Self-directed career attitude as predictor of career and life satisfaction in Chinese employees: Calling as mediator and job insecurity as moderator
Zhang, C., Hirschi, A., Herrmann, A., Wei, J., & Zhang, J. (2015). Self-directed career attitude as predictor of career and life satisfaction in Chinese employees: Calling as mediator and job insecurity as moderator. Career Development International, 20(7), 703-716. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-06-2015-0090
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test if the effects of a self-directed career attitude on career and life satisfaction are mediated by a person’s sense of calling and moderated by job insecurity in a sample of Chinese employees.
Design/methodology/approach – Among a sample of Chinese employees (n = 263), in this paper, a moderated mediation analysis with bootstrapping was applied to test the hypotheses.
Findings – The results showed that calling mediates the effects of a self-directed career attitude on career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Job insecurity moderated the effect on life satisfaction but not on career satisfaction. The effect on life satisfaction were stronger under higher levels of job insecurity.
Research limitations/implications – These results suggest that a self-directed career attitude may help people develop a calling, which in turn relates to increased subjective career success and well-being. In addition, the notion of a calling may be especially important for well-being in unstable job circumstances.
Originality/value – This study is the first to explore a calling and a self-directed career attitude in a sample of Chinese employees. Corresponding to contemporary China’s rapidly changing context of economy and career development, a self-directed career orientation plays an important role in Chinese employees’ calling and subjective career success.
Keywords: Calling, Job insecurity, Life satisfaction, Self-directed career attitude, Subjective career success
Hope in adolescent careers: Mediating effects of work motivation on career outcomes in Swiss apprentices
Valero, D., Hirschi, A. & Strauss, K. (2015). Hope in adolescent careers: Mediating effects of work motivation on career outcomes in Swiss apprentices. Journal of Career Development, 42(5), 381-395. doi:10.1177/0894845314566866
Abstract
Being hopeful is critical for individuals who are engaged in vocational pursuits. However, the empirical research examining how and why hope is related to work and career outcomes remains sparse. We evaluate a model that proposes that dispositional hope affects job performance and turnover intentions through increased work motivation in terms of autonomous goals (reason to motivation), positive affective experience at work (energized to motivation), and occupational self efficacy beliefs (can do motivation). The hypotheses were tested among 590 Swiss adolescents in vocational education and training using path analysis and multiple mediation analyses. The results revealed that hope was positively related to all three motivational states and supervisor-rated job performance and negatively related to turnover intentions. Positive affect mediated the effects of hope on turnover intentions and performance. Autonomous goals mediated the effects of hope on turnover intentions. These results support the importance of hope to employee well-being and organizational outcomes.
Keywords: hope, work motivation, performance, turnover intentions, adolescent career
Assessing calling in Chinese college students: Development of a measure and its relation to hope
Zhang, C., Herrmann, A., Hirschi, A., Wei, J., & Zhang, J. (2015). Assessing Calling in Chinese College Students: Development of a Measure and Its Relation to Hope. Journal of Career Assessment, 23(4), 582-596, doi: 10.1177/1069072715595804.
Abstract
Research suggests that perceiving a calling towards a particular career is relatively frequent among college students in Western cultures. However, little is known about how this applies to other cultural contexts. This study assessed the perception of career as a calling in the Chinese culture. Study 1 reports the development of the Chinese Calling Scale (CCS), based on a sample of 788 Chinese college students, and identifies three dimensions of a calling: Altruism, Guiding Force, and Meaning and Purpose. Measurement invariance across gender is supported by the CCS. In Study 2, the convergent and criterion validity of the CSS is examined based on a sample of 387 college students. The CCS is strongly related to an existing calling measure and moderately related to life meaning and life satisfaction. Study 3 examines the relation between calling, hope, life meaning, life satisfaction, and career decidedness among 518 college students. The findings reveal that hope significantly mediated the relation of calling with career decidedness, life meaning, and life satisfaction. In summary, this study provides a new scale to assess calling in Chinese culture and is the first to explore how calling relates to dispositional hope.
Career adaptability profiles and their relationship to adaptivity and adapting
Hirschi, A., & Valero, D. (2015). Career adaptability profiles and their relationship to adaptivity and adapting. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 88,220-229, doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2015.03.010
Abstract
Research on career adaptability predominantly uses variable-centered approaches that focus on the average effects in terms of the predictors and outcomes within a given sample. Extending this research, the present paper used a person-centered approach to determine whether subgroupswithdistinctadaptability profiles intermsofconcern,control, curiosityandconfidence can beidentified. Wealsoexploredthe relationship between the variousadaptability profiles and adapting (career planning, career decision-making difficulties, career exploration, and occupa tional self-efficacy beliefs) and adaptivity (core self-evaluations and proactivity). Using latent profile analysis, we found distinct adaptability profiles among 350 German university students. Students with different profiles differed significantly in their levels of adapting. This finding was confirmedinasecondstudyof1226studentsselectedfromthesamepopulation.Inbothsamples, the adaptability profiles differed mainly in terms of their adaptability levels but not their shape. Moreover, in both samples, the students whose profiles indicated generally higher adaptability showed more adapting compared with the students whose profiles indicated generally lower adaptability. Study 2 also showed that students with higher-adaptability profiles showed signifi cantly higher adaptivity. The results suggest that level effects dominate adaptability profiles, implyingthe existence of a generaladaptability factor within universitystudents that is meaning fully related to adapting and adaptivity.
The protean career orientation as predictor of career outcomes: Evaluation of incremental validity and mediation effects
Herrmann, A., Hirschi, A., & Baruch, Y. (2015). The protean career orientation as predictor of career outcomes: Evaluation of incremental validity and mediation effects. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 88,205-214, doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2015.03.008
Abstract
A protean career orientation is assumed to be beneficial for career development but researchers have only recently started to empirically evaluate the concept. Conducting two studies based on three independent samples of university students and working professionals in Germany, we address issues of concurrent validity, predictive incremental validity and mechanisms linking the protean orientation to career outcomes. The first study showed that in a sample of 104 Ger man employees different measures of the protean career orientation all correlated highly, but not identically, to a range of work and career attitudes. Using bootstrapping analysis, a second study with a six-month prospective examination among 419 German university students and a cross-sectional analysis among 526 German employees showed that a protean career orientation predicts proactive career behaviors and career satisfaction beyond a proactive disposition and core self-evaluations, respectively. Moreover, the protean career orientation was a significant mediator of these two personality constructs on both career outcomes. Cumulatively, the studies enrich our understanding of how and when a protean career orientation is related to important career outcomes.
Narcissism and career success: Occupational self-efficacy and career engagement as mediators
Hirschi, A., & Jaensch, V. (2015). Narcissism and career success: Occupational self-efficacy and career engagement as mediators. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 205-208, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.002
Abstract
Narcissism is a personality trait that has potentially important effects on career development outcomes, yet empirical research on this issue is sparse. The present study explored the relationships between nar cissism and two indicators of career success (i.e., salary and career satisfaction) among a group of young professionals (N = 314). We assessed a model proposing that the effect of narcissism on career success is mediated by increased occupational self-efficacy beliefs and career engagement. While correlations between narcissism and the two indicators of career success were minimal, the results showed a signif icant indirect effect on salary via occupational self-efficacy and indirect effects on career satisfaction via self-efficacy and career engagement. We discuss the results regarding insights into why narcissism may lead to career success.
Career adaptivity, adaptability, and adapting: A conceptual and empirical investigation
Hirschi, A., Herrmann, A., & Keller, A. (2015). Career adaptivity, adaptability, and adapting: A conceptual and empirical investigation. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 87, 1-10. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2014.11.008
Abstract
The literature on career adaptation is vast and based on a range of different measurement approaches. The present paper aimsto explore how different operationalizations of career adapt ability in terms of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence are related from a conceptual and empirical standpoint. Based on a cross-sectional analysis with 1260 German university students, weestablished that the adaptability resources of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence are significantly related to, but empirically distinct from, measures representing adapting in terms of career planning, career decision-making difficulties, career exploration, and occupational self efficacy. In a follow-up survey six months later, we found that the career adaptability dimensions partially mediatedtheeffectsof adaptivity (i.e.,coreself-evaluations andproactivity)onplanning, decision-making difficulties, exploration, and self-efficacy. Interestingly, in both analyses, there was no clear match between adaptability resources and theoretically corresponding aspects of career adapting in terms of behaviors, beliefs, and barriers. The results suggest that psychological career resources in terms of concern, control, curiosity, and confidence partially mediate the effects of more context-general, trait-like adaptivity on different career-specificbehavioral forms of adapting.
Hope as a resource for career exploration: Examining incremental and cross-lagged effects
Hirschi, A., Abessolo, M., & Froidevaux, A. (2015). Hope as a resource for career exploration: Examining incremental and cross-lagged effects. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 86, 38-47. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2014.10.006
Abstract
Hope is believed to be beneficial for vocational pursuits, but the question of how and why hope is related to pivotal career development variables remains largely unaddressed. In a series of three studies, we investigated the relationship between hope and career exploration. Study 1 examined at-risk adolescents (N = 228) in Switzerland and showed that hope explains variance in career exploration beyond the significant effects of generalized self-efficacy beliefs and per ceived social support. Study 2 found the same result among a group (N = 223) of first-year stu dents at a Swiss university with a measure of state hope. Study 3 applied a one-year cross-lagged design with a diverse group of students (N = 266) at a German university to investigate the mu tual effects of dispositional hope and career exploration over time. Although both variables were found to be related within and over time, we could not confirm lagged effects in either direction. The results suggest that hope is significantly correlated with career exploration because both are related to personality and social-contextual variables.
Keywords: hope; career exploration; self-efficacy beliefs; social support
Hope as a resource for self-directed career management: Investigating mediating effects on proactive career behaviors, life and job satisfaction
Hirschi, A. (2014). Hope as a resource for self-directed career management: Investigating mediating effects on proactive career behaviors, life and job satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(6), 1495-1512. doi:10.1007/s10902-013-9488-x
Abstract
Hope is increasingly recognized as an important psychological resource for career development, yet the empirical research on its functioning in this domain is sparse. This paper describes an investigation of how dispositional hope is related to career decidedness, career planning, and career self-efficacy beliefs and whether these more proximal career attitudes mediate the effects of hope on proactive career behaviors, life satisfaction, and job satisfaction. This investigation was conducted using two independent samples of university students (N=1,334) and working professionals (N=233). The results showed that in both samples, hope was significantly related but empirically distinct from career variables. In both samples, hope had a direct effect on proactive career behaviors, partially mediated by more career planning. Hope had significant direct and indirect effects on life satisfaction among students, mediated by three career development attitudes. Although hope was significantly correlated with job satisfaction among employees, no direct effect of hope was found in the mediation model, but an indirect effect through career decidedness was found. The results suggest that hope is an important resource for proactive career development at different career stages and that the positive relation of hope to life and job satisfaction can partially be attributed to the positive relation between hope and favorable career development attitudes.
Keywords: hope; career development; proactivity; life satisfaction; job satisfaction
The Career Engagement Scale: Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors
Hirschi, A., Freund, P. A., & Herrmann, A. (2014). The Career Engagement Scale: Development and validation of a measure of proactive career behaviors. Journal of Career Assessment, 22(4), 575-594. doi:10.1177/1069072713514813
Abstract
Careers today increasingly require engagement in proactive career behaviors;however, there is a lack of validated measures assessing the general degree to which somebody is engaged in such career behaviors. We describe the results of six studies with six independent samples of German university students (total N ¼ 2,854), working professionals (total N ¼ 561), and university graduates (N ¼ 141) that report the development and validation of the Career Engagement scale—a measure of the degree to which somebody is proactively developing his or her career, expressed by diverse career behaviors. The studies provide support for measurement invariance across gender and time. In support of convergent and discriminant validity, we find that career engagement is more prevalent among working professionals than among university students and that this scale has incremental validity above several specific career behaviors regarding its relation to vocational identity clarity and career self-efficacy beliefs among students and to job and career satisfaction among employees. In support of incremental predictive validity, beyond the effects of several more specific career behaviors, career engagement while at university predicts higher job and career satisfaction several months later after beginning work.
Keywords: career development, proactivity, career behaviors, career counseling
Career engagement: Investigating intraindividual predictors of weekly fluctuations in proactive career behaviors
Hirschi, A. & Freund, P. A. (2014). Career engagement: Investigating intraindividual predictors of weekly fluctuations in proactive career behaviors. Career Development Quarterly, 62(1), 5-20. doi:10.1002/j.2161-0045.2014.00066.x
Abstract
This study applied a microlevel perspective on how within-individual differences in motivational and social-cognitive factors affected the weekly fluctuations of engagement in proactive career behaviors among a group of 67 German university students. Career self-efficacy beliefs, perceived career barriers, experienced social career support, positive and negative emotions, and career engagement were assessed weekly for 13 consecutive weeks. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that above average levels of career engagement within individuals were predicted by higher than average perceived social support and positive emotions during a given week. Conversely, within-individual differences in self-efficacy, barriers, and negative emotions had no effect. The results suggest that career interventions should provide boosts in social support and positive emotions.
Keywords: career engagement, diary study, university students, self-directed career management
Perceived organizational support and intention to stay in host countries among self-initiated expatriates: The role of career satisfaction and networks
Cao, L., Hirschi, A., & Deller, J. (2014). Perceived organizational support and intention to stay in host countries among self-initiated expatriates: The role of career satisfaction and networks. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(14), 2013-2032. doi:10.1080/09585192.2013.870290
Career decision making, stability and actualization of career intentions: The case of entrepreneurial intentions
Hirschi, A. (2013). Career decision making, stability and actualization of career intentions: The case of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Career Assessment, 21(4), 555-571, doi:10.1177/1069072712475287
Abstract
Career counselors are often concerned with stability and likelihood of implementation of clients’ career intentions. It is often assumed that the status in career decision making (CDM) is one likely indicator, yet empirical support for this assumption is sparse. The present study focused on entrepreneurial career intentions (EI) and showed that German university students (N = 1,221), with high EI can be found in very different empirically derived CDM statuses that range from pre-concern to mature decidedness. Longitudinal analyses (n = 561) showed that career choice foreclosure (high decidedness/low exploration) related to more EI stability and that mature decidedness (high decidedness/high exploration) amplified effects of EI on opportunity identification, a form of EI actualization. The results imply that CDM statuses are useful to estimate stability and actualization of career intentions.
Keywords: entrepreneurial intention; career decision making; vocational identity; career exploration; career intentions
The positive effects of a protean career attitude for self-initiated expatriates: Cultural adjustment as a mediator
Cao, L., Hirschi, A., & Deller, J. (2013). The positive effects of a protean career attitude for self-initiated expatriates: Cultural adjustment as a mediator. Career Development International, 18(1), 56-77. doi:10.1108/136204313113059537
Abstract
Purpose– The authors sought to explain why and how protean career attitude might influence self-initiated expatriates’ (SIEs) experiences positively. A mediation model of cultural adjustment was proposed and empirically evaluated.
Design/methodology/approach– Data from 132 SIEs in Germany containing measures of protean career attitude, cultural adjustment, career satisfaction, life satisfaction, and intention to stay in the host country were analysed using path analysis with a bootstrap method.
Findings– Empirical results provide support for the authors’ proposed model: the positive relations between protean career attitude and the three expatriation outcomes (career satisfaction, life satisfaction and intention to stay in the host country) were mediated by positive cross-cultural adjustment of SIEs.
Research limitations/implications– All data were cross-sectional from a single source. The sample size was small and included a large portion of Chinese participants. The study should be replicated with samples in other destination countries, and longitudinal research is suggested.
Practical implications– By fostering both a protean career attitude in skilled SIE employees and their cultural adjustment, corporations and receiving countries could be able to retain this international workforce better in times of talent shortage.
Originality/value– This study contributes to the scarce research on the conceptual relatedness of protean career attitude and SIEs, as well as to acknowledging the cultural diversity of the SIE population.
Keywords: Self-initiated expatriation, Protean career, Cultural adjustment, Career satisfaction, Intention to stay, International mobility, Cultural distance, Expatriates
Work values as predictors of entrepreneurial career intentions: A longitudinal analysis of gender effects
Hirschi, A. & Fischer, S. (2013). Work values as predictors of entrepreneurial career intentions: A longitudinal analysis of gender effects. Career Development International, 18(3), 216-231. doi:10.1108/CDI-04-2012-0047
Abstract
Purpose
Work values are an important characteristic to understand gender differences in career intentions, but how gender affects the relationship between values and career intentions is not well established. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether gender moderates the effects of work values on level and change of entrepreneurial intentions (EI).
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 218 German university students were sampled regarding work values and with EI assessed three times over the course of 12 months. Data were analysed with latent growth modelling.
Findings
Self‐enhancement and openness to change values predicted higher levels and conservation values lower levels of EI. Gender moderated the effects of enhancement and conservation values on change in EI.
Research limitations/implications
The authors relied on self‐reported measures and the sample was restricted to university students. Future research needs to verify to what extent these results generalize to other samples and different career fields, such as science or nursing.
Practical implications
The results imply that men and women are interested in an entrepreneurial career based on the same work values but that values have different effects for men and women regarding individual changes in EI. The results suggest that the prototypical work values of a career domain seem important regarding increasing the career intent for the gender that is underrepresented in that domain.
Originality/value
The results enhance understanding of how gender affects the relation of work values and a specific career intention, such as entrepreneurship.
Calling and career preparation: Investigating developmental patterns and temporal precedence
Hirschi, A., & Herrmann, A. (2013). Calling and career preparation: Investigating developmental patterns and temporal precedence. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(1), 51-60. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2013.02.008
Abstract
The presence of a calling and career development are assumed to be closely related. However, the nature of and reason for this relationship have not been thoroughly investigated. We hypothesized the existence of reciprocal effects between calling and three dimensions of career preparation and assessed the change of the presence of a calling, career planning, decidedness, and self-efficacy with three waves of a diverse sample of German university students (N = 846) over one year. Latent growth analyses revealed that the intercepts of calling showed a significant positive correlation with the intercepts of all career preparation measures. The slope of calling was positively related to those of decidedness and self-efficacy but not to planning. Cross-lagged analyses showed that calling predicted a subsequent increase in planning and self-efficacy. Planning and decidedness predicted an increase in the presence of a calling. The results suggest that calling and career preparation are related due to mutual effects but that effects differ for different career preparation dimensions.
Proactive motivation and engagement in career behaviors: Investigating direct, mediated, and moderated effects
Hirschi, A., Lee, B., Porfeli, E. J., & Vondracek, F. W. (2013). Proactive motivation and engagement in career behaviors: Investigating direct, mediated, and moderated effects. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83(1), 31-40. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2013.02.003
Abstract
Proactive career behaviors become increasingly important in today’s career environment, but little is known about how and when motivational patterns affect individual differences. In a six month longitudinal study among German university students (Study 1; N=289) it was demonstrated that motivation in terms of “can do” (self-efficacy and context beliefs), “reason to” (autonomous career goals), and “energized to” (positive affect) significantly predicted career behaviors. Contrary to expectation, negative context beliefs had a positive effect when combined with other motivational states. Study 2 replicated and extended those results by investigating whether “can do” motivation mediates the effect of proactive personality and whether those effects are conditional upon the degree of career choice decidedness. We tested a moderated multiple mediation model with a unique sample of 134 German students, assessed three times, each interval being 6 weeks apart. The results showed that effects of proactivity were partially carried through higher self-efficacy beliefs but not context beliefs. Supporting a moderation model, indirect effects through self-efficacy beliefs were not present for students with very low decidedness.
Keywords: career management; proactivity; motivation; career counseling; career engagement
Assessing difficulties in career decision-making among Swiss adolescents with the German My Vocational Situation Scale
Hirschi, A. & Herrmann, A. (2013). Assessing difficulties in career decision-making among Swiss adolescents with the German My Vocational Situation Scale. Swiss Journal of Psychology, 73(1), 43-52. doi:10.1024/1421-0185/a000097
Abstract
Assessing problems in career decision making among adolescents is important for career guidance and research. The present study is the first to investigate among Swiss adolescents the factor structure and convergent validity in relation to personality of the German-language adaptation of the My Vocational Situation Scale. Two preliminary studies (N = 217) suggested that using a 5-point Likert scale response format would increase scale reliability. The confirmatory factor analyses in the main study with two cohorts (n = 341, eighth grade; n = 303, eleventh grade) confirmed that four main factors, which assess problems with identity, decision making, information, and perceived barriers, underlie the data. The barriers factor was differentiated into aspired vocation and personal situation. Construct validity was supported by significant relationships between favorable personality characteristics (emotional stability, extraver sion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, generalized self-efficacy, and internal locus of control) and fewer problems. The results suggest that the vocational identity and barriers scales can be fruitfully applied to research on and the practice of career counseling with adoles cents.
Keywords: career assessment, career decision making, vocational identity, personality
The career resources model: an integrative framework for career counsellors
Hirschi, A. (2012). The career resources model: an integrative framework for career counsellors. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 40(4), 369-383. doi:10.1080/03069885.2012.700506
Abstract
Changes in the nature of work and organisations have led to an increased need for self-directed career management (SDCM). However, there is no consensus in the literature of what constitutes SDCM and many related concepts have been proposed. Integrating previous research across different conceptualisations of SDCM, the article proposes four critical career resources which are essential for career development in the modern context: human capital resources, social resources, psychological resources and identity resources. Implications of this framework for counselling practice are presented.
Keywords: career adaptability; career motivation; employability; career self management
Callings and work engagement: Moderated mediation model of work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy
Hirschi, A. (2012). Callings and work engagement: Moderated mediation model of work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 59(3), 479-485. doi:10.1037/a0028949
Abstract
Scholarly interest in callings is growing, but researchers’ understanding of how and when callings relate to career outcomes is incomplete. The present study investigated the possibility that the relationship of calling to work engagement is mediated by work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy—and that this mediation depends on the degree of perceived person–job fit. I examined a highly educated sample of German employees (N 529) in diverse occupations and found support for 2 of the 3 hypothesized mediators—work meaningfulness and occupational identity—after controlling for the relation of core self-evaluations to work engagement. Contrary to expectations, the mediated relations of callings to work engagement were not conditional upon the degree of person–job fit. The findings are considered in terms of the pathways through which callings may relate to work engagement and other career development outcomes.
Keywords: calling, work engagement, work meaningfulness, occupational identity