A person-centered perspective in assessing career adaptability: Potential profiles, outcomes, and antecedents

Abstract

This study explored the career adaptability profiles and corresponding characteristics with a person-centered method as well as the correlation between career adaptability and various antecedents such as supervisor feedback setting and person-organization (P–O) fit, and outcomes such as psychological safety and self-efficacy. We employed a convenience sampling technique to invite more than 1000 employees from five provinces in China in 2 studies. There are 535 valid questionnaires in Study 1 and 377 valid questionnaires in Study 2. We performed latent profile analysis (LPA) using Mplus 7.31. For the antecedents, we ran the three-step estimation (R3STEP) command. In terms of outcomes, Binary Coded Hexadecimal (BCH) analysis was conducted. LPA identified four career adaptability profiles, namely, optimal, high, moderate, and low career adaptability. The four different profiles varied in the level, but not the shape. These profiles were predicted by antecedents of supervisor feedback environment and P–O fit, and these profiles impacted psychological safety and self-efficacy. We used a new approach to better understand career adaptability under the framework of career construction theory. A person-centered method, compared with a variable-centered approach, can elucidate the interactions among four dimensions of career adaptability in an employee. Thus, we demonstrated that (1) various career adaptability profiles at work generally do not consistently occur, and (2) latent profiles can distinguish antecedents from outcomes.