Profiles of Weekly Career Self-Management and their Relation to Career Resources and Stressors

Abstract

Dynamic behavioral processes lie at the center of career self-management (CSM). In this study, we explore a novel approach towards understanding such processes by integrating a person-centered with a short-term longitudinal perspective. We suggest that previous research of CSM has not comprehensively examined how CSM may be characterized by combinations, or profiles, of co-occurring behaviors and how such profiles may differentially relate to career resources and stressors. Using multilevel latent profile analyses on 469 weekly responses of 95 employees, we find that weekly CSM behaviors (i.e., learning, networking, self-exploration and environmental exploration) form qualitatively and quantitatively distinct profiles, that these profiles dynamically change on a week-to-week level, and that membership in these profiles can be predicted by career resources and stressors (i.e., career self-management self-efficacy, job insecurity, and high-activation pleasant affect). We explore the theoretical and practical implications of our findings in the context of the dynamics of career self-management.