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Gregory Dissertation (2013).pdf (1.49 MB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Envisioning a Career With Purpose: Calling and Its Spiritual Underpinnings Among College Students

Gregory, David
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1364220599

Abstract Details

2013, PHD, Kent State University, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration.
The current study tested the hypothesis that student spirituality would relate positively to the construct of calling and that these constructs together would lead toward career decidedness. To test this model, a sample consisting of 1139 students from a large Midwest university was surveyed. Results supported these hypotheses only in part. The results suggest the spirituality construct to consist of spiritual identity, spiritual quest, and equanimity consistent with the Astin, Astin, and Lindholm spirituality study. Both search for calling and presence of calling consisted of three parts consistent with Dik and Duffy's concept of calling: transcendent summons, purposeful work, and prosocial orientation. The career decidedness construct also consisted of three domains in accordance with Savickas' formulation: career path, academic major, and occupation. Spirituality, in general, highly correlated with search for calling. Correlations were also high between search for calling and presence of calling. Because of this, search for calling was found to mediate an indirect influence of spirituality on presence of calling. However, the manner in which career decidedness related to the model was not expected. According to the data, career decidedness weakly but directly correlated with presence of calling and was determined to be a predicting influence, contrary to the hypothesis. Although no meaningful correlations were discovered between spirituality and career decidedness, equanimity was discovered to meaningfully associate with both spirituality and career decidedness. Theoretical and practical implications are explored.
Stephen Thomas (Advisor)
Mark Savickas (Committee Member)
Mark Kretovics (Committee Member)
181 p.
Academic Guidance Counseling; Adult Education; Behavioral Sciences; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Pedagogy; Spirituality; Vocational Education
Spirituality; Calling; Career Decidedness; Higher Education; Spiritual Identity; Equanimity; Spiritual Quest; Transcendence; Purpose; Meaning; Values; Prosocial; Altruism; Religion; Identity; Career; Work; Vocation

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gregory, D. (2013). Envisioning a Career With Purpose: Calling and Its Spiritual Underpinnings Among College Students [Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1364220599

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gregory, David. Envisioning a Career With Purpose: Calling and Its Spiritual Underpinnings Among College Students . 2013. Kent State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1364220599.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gregory, David. "Envisioning a Career With Purpose: Calling and Its Spiritual Underpinnings Among College Students ." Doctoral dissertation, Kent State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1364220599

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1364220599
1,377
© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Envisioning a Career With Purpose: Calling and Its Spiritual Underpinnings Among College Students by David Gregory is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.