The Career Engagement Scale: Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors

Careers today increasingly require engagement in proactive career behaviors; however, there is a lack of validated measures assessing the general degree to which somebody is engaged in such career behaviors. We describe the results of six studies with six independent samples of German university students (total N = 2,854), working professionals (total N = 561), and university graduates (N = 141) that report the development and validation of the Career Engagement Scale - a measure of the degree of which somebody is proactively developing her or his career as expressed by diverse career behaviors. The studies provide supprt for measurement invariance across gender and time. In support of convergent and discriminant validity, we find that career engagement is more prevalent among working professionals than among university students and that this scale has incremental validity above several specific career behaviors regarding its relation to vocational identity clarity and career self-efficacy beliefs among students and to job and career satisfaction among employees. In support of incremental predictive validity, beyond the effects of several more specific careeer behaviors, career engagement while at university predicts higher job and career satisfaction several months later after beginning work.

Career engagement: Investigating intraindividual predictors of weekly fluctuations in proactive career behaviors

The present study applies a micro‐level perspective on how within‐individual differenc motivational and social‐cognitive factors affect the weekly fluctuations of engageme proactive career behaviors among a group of 67 German university students. Career efficacy beliefs, perceived career barriers, experienced social career support, positive negative emotions, and career engagement were assessed weekly for 13 consecutive w Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that above‐average levels of career engage within individuals were predicted by higher than average perceived social support and pos emotions during a given week. Conversely, within‐individual differences in self‐effi barriers, and negative emotions had no effect. The results suggest that career interven should provide boosts in social support and positive emotions.

Proactive motivation and engagement in career behaviors: Investigating direct, mediated, and moderated effects

Proactive career behaviors become increasingly important in today's career environment, but little is known about how and when motivational patterns affect individual differences. In a six-month longitudinal study among German university students (Study 1; N = 289) it was demonstrated that motivation in terms of “can do” (self-efficacy and context beliefs), “reason to” (autonomous career goals), and “energized to” (positive affect) significantly predicted career behaviors. Contrary to expectation, negative context beliefs had a positive effect when combined with other motivational states. Study 2 replicated and extended those results by investigating whether “can do” motivation mediates the effect of proactive personality and whether those effects are conditional upon the degree of career choice decidedness. We tested a moderated multiple mediation model with a unique sample of 134 German students, assessed three times, each interval being 6 weeks apart. The results showed that effects of proactivity were partially carried through higher self-efficacy beliefs but not context beliefs. Supporting a moderation model, indirect effects through self-efficacy beliefs were not present for students with very low decidedness.

Callings and work engagement: Moderated mediation model of work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy

Scholarly interest in callings is growing, but our understanding of how and when callings relate to career outcomes is incomplete. The present study investigated the possibility that the relationship of calling to work engagement is mediated by work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy – and that this mediation depends on the degree of perceived person-job fit. I examined a highly educated sample of German employees (N=529) in diverse occupations and found support for two of the three hypothesized mediators – work meaningfulness and occupational identity – after controlling for the relation of core self-evaluations to work engagement. Contrary to expectations, the mediated relations of callings to work engagement were not conditional upon the degree of person-job fit. The findings are considered in terms of the pathways through which callings may relate to work engagement and other career development outcomes.

Engagement in adolescent career preparation: Social support, personality, and the development of choice decidedness and congruence

This longitudinal panel study investigated predictors and outcomes of active engagement in career preparation among 349 Swiss adolescents from the beginning to the end of eighth grade. Latent variable structural equation modeling was applied. The results showed that engagement in terms of self- and environmental-exploration and active career planning related positively to interindividual increases in career decidedness and choice congruence. More perceived social support, early goal decidedness, and particular personality traits predicted more engagement. Support and personality impacted outcomes only mediated through engagement. Early decidedness and congruence were significant predictors of their respective later levels. Implications for practice are presented.

Teacher emotions in the classroom: Associations with students’ engagement, classroom discipline and the interpersonal teacher-student relationship

The present study explores teacher emotions, in particular how they are predicted by students’ behaviour and the interpersonal aspect of the teacher-student relationship (TSR). One hundred thirty-two secondary teachers participated in a quantitative study relying on self-report questionnaire data. Based on the model of teacher emotions by Frenzel (2014), teachers rated their experienced joy, anger and anxiety during classroom instruction (dependent variable). Students’ motivational behaviour (= engagement), socio-emotional behaviour (= discipline in class) and relational behaviour (= closeness; interpersonal TSR) were assessed as the independent variables. Teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs served as a control variable. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the interpersonal relationship formed between teachers and students was the strongest predictor for teachers’ joy (positive relation) and anxiety (negative relation), whereas lack of discipline in class best predicted teachers’ anger experiences. Students’ engagement also proved a significant predictor of teacher emotions. The results suggest that interpersonal TSR plays a particularly important role in teachers’ emotional experiences in class.

Latent profiles of work motivation in adolescents in relation to work expectations, goal engagement, and changes in work experiences

Motivation plays a key role in successful entry into working life. Based on a cross-sectional and a one-year longitudinal study, we used a person-centered approach to explore work-related motivation (i.e., autonomous goals, positive affect, and occupational self-efficacy) among 577 students in 8th grade (Study 1) and 949 adolescents in vocational training (Study 2). Based on latent profile analysis, in both studies we identified four groups that were characterized by different levels of overall motivation and one group characterized by low positive affect and mean levels in autonomous goals and self-efficacy. Profiles characterized by high levels of motivation showed the highest levels of positive work expectations and goal engagement and the lowest levels of negative work expectations in Study 1 and the highest levels of person-job fit, work engagement, and job satisfaction in Study 2. Moreover, latent difference score analysis showed that motivational profiles predicted changes in person-job fit and work engagement across one year but not in job satisfaction. The results imply that career counselors should be aware of characteristic motivational patterns of clients that may require specific counseling approaches.

Katholisch, nicht ultramontan. Das altkatholische Engagement für die Entstehung einer katholischen Internationale

Die altkatholische Bewegung war von Anfang an international. Dies zeigt nicht nur die Präsenz von Anglikanern, Orthodoxen u.a. bei den ersten Kongressen der Altkatholiken ab 1871, sondern auch das Korrespondenznetzwerk führender Altkatholiken und die Initiativen für die „Wiedervereinigung der Kirchen“, wie sie u.a. Gestalt annahmen in den „Bonner Unionskonferenzen“ von 1874/75 und in der Gestaltung der Beziehungen zu Anglikanern und Orthodoxen danach. Im Vortrag wird aufgezeigt, wie im frühen Altkatholizismus Kontakte geknüpft wurden zur Römisch-Katholischen Kirche der Altbischöflichen Klerisei in den Niederlanden und zu den armenischen Katholiken, die in der altkatholischen Presse als „Altkatholiken“ bezeichnet wurden. „Altkatholisch“ bezeichnete damals eine bestimmte Gesinnung und Richtung innerhalb des westlichen Katholizismus, in der der Widerstand gegen die vatikanischen Papstdogmen aber auch das Anliegen kirchlicher Reform eine wichtige Rolle spielten. Der Vortrag gibtl einen Überblick darüber, wie und auf welcher Grundlage diese Kontakte vertieft bzw. lockerer wurden, und wie in den Folgejahrzehnten Beziehungen zu weiteren katholischen Gruppen in anderen Ländern geknüpft wurden. Die Formierung einer katholischen Internationale von katholischen Kirchen und Gruppen, die nicht ultramontan waren und nicht mit Rom in Gemeinschaft standen, war dabei der Ausdruck von Anliegen, die im Kern theologischer, ekklesiologischer und ökumenischer Natur waren (Reform der Kirche, Wiedervereinigung der Kirchen, „altkirchliche Ökumene“). Das Eintreten für diese Form des Katholizismus war bis ins 20. Jahrhundert mit starker anti-ultramontaner und anti-römischer Polemik verbunden.