1. Career development and career management research: 

     Traditional theories cannot offer satisfactory understanding for career development in a changing environment that is characterized by high levels of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA). Drawing upon interdisciplinary theories and research methods, I’m trying to investigate these important questions:

a)       How to theorize person-environment fit in a changing career world?

i)        Guan, Y., Deng, H., Fan, L. & Zhou, X. (2021). Theorizing person-environment fit in a changing career world: Interdisciplinary integration and future directions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 126, 103557.

ii)       Deng, H., Guan, Y., Wu, C. H., Erdogan, B, Bauer., T. &, Yao, X. (2018). A relational model of overqualification: The role of interpersonal influence on overqualified employees’ social acceptance and performance. Journal of Management, 44, 3288-3310.

iii)     Deng, H., Wu, C. H., Leung, K., & Guan, Y. (2016). Depletion from value incongruence: A limited-resource account for the effect of person-organization misfit on job performance. Personnel Psychology, 69, 431-465.

iv)     Guan, Y., Deng, H., Risavy, S. D., Bond, M. H., & Li, F. (2011). Supplementary fit, complementary fit and work-related attitudes: The role of self-construal. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 60, 286-310.

b)      How to develop individuals’ career adaptability and prepare them for future career transitions?

i)        Guan, Y., Wang, Z., Gong, Q., Cai, Z., Xu, S. L., Xiang, Q., Wang, Y., Chen, S. X., Hu, H., & Tian, L. (2018). Parents' career values, adaptability, career-specific parenting behaviors and undergraduates' career adaptability. The Counseling Psychologist, 46, 922-946.

ii)       Guan, Y., Wang, F., Liu, H., Ji, Y., Jia, X., Fang, Z., Li, Y., Hua, H., & Li, C. (2015). Career-specific parental Behaviour, career exploration and career adaptability: A three-wave investigation among Chinese university students. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 86, 95-103.

iii)     Guan. Y., Liu, S., Guo, M. J., Li, M., Wu, M., Chen, S. X., Xu, S. L., & Tian, L. (2018). Acculturation orientations and Chinese student sojourners' career adaptability: The roles of career exploration and cultural distance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 104, 228-239.

iv)     Guan, Y., Dai, X., Gong, Q., Deng, Y., Hou, Y., Dong, Z., Wang, L., Huang, Z., & Lai, X.  (2017). Understanding the trait basis of career adaptability: A two-wave mediation analysis among Chinese university students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 101, 32-42.

v)       Guan, Y., Cai, Z., Ding, Y., Wang, Y., Huang, Z., & Lai, X. (2017). Modeling dynamics in career construction: Reciprocal relationship between future work self and career exploration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 101, 21-31.

vi)     Guo, Y., Guan, Y.*, Yang, X., Xu, J., Zhou, X., She, Z., Jiang, P., Wang, Y., Pan, J., Deng, Y., Pan, Z., & Fu, M. (2014). Career adaptability, calling and the professional competence of social work students in China: A career construction perspective. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 85, 394-402.

c)       What are the pros and cons of boundaryless careers for individual career success?

i)        Guan, Y., Arthur, M. B., Khapova, S. N., Hall, R., & Lord, R. G. (2019). Career Boundarylessness and career success: A review, integration and guide to future research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 390-402.

ii)       Guan, Y., Yang, W., Zhou, X., Tian, Z., & Eves, A. (2016). Predicting Chinese human resource managers' strategic competence: Roles of identity, career variety, organizational support and career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 92, 116-124.

d)      Ultimately, how to build an interdisciplinary framework for the origin, evolution and extinction of occupations and careers? 

2. Organizational Behavior and HRM research:

    I’m interested in the interactions of individual, relational, organizational and cultural factors in predicting employee work outcomes, such as performance, creativity, turnover behaviors, and so on.

a)       How to motivate and retain high-potential employees?

i)        Yang, X., Guan, Y., Zhang, Y., She, Z., Buchtel, E., Mak, M., & Hu, H. (2020). A relational model of career adaptability and career prospects: The roles of leader-member exchange and agreeableness. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 93, 405-430.

ii)       Guan, Y., Zhou, W., Ye, L., Jiang, P., & Zhou, Y. (2015). Perceived organizational career management and career adaptability as predictors of success and turnover intention among Chinese employees. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 88, 230-237.

iii)     Guan, Y., Wen, Y., Chen, S. X., Liu, H., Si, W., Liu, Y., Wang, Y., Fu, R., Zhang, Y., & Dong, Z. (2014). When do salary and job level predict career satisfaction and turnover intention among Chinese managers? The role of perceived organizational career management and career anchor. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23, 596-607.

b)      Leader-follower dynamics:  

i)        Deng, H., Lam, C. K., Guan, Y., & Wang, M. (2020). My fault or yours? leaders’ dual reactions to abusive supervision via rumination depend on their independent self‐construal. Personnel Psychology.

ii)       Deng, H., Walter, F., & Guan, Y. (2020). Supervisor-Directed Emotional Labor as Upward Influence: An Emotions-as-Social-Information Perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41, 384-402.

3. Cultural psychology and cross-cultural management: 

a)       How does culture influence individual career behaviors?

i)        Guan, Y. Deng, H., & Zhou X. (2020). Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on career development: Insights from cultural psychology. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 119, 103448.

ii)       Guan, Y., Chen, S. X., Levin, N., Bond, M., Luo, N., Xu, J., Zhou, X., Chen, P., Li, C., Fu, R., Zhang, J., Ji, Y., Mo, Z., Li, Y., Fang, Z., Jiang, D., & Han, X. (2015). Differences in career decision-making profiles between American and Chinese university students: The relative strength of mediating mechanisms across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46, 856-872.

iii)     Willner, T., Gati, I, & Guan, Y. (2015). Career decision-making profiles and career decision-making difficulties: A cross-cultural comparison among US, Israeli, and Chinese samples. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 88, 143-153.

b)      Understanding cultural differences in morality:

i)        Buchtel, E., Guan, Y., Peng, Q., Su, Y., Sang, B., Chen, S. X., & Bond, M. H. (2015). Immorality East and West: Are immoral Behaviours especially harmful, or especially uncultured? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41, 1382-1394.

c)       How to motivate pro-environmental behaviors across cultures?

i)        Bain, P. G., Kroonenberg, P. M., Johansson, L.-O., Milfont, T. L., Crimston, C. R., Kurz, T., Bushina, E., Calligaro, C., Demarque, C. , Guan, Y., & Park, J. (2019). Public views of the sustainable development goals across countries. Nature Sustainability, 2, 819-825.

ii)       Bain, P. G., et al., Guan, Y., et al. (2016). Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action across the world. Nature Climate Change, 6, 154-157.

iii)     Milfont, T. L. et al., Guan, Y. et al. (2017). On the relation between social dominance orientation and environmentalism: A 25-nation study. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

d)      Understanding culture from a social axiom perspective:

i)        Chen, S. X., Lam, B., Wu, W., Ng, J., Buchtel, E., Guan, Y., & Deng, H. (2016). Do people’s world views matter? The why and how. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110, 743-765.

ii)       Chen, S. X., Jacky C. K. N., Buchtel, E. E., Guan, Y., Deng, H., & Bond, M. H. (2017).  The added value of worldviews over self-views: Predicting modest behaviour in Eastern and Western cultures. British Journal of Social Psychology, 56, 723-749.

e)      Understanding people’s responses to globalization:

i)        Chen, S. X., Lam, B., Hui, B., Ng, J., Mak, W., Guan, Y., Buchtel, E., Tang, W., & Lau, V. (2016). Conceptualizing psychological processes in response to globalization: Components, antecedents, and consequences of global orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,110, 302-331.