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A Psychological Career Resources Framework for Contemporary Career Development

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Psycho-social Career Meta-capacities

Abstract

In a complex, boundaryless and continually changing work world, people increasingly focus on their subjective careers as a framework for their career growth and development (Converse et al., J Vocat Behav 80:148–159, 2012; Khapova et al., Handbook of Career Studies, pp. 114–130, 2007. The subjective career represents an internally-driven self-regulated psychological state of vocational development that influences the individual’s capability to effectively cope with, adapt to, and succeed in a particular work setting or occupational role, and deal effectively with career transitions (Converse et al., J Vocat Behav 80:148–159, 2012; Khapova et al., Handbook of Career Studies, pp. 114–130, 2007; Savickas and Porfeli, J Vocat Behav 80:661–673, 2012). The psychological state of development is a consequence of individuals’ psycho-social meta-capacities (Coetzee, South African J Ind Psychol 34(2):32–41, 2008; Savickas and Porfeli, J Vocat Behav 80:661–673, 2012; Weigl et al., J Vocat Behav 77:140–153, 2010) which comprise their psychological capital and social resources and strengths (Avey et al., Human Resour Dev Q 22(2):127–152, 2011). People’s psycho-social resources (meta-capacities) have been related to key self-evaluations and agentic processes that enable them to control and influence their environment (Hobfoll et al., J Personal Soc Psychol 84:632–643, 2003; Rottinghaus et al., J Career Assess 20(2):123–139, 2012), successfully cope with job demands, attain goals, achieve personal growth and development (Demerouti et al., J Appl Psychol 86:499–512, 2001) and solve the unfamiliar, complex and ill-defined problems presented by current and anticipated developmental vocational tasks, and transitions and traumas in occupational roles (Savickas and Porfeli, J Vocat Behav 80:661–673, 2012). This chapter proposes a psychological career resources (career meta-capacities) framework relevant to the 21st century occupational world and reports research findings on the development and validation of a quantitative measure of psychological career resources that can be applied in the contemporary career counseling context.

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  1. University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Melinde Coetzee

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  1. Melinde Coetzee
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  1. Industrial and Organisational Psychology, University of South Africa, Muckleneuk, Gauteng, South Africa

    Melinde Coetzee

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Coetzee, M. (2014). A Psychological Career Resources Framework for Contemporary Career Development. In: Coetzee, M. (eds) Psycho-social Career Meta-capacities. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00645-1_6

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