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1. JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR 37, 79-103 (I!?%)
The Career Indecision of Managers and Professionals:
Development of a Scale and Test of a Model
GERARD A. CALLANAN AND JEFFREY H. GREENHAUS
Department of Management & Organizational Sciences, Drexel University,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
The present study examined the career indecision of 397 managers and profes-
sionals in a large banking establishment. A measure of career indecision was
developed, and a preliminary model of employee career indecision was tested.
A factor analysis revealed seven potential sources of career indecision. Three
antecedent variables (employee work/life experience, trait anxiety, and career
management assistance) had direct and indirect effects on career indecision sta-
tus. Potential outcomes of career indecision and its sources include negative
work attitudes, high levels of life stress, and intentions to engage in future career
exploration. Q I!390 Academic Press, Inc.
A great deal of research has examined the career indecision experi-
enced by high school and college students. Much of this research has
been concerned with developing reliable and valid measures of career
indecision and with identifying the factors that explain a student’s ina-
bility to select an occupation (Hartman, Fuqua, & Hartman, 1983; Hart-
man, Fuqua, & Jenkins, 1986;Jones dzChenery, 1980; Osipow, Carney,
& Barak, 1976).
Despite the extensive research on career indecision among student
populations, there is virtually no theory or research on the career in-
decision experienced by employed adults (Greenhaus & Parasuraman,
1986). Recent approaches to career decision making indicate that em-
ployees continue to reassesstheir career choices throughout the life cycle
(Greenhaus, 1987)and may face a number of obstacles to effective career
This paper is based on data from the first author’s dissertation under the direction of
the second author in partial fulfillment of the Ph.D. degree at Drexel University. The
authors thank dissertation committee members Magid Igbaria, Douglas Kahl, Saroj Par-
asuraman, and Wayne M. Wormley for their valuable contributions to the study. Gratitude
is also expressed to the many members of the participating organization who made this
study possible. Correspondence and reprint requests may be directed to Jeffrey H. Green-
haus at the Department of Management & Organizational Sciences, Drexel University,
Philadelphia, PA 19104.
79
0001-8791190
$3.00
Copyright 63 1990 by Academic Press, Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
2. 80 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
decision making (Campbell & Cellini, 1981). The reassessment of prior
career decisions and the need to make additional career choices are likely
to render some employees susceptible to periodic or chronic feelings of
career indecision.
Research into employee career indecision can provide further insight
into the career management process of working adults and can offer
prescriptions for dealing with the potentially negative consequences of
career indecision. The present study was designed to contribute to the
literature by examining the concept of career indecision from the per-
spective of adults employed in an organizational setting. In particular,
this research sought to (1) formulate a conceptual definition of career
indecision that is relevant to an adult population; (2) develop and validate
a measure of career indecision appropriate to a working adult population;
and (3) develop and test a preliminary model of employee career inde-
cision.
THE MEANING OF CAREER INDECISION
Career indecision was initially conceived as an inability of a person
to choose a specific occupation to pursue. Students were viewed aseither
decided or undecided on the basis of whether or not they had become
committed to a specific occupational field (e.g., Ashby, Wall, & Osipow,
1966). The development of the Career Decision Scale (CDS) by Osipow
(1987; Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976), the Voca-
tional Decision Scale (VDS) by Jones (1977), and My Vocational Situation
(MVS) by Holland, Daiger, and Power (1980) reflected a shift toward a
more complex and multidimensional view of career indecision. It has
been proposed that there are different subtypes of career indecision,
each with its own characteristics (Fuqua & Hartman, 1983; Larson,
Heppner, Ham, & Dugan, 1988; Salamone, 1982), and that there exist
multiple factors that can give rise to career indecision (Osipow, Camay,
Winer, Yinico, & Koschier, 1976). All of this research, however, has
been conducted on student populations.
We propose that career indecision includes two components: career
indecision status and career indecision sources. Career indecision status
refers to an inability to select a career goal or, having selected a career
goal, to experience significant feelings of uncertainty about the goal. This
definition of career indecision status is consistent with (but broader than)
earlier definitions of indecision employed in research on student popu-
lations. First, the focus of this definition is on the selection of a career
goal, not simply the selection of an occupation. Employees face a wide
range of decisions in addition to the selection of a specific occupation,
such as the choice of a subsequent position in an organizational hierarchy
and the selection of a future career path. Career indecision may occur
3. CAREER INDECISION
l orQaniatIonal
0ommItlment
-Llfe*mss
-cameroxptomtlon
kllQplomtIon
Work exploration
FIG. 1. Model of employee career indecision.
when an employee has difficulties selecting an appropriate goal regarding
any career decision making task at hand.
Second, the present definition recognizes that there are situations in
which a person has selected a career goal but feels uncertain about the
goal (Jones & Chenery, 1980). Career indecision status, in the present
view, reflects not only an employee’s inability to select a career goal
but also the employee’s affective reactions to the goal. We believe that
the inability to select a career goal reflects a higher level of career
indecision than the selection of a goal about which one is relatively
uncertain, which, in turn, reflects a higher level of career indecision than
the selection of a goal about which one is relatively certain.
In addition to career indecision status, the construct of career inde-
cision includes specific sources of indecision; that is, underlying factors
(e.g., unsatisfactory sense of identity) that explain why people become
undecided about the direction of their careers. Although prior research
has examined the sources of students’ career indecision, little attention
has been paid to the underlying reasons behind employees’ indecision.
A MODEL OF CAREER INDECISION
Overview of the Model
The model of career indecision examined in the present study is shown
in Fig. 1. It proposes that antecedent variables have direct effects on
the sources of career indecision. The career indecision sources are ex-
pected to have direct effects on career indecision status which, in turn,
has direct effects on the outcome variables. The model posits no direct
effects of antecedents on career indecision status and outcomes, and no
direct effects of career indecision sources on the outcomes. It is also
important to note the conceptual distinction between the antecedents of
career indecision and the sources of career indecision. Career indecision
sources are seen as direct determinants of career indecision status; that
4. 82 CALLANAN AND GREENHAUS
is, they explain why an employee is relatively decided or undecided.
The antecedent variables, on the other hand, are characteristics of the
employee or the environment that affect career indecision status indi-
rectly through their influence on the sources of indecision.
Sources of Career Zndecision
Hypothesis 1 proposes that four sources of career indecision are rel-
evant to an employed adult population: (1) lack of information about
oneself, (2) lack of information about the work environment, (3) lack of
self-confidence in career decision making, and (4) the presence of psy-
chological conflicts. These sources are rooted in extensive research, and
similar dimensions have been included on indecision scales targeted to-
ward student populations, such as the CDS, the VDS, and MVS.
A lack of information about oneself reflects an inability to develop an
understanding and awareness of such personal attributes as interests,
abilities, and values. Lack of information about the work environment
produces a lack of awareness of different occupations, opportunities
within one’s current organization, and opportunities in other organiza-
tions. Psychological conflicts reflect an imbalance between environmental
demands and desired career pursuits, or an existence of multiple and
possibly mutually exclusive constraints regarding career options. A lack
of self-confidence in career decision making tasks indicates extensive
stress and anxiety regarding career-related choices and decisions. These
sources have been identified in prior research on students (Holland &
Holland, 1977; Holland et al., 1980; Jones & Chenery, 1980; Osipow,
Carney, & Barak, 1976;Vondracek, Hostetler, Schulenberg, & Shimizu,
1990)and are consistent with Hart-en’s (1979) model of career decision
making, as well as with Campbell and Cellini’s (1981) taxonomy of adult
career problems.
Antecedents of Career Indecision Sources
The present research examined three classes of antecedent variables.
The first antecedent specified in the model is the employee’s work/life
experiences, operationahzed as age, organizational tenure, and position
tenure. As employees accumulate greater experiences in their lives, or-
ganizations, and positions, they can presumably assess themselves ac-
curately, gain insights into different career fields and work organizations,
and become more comfortable making career decisions. Therefore, Hy-
pothesis 2A predicts negative relationships between employees’ work/life
experiences and the sources of career indecision.
The model also proposes that trait anxiety-a stable personality char-
acteristic that reflects inherent anxiety proneness-is related to the
sources of career indecision. Prior research suggests that highly anxious
people have difficulty processing career-related information and making
5. CAREER INDECISION 83
career decisions (Greenhaus & Sklarew, 1981; Sugalski & Greenhaus,
1986). Therefore, highly anxious employees may display a greater lack
of information about themselves and their environments, experience
more psychological conflicts, and report a greater lack of confidence in
career decision making than less anxious employees. Since a number of
studies have found that anxiety can trigger students’ career indecision
(Fuqua, Newman, & Seaworth, 1988; Fuqua, Seaworth, & Newman,
1987), positive relationships’are predicted between trait anxiety and the
sources of career indecision (Hypothesis 2B).
The third antecedent is the degree of career management assistance
provided by the employer. Career management assistance (e.g., coun-
seling, career workshops, access to information on job opportunities)
should provide the kind of insights and skills that can help employees
overcome a lack of information about themselves and their environments,
reduce the intensity of their psychological conflicts, and become more
self-confident about their career decision making skills. Although the
impact of organizational assistance on career indecision has not yet been
examined, it seems reasonable to expect that the provision of career
management assistance is negatively related to the sources of career
indecision (Hypothesis 2C).
Relationships between Career Indecision Sources and Career
Indecision Status
If, as Fig. 1 indicates, career indecision soruces are the immediate
determinants of career indecision status, then undecided employees
should differ from decided employees on these source dimensions. There-
fore, Hypothesis 3 predicts direct effects of each source on career in-
decision status. That is, employees who are relatively career undecided
should report a greater lack of information about self and environment,
more extensive psychological conflicts, and a greater lack of self-con-
fidence in career decision making than employees who are relatively
career decided.
Outcomes of Career Indecision
Figure 1 identifies work attitudes, life stress, and intended career ex-
ploration as potential outcomes of career indecision. Hypothesis 4A pre-
dicts that career indecision status has a negative effect on the following
work attitudes: career satisfaction, career expectations, and organiza-
tional commitment. It is assumed that extensive career indecision (1)
detracts from a sense of career satisfaction (because the employee views
his or her career with a great deal of ambivalence), (2) makes it difficult
to hold optimistic career expectations regarding the future (because the
employee is not clear on the desired direction of the career), and (3)
alienates the employee from the organization (because the employee is
6. 84 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
unsure whether continued membership in the organization can provide
a satisfying career).
Hypothesis 4B predicts a direct effect of career indecision status on
life stress. Stress has been conceptualized as the psychological response
state of disturbed affect (Parasuraman, 1982) and is experienced when
individuals are faced with demands, constraints, and/or opportunities
that have important but uncertain outcomes (Schuler, 1980). Employees
who are undecided about their careers are confronted with specific de-
mands (to select an appropriate course of action) where there is a con-
siderable amount of uncertainty and confusion, in a domain (work) that
is relatively important to their lives. In other words, career indecision
may breed sufficient discomfort and ambiguity to produce stress reac-
tions .
Hypothesis 4C predicts a direct effect of career indecision status on
intended participation in future career exploration. Stumpf, Colarelli,
and Hartman (1983) defined career exploration as purposive behavior
that affords access to information about oneself, occupations, jobs, and
organizations that was not previously in an employee’s stimulus field.
This information should presumably help an employee decide upon a
future career direction (Stumpf et al., 1983).Therefore, career undecided
employees may intend more extensive participation in career exploration
than employees who are already decided about their future career di-
rection.
METHOD
Sample and Procedure
Participants in the study were 397 managers and professionals from
four branches of a large banking concern with installations throughout
the United States. The four participating branches were representative
of the entire bank in terms of functional responsibilities and were dis-
tributed across different geographical regions of the United States. Asset
size of the banking concern is approximately $280 billion, with a total
employee population of over 23,000.
The population for the present research was 1500salaried employees
from the four branches. This population represented the six upper-level
exempt grades, including bank officers up to the vice president level.
Questionnaires were mailed to the homes of 750 employees (drawn ran-
domly from the population) and were accompanied by a cover letter from
the researchers and an endorsement letter from the senior human re-
sources official of the branch. Employees were requested to return the
completed questionnaires directly to the researchers at their university
address.
A total of 406 questionnaires (54% response rate) was returned to the
7. CAREER INDECISION 85
researchers, of which 397 were usable. Approximately two-thirds of the
respondents were male, and nearly 90% were Caucasian. The respond-
ents averaged 38.9 years of age and earned an average annual salary of
$40,900. They had been in their positions for an average of 3.3 years
and with the bank for an average of 10.8years. Respondents represented
14 different departments (e.g., accounting, marketing, computer opera-
tions) and occupied a wide variety of supervisory, managerial, and profes-
sional positions within each department.
An analysis of available information in the human resource data base
revealed no significant differences between respondents and nonrespon-
dents on gender, grade, race, salary, and promotability ratings. However,
respondents tended to be somewhat younger, to have spent somewhat
less time in current grade and in the organization, and to have job
performance ratings slightly higher than those of nonrespondents.
Measures
Short-term and long-term career indecision status. Respondents in-
dicated whether they had decided on the particular work position they
would like to hold within the next I- to 3-year period (short-term career
goal), as well as the position they would like to hold in the next 7 to 10
years (long-term goal). For each career goal item, four response cate-
gories were provided: (1) I have definitely decided on a particular work
position; (2) I have tentatively decided on a particular work position;
(3) I have more than one work position in mind, and I have not yet
decided among them; and (4) I have no particular work position in mind,
and I am undecided about my future possibilities. Employees who
checked (1) or (2), that is, those who reported having selected a short-
term (long-term) career goal, responded to six items designed to assess
the degree of comfort/certainty regarding the short-term (long-term) goal
(e.g., “I am comfortable with the short-term (long-term) goal selection
I have made”). Responses to the six items were averaged to produce a
comfort/certainty score (for short-term goal, mean = 4.08, (Y= .75; for
long-term goal, mean = 3.80, cx = .84).
Short-term (long-term) career indecision status was operationalized as
a three-level composite index created by combining the responses to the
goal setting item with the comfort/certainty scale. Respondents who had
not selected a career goal (N = 79 for short-term and 165for long-term)
were coded 3 and assumed to represent the highest level of career in-
decision. Respondents who had selected a goal but scored below the
sample median on comfort/certainty (N = 161 for short-term and 120
for long-term) were coded 2 and assumed to represent an intermediate
level of career indecision. Respondents who had selected a goal and
scored above the median on comfort/certainty (N = 157for short-term
10. 88 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
and 112for long-term) were coded 1and assumed to represent the lowest
level of career indecision.
Career indecision sources. Sources of career indecision were measured
with a 32-item scale, the abbreviated content of which is shown in Table
1. Since existing indecision scales were geared for students, the items
comprising the present scale were written expressly for this study and
were targeted toward an adult employed population. On the basis of
information derived from the existing literature, as well as on preliminary
interviews with a group of 15managers, four sources of indecision were
identified, and eight items were written to assesseach career indecision
source. A pilot test of the items with a second group of 20 managers
resulted in some revisions to enhance item clarity. Items 1-8 in Table
1 were written to assesslack of information about self, items 9-16 dealt
with lack of information about the work environment, items 17-24 were
intended to tap the lack of self-confidence in career decision making,
and items 25-32 were written to assessthe extensiveness of psychological
conflicts.
Antecedents. Work/life experiences were assessed with three vari-
ables-age, organizational tenure, and position tenure-frequently used
to operationalize career stage (Morrow & McElroy, 1987). All three
variables were accessed through the bank’s human resource data base.
Trait anxiety was measured by the A-Trait subscale of the State-Trait
Anxiety Inventory (STAI) of Speilberger, Gorsuch, and Lushene (1970),
which has been viewed as a relatively reliable and valid way to assess
individual differences in anxiety proneness (Dreger & Katkin, 1978).Two
of the STAI’s 20 items were not included on the questionnaire because
their content (school, parents) was inappropriate to the present adult
sample, and responses to the 18items (each assessedon a 3-point scale)
were averaged to produce a total trait anxiety score (a = .81). Career
management assistance was measured by 9 items (e.g., “I receive advice
and support from [the organization] that helps me manage my career”)
that were adapted from a scale developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman,
and Wormley (1990). Responses to the 9 items were averaged to produce
a total career management assistance score (a = X5).
Career outcomes. Career satisfaction was assessedwith an 8-item scale
developed for this research. Each item (e.g., “I am satisfied with the
status that I have achieved during my career”) reflects an affective
reaction toward the progress and rewards associated with the employee’s
career. Responses to the 8 items (each measured on a 5-point scale)
were averaged to produce a total score (a = .87). Career expectations
were measured by a slightly revised version of a 1Zitem scale developed
by Sugalski (1985). Respondents were instructed to imagine their career
“two or three years from now” and indicate their agreement or disa-
greement with 12 statements regarding their future career. Each item
11. CAREER INDECISION 89
(e.g., “There will be a good match between my job skills and abilities
and my work assignment”) assessedan expectation regarding the com-
patibility, fit, or anticipated rewards associated with the future career.
Responses to the 12 items were averaged (a = .78) so that high scores
reflect optimistic expectations about the future career. Organizational
commitment was measured by the 1%item Organizational Commitment
Questionnaire ((I! = .89) developed by Porter, Steers, Mowday, and
Boulian (1974).
Life stress was measured through a modified version of an instrument
originally developed by Parasuraman (1982). While the original instru-
ment was designed to assessjob-related stress, the revised version mea-
sures stress associated with one’s total life. The lo-item scale (a! = .92)
assessesfeelings of disturbed affect, such as frustration, tension, fatigue,
and pressure.
Intended career exploration was measured by a five-item scale (a =
.83) from the Career Exploration Survey (CES) of Stumpf et al. (1983)
that tapped intended work exploration and by a five-item scale ((Y= .81)
developed specifically for this study that assessed intended self-explo-
ration. Respondents answered each of the 10 items with regard to how
frequently they expect to engage in the particular behavior within the
next 1Zmonth period (e.g., “Investigate the skills required to perform
in other positions within [the organization]“). Responses were made on
a 5-point scale with the following categories: never, rarely, occasionally,
frequently, and very frequently.
A factor analysis of the six career outcome scale scores was performed
to provide a more parsimonious examination of the impact of indecision
on career outcomes. The results of this analysis yielded three outcome
factors consistent with expectations: work attitudes (comprising career
satisfaction, career expectations, and organizational commitment), in-
tended career exploration (comprising intended self-exploration and in-
tended work exploration); and life stress (which contained only the stress
variable). Composite scores were created for each outcome factor by
averaging the scores for each scale comprising the factor (with the ex-
ception of life stress, which contained only one variable). A table sum-
marizing the results of the factor analysis of the outcome variables is
available upon request.
Data Analyses
A primary aim of the present study was to develop and validate a
measure of adult career indecision. Schwab (1980) has distinguished two
sets of analyses relevant to construct validation: analyses internal to the
measure of the construct (such as factor analysis and reliability esti-
mation), and analyses linking the measure in question to other variables
12. 90 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
that form a nomological network. Both types of analyses were conducted
in the present study.
Hypothesis 1 predicted the emergence of four sources of career in-
decision. This hypothesis was tested by subjecting the 32 career inde-
cision source items to a principal axis analysis, extracting all factors
with eigenvalues 3 1.00. Since dimensions of career indecision may be
intercorrelated (Shimizu, Vondracek, Schulenberg, & Hostetler, 1988),
the extracted factors were rotated to an oblique (Promax) rotation, and
exact scores were calculated for each factor.
Hypotheses 2,3, and 4 predicted linkages among the variables specified
in the proposed model. Path analysis was used to determine whether the
observed pattern of relationships among the variables was consistent
with the causal model presented in Fig. 1. Additionally, several steps
were taken to check for possible violations of the assumptions underlying
path analysis (Billings & Wroten, 1978; Heise, 1969). Examination of
the scales’ reliability coefficients indicated generally satisfactory levels
of either internal consistency or stability over time. Moreover, the ab-
solute values of the intercorrelations among the study variables, ranging
from .Ol to .67 (median Irl = .17), revealed no evidence of extreme
multicollinearity (i.e., Y’S2 .80) Durbin-Watson “d” statistics were cal-
culated for each dependent variable in the model to test for autocorre-
lations among the residuals of the dependent variables. The closer d is
to 2, the stronger the evidence that the residuals are uncorrelated (Dillon
& Goldstein, 1984).In the present study, the distribution of the d statistics
(mean = 1.998; range = 1.809-2.154) strongly indicates the absence of
correlated residuals.
The omitted parameter test (James, Mulaik, & Brett, 1982)was used
to determine whether the paths predicted in Fig. 1 were statistically
significant and whether the unpredicted paths were nonsignificant. This
test involves the analysis of all direct paths among the model variables
(whether predicted or unpredicted) and thereby facilitates the identifi-
cation of specific sources of confirmation and disconfirmation within the
proposed model.
Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to conduct
the omitted parameter test and to assessthe direct and indirect effects
of the causal variables on successive dependent variables. To examine
Hypothesis 2, each source of career indecision was initially regressed
on a set of four control variables (gender, organizational grade, marital
status, and education) in step 1, with the antecedent variables added as
a block in step 2 of the analysis. Hypothesis 3 was tested by regressing
each indicator of career indecision status (short-term and long-term) on
the control variables (step 1) and adding the antecedents in step 2 and
the career indecision sources in step 3. Hypothesis 4 was examined by
regressing each of the three career outcome factors on the control vari-
13. CAREER INDECISION 91
ables (step 1) and adding the antecedents (2), the career indecision
sources (3), and career indecision status (4) in subsequent steps of the
analysis.
The initial p weight of a variable when it first entered the regression
analysis represents the total effect of that variable on the dependent
measure, whereas the final p weight (after all variables have entered the
analysis) represents the direct effect of the variable. The difference be-
tween the total effect and the direct effect reflects the indirect effect of
the variable on the dependent measure (Ross, 1975).
RESULTS
Sources of Career Indecision
A principal axis analysis of the 32 indecision source items produced
seven factors with eigenvalues > 1.00, which accounted for 54% of the
total variance. The results of the oblique-rotated solution are shown in
Table 1, and brief descriptions of the seven factors are provided below.
Factor 1. Lack of Self-Information reflected the employee’s under-
standing of his or her interests, values, strengths, and shortcomings.
Also included in this factor are the employee’s knowledge of the desired
balance between work and family life and the compatibility of jobs with
preferred lifestyle.
Factor 2. Lack of Internal Work Information reflected the employee’s
knowledge of career opportunities and job responsibilities within the
employee’s current organization.
Factor 3. Lack of External Work Information reflected the employee’s
knowledge of opportunities outside the organization, including the degree
of information on other occupations and other companies.
Factor 4. Lack of Decision Making Self-Confidence consisted of items
that assessthe employee’s self-assurance or confidence in making career-
related decisions.
Factor 5. Decision Making Fear and Anxiety reflected the employee’s
anxiety and fear associated with career-related decision making, as well
as the tendency to overanalyze career decision making situations.
Factor 6. Nonwork Demands reflected the employee’s conflicts be-
tween personal career desires and nonwork pressures.
Factor 7. Situational Constraints reflected the employee’s career con-
straints produced by financial strain, age, and years invested in a given
career direction.
The results of the factor analysis provided partial support for Hy-
pothesis 1. As predicted, lack of self-information emerged as a separate
dimension (Factor 1). However, the other three proposed dimensions
(lack of information about the work environment, lack of self-confidence
in decision making, and the presence of conflicts) each split into two
14. 92 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
TABLE 2
Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations” for Study Variables
Standard
Variable Mean Deviation 1 2 3 4 5 6
Career Indecision Status
1. Short-Term Career Indecision 1.80 .I5 -
2. Long-Term Career Indecision 2.13 .82 .46 -
Career Indecision Sources
3. Lack of Self-Information 2.40 .73 .36 .40 -
4. Lack of Internal Work Information 2.92 .91 .32 .32 55 -
5. Lack of External Work Information 2.39 .94 .20 .20 .46 .44 -
6. Lack of Self-Confidence 2.48 .I1 .36 .36 .65 .50 .45 -
7. Decision-Making Fear and Anxiety 3.03 1.05 .34 .38 .53 .31 .31 .61
8. Nonwork Demands 2.32 .96 .05 .18 .23 .05 -.09 .15
9. Situational Constraints 2.17 1.00 .02 -.03 -.Ol .20 .22 .20
Antecedents
10. Age 38.87 8.42 -.I1 -.21 -.27 -.07 .02 -.I1
11. Organizational Tenure 10.75 8.46 -.04 -.ll -.I9 -.19 .15 -.02
12. Position Tenure 3.33 3.26 .04 -.08 -.15 -.09 .04 -.02
13. Trait Anxiety 1.51 .35 .21 .31 .34 .20 .24 .41
14. Career Management Assistance 3.23 .90 -.29 -.16 -.21 -.42 -.20 -.30
Outcome Variables
15. Organizational Commitment 3.69 .66 -.25 -.27 -.28 -.32 -.05 -.31
16. Career Satisfaction 3.66 .78 -.25 -.24 -.18 -.26 -.05 -.29
17. Career Expectations 3.54 .54 -.30 -.28 -.34 -.38 -.17 -.36
18. Life Stress 2.38 .73 .16 .24 .32 .18 .21 .37
19. Self-Exploration 3.49 .64 -.09 -.Ol -.23 -.16 -.16 -.16
20. Work Exploration 2.55 .76 .25 .I3 .02 -.05 -.24 -.07
Note. N = 397.
’ Intercorrelations at or above f .10 significant at the .05 level, at or above ? .13 significant at
the .Ol level, and at or above k.17 significant at the .OOllevel.
factors. The intercorrelations among the seven sources (see Table 2)
were moderate (median r = .31), although lack of decision making self-
confidence displayed strong relationships with decision making fear and
anxiety (r = .67) and with lack of self-information (r = .65).
Table 1 also presents reliability data for each of the seven indecision
sources. Most of the (Ycoefficients were satisfactory for research pur-
poses, although lack of external work information, nonwork demands,
and situational constraints displayed relatively low levels of internal con-
sistency. To assessthe stability of the indecision source scores, a small
subset of respondents from the original sample were readministered the
32-item scale approximately 2 months after the initial data collection.
The scores from the 50 employees who responded to the follow-up ad-
ministration were used to calculate test-retest coefficients, which are
15. CAREER INDECISION 93
TABLE 2-Continued
7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
-
.32
.25
-.22 - .23 A0 -
-.03 -.17 .25 .61
-34 -.12 .26 .48
.54 .18 .17 -.15
-.26 - .Ol -.29 -.04
- .25 -.14 -.09 .14 .14 -.Ol -.08 .52 -
- .25 -.13 -.I7 -.04 - .03 -.17 -.07 .47 .53 -
- .29 -.17 - .20 .07 .05 .Ol -.12 .56 .54 .52 -
.48 .21 .21 -.09 -.02 -.06 .66 -.I8 -.18 -.09 -.21 -
.03 .07 -.lO -.12 -.09 -.04 .05 .04 36 .05 .ll .05 -
34 .I8 -.15 - .27 -.24 -.06 .Ol -.ll -.20 .Ol - .07 .Ol A.4 -
-
.51
-.04
-.03
-
-.07 -
-.14 -.ll -
shown at the bottom of Table 1. These coefficients were acceptable,
ranging from a high of .% (nonwork demands) to a low of .77 (lack of
self-confidence).
Examination of the Model of Career Indecision
Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations
among all the study variables. Tables 3, 4, and 5 present the results of
the hierarchical multiple regression analyses testing the model of career
indecision and indicate the total, direct, and indirect effects of the causal
variables on the dependent measures. The data provided moderate sup-
port for the overall model proposed in Fig. 1. Twenty-nine of the 52
predicted paths (56%) were significant, whereas only 15 of the 46 un-
predicted paths (33%) were significant.
Hypothesis 2 predicted direct effects of the antecedent variables on
the sources of career indecision. As shown in Table 3, trait anxiety was
positively related to all of the career indecision sources, and career
management assistance was negatively related to all of the sources except
19. CAREER INDECISION 97
nonwork demands. The impact of work/life experiences on career in-
decision sources was more sporadic. Older employees lacked less in-
formation about themselves and experienced lower levels of fear/anxiety
and nonwork demands, but also reported more extensive situational con-
straints than younger employees. Employees with relatively lengthy or-
ganizational tenure lacked less information about their current organi-
zation, but reported a greater lack of information about the outside
environment. Position tenure was unrelated to all of the career indecision
sources.
Hypothesis 3 predicted direct effects of the career indecision sources
on career indecision status. It can be seen in Table 4 that lack of self-
information, lack of internal work information, decision making fear and
anxiety, and situational constraints all had significant direct effects on
short-term and long-term indecision. Contrary to expectations, career
management assistance also had a direct effect on short-term indecision,
and trait anxiety had a direct effect on long-term indecision.
Hypothesis 4 predicted direct effects of career indecision status on
the three outcome variables. As shown in Table 5, career indecision
status had a direct effect on work attitudes; employees who were rela-
tively undecided about their careers held more negative work attitudes
than those who were relatively decided. Inconsistent with the model,
however, direct effects were also observed for trait anxiety, career man-
agement assistance, lack of external work information, lack of self-con-
fidence, and nonwork demands.
Career indecision status had no effect on life stress. Moreover, there
were direct effects of several antecedents and career indecision sources
on stress. Life stress was highest for those employees who experienced
high levels of trait anxiety, received relatively little career management
assistance, lacked self-information, and experienced relatively extensive
nonwork demands. It might also be noted that life stress was higher for
females than for males.
As predicted, career indecision status had a direct effect on explo-
ration; relatively undecided employees intended to engage in more ex-
tensive career exploration than relatively decided employees. However,
direct effects were also observed for several antecedents and sources.
Employees who anticipated extensive career exploration received little
career management assistance from the organization, possessedrelatively
extensive information about themselves and the external work environ-
ment, and were relatively self-confident about their career decision mak-
ing skills.
DISCUSSION
Only partial support was provided for Hypothesis 1, which predicted
four sources of career indecision. Lack of self-information is in line with
20. 98 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
original expectations and is consistent with prior research on student
populations (Holland & Holland, 1977; Jones & Chenery, 1980). How-
ever, lack of information about the work environment split into two
factors, depending upon whether the information was relevant to the
employee’s current organization or to the environment outside the or-
ganization. Although the “world of work” dimension has emerged as a
distinct source of career indecision for school-aged populations (Palko-
Nonemaker & Alexander, 1981), adults with ongoing work experiences
apparently hold more differentiated perceptions about sources of work
information.
The presence of psychological conflict was also represented by two
factors. Nonwork demands reflect conflicts between career aspirations
and nonwork pressures, whereas situational constraints pose career lim-
itations by virtue of the employee’s age and financial status. The inde-
pendence of the factors (r = - .06) suggests that these two forms of
conflict are clearly distinguishable to an employed adult population. Lack
of self-confidence in career decision making also split into two factors:
lack of self-confidence, which reflects the level of assurance an employee
displays in career decision making, and fear and anxiety, which repre-
sents the emotional component of the decision making process. Although
both factors are consistent with prior research on students (Holland &
Holland, 1977;Jones & Chenery, 1980;Osipow, Carney, & Barak, 1976;
Slaney et al., 1981), it is not clear why the proposed source split into
two factors for this adult sample.
In summary, the results of the factor analysis are consistent with, but
more differentiated than the hypothesized factor structure. However, the
emergence of a set of factors does not demonstrate that each factor is,
in fact, a source of career indecision. The results of the multiple regres-
sion analyses clearly point to four demonstrable sources of career in-
decision: lack of self-information, lack of internal work information,
decision making fear and anxiety, and situational constraints.
The effect of lack of self-information on career indecision status rein-
forces the importance of self-awareness to career decision making (Har-
ren, 1979; Holland & Holland, 1977; Jones & Chenery, 1980). Decision
making fear and anxiety also had direct effects on indecision status,
thereby extending Jones and Chenery’s (1980) prior finding to an adult
population. Although a lack of internal work information was related to
both indicators of career indecision, a lack of external work information
was unrelated to employees’ career indecision. Perhaps since the or-
ganization under investigation traditionally retains employees for con-
siderable portions of their careers, the lack of information about other
companies was not particularly relevant to the bank’s employees and
did not impede their career decision making.
Women were more undecided about their long-term career goals than
21. CAREER INDECISION 99
were men. Although female students are no more undecided about their
career choices than male students (Giankos & Subich, 1986) gender
differences emerge among employees. Perhaps, an anticipation of ex-
tensive work-family conflict (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985)makes it more
difficult for women to crystallize their long-term goals and aspirations
than men.
Two antecedents had pervasive effects on career indecision sources:
trait anxiety and career management assistance. The present study dem-
onstrates that the debilitating effects of trait anxiety on career decision
making are not limited to students (Fuqua et al., 1987, 1988)and suggests
that highly anxious employees may have difficulties acquiring and/or
processing information about themselves and their environments (Green-
haus & Sklarew, 1981).The findings also indicate that career management
assistance seems to promote a greater understanding of self and envi-
ronment, enhance self-confidence in career decision making, reduce de-
cision making fear and anxiety, and lessen situational conflicts. There-
fore, it is important for organizations to understand that information
sharing, performance feedback, and challenging and visible assignments
may have wide-ranging beneficial effects on employees’ career manage-
ment efforts.
Hypothesis 4 examined relationships between career indecision status
and three outcome variables. The data suggest that life stress is exac-
erbated by career indecision. However, it is not indecision per se that
serves as a stressor, but rather two of the underlying sources of career
indecision. Apparently, a lack of information regarding oneself is stressful
to employees. Since self-awareness is an essential ingredient of effective
career management (Greenhaus, 1987), a lack of self-insight may trigger
a senseof powerlessness, which subsequently produces feelings of stress.
The impact of nonwork demands on life stress is consistent with prior
research on the negative consequences of work-family conflict (Green-
haus & Beutell, 1985).
Employees who were relatively undecided about their career goals
held more negative work attitudes than employees who were relatively
decided about their goals. It is interesting that a lack of self-confidence
in career decision making was also associated with negative work atti-
tudes, suggesting that employees with low self-efficacy expectations in
the career domain (Taylor & Betz, 1983)become disenchanted with their
career prospects and their organization’s capacity to provide the setting
for satisfying careers.
As predicted, career indecision aroused intentions to engage in future
career exploration, a finding consistent with prior research on students
(Greenhaus & Sklarew, 1981). On the other hand, relatively low levels
of anticipated exploration were reported by employees who lack infor-
mation about themselves and the external work environment, and who
22. 100 CALLANANANDGREENHAUS
lack self-confidence in career decision making. Unfortunately, avoidance
of additional career exploration can produce a vicious cycle of ineffective
decision making, since employees’ restricted exploration will provide
fewer opportunities to acquire additional self-insight and to develop con-
fidence in their ability to cope with career decision making tasks.
Implications for Future Research
Despite moderate support for the predicted paths in the career inde-
cision model, nearly one third of the unpredicted direct paths were also
significant. This finding suggests the need to revise the model to incor-
porate more complex paths among antecedents, sources, indecision sta-
tus, and outcomes. Moreover, the data revealed that three of the source
factors (lack of external work information, lack of self-confidence, and
nonwork demands) did not have direct effects on career indecision status.
Additional research is needed to examine the conditions (e.g., mobility
orientation, family role salience) under which potential sources of in-
decision actually influence the level.of indecision that is experienced by
employees.
Considerably more research is also required to understand the con-
sequences of career indecision. Although the results of the present study
seem to suggest primarily negative outcomes of indecision, it is clear
that career indecision can be an appropriate and healthy response in
many circumstances. In fact, someresearchers have distinguished a more
positive situational or developmental form of indecision from a chronic
form of indecision (Fuqua & Hartman, 1983). Future research should
examine different indecision subtypes for employed adults, identify the
conditions under which each form arises, and study the consequences
of each subtype on employee well-being.
Although the present study revealed relationships among antecedents,
career indecision sources, career indecision status, and outcome vari-
ables, it must be acknowledged that many of the significant paths were
modest in magnitude. Moreover, longitudinal research is necessary to
test causal models of career indecision more conclusively. Future re-
search should also examine career indecision for a greater variety of job
functions and levels than represented in the current sample of managers
and professionals.
Implications for the Measurement of Adult Career Indecision
The distinction between career indecision status and career indecision
sources appears sound and is consistent with the prevailing view of career
indecision as complex and multidimensional. We also believe that the
conception of career indecision status as a combination of goal selection
and affect is reasonable, although there may be other useful ways to
operationalize the concept. In a similar vein, although the seven career
23. CAREER INDECISION 101
indecision source factors seem appropriate to an adult population, the
factors accounted for only 54% of the total variance. Moreover, the
observed factor structure was due, in large part, to the items initially
thought to be relevant to the career indecision of adults. Further con-
ceptualization may well suggest the plausibility of additional indecision
sources, which can then be tested empirically.
Assuming the viability of the seven career indecision sources, several
improvements in scale development are warranted. Although the stability
of all seven factor scores over time was acceptable, the internal con-
sistency of the scales measuring nonwork demands, lack of external work
information, and situational constraints was modest. The incorporation
of additional appropriate items into the scales assessing nonwork de-
mands *and situational constraints should improve scale reliability. The
situation may be somewhat different for the external work information
scale, in that there are a number of “external” referents (occupations,
organizations, industries) that may not be highly intercorrelated. It is
possible that the addition of other relevant items to this scale would
either improve the internal consistency of the scale or enable the factor
to split further into different subenvironments outside the current or-
ganization.
In summary, it is believed that the present scale shows considerable
promise as a measure of adult career indecision. The operationalization
of career indecision status seems useful and the seven source factors
appear conceptually meaningful. The present version of the scale pro-
vides reliable indicators of lack of self-information, lack of internal work
information, lack of self-confidence, and fear/anxiety regarding career
decision making. The other three source scales-nonwork demands, sit-
uational constraints, and lack of external work information-should be
used with caution until greater refinements are introduced into these
measures.
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Received: November 30, 1989
