Integrating Job Loss, Unemployment, and Reemployment With Social Cognitive Career Theory

Abstract

Job loss and recovery remain critical challenges in the United States and Europe in the wake of the Great Recession. However, the experience of unemployment is poorly integrated in theories of vocational psychology. In this article, we explore how job loss and recovery can be understood through the lens of social cognitive career theory’s career self-management (SCCT-CSM) model. We apply the SCCT-CSM model to understand the critical importance of person-cognitive variables, individual differences, and contextual affordances to the experiences of job loss and job recovery. Implications for future research, including research with particular groups of unemployed persons, are discussed. Overall, our analysis indicates that the SCCT-CSM model is a fruitful perspective for organizing future scholarship related to job loss and recovery.