The relationship between career motivation and self-efficacy with protégé career success

Research exploring the underlying processes involved in successful mentorships has been lacking. In the present study, the roles of career motivation and career self-efficacy as explanatory factors were examined. Career motivation mediated the relationship between career mentoring and performance effectiveness. Contrary to prediction, only marginal support was received for career self-efficacy as a mediator between mentoring and indicators of career success. This research is unique in that it was the first to reveal linkages between mentoring, career self-efficacy, career motivation and protégé career success. Theoretical and practical implications of results are discussed.     

Differences in self-reported work ethic across three career stages

Miller and Woehr’s Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (as described in Miller, Woehr, & Hudspeth, 2002) was used to examine differences in work ethic across career stages. Participants in the trial stage scored significantly higher on the hard work and delay of gratification dimensions, but participants in the stabilization and maintenance stages scored higher on the morality, wasted time, and leisure dimensions. No significant differences were found for centrality or self-reliance. The results provide evidence of the importance of studying work ethic across the lifespan and of the multidimensional nature of the work ethic construct.     

Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability

The present study aims to unravel the relationship between competency development, employability and career success. To do so, we tested a model wherein associations between employee participation in competency development initiatives, perceived support for competency development, self-perceived employability, and two indicators of subjective career success (i.e. career satisfaction and perceived marketability) have been specified. A survey was conducted among a sample of 561 employees of a large financial services organization. The results support the idea that employee participation in competency development initiatives as well as perceived support for competency development is positively associated with workers' perceptions of employability. Moreover, self-perceived employability appeared to be positively related with career satisfaction and perceived marketability. A full mediation effect was found for the relationship between participation in competency development initiatives and both career satisfaction and perceived marketability, while a partial mediation effect was found in case perceived support for competency development was the predictor variable. The implications of our findings for understanding the process through which individuals and organizations can affect subjective career success are discussed.     

Immigration and the interplay among citizenship, identity and career: The case of Ethiopian immigration to Israel

Migration is a common phenomenon of the globalization era. In this article we explore the interplay of three foundational concepts in the migration experiences of Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel: citizenship, identity and career. Through our analysis we examine the multiple layers of being an immigrant citizen. Following immigration, as reflected in empirical studies with members of this community, we have observed tensions between inclusion and exclusion, equality and difference, work and family as well as gender role transformation, family restructuring, and generational differences. These issues are discussed in the context of the development of active citizenship and career. Career development is found to be a core process in the enactment of citizenship, the promotion of a sense of belonging and deeply related to identity formation. Identity as an overarching perspective, with its personal and collective meanings, plays an important role at the intersection between citizenship and career.     

Consequences of autonomous and team-oriented forms of dispositional proactivity for demonstrating advancement potential

Under the paradigm of individualism, proactive personality has garnered much attention in connection with indicators of career success. We regard this construct as an autonomous form of dispositional proactivity and explored it along with team-oriented proactivity as a predictor of self-perceived influence and observed advancement potential in a team-based setting. We proposed that insofar as advancement potential entails demonstrating adeptness at furthering collective performance, autonomous proactivity would be detrimental whereas team-oriented proactivity would be beneficial. This proposition was the basis for a structural model with self-perceived influence as a mediator. Results from data on 672 personnel in 70 teams supported the model and the hypothesized consequences of autonomous (negative) and team-oriented (positive) forms of dispositional proactivity for observed advancement potential.     

The impact of supervisory mentoring on personal learning and career outcomes: The dual moderating effect of self-efficacy

Using survey data from 226 employees and their supervisors in four manufacturing companies in China, we found that employee self-efficacy has a dual moderating effect on the impact of supervisory mentoring on subordinate career outcomes. Path analytic tests of mediated moderation suggested that self-efficacy moderates the mediated effects of supervisory mentoring on job performance and career satisfaction through personal learning such that the mediated effect on job performance is stronger when employees have higher self-efficacy, but the mediated effect on career satisfaction is stronger when they have lower self-efficacy.     

Parents' role in adolescents' decision on a college major: A weekly diary study

This study examined 39 adolescents during their transition to university. In standardized weekly diaries over several weeks (M = 8.13) adolescents reported on engagement in career exploration (in-breadth and in-depth self and environmental exploration), their parents' transition-related involvement (frequency of conversations, support, and interference), and their satisfaction with how the transition progressed. The results showed that exploration largely fluctuated across weeks, whereas parent involvement was more stable. Family members' engagement varied according to the phase of the application process the adolescent was involved in. The more adolescents explored during a given week, the more they talked to their parents, and the more supportive parents were. Associations between interference and exploration differed by type of exploration. Both exploration and support contributed to higher satisfaction.     

Proactive personality and career adaptability: The role of thriving at work

This is a pioneer study to examine the mechanism underlying the relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability. Using a moderated mediation approach, it tested the mediating effect of thriving on this relationship and the moderating effect of proactive personality on the relationship between thriving and career adaptability. Three hundred and sixty-four adult employees participated in the survey study. Results demonstrated that proactive personality first promoted individuals' thriving at work, which in turn led to improved career adaptability. In addition, the effect of thriving on career adaptability was found to be stronger for those individuals with low rather than high proactive personality. In supporting this, the moderated mediation analysis further indicated that low proactive individuals, compared to their high proactive counterparts, relied more on thriving when developing career adaptability resources. These findings have important implications for career research and career counseling practices.     

Expatriate career intentions: Links to career adaptability and cultural intelligence

Given the increasing rate of global mobility, it is important to have a greater understanding of the factors that influence intentions for expatriate careers. Guided by the Career Construction Theory and Intelligence Theory, this study takes the view that self-initiated expatriation as a form of global mobility is an adaptive vocational behavior driven by an individual's self-regulatory capacity to thrive in another country and work to build one's career. This study posits that individuals who want to work overseas rely mainly on their adaptive resources to develop their careers. Additionally, career adaptability, as a self-regulatory competency, is posited to be reinforced by an individual's intercultural capability (i.e., cultural intelligence). To test these assertions, data were collected in a sample of university students (n = 514) in the Philippines, a country reported to have high rates of overseas migration for economic and career-related reasons. Career adaptability was found to be positively and significantly related to overseas career intentions. In addition, cultural intelligence was found to moderate the said relationship. These results offer the groundwork for understanding the earlier stages of expatriate careers and, in particular, how the intention to have a career in another country is developed and influenced by the interaction between the self-regulatory characteristics and intercultural capability of individuals.     

Counselling and well-being: on the road to realities

This article aims to discuss the rationale and some guiding principles for the realm of counselling in the fostering of well-being. After some brief observations of a theoretical nature, the principles analysed are: the revitalisation of counselling; the reflection on the concept of dialogue, including the notion of context; the perspective of counselling as social activity; understanding counselling and how it adjusts on the road to realities. From this perspective, practitioners view counselling as a social activity aimed at self-construction and life designing. In following that view, the idea of counselling as being socially produced is also examined. At the end, some considerations on the future of counselling are discussed.