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Career Indecision Versus Indecisiveness

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Career Assessment

Career Indecision Versus Indecisiveness: Associations With Personality Traits and

Emotional Intelligence
Annamaria Di Fabio, Letizia Palazzeschi, Lisa Asulin-Peretz and Itamar Gati
Journal of Career Assessment 2013 21: 42 originally published online 6 August 2012
DOI: 10.1177/1069072712454698

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Article
Journal of Career Assessment
21(1) 42-56
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Career Indecision Versus Reprints and permission:
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Indecisiveness: Associations DOI: 10.1177/1069072712454698
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With Personality Traits and
Emotional Intelligence

Annamaria Di Fabio1, Letizia Palazzeschi1,

Lisa Asulin-Peretz2, and Itamar Gati3

Abstract
The goal of the present study was to investigate the distinctions between career indecision
and indecisiveness. The different patterns of the associations between career indecision and
indecisiveness, on one hand, and personality traits, career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived
social support, and emotional intelligence, on the other, were studied in a sample of 361 university
students. The results showed that career indecision, as measured by the Career Decision-making
Difficulties Questionnaire, is most highly associated with emotional intelligence, whereas career
indecisiveness, as measured by the Indecisiveness scale, is most highly associated with personality
traits, and in particular with emotional stability. This pattern of results was obtained for both women
and men; however, the prediction was stronger for indecision (R2 ¼ .76 and .55, for women and
men, respectively) than indecisiveness (R2 ¼ .35 and .28, for women than for men, respectively).
Possible explanations of these differences are discussed.

Keywords
career indecision, career decision-making difficulties, indecisiveness, personality traits, emotional
intelligence, career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived social support

Career decisions are one of the most complex and difficult decisions one has to make in the course of
life. They involve many factors and aspects that need to be taken into consideration, such as skills
and abilities, life goals, career preferences, dealing with one’s own expectations and often with those
of significant others, as well as uncertainty and the frequent necessity of making compromises.

1
Department of Psychology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
2
School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
3
Department of Psychology, Hebrew University, Israel

Corresponding Author:
Annamaria Di Fabio, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Firenze, via di San Salvi, 12, Complesso di San Salvi,
Padiglione 26, 50135 Firenze, Italy.
Email: adifabio@psico.unifi.it

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Fabio et al. 43

Therefore, it is not surprising that difficulties in the career decision-making process are the general
rule rather than the exception (Gati, 1986; Osipow, 1999).
Career indecision is a construct that refers to emergence of problems during the career
decision-making process (Brown & Rector, 2008; Gati, Krausz, & Osipow, 1996; Osipow, 1999;
Phillips & Pazienza, 1988). Indecision explains why some individuals are uncertain about their edu-
cational and vocational future, while others are more confident in making their choices (Wanberg &
Muchinsky, 1992). Indecision is generally regarded as a normal stage through which almost every-
body passes during their lifetime (Germeijs & Verschueren, 2007; Osipow, 1999; Saka & Gati,
2007; Skorikov & Patton, 2007).
In contrast to indecision, indecisiveness refers to a chronic inability to make decisions in various
contexts and situations (Frost & Shows, 1993; Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008). It is therefore important to
distinguish between indecision, which refers to a normal phase of life in which careers are chosen
and pursued, and indecisiveness, which is a personality characteristic displayed in the individual’s
difficulty in making decisions in various life contexts. Using a different framing, Savickas (2004)
distinguished between undecided individuals—those with temporary indecision, a passing inability
to choose, but with the potential make a decision in the near future—and indecisive individuals, who
suffer from chronic indecisiveness, attributable to high anxiety and low problem-solving abilities.
Thus, indecisiveness can be defined as a chronic state that stems from pervasive emotional and
personality-related difficulties (Gati, Asulin-Peretz, & Fisher, 2012; Germeijs & Verschueren,
2007; Saka et al., 2008).

Career Indecision
Few other decisions influence individuals’ lives as much as career decisions (Hackett & Betz, 1995).
Therefore, it is not surprising that understanding career indecision continues to be one of the major
issues of vocational psychology (Brown & Rector, 2008; Phillips & Pazienza, 1988; Savickas, 1995;
Skorikov, 2007). Identifying specific difficulties impeding individuals’ career decision-making
process is one of the first steps in career counseling (Osipow, 1999). To achieve this goal, Gati et
al. (1996) proposed and validated a taxonomy of difficulties in career decision making. According
to the proposed taxonomy, there are 10 types of difficulties, which are divided into two groups,
indicating a temporal distinction between the difficulties that often arise before one begins the
decision-making process (Lack of Readiness) and the difficulties that typically arise only after the
process has begun (Lack of Information and Inconsistent Information). To test this theoretical
model, Gati et al. (1996) developed the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire
(CDDQ), which was used in the present study to assess career indecision, and is described in detail
in the Method section.
Finally, career decision difficulties have also been found to be associated with personality and
emotional intelligence (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2009). With regard to personality traits, the total
CDDQ score and the three major difficulty clusters were found to correlate inversely with Extraver-
sion and positively with Neuroticism; for emotional intelligence, it was found that the total CDDQ
score and the three major difficulty clusters correlate inversely with emotional intelligence, partic-
ularly with the intrapersonal dimension.

Indecisiveness
Indecisiveness has been defined as the inability to make decisions in various contexts and situations
(Frost & Shows, 1993; Gaffner & Hazler, 2002; Patalano & Wengrovitz, 2006; Saka & Gati, 2007).
Individuals with high indecisiveness take more time to choose among different alternatives (Frost &
Shows, 1993), use less effective decisional strategies (Ferrari & Dovidio, 2000, 2001), require more

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cognitive effort in decision making (Ferrari & Dovidio, 2001), feel more threatened by ambiguous
situations (Rassin & Muris, 2005a), and are more likely to postpone decisions (Rassin & Muris,
2005b). Indeed, indecisive individuals have more difficulty choosing college majors (Gayton,
Clavin, Clavin, & Broida, 1994) and making other life decisions (Germeijs & De Boeck, 2002).
Moreover, indecisiveness has been associated with individual characteristics such as neuroticism
(Jackson, Furnham, & Lawty-Jones, 1999), low self-esteem (Burka & Yuen, 1983; Ferrari, 1991),
procrastination (Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Effert & Ferrari, 1989; Ferrari, 1992), obses-
sive–compulsive tendencies (Frost & Shows, 1993; Gayton et al., 1994), and perfectionism (Frost &
Shows, 1993; Gayton et al., 1994). More recently, Rassin, Muris, Franken, Smit, and Wong (2007)
showed that indecisiveness, as measured by the Indecisiveness scale (IS; Frost & Shows, 1993), is
negatively correlated with decision-making self-efficacy. Because of the typically unfavorable
consequences of indecisiveness, locating factors associated with it is important for designing inter-
ventions aimed at reducing them.

Personality Traits
The role of personality in vocational choices has long been recognized (e.g., Borges & Savickas,
2002; Holland, 1997; Tokar, Fischer, & Subich, 1998). The study of personality traits in the context
of career decision making has received increased attention in recent years (e.g., Gati et al., 2011;
Nilsson et al., 2007). Guichard and Huteau (2001) showed that decision-making strategies may
be a function of the context, but could nonetheless correspond to deeper personal tendencies as well.
Previous studies found career decision-making difficulties to be associated with general personality
factors, such as the Big-Five model of personality factors (e.g., Lounsbury, Hutchens, & Loveland,
2005). When personality traits are assessed in terms of Costa and McCrae’s Five-Factor Model
(1992), Extraversion and Neuroticism seem to be more associated with the difficulties involving
career decision making than with Agreeableness, Consciousness, or Openness to experience (Feld-
man, 2003; Kelly & Shin, 2009; Lounsbury et al., 2005). These results were replicated in a research
that used the CDDQ (Gati et al., 1996) to measure career decision-making difficulties; negative cor-
relations with Extraversion and positive correlations with Neuroticism emerged for the three clusters
of the CDDQ (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2009).

Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy

Career decision-making self-efficacy is regarded as one of the significant factors that affect the
career decision-making process. It is defined as the level to which the individual feels confident
in his or her ability to successfully perform tasks in the career decision-making process, such as gath-
ering occupational information, selecting goals, making plans for the future, and problem solving
(Betz, Klein, & Taylor, 1996). Inverse associations between career decision-making self-efficacy
and career indecision have consistently emerged (Betz et al., 1996; Creed, Patton, & Bartrum,
2004; Guay, Ratelle, Senécal, Larose, & Deschênes, 2006; Nota, Ferrari, Solberg, & Soresi,
2007; Osipow & Gati, 1998).

Perceived Social Support

Perceived social support may come from three groups (family, friends, and significant others; Zimet,
Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988) who can facilitate or impede the individual’s career decision-
making process. Indeed, the role of perceived social support in the career decision-making process
has been widely acknowledged (Blustein, Prezioso, & Schultheiss, 1995; Blustein, Walbridge,
Friedlander, & Palladino, 1991; Kenny & Bledsoe, 2005; Wolfe & Betz 2004; Young et al.,

44
Fabio et al. 45

2001). In the context of career indecision, familial support emerged as particularly important (Blus-
tein et al., 1995, 1991; Constantine, Wallace, & Kindaichi, 2005), and therefore it was also included
in the present research.

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence has been defined as a blend of emotional and social competences that deter-
mine the way in which one relates to oneself and to others and deals with environmental pressures
and demands (Bar-On, 2002). Because individuals with high emotional intelligence have a greater
awareness of their emotions and a greater capacity to integrate emotional experience with thoughts
and actions, emotional intelligence may have a role in career exploration and career decision making
(Brown, George-Curran, & Smith, 2003; Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2009; Emmerling & Cherniss,
2003). Indeed, emotional intelligence has been recognized in the past decade as an additional critical
variable in career choice (Di Fabio & Kenny, 2011); lower emotional intelligence has been associ-
ated with greater difficulties in each of the three clusters of the CDDQ (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi,
2008). Furthermore, emotional intelligence also appears to have a greater influence on each of three
clusters of career decision-making difficulties than either personality traits, career decision-making
self-efficacy, or perceived social support (Palazzeschi & Di Fabio, in press).

Gender Differences in Career Decision Making

Previous studies revealed gender differences in certain career decision-making variables. Gender
differences in the levels of individuals’ career decision-making difficulties were fairly small (Gati,
Osipow, Krausz, & Saka, 2000; Gati & Saka 2001), but nevertheless women were consistently found
to be more indecisive than men (Hijazi, Tatar, & Gati, 2004; Rassin & Muris, 2005; Serling & Betz,
1990). In addition, a small gender difference was reported by Saka, Gati, and Kelly (2008) in anxiety
about the process, one of the factors that are assumed to underlie general indecisiveness. Finally, a
few consistent gender differences also emerged in the way men and women tend to make career
decisions. Specifically, women tend to consult with others and to use intuition more than men (Gati,
Gadassi, & Mashiah-Cohen, 2012; Gati & Levin, 2011) and they also tend to be more dependent
than men (Mau, 2000).

The Present Research

The goal of the present research was to explore the differences between career indecision and career
indecisiveness by studying their differential patterns of associations with personality traits, career
decision-making self-efficacy, perceived social support, and emotional intelligence. Specifically,
we hypothesized that different variables would be most closely associated with indecision and
indecisiveness:

Hypothesis 1: Emotional intelligence will be more associated with career indecision than with
indecisiveness (Palazzeschi & Di Fabio, in press).
Hypothesis 2: Personality traits will be more associated with indecisiveness than with indecision
(Frost & Shows, 1993; Savickas, 2004).
Hypothesis 3: Career decision-making self-efficacy and perceived social support will be more
associated with indecision than with indecisiveness (Osipow & Gati, 1998; Palazzeschi, &
Di Fabio, in press).

In addition, in light of previous research that revealed gender differences in aspects of career deci-
sion making, we will investigate differences in the pattern of associations between career indecision

45
46 Journal of Career Assessment 21(1)

and indecisiveness, on one hand, and personality traits, career decision-making self-efficacy, per-
ceived social support, and emotional intelligence, on the other.

Method
Participants
The participants were 361 students (187 [52%] women and 174 men) from the University of
Florence. Their age ranged from 23 to 27 (M ¼ 24.04, SD ¼ 1.91). Their majors were Agricultural
Sciences (8.3%); Architecture (7.8%); Economics (8.9%); Pharmacy (7.2%); Law (9.1%); Engineer-
ing (7.5%); Humanities and Philosophy (8.3%); Medicine and Surgery (8.6%); Psychology (9.4%);
Educational Science (7.8%); Mathematical, Physical, and Natural Sciences (9.1%); Political Science
(8%); other (7.2%). They were sophomores (36.6%), juniors (29.4%), and seniors (34.1%). The
participants were predominantly White Italians from middle-class backgrounds.

Instruments
The CDDQ. We used the Italian version of the 34-item CDDQ (Gati et al., 1996), as developed by
Di Fabio and Palazzeschi (2010). As described in the Introduction, the CDDQ comprises 10 scales
representing 10 possible difficulties, organized in three major difficulty clusters. Respondents are
asked to report the degree to which each statement describes them on a 9-point Likert-type scale
(1—Does not describe me to 9—Describes me well). The CDDQ has been found reliable and its
structure is stable across cultures (Creed & Yin, 2006; Di Fabio & Kenny, 2011; Gati, Osipow,
Krausz, & Saka, 2000; Lancaster, Rudolph, Perkins, & Patten, 1999; Mau, 2001). The positive
correlations between the three clusters and 10 scales of the CDDQ, on one hand, and the Career
Decision scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico, & Koschier, 1976), on the other, as well as their
negative correlation with the Career Decision Self-Efficacy scale–Short Form (CDSES-SF; Betz
& Taylor, 2000; Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2010; Osipow & Gati, 1998), support the concurrent valid-
ity of the CDDQ. The concurrent validity of the CDDQ was also supported by the similarity between
the conclusions drawn from it on the basis of career counselees’ responses to this questionnaire and
the judgments of their career counselors (Gati, Osipow, Krausz, & Saka, 2000). The CDDQ was
found to distinguish between decided and undecided students (Lancaster et al., 1999; Mau, 2001)
and to evaluate the effectiveness of career interventions (Fouad, Cotter, & Kantamneni, 2009; Gati,
Saka, & Krausz, 2001).
The Italian version of the CDDQ has been found to have adequate psychometric properties, with
Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability estimates of .86, .90, and .92, for Lack of Readiness,
Lack of Information, and Inconsistent Information, respectively (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2010).
Furthermore, the structure of the 10 scales and the three major clusters was also supported by
Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analyses (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2010; Gati et al., 1996). The
Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability estimate of the total CDDQ score was .85 in the present
sample.

The Indecisiveness scale (Frost & Shows, 1993). To evaluate indecisiveness, we used the Italian ver-
sion of the IS (Di Fabio, Busoni, & Palazzeschi, 2011). The scale measures indecisiveness using 15
items, with a 5-point Likert-type response scale (1—strongly disagree to 5—strongly agree). Exam-
ples are When ordering from a menu, I usually find it difficult to decide what to get; It seems that
deciding on the most trivial thing takes me a long time. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a uni-
dimensional structure (Di Fabio et al., 2011). The Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability was
.85, and its concurrent validity was adequate, having correlations ranging from .44 to .68 with
dimensions of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire (Mann, Burnet, Radford, & Ford,

46
 Table 1. Correlations Among the CDDQ Total Score, Indecisiveness Scale, BFQ Personality Traits, CDSES–SF, the MSPSS Dimensions, and the Bar-On EQ-i
Total Score (N ¼ 361).

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1. CDDQ _
2. IS .51** _
3. BFQ Ex .43** .54** _
4. BFQ A .16** .20** .27** _
5. BFQ C .19** .18** .08 .19** _
6. BFQ ES .47** .57** .39** .32** .35** _
7. BFQ O .14** .16** .18** .41** .21** .35** _
8. CDSES–SF .55** .20** .26** .25** .14** .35** .14** _
9. MSPSS SO .43** .10 .22** .04 .04 .05 .03 .32** _
10. MSPSS Fa .52** .19** .28** .05 .05 .20** .01 .32** .66** _
11. MSPSS Fr .44** .12** .30** .06 .01 .13* .01 .34** .73** .69** _
12. EQ Total .70** .47** .29** .26** .27** .41** .14** .48** .32** .36** .33** _
M 4.57 41.42 71.38 77.28 73.45 71.14 73.45 60.45 14.12 13.89 14.30 317.51
SD 1.18 8.90 17.45 9.69 15.58 16.66 16.18 12.93 6.50 5.22 5.14 51.56
A .85 .82 .83 .76 .84 .89 .78 .74 .89 .89 .90 .92
Note. BFQ A ¼ agreeableness; BFQ Ex ¼ extraversion; BFQ C ¼ conscientiousness; BFQ ES ¼ emotional stability; BFQ O ¼ openness; CDSES–SF ¼ Career Decision-Making Self
Efficacy scale–Short Form; MSPSS SO ¼ MSPSS Significant Others; MSPSS Fa ¼ MSPSS Family; MSPSS Fr ¼ MSPSS Friends; QE Total ¼ Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory Total
Score.
*p < .05. **p < .01.

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48 Journal of Career Assessment 21(1)

1997) and a correlation of .67 with the general IS of the CDDQ in the present study. In the present
sample, the Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability estimate was .82.

The Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ). The BFQ is composed of 132 items, with a 5-point Likert
response scale (1—absolutely false to 5—absolutely true; Caprara, Barbaranelli, & Borgogni,
1993). The BFQ distinguishes among five fundamental personality dimensions (with two
subdimensions for each of the five). The Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability was .81 for
Extraversion, .73 for Agreeableness, .81 for Conscientiousness, .90 for Emotional Stability, and
.75 for Openness to experience (Caprara et al., 1993). The correlations with the Wechsler Adult
Intelligence scale (Wechsler, 1981) were negligible (Caprara et al., 1993). The correlations with the
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Form X (STAI, Form X, Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1968)
were .38 for Extraversion, .15 for Agreeableness, .23 for Conscientiousness, .62 for
Emotional Stability, and .15 for Openness. The reliabilities of the five factors in the present study
ranged from .76 to .89 (see Table 1, bottom row).

CDSES-SF. We used the Italian version of the CDSES-SF (Betz et al., 1996; Betz & Taylor, 2000;
Nota, Pace, & Ferrari, 2008). The Italian version comprises 20 items, with a 5-point Likert-type
scale (1—I have no confidence to 5—I have complete confidence). The Cronbach’s a reliability
of the total CDSE in the present study was .74.

The Multidimensional scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). We used the Italian version of the
MSPSS (Di Fabio & Busoni, 2008; Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, & Farley, 1988). The scale is composed
of 12 items, with a 7-point Likert-type response scale (1—strongly disagree to 7—strongly agree).
The instrument measures perceived support from family, friends, and significant others. Item exam-
ples are My family works very hard to help me, I can speak to my friends about my problems, and
When I need someone, there is always a special person who stands by me. The Cronbach’s a of the
Italian version is. 94, .93, and .94, for the dimensions of Family, Friends, and Significant others,
respectively (Di Fabio & Busoni, 2008). A confirmatory factor analysis supported the original
three-dimensional structure (Di Fabio & Busoni, 2008). In the present sample, the Cronbach’s a
internal consistency reliability estimates were .89, .90, and .89, for the dimensions of Family,
Friends, and Significant others, respectively.

The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (Bar-On EQ-I). To assess emotional intelligence, we used
the Italian version of the Bar-On EQ-I (Bar-On, 1997), which was developed by Franco and
Tappatà (2009). It comprises 133 items, with a 5-point Likert-type response scale (1—not at
all true for me to 5—absolutely true for me). The questionnaire measures five principal emo-
tional intelligence dimensions: (a) intrapersonal, associated with awareness of one’s own emo-
tions, strengths and weaknesses and the ability to express one’s feelings; (b) interpersonal,
linked to social awareness and interpersonal relationships, and involving the ability to recog-
nize others’ emotions, feelings, and needs and to establish and maintain cooperative, construc-
tive, and satisfactory relationships; (c) adaptability, connected with the ability to cope flexibly
with everyday problems; (d) stress management, the ability to cope with stressful situations
adaptively and to manage one’s emotions beneficially; and (e) general mood, which is the
capacity to be optimistic, express positive feelings, and enjoy the presence of other people. The
Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability estimates were .91, .84, .81 .87, and .83 for the
five dimensions, respectively; Cronbach’s a was .95 for the EQ-i total score (Franco &
Tappatà, 2009). The five-dimensional structure of the EQ-i was supported by a Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (Franco & Tappatà, 2009). In the present sample, the Cronbach’s a internal
consistency reliability estimate of the total EQ score was .92.

48
Fabio et al. 49

Procedure
All the questionnaires were included in a single booklet and filled out by participants in small
groups of about 20–25 students, administered by specialized personnel and conforming to the
Privacy Law. All the students filled out the questionnaires in the same order (CDDQ, IS, BFQ,
CDSES-SF, MSPSS, Bar-On EQ-i), as part of a career intervention. Filling out the booklet took
about 45–60 min.

Results
The means, standard deviations, Cronbach’s a internal consistency reliability estimates, and
Pearson correlations among the CDDQ Total Score, IS, the five BFQ Dimensions (Extraver-
sion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Openness), CDSES-SF Total
Score, MSPSS dimensions (Significant others, Family, Friends), and the Bar-On EQ-i Total
Score are presented in Table 1. As hypothesized, indecision, as measured by the CDDQ, was
highly negatively correlated with the Emotional Intelligence scale (r ¼ .70); it was also
negatively correlated with the CDSES (r ¼ .55). Noticeable negative correlations also
emerged with perceived social support (r ¼ .52, .44, and .43, for Family, Friends, and
Significant others, respectively), and with two dimensions of the Big Five—Emotional Stability
(r ¼ .47) and Extraversion (r ¼ .43).
Although indecision and indecisiveness were moderately correlated (r ¼ .51), the pattern of
their correlations with the other variables were different. Indecisiveness was associated more
strongly than indecision with Emotional Stability, r ¼ .57 vs. .47, t(358) ¼ 2.40, p < .05,
and Extraversion, r ¼ .54 vs. 43, t(358) ¼ 2.93, p < .01. In contrast, indecision correlated
more strongly than indecisiveness with emotional intelligence, r ¼ .70 vs. .47, t(358) ¼ 6.26,
p < .001).
To test the relative contribution of the different variables to the prediction of indecision and
indecisiveness, we carried out a series of stepwise multiple regression analyses; these analyses were
carried out separately for women and for men in order to test the consistency of the results. The
results, presented in Tables 2 and 3, support the hypothesis that different research variables are
associated with indecision and with indecisiveness. Specifically, as can be seen in Table 2, career
indecision is best explained by emotional intelligence for both women and men (b ¼ .45 and
.39, respectively), less by perceived social support from family (b ¼ .24 and .26, for women
and men, respectively), even less by career decision-making self-efficacy (b ¼ .19 and .22, for
women and men), and Extraversion (b ¼ .19 only for women), and least by Emotional Stability
(b ¼ .11 and .16, for women and men, respectively). A few findings are noteworthy. First, all
the bs are negative, as predicted. Second, except for the Extraversion dimension of the BFQ, the
order of the variables contributing to the prediction of indecision was similar for women and men.
Third, the prediction of indecision for women (R2 ¼ .76) was higher than that for men (R2 ¼ .55);
part of this difference is attributable to the contribution of the Extraversion dimension of the BFQ for
women, but not for men.
Table 3 presents the results of the analyses carried out to predict indecisiveness, again
separately for women and for men. As can be seen in Table 3, indecisiveness is best explained
by Emotional Stability (b ¼ .20 and .17, for women and men, respectively), less by
Extraversion (b ¼ .17 and .14, for women and men, respectively), and least by emotional
intelligence (b ¼ .14 and .11, for women and men, respectively). Again, as predicted, all
b are negative. Second, the order of variables contributing to the prediction of indecisiveness
was similar for women and men. Third, the prediction of indecisiveness for women (R2 ¼ .35)
was higher than that for men (R2 ¼ .28).

49
50 Journal of Career Assessment 21(1)

Table 2. Predicting the CDDQ Score: Results of the Multiple Regression Analyses for Women and Men.

Women (n ¼ 187) Men (n ¼ 174)

Predictor B SEB b R B SEB b R

1. QE total .01 .01 .45** .75 .01 .01 .39** .64

2. MSPSS FA .05 .01 .24** .81 .06 .01 .26** .69
3. CDSES–SF .01 .01 .19** .84 .02 .01 .22** .72
4. BFQ Ex .01 .01 .19** .86
5. BFQ ES .02 .01 .11** .87 .01 .01 .16** .74
Note. BFQ ES ¼ Emotional Stability; CDSES-SF ¼ Career Decision-Making Self Efficacy-scale–Short Form; MSPSS FA ¼ MSPSS
Family; QE Total ¼ Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory Total Score.
**p < .01., R2 ¼ .76, p < .001 for women and R2 ¼ .55, p < .001 for men.

Table 3. Predicting the Indecisiveness Score: Results of the Multiple Regression Analyses for Women and Men.

Women (n ¼ 187) Men (n ¼ 174)

Predictor B SEB b R B SEB b R

1. BFQ ES .53 .13 .20** .48 .50 .11 .17** .42

2. BFQ Ex .32 .11 .17** .55 .28 .07 .14** .46
3. QE Total .52 .11 .14** .59 .48 .09 .11** .53

Note. BFQ ES ¼ Emotional Stability; BFQ Ex ¼ Extraversion; QE Total ¼ Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory Total Score.
**p < .01. R2 ¼ .35, p < .001 for women and R2 ¼ .28, p < .001 for men.

Discussion
The present research studied the distinctions between career indecision and career indecisiveness by
investigating factors that were hypothesized as being associated with them, including personality
traits, career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived social support, and emotional intelligence.
As hypothesized, we found that different sets of variables were associated with indecision and inde-
cisiveness. Specifically, high emotional intelligence was the best predictor of low indecision, for
both women and men; in fact, it accounted for more of the variance in indecision than all of the other
variables put together. This result replicated the association recently reported between career
indecision and emotional intelligence (Palazzeschi & Di Fabio, in press), further underlining the
association of the latter with aspects of career decision-making process.
In addition, and in line with previous findings, negative correlations were found between career
indecision and (a) Extraversion and Emotional Stability (Di Fabio & Palazzeschi, 2008; Feldman,
2003; Palazzeschi & Di Fabio, in press), (b) perceived social support (especially by the family; Blus-
tein et al., 1991, 1995; Constantine et al., 2003), and (c) career decision self-efficacy (Creed et al.,
2004; Gianakos, 1999; Luzzo, 1993). These results show that in addition to within-individual
personality and cognitive characteristics, indecision is associated with external factors, specifically,
perceived social support.
The second hypothesis was also confirmed. Indecisiveness was better explained by personality
traits, especially low Emotional Stability, than by low emotional intelligence. This finding supports
the claim made by Savickas (2004) that chronic indecisiveness is associated with difficulties in man-
aging anxiety. It is also compatible with the findings of Gati et al. (2011) that, among the five dimen-
sions of the BFQ, the dimension of Emotional Stability was most highly correlated with all three
clusters of the Emotional and Personality related Career Difficulties Questionnaire (Saka & Gati,
2007), which measure career indecisiveness (Gati, Asulin-Peretz, & Fisher, 2012).

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Fabio et al. 51

However, emotional intelligence was also associated with indecisiveness—its inclusion in the regres-
sion as an additional predictor of indecisiveness increased R2 by 5% and 7% (for women and men,
respectively), over the variance accounted for by the Emotional Stability and the Extraversion factors
of the BFQ (30% and 21%, for women and men, respectively). It has been reported that emotional intel-
ligence can be increased with specific training (Di Fabio & Kenny, 2011). The present findings suggest
that such an increase in emotional intelligence could reduce not only indecision but also indecisiveness.
Emotional Stability was found to predict indecisiveness (R2 ¼ 23% and 18%, for women and
men, respectively); however, although its contribution to the prediction of indecision was also sta-
tistically significant, it was negligible in terms of variance explained (DR2 was only 2% and 3%, for
women and men, respectively). This distinction supports the claim that indecisiveness has its roots in
personality, supporting previous studies on the factors underlying indecisiveness (Gati et al., 2011;
Saka & Gati, 2007; Saka, Gati, & Kelly, 2008).
Because of previous findings about gender differences in career decision making (e.g., Gati et al.,
2010, 2011; Hijazi, Tatar, & Gati, 2004; Mau, 2000), the analyses were carried out separately for
women and men. The similarity of the results for women and men, for predicting both indecision
and indecisiveness, supports the generalizability of the results. However, an unpredicted pattern
emerged: the variance accounted for both in indecision and in indecisiveness was consistently higher
for women than for men. This unexpected result cannot be explained by the larger within-group
differences in both indecision and indecisiveness for women as compared to men, because the SD
was in fact slightly higher for men than for women in both measures. This difference, however,
is compatible with previous reports about the inconsistency of the conclusions about gender
differences in the associations between emotional intelligence and other measures (e.g., Brown et
al., 2003). Thus, further research is required to test the consistency of the difference between women
and men in the strength of associations between indecision and indecisiveness, on one hand, and the
various measures used to predict them, on the other, and discover its source.
The other unexpected result—that the prediction of indecisiveness was much lower than that of
indecision—reflects that indecisiveness is a more complex phenomenon, and therefore harder to pre-
dict. This account is supported by the fact that only 3 of the 10 possible predictors included in the
regression analysis contributed to the prediction of indecisiveness; thus, other variables, for exam-
ple, the individual’s career decision-making profile (Gati et al., 2010) or style (Harren, 1979), should
also be considered in future research.

Limitations
Before discussing the implications, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of this research.
The first limitation is that all data were collected in a single session; although the CDDQ and the
IS were filled out before the other measures, future studies should use a longitudinal instead of a
correlational design. Second, because the participants were students at the University of Florence,
future research should test the associations between indecision and indecisiveness and the other
measures in a more heterogeneous Italian sample, as well as samples from other countries. Another
limitation involves the use of self-report measurements only; in particular, regarding the assessment
of emotional intelligence, future research should use other instruments to assess ability-based emo-
tional intelligence, such as the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso (2002) Emotional Intelligence Test.

Implications
The results of the present research contribute to the study of the constructs of career indecision and
indecisiveness, highlighting similarities and differences. The distinction between indecision and
indecisiveness is of interest because they differ in their severity and hence in their implications for

51
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the career counseling process (Gati, Amir, & Landman, 2010). The differential strength of the asso-
ciations of career indecision and indecisiveness with emotional intelligence supports the theoretical
distinction between the two, a distinction that has been repeatedly reported in previous studies (e.g.,
Gaffner & Hazler, 2002; Germeijs & De Boeck, 2002; Saka & Gati, 2007). The associations of these
two constructs with emotional intelligence open novel intervention options on both career indecision
and indecisiveness. Indeed, Di Fabio and Kenny (2011) demonstrated how a training program for
enhancing emotional intelligence increased emotional intelligence (both ability-based and self-
reported) according to the ability-based model (Mayer et al., 2002), and moreover reduced not only
career decision-making difficulties but also general indecisiveness.
The development of emotional intelligence seems to be a strong factor (Hage et al., 2007) pre-
paring individuals to cope adaptively with environmental demands by improving their social skills
and facilitating their ability to succeed in life. It may therefore be suggested that, in a preventive
perspective (Kenny, Horne, Orpinas, & Reese, 2009), emotional intelligence might also be a key
ingredient in innovative interventions in career decision making.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank Reuma Gadassi, Naomi Goldblum, and Nimrod Levin for their comments on a previous
version of this article. This research was supported in part by the Research Laboratory of Psychology for
Vocational Guidance and Career Counseling at the University of Florence and the Samuel and Esther Melton
chair of the last author.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.

Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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