Determinants and Outcomes of Professional Vitality: Evidence from China

Abstract

The processes underlying professional vitality in the workplace based on organizational variables such as perceived organizational support and career satisfaction, have received little attention from researchers. We proposed professional vitality as a positive dimension in career development and empirically examined its determinants and outcomes. Within our conceptual framework, light was shed on the effect of professional vitality as a critical component in career satisfaction. We collected data from 218 students enrolled part-time in the Master of Business Administration course at a large public university in China. The results showed that perceived organizational support and trust were closely connected to the students’ professional vitality and career satisfaction. Moreover, we found that professional vitality played a partial mediating role between perceived organizational support, trust, and career satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications for future research are discussed.