SSRC Selections- Personal Agency

In this literature review, the authors suggested that three themes arose from recent vocational psychology literature promoting (a) agency in career development, (b) equity in the workforce, and (c) well‐being in work and educational settings. The authors reviewed research on career adaptability, self‐efficacy beliefs, and work volition with the goal of delineating variables that promote or constrain the exercise of personal agency in academic and occupational pursuits. Discussing equity in the workforce, the authors analyzed research on social class and race/ethnicity in career development; entry and retention of women and people of color in science, technology, engineering, and math fields; and the career service needs of survivors of domestic violence and of criminal offenders. The authors also discussed the importance of educational achievement to the self‐efficacy of poor or non‐ college bound youth, and concluded by discussing future research needs such as theory‐based intervention testing and the translation of research into practice.