Representations of decent work and its antecedents among vocational guidance and career counselling specialists

Abstract

Inspired by Psychology of Working Theory (PWT), our aim in this study was to investigate vocational guidance and career counselling specialists’ perceptions of decent work and of the resources that promote access to decent work by using qualitative methods analyses. With this objective, 17 Swiss professionals were interviewed. First, content analysis showed that, in addition to dimensions considered by PWT, positive relations at work should be considered as part of decent work. Moreover, in addition to the resources considered by PWT, soft skills development emerged as important to access decent work. Second, textual analysis highlighted that specialists’ representations of decent work and the resources that facilitate access to it differ according to their professional category.