Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes as Antecedents of Organizational Commitment—Evidence from the Indian IT Industry

Abstract

Protean and boundaryless careers have emerged as new ways of handling careers in organizations. This concept is gaining a significant place in career studies. In line with this, the current study examines the relationship between the underlying dimensions of protean (self-direction and value-driven), boundaryless (boundaryless mindset (BM)) and mobility preference (MP) career attitudes and organizational commitment (OC) (affective, normative and continuance). Organizational commitment is important for all kinds of organizations. For data collection, 600 IT professionals employed in different organizations in the Delhi-NCR region of India were approached. Descriptive statistics, correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized to validate the research outcomes and test hypotheses. Prior literature studies focusing on the effects of protean and boundaryless career attitudes on organizational commitment have not been much explored. The current study suggests that mobility preference has a significant contribution towards individuals’ continued commitment to the employing organization. Other variables assert an insignificant relationship with organizational commitment. These results demonstrate how decision-makers and managers should proceed to design a blueprint for the education of employees in conjunction with the underlying dimensions of protean, boundaryless and mobility preferences, career attitudes and organizational commitment (OC).