This
Research Handbook provides a novel, integrative approach to the field of vocational behavior. Moving beyond a focus on individual agency, this collection explores how multiple stakeholders and societal and institutional forces shape lives and identities. Leading scholars interrogate the complexities of working life, addressing themes such as changes in contemporary labor markets and radical transformations driven by AI, socio-political shifts, and increasingly volatile and uncertain environmental conditions.
Contributing authors discuss a range of concepts and provocative ideas, and offer guided career practice and interventions. The chapters demonstrate how individuals, organizations, and other stakeholders, including family and friends, can shape vocational behavior and foster or endanger individual career sustainability. Drawing on diverse epistemologies and methodologies, they investigate contemporary challenges, such as work precarity and global migration, through socio-economic, political, and decolonial lenses. The Handbook proposes new research directions that embrace global disruption and a social justice agenda, acting as a reference point for theoretically diverse, relevant, and socially responsible approaches to vocational behavior.
This Research Handbook is an invaluable reference for students and scholars across the social sciences, particularly those seeking multi- and trans-disciplinary perspectives on vocational behavior. It is a must-have for vocational and career psychologists and counselors, HR professionals, and policymakers who want to increase their knowledge of today’s challenges in the world of work and careers.
Contents
1 Introduction: Rethinking vocational behaviour: past, present and future
directions 1
Nadya A. Fouad, Beatrice I.J.M. van der Heijden, and Dora Scholarios
PART I THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE NEW WORLD OF WORK
2 Psychology of working: New directions for theory development, practice,
and public policy 20
David L. Blustein, Michael Gordon, Karley Guterres, and Camille M. Smith
3 Psychology of working theory and access to decent work 35
Haram J. Kim and Ryan D. Duffy
4 Beyond the job: Exploring the career implications of job crafting 50
Fangfang Zhang, Xiaolin Ge, Shanghao Song, and Sharon K. Parker
5 Career insecurity in the new world of work: Insights and critical
reflections 65
Annabelle Hofer and Daniel Spurk
6 Navigating modern careers: Reflections on the roles of career interests,
choice, and shocks 81
Jos Akkermans and Alexis Hanna
PART II VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOUR ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
7 The role of critical consciousness to develop a future attentive to
inclusion,
and social and environmental justice 97
Laura Nota, Maria Cristina Ginevra, Sara Santilli, and Salvatore Soresi
8 Career development and job search success for Autistic individuals:
Interests, issues and needed research 109
Katherine R. Brendli Brown and Susanne M. Bruyère
9 Sustainable career development in the context of the necessary ecological
transition 125
Jérôme Rossier, Sabrina Tacchini, and Shagini Udayar
10 Successful ageing in the changing world of work 140
Hannes Zacher and Anindo Bhattacharjee
PART III METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES
11 How can qualitative methods enrich vocational research with under- or
unexplored populations and issues? Asked, but not answered 156
Donna E. Schultheiss, Jenny Bimrose, Rachel Gali Cinamon, and
Angela Capuano-Fant
12 Qualitative research in vocational psychology: Considerations for quality
research with migrants and refugees 172
Mary McMahon, Nancy Arthur, Peyman Abkhezr, and Jon Woodend
13 Person-centered models 190
Joeri Hofmans, Alexandre J. S. Morin, and Bart Wille
14 Predictive analytics and their effect on careers: A multi-disciplinary
analysis 209
Felix Diefenhardt, Wolfgang Mayrhofer, and Marco L. Rapp
PART IV QUESTIONING THE TENETS OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
RESEARCH
15 Social norms on work: A critical review of employability research 225
Nele De Cuyper and Anneleen Forrier
16 Career inertia among students: An experimental vignette study on the
likelihood of prolonged studying decisions 239
Roosmarij Clercx, Paulien DHuyvetter, Marijke Verbruggen, and Ans De Vos
17 Understanding barriers to decent work: A critical reflection using the
context-power-perception model 257
Ishbel McWha-Hermann and Ellen Hawley McWhirter
18 Underemployments impact on vocational behaviour: A multidisciplinary
exploration and methodological innovation 275
Vanessa Beck, Vanesa Fuertes, Daiga Kamerde, Levana Magnus,
Luis Torres, and Tracey Warren
PART V CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES
19 Precarity and precarious work: Psychological conditions, worldviews, and
behaviours 293
Blake A. Allan and Kelsey Autin
20 Cents and sensibility: Financial insecurity and its impact on vocational
behaviour 307
Belgin Okay-Somerville, Bert Schreurs, and Eva Selenko
21 Exploring the dark side of careers in the gig economy: The role of online
labour platforms in supporting or thwarting gig workers careers 325
Anne Keegan, Jeroen Meijerink, and Owen OConnor
22 The labour market integration and career development of people with a
refugee background 342
Katja Wehrle and Ute-Christine Klehe
23 Happy, healthy and productive abroad: Exploring sustainable global
careers and developing future research directions 359
Shaofang Zong, Vesa Suutari, Rodrigo Mello, and Michael Dickmann
24 Aging and technology use in the workplace 374
Mo Wang, Bingjie Lu, and Zhefan Huang
25 AI and the future of careers: A view through the lens of the career
ecosystem theory 388
Yehuda Baruch
PART VI FINAL COMMENTARIES: CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES
26 Career self-management in response to changing employment models:
Identity integration, capability optimization, and reward personalization
404
Yanjun Guan
27 Career development in dynamic times: Challenges, opportunities and
research frontiers 413
Andreas Hirschi
28 What does it mean to be a careers scholar? A personal reflection 418
Denise Jepsen
29 Understanding and promoting career development in an age of work
instability 423
Robert W. Lent
Edited by Nadya A. Fouad, Distinguished Professor Emerita, Department of Educational Psychology, University of WisconsinMilwaukee, USA, Beatrice I.J.M. van der Heijden, Professor of Strategic HRM, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Dora Scholarios, Professor of Work Psychology, Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, UK
