Chinese Enterprise Managers Of Social Cognitive Career Choice Model

Managers' career choice is important to themselves and organizations as well. More and more organizations are aware of the importance of management development to the building of competence advantages. On the other hand, career choice is a two-way street that is conditioned, in part, by the work environment's receptivity to the individuals and the judgments about their ability to meet occupational requirements. It is found that researches in the past tended to focus on how to select and develop managers for the benefit of the employers, while seldom taking into account the needs of those being selected. Theories and counseling service on career choice and development are in urgent need now in China.As an evolving approach, Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) is intended to offer an unifying framework for bringing together common elements identified by previous career theorists and arranging them into a novel rendering of how people (1) develop vocational interests, (2) make (and remake) occupational choices, and (3) achieve varying levels of career success and stability. It may be a useful model which can help highlighting Chinese managers' career choice and development and be employed in dealing with management development concerns.The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether SCCT, as well as its three segmental models, can be applied to the particular group of Chinese managers. There're nine chapters altogether in this thesis. Chapterl lists what theoretical assumptions the study aims to test after presenting its background and the challenges being faced. In Chapter2, main theories about career choice and development are first briefly reviewed. Secondly, SCCT's basic elements and predictions, its research bases and counseling applications are illustrated at length, and then under this integral framework, those variables which help shape the career paths of managers are introduced. Lastly, some suggestions for future studies are given after analyzing the limitations of past ones. Chapter3 introduces in detail the research method of this study, including its preparation, procedure, instruments and measurement, and how data analysis is done. In Chapter4, nine variables mentioned above are measured and their differences in gender and at three different levels of positions are then analyzed. In Chapter5 the model fit of SCCT when applying to the group of Chinese managers is tested. In the following three chapters, Chapter6, Chapter7 and Chapter8, the model fit of each segmental one, the Interest Model, the Choice Model and the Performance Model, is examined respectively. In the last part of this thesis, Chapter9, conclusionsare made and implications for HRM are also discussed. At the end, suggestions for further studies are then offered after summarizing the strengths and the limitations of this study.As a result, findings from this study generally support the application of the SCCT to explain the career choice processes of Chinese managers, though some of the paths of this model are not well tested by the present study. We may conclude that:1. Data on the working status of the Chinese manager sample indicate that: first, their managerial self-efficacy was rather high in general while there were prominent differences in self-efficacy for different tasks. Secondly, Chinese managers held rather high outcome expectations such as performance accomplishments, good interpersonal relationships and a large circle of acquaintance and so on when choosing the career as managers. No significant gender differences were found while Chinese managers at different levels differed significantly in outcome expectations. Third, in order to promote their own career development, what these managers preferred to do was to receiving continuous training and to making career planning. Correspondingly, what the organizations did to help with the managers' career development, were no more than giving supports to training and providing performance feedback or vacancy information. Chinese managers themselves seemed to do better than organizations on career management. Lastly, there found no significant gender differences in such variables as career management, learning experiences, interest, career commitment, performance and social/economic supports, while Chinese managers at different levels differed significantly in all of these variables.2. In general, SCCT was a useful model when explaining the career development processes of Chinese managers.3. Interest Model was applicable to Chinese managers and helped to understand how they'd developed interest in management. More specifically, Chinese managers' learning experience significantly contributed to their managerial self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Chinese managers' outcome expectations directly predicted interest in management while managerial self-efficacy showed no significant effect on interest. What's more, Chinese managers' managerial self-efficacy had direct effect on outcome expectations.4. Choice Model was also applicable to Chinese managers and helped to understand how they'd made career choice. Chinese managers' managerial self-efficacy and outcome expectations both significantly contributed to their career...