Career identity and the complex mediating relationships between career preparatory actions and career progress markers

We tested a cross-sectional, moderated-mediation model of career identity in young adults (N = 667, 72.9% female, mean age = 20 years). In this model, career preparatory activities (career exploration and planning) were associated with perceptions of future employability and career distress. These relationships were mediated by career identity, and career identity was conditional upon level of career calling. We found that career exploration was associated with more career distress, while career planning was associated with less, and both career exploration and planning were associated with higher perceived employability. Career identity mediated between career exploration and planning and both outcomes, and these mediated relationships were stronger when career calling was higher. We interpreted the results from career construction, identity, and exploration perspectives; highlighted the applicability of these perspectives in the development of agency, career calling, and career identity; and made recommendations for testing other theory-based moderators.     

Developmental trajectories and reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity: A three-wave longitudinal study with adolescents

The purpose of this longitudinal study was two-fold. First, we investigated patterns of stability and change in career adaptability and vocational identity in adolescents. Second, we examined reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity. In addressing both research aims we tested the moderating effects of gender, school-type, and age. Participants were 1151 (58.7% female) adolescents. They filled in measures that appraised career adapt-abilities and vocational identity processes three times during a school year. Latent growth curve analyses highlighted slight longitudinal decreases in career concern, control, and confidence especially in boys, vocational school students, and middle-to-late adolescents. Also, over time boys and students attending vocational schools reported less in-depth occupational exploration, less identification with present vocational commitments, and more flexibility and self-doubt about their careers. Findings of cross-lagged path analyses highlighted reciprocal associations between career adaptability and vocational identity. Career adaptability positively predicted adolescents' ways of dealing with vocational exploration and commitment. Vocational commitment and reconsideration of commitment predicted career adapt-abilities in time. These results indicate that career adaptability and vocational identity are dynamic and interrelated dimensions of adolescent career development. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Optimal matching analysis in career research: A review and some best-practice recommendations

Optimal matching is a method for the analysis of sequential data. It allows researchers to detect patterns in career sequences or occupational trajectories. We first give a brief introduction to the method and review the existing career literature that employs optimal matching. To examine which data properties are required for optimal matching analysis, we conducted Monte Carlo simulations of career sequences with varying parameters for sequence length, sample size and missing items. We find that sequence length is the relevant factor for correct results, while sample size does not substantially affect result quality. Another important finding is that sequences with up to 30% elements missing can be used for optimal matching analysis. We also show which settings for the optimal matching procedure deliver the best results.     

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.     

The relation of career adaptability to work experience,extracurricular activities,and work transition in Portuguese graduate students

This study analyzed the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS)—Portugal HE Form with 406 graduate students and explored the relationship between career adaptability, work experience, extracurricular activities and work transition. The analysis allows us to conclude that CAAS can be a valid and useful measurement for assessing career adaptability in Portuguese graduates. The differential analysis evidenced that participants with student worker status and with work experiences reported displayed higher scores on the subscales of control and curiosity, respectively. No statistical differences emerged regarding experience of extracurricular activities. Also, participants who referred to anticipating difficulties in work transition scored significantly lower on the subscales of control than did their peers who do not anticipate difficulties in such transitions. The obtained results support the importance of considering practical experiences and fostering career adaptability during higher education studies as a way to help graduates manage the transition to professional contexts.     

Development of early vocational behavior: Parallel associations between career engagement and satisfaction

The present five-wave longitudinal study examined the parallel development of career engagement and satisfaction among young adults over an eight-year period starting from the last stages of their secondary education and ending after the transition to higher education or working life. The research questions were analyzed with parallel process latent growth curve (LGC) modeling and growth mixture modeling (GMM). The study is part of the ongoing longitudinal Finnish Educational Transitions (FinEdu) study, and followed 826 participants from ages 17 to 25. The developmental dynamics showed that career engagement and satisfaction developed parallel, each predicting the changes in the other. Towards the end of secondary education, career engagement increased and career satisfaction decreased on the mean level; however, later on, after the transition to higher education/work, both processes leveled off. The GMM results also revealed the existence of two latent trajectory groups, one representing a high transitional and the other a low increasing trajectory of career engagement and satisfaction.     

The influence of social comparison on career decision-making: Vocational identity as a moderator and regret as a mediator

This study investigated the influence of social comparison on career choice certainty and its potential mechanisms: regret as a mediator and vocational identity as a moderator. Before the formal experiment, 30 pairs of vocational values representing typical conflicts in career decision-making for Chinese university students were obtained. The formal experiment adopted a single-factor (social comparison VS no comparison) between-subject design with vocational identity as an independent covariate. Ninety-eight junior and senior undergraduate students and graduate students in a university in China were invited to participate in the computer-controlled experiment, which involved vocational identity assessment, social comparison manipulation, and analogue career-choice scenario tests. Path analysis showed that: (a) Social comparison significantly and negatively predicted career choice certainty; (b) Regret partially mediated the effect of social comparison on career choice certainty; and (c) Vocational identity did not moderate the path between social comparison and regret, but significantly moderated the negative effect of regret on career choice certainty. These results indicated that in the collectivistic Chinese culture, individuals' career development trajectories may not be totally independent and are subject to influences by other people's choices, while emotion of regret and vocational identity development all play significant roles in this intricate process.     

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.     

Engaged,Committed and Helpful Employees: The Role of Psychological Empowerment

Although previous research has been focused on the relationship among personality, empowerment, and outcomes, little is known about the incremental effect of empowerment on positive work outcomes. This article aims at exploring the relation between personality factors (i.e., extraversion and conscientiousness) and positive work outcomes (i.e., work engagement, affective organizational commitment, and organizational citizenship behavior), and at determining the incremental effect of psychological empowerment on these outcomes. A convenience sample from three organizations has been used for data collection (N = 258; 52% women, mean age 38.55 years, SD = 10.21). Hierarchical multiple regressions indicate that personality and psychological empowerment explain a significant amount of the variance in the positive organizational outcomes, and that psychological empowerment has a significant incremental value over demographics and personality for the studied outcomes.     

Narcissism and career success: Occupational self-efficacy and career engagement as mediators

Narcissism is a personality trait that has potentially important effects on career development outcomes, yet empirical research on this issue is sparse. The present study explored the relationships between narcissism and two indicators of career success (i.e., salary and career satisfaction) among a group of young professionals (N = 314). We assessed a model proposing that the effect of narcissism on career success is mediated by increased occupational self-efficacy beliefs and career engagement. While correlations between narcissism and the two indicators of career success were minimal, the results showed a significant indirect effect on salary via occupational self-efficacy and indirect effects on career satisfaction via self-efficacy and career engagement. We discuss the results regarding insights into why narcissism may lead to career success.