Why do negative career shocks foster perceived employability and career performance: A career crafting explanation

Abstract

Studies of negative career shocks have generally overlooked the proactive pathway underlying the link between negative career shocks and employee career outcomes. Drawing on the career crafting perspective, we theorized a mediated moderation model that links negative career shocks to two career outcomes: perceived employability and career performance. Using data from 478 casino dealers in Macau, we found support for our hypotheses that negative career shocks had a positive relationship with career crafting and this relationship was moderated by employee proactive coping. When the casino dealers’ proactive coping was high, they engaged in more career crafting. Moreover, the associations between negative career shocks and career outcomes (i.e., perceived employability and career performance) were mediated by career crafting. Insights and implications for hospitality research on the proactive pathway of negative career shocks are provided by this study.