A renewed interest in the study of character and virtue has recently emerged in the fields of Education and Psychology. The latest research has confirmed the association between virtuous consistent behaviours and academic positive outcomes. However, the motivational dimension of character (the intentions underlying the patterns of observed behaviours) has received little attention. This research aims to extend the knowledge on this topic by examining the predictive relationships between the behavioural and motivational dimensions of character, with reference to academic engagement, career self-doubt and performance of Spanish university students. A total of 183 undergraduates aged 18–30 (142 of whom were women) from the north of Spain completed specific parts of self-report questionnaires, including the Values in Action VIA-72, a Spanish translated and validated version of the Moral Self-Relevance Measure MSR, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Student Scale UWES-S9. The collected data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The behavioural dimension of character (character strength factors of caring, self-control and inquisitiveness) showed positive associations with academic engagement and performance. The motivational dimension of character (phronesis motivation), was negatively related to career self-doubt. For the first time, the present study has provided support for the contribution of both dimensions of character to undergraduate academic outcomes.

Past reviews have examined the association between positive personality traits known as character strengths and work-related outcomes. However, little is known about the role of positive traits in the pre-career stage. This study aims to fill this gap by mapping the peer-reviewed literature on the relationships between character strengths, moral motivation and vocational identity in adolescents and young adult students. Scopus and Web of Science databases were used to identify English written sources published between 1980 and October 2020. Documents had to include one of the 24 positive psychology character strengths or a moral motivation construct (moral reasoning, moral identity or moral emotions) and one vocational identity process (commitment, exploration or reconsideration). 136 documents were selected (123 quantitative, 8 qualitative, and 5 theoretical). 15 strengths were studied together with a vocational identity process. The most investigated strengths were prudence (27.9%) curiosity (20.6%), hope (20.6%) and love (19.9%). Only one moral motivation construct (the moral emotion of empathy) was associated with vocational commitment. Four character strengths were the most studied in association with vocational identity. These strengths coincided with some skills and competencies promoted in career counselling. Some suggestions for future research on vocational development and character education are stated.

The social dimension of higher education seems to have been highlighted in the most recent documents of the European Higher Education Area. Furthermore, the interest in providing future graduates with the competences necessary for their future jobs seems to have grown in recent decades. In this context, the key questions are what social competences could help graduates to enter the world of work and how universities can facilitate the development of such competences. In the present article, we clarify the role of civic and social competence in university education and offer some guidelines to orientate their learning. To address these objectives, the present study is divided into five parts. First, we define what we understand as civic or citizen competence. In the second part, we describe the reasons why we consider that the learning of civic competence may occur in different settings (formal, informal, or non-formal) of university life. We propose character education and integrated learning (IL) as promising approaches to foster civic learning in the third and fourth sections. Finally, we offer recommendations on how university leaders and professors might promote civic or citizenship competence.

The virtue of phronesis or practical wisdom is at the core of some cutting-edge interdisciplinary approaches to the scientific study of virtue. According to the Aristotelian phronesis model (APM), its most complex – and admittedly controversial – component is the “blueprint,” understood as the individual’s conception of the kind of things that matter for a flourishing life. This article reviews how APM’s developers currently operationalize the blueprint using moral identity measures. Controversies in conceptualizing the blueprint are outlined and limitations of moral identity measures are discussed. Alternative approaches, including goal orientation constructs and qualitative techniques, are suggested to better capture the blueprint’s conceptual complexity in empirical research. The article finds that the blueprint encompasses more than what is reflected in moral identity measures. The goals across life spheres that interweave in a flourishing life seem to be missing. This work aimed to enhance interdisciplinary research on individuals’ conceptualizations of a flourishing life across cultures.

Este artículo busca responder a la pregunta de qué es una profesión vocacional, o más concretamente, a qué se refiere la psicología cuando aplica el adjetivo “vocacional” al proceso de elegir una profesión. En primer lugar, se hará una exposición breve de las principales teorías en psicología sobre la identidad y la elección de carrera. En dichas teorías el término “vocacional” denota un ajuste entre la persona (los intereses y habilidades individuales) y el entorno (el ambiente de trabajo y las aptitudes requeridas en este). En segundo lugar, se mostrará que un aspecto poco estudiado en las teorías de elección y desarrollo de carrera es el aspecto moral. Esto se entiende como la motivación a ejercer la profesión con una orientación prosocial (cuidar-atender a las personas). Este artículo sugiere que la relación entre el ajuste vocacional y la motivación moral en el ejercicio profesional ofrece interesantes posibilidades a la investigación empírica.