Robert Lent4
and his associates expanded on general self-efficacy theory to develop a Social
Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), a “conceptual framework aimed at understanding the
processes through which people develop educational/vocational interests, make career-relevant
choices, and achieve performances of varying quality in their educational and occupational
pursuits” (p. 62). In addition to highlighting cognitive-person variables, such as self-efficacy,
SCCT emphasizes the role of other personal, contextual, and learning variables (e.g., gender,
race or ethnicity, ability, social support, external barriers) that can help shape career trajectories,
including the means to remediate any disadvantages from being under-represented in particular
occupations.5