Linking Protean Career Orientation with Career Optimism: Career Adaptability and Career Decision Self-Efficacy as Mediators

Abstract

Protean career orientation has become prevalent among young workers in contemporary workplace. Little is known about whether this orientation is related to their positive expectation of future career development. We developed a conceptual model to investigate the relationship between protean career orientation and career optimism. Informed by social construction theory and social cognitive career theory, we considered career adaptability and career decision self-efficacy (CDSE) as potential mediators in the model. Several hypotheses were proposed and tested with a sample of 170 undergraduate students in Hong Kong. The results of path analysis and bootstrapping indicated that protean career orientation has a positive relationship with career optimism, and such relationship is fully mediated by career adaptability and CDSE. Our study has yielded novel into how some individual differences factors affect the development of career optimism among university students.