A NEW VOCATIONAL PERSONALITY THEORY IN THE CHINESE CULTURAL CONTEXT: THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE WBCP TEN-DIMENSIONAL MODEL
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19657687Keywords:
cultural psychology; cultural socialization scripts; vocational personality; work behavior; job accountability; typical occupational behavior process; interpretability; theoretical propositionsAbstract
Purpose: To address the recurrent interpretive failures that arise when mainstream Western vocational
personality and trait models are applied in Chinese settings - for example, the same score being assigned opposite
meanings across jobs, or key work-behavior orientations being compressed or omitted - this article proposes a culturally
embedded middle-range theoretical framework. The framework is designed to translate personality tendencies into jobaccountability
logics and executable behavioral processes in a stable manner, thereby making person-job explanations
more interpretable and testable. Method/Approach: The study adopts a problem-driven theory-building strategy anchored
by the dual lens of cultural socialization and occupational classification. Through systematic induction from Chinese
occupational classifications and job descriptions, comparative analysis of representative cases in career consulting and
organizational assessment, and abductive iteration across counterexample testing, boundary clarification, and construct
refinement, the article develops ten career-personality dimensions with observable indicators. It further proposes typical
occupational behavior processes as the mechanism bridge and constructs a dual representational system composed
of a Quadrant Map (structural positioning) and a Tension Compass (situational deployment). Findings: WBCP elevates
culture from contextual background to an operational generative mechanism in the form of cultural socialization scripts,
thereby explaining what counts as appropriate action in highly normative work ecologies. The framework specifies ten
dimensions, explicit construct boundaries, process bridges, and a grammar of situational domains. In so doing, it provides
auditable interpretive rules for person-job matching, mismatch diagnosis, and process-oriented intervention, while
generating a set of testable propositions for future empirical research. Theoretical contribution: The article advances
theorizing in cultural psychology for work and careers by modeling meaning systems, normative constraints, and action
processes as a cumulative interpretive grammar; by proposing job-accountability logic as the key interface linking culture
and vocational personality; and by introducing dual representational tools that jointly capture structural resources and
situational activation.
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