1     DOI: 10.2478/v10241-012-0026-2
             Anna Paszkowska-Rogacz*
             Magdalena Poraj-Weder
             Students’ Expectations from Career 
             Counselling in Polish and Swedish Culture
             ABSTRACT
             The article investigates differences between Polish and Swedish students 
          with regard to perception of their own culture based on four dimensions: Mascu-
          linity/Femininity, Power Distance, Individualism/Collectivism, and Uncertainty 
          Avoidance, and also students’ declared expectations from career counselling. 
          In both groups, the direction and range of cultural factors’ infl uence upon ex-
          pectations from a career counsellor were also examined. The sample comprised 
          163 Polish and Swedish students. Results were analysed using ANOVA and 
          canonical analysis. As expected, differences between the groups were statis-
          tically signifi cant for all the four cultural dimensions. Signifi cant differences 
          between the two nationalities in expectations from counselling were found on: 
          Motivation, Openness, Realism, Directiveness, Attractiveness, Tolerance, and 
          Outcomes. Cultural dimensions that infl uence formation of Swedish students’ 
          expectations from counselling to the greatest extent were: Power Distance and 
          Individualism. In the case of Polish students, cultural factors did not predict 
          variability in the structure of their expectations from a career counsellor.
             KEYWORDS: career counselling, expectations, cultural differences
             *  Correspondence regarding the paper should be sent to: Anna Paszkowska-
          -Rogacz, University of Lodz Institute of Psychology, Unit of Work Psychology 
          and Occupational Counseling, ul. Smugowa 10/12, 91-433 Lodz, Poland, phone: 
          +48 42 67 37 870, fax: +48 42 616 95 80, e-mail: paszkow@uni.lodz.pl
       30  A. PASZKOWSKA-ROGACZ,  M. PORAJ-WEDER
         INTRODUCTIION
         Clients’ knowledge on counselling is still very superfi cial and 
       the awareness of its usefulness remains insuffi cient. Lack of infor-
       mation is a common reason for forming unrealistic expectations, 
       which distort effectiveness of the process in a signifi cant way 
       (Tinsley, Bowman, Westcot, Barich, 1993). During the last two 
       decades, a growing number of publications have addressed the 
       need for counsellors to become more client oriented what also 
       means culturally competent. This movement to examine the rel-
       evance, applicability, validity, and utility of existing career models 
       for racial and ethnic minorities as well as various cross-cultural 
       populations has resulted in considerable growth of the volume 
       of both the theoretical and empirical literature (Leong & Brown 
       1995; Hesketh & Rounds, 1995; Arbona, 1996). One of the results 
       of globalisation is the internationalisation of the labour market. 
       Nowadays people are searching for jobs not only in towns other 
       than their home town, but also in other countries. Companies 
       are becoming multinational corporations throughout the World. 
       Career counselling and vocational guidance is also subject to in-
       ternationalisation and very often career counsellors’ clients are 
       those who intend to make international careers. The ethnic and 
       cultural diversity is increasing (as a result of work emigration and 
       political asylum). In order to help their clients to search for a job 
       effi ciently, career counsellors must know their client expectations. 
       Differences in expectations depend on various factors, one of 
       which is the cultural background. The majority of career advisors 
       do not have the knowledge of how the ethnic and cultural ori-
       gins determine job expectations. The research, carried out within 
       this project, will enable them to study those issues. It is hoped 
       that the results of this comparative study can also contribute to 
       a continuation and a better understanding of the importance of 
       counselling for youth. 
               STUDENTS’ EXPECTATIONS FROM CAREER COUNSELLING...  31
         Expectations from Career Counselling. 
         Expectations from a career counsellor present a multidimensional 
       construct, which is diffi cult to operationalise and relatively new in 
       psychology. Psychologists – counsellors prove that clients’ expecta-
       tions exert an infl uence upon their decisions on making and continuing 
       contact with a counsellor, or on starting therapy. They also moderate 
       effectiveness of counselling process. The dependence between a cli-
       ent’s expectations and a course of counselling sessions is very complex 
       and it applies to a number of variables that are involved in the process. 
       According to Kelly (Galassi, Crace, Martin, James, & Wallace, 1992), 
       who is a precursor of studies within this fi eld, clients enter the coun-
       selling relation with a ready set of expectations regarding its nature, 
       a role of a counsellor, counsellor’s personal characteristics, and fi nally 
       – assumed outcomes of the relation. These expectations are heavily in-
       dividualised. They present an inherent component of every counselling 
       relation; they determine its contents and decide about effects. Divergence 
       between expectations and a real course of interaction may lead to lack 
       of positive effects, a client’s disappointment, and even breaking the 
       counselling contract.
         In the times of increased mobility and progressing unifi cation of 
       educational structures and programmes, more and more important be-
       comes intercultural counselling (Johannes & Erwin, 2004). An infl uence 
       of cultural factors upon forming occupational expectations and prefer-
       ences is still not known thoroughly. Few studies on this theme indicate 
       the existence of some statistically signifi cant differences with regard to 
       expectations’ structure as dependent on nationality (Fuertes, Bartolomeo 
       & Matthew, 2001; Nelson-Jones, 2002). Peavy (1997) points to analo-
       gies between specifi c elements of a counselling process and constructs 
       – dimensions that describe a culture – which have been distinguished 
       by Hofstede (1991). Thus, a counsellor’s power, which defi nes his or 
       her relation with a client, is rooted in the dimension of Power Distance 
       (PD). The dimension of Individualism-Collectivism (I/C) is manifested 
       in counselling by means of focusing on personal achievements (indi-
       vidualism) or social support (collectivism). Promoting ‘male’ values 
            32  A. PASZKOWSKA-ROGACZ,  M. PORAJ-WEDER
            (rationalism) or ‘female’ values (empathy), together with ‘male’ or 
            ‘female’ ways of coping with a diffi cult situation (task orientation versus 
            relations orientation), are related to cultural dimension of Masculinity/
            Femininity (M/F). The fourth dimension, Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) 
            is refl ected in logistic and organisational aspects, and it is displayed in 
            higher (in case of high UA) or lower (in case of low UA) formalisation 
            and structuring of meetings.
               Polish and Swedish Cultures. 
               An analysis contained in the current research will be referred to the 
            level of national culture – to Polish and Swedish cultures. The theory 
            by Inglehart and Baker (2000) presents an interesting concept which 
            may be helpful for explaining the essence of some intercultural differ-
            ences between the groups under discussion. The authors assumed that 
            wealth of a given country, which is expressed in gross national product, 
            is decisive for value system of the country. World-wide value measure-
            ment, conducted by Inglehart and co-workers (Granato, Inglehart & 
            Leblang, 1996) in more than 65 countries (75% of world population), 
            related to politics, economy, religion, family, gender roles, including dif-
            ferentiation due to age, sex, economical status, and education, has led to 
            distinguishing three types of societies: traditional, modernistic, and post-
            modernistic societies. This kind of classifi cation points to differences in 
            functioning and values in a vivid and clear way. Also Hofstede (1991) 
            focused on a strong dependence between gross national product and an 
            indicator of individualism – the higher the gross national product, the 
            higher indicator on the scale of individualism. It also seems natural to 
            observe high level of uncertainty avoidance in the course of transforming 
            to a subsequent type of society. At the same time, differences between 
            Sweden and Poland appear to be of extreme nature because Sweden 
            belongs already to post-modernistic countries, while Poland, which is 
            being subjected to intense social transformations, proceeds in this di-
            rection at the present (Boski, Van de Vijver, Hurme, Miluska; 1999).
               Poles were not included in the basic studies by Hofstede which 
                                                 th
            were conducted in the 70-ies of the 20  century for IBM, yet later