I am currently focused on two major areas of research:
Calling: As a major component of both vocational and positive psychology, I am attempting to understand what it means to have a career calling. How do people define this term? How does having a calling relate to academic, work, and well being outcomes? What types of individuals are more or less likely to endorse a career calling? What types of interventions work best to promote a career calling? We are currently doing a number of studies investigating these questions with college students and working adults.
Work Volition: Research in vocational psychology is often completed with individuals who have high degrees of freedom in their career choices. However, I believe that for most individuals, career choice is limited by numerous factors including personal, structural, and economic barriers. I am attempting to build measurement tools to assess work volition, or the extent to which individuals can freely make career choices. I am also investigating what factors predict work volition and how levels of volition relate to work and well being outcomes with samples of college students and adults.
NOTE: For those interested in a reader friendly article about my current research program, please read my 2009 article along with Bryan Dik in the The Career Development Quarterly entitled, "Beyond the self: External influences in the career development process"
For students interested in working with me who don't fit well with any of my current major research interests, I may be able to provide mentorship and/or research opportunities in the following areas. At some point I have done work in each of these specialties:
Work/job satisfaction
Scholarly productivity
Altruism, in the context of careers
Work values
Medical student career development
Religion and spirituality
Ethnic minority career development
Life satisfaction and life meaning