Career Factors Inventory

Introduction

The Career Factors Inventory (CFI), is described as a multidimensional measure of

sources of career indecision which was initially developed by Steven M. Robbins along
with Wes Morril and [Link] in the year 1981 and identified the external and internal
factors influencing the career decision making process. In the year 1989, with Steven B.
Robbins and team, career counsellor Judy M. Chartrand became involved in the
development of a comprehensive tool and was successfully published in 1990,
demonstrating high reliability and validity (CFI; Chartrand et al., 1990).

Definition of the Construct

The purpose of CFI is to check the readiness of an individual to make a career choice
and also identify and measure the sources of indecision for an unsure individual (CFI;
Chartrand et al., 1990). These sources of indecision have been translated as constructs
or variables that are measured in this tool. The constructs given are based on two
fundamental needs of career decision making, Information and Decision needs. From
the above needs, there are 4 key constructs that are measured in CFI and they are as
follows : Career Information, Self Knowledge, Career-Choice Anxiety and General
Indecisiveness.

Informational Needs

i) Need for Career Information: Career information is a general designation of all

information related to career (Qi & Yanli , 2007). It relates to education, training, and
other information about specific occupations (Hartz & Lambert, 1980). In CFI, it is
defined as a perceived need for an individual to acquire specific information about
experiences in various occupations before deriving a conclusion of career decision as
part of an effective career search (CFI; Chartrand et al., 1990).

ii) Need for Self Knowledge: Self knowledge is a dynamic, ever-changing information
which implies the awareness of one’s feelings, attributes, motivations, and abilities
(McGill University). With respect to career decision making , self knowledge is the
desire to understand oneself before making a career decision (CFI; Chartrand et al.,
1990).
Decision Needs

i) Career Choice Anxiety: Career Choice Anxiety is a personal-emotional facet that is

defined as the level of reported anxiety that is associated with the process of career
decision-making (Jonck et al. 2019). In simple terms, the level of nervousness one feels
when faced with making a career decision (CFI; Chartrand et al., 1990).

ii) Generalised Indecisiveness: The general tendency to have difficulty with making
decisions (CFI; Chartrand et al., 1990). The characteristic of generalized indecisiveness
is that the indecision not only pertains to career decision making but also includes all
aspects of life. In precise, it is the tendency to experience problems with making
decisions across situations and domains (Crites, 1969).

Theoretical Framework

As mentioned earlier, CFI measures the readiness of individuals to make decisions

about their career and also finds the sources of hindrance from making a career
decision. CFI investigates both personal-emotional and informational factors and also
to determine the where and why reasons for indecisiveness. So, CFI is developed based
on a few theoretical frameworks.

Williamson (1939), highlighted the importance of having both self-awareness and

knowledge about occupations when making career decisions. Later, Bordin (1946),
shifted the focus to internal psychological factors, such as anxiety about making
choices and inner conflicts. Crites (1981) added another layer, noting that career
indecision can arise from a lack of information, while indecisiveness is often tied to high
levels of anxiety. Together, these perspectives show how various factors, both external
knowledge and internal emotions, can shape career decision-making in different ways.

The CFI has its framework built on John Crites Career Counseling Model and can be
Crites’ model includes differential diagnosis, dynamic diagnosis, and decisional
diagnosis (Crites, 1976) which forms the foundation for the CFI's construct design. The
differential diagnosis focuses on identifying specific career problems, and is reflected
in the CFI’s focus on assessing the Need for Career Information (gaps in occupational
knowledge) and Need for Self-Knowledge (lack of awareness of personal strengths
and interests). Likewise, the dynamic diagnosis step examines the root causes of
career indecision problem which aligns with the CFI’ s measurement of emotional and
psychological factors like Career Choice Anxiety and Generalized Indecisiveness.
Finally, decisional diagnosis, which looks at how individuals are managing their career
challenges is not explored in CFI. By integrating these elements, the CFI bases Crites
model to identify, understand, and address career decision-making difficulties.
History and Development of the Scale

The CFI test was developed over a period of 15 years and was published in the year
1990. It was developed through several stages. In the first stage, on the basis of a
review of the literature, five salient career indecision factors were identified: need for
self knowledge, need for career info, generalized indecisiveness, career choice anxiety
and self esteem. All of the construct definitions were developed and then multiple items
representing each construct were written. A principal-components analysis was done (
rest from pdf ….)

Description of the tool

(Chartrand et al., 1990)

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