This study introduces the Adversity-Transformation Framework (ATF), a theoretical innovation that reconceptualises how economic constraints function within collectivist cultural contexts. Drawing on structural equation modelling with 507 Vietnamese university students, the investigation reveals that economic constraints positively and significantly predict work volition, career adaptability, and decent work perception, contrasting with traditional assumptions of the Psychology of Working Theory. Mediation analyses demonstrate that psychological resources sequentially transmit the effects of economic constraints to career outcomes. Proactive personality moderates the relationship between economic constraints and career adaptability, with stronger compensatory effects observed among students with lower proactive dispositions. These findings suggest that cultural meaning-making processes, collective support systems, and an achievement-oriented mindset transform economic adversity into motivational catalysts within Vietnamese society. The study advances career development theory by identifying boundary conditions under which contextual constraints activate rather than deplete psychological resources in developing country contexts.
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