Exploring the salience of a career calling amongst Chinese postgraduate students in the United Kingdom

• Main Author: Evangelista, Zyra M.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2015
• Subjects: Vocational guidance—United Kingdom; Vocational guidance—Parent participation; Satisfaction; Chinese students—United Kingdom; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/6877
• Institution: De La Salle University

The concept of “career calling” has become an area of significant interest within vocational counselling psychology. Empirical investigations of the construct have demonstrated its salience to working adults and university student; and its associations with positive well-being. The present study explores the salience of a career calling in the career decision-making process of 216 Chinese postgraduate students in the United Kingdom. It employed a correlational design to explore the relationships among career calling, life meaning, and life satisfaction. Sex differences across these variables were also explored. Overall, it was found out that career calling was a salient factor in the career decision-making process of Chinese students and that a sense of calling contributes to their overall sense of life meaning and life satisfaction. Results also showed that females endorsed having, or searching for, a career calling more than males did. The findings of the study suggest that: (1) the Chinese concept of a career calling can be viewed as a transcendent summons from the family to pursue a career path that will bring honor to the clan; (2) the purpose and meaningfulness of their career is derived from the dutiful fulfilment of their roles as sons and daughters; (3) the primary motivation of their career is other-oriented. Given the salience of a calling for Chinese students, career counselors might find it useful to explore this in the counselling process with Chinese students. Additionally, since the concept of a career calling has generally been unexplored in the Chinese culture, a qualitative investigation is suggested to verify the conceptualizations proposed in the present study.