De La Cunoastere la Devenire: Tranzitii Psihologice, Socializare si Bunãstare Ìntre Domeniile Educatiei si Muncii

This paper advances a theoretically grounded reconceptualization of education to work transitions as processes of identity regulation rather than as linear trajectories of skills transfer or employability attainment. Anchored in Identity Process Theory, the analysis positions transition as a psychologically intensive period in which individuals confront disruptions to core identity principles, including self-efficacy, continuity, belonging, and self-esteem. These disruptions generate identity threat and activate regulatory processes through which individuals reinterpret experience, recalibrate expectations, and reconstruct a viable professional self.

A central contribution lies in reframing work values as derivative expressions of these regulatory processes, rather than as stable antecedents of behavior. In doing so, the paper offers a process based explanation for the observed fluidity of work values in early career stages. By integrating perspectives from organisational socialisation and career development, it provides a coherent account of how contextual conditions are translated into patterns of adaptation and wellbeing. Transition thus emerges as a process of becoming, defined by the capacity to sustain identity coherence under conditions of uncertainty.