Validation of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and an examination of a model of career adaptation in the Philippine context

This paper presents the validation of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) in the Philippine context. The CAAS consists of four subscales, with six items each, measuring self-regulative psychosocial resources (e.g., concern, curiosity, control, and confidence) for coping with occupational tasks and transitions. Filipino university students (N = 289) and working adults (N = 495) participated in the study. Internal consistency estimates for the full scale and subscales ranged from .87 to .97. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the multidimensional and hierarchical model of career adaptability. The factor structure was similar to that obtained from the CAAS international validation from 18 countries. Results also suggested that career adaptability was positively associated with adaptivity in the form of tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment as well as with adaptation outcomes of career satisfaction and promotability. Overall, the findings confirm the utility of CAAS in the Philippine context and support the model that states higher levels of personal adaptivity (willingness) and career adaptability (competence) relate to better adaptation outcomes in terms of career success.     

Career adaptability predicts subjective career success above and beyond personality traits and core self-evaluations

The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) measures career adaptability as a higher-order construct that integrates four psychosocial resources of employees for managing their career development: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. The goal of the present study was to investigate the validity of the CAAS with regard to its effects on two indicators of subjective career success (career satisfaction and self-rated career performance) above and beyond the effects of employees' Big Five personality traits and core self-evaluations. Data came from a large and heterogeneous sample of employees in Australia (N = 1723). Results showed that overall career adaptability positively predicted career satisfaction and self-rated career performance above and beyond the Big Five personality traits and core self-evaluations. In addition, concern and confidence positively predicted the two indicators of subjective career success. The findings provide further support for the incremental validity of the CAAS.     

Beyond conscientiousness: Career optimism and satisfaction with academic major

The study focuses on psychological predictors of academic major satisfaction. According to the career construction theory (Savickas, 2005), vocational personality and career adaptability should generate career satisfaction. In this study, vocational personality was operationalised as Big Five conscientiousness, and career adaptability was operationalised as generalised self-efficacy and career optimism. A sample (N = 529) of university students completed an online survey. The resultant data were used to construct a structural model of the hypothesised relationships among variables. A good fitting model [χ² = 10.454 (7) p = .164; GFI = .993; CFI = .999; RMSEA < .031 (< .001–.066)] indicated that career optimism fully mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and academic major satisfaction. Results were consistent with previous research into personality and academic performance. Moreover, the results highlight the significant role of optimism in satisfaction with career generally, and studies, specifically. Suggestions are made for future research into modelling the relationships according to different academic disciplines and for the potential role of optimism as a learning objective for career education and counseling.     

Ingratiation as an adapting strategy: Its relationship with career adaptability,career sponsorship,and promotability

Guided by the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013), our research model posits that individuals rely on their adaptability resources and implement adapting responses, in the form of ingratiation, to increase their promotability at work. In addition, the indirect relationship between career adaptability and promotability via ingratiation is further strengthened by high career sponsorship. The research model was tested and the translated Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) Thailand form was validated using a cross-sectional survey of 265 subordinate–supervisor dyads. Results demonstrate adequate levels of internal consistency (ɑ = .96) and the factor structure corresponded with prior CAAS international validation. The moderated mediation model was supported and as expected: (a) ingratiation, as an adapting response, mediated the positive relationship between career adaptability and promotability, and (b) the mediated relationship between career adaptability and promotability via ingratiation was stronger for individuals with higher career sponsorship. Taken together, the findings support the cross-national measurement equivalence and utility of CAAS in non-Western and developing countries. More importantly, our study offers the groundwork for understanding adapting responses and the augmenting role of career-specific contextual support.     

Self-esteem and proactive personality as predictors of future work self and career adaptability: An examination of mediating and moderating processes

Basing on career construction theory and self-verification theory, current research examined the mediating and moderating models for the relations among self-esteem, proactive personality, career exploration, future work self and career adaptability. A two-wave survey study was conducted among Chinese university students (N = 305). The results showed that both self-esteem and proactive personality (measured at time 1) positively predicted future work self and career adaptability (measured at time 2), with these relationships mediated by career exploration (measured at time 1). In addition, the results further revealed that the positive effect of self-esteem on career exploration was stronger among students who had a higher level of proactive personality. In support of the hypothesized moderated mediation model, for individuals with a higher level of proactive personality, the indirect effects of self-esteem on future work self and career adaptability through career exploration were stronger. These findings carry implications for research on career construction theory and career counseling practices.     

Career adaptability: A meta-analysis of relationships with measures of adaptivity,adapting responses,and adaptation results

Career adaptability, a psychosocial resource for managing career-related tasks, transitions, and traumas, is a central construct in career construction theory and the field of vocational psychology. Based on the career construction model of adaptation, we conducted a meta-analysis to examine relationships of career adaptability with measures of adaptivity, adapting responses, adaptation results, and demographic covariates. Results based on a total of 90 studies show that career adaptability is significantly associated with measures of adaptivity (i.e., cognitive ability, big five traits, self-esteem, core self-evaluations, proactive personality, future orientation, hope, and optimism), adapting responses (i.e., career planning, career exploration, occupational self-efficacy, and career decision-making self-efficacy), adaptation results (i.e., career identity, calling, career/job/school satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, job stress, employability, promotability, turnover intentions, income, engagement, self-reported work performance, entrepreneurial outcomes, life satisfaction, and positive and negative affect), as well as certain demographic characteristics (i.e., age, education). Multiple regression analyses based on meta-analytic correlations demonstrated the incremental predictive validity of career adaptability, above and beyond other individual difference characteristics, for a variety of career, work, and subjective well-being outcomes. Overall, the findings from this meta-analysis support the career construction model of adaptation.     

The role of career adaptability in predicting entrepreneurial intentions: A moderated mediation model

Guided by the Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013), we view entrepreneurship as an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory capacity to thrive in a complex entrepreneurial career context. Our research model posited that individuals rely on their adaptive resources and entrepreneurial self-efficacy as they form entrepreneurial intentions. Career adaptability, as self-regulatory competencies, is further strengthened by prior exposure to family business. We collected data over three measurement periods from Serbian business students (n = 380) and validated the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS). The moderated mediation model was supported and as predicted: (a) career adaptability was positively associated with entrepreneurial intentions and (b) the mediated relationship between career adaptability and entrepreneurial intentions via entrepreneurial self-efficacy was stronger for individuals with prior exposure to family business. In addition, we provide evidence for the psychometric properties of CAAS by examining its internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and factor structure. Taken together, our study offers the groundwork for understanding successful adaptation in the entrepreneurial career context and supports the cross-national measurement equivalence and utility of CAAS in a developing economy.     

Profiles of career adaptivity and their relations with adaptability,adapting, and adaptation

Career adaptivity is the first factor in a chain of putative effects posited in the career construction theory (CCT): Adaptivity → Adaptability → Adapting → Adaptation. Hitherto, research on adaptivity has chiefly used variable-centered strategies to investigate the independent effects of adaptivity-related traits on adaptability, adapting, and adaptation averaged over all individuals constituting a sample. The present research, comprising two studies, seeks to extend this work by using person-centered analytic strategies to identify distinct profiles of adaptivity based on combinations of the Big-Five personality dimensions. We also examine the associations of profile membership with adaptability, adapting, and adaptation from the CCT perspective. Latent profile analyses revealed that a comparable 3-profile solution, comprising so-called “adaptive ready”, “ordinary”, and “rigid” adaptivity profiles, fit best in both studies using distinct measures of the Big-Five. Furthermore, across both studies, the latent subgroups were found to differ on levels of adaptability measured using two distinct instruments. Adaptability was highest in the “adaptive ready” subgroup followed by the “ordinary” and “rigid” subgroups, respectively. Finally, Study 2 showed that the adaptivity profiles differed with respect to indices of adapting (viz., organized study behaviors) and adaptation (viz., academic and career-choice satisfaction) in line with expectations from the CCT. The present findings constitute the first evidence showing that career adaptivity can be adequately represented via trait interactions. The findings also add to the empirical literature underpinning the CCT. Furthermore, this research is an informative demonstration of the utility of finite mixture analyses.     

Validation of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and an examination of a model of career adaptation in the Philippine context

This paper presents the validation of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) in the Philippine context. The CAAS consists of four subscales, with six items each, measuring self-regulative psychosocial resources (e.g., concern, curiosity, control, and confidence) for coping with occupational tasks and transitions. Filipino university students (N = 289) and working adults (N = 495) participated in the study. Internal consistency estimates for the full scale and subscales ranged from .87 to .97. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the multidimensional and hierarchical model of career adaptability. The factor structure was similar to that obtained from the CAAS international validation from 18 countries. Results also suggested that career adaptability was positively associated with adaptivity in the form of tenacious goal pursuit and flexible goal adjustment as well as with adaptation outcomes of career satisfaction and promotability. Overall, the findings confirm the utility of CAAS in the Philippine context and support the model that states higher levels of personal adaptivity (willingness) and career adaptability (competence) relate to better adaptation outcomes in terms of career success.     

Future work self and career adaptability in the prediction of proactive career behaviors

This study examined the motivational resource of future work self salience and the additive effect of career adaptability dimensions in the prediction of career planning, proactive skill development, and proactive career networking in a sample of university students (N = 113). It was hypothesized that greater clarity of future work self would predict engagement in each of the proactive career behaviors and that specific dimensions of career adaptability would have an additive effect in predicting particular proactive career behavior in line with the theory of career construction. Results indicated that future work self predicted career planning and that career concern had an additive effect. Future work self also predicted proactive skill development and proactive career networking. However, career confidence and career curiosity mediated these relationships in the prediction of skill development and networking respectively. In sum, results suggest that future work self and career adaptability play an influential role in the engagement of proactive career behavior.     

Career-specific parental behaviors,career exploration and career adaptability: A three-wave investigation among Chinese undergraduates

The current research examined the effects of career-specific parental behaviors (reported by parents at time 1) on Chinese university students' career exploration (reported by students at time 2) and career adaptability (reported by students at time 3). A survey study was conducted among Chinese university graduates (N = 244) and their parents (N = 244). The results supported a mediation model such that a high level of parental support and a low level of parental interference had beneficial effects on Chinese undergraduates' career exploration, which in turn positively predicted their career adaptability. Lack of parental career engagement had a direct negative effect on career adaptability. Significant interaction effects were also found among these three types of parental behaviors such that at a lower level of lack of parental career engagement, the positive effects of parental support, as well as the negative effects of interference on career exploration were stronger. The corresponding moderated mediation models were also supported. These findings carry implications for research on career construction theory and career counseling practices.     

Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Convergent validity of subscale scores

This study examined the convergent validity of scores from the four subscales in the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. The differential relation of each subscale to theoretically-related constructs was examined in a sample of 332 graduating university students. The results were as predicted. Career concern related highest to future time perspective; career control related highest to both locus of control and core self-evaluations as well as inversely to neuroticism; career curiosity related highest to proactive personality; and career confidence related highest to generalized self-efficacy. The only relation that was not as predicted involved self-esteem, which was predicted to relate highest to confidence. It related higher to career control (r = .42) and career concern (r = .41).     

Career adaptability in Lithuania: A test of psychometric properties and a theoretical model

The Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Lithuanian Form consists of four six-item subscales measuring concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. These are thought to be the main dimensions of career adaptability reflecting individual psychosocial resources to cope with occupational transitions, developmental tasks, and work traumas. Two studies were administered in a sample (N  =  767) of Lithuanian high school students. The results showed factor structure to be identical to that of the CAAS-International Form. Moreover, good to excellent scale internal consistency coefficients were obtained. With a slight exception, MIMIC model analysis revealed no major effects of demographic variables upon the CAAS factor or factor indicator scores. Concurrent validity analysis showed career adaptability, as measured by the CAAS-Lithuanian Form, to be significantly related to career aspirations, to the frequency of career exploration behaviors and to career decidedness. Finally, as hypothesized by the career construction model of adaptation, career exploration behaviors mediated the link between career adaptability and decidedness.     

Career adaptability and career entrenchment

Career adaptability constitutes a resource that can help employees to effectively manage career changes and challenges. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between the two higher-order constructs of career adaptability and career entrenchment (i.e., the perceived inability and/or unwillingness to pursue new career opportunities), as well as relationships among the dimensions of career adaptability and career entrenchment. We hypothesized a negative relationship between overall career adaptability and career entrenchment, and more differentiated associations among their dimensions. Data for this study came from 404 employees in Brazil. Results of structural equation modeling showed that overall career adaptability weakly negatively predicted overall career entrenchment (standardized effect = − .13), after controlling for age, gender, education, and job tenure. More differentiated findings emerged at the dimension level. Future research should examine the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the relationship between career adaptability and career entrenchment.     

Big-five personality and BIS/BAS traits as predictors of career exploration: The mediation role of career adaptability

Based on career construction theory, the current research examined whether career adaptability mediates the relations of the personality traits (Five-Factor Model personality traits and behavioral inhibition and activation systems (BIS/BAS)) to career exploration behavior. Results from a survey in Chinese university students (N = 264) showed that career exploration correlated negatively with neuroticism, and positively with openness to experience, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness and BAS. Results of regression analyses further showed that openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness and BAS served as the strongest predictors for career exploration. In addition, career adaptability was shown to be a key mediator for the relationships between personality traits and career exploration behavior. Career concern and career curiosity were the more important dimensions in the mediation model. These findings advance current understandings on how different personality traits predict career exploration behavior.     

Career adaptability as a mediator between personality and career engagement

The current study examined the role of career adaptability as a mediator between personality dimensions and career engagement. This investigation was conducted using a sample of university students (N = 201) who completed the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire, the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale-Persian Form, and the Career Engagement Scale. Career adaptability dimensions related positively with activity, negatively with neuroticism, and positively with career engagement. The results indicated that career adaptability dimensions partially mediated the relationships between activity (work compulsion, general activity, restlessness, and work energy) and career engagement, whereas they were a full mediator between neuroticism (anxiety, depression, dependency, and low self-esteem) and career engagement. Among career adaptability dimensions, curiosity fully mediated the effect of sensation seeking on career engagement. These findings suggest that career adaptability is a dynamic mechanism that helps to regulate the relationship between specific dispositional traits and career adapting behaviors.     

New job market entrants' future work self,career adaptability and job search outcomes: Examining mediating and moderating models

Based on career construction theory and the model of proactive motivation, the current research examined the mediating and moderating models for the relations among future work self, career adaptability, job search self-efficacy and employment status. A survey study was conducted among Chinese university graduates (N = 270). The results showed that future work self (measured at wave 1) had positive effect on employment status (measured at wave 3), with this relationship partially mediated by career adaptability (measured at wave 1) and job search self-efficacy (measured at wave 2). In addition, the results further revealed that the positive effect of future work self on job search self-efficacy was stronger among the graduates who had a higher level of career adaptability. In support of the hypothesized moderated mediation model, for individuals with a higher level of career adaptability, the indirect effect of future work self on employment status through job search self-efficacy was stronger. These findings carry implications for research on job search behavior, career education and career counseling.     

Predicting Chinese human resource managers' strategic competence: Roles of identity,career variety,organizational support and career adaptability

Based on career construction theory, the predictors of human resource managers' strategic competence in the Chinese context were examined. Results from a survey administered to Chinese HR managers (N = 220) showed that professional identification, career variety and organizational support for strategic human resource management positively predicted Chinese human resource managers' strategic competence. In addition, career adaptability served as a significant mediator for the above relations. The results further showed that the effect of professional identification on career adaptability was stronger among employees who perceived a higher (vs. lower) level of organizational support for strategic human resource management. The corresponding moderated mediation model was also supported such that the indirect effect of professional identification on strategic competence was stronger among employees who perceived a higher (vs. lower) level of organizational support for strategic human resource management. These findings carry implications for career construction theory and human resource managers' career development in China.     

Comparing the adaptabilities of Brazilian adolescent students and adult workers

Many studies have verified the validity of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale in diverse samples, both adolescents and adults. However, which abilities are more typical of each group remains unknown. This study investigated the CAAS factorial structure with Brazilian adolescents, to verify differences between adolescents and adults and to explore the occurrence of differential item functioning analysis (DIF), by considering these two groups as independent variables. The two Brazilian samples were composed by adolescents (n = 272) and by adult workers (n = 404). Results confirmed the expected factorial structure in the adolescents sample and that adults scored higher on all CAAS factors. DIF analysis identified more items favored adults, as expected, but there was coherence in item content which favored each group. Nevertheless, there is no psychometric evidence supporting the need for different forms of CAAS for each group. Results are discussed by taking into account the practical implications of the findings.     

Testing a calling model of psychological career success in Australian young adults: A longitudinal study

Theory-based longitudinal research on career calling is sparse. In a two-wave, cross-lagged panel design we assessed Hall and Chandler's (2005) calling model of psychological career success using 216 young adults (M age = 20.44 years, SD = 2.54). We tested if changes in career calling over time were associated with changes in goal-directed effort (work effort and career strategies) and psychological career success (life meaning and career adaptability) over time, and if goal-directed effort mediated between career calling and psychological career success over time. The standard causal model showed a better fit over the base, reverse, and reciprocal causation models. T1 career calling predicted T2 work effort, career strategies, life meaning, and career adaptability. Only career strategies mediated between T1 career calling and T2 life meaning and T2 career adaptability. Limitations and future directions are discussed.