IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i11p8874-d1160695.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Perceived Barriers to Career Advancement: A Study with a Sample of Italian University Students

Author

Listed:
  • Mara Marini

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Stefano Livi

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Laura Prislei

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Chiara Parisse

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Alessandra Cecalupo

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Federica Scarci

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

  • Guido Benvenuto

    (Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

The goals established by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the new needs that globalization has created, have prompted researchers to examine young people’s educational and professional experiences in the context of economic and social disadvantages, considering agency capacities and psychological factors. Following these research interests, this study aimed to evaluate Italian university students’ perceptions of socioeconomic barriers to achieving professional goals and the effects of these perceived barriers on some indicators of adaptation. The study included 401 Italian university students ( M = 24.18, SD = 3.33). The results demonstrated that economic constraints can be a psychological barrier to career advancement by negatively influencing the perception of being able to actively choose one’s professional future and by diminishing the psychological resources required to adapt to complex environments. In turn, this can indirectly affect the perceived gap between a person’s career goals and their progress toward achieving them, thereby impeding their adaptation processes. The implications of the research are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mara Marini & Stefano Livi & Laura Prislei & Chiara Parisse & Alessandra Cecalupo & Federica Scarci & Guido Benvenuto, 2023. "The Impact of Perceived Barriers to Career Advancement: A Study with a Sample of Italian University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-22, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8874-:d:1160695
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8874/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/11/8874/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Silvia Gilardi & Chiara Guglielmetti, 2011. "University Life of Non-Traditional Students: Engagement Styles and Impact on Attrition," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(1), pages 33-53, January.
    2. Chen, Shih-Chih & Jiang, Wei & Ma, Yin, 2020. "Decent work in a transition economy: An empirical study of employees in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Contini, Dalit & Salza, Guido, 2020. "Too few university graduates. Inclusiveness and effectiveness of the Italian higher education system," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    4. Simon Marginson, 2016. "High Participation Systems of Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 87(2), pages 243-271, March.
    5. Minsun Kim & Jaehoon Kim, 2022. "Examining Predictors and Outcomes of Decent Work among Korean Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-20, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arnone, Massimo & Angelillis, Barbara & Costantiello, Alberto & Leogrande, Angelo, 2024. "Graduates, Training and Employment Across the Italian Regions," MPRA Paper 121117, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Silke L. Schneider, 2022. "The classification of education in surveys: a generalized framework for ex-post harmonization," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1829-1866, June.
    3. Marie-Agnès Détourbe & Gaële Goastellec, 2018. "Revisiting the Issues of Access to Higher Education and Social Stratification through the Case of Refugees: A Comparative Study of Spaces of Opportunity for Refugee Students in Germany and England," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-20, October.
    4. Green, Francis & Henseke, Golo, 2021. "Europe's evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-2.
    5. Duryea, Suzanne & Ribas, Rafael P. & Sampaio, Breno & Sampaio, Gustavo R. & Trevisan, Giuseppe, 2023. "Who benefits from tuition-free, top-quality universities? Evidence from Brazil," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. De la Cruz, Marco & Mergoni, Anna, 2024. "Assessing the performance of Peruvian education system from a governance perspective," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    7. Facchini, Marta & Triventi, Moris & Vergolini, Loris, 2019. "Do Grants Improve the Outcomes of University Students in a Context with High Dropout Rates? Evidence from a Matching Approach," SocArXiv k3gwv, Center for Open Science.
    8. Shu Wang & Xiao Yu & Kuo Zhang & Jipeng Pei & Karlis Rokpelnis & Xuelong Wang, 2022. "How does education affect intergenerational income mobility in Chinese society?," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 774-792, May.
    9. Lawal O. Yesufu, 2018. "Motives and Measures of Higher Education Internationalisation: A Case Study of a Canadian University," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 7(2), pages 155-155, April.
    10. Wang, Dong & Wang, Ziwei & Zong, Xiaohua, 2023. "Impact of economic policy uncertainty on higher education expansion," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    11. Jacob, W. James & Mok, Ka Ho & Cheng, Sheng Yao & Xiong, Weiyan, 2018. "Changes in Chinese higher education: Financial trends in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 64-85.
    12. Pierre Canisius Kamanzi & Gaële Goastellec & Laurence Pelletier, 2021. "Mass University and Social Inclusion: The Paradoxical Effect of Public Policies," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 32-43.
    13. Jennifer M. Ferguson & Dave Griffiths, 2018. "Preparing Versus Persuading: Inequalities between Scottish State schools in University Application Guidance Practices," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-14, September.
    14. Carlo Perrotta, 2018. "Digital Learning in the UK: Sociological Reflections on an Unequal Marketplace," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-12, September.
    15. Weihui Mei & Lorraine Pe Symaco, 2021. "Higher Education for Development: The Role of University Towns in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, September.
    16. Koirala, Niraj P. & Koirala, Dhiroj Prasad & Nyiwul, Linus & Hu, Zhining, 2024. "Economic uncertainty, households’ credit situations, and higher education," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    17. Dalit Contini & Maria Laura Di Tommaso & Caterina Muratori & Daniela Piazzalunga & Lucia Schiavon, 2023. "A lost generation? Impact of COVID-19 on high school students' achievements," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 691 JEL Classification: I, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    18. Elizabeth Knight, 2019. "Massification, Marketisation and Loss of Differentiation in Pre-Entry Marketing Materials in UK Higher Education," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-17, October.
    19. De Donder, Philippe & Martinez-Mora, Francisco, 2017. "The political economy of higher education admission standards and participation gap," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 1-9.
    20. Satoshi Araki, 2022. "Does Education Make People Happy? Spotlighting the Overlooked Societal Condition," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 587-629, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:11:p:8874-:d:1160695. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.