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Decision Making in Voluntary Career Change:
An Other-Than-Rational Perspective Niamh Murtagh Paulo N. Lopes Evanthia Lyons The authors present a qualitative study of voluntary career change, which highlighted the importance of positive emotions, unplanned action, and building certaint)' and perceiving continuity in the realization of change. Interpretative phenomcnological analysis was used to broaden theoretical understanding of real-life career decision making. The accounts of 8 women who had changed careers were explored, and the analysis supported other-than-rational perspectives of career decision making. An action-atlfcct-cognition framework of decision making is proposed. The framework adds the role of emotion and the importance of self-regulation to existing tlieory of career decision making. Implications for career counseling are discussed.
Throughout the career literature, models of rational decision making, based on Parsons's (1909, p. 5) prescription of "true reasoning" from knowledge of self and of occupations, have been strongly infiuential. The models of theorists such as Gelatt (1962); Gati (1986); and Peterson, Sampson, Reardon, and Lenz (1996) incorporated career decision mak- ing as a logical, systematic, and objective process. In contrast, alternative theoretical perspectives on career decision makitig bave empbasized uncertainty (Gelatt, 1989), happenstance (Bright, Pryor, & Harpbam, 2004; Mitchell, Levin, & Krumboltz, 1999), and contexts (Atnundson, 1995).
Such approaches, called "other-than-rational" by Phillips (1997, p.
285), offer the powerful argument that people do not apply stricdy rational procedures in making career decisions. Otber-than-rational perspectives have contributed valuable insights and a broader view, but their empirical base is sparse. With the exception of Amundson's (1995) interactive model, alternative approaches have not proposed a model of tbe career decision-making process, and tbe interactive model is limited in tbe psychological processes it considers. There is a need, therefore, for further empirical investigation of the detailed processes involved in real- life decision making. The study reported herein aims to address this gap by exploring experiences of decision tnakitig in voluntary career change and by proposing an otber-than-rational framework for career decision making. Rather than impose previous assumptions on the process, we chose a methodology, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA; Smith & Osborn, 2003) that gives voice to tbe participants' experience, Niamh Murtagh, Paulo N.
Lopes, and Evanthia Lyons, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom. Paulo N.
Lopes is now at Eaculty of Economics and Management, Catholic University of Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal; Evan- thia Lyons is now at School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Niamh Murtagh, Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, United Kingdom (e-mail:
© 2011 by the National Career Development Association. All rights reserved.
The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 249 answering Phillips's (1997) call to invesdgate decision making from the perspective and experience of the person making the decisions.
Ratinnal Mnde.l.s nf Career Derision Making Radonal models of career decision making have emerged from expected utility (EU) models. Such models propose that individuals identify an opdmal outcome by multiplying the probability and perceived value of different options, and selecting the opdon that yields the highest product. Extending the EU model to career decision making, Gelatt (1962) proposed a model of career decision making that was systemadc, sequendal, and "sciendfic." Katz (1966) and Pitz and Harren (1980) proposed a more rigorous EU approach to career decision making, with the requirement that all alternatives should be considered. Such models have been considered normadve, that is, they state how decisions should be made (Gad & Ashcr, 2001).
However, problems were identified in the applicadon of normative models to everyday decision making. Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky (1982) demonstrated a range of ways in which people failed to follow the process prescribed by EU models, for example, by failing to con- sider all options or by incorrectly assessing the probabilities of events.
Gad (1986) argued that, in career decision making, the requiremetit to quantify probability and valence, and then to calculate their product, for a potentially very large range of alternative careers, surpassed the cognitive capacity of individuals.
Recognizing the bounded rationality of human cognition and the tendency to select satisflcing, or "good enough," rather than opdmizing choices (Janis & Mann, 1977; Simon, 1955), Gati proposed the Sequendal Eliminadon Model. This model, later extended and elaborated in the Prescreening, In-Depth Exploradon and Choice Model (PIC; Gati & Asher, 2001), specified a strategy of early elimination of options that did not match aspects of the desired outcome. Gati's models were aimed at overcoming the requirements for exhaustive calculation and forced quantification of the EU models and were proposed as prescriptive, that is, suggesdng how decision making can be improved (Gati, 1986; Gati & Asher, 2001). The Cognidve In- formadon Processing Model (CIP) also proposed how career decision making could be carried out more effectively by enhancing cognitive processes (Gati & Asher, 2001; Peterson et al., 1996). Nonetheless, these models continued to incorporate many of the assumptions of normative models, including an emphasis on objecdve radonality and a requirement for systematic exploration of muldple options (Gati, 1986; Gelatt, 1962; Janis & Mann, 1977).
Rational models of career decision making have been positiotied as the right way, and perhaps the only way, of making career decisions (Phillips, 1994). This view has been challenged, however, by a number of scholars who have argued that the complex, subjective, and cre- ative processes of decision making have been reduced to a small set of numbers (Carson & Mowsesian, 1990) and that context, meaning, emotion, and change in the experience of career decision making have been ignored (Härtung & Blustein, 2002; Kidd, 1998; Phillips, 1997; Phillips & Jome, 2005).
250 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 Other-Than-Rational Perspectives on Career Derision Malcing In a radical change from his earlier radonal posidon, Gelatt (1989) sug- gested that career decision making can be viewed as a nonsequendal, nonsystemadc process of arranging and rearranging information into a course of acdon. Krieshok (1998) also argued that systemadc decision making was not possible in careers. In contrast to the assumpdon of ra- donal models that people could access salient aspects of self-knowledge on which to base their decision, Krieshok argued that this informadon is not necessarily available to individuals and that decision making can be pardally unconscious. Mitchell et al.
( 1999) and Bright et al.
(2004) argued for the importance of context in career decisions, both sets of scholars focusing on chance events. At a metatheoredcal level, McMahon and Patton (1995) proposed a systems framework that acknowledged chance, context, and individual attributes as components of a dynamic and open system of career decisions. At the process level, Amundson ( 1995 ) brought together external contexts and subjecdve arrangement or "framing" of informadon in an integrated model that described an iteradve and chang- ing process. Other-than-radonal approaches to career decision making are linked to advances in general decision-making theory in psychology. The characterization of the career decision-making process as nonsequendal, iteradve, and often creadve echoes the argument of Beach and Connolly (2005) that decision making "feels its way along" (p. 3).
Alternative approaches have gready enhanced understanding of what Nicholson and West (1989) termed the "planless" (p. 190) nature of career decision making, but understanding is sdll narrow (Pope, 2003).
The interactive model limits its consideradon of psychological processes to framing a decision, and, in common with most perspecdves on career decision making to date, affect and emodon are not addressed as central to the model (Kidd, 1998). Although radonal approaches to decision making have acknowledged that unconscious processes, including emodon and intuidon, can be influendal (e.g.. Gad & Asher, 2001; Peterson et al., 1996), such influences are viewed as distordng the ideal, systemadc process (Kahneman et al., 1982; Kidd, 1998). Kidd's (1998) argument for career decision making as a joint operadon of emodonal and cognidve processes is supported by recent developments in the wider psychological literature.
Johnson-Laird and Oadey (2004) posited that emotional processes are essendal coprocesses of cognidon, facilitadng complex decision making by reflecdng pardally unconscious evaluadon processes. Frijda, Manstead, and Bem (2000) explored how feelings influence thoughts and proposed that emodons are essendal as triggers to acdon.
It seems then that other-than-radonal perspecdves on career decision making are still incomplete and quesdons remain. What processes other than framing are a part of decision making.' What roles do emotions play.' The current study was designed to add to the empirical base and enrich theoretical perspectives by invesdgating the lived experience of people making career decisions. Our research question was "How have people, who have changed careers voluntarily, experienced career decision making?" In extending Feldman's (2002) deflnition to include the field of experdse, we defined career change as a transformation that requires The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 251 significant changes in roles, responsibilities, skills, and field of expertise or body of knowledge. The data presented here are part of a larger study, in which the influence of negative emodons and of the self-concept on the initial stages of voluntary career change has also been explored.
Method IPA is an established, ideographic, phenomenological methodology (Lyons & Coyle, 2007; Millward, 2006; Smith, 1996) that is being used more frequently in European psychology. We chose IPA over other qualita- tive methods because of our focus on the phenomenology of decision making and our aim to enrich existing theory, rather than generate new theory. Typically based on individual, semistructured interviews with a small set of participants, IPA aims to give an account of participants' experiences through a systemadc and rigorous analysis (Smith, Jarman, & Osborn, 1999). The resulting account represents a double hermeneutic:
first, at a descriptive level of the participants' own sense making of their experience, and second, at a critical analytic level across the participants' accounts (Smith & Osborn, 2003). The methodology does not test hypotheses; its objective is to understand the participants' lived experi- ence without imposing the constraints of prior theory (Storey, 2007).
At the critical analytical level, links to existing theory may be explored to provide greater insight on the data or to critique or extend current theory (Storey, 2007), as we seek to do here.
As with all methodologies, there are limitations to IPA. Practical considerations, including dme, limit the number of pardcipants that can be involved. The results emerge from the unique interaction between researcher and data, and as such, will not be identically replicable. However, IPA can offer insights that quantitative methods cannot (Elowers, 2008; Reid, Elowers, & Larkin, 2005).
IPA explores experiences in context, as can quandtativc methods; however, whereas quandtativc studies tend to measure limited aspects of experience as determined by previous theory, IPA allows the descrip- tion of the full experience in all its richness and complexity. Systematic analysis of these data can provide novel insights and a broader, more integrated perspective. IPA centers on the participants' sense making of their personal experience, providing a subjecdve view in contrast to the more objective standpoint of quantitative research. More generally, IPA provides an investigatory perspective that can complement other approaches and, as such, is an appropriate methodology to meet the aims of enriching existing theory.
Participants Pardcipants who had changed their career in the previous 3 years were purposively selected; eight women, living in the southeastern portion of England and recruited through social networks, agreed to participate. We chose only women to follow Smith and Osborn's (2003) methodologi- cal recommendations for homogeneity of sample, and because women are a relatively less studied group in vocational psychology (Marshall, 1989; Pringle & Mallon, 2003). The participants were between 29 and 48 years old. Seven were university educated; one had received a high school educadon. One participant described herself as Black Caribbean; the remaining seven participants described themselves as White British.
252 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 Five of the participants had dependent children. Seven participants were married or in long-term relationships. One participant lived in public housing and the remaining participants were homeowners. Tbe participant who lived in public housing was the previously mentioned high school graduate and she described herself as White. The names of all participants were changed to protect confidentiality. Table 1 sum- marizes their career changes.
Procedure Participants were interviewed by the first author on two separate occa- sions for approximately 1 hour. The second interview was conducted around 1 week after the first one. The topics for tbe semistructured interviews were career history and precursors of and feelings around the career change (Interview 1) and information about and feelings and experiences in the new occupation (Interview 2). The interview schedules (see Appendix) were designed around open questions that were constructed to allow rich and detailed accounts of tbe full process of decision making. Examples of questions were "I would be interested to hear about the jobs you have had. Do you remember your first paid job?" "Thinking about that last change, can you tell me what led up to tbat? "Can you remember bow you felt at the time?" "How have you found your new occupation?" Tbe data from the first interview were not analyzed before the second so tbat preliminary analysis did not influence tbe second interview.
Analysis Audio recordings of tbe interviews were transcribed verbatim. In tbe first step of analysis, the two transcripts for each participant were read in deptb. We checked for contradictions but found no substantial dis- crepancies. Analysis proceeded in compliance with established guide- lines (Smith & Osborn, 2003; Willig, 2001). Tbe transcripts of one participant were read in detail several times, and NVivo 2.0 software was used to annotate the text with comments and to identify initial tbemes. Tbemes are points of interest or salience within the account or in tbe researcher's interpretation. They are titled briefly, and then tbey are linked to a phrase or longer tract in tbe text. After this phase bad been completed, tbe transcripts were reanalyzed to ensure that tbe tbemes fully and faithfully represented tbe participant's account.
This process was followed on tbree more transcripts, generating an TABLE 1 Participants' Previous and New Occupations Pseudonym Brenda Gayle Anne Fran Joan Helen Diane Clare Age 42 29 45 34 39 39 48 46 Previous Occupation Biochemist Retail manager Caterer Stable hand Senior retail buyer/manager Civil servant Geoscientist/manager Caterer, self-employed, and small business owner New Occupation Alternative therapy practitioner E-marketing consultant Academic researcher Coach driver Secondary teacher Academic researcher Occupational psychologist Senior personal administrator The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 253 extensive list of themes. Related themes were grouped into master themes. Tbe remaining transcripts were then analyzed to check for sup- port for the master themes, while checking for any unidentified salient themes. Some new themes were found, checked back to tbe initial set of transcripts and, if supported, were added to the master list. Finally, the master list was reviewed, and minor themes (i.e., those that were not evident for most participants and not highly salient for any one participant) were removed. A narrative account was constructed, with constant checking back to the data, to ensure tbat the master themes represented the participants' experience. This detailed analysis remained grounded in tbe data by including extensive excerpts and was reviewed by the second and third authors to validate that the interpretation was justified by tbe data and tbat the analysis represented tbe participants' stories. A shortened account was sent to the participants and feedback was posidve.
Criteria for evaluating qualitative and quantitative research are different (Smith, 2003). We applied the criteria for validity of qualitative studies proposed by Yardley (2000): sensitivity to context, rigor, commitment, and contribution. We endeavored to be sensitive to context by remaining grounded in the data at every stage of analysis.
We strove for rigor and commitment by establishing epistemological appropriateness, by follow- ing recommended systematic method and by thoroughness of analysis.
We endeavored to establish the contributions of our study by focusing on findings that add to the previous literature and tbeir application in career counseling.
Re.siilt.s We found that of the rich set of themes tbat emerged in analysis, two superordinate themes were related to the overall process of career change decision making: (a) planless actions and positive emotions and (b) constructing the decision.
Planless Actions and Positive Emotions The accounts described bow the actions of tbe participants influenced tbeir career change, as would be expected in a typical narrative format (Gergen, 2001).
Contrary to expectation, however, actions that were initially unrelated to career were later found to have directly influenced participants' career change. Two participants (Fran, Gayle) described baving a new occupa- tion in mind at first, but later modifying tbeir view of this occupation.
In only one case (Joan) did tbe participant describe intentionally look- ing for and evaluating alternatives. The other seven accounts did not describe any form of systematic process of decision making that rational models would suggest.
Brcnda was clear that she did not initially intend for Amatsu therapy to become her new career.
I thought, well, that will give me something else to study .... Again, not really to change my career at all, then. Though I knew I might have to, I didn't think I'd change it to that. I just thought I'd study it.
254 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 Anne also stressed the planless nature of her decision to do a sec- ondary-level qualification: "I certainly didn't do the [quahfication] thinking I was going to go to university afterwards. I was doing the [qualification] to do something to get over the disappointment of [not being successful in a job application]." The nonintentional nature of that decision was underlined by her choice of subject that "was just the sort of passion of the moment really." There was a sense in many of the stories of trying something, especially study, because it would opeti up opportunities and could suggest a direction. Nicholson and West (1989) noted that career paths can be both planless and planned, and the initial planlessness in the accounts here evolved into identi- fication and subsequent pursuit of the desired new occupation. This supports arguments for tbe salience of happenstance and chance in career (Bright et al., 2004; Miller, 1983).
Having explicidy positioned their inidal actions as not planned in rela- tion to their career path (five pardcipants), bow then did the pardcipants make sense of the path they had taken? All of the pardcipants described finding that they were skilled and capable in the new field and drew on the posidve emodons related to the new career. Brenda described herself as "absolutely passionate" about her new field, and four other pardcipants also spoke of^ their passion for their new career areas.
The others spoke of sadsfacdon and enjoyment. The typically strong, posidve emodons were described as beginning in the early days of trying out or training for the new career, suggesting that sadsfacdon and enjoyment had been part of the experience and were part of sense making regarding the decision.
The strength of posidve emodon from their early experiences appeared to contribute to the subsequent selection of the career path, and this was true for the three pardcipants who described some inidal intendon as well as for tbe remainder who had no specific career-related plans.
All of the pardcipants "knew by trying" (Gayle) that the new area was what they wanted. Joan said, "I can see myself doing this," and Helen felt that her experience meant that she "got exposed to a different way of living, a different way of being." Tryitig out the new career seemed to show them a possible .fe//'(Markus & Nurius, 1986) that they could achieve. Action, initially planless but leading to experience in the new career, tbus appeared to generate strong posidve emotions, enbanced self-efficacy, greater skills, and a possible self; these benefits were salient in the way that participants made sense of their career decisions.
Constructing the Decision The accounts described a protracted process, with career changes hav- ing taken between 3 months and 7 years to realize. The pardcipants all described being happy with their choice of career and feeling that it was right for tbem. However, the question is, how did they fitid the "right" career witbout evaluadng alternatives? The interpretation of the accounts suggested that the participants used several strategies to build up and reinforce their decision over dme.
Building certainty.
All eight participants spoke of how they had made the "right" decision. Some posidoned the decision as a natural, obvi- ous, almost inevitable choice. Most said that they had "never doubted that I was doing the right thing" (Gayle). This was particularly salient The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 255 for the participants who had not yet established themselves in their new career. Diane, for example, said.
Just knowing in my heart that it was the right thing to do, no matter what hap- pened.
. . .
Even if I couldn't get a job at the end of it, I just knew that it was the right thing to do.
Diane's certainty here seemed to be part of constructing her decision as a good decision. She was allowing for possible failure but building a story that, even in the case of failure, the decision was sdll the right one.
This construction of certainty was a salient aspect of all of the career stories.
It may have helped the participants to minimize doubts and anxiety, to "save face" if things went wrong, but it also appeared to work to reinforce the decision.
The period preceding a decision to change career was characterized by negative emotion for most participants.
In contrast, having chosen a new career option was associated in the data with relief and more posi- tive affect. Having made a decision, to feel certain that it is the right one helps to move the individual forward toward action and away from the discomfort of decision making (Janis & Mann, 1977). Thus, telling oneself that one has made the right decision may be an important way of reguladng potentially undermining doubt and emodons such as fear.
Perceiving continuity.
All of the pardcipants talked about the similari- ties between their new career and their old one. Most saw continuity in retrospect, even if they had not realized it before their move. Helen said, "it's almost come full circle"; Gayle believed that her new career allowed her to go back to being "the old Gayle again," returning to an earlier positive self-concept. Even where the participants described how different the new career was, they also constructed continuity between the two careers. The construction of continuity in all the accounts ap- peared salient in sense making. Positioning the change as gradual and bridging the differences between the two careers may have made the decision seem less dramatic, less risky, and more achievable.
Temporal framinjr. The participants appeared to take a life-span per- spective on their careers, looking back to where they had started or looking forward in time to where they may end up. T'heir decision to change career then became, for example, a necessary step to avoid an unwanted future. Helen said.
If you don't do it [change career], you're just going to carry on for the next 40 years and change into one of these really boring people ... at work . . .
and I thought I just don't want to be one of those people.
Perhaps Helen was andcipadng the regret that she would experience if she ended up becoming "one of those people," and her decision was influenced by this andcipadon of future emodon (Zeelenberg, 1999).
Helen also appeared to be avoiding a possible undesired self (Markus & Nurius, 1986). Other participants saw their change as a step toward a desired nature. For example, Diane saw a better work-life balance tying in with possible fixture family demands.
Framing a decision has been proposed as cridcal (Amundson, 1995; Lipschitz, 1993) and here, framing within the overall life span helped pardcipants to make sense of their decision.
256 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 In sum, the participants described career change extending over time.
A number of psychological processes—building certainty, perceiving condnuit)', and fi-aming die decision widiin an extended dme perspecdve— appeared to facilitate successful decision making and to enable change to happen.
Discussinn Eight women who had changed careers within the previous 3 years described their expedence of career change in two semistructured interviews. IPA sug- gested two diemes relating to decision making: (a) planless acdons and posi- dve emodons and (b) construcdng the decision. In dieir acdons that led to change, five pardcipants appeared to be planless inidally, taking steps diat diey did not intend to use to change careers but diat were later seen as pivotal. In pardcular, posidve emodons expedenced in the course of diese exploratory moves appeared to signal the way forward, and this appeared equally true of the exploratory acdons of the three pardcipants who began with an outcome or process in mind. In making real dieir decision, all pardcipants drew on several strategies that served to bolster dicir decision, including construcdng certainty and condnuity and temporal fi-aming. These strategies appeared to facilitate self-reguladon as die individuals moved toward a new career.
A pardcularly salient finding from this study was the minimal extent to which the pardcipants followed a systemadc approach to decision making.
The rational assumptions of a large choice of options and known criteria for comparison (Gad & Asher, 2001) did not hold in these accounts of subjectively successful career changes. The analysis here supported other- than-radonal perspecdves on career decision making. Of pardcular salience in the narratives of career change were the emotions experienced. The often strong, positive emotions experienced in early engagement with the new career appeared to guide the participants toward their choice and to facilitate the management of fluctuadng emotions.
On the basis of these findings, we propose an action-affect-cognidon (AAC) framework of decision making in career change that builds on Amundson's (1995) interacdve model. The salient features of this frame- work are illustrated in Figure 1. Drawing also on the systems framework of McMahon and Patton (1995), the AAC framework assumes that many factors may contribute to the determining contexts of career decisions, including individual factors such as the self-concept and environmental factors such as the economy. As is true for the interactive model, deter- mining contexts and actions are mutually influencing. A first difference from Amundson's model is the proposal that acdons may be executed without conceptualizadon of a career-related problem. Defining contexts may influence action directly: In the previously discussed data, Anne undertook further study to recover from being disappointed in a job applicadon. The framework recognizes such non-career-directed acdons as planless behavior and, further, that acdon may not have conscious precedents (Krieshok, 1998). The interacdve model suggests that ac- dons may shape subsequent cognidons. The AAC framework extends this reciprocal reladonship to include affect: Actions may influence and be influenced by emodons as well as cognitions, and cognitions and emotions are likewise mutually influencing. A parallel cycle of AAC is The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 257 Determining Contexts:
Individual, Social, Environmental-Social Planless Action Self-Regulation Process • Build certainty • Perceive continuity • Frame in time • Manage emotions Goal:
New Occupation FiGURE 1 Action-Affect-Cognition Framewori< for Decision Making in Career Change proposed for planned action. Althougb these two cycles are presented separately, they may not be distinct. An individual may move between one cycle and the other; a planless cycle may become planned. Brenda, for example, initially studied Amatsu therapy for interest and later real- ized it was a viable career option, which she pursued. In a similar way, planned actions may not achieve the desired result, and an individual can revert to planless action. The AAC cycles contribute to, and are af- fected by, processes of self-regulation.
Self-regulation, tbe management of emotion, cognition, and behavior in pursuit of a goal (Carver, 2004; Higgins & Spiegel, 2004), is likely to benefit directly from positive emotions that result from action. Negative emotions tbat result from action may require management by self-regulation processes. Cognitive outcomes too may have an impact on self-regulation. Our previously presented findings indicate that building certainty, perceiving continu- ity, and temporal framing helped to strengthen a decision and, thus, regulate cognition and emotion. Identifying a new possible self as a cognitive outcome of action may also aid self-regulation by providing a motivational goal (Ibarra, 2004).
The AAC framework integrates a number of existing perspectives on decision making. Beach and Connolly (2005) noted that the concept of a decision as happening at one point in time is merely "a useful fiction," and the AAC framework instantiates tbeir notion of decision making feeling its way along. The centrality of action (Ibarra, 2004; Young & Valach, 2000) is recognized, as are the influence of context and tbe unpredictability of tbe outcome (Amundson, 1995; Brigbt et al., 2004; Gelatt, 1989; McMabon & Patton, 1995; Mitchell et al., 1999).
258 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 Emotion is intrinsic to the process, and theoretical perspectives on emotion suggest a number of ways in wbich affect may influence cogni- tion and action. Emotions function as a source of information (Clore & Storbeck, 2006), therefore positive emotions may suggest a career path to follow. Positive affect can facilitate action by stimulating exploration (Fredrickson, 1998; Isen, 2001), thus actions that open up career op- portunities become more likely. Furthermore, positive emotions can enhance cognition by facilitating flexible thinking (Isen, 2001), allowing new career options and opportunities to be more readily recognized.
Positive emotions can aid emotional self-regulation by alleviating the negative emotions associated witb facing a major decision (Janis & Mann, 1977) and by enhancing positive self-evaluation and perceived resources (Taylor & Brown, 1988). Emotions may not only guide action but may also be essential triggers for motivated bebavior (Frijda et al., 2000).
Altbough appraisal theories of emotion suggest that affect and cognition are often closely aligned (see Scberer, Schorr, & Johnstone, 2001), when the two diverge, emotion often overpowers reason (Loewenstein, Weber, Hsee, & Welcb, 2001). Overall, tbe AAC framework integrates a range of otber-than-rational perspectives with recent theoretical progress on emotion, and shows how positive emotions in particular may influence the process of career decision making. In addition to clarifying the role of emotion, tbe AAC framework adds to previous models by positing self-regulation as a critical process of decision making.
Tbe AAC framework suggests a number of testable propositions.
Because of space limitatiotis, however, we highlight only three of tbe propositions. First, tbe AAC framework emphasizes the idea that affect contributes to career change over and above cold cognition. We propose tbat positive affect experienced during the exploration of a new career option predicts successful career change, controlling for rational evalua- tions oftbat career. Second, our framework emphasizes tbe importance of self-regulation processes in career decision making, including build- ing certainty, perceiving continuity, and temporal framing. We propose tbat the use of these self-regulation strategies predicts successful career cbange. These propositions could be tested in a longitudinal study of people thinking of changing career. Finally, the AAC framework empha- sizes the benefits of an other-than-rational approach to career decision making. Tbis could be tested by comparison of successful career change outcomes in an intervention study that randomly assigns career coun- seling clients to either an other-than-rational or a traditional rational decision-making approach.
All studies have limitations. Because we interviewed women only, future research should examine whether men's accounts of voluntary career cbange reveal similar themes. IPA allows generalizability at a theoretical level (Willig, 2001), but tbe metbodology does not claim representativeness. Quantitative metbods are necessary if statistical generalizability is sougbt.
Despite these limitations, our findings have several implications for practice. First, we suggest that both alternative and systematic ap- proaches to decision making be explored with clients and the benefits and disadvantages of eacb discussed. Second, tbe client's career-related emotions should be considered as a resource to explore. The client may The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 259 be helped to recognize the informational value of feelings and encour- aged to reflect on "gut feelings." Such intuidons may point to preferred career options, and positive emotions can strengthen commitment and motivate action. The counselor can facilitate these benefits by focusing the client's awareness on positive emotions such as interest, enjoyment, and passion. Third, the counselor should be aware, and raise the client's awareness, of the importance of self-regulation to achieve career change.
Discussion of the need for, and processes of, self-regulation may in itself enhance self-regulad on. Finally, and critically, to aid the client's decision making, the active, iterative, and exploratory nature of decision mak- ing should be discussed. The client should be encouraged to explore actively, to recognize fluctuating emotions, and to reflect on action and experience in all aspects of life as part of the decision-making process.
This study of real-world career decision making highlighted the crucial role of posidve emodons in providing informadon, self-reguladon, and modvadng acdon. The extended, other-dian-radonal fi-amework that we have proposed acknowledges career decision making as nondeterminisdc, itcradve, and con- textual and specifies reciprocally influencing cognidvc, affecdve, atid behavioral subprocesses that joindy consdtute the process of career decision making.
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262 The Career Development Quarterly March 2011 • Volume 59 APPENDIX Interview Schedules Interview 1 (Informed consent; demographic questions) • Let's talk about your work. I would be interested to hear about the jobs you have had. Do you remember your first paid job?
Wtiat did you do next?
• Thinking about that last change, can you tell me what led up to that?
What else was happening in your life at the time?
• What would you say triggered it?
Was it a sudden or a gradual decision?
Did it feel like a big change to you at the time?
Looking back now, does it feel tike a big change?
Can you remember how you felt at the time?
What helped you to get through?
Did your feelings change during this time of change?
And looking back now, how do you feel about that change?
How much choice do you feel you had in making your change?
Did anything influence your choice?
Did anything restrict your choice?
(Wrap up) Interview 2 (Informed consent) • Is there anything you would like to add to what we talked about in the first interview?
• In order to make this change, did you know much about the new job in advance?
Were you able to find out?
How did you go about that?
• Were there any people you found helpful in making the change?
• Did you feel you had to learn a lot to change occupations?
What sort of things did you have to learn?
How did you go about it?
• Now thinking about other people, what would you say was other people's attitude toward your wanting to change?
• How have you found your new occupation?
Did you find that your previous experiences helped at all?
Is there anything you found difficult?
What helped you overcome this?
(Wrap up) Note. Questions in italics were used to encourage interviewees if answers to the first question were brief.
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