Date of Award
August 2024
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Management Science
First Advisor
Belle Ragins
Second Advisor
Romila Singh
Committee Members
Hong Ren, Razia Azen
Abstract
People are often advised to follow their dreams in pursuing their careers. Indeed, some individuals experience a sense of career calling (Duffy et al., 2018). Career calling is defined as a sense of meaning and passion for an occupation, and one’s belief that an occupation offers an intrinsic sense of meaningfulness, purpose, and satisfaction connected to one’s identity (Berg et al., 2010). It is estimated that between 30% to 50% of adults experience a career calling (Duffy et al., 2015; Duffy & Dik, 2013). Researchers have found those who experience career calling have more life and career satisfaction (Dobrow et al., 2023; Duffy et al., 2017; Xie et al., 2016), but we know little about what facilitates one’s career calling or the processes involved with pursuing and living a calling. This omission is particularly important for women in male-dominated STEM fields, who face gender-role expectations and barriers that may derail them from pursuing their career callings (Kemp et al., 2021; Schmader, 2023). Accordingly, this dissertation addresses a key question: What factors facilitate a career calling? Existing research has focused on the role of individual abilities and personalities (Creed et al., 2016; Dobrow, 2013), but emerging research (Ehrhardt & Ensher, 2021; Zhang & Zhang, 2022) points to the importance of relationships. A relational perspective offers a promising new theoretical lens for understanding the processes that facilitate one’s ability to pursue and sustain a career calling. Applying a relational perspective, this dissertation systematically examines the role of close work and non-work relationships in supporting both women’s and men’s pursuit of their career callings and their ability to live out these callings over the course of their careers.
Drawing on the Michelangelo Phenomenon - an interpersonal relationship theory that explains how close relational partners shape one’s ideal self (Drigotas, 2002; Drigotas et al., 1999), and social cognitive career theory - a career theory explains the motivational processes underlying career choices and satisfaction (Lent et al., 1994, 2000; Lent & Brown, 2008), this study developed and tested the Relational Career Calling Model. The model’s foundation involves the constellation of close personal relationships (i.e., mentors, family, and friends), who support and facilitate one’s career calling. This constellation of close relationships is held to affirm the individual’s ideal career self, which in turn, increases their sense of efficacy and outcome expectations for pursuing and sustaining their career callings. The model also incorporates the role of gender by integrating social role theory (Eagly, 1987; Eagly & Wood, 2012). This integration offers important theoretical insights in explaining how and why these processes may vary for women, particularly for those who are in male-dominated STEM fields.
The Relational Career Calling Model was tested by surveying early- and mid-career respondents in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The first study examined the pursuit of career calling in a sample of 178 college students majoring in STEM fields. The second study investigated employees’ current experiences living their career callings by surveying 361 STEM employees.
Results provided support for the key aspects of the model. Supporting relational perspectives, affirmations from close mentors, family members, and friends played a significant role in the career calling process for both early- and mid-career individuals. Supporting the model, affirmations from relationships increased students’ pursuit of their career calling and employees’ experience of living a career calling by enhancing their career calling efficacy - the belief that one can achieve one’s career calling. However, contrary to expectations, these relationships did not play a role in influencing career calling outcome expectations, which reflects the belief that one’s life would be better if one pursued or achieved a career calling. In short, relationships predicted career calling outcomes by increasing one’s belief that one could achieve a career calling rather than the expected outcomes associated with the calling. Supporting hypothesized relationships, those who reported pursuing and living a calling reported more positive career and life outcomes. Both early-career students and mid-career employees reported more thriving and less occupational regret when they pursued or lived their calling. Mid-career employees experienced more career satisfaction when living their calling, but pursuing a calling did not predict career satisfaction for early-career students. However, illustrating a “pay it forward” effect, respondents in both career stages were more likely to affirm and support others’ ideal career selves when they pursued or experienced a career calling.
Turning to gender, while men and women in their early-career stages did not significantly differ in their career calling efficacy and outcome expectations, men in their mid-career stages with the presence of family affirmations were found to have lower career calling efficacy compared to their female counterparts. Moreover, relationships played a different role for men and women in their experiences of career calling efficacy for early but not mid-career stage respondents. Specifically, male students had stronger negative reactions to low mentor and family affirmations, while female students were more resilient to variations in affirmations from these relationships. These effects were not found among mid-career employees. For these employees, the relationship between affirmations from relationships and career calling efficacy did not vary by gender.
Finally, exploratory findings reveal the importance of considering not only gender but also gender-related individual differences, such as sex-role orientation and adherence to gender role stereotypes, when examining career calling processes. For example, male and female students did not significantly differ in their career calling efficacy, but male and female students who held traditional gender role stereotypes had lower career calling efficacy compared to those who held egalitarian stereotypes. As another example, male and female employees with mentor and friend affirmations did not differ in their career calling efficacy, but feminine orientations, which is a component of sex-role orientation, predicted career calling efficacy and outcome expectations for both men and women. These examples reveal the importance of examining not only gender, but also gender-related variables when examining career calling processes.In summary, this dissertation illustrates the importance of relationships in the pursuit and achievement of career calling. Mentors, family, and friends all play a role in building the efficacy needed to pursue or live out one’s career calling. Moreover, there are both similarities and differences in the ways in which men and women utilize their relational resources. Gender-related individual differences play important, but complex roles in these relationships. Taken together, this study affirms the importance of relational and gender lenses in the study of career calling.
Recommended Citation
Zhu, Xiaoxia, "IT TAKES A VILLAGE: THE ROLE OF MENTORS, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS IN CAREER CALLING AMONG WOMEN AND MEN IN STEM FIELDS" (2024). Theses and Dissertations. 3644.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/3644