Predictors of vocational outcome expectations among future teachers and educators

Abstract

Postulating expectations regarding one's professional future represents an important segment of career decision making, as well as choosing behaviors aimed at fulfilling professional goals. Given the relevance of this topic, the conducted study addressed such expectations among a group of students studying to become educators and teachers. Specifically, 301 students participated in this study and completed instruments designed for measuring their core self-evaluations, self- -perceived employability, career decision self-efficacy and vocational outcome expectations. In doing so, the goal of the study was to investigate the contributions of core self-evaluations, self-perceived employability and career decision self-efficacy to students' vocational outcome expectations. The obtained results indicated core self-evaluations, self-perceived employability and career decision self-efficacy as statistically significant predictors of vocational outcome expectations. In addition, the contributions of core self-evaluations and self-perceived employability to students' expectations were mediated by their career decision self-efficacy. These findings confirm and extend previous knowledge related to the relevance of beliefs regarding own abilities and characteristics for vocational outcome expectations and may be informative for future research as well as career development counseling programs.