Proceedings of The 12th International Conference on Humanities, Psychology and Social Sciences
Year: 2021
DOI:
My fate is my decision: the differential effects of fate and criticality of decision beliefs on career decision making self-efficacy
Ibolya Kotta, PhD, Anna Veres, PhD, Susana Farcas, PhD, Szidonia Kiss, PhD, Anna Bernath-Vincze, PhD
ABSTRACT:
Dysfunctional career decision-making beliefs (DCB) impede the career decision making (CDM) process in several ways. This study proposes to delineate the profiles of two career-specific dysfunctional beliefs, fate and criticality of decision through their differential effects on career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) in undergraduate students. A sample of 157 undergraduate students (aged M = 21.07, STD = 1.78, 87.2% female) completed the fate and criticality beliefs subscales of Dysfunctional Career Decision-Making Beliefs Scale (Hechtlinger et al., 2019), Career Decision Self-Efficacy Scale (Betz et al., 2005) and Career Satisfaction Scale (Greenhaus, et al., 1990). Two-step cluster analyses was provided for delineating the profiles of combined variables of fate and criticality beliefs. Comparisons for the subscales of CDSE (self-appraisal, gathering occupational information, goal selection, planning and problem solving) among the DCB clusters was measured using multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA). As the result of the two-step cluster analysis, four clusters emerged: criticality of decision beliefs group (CB: low fate, high criticality), fate beliefs group (FB: high fate, low criticality), negotiable fate beliefs group (NFB: high fate and high criticality) and no dysfunctional beliefs group (NB: low fate, low criticality). Clusters did not differ in terms of gender, age, GPA or career satisfaction. The profiles of DCB did not differ in CDSE; statistically significant group differences were only found for career goal selection. More specifically, the fate beliefs group showed significantly less self-efficacy in setting their career goals as compared to criticality of decision beliefs or negotiable fate beliefs groups. Our results indicate that dysfunctional fate beliefs are associated with low perceived self-efficacy regarding the selection of goals in the process of career decision-making. However, the effect of fate beliefs can be buffered by criticality of decision beliefs (dysfunctional of their kind), suggesting that negotiable fate beliefs have a more favourable effect on career related goal selection self-efficacy as they draw back the process of CDM under personal influence.
Keywords: carrier goal setting, dysfunctional career decision-making beliefs, negotiable fate.