Beatrice Van der Heijden, Annabelle Hofer and Judith Semeijn
Building on a stress-related view, this study examines the impact of qualitative job insecurity on three indicators of career sustainability. It also examines the moderating role…
Abstract
Purpose
Building on a stress-related view, this study examines the impact of qualitative job insecurity on three indicators of career sustainability. It also examines the moderating role of employee age in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Dutch respondents (N = 398) working in various sectors responded to an online survey. Our hypotheses were tested using path modeling with Mplus.
Findings
Qualitative job insecurity was negatively related to job satisfaction, general health, and employability. Moreover, a moderating effect of employee age on the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and job satisfaction was found.
Practical implications
Organizations need to take measures to prevent qualitative job insecurity, as this appears to be an essential hindering factor that might endanger an employee's career sustainability. Especially younger workers (<40 years) seem to suffer from qualitative job insecurity as this decreases their job satisfaction, urging management and HR professionals to protect them against it.
Originality/value
By focusing on qualitative job insecurity, this study helps to close an essential gap in the literature that so far has mainly focused on quantitative job insecurity. Besides, this is the very first empirical work investigating the link between qualitative job insecurity and multiple indicators of career sustainability. Finally, this research adds a developmental approach to sustainable careers by comparing younger and older workers.
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Annabelle Hofer, Daniel Spurk and Andreas Hirschi
This study investigates when and why negative organization-related career shocks affect career optimism, which is a positive career-planning attitude. The indirect effect of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates when and why negative organization-related career shocks affect career optimism, which is a positive career-planning attitude. The indirect effect of negative organization-related career shocks on career optimism via job insecurity and the role of perceived organizational career support as a first-stage moderator were investigated.
Design/methodology/approach
Three-wave time-lagged data from a sample of 728 employees in Switzerland was used. Time-lagged correlations, an indirect effect model and a conditional indirect effect model with bootstrapping were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
First, this study showed a significant negative correlation between negative organization-related career shocks (T1) and career optimism (T3), a positive correlation between negative organization-related career shocks (T1) and job insecurity (T2) and a negative correlation between job insecurity (T2) and career optimism (T3). Second, findings revealed that negative organization-related career shocks (T1) have a negative indirect effect on career optimism (T3) via job insecurity (T2). Third, perceived organizational career support (T1) buffers the indirect effect of negative organization-related career shocks (T1) on career optimism (T3).
Originality/value
This study provides an initial examination of the relationship between negative organization-related career shocks and career optimism by applying assumptions from the JD-R model and Conservation of Resources theory. Implications about how to deal with negative career shocks in HRM and career counseling are discussed.
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Daniel Spurk, Annabelle Hofer, Anne Burmeister, Julia Muehlhausen and Judith Volmer
The purpose of this review is to integrate and organize past research findings on affective, normative and continuance occupational commitment (OC) within an integrative framework…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this review is to integrate and organize past research findings on affective, normative and continuance occupational commitment (OC) within an integrative framework based on central life span concepts.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors identified and systematically analyzed 125 empirical articles (including 138 cases) that examined OC with a content valid measure to the here applied definition of OC. These articles provided information on the relationship between OC and four distinct life span concepts: chronological age, career stages, occupational and other life events, and occupational and other life roles. Furthermore, developmental characteristics of OC in terms of construct stability and malleability were reviewed.
Findings
The reviewed literature allowed to draw conclusions about the mentioned life span concepts as antecedents and outcomes of OC. For example, age and tenure is more strongly positively related to continuance OC than to affective and normative OC, nonlinear and moderating influences seem to be relevant in the case of the latter OC types. The authors describe several other findings within the results sections.
Originality/value
OC represents a developmental construct that is influenced by employees’ work- and life-related progress, associated roles, as well as opportunities and demands over their career. Analyzing OC from such a life span perspective provides a new angle on the research topic, explaining inconsistencies in past research and giving recommendation for future studies in terms of dynamic career developmental thinking.
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Xinqi Lin, Yuxiang Luan, Kai Zhao, Teng Zhao and Guolong Zhao
Given its importance, career optimism (CO) has drawn much attention from researchers. Fruitful evidence has been accumulated; unfortunately, a quantitative review is still…
Abstract
Purpose
Given its importance, career optimism (CO) has drawn much attention from researchers. Fruitful evidence has been accumulated; unfortunately, a quantitative review is still lacking, which would limit the continuous development of this field. To address this, this paper uses the meta-analysis technology to evaluate the links between CO and its antecedents and outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used Hunter–Schmidt method random effect meta-analysis technology to systematically evaluate the true score correlations between CO and its antecedents and outcomes.
Findings
Among the CO antecedents, this study found significant links between CO and agreeableness (ρ = 0.11), career adaptability (ρ = 0.55), career knowledge (ρ = 0.43), career decision self-efficacy (ρ = 0.52), social support (ρ = 0.30), conscientiousness (ρ = 0.54), extraversion (ρ = 0.38), gender (ρ = 0.07), GPA (ρ = 0.11), neuroticism (ρ = −0.42), and openness (ρ = 0.27). Moreover, among the CO outcomes, significant links have been found between CO and academic satisfaction (ρ = 0.43), career choice satisfaction (ρ = 0.44), career decisiveness (ρ = 0.37), depersonalization (ρ = −0.48), and emotional exhaustion (ρ = −0.59).
Originality/value
By conducting the first meta-analysis of CO, our study contributes to the CO literature. Additionally, our study increases the knowledge of CO, which would help leaders in the school or workplace to understand the significance of CO better and thereby take actions to intervene and increase students or employees' CO.