Proactive Career Behaviors Research Articles

Toward A Broader Understanding of Job Crafting and Proactive Career Behaviors

Although most jobs and roles are created by organizations, employees can also self-initiate changes to their job characteristics based on their abilities and needs, a process referred to as job crafting. This bottom- up, employee-initiated job redesign has captured surging attention from both academics and practitioners in recent decades, as it offers great value in informing how individuals can more adaptively navigate today’s dynamic environment. Although existing research has greatly enhanced our knowledge on the antecedents and outcomes of employees’ job crafting, theories remain limited when it comes to explaining how contextual factors interact to affect job crafting, how job crafting is sustained over a long time, as well as how unique populations like leaders and agency temp workers and how a group of people collectively initiate changes agenticly in their jobs or career. The presentations and discussion in this proposed symposium seek to shed light upon these less charted territories. We include five studies examining different contexts and using different methodologies to extend our understanding of job crafting or, more generally, how individuals proactively exert changes in their jobs and career. Dynamic, Reciprocal Relationships Between Job Crafting, Self-concordant and Organizational Goals Presenter: Michael Clinton; King's College London Presenter: Uta K. Bindl; King's College London Presenter: Keely J. Frasca; Birkbeck, U. of London, and U. of East London Presenter: Elena Martinescu; Vrije U. Amsterdam Job Crafting and Passion for Work: A Mixed-Method Study of Senior Organizational Leaders Presenter: Gavin Slemp; U. of Melbourne Presenter: Austin Chia; U. of Melbourne Presenter: Robert J. Vallerand; - Intergroup Competition and Job Crafting: Moderating Role of Task- vs. Relation-oriented Leadership Presenter: Yanbo Song; INSEAD Presenter: Winnie Jiang; INSEAD Team Job Crafting and Employee Creativity Presenter: Xue Zheng; China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Presenter: Tae-Yeol Kim; China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Presenter: Yi Xiang; China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Explorative Study on Agency Workers’ Career Self-Management Presenter: Jana Retkowsky; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Sanne Nijs; Human Resource Studies, Tilburg U. Presenter: Jos Akkermans; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Paul G W Jansen; Vrije U. Amsterdam

Does Future Work Self Benefit Everyone Equally? The Moderating Role of Organizational Support for Development

To elucidate how and why hotel employees proactively engage in career development, this study explains the indirect effect of future work self (FWS) on their proactive career behavior through career engagement. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study discusses the moderating role of organizational support for development (OSD) to highlight why OSD is important for those who have low-level FWS. Results of the 205 hotel supervisor–staff-matched data show that career engagement mediates the relationship between FWS and proactive career behavior. Furthermore, OSD can be considered a compensatory moderator that determines the indirect effect of FWS on proactive career behavior. This study provides further theoretical and practical implications.

Protean Career Orientation and Proactive Career Behaviors During School-to-Work Transition: Mechanism Exploration and Coaching Intervention

The school-to-work transition (STWT) period is crucial for students, and a protean career orientation (PCO) is important for a successful transition. The present study aimed to examine the effects of PCO on proactive career behaviors, the underlying mechanisms, and the development of PCO using a coaching approach. Study 1 was conducted based on 250 Chinese undergraduate and postgraduate students during STWT using self-reported questionnaires. Statistical results showed that PCO positively predicted proactive career behaviors and mediated by vocational identity and career adaptability. In Study 2, a randomized controlled trial was used to implement a coaching program that aimed at improving PCO and associated positive career outcomes. Statistical analyses found that the intervention group showed significant improvements in PCO, and the increase in PCO positively predicted increases in career adaptability, vocational identity, and proactive career behaviors.

Life goals and proactive career behaviors: The mediating role of visions about the future and the moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty.

Dominated by uncertainties, today’s work world pushed university students to exhibit proactive career behaviors. Thus, this created a need for more research conducted to determine the variables associated with proactive career behaviors, on the grounds that additional research may contribute to an increase in proactive career behaviors. In this context the study explored the mediating role of visions about the future and the moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty in the relationship between university students’ life goals and their proactive career behaviors. The study was carried out with 519 students (299 females and 220 males) studying at a university in the Eastern Mediterranean Region of Turkey. The Scale of Setting Life Goals with Respect to Positive Psychotherapy, the Visions about the Future Scale, the Career Engagement Scale, and the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale were employed as data collection tools. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, structural equation modeling methods, and regression analysis based on the bootstrap method. The correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between proactive career behaviors, life goals and visions about the future, and a negative relationship between proactive career behaviors and intolerance of uncertainty. Furthermore, the analyses put forth that visions about the future have a mediating role in the relationship between life goals and proactive career behaviors and that intolerance of uncertainty has a moderating role in the same relationship. Increasing university students’ life goals and their visions about the future and reducing their intolerance of uncertainty will help them exhibit proactive career behaviors.

Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Proactive Career Behavior

We applied the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM) to the study of proactive career behavior, referring to workers’ active attempts to guide their own career development. Within the CSM framework, proactive behavior is conceived as a key agentic ingredient linking cognitive, social, and personality mechanisms with a variety of career advancement and sustainability outcomes. A sample of 511 early to mid-career adult workers in the U.S. completed an online survey including measures of proactive career behavior, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations; proactive personality; supervisory support; and three positive career self-management outcomes (perceived career success, growth in work rewards, and job marketability). We tested measurement and structural models, respectively, examining the factor structures of, and hypothesized paths among, the constructs. These models offered good overall fit to the data and were found to be invariant across gender. We consider the implications of the findings for future inquiry on career sustainability from a social cognitive perspective.

Work Placement Supervisor Support and Students’ Proactive Career Behaviors: The Moderating Role of Proactivity

Drawing upon social cognitive career theory model of career self-management, we examined the relationship between work placement supervisor support (WPSS) and students’ proactive career behaviors (PCB), mediating role of work placement learning self-efficacy and the moderating effect of proactivity in the indirect relationships. Data were collected from 275 university undergraduate students undertaking placement learning in 129 firms. The regression analysis revealed that WPSS associated positively with all the constructs of PCB namely: career planning, proactive skills development, career consultation, and career network building, as well as work placement learning self-efficacy. Also, work placement learning self-efficacy mediated the relationship between WPSS and the constructs of PCB except career consultation. Proactivity moderated the relationship between work placement learning self-efficacy and career planning and career network building, and the indirect effects of WPSS on career planning and career network building via work placement learning self-efficacy were significant at low, average, and high levels.

How does the protean career attitude influence external employability? The roles of career resilience and proactive career behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between protean career attitude, career resilience, proactive career behavior and external employability.Design/methodology/approachThis study sampled 212 training apprentice employees who participated in training programs using a proportional stratified sampling in South Korea. The study tested the research model using structural equation modeling.FindingsThis study revealed that protean career attitude influenced external employability through career resilience and proactive career behavior. Career resilience fully mediated the relationship between protean career attitude and external employability and partially mediated protean career attitude and proactive career behavior. Proactive career behavior also mediated the relationship between protean career attitude and external employability.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has a limitation by relying on cross-sectional data. In terms of theoretical implications, this study can add new knowledge to the protean career research by demonstrating that the protean career attitude influences perceived external employability through career resilience and proactive career behavior for the sample of young training apprentice employees.Originality/valueThis study uncovers the dynamic processes between protean career attitude and perceived external employability. Moreover, this study’s sample is significant because training apprentice employees are mostly young in their 20s and 30s with less than three years of working experience and working in small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea.

Examining subjective career success of knowledge workers

Subjective career success describes an individual’s satisfaction with his/her professional life. We propose a novel model for evaluating the universal personal values as well as the behavioral and socio-demographic factors that lead to subjective career success. Data was collected from employees of organizations across 20 different industries in Latvia (with a sample size of N = 348). This study reveals that the personal values that have the most significant influence on a subjective career are self-direction and power. Behavioral factors explained nearly 30% of the variance, revealing that the most important career behaviors that lead to subjective career success are control and confidence behaviors as well as attitudes toward rewards and relationships. Curiosity behaviors and education levels had negative impact on subjective career success, and previous experience in managerial positions had the most significant positive impact on the subjective career success of the respondent included in the sample. The respondents’ genders had no impact on subjective career success. The results of the study are applicable to both organizations and their human resource departments as well as individuals who aim at advancing their careers. For individuals, there is an important message to be had that, by practicing pro-active career behaviors, they can possibly compensate for some lack of education or previous managerial experience. On the organizational side, it is important to understand what personal, behavioral, and socio-demographic factors lead to the positive perception of a career path, as it would increase one’s organizational commitment and drive him/her toward reaching their organizational goals.

Influence of Proactive Career Behaviors on Career Choice Decisions of Students

Due to increased trend in job transitions, prospects of occupation these days are difficult to predict. Therefore, workers need to develop differentiated set of skills and competences to be able to adapt to a variety of available occupations. The volatility in employability due to ever changing technologies, business environments and models need to focus on becoming lifelong learners not only to maintain their employability but to create more opportunities for themselves. This situation has affected work like of people in a way that the careers no more belong to the organizations but to individual. According to the literature on boundaryless careers, there are three types of variables that can be used to predict career success. Combinations of these three variables are generally referred to as career competencies. Theoretical research reveals that 'understanding why, ‘whom,' and 'how' are the three most important indicators of career success. The findings demonstrate that proactive career behaviors are predicted by future work self and identity resolution. Future work self has a significant positive impact on employment status and, as a result, can lead to future employment success. The findings also revealed that future work self predicts career planning the most. Career consultation is the second most reliable indicator of future employment. Future work self can also forecast proactive skill improvement and proactive career consulting. The study showed results that identity resolution predicts career planning the most. Identity resolution also predicts proactive skill development, career consultation and proactive career networking.

Organizational Mindfulness and its Interactive Effect on the Relationship between Strategic Capital and Proactive Career Behavior

The current study aims to determine and analyze the interactive effect of Organizational Mindfulness on the relationship between Strategic capital and proactive career behavior at Knowledge University in Erbil city. The analytical descriptive method was adopted to describe the theoretical framework for the concepts and variables of the study, and then analyze the correlation relationship and effect between the dependent and independent variable on the one hand, and the interactive variable and its effect on the assumed relationship between the other two variables on the other hand. The researchers used the questionnaire survey as a tool to collect primary data from the study sample taken from the study population represented 53 of teaching staff in the field of study, which is Knowledge University in Erbil. The SPSS program Version 22 was adopted to analyze the required statistical analyzes such as the frequencies in addition to find the values of mean and standard deviations for the dimensions of the study variables along with testing the study hypotheses using the Pearson correlation coefficient and the Simple Regression analysis. This study found that there is a statistically significant correlation and regression relationship between the study variables and their dimensions in the researched from the perspective of their teaching staff on the one hand, and this relationship is affected by the action of the interactive variable influenced by statistical significance on the other side according to the results of statistical analyzes which is useful to prove study hypotheses. The study presented a set of recommendations, including the need for the university to rely more on organizational mental alertness because of its interactive effect in strengthening the existing relationship between strategic capital and proactive career behavior.  

The Impact of Proactive Career Behavior On Subjective Career Success Of Employees The Moderating Role Of Career Mentoring

The study and the nature of the research define proactive career behavior and subjective career success,which have a positive relationship when an employee thinks about his/her career and its success of it. A survey was conducted with a sample size of 200. The questionnaires was filled by the employees of different firms,educational institutions, and organizations in which there were three variables one was proactive career behavior, the second was subjective career success, and the third was mentoring, which were mentioned before the results after the test was positive and significant by which we understand that there is a direct and positive relationship among our two variables,but our moderator doesn't have the effect we were expected to have the moderator was insignificant, and the result was negative with proactive career behavior, and subjective career success and the results are discussed.

Can you manage shocks? An investigation of career shocks on proactive career behavior: a COR theory perspective

PurposeConsiderable research has been done to link career-development strategies to career-management success, but little is known about how career shocks (CSs) relate to proactive career behavior (PCB). Furthermore, the study investigates the mediation mechanism of personal resources (i.e. perceived self-efficacy (PSE) and perceived employability (PEMP)) in the linkage between CSs and PCB using the tenets of conservation of resources (COR) theory.Design/methodology/approachUsing the survey approach, the authors recruited 322 banking professionals and validated the proposed model and hypotheses in AMOS.FindingsThe outcome shows that CSs are significantly related to PSE and PEMP (personal resources), subsequently linked to PCB. Moreover, personal resources mediate the linkage between CSs and PCB. Thus, CSs cannot be ignored but can be minimized through proactive efforts.Practical implicationsThe findings support the banks' management to protect their personnel career by not giving CSs and build their PCB through personal resources. The employees should strive for enhancing personal resources through organizational development opportunities (i.e. training and development) to rescue themselves from sudden CSs.Originality/valueShocks cannot be ignored but can be managed through PCB. This research is the first that successfully adds to the career-development literature by empirically establishing the direct and indirect association between CSs and PCB through personal resources.

Dark Triad but a bright future? Socially malevolent personality traits and proactive career behavior

We explored the effect of the toxic characteristics of the Dark Triad of personality traits, comprising narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, on proactive career behavior, and the role of career adaptability as a mediator. We used two-wave lagged data from a survey conducted with 449 Master of Business Administration university students in China. Machiavellianism and narcissism were both positively related to proactive career behavior and career adaptability, but psychopathy was not positively related to either. Further, the effects of Machiavellianism and narcissism on proactive career behavior were mediated by career adaptability. Our results show that narcissism and Machiavellianism play a positive role in explaining important career-related behavior. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Predictors of subjective career success amongst women employees: moderating role of perceived organizational support and marital status

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between subjective career success (SCS) and proactive career behavior as well as family support, with a focus on women professionals in India. The study also investigates the moderating role of perceived organizational support and marital status on these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of 363 women professionals working in the information technology-enabled services industry in India. The study is cross-sectional in design.FindingsFindings from this study posit the positive moderating role of perceived organizational support on the relationship between proactive career behavior and SCS and on the relationship between family support and SCS. As a moderator, marital status has a positive impact on the relationship between proactive career behavior and SCS but has a negative impact on the relationship between family support and SCS.Practical implicationsThe results from this study will help organizations understand the predictors of career success of women employees. Another practical implication is that this study establishes knowledge of perceived organizational support, a controllable organizational factor as a moderator in positively influencing the success of women’s careers. Leaders and managers can, therefore, use organizational factors to facilitate the success of women employees.Originality/valueThis study is perhaps the first to examine the relationship between antecedents of career success for women professionals in the context of India.

Acting Proactively to Manage Job Insecurity: How Worrying About the Future of One's Job May Obstruct Future-Focused Thinking and Behavior.

An increasing number of people experience insecurity about the future of their job, making it more important than ever to manage this insecurity. While previous research suggests that proactive coping is a promising way to alleviate job insecurity, we suggest that, paradoxically, it may be particularly difficult to act proactively when feeling emotionally distressed about the future of one’s job. Drawing on the principle of resource scarcity and the Conservation of Resources theory, we propose that affective job insecurity ignites a scarcity mindset that inhibits workers’ future focus and cognitive functioning, thereby undermining proactive career behavior. Additionally, we examine whether income adequacy can compensate for these negative consequences of job insecurity. Results of a three-wave survey study among 108 self-employed professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that initial affective job insecurity was negatively related to cognitive functioning but unrelated to future focus. Yet, the latter relationship was moderated by income adequacy: affective job insecurity was positively related to future focus when participants reported high income adequacy. In turn, future focus was positively related to proactive career behavior, which was subsequently related to lower cognitive job insecurity. Thus, while replicating the finding that workers can proactively manage their cognitive job insecurity, we also showed that initial affective job insecurity may obstruct people’s cognitive functioning. We discuss how our results signal a Matthew effect, in which job insecure people with sufficient means are able to look ahead and proactively build resources to change their career, while job insecure people with insufficient means may fall behind.

Cultivating Proactive Career Behavior: The Role of Career Adaptability and Job Embeddedness.

Scholars have widely acknowledged that proactive career behavior is essential for individuals to proactively build their careers, as well as facilitate positive career outcomes. However, there are still many questions about how to activate proactive career behavior. In the current study, we consider whether, how and when regulatory focus of individuals would evoke their proactive career behavior. Based on career construction theory, we utilized the career adaptability framework to develop and test the mediating effect of individual regulatory focus on proactive career behavior through career adaptability. Moreover, we further proposed that job embeddedness plays a contingency role in moderating the extent to which regulatory focus contributes to proactive career behavior with the mediation of career adaptability differently and uniquely. Using a sample of 247 participants and collecting data in three waves, we found that the promotion focus of employees positively influences their proactive career behavior through the mediation of career adaptability. Furthermore, the indirect effect of promotion focus on proactive career behavior via career adaptability was moderated by the dichotomy of job embeddedness of individuals respectively and differently. Specifically, the positive relationship between promotion focus and proactive career behavior via the mediation of career adaptability was strengthened by the on-the-job embeddedness of employees, whereas the relationship was weakened by their off-the-job embeddedness. The overall findings broaden our understanding in terms of the underlying mechanism of proactive career behavior, suggesting that the promotion focus of individuals fosters proactive career behavior via career adaptability, and on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness as contingency factors alter the effect of career adaptability.

Unraveling the complex relationship between career success and career crafting: Exploring nonlinearity and the moderating role of learning value of the job

While scholars have devoted considerable attention to proactive career behaviors, little is known about the drivers behind these behaviors. In this study, we build on conservation of resources theory to study nonlinearity in the relationship between (objective and subjective) career success and career crafting behaviors (i.e., proactive career reflection and proactive career construction) using a sample of 702 teaching staff. Both low and high levels of subjective career success related to higher levels of proactive career reflection (i.e., U-shaped relationship), whereas only high levels of subjective career success related to higher levels of proactive career construction (i.e., strengthening quadratic relationship). Moreover, learning value of the job moderated the relationship between subjective career success and both dimensions of career crafting. Our findings indicate that educational institutions should monitor and act on the perceived career success and learning value of their teaching staff to foster their career proactivity.

Examining the Career Construction Model of Adaptation Among Filipino Senior High School Students

Career development literature that tested the career construction model of adaptation has, thus far, examined adaptability resource as a mediator in the relationship between adaptive readiness and adaptation results; however, there remains a need to elaborate the links between adaptive resources, adapting response, and adaptation results. This research tested a path model among 331 Filipino senior high school students using hope, career adaptability, career engagement, and life satisfaction as measures of adaptive readiness, adaptability resources, adaptive response, and adaptation results, respectively. Analyses revealed a significant serial relationship from hope to life satisfaction through career adaptability and career engagement. Findings suggest that having career-related abilities may not be enough to promote well-being; rather proactive career behaviors may be taken as a route to a satisfying life. Implications on theory, research, and practice are discussed.

How and When Does Leader Humility Enhance Employee Proactive Career Behavior

In this research, we drew upon implicit leadership theory to examine the joint effects of leader humility, follower power distance, and follower narcissism on proactive career behavior via perceived leader competence. Specifically, we proposed that leader humility would be perceived as more competent for the employees with lower power distance; we also proposed two competing predictions about the interactive effect of leader humility and follower narcissism on leader competence from two different theoretical perspectives (i.e., opposite-attraction perspective vs. similar-attraction perspective). We tested our hypotheses using a multi-waves and time-lagged survey with 281 subordinate-supervisor dyads from 87 teams. The results of our studies demonstrate that the followers with low power distance and low narcissism are more likely to perceive higher leader humility to be more competent and thus increase their proactive career behavior. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Intern to employee conversion via person–organization fit

PurposeInternships are utilized globally to recruit graduate employees. However, there is a limited understanding of the process by which interns convert into regular employees, particularly in non-Western research contexts. Integrating attraction–selection–attrition (ASA) theory and proactive career behaviors, this study identifies the mechanisms influencing interns' intentions to convert into regular employment in host organizations in Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachTime lagged, questionnaire data were collected from 669 final-year undergraduate business and economics students who participated in internship programs in a large metropolitan city in Vietnam.FindingsThe results indicate that the interns who exhibit proactive career behaviors are more likely to foster high-quality reciprocal relationships with their supervisors and work colleagues during internships. These positive relations magnify interns' intentions to become regular employees via their perceived person–organization fit.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for higher education institutions and host organizations when designing internship programs to maximize employment outcomes via conversion of interns into regular employees.Originality/valuePrevious studies have not tested the critical aspect of ASA theory regarding the personalities of the interns when building work-related relationships that result in the person–organization fit before accepting job offers from host organizations.