Roles of competencies, career shock, and satisfaction in career commitment: Evidence from project-based organizations

Abstract

This study analyzes how career competencies increase individuals’ career commitment through positive career shocks from the project perspective. Further, this paper discusses the interaction effect of career satisfaction and career shocks to career commitment. Survey data were collected from early-career engineers working on engineering projects, and later analyzed through PROCESS Macro. Findings revealed that positive career shocks increased the career commitment of young engineers who had acceptable career competencies. This study extends the current career debate more precisely in the project context by highlighting the role of positive career shock, a relatively new construct in project management research, in career commitment. This also highlighted policy implications from a project viewpoint, such as how project recruiters may help early-career workers develop and enhance their attitudes toward a certain career, which is advantageous to the organization and project outcomes.