Proactive behaviors matter for my job! The roles of career decidedness and career stress in face of VUCA
Career Development International
ISSN: 1362-0436
Article publication date: 13 February 2024
Issue publication date: 30 April 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study examines how proactive skill development (PSD) influences job performance and mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the above relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a sample of 261 full-time workers in three waves, spaced by a six-week interval (Time 1, N = 360; Time 2, N = 320; Time 3, N = 261).
Findings
The results confirmed that career stress mediated the relationship between PSD and job performance. Additionally, high career decidedness strengthened this negative relationship between stress and performance. Furthermore, career decidedness significantly moderated the indirect PSD–performance relationship via career stress, accentuating the indirect effect when decidedness is higher.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on the important role of proactive skills development in influencing job performance and what factors can affect this relationship. It offers practical implications by highlighting how targeted training can boost employees' proactivity and performance.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback, which helped improve our article. An ealier version of this paper was received the Best Paper Award at the 2022 Southern Management Association Conference (#202223).
Citation
Le, H., Lee, J., Gopalan, N. and Van der Heijden, B. (2024), "Proactive behaviors matter for my job! The roles of career decidedness and career stress in face of VUCA", Career Development International, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 251-266. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-03-2023-0078
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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