Although sharing this general assumption, SCCT is distinct from,
yet complements, Holland’s theory in a number of respects. For
example, SCCT highlights personal goals as forming an important
intermediate link between interests and actions; it also identifies
self-efficacy and outcome expectations as shapers of interest pat-
terns and as co-determinants of choice.
This last point deserves clarification. For many persons, career
choices are not made under “optimal conditions.” Economic need,
educational limitations, lack of familial support, or various other
considerations may inhibit the pursuit of one’s primary interests or
preferred career goals (Vroom, 1964; Williamson, 1939). Figure 7.2
shows that career choice goals and actions may be influenced
directly by self-efficacy and outcome expectations (see paths 8–11).
These supplementary paths help explain the many real-world
instances in which people need to compromise their interests in
selecting a vocational path. In such instances, goals and actions
may be influenced less by interests than by job availability in con-
cert with self-efficacy and outcome expectations (that is, beliefs
about whether one can perform the available work and whether the
incentives are sufficient).
Contextual Influences.As implied by the foregoing analysis, there
are limits to people’s free agency in making career choices. Thus
career development theorists need to reckon with both external
and internal factors that affect choice behavior. In conceptualizing
contextual or environmental influences, we drew on the work of
Vondracek, Lerner, and Schulenberg (1986) and Astin (1984). The
former called attention to the physical, cultural, material, and social
features of the environment and highlighted the concept of “con-
textual affordances,” referring to the resources one perceives as
being provided by one’s environment. This concept is similar to
Astin’s notion of the perceived “structure of opportunity.” Both
concepts’ attention to personal perceptionsof the environment is
consistent with the importance that SCCT places on cognitive
appraisal processes in guiding behavior. Such a view does not min-
274 CAREER CHOICE AND DEVELOPMENT