The interdependent family-centric career: career perspective of the overseas Chinese in Indonesia.(Global Visions)

This theoretical article presents an interdisciplinary approach to extend the scope of current career theories and their application to the overseas Chinese (OC) in Indonesia. Using an ecological model to analyze culture and an emic perspective, the article discusses several factors that affect careers of OC Indonesians. Factors such as culture, discrimination, subjective careers, Confucian values, and family business structure arc discussed as variables that create a bounded career perspective. This conceptual view is used as a foundation to discuss the needs for future research and the development of a cross cultural career model that is applicable in bounded career environments.

The construct of careers has received renewed vigor in the last few years as exemplified by a number of special issues: International Journal of Human Resource Management ("The Odyssey of Career," 2003), Journal of Organizational Behavior (Guntz & Heslin, 2005), and The Career Development International (Inkson, Khapova, & Parker, 2007). Much of the recent research in the field of career counseling (M. B. Arthur, Khapova, & Wilderom, 2005; Pang, 2003; Peel & Inkson, 2004; Pringle & Mallon, 2003) has been inspired by the boundaryless career construct introduced by M. B. Arthur and Rousseau (1996). Despite the accolades that the boundaryless career construct has received, there is also evidence to suggest that this model and others are not generalizable. In other words, the boundaryless career model as well as other career theories may have been conceptualized with a particular group in mind rather than being a universal career model. Granrose and Chua (1996) acknowledged that the boundaryless career model may not be applicable in some contexts because it is predicated on "an individualistic, action-oriented, and self-directed" (p. 212) work experiences. Furthermore, Inkson and Arthur's (2001) work suggested that the construct may be more suited to individuals who possess skills, experience, and labor market power.

In this article, I make two major theoretical contributions to the field of career counseling. First, I present an emic contextual foundation for investigating careers of the urban overseas Chinese (OC) in Indonesia. In doing so, my aim is to extend career theory to encompass a more diverse and cross-cultural perspective (N. Arthur & McMahon, 2005; Cook, Heppner, & O'Brien, 2002; Leong & Serafica, 2001; Pringle & Mallon, 2003; Stead, 2004). I discuss a bounded view (Pang, 2003; Raider & Burt, 1996) of the career construct through the lens of urban OC Indonesians. Specifically, I use ecological and social psychology perspectives to discuss culture as a key influence affecting the career constructs of OC Indonesians. In this article, I apply the ecosystem model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) to analyze micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystems variables that influence the careers of OC Indonesians. On the basis of these theoretical foundations, I present a number of propositions concerning the career development of OC Indonesians and individuals in a bounded career environment, as well as directions for future research.

Cross-cultural Career Theories

Cross-cultural critiques repeatedly emphasize that existing career nicotics are predominantly U.S. - biased and do not effectively account for the experiences of women, racial/ethnic minorities, and individuals coming from more collectively oriented cultures with an interdependent self-concept (Cook et al., 2002; Leong & Serafica, 2001; Pringle & Mallon, 2003; Stead, 2004; Thomas & Inkson, 2007). Although some theories have provided a good alternative to the bounded or organizational career model, the boundaryless career model is still emergent and has not been investigated in relation to individuals who do not view paid work as being central to their lives or for those with career goals other than self-expression and independence (Henderson & Chan, 2005). Researchers have also identified older career theories, such as that of Super (1990), as not having accounted for "culture-specific elements in the social experiences of racial and ethnic minorities" (Leong & Serafica, 2001, p. 197). Similarly, other theories that do account for the person-environment fit, such as Holland's (1997) career typology theory of vocational behavior, have been criticized for their lack of applicability to "understanding and promoting career development in culturally and socioeconomically diverse contexts'' (Hartung, 2002, p. 14; see also Osipow & Fitzgerald, 1996). In summary, the major criticism of existing career theories is that many of them have not been substantially validated for marginalized racial/ethnic minorities and in contexts external to paid work.

Culture as a Significant Variable in Career Development

Recent works that included alternative cultures, social structures, and racial/ ethnic minorities in their investigation have found that the careers of people in marginalized groups are bounded (i.e., limited by physical, cultural, institutional, and subjective boundaries; N. Arthur & McMahon, 2005; Cook et al., 2002; Fouad & Byars-Winston, 2005; Pang, 1996, 2003; Pringle & Mallon, 2003). Furthermore, Cook et al. highlighted that not all individuals have the luxury of making career choices. For many people of low-income status, having a paid job is a necessity that often docs not involve choices about a career path. In these cases, the oppressive nature of poverty and lack of skill become salient influences on career development (Pang, 1996, 2003; Peel & Inkson, 2004).