Super’s Career Stages and the Decision to Change Careers

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Brief Overview of Super’s Theory

• Super’s theory of adult career development involves four stages:– Exploration– Establishment– Maintenance– Disengagement

• The first three stages represent time of employment in the life cycle.

Smart & Peterson, 1997

What makes Super’s theory different?

• Most career development stage theories consist of stages that are irreversible and follow one another in rigid order that is usually linked in some way to chronological age.

• Super’s theory is different in that:– There is no relationship between stages and

chronological age.– The psychological changes that are achieved from

passing successfully through a given stage are not necessarily permanent.

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Super’s Predictions • 1. The timing of transitions between career

stages is a result more of an individual’s personality and life circumstances than of the person’s chronological age. – Adults who change careers in midlife will pass

through the stages multiple times, with subsequent passages arising at ages well above the traditional norm.

– It’s important to remember that according to Super’s theory, unconventional timing does not automatically make the task of career development any more difficult or carry any implication that the final outcome will be less successful.

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Super’s Predictions

• 2. The passage through a stage need not be permanent to define optimal development.– This was labeled as “recycling”– Recycling is not viewed negatively in this theory; it

is seen as a means for enhancing maturity, coping power, and creative productivity.

– Super added recycling because he felt that part of normal development may include a return to stage issues that were completed earlier in life.

Smart & Peterson, 1997

How it Applies to Mid-Life Career Change

• This theory is very relevant to apply when career counseling adults because:– Super believed career decision-making is a lifelong process

in which people continually strive to match their changing career goals to the realities of the world of work.

– Besides accounting for personal development needs, Super’s theory also accounts for social issues related to mid-life career change such as: economic downturns, layoffs, computerization, new technological advancements, and new career opportunities within organizations.

• Super purposed, “unstable or multiple-trial careers and midcareer crises are not only normal but psychologically advantageous in a climate of rapid social change.”

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Study on Super’s Theory

• Methods– Sample of 226 Australian adults (88m,138f)– Mean age of 29.87

• Procedure– Participants were each given questionnaires

containing measures concerned with: career change progress, career stage concerns, job satisfaction, & career satisfaction

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Hypotheses and Results

• 1. Adults who are in the midst of the transition into a second career will experience greater concern with the issues bound up with Super’s initial stage of career exploration than similar adults who (a) have no intention of ever changing careers or (b) have completed a recent career transition.– Result: Supported

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Hypotheses and Results• 2. Adults who are currently in the process of making a

career change will report less satisfaction with their present jobs and with their overall patterns of career development than adults who have no intention of changing careers; the latter, in turn, will report less satisfaction with their jobs and career progress than adults who have recently completed a transition into a second career and are reporting on their new occupations.– Results: Fully supported for global job satisfaction but only

partially supported for career satisfaction– The respondents who had recently completed a career

change were more satisfied with their career development progress than those still in the midst of a career change

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Counseling Implications• According to this study and theory, clients who

find themselves dissatisfied with their careers in midlife should be encouraged to engage in systematic and extensive career exploration

• These clients should not be discouraged from pursuing a new career based on the belief that midlife uncertainty and career instability are “abnormal” or by the stresses and temporary losses of satisfaction that can diminish confidence during the process of contemplating a move to a new career

Smart & Peterson, 1997

Reference

Smart, R. & Peterson, C. (1997). Super’s career stages and the decision to change

careers. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 51, 358- 374.