Gietzel-Tierney, Andrea M. (2010) Mindfulness as a Predictor of Alertness and Responsiveness to Job Opportunities and Job Satisfaction and Its Potential to Satisfy Happenstance Learning Theory Career Counselling Objectives. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The proposers of Happenstance Learning Theory (HLT) suggest that a career counsellor’s primary objective should be to help clients identify, remain alert to and responsive to unexpected job opportunities so as to increase their clients’ potential to experience job satisfaction and life satisfaction (Krumboltz, 1998, 2009). Further, the founders of the concept of mindfulness (i.e., the Buddhists and Hindus; Brown & Ryan, 2003; Hayes, 2002; O’Driscoll, 2009) propose that mindfulness (i.e., the act of bringing one’s conscious awareness to the present moment with openness, interest and receptiveness; Harris, 2006, 2007) results in alertness and responsiveness to opportunities (Harris, 2007; Kabat-Zinn, 2002; Mijares, 2003), whilst Bond and Bunce (2003) suggest that one aspect of mindfulness (i.e., psychological acceptance) has a positive and significant correlation with job satisfaction. With this background in mind, the potential benefit that mindfulness training has for career counsellors in helping them to achieve their objective comes into question. The reasons are twofold. First, because mindfulness is said to predict an outcome (i.e., alertness and responsiveness to opportunities) that is similar to a HLT career counsellor’s objective (i.e., helping clients to be more alert and responsive to unexpected job opportunities). Second, because one aspect of mindfulness (i.e., psychological acceptance, or alternatively labelled by Baer, Smith & Allen, 2003 as acceptance without judgment) is positively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction (Bond & Bunce, 2003), the latter being the same objective HLT career counsellors help set for their clients (Krumboltz, 1998, 2009). Therefore, using three online surveys and 120 participants, in total, from a Queensland State Government Department, USQ Research Methods B psychology class and the author’s social network, the present study aimed to empirically measure whether mindfulness predicts: (a) alertness and responsiveness to opportunities, and job opportunities, in particular; and/or (b) job satisfaction. The perceived benefit of conducting this study was primarily to inform research as to whether career counsellors could better achieve their objective (i.e., helping their clients to identify, remain alert and responsive to unexpected job opportunities and in turn, experience more job satisfaction) by training in mindfulness practices themselves and/or teaching mindfulness practices to their clients. The empirical findings of this research suggest that mindfulness does not significantly predict alertness and responsiveness to job opportunities, nor job satisfaction. They do suggest, however, that individual aspects of mindfulness, namely, observing (Baer, Smith & Allen, 2004: equivalent to the ACT defined aspect of mindfulness, “living in the present moment”, Harris, 2006, 2007) and accepting without judgment (Baer et al., 2004; equivalent to the ACT defined aspect of mindfulness, “allowing one’s thoughts and feelings to be as they are”; Harris, 2006, 2007) do significantly predict job satisfaction. Limitations attached to these findings, however, include: (a) the use of an Alertness and Responsiveness to Job Opportunities Scale without established validity; (b) a restricted range of scores; and (c) unaccounted for, potentially confounding variables. It is recommended that future studies replicate this one, but: (a) use qualitative methods to measure alertness and responsiveness to job opportunities to account for circumstantial responses; (b) incorporate measures of potentially confounding variables; and (c) use a sample that is more representative of the Australian working population to achieve more reliable and useful results.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | du Preez, Jan |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 06 Jan 2026 07:14 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Jan 2026 07:14 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52347 |
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