providing the greater benefit. Despite its benefits, 
Byrne, Dik, and Chiaburu indicated that career success can be obtained 
by means alternative to traditional mentoring. 

Liang, Spencer, Brogan, and Corral found that adolescents and young 
adults valued mentoring relationships strongly, particularly spending time 
together, the trust and fidelity, and role modeling and identification. 
Notwithstanding the favorable evidence for mentoring and its impact on 
high school students, Meijers provided sobering evidence of the importance 
that mentoring take a shared approach and of properly managing 
and integrating mentoring programs. 

Sociopolitical Development 

Specific groups of peoples continue to endure contextual limitations on 
their careers, and this state of affairs warrants professional attention. Although 
social justice has long featured on the professional landscape of 
career development, with McMahon, Arthur, and Collins (a, b) adding 
contemporary emphasis to its place in professional practice, more critical 
and sociopolitical approaches have emerged in the literature in recent years. 
Take, for example, the emancipatory communitarian approach (Blustein, 
McWhirter, & Perry, 2005). In a study ofthe vocational expectations of 
low-socioeconomic-status adolescents of color, Diemer and Hsieh found a 
relationship between participants' degree of sociopolitical development and 
their vocational expectations. In their study, sociopolitical development was 
operationalized as "(a) a consciousness of and motivation to reduce social and 

140 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


economic inequalities, (b) discussion of social and political issues and events, 

(c) a motivation to help others in one's communities, and (d) participation in 
community or social-action groups" (Diemer & Hsieh, p. 261). The notion 
of sociopolitical development as an intervention extends career counseling 
and career education into new and exciting territory, perhaps more familiar 
to other professional disciplines such as social work. 
Constructivist Approacli 

The narrative approach to career counseling continues to be demonstrated 
in the literature, with examples of new practices, such as the 
What's My Story? intervention by Severy. This Web-delivered intervention 
facilitates individuals' construction of a career narrative online 
while progressing through eight online activities. Severy presented 
initial evidence of the intervention's positive impact on career decision 
making. Mcllveen et al. similarly presented evidence of chents' 
experiences of another narrative intervention. My Career Chapter. 
McMahon and Watson (b) applied STF to the narrative approach and 
presented the career assessment and counseling procedure My System 
of Career Influences (McMahon et al., 2005), which is based on STF. 
Pryor and Bright explored the apphcation of the chaos theory of careers 
to the narrative approach to career counseling and focused on 
seven typical plots found in career stories: overcoming the monster, 
rags to riches, quest, voyage and return, comedy, and tragedy. Locke 
and Gibbons presented a case study of a narrative approach to career 
counseling for women who are widowed or divorced and reentering 
the workforce. Grier-Reed, Skaar, and Conkel-Ziebell (2009) empirically 
demonstrated the value of a constructivist career development 
program for improving the self-esteem and career thoughts of undergraduate 
students from a disadvantaged background. In South Africa, 

Maree, Ebersöhn, and Vermaak demonstrated the effect of a so-called 
postmodern career intervention on motivation in unemployed male 
youth in a disadvantaged community. 

Career interventions: Summary and Condusion 

In 2008, there was a strong body of research and development literature 
dealing with the process and outcome of career interventions. The longitudinal 
studies deserve highlighting because there is a dearth of this 
type of research. Mentoring was again predominant in the literature, 
with a clear body of outcome research that indicates its value to participants; 
although it is not necessarily valuable for everyone. We suspect 
that process-oriented research into mentoring may deliver answers to 
questions on how mentoring can best be delivered with optimal outcomes 
for all parties. The constructivist approach to career counseling 
remained buoyant in 2008. However, a pressing need continues for 
research into the approach's outcomes from an empirical perspective. 
Regardless of paradigmatic differences, constructivist career 
counseling—like all other approaches—is amendable to research designs 
in which standardized (quantitative) measures of career outcomes (e.g., 
career decidedness, career satisfaction) are used to produce statistical 
effect sizes indicative of outcome. It would be pleasing to see more of 
such research in the fiiture. 

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Advances in Technology 

Technology-enhanced career development practice is well established in 
the field; however, there were relatively few examples of work evident 
in the 2008 literature. Within the school setting, Zyromski, Bryant, 
Deese, and Gerler demonstrated the value of an online academic and 
career exploration tool for American Indian students. Electronic chat 
peer-mentoring was the focus of a study by Smith-Jentsch, Scielzo, 
Yarbrough, and Rosopa, who found that participants engaged in electronic 
chat experienced less psychosocial support, career support, and 
self-efficacy when the mentor was a man. Despite men condensing their 
language in the electronic format, there was more interactive dialogue 
than in the face-to-face mentoring. 

Watts and Dent described the evolution ofthe LearnDirect Advice Service 
of the United Kingdom. This exemplar of a national career service 
provides both telephone and Web-based career services and information. 
Commencing with the reporting year of 2000, the service recorded a 
usage rate of 1,346,335, which progressively increased to 10,096,198 in 
the 2006 reporting year. In the reporting year 2000, 87% of occasions of 
service were delivered by telephone, whereas 13% were by Internet. By 
the reporting year 2006, the pattern of service was the obverse, with 91% 
delivered by Internet and 9% by telephone. Watts and Dent provided a 
useñil cross-national comparison ofthe services in the United Kingdom and 
New Zealand, and on the basis of their review reached several conclusions: 
there was a trend toward Web services and awayfirom telephone; telephone 
guidance entailed more complex enquiries; despite users' preference for 
face-to-face service, telephone services meet quaÙty standards for delivery; 
and that enquiries are influenced by marketing campaigns. Elsewhere, 
Maples and Han provided a comparison of Internet cybercounseling for 
college students in the United States and South Korea and commented 
on the advantages and disadvantages of cybercounseling. 

Advances in Technology: Summary and Conclusion 

Unlike the 2007 annual review (Tien, 2007), 2008 saw a surprisingly small 
published literature on technology-enhanced career development practice. 
Although career development has a long association with electronic delivery 
since the days of fioppy disks and cluniky desktop computers, the current 
challenge confronting the career counseling and development field is the 
evolution of practice in terms of Web.2 (i.e., cutting edge) technology (e.g., 
social networking, and three-dimensional, networked, interactive Internet). 

Employment—Personnel Selection, 
Placement., and Retentinn 

Job Search 

Although progress on gender issues in the world of work has been significant, 
Hareli, Klang, and Hess found that perceptions of gender-based work 
roles were evident in an analogue study in which participants' reviews of 
curriculum vitae showed bias in terms of candidates' work histories that 
were gender typical or atypical. It was interesting that men whose career 
histories were gender atypical were considered less suitable for gender typical 

142 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


roles. Heilman and Okimoto found evidence of bias against parentliood, 
particularly motherhood, in a study of decisions to hire individuals. 

The globalfinancial crisis was perhaps presaged by those articles addressing 
the uncertainty of the employment market. Particular groups within 
societies are more liable to the ravages of economic turbulence. Yakushko, 
Backhaus, Watson, Ngaruiya, and Gonzalez used the SCCT to explore 
the issues of transition and employment as experienced by recently arrived 
immigrants. They suggested that immigrants are particularly in need of 
support in finding employment because many have come from nations 
without formal mechanisms pertaining to job search (e.g., family contacts). 
Lippmann's study suggested that birth cohort, as distinct from age per se, 
most influenced the outcomes of unemployment for those who entered 
the workforce prior to the currentflexibility-instability state of the "new" 
workforce. Bujold and Fournier clarified how individuals may perceive 
nonstandard, temporary, contracted work. Despite its inherent limitations. 
Kirk and Belovics (a) outlined the value of contingent temporary work 
for both individuals and the economy of the United States. 

From an international perspective, in a longitudinal study of job search 
behavior and reemployment in Croatia, B. Sverko, Galic, Sersic, and 
Galesic found that predominant demographic variables (e.g., education, 
age, duration of previous employment) had the most effect on reemployment, 
as distinct from the limited contribution of the intensity of job 
search behavior. Hoye and Saks found that in Belgium and Romania, 
individuals' job search intentions (e.g., finding a new job, staying aware, 
developing a network) predicted their job search behaviors. In a study 
of Australian high school students. Creed, Doherty, and O'Callaghan 
found a positive relationship between job-seeking intentions, interviews, 
and outcomes. The process of reapplying for one's current position of 
employment in the Australian public service was explored by Reid Boyd 
using a qualitative study that revealed negative impacts of this activity, 
which included clinical depression. Akin to the study by Yakushko et al. 
was Tharmaseelan's study of the experience of new immigrants to New 
Zealand. Pekerti described an ecological model of overseas Chinese in 
Indonesia and advanced theoretical propositions to inform research and 
practice in this transnational community. 

Staff Satisfaction and Retention 

In a large study of 25,974 individuals conducted by Prottas, autonomy 
in work was found to be equally as important and related to satisfaction 
whether an individual was an employee or self-employed. Autonomy, 
defined as career self-management, was echoed in a study by Brotheridge 
and Power, who found that public service employees' use of a career 
information center provided by their employer related to their sense of 
personal responsibility for their career. 

In a study of data collected by 20 corporations in the Attrition and Retention 
Consortium, which collects statistics on job quitting for approximately 
475,458 professionals and managers in North America, Hom, Roberson, 
and Ellis found that whether an individual will quit their job is not simply 
and negatively predicted by their tenure (i.e., the longer an employee is 
with an organization the less likely it is they will quit); instead, rates of 
separation are influenced by an organization's turnover and a position's 
past attrition rate. The study also indicated that men quit their job less 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 143 


often than did women. Employees' intentions to resign were studied by 
van Dam from the perspective of time frames and they were labeled urgent 
leavers, determined leavers, undetermined leavers, long-term leavers, and 
stayers. Each category revealed differences in sadsfaction, commitment, 
perceived job alternatives, outcome expectations, and turnover attitude. 
Tak and Lim found that among a sample of Korean information technology 
employees, career satisfaction was significandy higher in permanent 
employees than in temporary employees. 

A special issue of Career Development International (Vol. 13[2]) was 
devoted to aging and retirement. Claes and Heymans explored human 
resources professionals' views of early retirement and the need to retain 
employees and found themes pertaining to the definition and diversity 
of older workers; their work motivations; and issues of retention policy, 
practices, and contexts. Desmette and Gaillard highlighted how individuals' 
self-categorization as an older worker influences their decision 
to retire early along with other older workers with whom they identify 
A possible implication of this study was that a shared identity between 
older and younger workers may enable older individuals to feel part of 
their organization and remain working for a longer time. 

Transition From Learning to Earning 

The career transition of students—school, college, university—continues 
to be a significant presence in the literature. Despres described the 
Employment Day program, which has successfully operated for over 
40 years to assist the transition of work-bound high school graduates 
into the workforce. In a study of Canadian, Grade 12 students, 
Bloxom et al. found that students valued services as a source of support 
for their transitions and that they wanted quality career-related 
resources that were helpful. Estrada-Hernández et al. demonstrated 
that despite an intensive program of matching interests to work, high 
school students with a disability continued to experience employment 
difficulties. 

A special issue oí Education + Training (Vol. 50[5]) was devoted to the 
employment and employability of university graduates. Although university 
and college graduates' employability is likely to be higher than that of 
many, Wendlandt and Rochlen argued that they still require significant 
support in making the college-to-work transition. Earner and Brown 
suggested that college students' reported perceptions of need for support 
may be dependent on their proximity to graduation. Perceptions of 
employability were the focus of die development of a new psychomettic 
measure in a study by Rothwell, Herbert, and Rothwell. Derous and Ryan 
found that undergraduate students valued out-of-school activities if they 
were perceived as valuable to students' development; such activities were 
found to have positive effects on academic performance and preparation 
for the workforce. Walters and Zarifa found that Canadian college and 
university students who had completed a cooperative learning program 
were significandy advantaged in their fiiU-time graduate employment rates 
when contrasted with those who had not completed such a program. 

Branine studied the graduate recruitment strategies of UK organizations 
and found a trend toward recruiters emphasizing person-related 
factors, such as generic employability skills, as distinct from specific 

144 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


job-related factors. In addition, UK recruiters relied on onhrie recruitment 
procedures and use of campus career fairs. There was also 
a reported trend away from the use of recruitment firms. McCowan 
and Wyganowska tracked the employment outcomes of creative arts 
graduates from a large Australian university and found that they tended 
to use networking as a job search strategy; at a 12-month follow-up, 
their employment rates were comparable with those of other graduates, 
despite their relatively poorer outcomes at the standard 3-nionth 
follow-up and the stereotypical view of poor employment outcomes 
for creative arts (i.e., creative industries) graduates. Shaw and Fairhurst 
discussed how organizations with large graduate recruitment intakes 
can enrich their graduate development program, particularly to suit 
Generation Y and, as evidence, presented examples from the global 
corporation McDonald's restaurants in the United Kingdom. These 
authors suggested using high technology that can deliver information 
rich in audiovisuals, setting multitasking challenges of a collaborative 
nature, and providing feedback rapidly. 

Management Careers 

There were a significant number of studies devoted to careers in management. 
A multinational (viz., the United Kingdom, United States, Israel, Turkey, 
Cyprus, Hungary, and India) and interdisciplinary (viz., business, management, 
business administration, organizational behavior, public administration, 
sociology, clinical, social, and organizational psychology) perspective of 
managerial career paths was the focus of a special issue of Career Development 
International (Vol. 13[4]). A survey of managers by Longenecker and Fink 
provided information on the managers' perceptions of the factors required 
for promotion into management positions, including proven performance 
and outcomes; business networks; interpersonal and communication skills; 
knowledge-experience base; work ethic; teamwork capacity; personality; ability 
to solve a major problem or attain a major outcome; character, integrity, and 
trustworthiness; and timing and chance. Cappellen and Janssens identified 
the competencies required for a global manager and differentiated these as 
knowing-why., knowing-how, and knowing-whom competencies. In a study of 
displaced executive managers, Martin and Lekan found that the Big Five 
personality factors (specifically agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness) 
had a relationship with the success of managers' subsequent employment 
outcomes. The authors concluded that outplacement counseling approaches 
should account for personality. 

Empioyment—Personnel Selection, Placement, 

and Retention: Summary and Conclusion 

The current global economic situation has brought unemployment 
into sharp focus. Without much doubt, career development theory and 
practice can contribute to individuals' capacities to operate in the local, 
national, and global economies—at the proximal level of personal 
intervention upward to the distal level of infiuencing corporate and 
government policy. From our perspective, the literature of 2008 left 
us confident and believing that the career counseling and development 
field can and has been making a significant and useful contribution to 
building capacity both for individuals and organizations. 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 145 


International Perspectives 

In recent years, career development has taken on an important profile in 
developing and developed nations that is due to public policy initiatives. 
Sultana and Watts reviewed the career guidance systems in 10 nations 
in the Middle East and North Africa and identified six major themes: 
the need for focus on staffing and training; diversity in the breadth and 
quality of career information, ranging from limited to advanced; limited 
attention given to quality assurance systems; limited evidence base; and 
the need for strategic leadership. Farther south in Africa, Nyutu and 
Gysbers explored the counseling needs of a sample of Kenyan high school 
students and revealed career development as a particular need. Rivera, 
Nash, Chun Wah, and Ibrahim provided an update on the school career 
guidance system and the training of school counselors in Singapore. The 
Australian government (Commonwealth of Australia, Department of 
Education Employment & Workplace Relations) completed a national 
review of career services provided by universities, technical colleges, and 
private training agencies. The review found a high level of service within 
universities, but less evidence of career services in other sectors. 

The International Competencies for Educational and Vocational Guidance 
Practitioners was the focus of a special issue of the International 
Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance (yo\. 8[3]) introduced 
by Repetto. The issue contained reports on a multinational study regarding 
the competencies, with surveys of representatives drawn from participant 
nations: Greece, Finland, Poland, Argentina, Germany, Mexico, Spain, 
Guatemala, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Austria, Italy, 
Belgium, Canada, and the United States, along with a smaller number 
from Africa, Arab nations, and Asia. 

intemationai Perspectives: Summary and Conclusion 

The field of career development and its attendant disciplines (e.g., vocational 
psychology, counseling) is truly widespread and global. Indeed, 
the International Competencies for Educational and Vocational Guidance 
Practitioners project is evidence of the field's international diversity. Yet 
one area that we have identified that the field has not addressed appreciably 
is the complex issues of internationally recognized qualifications 
for career development practitioners. For example, the higher education 
systems of Europe are undergoing radical reformulation regarding the 
degree qualifications awarded in one nation being recognized by the 
universities and accrediting agencies of another. On another front, the 
Career Industry Council of Australia has established a policy framework 
for a uniform qualification for career development practitioners, which 

brings a host of diverse professional associations in the field under a 
common qualification rubric. With just these two cases in mind—and 
there are more—what will these changes to qualification systems mean 
for individuals whose qualifications in career counseling and development 
are derived from another nation? Does it really matter.' Nonetheless, as 
Australian authors, we appreciate that CDQ^is living up to its editorial 
objective of presenting the Global Vision section as a regular feature 
in the journal, and we hope that the journal will continue this evident 
openness to the field. 

146 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


Research Design and Methodology— 
Advances and Challenges 

In reviewing such a vast array ofthe work of so many theorists, researchers, 
and practitioners, it is impossible not to develop observations about 
the career counseling and development field and how we can offer some 
suggestions for future development and improvement. We have decided 
to cover the area of research design and methodology and, in particular, 
samples (their nature and size), design, methodology, and analysis. 

It is interesting also that during 2008, the Journal of Career Development 
presented two special issues on research—the first on research and 
practice with diverse cultural and gender groups (Vol. 34[3]) and the 
second on innovative methodological advances (Vol. 35[1]). One article 
from the special issue on diverse and cultural groups (Bennett) was already 
discussed in the subsection on SCCT theory. In the other articles, Patel, 
Salahuddin, and O'Brien examined the effects of a range of individual, 
familial, peer, and social factors on the career decision-making self-
efficacy of Vietnamese adolescents. O'Neil et al. reviewed the literature 
on transgender identities and gender invariance and made suggestions for 
research and practice. Shapiro et al. focused on the changing paradigms 
in which women's career development is being viewed, with a focus on 
person-friendly organizations. 

Research methodology is the focus of the other Journal of Career 
Development special issue. Four articles focused on innovative design 
and methodological procedures. One article (Armstrong & Rounds) 
has been reviewed under discussion on Holland's theory. The other 
three are reviewed briefly here. Dik, Sargent, and Steger proffered a 
new methodology for assessing goals using a nomothetic approach that 
allows an opportunity for research participants to identify their own goals 
and then respond to items that are related to these goals. The authors 
developed two career development strivings scales that demonstrated 
strong internal consistency reliability and appropriate convergent and 
discriminate validity. The flexibility of the tool for both research and 
practice is a key outcome of this research study. 

The article by Diemer highlights the value in accessing large-scale data 
sets in career development research. In many cases, these large-scale data 
sets provide longitudinal data on relevant career development constructs 
that have been gathered from large and diverse samples. Although he 
encourages researchers to source these data, Diemer emphasizes the need 
to be skilled in the complex sample design and analysis strategies used in 
order to avoid drawing inappropriate conclusions. A particularly useñii 
feature of this article is a summary of large-scale survey data sets in the 
United States and the relevant career development variables that have 
been included. Similar national surveys are conducted in many countries. 
Diemer also presents a review of relevant software that is available for 
the targeted analysis of large-scale data sets. 

Finally in this special issue ofthe Journal of Career Development., Behrend, 
Thompson, Meade, Nevi^on, and Grayson reviewed the issue of 
measurement invariance in surveys. They discuss the application of item 
response theory (IRT) for this purpose, noting that careers research has 
not normally made use of IRT to test for invariance. Behrend et al. dem-

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 147 


onstrate its use in identifying differences between male and female medical 

students' attitudes about providing comprehensive patient care. 

Despite ongoing exhortations about the rigor and value of qualitative 
methodology, it continues to be either underutilized or underpublished. 
We identified articles that have emphasized either new innovative 
methodology or qualitative methodology. Chronister et al. described 
a focus group study designed within a critical-ideological research 
paradigm. The authors discuss data analysis strategies and methods 
of data verification. In a study to examine college students' perspectives 
on their career decision making, Bubany et al. described a mixed 
methods design whereby telephone interview data were analyzed and 
a ratings instrument was developed on the basis of these data. Two 
individuals served as auditors and raters of both the qualitative findings 
and the instrument. The researchers emphasize the importance 
of research that is grounded in the perspective of decision makers. 
Sinisalo and Komulainen presented an innovative form of narrative 
analysis that was used to explore the career competencies of entrepreneurial 
women. Roncaglia demonstrated an application of interpretative 
phenomenological analysis in a study of the careers of ballet dancers. 
This procedure entails interpretation of interview transcripts leading 
to themes pertaining to the phenomena drawn from the data. The 
article by Mcllveen also notes the dearth of qualitative studies in the 
published literature and emphasizes that "story as data and method 
are yet to be comprehensively articulated within the field of vocational 
psychology" (p. 13). The process of autoethno^raphy, "a qualitative 
method of reflexive enquiry for narrative research and practice that 
specifically addresses the stories of the scientist and the practitioner" 
(Mcllveen, p. 14) is described in detail, with specific attention to its 
philosophical basis, strategies to ensure quality and rigor, limitations, 
and research applications. 

As indicated at the beginning of this section, we feel it is important to 
offer a specific commentary on the status of research in the career counseling 
and development field. In the area of sample nature and sample 
size, it is clear that professionals in the field continue to rely heavily on 
available cohorts of college students, although the special section on 
Career Development in Childhood {CDQ^ Vol. S7[l]), and a number of 
studies that have used primary and secondary school students, suggest that 
researchers are attempting to source a wider sample. Skorikov and Patton 
(2007b) emphasized the need to understand more about the relationship 
between schooling and career development and the role of the family, as 
have Watson and McMahon. Each of these areas will require more complex 
designs and working through issues regarding sample access and ethics. 
Research examining organizational careers has also been increasing the 
breadth of samples examined, including accountants, physicians, and a 
large sample of workers in the study reported by Segers et al. 

Research methodology has also been largely cross-sectional. Echoing 
Skorikov and Patton (2007b) and other authors over many years, Watson 
and McMahon have again emphasized the importance of longitudinal 
designs to answer questions about children's and adolescents' career 
development, although Helwig identified issues with longitudinal studies 
(e.g., difficulties in follow-up and retention of original sample). In 

148 The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 


particular, Skorikov and Patton (2007b) emphasized that it is short-term 
longitudinal studies that could provide researchers and practitioners 
with much needed information about this age period. Porfeli, Härtung, 
and Vondracek have exhorted more promotion and evaluation of career 
interventions in elementary school. These authors developed a Web-
based measure that they indicate may assist researchers in overcoming 
some of the issues related to sample size and access and the difficulties 
associated with conducting longitudinal research. Indeed, a number of 
articles reviewed for this exercise have been exploring the utility of the 
Internet for gathering research data. 

A broad range of qualitative research approaches have featured in 
studies we have reviewed for the current article, although these remain 
in the minority. Although a range of alternative counseling approaches 
are increasingly being reported in the literature (e.g., narrative, story 
and qualitative assessments), we have noted that there is a dearth of 
research into the effectiveness of these approaches. 

Annual Review—2008: Summary and Conclnsion 

Contributions to the literature in 2008 continue to demonstrate the dynamic 
and robust nature of thefield of career counseling and development. 
It shows that the field is mature enough to continue to be self-refiective 
as well as open to new theories, assessment instruments, and counseling 
practice approaches. As was the case with reviews in previous years, research 
on multicultural, gender, disability, and sexuality issues is present, and 
some areas have expanded the presence of these topics in the literature 
this year. This includes work on children's career development and the 
increasing attention being paid to well-being and to work and work-life 
balance. The psychology of working perspective that featured in this annual 
review reflects the increasing attention to changing career paradigms and 
understanding about the role of work in individuals' lives. In this regard, 
it was interesting to note a significant body of work attending to protean 
and boundaryless careers and the integration of vocational psychological 
and organizational perspectives on career. These new perspectives will 
be particularly important as the career counseling and development field 
seeks to work with people whose working lives have been significandy 
interrupted as the fallout from the globalfinancial crisis continues to have 
significant impact around the world. 

Another area that is noticeably growing is the number of published 
studies from around the world. The international reach of career development 
research and practice continues to inform our professional 
understanding. In addition, there is a growing body of work that is moving 
to change the nature of career assessment—from being print-based 
to web-based formats and from the use of long versions of instruments 
to short versions. In addition, advances in technology have ensured that 
access to career services and information is increasingly available to more 
people. Clearly there is more empirical work necessary to assess these 
changes; however, they are evidence of the field working to remain in 
touch with clients and with changes in context. 

Overall, we in the profession can be confident that an extensive group of people 
around the world continue to engage in theorizing, research, and practice in 

The Career Development Quarterly December 2009 • Volume 58 149 


career counseling and development and to push the limits of boundaries and 
exercise creativity and innovation to ensure that the career counseling and 
development discipline continues to grow and to be prepared to address the 
challenges of career paradigm shifts and a changing work world. 

References - removed.

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