Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span.

2013/01/01 by Robert W. Lent, Steven D. Brown · 1,253 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Applied psychology #Career Development and Diversity #Career counseling #Career development #Cognition #Cognitive Information Processing #Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation #Higher Education and Employability #Normative #Pedagogy #Process (computing) #Psychology #Social cognitive theory #Social influence #Social psychology #Vocational education

paper · doi:10.1037/a0033446

published in Journal of Counseling Psychology 60(4), 557-568 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 2013/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) currently consists of 4 overlapping, segmental models aimed at understanding educational and occupational interest development, choice-making, performance and persistence, and satisfaction/well-being. To this point, the theory has emphasized content aspects of career behavior, for instance, prediction of the types of activities, school subjects, or career fields that form the basis for people's educational/vocational interests and choice paths. However, SCCT may also lend itself to study of many process aspects of career behavior, including such issues as how people manage normative tasks and cope with the myriad challenges involved in career preparation, entry, adjustment, and change, regardless of the specific educational and occupational fields they inhabit. Such a process focus can augment and considerably expand the range of the dependent variables for which SCCT was initially designed. Building on SCCT's existing models, we present a social cognitive model of career self-management and offer examples of the adaptive, process behaviors to which it can be applied (e.g., career decision making/exploration, job searching, career advancement, negotiation of work transitions and multiple roles).

Citations

• Toward a Unifying Social Cognitive Theory of Career and Academic Interest, Choice, and Performance
• Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: A meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research.
• Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis.

Cited by

• The relationship of career exploration on the teaching intention of pre-service special education teachers in China: A chain-mediating role of career calling and perceived employability
• Protean and boundaryless career orientations: A critical review and meta-analysis.
• Prediction of job search intentions and behaviors: Testing the social cognitive model of career self-management.
• Contextualizing career development: Cultural affordances as the missing link in social cognitive career theory
• From Knowledge to Wisdom: Indigenous Women's Narratives of Doing Well with Career Decision Making
• Mapping graduate employability and career development in higher education research: a citation network analysis
• Where Dual Enrollment Leads: Subject, Setting, and Postsecondary Pathways
• Meaningful work and mental health: job satisfaction as a moderator
• A Meta‐Analysis of the Effectiveness of Individual Career Counseling on Career and Mental Health Outcomes
• The Breadth Premium: Measuring the Firm-level Impact of CEO Career Breadth
• Vocational Psychology: Expanding the Vision and Enhancing the Impact
• Pathways from Mindfulness to Career Adaptability: Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Capital as Mediators
• Women in accounting: Revolution, where art thou?
• A Theoretical Framework for Understanding Social Anxiety in the Context of Career Development
• Exploring considerations for becoming a GP practice owner: a qualitative study
• SPIRAL integration of generative AI in an undergraduate creative media course: effects on self-efficacy and career outcome expectations
• Speaking Up and Standing Out: How Gendered Logics Shape Women's Self‐Advocacy at Work
• Direct and indirect effects of authentic leadership and gender on occupational well-being: mediating role of perceived barriers to career advancement
• How Career Development Is Affected When Students Work in Precarious Jobs: Impact of Meritocratic Beliefs
• Creating More Effective Mentors: Mentoring the Mentor. [europepmc]
• Factors that influence career progression among postdoctoral clinical academics: a scoping review of the literature. [europepmc]
• The "new normal": Adapting doctoral trainee career preparation for broad career paths in science. [europepmc]
• The Relationships of Self-Esteem, Future Time Perspective, Positive Affect, Social Support, and Career Decision: A Longitudinal Multilevel Study. [europepmc]
• The Best of Both Worlds: The Role of Career Adaptability and Career Competencies in Students' Well-Being and Performance. [europepmc]
• Perceived Employability and Entrepreneurial Intentions Across University Students and Job Seekers in Togo: The Effect of Career Adaptability and Self-Efficacy. [europepmc]
• Genetic counselors with advanced skills: II. A new career trajectory framework. [europepmc]
• Examining Predictors and Outcomes of Decent Work Perception with Chinese Nursing College Students. [europepmc]
• An Application of the Social Cognitive Career Theory Model of Career Self-Management to College Athletes' Career Planning for Life After Sport. [europepmc]
• Biomedical career enrichment programs: Exploring women and minority participants' motivators and outcomes. [europepmc]
• Medical career expectations of academically talented high school students: a nationwide cross-sectional study in China. [europepmc]
• A medical student scholarly concentrations program: scholarly self-efficacy and impact on future research activities. [europepmc]
• Exploring the Link Between Mentoring and Intangible Outcomes of Entrepreneurship: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy and Moderating Effects of Gender. [europepmc]
• Cross-Cultural Differences in Adopting Social Cognitive Career Theory at Student Employability in PLS-SEM: The Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Deep Approach to Learning. [europepmc]
• Career Planning in Elite Soccer: The Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy, Career Goals, and Athletic Identity. [europepmc]
• Dreams Realized: A Long-Term Program Evaluation of Three Summer Diversity Pipeline Programs. [europepmc]
• Understanding the Impact of the Psychological Cognitive Process on Student Learning Satisfaction: Combination of the Social Cognitive Career Theory and SOR Model. [europepmc]
• Virtual Summer Undergraduate Mentorship Program for Students Underrepresented in Medicine Yields Significant Increases in Self-Efficacy Measurements During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Evaluation. [europepmc]
• Depression and loneliness may predict work inefficiency among professionally active adults. [europepmc]
• Nursing and Midwifery Students' Mental Health Status and Intention to Leave During Covid-19 Pandemic. [europepmc]
• How workplace incivility leads to work alienation: A moderated mediation model. [europepmc]
• The perspectives of social cognitive career theory approach in current times. [europepmc]
• The role of career decision self-efficacy as a mediator of peer support on students' career adaptability. [europepmc]
• Attracting adolescents to become doctors and nurses: differential importance of personal and environmental factors in 61 economies. [europepmc]
• Predictive factors of turnover intention of newly graduated nurses in their first year of employment: a longitudinal study. [europepmc]

Related

• Prediction of job search intentions and behaviors: Testing the social cognitive model of career self-management.
• Making sense of different perspectives on career transitions: A review and agenda for future research
• Career Regret among University Students from Turkey: A Test of the Social Cognitive Career Theory
• Creating a Lifelong Career Development Model
• Relationships Among Career Thoughts, Career Interests, and Career Decision State