The psychology of career calling

The notion of having a calling in the context of work is an emergent concept in research and popular culture. However, most of the research on this topic has focused on the outcomes of calling. This thesis examined the psychological predictors of career calling in university students. Given that there is no standard conceptualisation of calling, the first part of the research examined the predictors of different conceptualisations of calling (Studies 1-4). The results suggested that most predictors of calling were common across different conceptualisations of the construct (e.g., life meaning, positive core self-evaluations). However, religious individuals were more likely to endorse "prosocial" callings (i.e., oriented toward meeting other people's needs and contributing to society). Conversely, non-religious individuals, as well as those who had a left-wing political ideology, were more likely to endorse "personal" callings (i.e., oriented toward meeting one's needs and achieving self-fulfilment). The second part of the research examined the psychological predictors of the presence of, versus search for, calling (Studies 5-8). The results suggested that these two pursuits of calling were associated with different overall mindsets. The presence of calling was associated with personality traits that indicate closed-mindedness and lower inquisitiveness (e.g., dogmatism). Conversely, the search for calling was associated with personality traits that indicate open-mindedness and higher inquisitiveness (e.g., openness to experience). In the academic context, however, the presence of calling was related to achievement goals that indicate higher resilience to challenges (e.g., mastery goals). In contrast, the search for calling was related to achievement goals that indicate lower resilience to challenges (e.g., performance goals). Overall, this thesis highlights the plurality of calling and suggests that people's psychological traits shape the way they understand and pursue vocational callings.