Career guidance as a mechanism supporting occupational and financial decision-making under labour market uncertainty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24136/ceref.2026.005Keywords:
career counselling, career decisions, financial decisions, financial education, career, labour market, economic competenciesAbstract
The article analyses the role of career guidance in supporting occupational and financial decision-making. The point of departure is the assumption that educational, vocational and employment choices are increasingly interdependent with household income, financial stability, creditworthiness, capacity to save, investment in human capital and long-term economic security. The article is conceptual and analytical in character. It synthesises selected literature from career development theory, vocational guidance, labour pedagogy, behavioural economics, decision psychology, financial literacy and personal finance. Particular attention is paid to Donald Super’s life-span, life-space theory, social cognitive career theory, Mark Savickas’s career construction theory, the lifelong guidance approach, career management skills, bounded rationality and behavioural determinants of decision-making. The analysis indicates that career guidance should not be reduced to the selection of occupation or educational pathway. It should be understood as a process of strengthening agency, reflexivity, career adaptability and economic awareness. The article argues that career counselling may reduce educational, occupational and financial risks by supporting the recognition of interests, competences, labour-market opportunities, income consequences, employment instability and costs of qualification development. The conclusions emphasise the need to integrate career guidance with financial education, labour-market information, risk assessment and long-term life planning.
Downloads
References
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W. H. Freeman.
Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University Press.
Brown, S. D., & Lent, R. W. (Eds.). (2013). Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Cedefop. (2009). Professionalising career guidance: Practitioner competences and qualification routes in Europe (Cedefop Panorama series No. 164). Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
Cedefop, European Commission, ETF, ICCDPP, ILO, OECD, & UNESCO. (2020). Career guidance policy and practice in the pandemic: Results of a joint international survey – June to August 2020. Publications Office of the European Union.
Fernandes, D., Lynch, J. G., Jr., & Netemeyer, R. G. (2014). Financial literacy, financial education, and downstream financial behaviors. Management Science, 60(8), 1861–1883.
Gati, I., Krausz, M., & Osipow, S. H. (1996). A taxonomy of difficulties in career decision making. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43(4), 510–526.
Gati, I., & Levin, N. (2014). Counseling for career decision-making difficulties: Measures and methods. The Career Development Quarterly, 62(2), 98–113.
Gąsiorowska, A. (2014). Psychologiczne znaczenie pieniędzy: Dlaczego pieniądze wywołują koncentrację na sobie. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493–503.
Guichard, J. (2013, November). Career guidance, education, and dialogues for a fair and sustainable human development [Inaugural conference of the UNESCO Chair of Lifelong Guidance and Counselling]. University of Wrocław.
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–291.
Laibson, D. (1997). Golden eggs and hyperbolic discounting. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(2), 443–477.
Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 557–568.
Lent, R. W., & Brown, S. D. (2020). Career decision making, fast and slow: Toward an integrative model of intervention for sustainable career choice. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 120, Article 103448.
Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79–122.
Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O. S. (2014). The economic importance of financial literacy: Theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Literature, 52(1), 5–44.
Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O. S. (2023). The importance of financial literacy: Opening a new field. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 37(4), 137–154.
Mullainathan, S., & Shafir, E. (2013). Scarcity: Why having too little means so much. Times Books.
Netemeyer, R. G., Warmath, D., Fernandes, D., & Lynch, J. G., Jr. (2018). How am I doing? Perceived financial well-being, its potential antecedents, and its relation to overall well-being. Journal of Consumer Research, 45(1), 68–89.
Nota, L., Soresi, S., Ferrari, L., & Ginevra, M. C. (2014). Vocational designing and career counseling in Europe: Challenges and new horizons. European Psychologist, 19(4), 248–259.
O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (1999). Doing it now or later. American Economic Review, 89(1), 103–124.
OECD. (2004). Career guidance and public policy: Bridging the gap. OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2020). OECD/INFE 2020 international survey of adult financial literacy. OECD.
Perry, V. G., & Morris, M. D. (2005). Who is in control? The role of self-perception, knowledge, and income in explaining consumer financial behavior. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 39(2), 299–313.
Savickas, M. L. (2005). The theory and practice of career construction. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (pp. 42–70). Wiley.
Savickas, M. L. (2013). Career construction theory and practice. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work (2nd ed., pp. 147–183). Wiley.
Simon, H. A. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 69(1), 99–118.
Strömbäck, C., Lind, T., Skagerlund, K., Västfjäll, D., & Tinghög, G. (2017). Does self-control predict financial behavior and financial well-being? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 14, 30–38.
Sultana, R. G. (2012). Learning career management skills in Europe: A critical review. Journal of Education and Work, 25(2), 225–248.
Super, D. E. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In D. Brown, L. Brooks, & Associates (Eds.), Career choice and development (2nd ed., pp. 197–261). Jossey-Bass.
Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press.
Tyszka, T. (2010). Decyzje: Perspektywa psychologiczna i ekonomiczna. Scholar.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131.
Watts, A. G. (2006). Career development learning and employability. The Higher Education Academy.
Zaleśkiewicz, T. (2011). Psychologia ekonomiczna. Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Central European Review of Economics & Finance
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
