Career Development International

Career Development International Emerald Article: Cognitive and affective processes underlying career change Naser Muja, Steven H. Appelbaum

Article information: To cite this document: Naser Muja, Steven H. Appelbaum, (2012),"Cognitive and affective processes underlying career change", Career Development International, Vol. 17 Iss: 7 pp. 583 - 601 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13620431211283814 Downloaded on: 23-11-2012 References: This document contains references to 87 other documents To copy this document: [email protected]

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Cognitive and affective processes underlying career change

Cognitive and affective processes

Naser Muja and Steven H. Appelbaum John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

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Abstract Purpose – Aligning social identity and career identity has become increasingly complex due to growth in the pursuit of meaningful careers that offer very long-term personal satisfaction and stability. This paper aims to explore the complex cognitive and affective thought process involved in the conscious planning of voluntary career change. Design/methodology/approach – A review of recent findings relevant to voluntary career change decisions was performed in order to develop a better understanding of psychological and sociological processes contributing to the pursuit of an MBA degree and subsequent employee mobility. Findings – Complex rational and emotional thoughts contribute to the definition and pursuit of proximal and distal career goals which stimulate self-efficacy drives as they are achieved. Practical implications – Because realistic forecasting of very long-term distal goals is extremely challenging, career seekers must carefully consider how proximal and distal goal pursuit, such as an MBA degree, contribute to personal identity. Goal pursuit merely for the sake of advancing self-efficacy will likely prove insufficient to anchor individuals within a career and cement their identity. Social implications – As part of their career change strategy, individuals frequently chose to enrol in an MBA program to rapidly develop competencies and experiment with new career options. Consequently, there is a growing disconnection between the career options offered by employers and the choices that employees are seeking. Originality/value – The paper explores the psychological processes that contribute to the pursuit of “boundaryless” careers. Boundaryless career growth is attainable through improvements in communication that aid the definition of “reality”. Keywords Career transformation, Cognitive decisions, Self-efficacy, Goal revision, Social cognition, Career strategy, Boundaryless, Self-employment, Entrepreneurs, Graduate degree, Career development Paper type Conceptual paper

Navigating the seas of career change Nearly 2,000,000 MBA degrees were awarded in the United States between 1970-2009 (US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2010).

Identifying career identity Individuals spend more time working than on any other waking activity. Consequently, self-identities are intricately linked to work identities; as historically indicated by French (e.g. Boucher, Mercier, Pelletier) and British (e.g. Smith, Potter, Shepherd) occupational surnames as well as typical responses to the question, “What do you do?”. However, twenty-first century career identities are less defined as professions become increasingly multidisciplinary and generational goals and mindsets show decreasing employee commitment to employers (Briscoe et al., 2006), particularly in those with diverse social networks (Higgins, 2001). In addition, recent generations place less weight on transactional “linear” or “corporate ladder” careers

Career Development International Vol. 17 No. 7, 2012 pp. 683-701 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1362-0436 DOI 10.1108/13620431211283814

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and greater emphasis on subjective factors including peer-to-peer recognition, social recognition, and results based recognition (Baruch, 2004; Quigley and Tymon, 2006). Thus, altered generational associations with work identity – defined as a “constellation of attributes, beliefs, values, motives, and experiences” related to one’s professional role (Ibarra, 1999) – appear to be contributing to an increased incidence of proactive self-management and career change. Change is stressful. But an inability to control one’s environment also leads to anxiety. How do well-educated and gainfully employed individuals ultimately decide to engage in career transformation involving additional time, expense, and effort for graduate education? Are these goals realistic? In extreme cases, individuals fully detach from their work environment in order to pursue full-time graduate studies that complement their educational background and become distinguished as exceptional job candidates. In contrast, part-time graduate students often maintain linkages with their existing employer in order to take advantage of emerging internal opportunities or to change careers at a later time. Meanwhile, acquiring relevant work experience in new industries, integration in novel job roles, and entrepreneurial temptations are some of the downstream challenges facing individuals as they consolidate an expansive quantity of new information and transform their career identity. In this review, we take a closer look at the psychological and sociological factors that contribute to voluntary career change decisions involving the pursuit of graduate studies, such an MBA degree. Oceans of opportunity Career change is “a move into a position of greater managerial responsibility and organizational status, a transfer to a similar job in a new company or industry, or a lateral move into a different work function within a familiar field“ (Ibarra, 2002). Career change may be organizationally induced (e.g. mergers, downsizing) or self-managed according to individual orientation, ability, needs, and motives (Quigley and Tymon, 2006). In response to fluctuating economic cycles, demand for transferable skills, and increasingly complex, multidisciplinary job descriptions, individuals have developed a “boundaryless” (Arthur, 1994) or “protean” (Hall, 1996) free agent market perspective that involves the desire to have career control and make voluntary career changes according to their best interests (Ng et al., 2008; DiBenedetto and Bembenutty, 2011). Also, rather than objective career progression and job security, employees are increasingly intrinsically motivated by subjective career success (e.g. pride, satisfaction, and personal accomplishment) and “employability”; the capacity for mobility to survive in any job market (Clarke, 2009; Thijssen et al., 2008). MBA programs are commonly viewed by self-managers as a vehicle to rapidly increase competencies directed towards career change due to their relatively short duration and quality (Baruch, 2009). According to the 2012 Global MBAw Graduate Survey of 6,292 recent and approaching MBA graduates, 67 percent of all respondents intended to change employers (GMAC, 2012). Looking at this result further, greater than 75 percent of full-time MBA students planned to change employers whereas only 14 percent of part-time students and 10 percent of executive MBAs (EMBA) intended to do the same (GMAC, 2012). Similar values were obtained by DiBenedetto and Bembenutty (2011) where 60 percent of students indicated that they were seeking an MBA as a rite of passage to short-term career advancement and career change. Meanwhile, part-time MBA and EMBA students remaining with their current

employer indicated that they were pursuing higher education to enhance their current careers by increased salary (50 percent), increased responsibility (52 percent), promotion (51 percent), change in title (40 percent) and an increase in direct reports (29 percent) (GMAC, 2012). Thus, MBA programs appear to be significant contributors to boundaryless career strategies, particularly at later life stages. Nearly two decades have passed since the introduction of the boundaryless and protean career concepts. These concepts have led to a number of important questions which must be investigated further to promote lifetime career stability and satisfaction. How effectively can individuals consciously apply self-knowledge and self-awareness gained through MBA training to proactively navigate their career over the course of their lifetime? How will employers identify, engage, and retain talented employees committed to their career? Has socioeconomic instability and reduced organizational support motivated individuals to diversify their careers or are individuals continuing to explore learning opportunities and seek “identity” in their late 20 are to mid-30s? What are the advantages and risks of incurring career change and potentially becoming a “Jack of all trades; master of none?” How will one definitively know when they are fully satisfied by their career? To begin to answer the questions above, individuals must engage in meaningful employment with an organization to validate their career efforts. By doing so, individuals receive unbiased 360-degree feedback from colleagues (though this may not always be the case) along with applied experience that may promote higher goal setting as tasks become easier and less interesting over time. Effective communication across key organizational departments is critical for the retention of outstanding human capital and the reduction of hiring costs. In particular, active involvement by human resource management (HRM) is a necessary to manage employee expectations. Anchoring employees HRM is responsible for ensuring the peace and prosperity of business by attracting, selecting, training, assessing, and rewarding employees while also overseeing organizational leadership, and ensuring compliance with employment and labor laws. Besides managing risk, the responsibilities of HRM have become more challenging as employees increasingly demonstrate high expectations of learning and development, skill building, challenging work assignments, variety of work, and strong leadership (Baruch, 2006; Briscoe et al., 2006; Ng et al., 2008). Therefore, HRM professionals must proactively manage employees’ diverse career expectations in order to ensure higher levels of engagement and improve employee retention; particularly for younger employees who may be seeking job changes, promotions, and career redirection (Barnett and Bradley, 2007). Talent management adds value to a company by encouraging dialogue regarding career expectations and aspirations to obtain clarity, track progress, and intervene when problems emerge (Aguinis and Kraiger, 2009). In addition, as the workforce matures, corporations can anchor knowledge and competencies and reduce the negative impact of employee departures due to market demand, competing salaries, or family situations. As part of competitive strategy, HRM must further develop the capacity for employees to learn and change over time (Appelbaum and Donia, 2001). However, other than semi-annual performance evaluations, there are limited examples of sustained organizational interest in employee development (Baruch, 2006, 2009); possibly due to a perceived reduction in employee emphasis on organizational

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promotions and linear career paths (Barnett and Bradley, 2007; Clarke, 2009). For example, according to GMAC, 15 percent of experienced individuals in top managerial positions are seeking EMBA programs to develop opportunities for self-employment (GMAC, 2012). Similarly, 16.9 percent of MBA students indicated starting their own business as a long-term goal (DiBenedetto and Bembenutty, 2011). It appears that HRM cannot indefinitely sustain the development of certain employees with an organization. Consequently, individuals quickly begin to consider alternatives which offer greater opportunities for individual growth; such as an MBA degree. Role of social cognition and heuristics An MBA degree is increasingly socially identified as a means for an individual to develop multidisciplinarity and obtain broad functional knowledge that is relevant to many industries including finance, accounting, consulting, manufacturing, and technology (Baruch, 2009). Having an MBA is often perceived as a “ticket” or “rite of passage” to increased salary and senior managerial roles (Kelan and Jones, 2009). Thus, prospective MBA students may engage in “herd behavior” by seeking to quickly acquire managerial competencies in hope of surpassing peers and improving career opportunities. As a result, the value of hiring MBA graduates with limited “on-the-job” managerial experience has been questioned by scholars and corporations alike (Pffefer and Fong, 2002; Mintzberg, 2004). While voluntary pursuit of an MBA degree has numerous benefits, these advantages can only be realized and refined when human capital is directly applied. In addition to social learning and imitating models, individuals often consciously or unconsciously turn to heuristics to facilitate decision making. Heuristics are readily accessible and loosely applicable experience-based techniques for problem solving, learning, and discovery which are frequently engaged to rapidly draw inferences based upon limited information (Shah and Oppenheimer, 2008). Although historically considered error prone, heuristics are routinely applied to facilitate important economic decisions including consumer purchases, investments, career choices, and life strategy. For example, when considering MBA program alternatives, individuals may either select the best rated option or choose a brand image that is recognized or familiar (Schoenfeld and Bruce, 2005); rather than rationally considering the personal relevance of each program’s unique characteristics. Inaccurate or biased heuristics can lead to personal dissonance which interferes with information gathering, attention, goal pursuit, and conscious planning (Oettingen et al., 2001, Wrosch et al., 2003). Therefore, the extent to which heuristic decisions are informed and updated impacts how realistically individuals forecast the future and how effectively they navigate through daily change towards satisfaction and goal attainment. Previous experiences, social interaction, capacity for learning, divergent thinking, imagination, and a person’s ability to reflect and fantasize each contribute towards realistic self-assessment, future prediction, and strategic career outcomes (Oettingen et al., 2001). The ability of individuals to consciously define “reality” and revise their heuristic processes is critical for self-efficacy, the fulfillment of career aspirations, and self-actualization. Although heuristic processes may be useful for decision making purposes in the near term, strategic thinking remains vital for planning future outcomes and goal attainment in order to maximize the value added by an MBA degree.

Mapping a career change strategy Aligning personal career strategy with strategic action towards a target within a specific time frame requires extensive foresight and demands a realistic evaluation of opportunities and threats. Managerial positions require advanced degrees and certifications which require several years of training in order to develop unique skills as well as breadth and depth of industry knowledge. However, rapidly changing economic conditions can strongly impact personal career strategies by altering intended paths. Ideally, opportunities for personal growth and development, whether anticipated or not, may emerge as economic conditions change throughout the course of an individual’s career. On the other hand, gradual or sudden changes in socioeconomic environment can place individuals in difficult circumstances despite careful long-term planning (Appelbaum and Donia, 2000, 2001). In extreme cases, individuals along with their spouse and children invest significant effort to relocate to a new environment which may offer greater opportunity for personal advancement. Clearly there are significant costs and benefits associated with career change which could be calculated in dollar terms to aid realistic assessment and justify decisions. However, it is unlikely that individuals have rationally evaluated an office dashboard of business metrics including return on investment, internal rate of return, and breakeven point or performed a Porter’s Five Forces analysis before applying to a MBA program (White et al., 2011). Rather GMAT scores, length of program, and post-MBA salary minus pre-MBA salary and tuition costs are the most common quantitative factors considered in the personal “boardroom” (White et al., 2011). These rational considerations serve as the background for important cognitive and affective thought processes related to the decision to change career; including self-efficacy and affective forecasting (Can I manage MBA coursework? Will I be happier after completing an MBA?). While the elements related to gaining access or entry into an MBA program are well-defined, individual career circumstances are highly variable except for the common desire for change and a strong sense of self-efficacy. As challenging as it is to forecast ones future, it is yet more difficult to predict external stakeholder responses to an individual’s decision to undergo career change. Beyond self-management, attending an MBA program on a full-time basis may cause “hygiene” or “maintenance” factors, including status, personal life, salary and relationships with family, peers, subordinates, and supervisors to deteriorate resulting in dissatisfaction (Herzberg et al. 1959). Meanwhile, self-based “motivation factors” including achievement, recognition, responsibility, and advancement are either reduced or temporarily unchanged by organizational citizenship behavior or substituted for by MBA-derived motivation factors (Quigley and Tymon, 2006). In comparison, individuals pursuing EMBA and part-time MBA degrees remain in contact with their employer and may experience less dissatisfaction due to “hygiene” factors and greater satisfaction from “maintenance” factors (DiBenedetto and Bembenutty, 2011). Overall, the fact that the internal subjective need for career change overcomes the external obstacles presented by financial investment, departure from a familiar environment, and the needs of dependents highlights the importance of individual career values. In other words, there is a crucial personal need for forward advancement that must be satisfied.


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Setting sail toward career change Realistic, informed decisions are required to justify investment in personal time, energy, talent, and funds towards the pursuit of significant transformational goals. For example, the cost of an MBA varies dramatically across various programs and readily exceeds $50,000 annually at many top-rated business schools. In addition, the time investment required for completion is considerable – including lecture attendance, conducting external group assignments, preparation for case analysis, presentations, and exams. Moreover, full time MBA students who exit the labor market for one or two years incur an income opportunity cost due a voluntary gap in employment (Reitman and Schneer, 2005). Similarly, studying for an MBA part-time means that personal effort that could be placed on work and family must now be shared with study demands, thus reducing resources allocated towards each stakeholder (Greenhaus and Beutell, 1985). These significant personal investments associated with boundaryless careers could cause individual attention shifts that result in delayed decisions to have children, divorce, and alienation from children, as life responsibilities become increasingly demanding and stressful (e.g. mortgages, personal loans). Therefore, family and home ownership, which are also important sources of happiness, pride, and self-efficacy, may be compromised by increased proactive self-management directed towards career goals. Interestingly, individuals who anticipate success continue to invest effort despite obstacles and constraints (Bandura, 1997). However, individuals may also become “entrapped” by goals when it is difficult to “disengage” and this could lead to escalation of commitment and psychological distress (Wrosch et al., 2003). What motivates individuals to incur these potential risks to their immediate environment in pursuit of career change? In the next section of this review, we will explore several of the thought processes that are involved in the voluntary career change decision beginning with the initial intention to change. Voluntary career change: auditing cognitive processes The intention to change What is the origin of the intent to change career? Is there a personal calling towards some life purpose (Wrzesniewski et al., 1997)? Do individuals become more aware of their abilities with experience (Feldman and Bolino, 1997)? Or is career change simply based on individual fantasies about the future, optimistic thought, and expectations of success (Oettingen et al., 2001)? According to Ajzen’s (1991) theory of planned behavior career change behavior is immediately preceded by a conscious intention for such behavior. The predictive validity of behavioral intentions has been shown to account for more than half of the variance (r2 ¼ 0:53) in actual behavior (Bandura, 1997). The intention for career change in turn can be predicted by an individuals’ attitude towards career change behavior, the perception of social pressure to find a new, more suitable career opportunity, and perceived behavioral control (Carless and Bernath, 2007; Khapova et al., 2007). In addition, career progression has emerged as a dominant driver of career change in proactive self-managers who engage in lifelong learning (Chiaburu et al., 2006). The influence of social networks on career change appears to be limited once a personal intention has been developed. External stakeholder resistance to career change is beneficial; acting as a counterbalance to ensure a well-informed, realistic decision. Yet, family, friends, and coworkers, are not likely to resist an individual’s intent to change career (Higgins, 2001; Schoenfeld and Bruce, 2005; Ng et al., 2008);

particularly in individualistic Western societies (Markus and Kitayama, 1991). Thus, the force field impinging on the decision to undergo career change remains largely internal or subjective; involving perceptions arising from the interaction between the individual and their external environment. As discussed in the following section, an individual’s ability to attend to novel stimuli and integrate relevant information into conscious thought will be critical for shifts in job attitudes and setting realistic career goals directed towards self-efficacy and self-actualization (Oettingen et al., 2001; Judge et al., 2005). Competition for attention Consciousness is required for reflection based on past events, inferring implications of recent events, anticipating future outcomes, and planning (Baumeister et al., 2011). Conscious thought also serves to suppress short-term urges, impulses, and temptations so as to concentrate on long-term goals. As a result, conscious thought requires attention and motivation to gather information relevant to specific goals (Dijksterhuis and Aarts, 2010). However, the fact that attention is flexible and finite affects the degree of individual focus on the rapidly changing content of incoming information. Although the events one attends to consequently influence ones intentions, emotions, goals, and behavior, the cognitive origins of attention are poorly understood. Presumably, attended items bear personal relevance or survival advantage which causes one to “zoom in” for greater focus. Top-down attention involves the voluntary application of effort towards a specific goal or task (e.g. job searching) whereas bottom-up attention involves a shift towards an external stimulus that interrupts an on-going task or goal (e.g. an announcement of free food). The self-relevance of stimuli therefore regulates awareness and an individual’s stream of conscious thought. Once a strong intent to change has been formed top-down, it may be difficult to influence an individual’s decision from the bottom-up; especially in the case of proactive self-managers exhibiting high levels of self-efficacy (Chiaburu et al., 2006). In particular, low public self-consciousness in proactive self-managers results in reduced feedback-seeking behavior. In addition, feedback that does not align with an individual’s goals may be perceived as a threat to self-image and self-actualization. In sum, the elements individuals attend to over the course of their lives strongly affects the quality of their decisions and the creation of their reality. Self-regulation of learning and self-efficacy Self-regulation of learning refers to learners’ beliefs about their capability to engage in appropriate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to pursue valuable academic goals, while actively self-monitoring and self-reflecting on their progress toward goal-completion. In addition, self-regulated learners can predict and estimate problems that could preclude them from achieving their desired goals. Career change is psychologically demanding and consists of eight challenging steps (Caprino, 2012) which are: (1) Disengagement – initial phase of detachment from an unsatisfactory work environment. (2) Disidentification – reduced identity with career, questioning of past efforts, low self-esteem.


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(3) Disorientation – confusion and uncertainty resulting from decision to change career identity. (4) Letting go – psychological freedom associated with embracing career change. (5) Re-engagement – increasing confidence, excitement of novel environment, future oriented. (6) Discovery – identification of new career identity, consolidation of the past with the future. (7) Clarity – fully transformed and ready to apply new knowledge, skills, and abilities. (8) Integration – self-actualization, developing new career identity through work experience. Kelan and Jones (2009) grouped these steps into three phases. The initial phase involves separation from a previous career, either because of limited advancement opportunities or to explore alternative career paths. During the transition stage, individual identities are in flux as students explore and experiment with different career roles. In the final stage, students reflect on the value of the MBA for their future career, rejoin society and take on their new career role. Unless the goal is trivial, goal disengagement is a difficult but necessary first step to reducing distress, adapting decisions, and managing commitment (Wrosch et al., 2003). Individuals decide to attend post-secondary school based, in part, on beliefs in their capability to succeed in the occupation they have chosen and from their assessment of their performance in past educational experiences (Bandura, 1997). Self-efficacy is a cognitive appraisal or judgment of future performance capabilities which is measured by a certain reference behavior (Lent and Brown, 2006). Thus, career self-efficacy refers to “people’s judgements of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances” at work (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy is a well-established antecedent of individual performance (Bandura, 1997) and perceived self-efficacy was found to be increased in MBA graduates (Baruch and Peiperl, 2000). Consequently, graduates improve their sense of value, professionalism and competence, which collectively contribute to their ability to manage effectively (Boyatzis and Renio, 1989) as well as their employability (Kanfer and Hulin, 1985; Wood et al., 1990). Improvements in self-efficacy ultimately result in self-expansion as individuals broaden their perceptions of their potential for goal attainment. (Aron et al., 2001). Although individual performance, goal identification, goal-setting, and goal-revision each involve active assessment of effort and behavioral outcome, the values associated with these factors are not well understood. As indicated in the following section, goal definition is essential for goal attainment. Goal-directed behavior MBA students who set a high and specific distal goal along with a separate, but related, proximal goal experience higher individual performance (GPA) and greater satisfaction than either setting no goal or pursuing a vague goal such as “do your best” (Latham and Brown, 2006). Thus, goals define what one finds desirable to attain (e.g. valence) and thereby what one strives for (e.g., learning or mastery). Goal implementation and pursuit is dependent on both attentional focus (the ability to keep

the same information active) and flexibility (the ability to respond to changing circumstances). Although conscious awareness is not required for attention, information that can serve goal attainment is attended to more than information that is irrelevant for achieving goals. In particular, when people engage in goal pursuit, they face the challenge to remain focused and, at the same time, to be flexible and to adjust behavior to adapt to changing circumstances (e.g. opportunities or obstacles). Therefore, goal-pursuit is at the heart of boundaryless careers which place strong demand on attentional flexibility and focus. Hence, the nature and specificity, or content and intensity, of the career goal will be critical (Locke, 1996; Latham and Brown, 2006). What is the specific purpose of obtaining an MBA degree? How much effort and planning is required? Is prior training sufficient to perform under pressure? These critical questions are essential for realistic self-assessment which will be covered further in the last major section of this review. Once a goal has been identified, individuals compare their progress against the forecasted goal and make modifications to their behaviors or cognitions if there is a discrepancy between a goal and the current state. These variables and their interrelationships comprise a self-regulatory feedback loop which consists of an input, a reference value, a cognitive comparator, and an output behavior (Carver and Scheier, 1998). For example, the input may involve an assessment of how one is currently performing. The reference value is a simulated or forecasted image of a desired state that is actively attended to by the individual. The cognitive comparator matches the input with a desired standard or goal to determine whether any discrepancies exist. If differences are detected, the behavioral output is modified to align the subsequent input with the specific goal. This output may include behavioral compensations aimed at increasing or decreasing effort as well as cognitive changes aimed at revising one’s interpretation of the standard, input, or discrepancy. Such a feedback loop can serve to set the requirements for goal completion or disengagement (negative feedback) or to create a new or higher standard for greater performance (positive feedback). Setting higher goals would therefore lead to an increase cycle time whereas setting shorter deadlines or multiple goals may either increase motivation or decrease performance due to pressure (Lord et al., 2010). In some cases goal disengagement in response to negative feedback may be more appropriate to minimize losses and avoid escalation of commitment (Wrosch et al., 2003; Henderson et al., 2007). In sum, one’s ability to sense, integrate, think, and act are essential for goal directed behavior. However, cognitive processes are also strongly influenced by affective processes which influence goal valence (e.g. attract or avoid). As indicated below, the regions of the brain responsible for thinking and feeling are tightly interwoven. Voluntary career change: auditing affective processes Neural linkages between conscious planning and emotions Voluntary career change decisions are not entirely rational. A brief overview of brain anatomy studies provides useful insights into the significant integration between the brain regions that are responsible for rational thought and emotion. The central nervous system captures sensory associations that define event sequences which can subsequently be recalled and reassembled into novel combinations to anticipate and simulate future events. Specifically, the hippocampal-cortical system of the brain plays a critical role in memory storage and the recall of past events which can be


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“manipulated” for problem solving, imagination, prediction, and decision making (Hassabis et al., 2007). Neuropsychology has also revealed that the cognitive and affective regions of the brain, although separable in architecture, are inextricably linked in operation (Adolphs and Damasio, 2001). For example, functional neuroimaging studies in normal individuals (McClure et al., 2004) have demonstrated the involvement and requirement of brain regions including the amygdala, insula, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in decision processes, although these brain areas are known for their association with emotional and physiological responses (Bechara et al., 2008). This circuitry forms the neuroanatomical basis of the somatic marker hypothesis of cognitive behavior (Damasio, 1996) including emotional intelligence (Bar-On et al., 2008) which states that emotional processes guide decision-making behavior. For example, in addition to memory salience and recall, emotions have a powerful effect on behavior whereby positive emotions induce positive affect in others thereby influencing decisions and task persistence. Experience-based sampling of job attitudes Affective Events Theory (AET (Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996)) is a model of emotional experiences that identifies events as the cause of emotional experiences and analyzes the influence of time on emotions, goal striving, event evaluations (e.g. satisfaction), and final behavior (e.g. job performance). AET offers a communication-based perspective into individual decisions and behaviors. Essentially, experiences are modified by initial moods which influence the interpretation of and emotional response to an event. For example, an employee may be more willing to accept a new protocol or procedure if emotions at work in the recent past have been generally positive. AET suggests that elements of the work environment such as poor management or poor communication can generate emotional responses by employees which affect behavior either immediately or at some point after the event when rational judgment is more probable. Therefore, prevailing emotions at work can contribute significantly to voluntary career change decisions. Experience sampling methodology involving repeated measures has also proven useful for the study of organizational citizenship behaviors and fluctuations in job attitudes with time. According to a linguistic text analysis of 509 million social media feeds (Twitter) by 2.4 million individuals, affect varies over the course of the day with peaks in positive affect occurring early in the day and during late evening while negative affect gradually increases from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. (Golder and Macy, 2011). This study also demonstrated that affect varied between days of the week with a peak in negative affect on Monday and greater positive affect on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Similarly, employees attitudes can drastically shift from a “honeymoon” at the point of hire to a “hangover” several months later (Boswell et al., 2005, 2009). Studies demonstrate most individuals exhibit highly positive job attitudes early in the employment relationship followed by a deterioration in job appraisal. Like job satisfaction, organizational commitment tends to decline over time among organizational newcomers (Bentein et al., 2005). Experience sampling studies have also shown that negative events had a high positive correlation with negative employee moods at work (Miner et al., 2005) and goal disengagement. Similarly, a diary study showed that interpersonal conflicts with customers served as an environmental trigger that increased negative employee attitudes (Grandey et al., 2002). Collectively, these

studies demonstrate that job attitudes will differ depending upon when they are measured. However, the tipping point at which affective events become sufficient to induce an individual’s intention to change career is not well understood. At some point, entering the unknown holds more emotionally promising potential than returning to the known. As discussed below, studies correlating emotions and behaviors regularly sampled over time would provide useful insights into career change decisions. Communicative theory of emotion and behavior Regulatory Focus Theory (RFT (Higgins, 1998)) analyzes the relationship between emotion and motivation with regards to an individuals’ needs for growth, development, and security. Briefly, the key notion is that individuals embrace or promote pleasurable experiences such as gains or rewards and avoid or prevent painful experiences such as losses or job changes. In other words, a promotion focus is motivated by advancement, growth, and accomplishment, whereas a prevention focus emphasizes security, safety, and responsibility. Prevailing event conditions can shift one’s regulatory focus from promotion to prevention depending upon whether they interpret the final outcome of a situation as a gain or a loss, respectively. However, interpretations, like attitudes, can vary over time. According to Stam and Stanton (2009): The introduction of a new technology into the workplace can offer substantial personal benefits to some workers with respect to productivity, job opportunities, and career development, while creating adverse situations for others.

Through qualitative interviews conducted over 18 months, the authors found that employees’ responses to the implementation of new technology in the workplace are influenced by emotional experiences both immediately prior (i.e. their regulatory focus) and subsequent to the deployment of new technology. Employees with a “promotion-oriented” regulatory focus toward technology were more likely to accept technology change and the events related to it. Change provides an important opportunity for the development of knowledge and abilities that can be applied in subsequent undertakings (Cannon and Edmondson, 2001). Findings from “promotion focused” employees discussed above highlight the influence of a positive regulatory focus and previous experience towards accepting organizational change. Negative regulatory focus appears more acute which may drive individuals to reduce organizational citizenship behavior and seek career change. The extent to which individuals are able to successfully modify or align regulatory focus through change requires further analysis. As discussed in the following section, emotional expectations and forecasts are just as important as cognitive goals. Breadth and depth of affective forecasting Research in decision-making investigates how individuals make predictions by imagining future external events (e.g., “Will the banking industry be hiring MBAs?”) or in their own personal lives (e.g., “Will I retire in Hawaii 20 years from now?”). Similarly, there is interest in people’s ability to forecast or imagine their own future feelings, such as “How happy will I be once I complete the MBA program?” (Mellers and McGraw, 2001; Wilson et al., 2000). Overall, studies have shown that individuals overestimate the intensity of the pleasure or pain they will feel in the future and they also overestimate how long the experience will endure. Focalism, or concentrating excessively upon the


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to-be-predicted event without consideration of the surrounding circumstances that may co-occur in the future, has been proposed as a major source of forecasting error or impact bias (Wilson et al., 2000). As for attempting to define all factors prior to a decision, one is unable to account for all potential feelings associated with an event. Similarly, anticipated regret will cause individuals to seek readily available reasons to avoid risky or unpleasant situations; except when under cognitive load (Drolet and Luce, 2004). Like heuristics, emotions can contribute to self-serving cognitive bias or deviations in judgment by causing perceptual distortion and illogical interpretation. Cognitive biases result in cognitive dissonance as individuals seek to rationalize the outcome of their misjudgment. Thus, emotional self-awareness can help correct and concentrate conscious thought, improve planning, and protect social well-being by balancing “hot” emotion and “cold” thought (Leary, 2007). An equilibrium between emotion and thought is expected to contribute to realistic goal definition which is critical for self-efficacy. The next section dealing with reality is crucial in career changes. Focusing on reality Realistic self-motives Does a “boundaryless” career conflict with being “realistic”? Herzberg et al. (1959) assert that the powerful motivator in our lives is not money; it is the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to others, and be recognized for achievements. When setting aspirations, it is essential to reflect deeply in order to set a vision and meaningful target that is in balance between task challenges and individual abilities. Once an ideal path has been identified, short term and long term strategic objectives are then established and followed by the management of change and the allocation of resources for plan execution. In order to maintain advancement, individuals must carefully monitor competitors and industry trends whilst exhibiting self-mastery, concentration, and a loss of self-consciousness. These factors combined contribute to a more accurate depiction of “reality” which aids goal definition and attainment. Prior to redirection and rediscovery, individuals must carefully balance being realistic with emotional status, vision, and imagination to mitigate risk. For example, positive attitudes towards risk are prevalent in entrepreneurs who are characterized by a level of “comparative optimism” (Ucbasaran et al., 2010); which is a tendency to be less likely than others to experience negative events, and more likely than others to experience positive events. Entrepreneurial activities involve high stress, multiple obstacles towards progress, and highly uncertain outcomes (Schindelhutte et al., 2005). Moreover, decision-making by entrepreneurs can involve various degrees of error or misjudgments due to incomplete or ambiguous information (Simon et al., 2000). Unanticipated changes are inevitable as entrepreneurs deal with ill-defined business concepts at early stages of development. Under uncertain situations entrepreneurs must frequently adjust their goals and strategies as the new venture evolves. Thus, continuous change takes place in an ongoing entrepreneurial process. A higher threshold for change may drive entrepreneurs to explore uncommon avenues for new possibilities where experimental learning is the dominant learning approach (Politis and Gabrielsson, 2009). In addition to the identification of realistic goals, individuals should have a realistic self-assessment of their strengths and weaknesses as an indicator of their potential to achieve their target objective.

Realistic self-evaluation Individuals evaluate themselves more highly than third-party observers which could lead to arrogant behavior (Pronin et al., 2004), damaged interpersonal relationships (Crocker and Park, 2004), and reduced self-esteem following task failure (Colvin et al., 1995). Therefore, it is critical to realistically consider self-motives and compare them to well defined goal characteristics obtained by incorporating external feedback (Judge et al., 2005). Goal setting theory states that emotions are a function of one’s actions and the subsequent goal outcomes (e.g. effort level, effect of attainment). Goal attainment contributes to individual satisfaction while ineffective action results in dissatisfaction. Similarly, social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) states that a high degree of dissatisfaction occurs when people lack the confidence that a valued goal can be attained. While graduate students often enter the MBA program with high confidence based upon their undergraduate GPA ranking and high GMAT score, their confidence level can drastically decline due to a lack of familiarity with certain subjects. Individuals may also be distraught to discover that performance expectations of the MBA program as well as the competency level of their fellow students is higher than that of their previous program (e.g. undergraduate). Hence, a realistic self-assessment of individual capabilities and an evaluation of the extent to which personal competencies correspond with graduate program requirements and industry job descriptions is critical. As for statistical analysis, an individual should ensure that their abilities are near the performance mean of the sample industry. Performance ability well above the mean skills required for a particular job may predict low career engagement whereas abilities below may not result in a job offer within the selected industry. An individuals’ capacity to make a well-informed career decision will depend upon an organizations ability to provide a carefully crafted realistic job preview (RJP) for consideration (Wanous, 1973). RJPs allow job applicants to be selective about accepting a job offer and are an effective tool for improving integration, mitigating unrealistic job expectations, or meeting specific job demands. An extensive list detailing a broad range of information with limited depth is considered of reduced utility compared to intensive content of limited scope covered in greater depth (Adeyemi-Bello and Mulvaney, 1995; Wanous, 1989). Upon RJP review, applicant expectations can be measured and contrasted with initial expectations to determine whether a realistic perspective has been achieved. Once equipped with a clearly defined job expectation, applicants are able to make a well-informed career decision which would increase the likelihood of a successful employee-employer relationship (Adeyemi-Bello and Mulvaney, 1995). Since many individuals enroll in MBA programs as a vehicle for career change, it is also critical that the nature and extent of career change potential offered by MBA programs is accurately conveyed prior to program entry. In other words, students are seeking to improve themselves by engaging in a graduate degree program, and, therefore, both parties’ expectations must be aligned for a realistic preview and a successful goal outcome. While there is rarely any question regarding the capabilities of the graduate student or the graduate program, understanding the goals and career interests of the graduate student will aid graduate programs in the development of programs that fulfill diverse individual desires and harness the effective use of available resources by all parties. As a useful career skill development exercise,


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effective communication must be encouraged between graduate students and all levels of the graduate program in order to convey information essential for business and career decisions. Every individual holds within them a vast knowledge base that cannot be taught in a didactic setting and the value of information shared through frank communication must not be under-estimated. Indeed, there is a shared belief that jobs posted to career websites are only the “tip of the iceberg” and that many job opportunities are filled through social networking exchanges which likely provide a better RJP than any online job description ever could manage. Final thoughts . . . In summary, we have explored several of the complex cognitive and affective thought process involved in the conscious planning of voluntary career change. The major challenge facing goal attainment is the alignment of past experiences with future expectations. As indicated above, individual perceptions of “reality” are a key factor for successful outcomes. Carefully attending to information openly shared in ongoing communication among peers, family, colleagues, and employers promotes social integration and clarity towards reality. Improved communication between employers and employees will aid the development of human capital associated with “boundaryless” careers without necessarily breaking workplace boundaries. References Adeyemi-Bello, T. and Mulvaney, W. (1995), “The development and administration of realistic job previews”, Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 14 No. 5, pp. 1-7. Adolphs, R. and Damasio, A.R. (2001), “The interaction of affect and cognition: a neurobiological perspective”, in Forgas, J.P. (Ed.), Handbook of Affect and Social Cognition, Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 27-49. Aguinis, H. and Kraiger, K. (2009), “Benefits of training and development for individuals and teams, organizations, and society”, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 60, pp. 451-74. Ajzen, I. (1991), “The theory of planned behavior”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 50, pp. 179-211. Appelbaum, S.H. and Donia, M. (2000), “The realistic downsizing preview: a management intervention in the prevention of survivor syndrome (part I)”, Career Development International, Vol. 5, pp. 333-50. Appelbaum, S.H. and Donia, M. (2001), “The realistic downsizing preview: a management intervention in the prevention of survivor syndrome (part II)”, Career Development International, Vol. 6, pp. 5-19. Aron, A., Aron, E.N. and Norman, C. (2001), “Self-expansion model of motivation and cognition in close relationships and beyond”, in Fletcher, G.J.O. and Clark, M.S. (Eds), Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Interpersonal Processes, Blackwell, Malden, MA, pp. 478-501. Arthur, M.B. (1994), “The boundaryless career: a new perspective for organizational inquiry”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 15, pp. 295-306. Bandura, A. (1986), Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Bandura, A. (1997), Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control, W.H. Freeman, Stanford, CA.

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Further reading Hay, A. (2006), “Exploring MBA career success”, Career Development International, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 108-10. Ng, T.W.H., Feldman, D.C. and Lam, S.S.K. (2010), “Psychological contract breaches, organizational commitment, and innovation-related behaviors: a latent growth modeling approach”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 95, pp. 744-51.


Corresponding author Steven H. Appelbaum can be contacted at: [email protected]

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