Relationships Among Career Thoughts, Vocational Identity, and Calling: Implications for Practice

The concept of a calling in relation to career choice is a topic of interest in current literature. Exploring variables that may contribute to the presence of a calling is an important gap in the literature. This study examined career thoughts and vocational identity in relation to the presence of calling in a sample of 329 undergraduate university students enrolled in a career development course. The findings revealed significant relationships among all the variables of interest, as well as moderate predictive power, indicating that vocational identity and career thoughts may contribute to the formation of a calling to pursue a particular career. Limitations, implications for practice, and future research are discussed.Keywords: calling, career thoughts, vocational identity, vocation, career development courseCareer decision making has been a major area of research in the history of counseling and vocational psychology (e.g., Amundson, Borgen, Iaquinta, Butterfield, & Koert, 2010; Duffy & Dik, 2009; Earle & Bright, 2007; Holland & Holland, 1977; Krieshok, Black, & McKay, 2009). For college and university students, a significant developmental task is to decide on a course of study and a future career path (Gordon, 2007). Students are mindful of the realities of seeking employment and making "practical" choices in the current economy, whereas some books and career counselors emphasize seeking and finding one's calling.According to Niles and Harris-Bowlsbey (2005), learning more about the factors that negatively affect career decision making-as well as strategies to minimize them-is a focus of career counseling research and practice. Various theories have emerged to explain how individuals, including college students, make career choices. The majority of these theories have in common the notion that both internal and external factors play important roles in determining how individuals make career decisions. Although various factors that influence career decision making have been widely examined, there is still a need to understand more fully the relationships among constructs currently thought to influence vocational behavior. This study was designed to add to the previously unexamined concepts of calling, dysfunctional career thoughts, and vocational identity.Calling and Career ChoiceThe construct of calling refers to the extent to which individuals feel summoned or called to enter a particular career or life role. Related concepts include the notion of a protean career (Hall, 2003), in which individuals pursue their path "with heart and with the intensity of a calling" (p. 9). Hall's (2003) conceptualization of calling involves seeing one's work as an invitation to which one must respond and involves discernment (deep reflection or prayer) to find the right career path. Treadgold's (1999) transcendent vocation is another interpretation of calling, defined as engaging in meaningful work through inner guidance as an expression of one's personality. Treadgold found that engaging in meaningful work as a calling was negatively related to stress and depression and positively related to clarity of self-concept.Historically, the term calling contained a spiritual or religious undertone, as in being called by God to perform a certain task (Duffy & Blustein, 2005). The idea of answering God's call has been an ongoing tradition in the Judeo-Christian religion. Previously, the concept of calling had received little attention in career counseling research, possibly because of its historical ties to religiousness. A broader definition was proposed by Dik and Duffy (2009), who described calling as "an external summons to approach a life role in a manner oriented toward deriving a sense of purpose or meaningfulness" (p. 427). Broadening the definition of calling allows individuals to endorse possessing a calling regardless of their religious or spiritual beliefs. This broader definition of calling led to studies that investigated how calling may be related to various career constructs (Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007; Steger, Pickering, Shin, & Dik, 2010). …