Linking dimensions of career adaptability to adaptation results: A meta-analysis

Abstract

As the work environment becomes more dynamic, adaptability is becoming increasingly important. Career adaptability refers to a set of psychosocial resources that help individuals successfully manage career-related tasks and transitions. The number of publications on career adaptability has increased rapidly over the past five years. Grounded in career construction theory, the current study provides a dimension-level meta-analysis of 76 career adaptability studies, examining relationships among four career adaptability dimensions (i.e., concern, control, curiosity, and confidence), as well as relationships between these dimensions and several adaptation results (e.g., job performance, job satisfaction, turnover intentions). A meta-analytic confirmatory factor analysis supported the underlying structure of career adaptability. In addition, meta-analytic relative weights analysis was conducted to test hypotheses about the unique and relative contributions of each career adaptability dimension to the prediction of adaptation results. Findings suggest that researchers should begin to refocus research questions and modify methodologies to better accommodate variations in dimension-level career adaptability relationships.