Self‐directed career attitude and retirement intentions

Work engagement among older workers: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

Given current labor force conditions, including population aging, keeping older workers engaged in work and motivated is important. Aging may alter the effects that psychological and environmental factors have on work engagement. We conducted a systematic review to understand the features of work engagement among older workers.

METHODS

A systematic search was conducted in July 2022 using 4 databases. The review included relevant articles that focused on participants aged 40 years and older.

RESULTS

Fifty articles were selected for our review, which were grouped into 5 categories: (1) studies examining the relationship between chronological age and work engagement, (2) studies investigating the moderating effects of age on the relationship between job-related psychological factors and work environment factors and work engagement, (3) studies comparing the relationship of job-related psychological factors and work environment factors with work engagement across different age groups, (4) studies exploring the relationship between work engagement and retirement intentions or continued employment beyond retirement age, and (5) other studies discussing work engagement in the context of older workers. Most articles focused on workers in Europe and the United States and used observational study designs.

CONCLUSIONS

Work engagement increases with age, and is mainly mediated by increased emotional regulation. In addition, age moderates the relationships between various job-related psychological and work-environmental factors and work engagement. Work engagement is associated with working beyond retirement age. Organizations should understand the characteristics of work engagement among older workers and make age-conscious efforts to support them in adapting to social changes.

Proactive Personality and Social Support With Pre-retirement Anxiety: Mediating Role of Subjective Career Success

The main objective of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of subjective career success (SCS) in the relationship between proactive personality, social support (SS), and pre-retirement anxiety. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, 624 pre-retirees were sampled (M = 56.49 years; SD = 4.56); of these, 237 (37.98%) were males and 387 (62.02%) were females. Measurement model and mediation test were performed using the SmartPLS and IBM SPSS Amos software. The result indicated that proactive personality, SS, and SCS showed negative relationships with the dimensions of pre-retirement anxiety (financial preparedness, social obligation, and social alienation). Subjective career success mediated the relationship between proactive personality and pre-retirement anxiety.

A Career Crafting Training Program: Results of an Intervention Study

This intervention study examined the effects of a career crafting training on physicians' perceptions of their job crafting behaviors, career self-management, and employability. A total of 154 physicians working in two hospitals in a large Dutch city were randomly assigned to a waitlist control group or an intervention group. Physicians in the intervention group received an accredited training on career crafting, including a mix of theory, self-reflection, and exercises. Participants developed four career crafting goals during the training, to work on in the subsequent weeks, after which a coaching conversation took place over the phone. Physicians in the control group received no intervention. A pre- and post-test 8 weeks later measured changes in job crafting and career self-management (primary outcomes) and employability (secondary outcome) of 103 physicians that completed the pre- and post-test. RM ANOVAs showed that the intervention enhanced perceptions of career self-management and job crafting behavior to decrease hindering job demands. No support was found for the effect of the intervention on other types of job crafting and employability. This study offers novel insights into how career crafting can be enhanced through training, as this is the first empirical study to examine a career crafting intervention. HR managers can use the outcomes to develop tailored career policies and career development practices.

Is Protean Career Attitude Beneficial for Both Employees and Organizations? Investigating the Mediating Effects of Knowing Career Competencies

The aim of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of protean career attitude on subjective and objective career success representing personal outcomes and task performance reflecting an organizational outcome. Drawing on the intelligent career framework, three knowing career competencies, i.e., career insight (knowing why), networking (knowing whom), and career/job-related skills (knowing how), were hypothesized as mediators linking protean career attitude with its personal and organizational outcomes. Participants of the study were 241 faculty members and matched supervisors from five large public sector universities in Islamabad, Pakistan. Data were collected in two waves through a personally administered questionnaire and analyzed through covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM). Results showed that protean career attitude has direct positive impacts on subjective career success, objective career success, and task performance. Further, the mediating role of three knowing career competencies was partially supported. We contribute to the literature by proposing and testing a research model linking protean career attitude with its personal and organizational outcomes directly and indirectly through three ways of knowing. A number of practical implications along with future research directions are also discussed.

#Trending topics in careers: a review and future research agenda

Purpose

Virtually all contemporary scientific papers studying careers emphasize its changing nature. Indeed, careers have been changing during recent decades, for example becoming more complex and unpredictable. Furthermore, hallmarks of the new career – such as individual agency – are clearly increasing in importance in today’s labor market. This led the authors to ask the question of whether these changes are actually visible in the topics that career scholars research. In other words, the purpose of this paper is to discover the trending topics in careers.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this goal, the authors analyzed all published papers from four core career journals (i.e. Career Development International, Career Development Quarterly, Journal of Career Assessment, and Journal of Career Development) between 2012 and 2016. Using a five-step procedure involving three researchers, the authors formulated the 16 most trending topics.

Findings

Some traditional career topics are still quite popular today (e.g. career success as the #1 trending topic), whereas other topics have emerged during recent years (e.g. employability as the #3 trending topic). In addition, some topics that are closely related to career research – such as unemployment and job search – surprisingly turned out not to be a trending topic.

Originality/value

In reviewing all published papers in CDI, CDQ, JCA, and JCD between 2012 and 2016, the authors provide a unique overview of currently trending topics, and the authors compare this to the overall discourse on careers. In addition, the authors formulate key questions for future research.

Assessing the Process of Retirement: a Cross-Cultural Review of Available Measures

Retirement research is now expanding beyond the post-World War II baby boomers' retirement attitudes and plans to include the nature of their workforce exit and how successfully they adjust to their new life. These elements are collectively known as the process of retirement. However, there is insufficient research in developing countries to inform the management of their ageing populations regarding this process. This review aims to facilitate national and cross-cultural research in developing and non-English speaking countries by reviewing the existing measures of the retirement process published in English and Portuguese. The review identified 28 existing measures assessing retirement attitudes, planning, decision making, adjustment and satisfaction with retirement. Information on each scale's item structure, internal reliability, grammatical structure and evidence of translations to other languages is presented. Of the 28 measures, 20 assessed retirement attitudes, plans and decision-making, 5 assessed adjustment to retirement and only two assessed retirement satisfaction. Only eight of the 28 scales had been translated into languages other than English. There is scope to translate measures of retirement attitudes and planning into other languages. However there is a paucity of translated measures of retirement decision-making and adjustment, and measures of retirement satisfaction in general. Within the limitations of this review, researchers are provided with the background to decide between translating existing measures or developing of more culturally appropriate assessment tools for addressing their research questions.

The Impact of Career Management on Organizational Commitment and the Mediating Role of Subjective Career Success

To determine the importance of career management behavior (CMB) for organizational outcomes, this study investigated the impact of CMB and organizational support for career development (OSCD) on subjective career success (SCS) and eventually on organizational commitment. Based on survey data from 355 employees of large Korean manufacturing firms, we found that both CMB and OSCD were positively associated with SCS. The results show that SCS positively affects organizational commitment and positively mediates both the relationship between CMB and organizational commitment and the relationship between OSCD and organizational commitment. Our findings imply that employee career success, which is affected by individual and organizational efforts, contributes to the outcomes of the organization in which employees are embedded.

The Longitudinal Relationship Between Protean Career Orientation and Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, and Intention-to-Quit

We surveyed 168 young adults (83% male; mean age = 24 years), who worked for a large electronics manufacturing company in Indonesia, on two occasions, six months apart, on measures of protean career orientation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention-to-quit, and tested the relationships between protean career orientation and the three outcome variables over time. We tested three cross-lagged models (standard causal, reverse causal, and reciprocal causal), and found support for the standard causal model. Higher levels of protean career orientation at T1 were associated with lower levels of organizational commitment and job satisfaction and higher levels of intention-to-quit at T2, after the effects of T1 were controlled. Results indicated poorer individual and organizational outcomes after six months for employees with higher levels of protean orientation.

Career studies in search of theory: the rise and rise of concepts

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to introduce further clarity to career scholarship and to support the development of career studies by complementing earlier theoretical literature reviews with an evidence-based historical analysis of career-related terms.

Design/methodology/approach

– Data from 12 career scholars were collected using the historical Delphi method to find consensus on the career terms that have shaped career studies between 1990 and 2012. The authors then explored the literature by collecting data on the occurrence of these terms, analyzing frequencies and trends via citations and indexes of citation using a mixed-method combination of historical literature review and performance analysis.

Findings

– Career scholarship is indeed a descriptive field, in which metaphors dominate the discipline. Career success and employability are basic terms within the field. The discipline tends to focus narrowly on career agents. There is a plethora of terminology, and, contrary to the expectations, concepts introduced tend not to fade away.

Originality/value

– The authors offer an overarching perspective of the field with a novel mixed-method analysis which is useful for theory development and will help unify career studies. Earlier comprehensive literature reviews were mostly based on theoretical reasoning or qualitative data. The authors complement them with results based on quantitative data. Lastly, the authors identify new research directions for the career scholarship community.

Investigating suicide as a career response

Purpose

– To empirically consider work and career as potential influences of suicide.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this qualitative study we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with 16 individuals who were survivors (i.e. family members or intimates) of individuals who had committed suicide. Data was analyzed using a grounded theory methodology.

Findings

– This exploratory study used purposive self-determination as the theoretical framework for analyzing their life histories. Factors of purposive self-determination, including lack of purpose, feeling controlled, experiencing failure, and social exclusion all figured prominently but differentially according to life-stage. Distinct work and career themes for early-career, mid-career and late-career suicides emerged. Early-career suicides were attributed to educational or work-related contexts, leading to a sense of hopelessness. Mid-career suicides emphasized despair based in failure. Finally, an attempt to escape from challenges associated with transitioning roles in retirements emerged as a key theme in late-career suicides.

Originality/value

– Although suicide has been studied extensively from medical, psychopathological, sociological, anthropological, philosophical and religious perspectives, there is a dearth of research considering why certain individuals choose to end their own lives as a result of work and career related reasons. This study sought to contribute to our understanding of this under-researched phenomenon. Additionally, while extant careers theory and research has considered positive notions of career such as career success or careers as a calling, this work presents an alternate lens, the consideration of career failure and careers as a sentence.