Abstract:

The times we live in are characterized by rapid change, especially in workplaces and working conditions; the way young people make career choices is often influenced by their idea of work. Alongside this concept is the idea of decent work, which takes the form of the opportunity for men and women to have productive, equal, secure, and rights-based work. In this continually changing socio-economic context, perceived social status denotes the access an individual has to professional opportunities and economic and social resources, and career adaptability emerges as a central construct for understanding decent work. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationships between subjective social status, career adaptability and perception of future decent work in undergraduate students. Voluntarily participating in the research were 187 undergraduate students (55% female and 45% male) in three different fields of study (Tourism, Psychology and Sports) who completed the scales of economic constraints, career adaptability and perception of future decent work. The results support a proposition in Work Psychology Theory that individuals with higher levels of economic constraints and lower levels of career adaptability are less likely to engage in decent work. The results obtained confirmed a positive association of the four dimensions of career adaptability, with higher scores for the Psychology student group. No statistical differences emerged within the personal variables. This study highlights the relationship between career adaptability and decent work and demonstrates that it is possible to identify students who are most vulnerable in terms of career adaptability resources prior to the university-to-work transition and, on this basis, provide some suggestions for professionals who are involved in the development of career education and career counseling interventions. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are indicated.

Keywords:

Economic constraints, career adaptability, decent work, career counseling.