The meaning of work among Chinese university students: findings from prototype research methodology.

This study examined Chinese university students' conceptualization of the meaning of work. One hundred and ninety students (93 male, 97 female) from Beijing, China, participated in the study. Prototype research methodology (J. Li, 2001) was used to explore the meaning of work and the associations among the identified meanings. Cluster analysis was used to organize the identified meanings into a structure consisting of lateral and hierarchical levels. The themes that emerged fell into 2 large categories named "ideal" and "reality." A series of superordinate-level and basic-level prototypes were found under each of these 2 categories. These prototypes reflected influences from both Chinese traditional and Western value orientations, as well as perceptions that are to be understood in the contemporary social and economic contexts of China. Implications for career development theory, research, and practice are discussed.

[1]  D. Blustein.  Extending the Reach of Vocational Psychology: Toward an Inclusive and Integrative Psychology of Working. , 2001 .

[2]  R. Dawis,et al.  The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment. , 2005 .

[3]  T. Tracey,et al.  Countertransference as a prototype: The development of a measure. , 2010, Journal of counseling psychology.

[4]  J. Kerpelman,et al.  Parental Influences on Young Women’s Certainty about Their Career Aspirations , 2007 .

[5]  S. Whiston,et al.  The Role of Parental Influences on Young Adolescents' Career Development , 2008 .

[6]  J. Athanasou,et al.  International handbook of career guidance , 2008 .

[7]  B. Fehr,et al.  Prototype analysis of the concept of compassionate love , 2009 .

[8]  Frederick T. L. Leong,et al.  A Cultural Formulation Approach to Career Assessment and Career Counseling With Asian American Clients , 2010 .

[9]  Duane Brown.  Career Choice and Development , 1984 .

[10]  M. Gowan,et al.  An Examination of Gender Differences in Mexican-American Attitudes Toward Family and Career Roles , 1998 .

[11]  S. A. Leung,et al.  The Big Five Career Theories , 2008 .

[12]  V. G. Zunker,et al.  Career Counseling: A Holistic Approach , 2006 .

[13]  E. Rosch,et al.  Cognition and Categorization , 1980 .

[14]  S. A. Leung,et al.  Counseling Psychology in Chinese Communities in Asia , 2009 .

[15]  R K Blashfield,et al.  The Growth Of Cluster Analysis: Tryon, Ward, And Johnson. , 1980, Multivariate behavioral research.

[16]  J. Garbarino.  The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design: by Urie Bronfenbrenner Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979, 330 + p. , 1980 .

[17]  L. Horowitz,et al.  Prototypes and personal templates: collective wisdom and individual differences. , 2008, Psychological review.

[18]  Mantak Yuen,et al.  Career counselling and internationalization , 2009 .

[19]  Paul Kay,et al.  Prototype semantics: The English Word Lie , 1981 .

[20]  G. Stead.  Culture and career psychology: A social constructionist perspective , 2004 .

[21]  Lyman W. Porter,et al.  Psychology Applied to Work: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology. , 1983 .

[22]  Frank Parsons,et al.  Choosing A Vocation , 1909 .

[23]  E. Rosch,et al.  Categorization of Natural Objects , 1981 .

[24]  D Scheibler,et al.  Monte Carlo Tests of the Accuracy of Cluster Analysis Algorithms: A Comparison of Hierarchical and Nonhierarchical Methods. , 1985, Multivariate behavioral research.

[25]  L. Gerstein.  International handbook of cross-cultural counseling : cultural assumptions and practices worldwide , 2009 .

[26]  Anisa M. Zvonkovic,et al.  Parenting in relation to child and adolescent vocational development , 2006 .

[27]  Robert C. Chope.  The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling and Public Policy , 2006 .

[28]  N. Fouad,et al.  Asian American career development: A qualitative analysis , 2008 .

[29]  S. A. Leung.  Career Counseling in Hong Kong: Meeting the Social Challenges , 2002 .

[30]  Jacqueline C. Simpson.  Mom Matters: Maternal Influence on the Choice of Academic Major , 2003 .

[31]  I. Gati,et al.  A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision making , 1996 .

[32]  Beverley Fehr,et al.  Prototype analysis of the concepts of love and commitment , 1988 .

[33]  D. Blustein,et al.  The Psychology of Working: A New Framework for Counseling Practice and Public Policy. , 2008 .

[34]  I. Gati,et al.  Emotional and personality-related aspects of persistent career decision-making difficulties , 2007 .

[35]  D. Super.  A life-span, life-space approach to career development , 1980 .

[36]  L. Brooks,et al.  Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (2nd ed.). , 1986 .

[37]  Jin Li.  Chinese Conceptualization of Learning , 2001 .

[38]  J. L. Holland,et al.  Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Careers , 1973 .

[39]  Eleanor Rosch,et al.  Principles of Categorization , 1978 .

[40]  Munyi Shea,et al.  Development of a Culturally Specific Career Exploration Group for Urban Chinese Immigrant Youth , 2007 .

[41]  E. Rosch.  Cognitive Representations of Semantic Categories. , 1975 .

[42]  Barbara Hall.  Career psychology in the South African context , 2001 .

[43]  Pei-Ying Lin,et al.  The Career Decision-Making Process of Chinese American Youth. , 2007 .

[44]  B. S. Everitt,et al.  Cluster analysis , 2014, Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining.

[45]  Jin Li,et al.  U.S. and Chinese Cultural Beliefs about Learning. , 2003 .

[46]  J. L. Holland,et al.  Making vocational choices : a theory of vocational personalities and work environments , 1984 .

[47]  R. Serpell,et al.  Robert Serpell. The Significance of Schooling: Life-Journeys in an African Society . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. xv + 345 pp. Illustrations. Tables. Figures. Appendices. Chapter Notes. Bibliography. Index. Maps. $59.95. Cloth. , 1995, African Studies Review.

[48]  I. Gati,et al.  Effects of parental expectations and cultural-values orientation on career decision-making difficulties of Chinese University students , 2011 .

[49]  Stephanie T. Pituc,et al.  Exploratory Studies on the Effects of a Career Exploration Group for Urban Chinese Immigrant Youth , 2009 .

[50]  Brian Everitt,et al.  Cluster analysis , 1974 .

[51]  T. Clawson,et al.  Internationalization of the Counseling Profession: An Indigenous Perspective , 2012 .

[52]  Weiyuan Zhang,et al.  The Evolution of Career Guidance and Counseling in the People's Republic of China , 2002 .

[53]  Geok Leng Loo,et al.  Effects of parental job insecurity and parenting behaviors on youth’s self-efficacy and work attitudes , 2003 .

[54]  Ali S. Hadi,et al.  Finding Groups in Data: An Introduction to Chster Analysis , 1991 .

[55]  I. Gati,et al.  Emotional and Personality-Related Aspects of Career-Decision-Making Difficulties , 2008 .

[56]  B. Fehr,et al.  Development of a prototype-based measure of relational boredom , 2012 .

[57]  Marcelline Bangali.  D. L. Blustein. The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development, Counseling, and Public Policy. Londres: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates , 2007 .

[58]  P. Shaver,et al.  Emotion knowledge: further exploration of a prototype approach. , 1987, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[59]  Julia Dietrich,et al.  Career-specific parental behaviors in adolescents’ development , 2009 .

[60]  G. Blowers.  The prospects for a Chinese psychology , 1994 .

[61]  W. P. Williams,et al.  A comparison of clustering methods for river benthic community analysis , 2004, Hydrobiologia.

[62]  F. Deutsch.  How Parents Influence the Life Plans of Graduating Chinese University Students , 2004 .

[63]  Beverley Fehr,et al.  Intimacy expectations in same-sex friendships: a prototype interaction-pattern model. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[64]  M. Savickas.  The Theory and Practice of Career Construction. , 2005 .