Re-Examining the Career Anchor Model: An Investigation of Career Values and Motivations among Women in the Information Technology Profession

Background

Schein (1971) first introduced the concept of a career anchor or career orientation as “that element of our self-concept that we will not give up, even if forced to make a difficult choice” (p. 158). Hence, career anchors describe a self-perceived pattern of talents, values, needs, abilities, attitudes, and the evolved sense of motives that attract individuals to particular occupations. Schein (1982) writes:

“Talents, motives and values come to be inter-related into a more or less congruent total self-concept through a reciprocal process of learning to be better at those things we are motivated to do and value, learning to want and value those things we are good at, and avoid those things we are not motivated to do or do not value, resulting in loss of abilities or skills in those areas” (p. 2).