New Trends in Theory Development in Career Psychology

By way of background to this chapter, I begin by considering the question: What is a theory? A simple explanation is offered by Krumboltz (1994) who has explained that “a theory is a way of explaining what we observe. It is a way of making sense of our experiences. It is a way of summarizing a large number of facts and observations into a few general principles” (p. 9). Thus, a theory may be regarded as a guide, a model, an explanation, or a hypothesis that helps us to explain or understand particular phenomena (Brown, 2002a; Krumboltz, 1994; Solmonson, Mullener, & Eckstein, 2009). Good theory, however, is well founded on research-based evidence. Brown (2002a) has presented criteria for judging a theory. He suggests that well-developed theories have clearly defined constructs and are parsimonious. He contends that good theories are comprehensive in their ability to account for the career development of diverse populations throughout the world and concludes that many theories fail this criterion. Further, Brown suggests that good theory explains what happens and why, assists our understanding of past, present, and future events, and may be applied in practice. Brown concluded that no career theory meets all of his criteria. Brown’s (2002a) criteria, however, that theory should account for diverse populations is also open to question in view of recent critiques of career theory and discussion about globalization, internationalization, and indigenization of career theory and practice (e.g., Arulmani, 2010; Leong & Pearce, 2011; Leung & Yuen, 2012; McMahon & Yuen, 2010; Mkhize, 2012; Watson, McMahon, Mkhize, Schweitzer, & Mpofu, 2011). For example, Leung and Yuen (2012) have cited four limitations of career development theory, specifically its focus on: (a) personal variables rather than contextual and cultural variables, (b) self-actualization and jobsatisfaction as goals of career choice, (c) high levels of free choice and opportunities to make several decisions over time, and (d) developing practices and resources that are culture based and cannot easily be transported to other contexts. In this regard, Arulmani (2011) has explained that “a given culture has been already prepared in a certain way to engage with work, occupation and career” (p. 92) and has urged career guidance and counseling practitioners to learn from other cultures in order to move closer to delivering context resonant interventions. Thus, consideration must be given to the cultural base of the theoretical trends presented in this chapter and this will be revisited later in the chapter. At first glance, the theory base of career psychology may be confusing because “the domain of career psychology . . . is characterized M. McMahon (*) School of Education, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia e-mail: [email protected]