Construction and Initial Validation of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory

Abstract

This study was conducted to develop and initially evaluate the psychometric properties of the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI), which aims to assess skill in using chance events to develop career opportunities. After item generation and exploratory factor analysis, 130 original items were reduced to 25 items across 5 factors (5 items for each corresponding factor). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the validity of this 5-factor structure, and the goodness of fit showed an adequate fit to the observed data for both women and men. Results showed that PHCI subscales correlated moderately and in expected directions with career preparation, career decision-making self-efficacy, and career stress. These findings suggest that the PHCI, which assesses 5 dimensions of career-related planned happenstance skill, shows promise as a useful tool for facilitating understanding of the influence of chance events on career choice behavior.