Perceived organizational career management and career adaptability as predictors of success and turnover intention among Chinese employees

Based on the theories of career construction and of social exchange, the current research examined the joint and interactive effects of perceived organizational career management and career adaptability on indicators of career success (i.e., salary and career satisfaction) and work attitudes (i.e., turnover intention) among 654 Chinese employees. The results showed that career adaptability played a unique role in predicting salary after controlling for the effects of demographic variables and perceived organizational career management. It was also found that both perceived organizational career management and career adaptability correlated negatively with turnover intention, with these relationships mediated by career satisfaction. The results further showed that career adaptability moderated the relationship between perceived organizational career management and career satisfaction such that this positive relationship was stronger among employees with a higher level of career adaptability. In support of the hypothesized moderated mediation model, for employees with a higher level of career adaptability, the indirect effect of perceived career management on turnover intention through career satisfaction was stronger. These findings carry implications for research on career success and turnover intention.     

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.     

Engagement within occupational trainees: Individual difference predictors and commitment outcome

The present study examines occupational entrants' experiences of their vocational training, its relation with relevant internal characteristics, and its proposed impact on commitment to the profession. Particular focus is paid to trainees' engagement, hypothesizing motivation and self-efficacy as predictors, and occupational commitment as a distal outcome. Data were from 247 recent entrants into professional degree programs (architecture, engineering). All hypothesized predictive relations were supported, such that motivation (as both a composite and as solely intrinsic) and self-efficacy are predictive of engagement, and engagement is predictive of occupational commitment among early-stage trainees. Further, engagement partially mediated the relation between self-efficacy and commitment, and fully mediated the relation between motivation and commitment. Squared multiple correlations for endogenous variables indicated substantial variance in engagement and commitment accounted for by their respective predictors. Moreover, two structural equation models were examined and compared, proposing more holistic nomological nets for how these constructs fit together. A respecified model accounting for a sole focus on intrinsic motivation and a direct path between motivation and commitment was an excellent fit, superseding a competing model conceptualizing motivation as a composite and only an indirect motivation–commitment path. Finally, need for achievement moderated the relation between motivation and engagement such that the relation is stronger for individuals high in need for achievement than it is for those low in the desire to grow in their profession. The study contributes to our understanding of how early occupational trainees' experiences of work and individual characteristics impact their commitment to their intended profession.     

The effect of a career adaptability psycho-educational programme on coping with career indecision and career adaptability: A pilot study

This study aimed to examine the effects of a career construction theory-oriented Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme on career adaptability and coping with career indecision in Turkish high school students. Twenty-six participants took part in the experimental design. A split-plot (mixed) design of 2 × 3 (experimental/control groups X pretest/posttest/follow-up test) was used. It was found that the Career Adaptability Psycho-educational Programme has a significant effect on coping with career indecision and career adaptability; the same effect was found for the follow-up measures completed 4 months later.     

Resilience and career adaptability: Qualitative studies of adult career counseling

Global economic recession is exerting extreme pressures not only on individuals attempting to move into and through labor markets, but also on those providing support for such transitions. Resilience and career adaptability are increasingly relevant, yet despite being present in the literature for some time, these concepts have been under-represented in the vocational psychology literature. This article represents a contribution to redressing this balance by focusing on their potential to make positive contributions both to clients of career counseling and to practitioners delivering these services. Drawing on data from four qualitative studies conducted in England, Norway and the Republic of Ireland from 2003 to 2012, these concepts are examined, together with their complementarity for career counseling practice. The article also discusses the role, status and conduct of qualitative research as well as the importance of the researcher/participant relationship in qualitative research investigations.     

Resilience and career adaptability: Qualitative studies of adult career counseling

Global economic recession is exerting extreme pressures not only on individuals attempting to move into and through labor markets, but also on those providing support for such transitions. Resilience and career adaptability are increasingly relevant, yet despite being present in the literature for some time, these concepts have been under-represented in the vocational psychology literature. This article represents a contribution to redressing this balance by focusing on their potential to make positive contributions both to clients of career counseling and to practitioners delivering these services. Drawing on data from four qualitative studies conducted in England, Norway and the Republic of Ireland from 2003 to 2012, these concepts are examined, together with their complementarity for career counseling practice. The article also discusses the role, status and conduct of qualitative research as well as the importance of the researcher/participant relationship in qualitative research investigations.     

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.     

Daily manifestations of career adaptability: Relationships with job and career outcomes

Most research on career adaptability has examined the construct as an individual differences variable and neglected that it may vary within an individual over a short period of time. In two daily diary studies, the author investigated the relationships of career adaptability and its four dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence) to their daily manifestations as well as daily job and career outcomes. Both Study 1 (N = 53) and Study 2 (N = 234) demonstrated substantial within-person variability in employees' behavioral expressions of career adaptability across five work days. Results further showed that daily career adaptability and daily confidence positively predicted daily task and career performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily control positively predicted daily task performance, as well as daily job and career satisfaction. Daily concern positively predicted daily career performance and satisfaction, and daily curiosity positively predicted daily career satisfaction.     

Emotional intelligence as a predictor of employees' career adaptability

Emotional intelligence and career adaptability are crucial psychosocial meta-capacities for successful adaptation in various spheres of life, including the realm of careers. However, little is known about the relationship between emotional intelligence and Savickas's (2005) notion of career adaptability. The current research examines the relation of emotional intelligence to career adaptability. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 409 early career black call center agents (Mean age = 32) employed in three of the largest outsourced financial call centers in Africa. Canonical correlation analysis and structural equation modeling confirmed the predictive validity of emotional intelligence in relation to career adaptability. The results showed that managing one's own emotions contributes the most in explaining overall emotional intelligence a n d the variance in overall career adaptability with its four domains of career concern, career control, career confidence and career curiosity. The results of the study highlight the importance of developing individuals' emotional intelligence in order to strengthen their career adaptability. The research contributed new and valuable insights that may inform career development interventions for call center agents.     

Individual characteristics and career exploration in adolescence

The effects of gender, age and school grade on several career exploration dimensions measured by the Career Exploration Survey were investigated. Subjects were high school students facing an imminent career decision. Regression analyses indicated that sex and grade-level were the most significant and prevailing individual characteristics related to the adolescents' career exploration behaviours, reactions and beliefs. Implications for career exploration interventions are discussed.     

Personal and situational variables, and career concerns: predicting career adaptability in young adults

This study examined relationships among career adaptability and career concerns, social support and goal orientation. We surveyed 304 university students using measures of career concerns, adaptability (career planning, career exploration, self-exploration, decision-making, self-regulation), goal-orientation (learning, performance-prove, performance-avoid) and social support (family, friends, significant others). Multiple regression analysis revealed career concerns, learning and performance-prove goal orientations emerged relatively as the most important contributors. Other variables did not contribute significantly.     

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.     

Longitudinal links between career adaptability and academic achievement in adolescence

Contemporary youth spend increasingly longer time in the educational system, where their career pursuits become closely intertwined with their educational goals. As career development is a life-long process, adolescents start working on their careers long before they engage in actual work behaviors. Therefore, in order for school to adaptively prepare youth for their future work lives, career adaptability and academic achievement should be reciprocally and positively linked throughout adolescence. To date, more longitudinal proof for these relations is needed. To address this shortcoming, we investigated cross-lagged associations between these two constructs in a three-wave longitudinal study, testing the moderating role of adolescents' gender, school type, and age. Participants were 1151 adolescents (41.3% boys), who completed the same paper-and-pencil measure three times across an academic year. Results showed positive reciprocal associations between career concern and academic achievement (i.e., Grand Point Average). This indicates that adolescents with a strong future orientation, who were already invested in career planning activities tended to perform better in school and vice-versa, high academic achievement further strengthened adolescents' positive outlooks on their vocational future. We also detected positive unidirectional links from academic achievement to career control and career confidence across one academic year. Interestingly, we did not find significant longitudinal links between career curiosity and academic achievement. These patterns of longitudinal relations applied equally to boys and girls, to those attending university-preparatory and work-bound schools, and to early-to-middle and middle-to-late adolescents. Research and applied implications of these findings are detailed.     

The role of traditionality in the relationships among parental support,career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability

Integrating career construction (Savickas, 2013) and cognitive evaluation (Ryan & Deci, 2002) theories, we examined the moderating role of traditionality beliefs in the indirect relationships among parental support, career decision-making self-efficacy and career adaptability among Chinese university students. Data were collected from 731 undergraduate students in China at two measurement periods, 18 months apart. Results showed that Time 1 parental support was associated positively with Time 1 career decision-making self-efficacy and Time 2 career adaptability. In addition, the conditional indirect effects of Time 1 parental support in predicting Time 2 career adaptability via Time 1 career decision making self-efficacy were stronger among students with low as opposed to high traditionality beliefs. The implications of the results in terms of theory and practice are discussed.     

Person-environment congruence in relation to career change and career persistence

This study examined Holland’s theoretical proposition, that personality-work environment congruence influences career stability and change, with a sample of 212 career changers (respondents who expressed an intent to change career and had engaged in preliminary career change activity) and 249 career persisters (respondents who indicated an intent to remain in their current career). Independent groups ANCOVA (controlling for age and current career tenure) indicated that career persisters scored higher on congruence than career changers, however, the effect size was within the small to medium range. Repeated-measures ANCOVA indicated, with a medium effect size, that career changers moved towards careers that were more congruent with their personality profiles than their current careers. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Perceived influence in groups over time: How associations with personality and cognitive ability can change over time

The ability of personality and cognitive ability to predict perceptions of group influence in small work groups are assessed both in initial and advanced stages of group formation. Extraversion is found important to initial perceptions of intra-group influence, which is partially mediated by peer-perceived social-emotional usefulness. After a few months, reputations are established and everyone has met; now work needs to get done efficiently and accurately and cognitive ability predicts increases in perceived group influence, which is partially mediated by perceived intelligence. After even more time, other Big Five personality traits become important to changes in perceived group influence, with positive associations with openness to experience, and negative associations with neuroticism and conscientiousness. The study findings and implications are discussed.     

The relation of career adaptability to satisfaction and turnover intentions

The objective of this study is to investigate the linkage between career adaptability (CA), turnover intentions (TI), and career satisfaction (CS). It also examines the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) for low-ranking employees. The findings provide further support for the incremental validity of the CAAS. CA positively predicted CS and negatively predicted TI of low-ranking employees. CS is negatively related to TI, and it mediated the association between CA and TI. CA does not mediate the relation between CS and TI. Overall, a deeper understanding of the linkage between CA and TI can help us to find ways to assist employees to navigate the increasingly complex career path, thereby preventing TI.     

Adversity quotients,environmental variables and career adaptability in student nurses

The cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the career adaptability and its associated factors among 431 student nurses. Participants completed questionnaires on demographics, career adaptability, adversity quotient, clinical learning environment and social support. Findings revealed that student nurses' adversity quotients, individualized clinical learning environment, and family social support associated positively with their degree of career adaptability, even after multiple adjustments. Additionally, career adaptability scores were higher among associate degree student nurses and those who had served as student leaders. These findings may provide referable evidence for schools and educators to improve student nurses' career adaptability.     

The relationship between career adaptability, person and situation variables, and career concerns in young adults

We surveyed 245 first-year university students using measures of career concerns, career adaptability (career planning, career exploration, self-exploration, decision-making, self-regulation), goal-orientation (learning, performance-prove, performance-avoid) and social support (family, friends, significant others), and tested: (a) whether the career adaptability variables could be represented by a second-order factor of career adaptability; (b) whether career adaptability, goal-orientation and social support were associated with fewer career concerns; and (c) whether career adaptability mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and social support and career concerns. The study demonstrated that the career adaptability variables were inter-related and could be represented by a higher-order factor. Decision-making and self-exploration were negatively associated with career concerns, and decision-making mediated the relationship between goal-orientation and career concerns. Having more of a learning orientation was associated with more decision-making and fewer career concerns, whereas holding a performance-prove orientation was associated with poorer decision-making and more career concerns.