Maintaining job crafting over time: joint effect of autonomy and career support from family and friends

Purpose

The study focuses on intraindividual trajectory of job crafting change over time. Integrating the self-regulation and demands-resources perspectives, this study examines how career support from family and friends interacts with job autonomy to influence the change pattern of job crafting.

Design/methodology/approach

Four waves of self-report survey data were collected in a semester from 324 university professors and instructors in China. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine intraindividual change of job crafting and conducted latent interaction analysis to test the joint effect of autonomy and career support from family and friends on job crafting change.

Findings

There was a general declining trend in job crafting over the course of a semester. Career support from family and friends moderated the association between job autonomy and job crafting maintenance. Specifically, when career support was low, job autonomy was negatively associated with job crafting maintenance.

Research limitations/implications

The study showed that job crafting maintenance over time is distinct from the typical between-person conceptualization. Further, job crafting maintenance was predicted from a self-regulatory perspective. However, the unique context of college faculty from China may limit generalization of the findings.

Practical implications

Managers should recognize the challenges in maintaining job crafting over time. In addition to providing autonomy at work, organizations may benefit from establishing channels for employees to receive career support from non-work domains.

Originality/value

The authors adopt a self-regulation perspective to understand intraindividual change in job crafting over time and situate the current investigation in the cyclical nature of university faculty’s job.

Occupational engagement scale-student: Psychometric properties in Turkish university students

Young adults pursue a career path in the face of many barriers, such as financial worries and parental influences. Engaging in occupational behaviours enables them to know themselves and the world better, and also provides them with opportunities to have experiences that help them decide on a career. This study adapts the Occupational Engagement Scale-Student (OES-S) into Turkish and examines its psychometric properties in a university sample. Participants consisted of 304 university students (149 females and 155 males). Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the original unidimensional factor structure of the OES-S. For discriminant and concurrent validity, significant relationships were found between the OES-S and subscales of the Career Decision Scale. The internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) was .80. The results indicated that the OES-S could be considered as a valid and reliable tool to measure the occupational engagement of young adults.

Gender and Socioeconomic Status as Factors of Individual Differences in Pre-University Students' Decision-Making for Careers, with a Focus on Family Influence and Psychosocial Factors

The present study analyses the influence of family, specifically parents, on the career decisions of their children, and how gender and socioeconomic status influence this choice. Research was carried out using data obtained from a questionnaire administered to a representative sample of students who took the university entrance examination (PEvAU, its Spanish acronym) in Spanish North Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted in which multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was applied anda decision tree, which was also used for graphical and analytical analysis. The main results indicated a significant influence of parents on their children’s choices, this being the best predictor regarding the decision to take the said examination. It was also verified that their choice of Spanish Baccalaureate programme was significantly associated with their selected career path, and gender and socioeconomic status had a significant impact on that decision. These results lead to the need for further research on guidance from secondary education onwards. It would be interesting to analyse factors neglected thus far, such as those related to the cultural environment of students.

Examining the Career Self-Management Model Among Native American Students With STEM Career Goals

Native Americans are highly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers; however, little research exists concerning how to promote Native Americans’ participation in STEM. In this study, we address this gap by examining variables hypothesized to promote participation using the career self-management (CSM) model among Native American college students with STEM career goals. Results of stepwise regressions demonstrated that academic achievement along with the problem-solving aspects of career self-management (CSM) self-efficacy and instrumental assistance from parents, peers, and others in students’ schools and communities predicts clearer, more specific, and more personally congruent goals; and that these goals along with self-efficacy and instrumental assistance predict career exploration. Contrary to hypotheses, neither STEM outcome expectations nor gender was related to goals or exploration. These findings suggest that CSM can be used to guide research regarding the STEM career development of Native American college students.

Male student nurses need more support: Understanding the determinants and consequences of career adaptability in nursing college students

BACKGROUND

To better understand nursing students' high attrition rates, especially for male student nurses, it is important to understand their academic satisfaction and compare it based on gender.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the relationships between proactive personality, core self- evaluations, types of support (emotional/instrumental/informational support), career adaptability, and academic satisfaction in nursing college students using the career construction theory.

DESIGN

This study uses a cross-sectional design.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

1062 students recruited from one health vocational college in northwest China completed questionnaires measuring proactive personality, core self-evaluations, emotional/instrumental/informational support, career adaptability, and academic satisfaction. Data was analyzed by structural equation modeling, and mediation and moderation analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Proactive personality (Beta = 0.24, p < 0.001), core self-evaluations (Beta = 0.31, p < 0.001) and informational support (Beta = 0.21, p < 0.001) were positively correlated with career adaptability, and career adaptability was positively (Beta = 0.43, p < 0.001) associated with academic satisfaction. Career adaptability mediates the relationships between proactive personality, core self-evaluations, informational support and academic satisfaction. For male student nurses, emotional support (Beta = 0.31, p < 0.01) has a positive association with career adaptability.

CONCLUSIONS

In nursing students, personal features (e.g., proactive personality, core self-evaluations) and supporting materials (e.g., informational support) have a positive association with career adaptability, and career adaptability has a mediating role in the relationships. Male student nurses need extra emotional support to promote their academic satisfaction. Targeted interventions may improve nursing college students' academic satisfaction.