The social cognitive career theory (SCCT) would be effective in providing Ronald with career counseling. This theory implies that cognitive factors influence career development and decision-making ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). It asserts that personal attributes, surroundings, and overt behaviors affect a person’s career choice. Ronald faces a career dilemma and is undecided about his career move; he expected to be a professional athlete, but physical injury and underwhelming performance made it impossible to achieve this dream. Under the SCCT model, a counselor would ask Ronald about the careers he might choose based on his self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectations ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). While Ronald may want to become a teacher, he witnessed from his parents how a teacher’s salary may not be adequate to raise a family and the challenges that come with dealing with students and teachers. The SCCT may offer a solution to Ronald’s career choice uncertainties.
When dealing with Ronald, I would remind him about the benefits a teaching career would bring to society. Ronald values offering assistance to the less fortunate. Using the SCCT, I would remind him teaching would provide him with an opportunity to solve students’ problems in school and at home ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). This approach would raise his outcome expectations and inform his career decision. Besides, I would advise him that teachers undergo additional training to address students’ problems. This strategy would enhance Ronald’s self-efficacy beliefs and motivate him to become a teacher ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). In addressing the salary issue, I would advise Ronald to interview teachers from different school districts; he will learn to earn a high wage while working as a teacher depending on the region he would choose. He will also discover he can raise his salary by offering additional services such as coaching football teams. The SCCT will make Ronald find out that teaching has vicarious learning opportunities to improve his success rate.
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Nevertheless, the SCCT model has limitations. For example, the theory suggests that changes in the environment will affect a person’s decisions and character, but this case may not always be true. In a recent study, researchers discovered that social barriers and supports affect a person’s expectations but not their self-efficacy beliefs ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). Therefore, even if the environment is modified to suit one’s needs, it may not always determine one’s sense of accomplishment. SCCT may be insufficient in determining students’ career aspirations. Besides, the SCCT is not well-organized; it assumes a dynamic interplay between an individual, behaviors, and the environment ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). It is challenging to explain how each of these factors influences career decisions and whether one aspect is influential than the others.
Additionally, SCCT emphasizes learning processes while disregarding a person’s biological and hormonal factors that may influence their behaviors. For example, female students may have different career choices from male choices even if a similar approach is used to investigate their past experiences and outcome expectations. Another limitation of SCCT is that it fails to focus on a person’s emotions and motivations. It dwells too much on an individual’s experience. In Ronald’s case, a counselor using the SCCT would fail to investigate the client’s emotional connection to football, his fears, and ambitions. As a result, the counselor may guide the client to select a career that may not meet his needs. The minimal attention to emotions and motivations may result in future career problems and dilemmas. Besides, SCCT is broad, making it impossible for counselors to operationalize it fully. For example, SCCT asserts that self-efficacy beliefs are one of the factors that determine a person’s career choices. However, under self-efficacy beliefs, there are different factors, such as vicarious learning, personal accomplishments, and physiological states and reactions ( Niles & Harris-Bowlsbey, 2017 ). A counselor may not be able to incorporate all these factors during counseling sessions.
References
Niles, S.G., & Harris-Bowlsbey, J. (2017). Career development interventions (5th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.
