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Personal agency in employment groups

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of viewing employment group programs as processes of enhancing personal agency. Personal causation theory (deCharms, 1976) was used to operationalize the concept of personal agency. Two questions were investigated. First, does personal agency increase in individuals after participating in employment groups? Second, how do the outcomes derived from employment groups compare to deCharms' conditions for developing personal agency? Twenty-seven unemployed or underemployed participants from three different programs were interviewed to elicit anecdotal stories from their experience before and after the program, and to collect helpful and hindering factors using the Critical Incident Technique. The Origin Scoring System was used to rate the stories yielding pre- and post-program scores for each participant. A 2-factor analysis of variance with repeated measures revealed a strong treatment effect (p<.001) with no group effect, suggesting a significant increase in personal agency in the three groups represented. A sorting of critical incident outcomes demonstrated that deCharms1 conditions for developing personal agency are valid with employment groups but six additional conditions were required to complete the sorting. Other findings suggested the presence of out-of-program experiences complementing or detracting from the program, the fundamental importance of supportive interactions among group members, the need for the balanced use of both task- oriented and supportive components in a program, and skills identification as the most valued aspect of self-assessment. The findings suggest that personal agency may be a useful organizing principle for guiding theory, research and practice in employment and career counselling.

Thesis/Dissertation

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2009-04-20

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/7415

Counselling Psychology

University of British Columbia

UBCV

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