Abstract
AbstractThis research explores an important psychological capacity in the current boundaryless career environment—optimism. Optimism is associated with flexibility and adaptability amid stressful situations, which, we argue here may be particularly useful in the current unpredictable career environment. We explore the relationship between optimism and the structure and quality of individuals' developmental networks in a sample of young adults. Analyses are based on a 10‐year longitudinal study (1996–2006) of a cohort of 136 individuals who graduated from business school in 1996. Cross‐sectional analyses show that the amount of psychosocial support, but not career support, received by individuals is positively associated with optimism. Then, considering the long‐term nature of help‐giving, longitudinal relational data suggest that the greater one's early‐career psychosocial and career support, the greater one's optimism many years hence. In addition, we examined how the rate of change in developmental network support over time is associated with optimism. Findings show that increasing amounts of career and psychosocial support over time were associated with greater optimism later in career. Implications for future research on the boundaryless career, optimism, and developmental relationships are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Highlights
In the fifteen years since the concept of the ―boundaryless career‖ was first introduced in the Journal of Organizational Behavior (Arthur, 1994) and developed in the book The Boundaryless Career (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), the nature of the career environment has changed substantially
We focus on one particular aspect of this new notion of psychological capital—optimism—as it relates to the support individuals receive from developmental relationships in their careers
These ideas were offered in the original boundaryless careers volume (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996) and are well aligned with Hall‘s (1996) ―relational approach to careers.‖ Here, we extend this prior work by empirically examining the role that the timing, amount, and kind of support provided by an individual‘s developmental network can play in an individual‘s career
Summary
In the fifteen years since the concept of the ―boundaryless career‖ was first introduced in the Journal of Organizational Behavior (Arthur, 1994) and developed in the book The Boundaryless Career (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996), the nature of the career environment has changed substantially. Organizational and career scholars have become increasingly concerned with finding ways to help individuals persevere amidst such factors that are seemingly unpredictable and uncontrollable (e.g., Spreitzer, Sutcliffe, Dutton, Sonenshein, & Grant, 2005) These environmental changes have motivated researchers to consider important yet often-ignored aspects of work life such as hope, optimism, and resilience (Seligman, 2002). Research shows that optimists are less likely to dwell on negative or stressful situations, less likely to give up amidst stress, and are more likely to maintain a positive outlook and to develop plans of action to deal with stressful situations (e.g., Peterson & Seligman, 1984; Shifren & Hooker, 1995; Strack, Carver, & Blaney, 1987) We propose that these are exactly the kinds of capacities needed in the present-day career environment. It paid attention to the ways in which organizations could help employees ―benchmark‖ and ―update their skills,‖ ―prepare for the future,‖ and engage in ―self assessment‖ to become more ―competitive.‖ The focus of this work was on the role or even ―obligation‖ of the employer to help individuals explore new opportunities or become more protean in their careers (Mirvis & Hall, 1994)
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