Vocational Identity

Formation of Vocational Identity

Vocational identity is an integral part of human functioning and human development. This is because one of the principal tasks in human development, especially for adolescents, is the formation of various identities. One of these identities includes that which is related to career exploration. This process includes the formation of career objectives, career goals, career aspirations, and career plans. Regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, or age, career is an important aspect of this identity formation.

Vocational identity formation is a pivotal juncture in our lives as it symbolizes the point where we attempt to actualize our emerging self-concepts while integrating our past and present aspects of ourselves in the arena of work and careers. Clearly, vocational identity is an integral part of our functioning in the world of work. Vocational identity is a dynamic construct as it has a developmental quality about it. Vocational identity can be stable for some individuals, but usually it changes for most individuals depending upon factors such as age, experience, career training, occupational development, and stronger ego-strength. Vocational identity is a multidimensional, complex, and developmental construct that captures career and vocations more accurately than other work-related constructs, and therefore, it needs to be further explored and expanded.

Career Development and Satisfaction

The concept of vocational identity has been linked to the process of career development. However, many authors have also mentioned that there is a gap in the literature and research on vocational identity; therefore, its usefulness has been questioned and has yet to be empirically verified. It is important to establish a relationship between vocational identity and career development for adolescents and early adults as these are the phases when the issues of identity and career are both salient and interrelated.

According to prominent researchers in the field of vocational and career psychology, vocational identity is a better prediction of job satisfaction than investigating the congruence of interests and the environment. Hence, it has been suggested that concepts such as career beliefs, interests and goals be incorporated as a more accurate method of measuring career stability and career changes. A person with a strong vocational identity is more likely to find jobs/occupations that are congruent with his or her personal characteristics and personality in addition to being congruent with a particular work environment. On the other hand, a weak vocational identity would suggest that a person is more likely to make incompatible choices, make frequent job transitions, and transition through a wide set of successive occupations. This [Page 1673]weakness does not bode well for both the well-being of the individual or for the greater good of society in terms of dollar amounts, time, and efforts invested that end up being unfruitful and frustrating. Therefore, these consequences suggest that a vocational identity scale would be both useful in helping individuals find jobs that they are successful at and that make them happy.

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