From Whom Do Young Adults Actively Seek Career Information? An Ego-network Analysis of Vocational Anticipatory Socialization

ABSTRACT

Using an ego network analysis, this study examined how young adults actively seek out vocational anticipatory socialization (“VAS”) information and whether there is a difference between those who report knowing or not knowing their future career paths. Findings reveal that young adults follow Jablin’s model for their sources of information. Further, significant gender patterns emerged. Respondents suggest that sex specific role models, experiences, and information drive their information seeking. Additional findings indicate that knowing one’s career path is significantly associated with confidence, time talking, and career discussions with alters, but not with network size.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational communication
• career choice
• mentoring
• network analysis
• quantitative methods
• gender

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Melinda R. Aley

Melinda R. Aley (Masters, Michigan State Univeristy) is a Communication PhD student at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on media as a socializing agent to children. Her current projects include examining how moral messages in media influence the behaviors of children, media depictions of stereotypes, and media’s influence on career choice.

Kenneth J. Levine

Kenneth J. Levine (Ph.D. – Michigan State, 1996; J.D. – Case Western Reserve University, 1988) is a faculty member in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University. Dr. Levine’s research agenda concentrates on organizational communication, small group communication and leadership. His organizational communication research centers on anticipatory socialization; specifically looking at the messages sent by and received from the various sources of socialization and the impact of these messages on work, work life and career aspirations. The goal of his small group research is to understand how groups can work together more effectively and efficiently. His research into leadership looks at the perceptions of what makes a person a leader and what makes a leader effective. He is currently examining the methods used to properly define and measure the communication behaviors associated with leadership.