Dries Schreuder

Subjective work experiences, career orientations, and psychological career resources of working adults

The primary objective of the present study was to assess whether career orientations and psychological career resources relate to individuals’ subjective work experiences. A quantitative survey was conducted on a random sample of 2 997 participants at predominantly managerial and supervisory level in the South African service industry. The measuring instruments consisted of a subjective work experiences scale, the Career Orientations Inventory and Psychological Career Resources Inventory. The results indicated career orientations and psychological career resources as significant predictors of the participants’ subjective work experiences. The results make an important contribution to existing literature on career well-being and subjective career success. Career guidance and counseling, and organisational career development support have become of crucial importance in the changing employment climate in order to maximise individuals’ chances of experiencing job and career satisfaction and success over the life course (Sinclair 2009). More recently, interest in the subjective aspects of career success and satisfaction has gained greater salience in contemporary career research. This can be ascribed to the more turbulent career context resulting in careers being less ordered and predictable (Arnold and Cohen 2008; Arthur, Khapova and Wilderom 2005; Coetzee and Bergh 2009; Hall and Chandler 2005 Kidd 2008; Sinclair 2009). Contemporary measures of people’s subjective experiences of their careers and working lives tend to focus on the career self-concept or identity, the internal career orientation and the core self-evaluations relating to people’s psychological career resources or career meta-competencies (Coetzee 2008, Coetzee and Schreuder 2009b; Fugate, Kinicki and Ashforth 2004; Kanye and Crous 2007; Kuijpers and Scheerens 2006; Sinclair 2009; Van Dam 2004; Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden 2006). People’s experiences of subjective career success have also been linked to people’s subjective experiences of their careers and working lives which also relate

Career Anchors as a Meta-Capacity in Organizational Career Development

The contemporary career paradigm acknowledges the unpredictable, turbulent and globally market-sensitive context within which individuals’ careers unfold (Savickas, Journal of Career Assessment 19:251–258, 2011) . Individuals are drawing on their personal resources and capacities (i.e. strengths, intrinsic motivation, values, aspirations, and coping capacities) to be more resilient and adaptable in negotiating the person-environment fit harmonics in a more turbulent employment context (Ferreira, Constructing a psychological career profile for staff retention, 2012) . The research literature furthermore suggests that individuals will increasingly have to rely on internal definitions and measures of career success in the construction of their careers (Savickas, Journal of Career Assessment 19:251–258, 2011; Schreuder and Coetzee Careers: An organisational perspective, 2011) . Schein’s (Career dynamics: Matching individual and organizational needs, 1978, Journal of Occupational Behavior 5:71–81, 1984, Career anchors: Discovering your real values, 1990, Academy of Management Executive 1, 80–88, 1996, Encyclopedia of career development, 2006) exploration of the dynamics of the internal career, through his career anchor concept, poses interesting implications for career counseling and guidance in the contemporary career paradigm. Individuals’ subjective measures of career success are generally driven by their need for meaningful work that matches their personal motivations, career interests, abilities, motives , and values (internal career anchors). Career anchors act as the motivational forces (meta-capacities) that guide individuals’ career decisions and preferences for work and work environments (Schein Career anchors: Discovering your real values, 1990). Achieving a harmonic fit between their internal career needs and the characteristics of the external occupational environment results in enhanced levels of career well-being and career and life satisfaction (Coetzee et al. South African Journal of Human Resource Management 8:13, 2010). This chapter explores the relevance of Schein’s career anchor theory to contemporary career development by presenting an overview of various research findings that show how people’s career anchors influence their subjective experiences of their work and careers.

Proactive career self-management: exploring links among psychosocial career attributes and adaptability resources

The study explored whether the positive links between individuals’ psychosocial career attributes and career adaptability resources empirically represent the characteristics associated with proactive career self-management behaviour. A cross-sectional convenience sample of Black and White (N = 248) working adults participated in the study. The redundancy analysis of the canonical correlation analysis indicated positive links between the career attributes of behavioural adaptability, career directedness, self-esteem, self/other skills, social connectivity, and career purpose, and the four career adaptability resources of career concern, career control, career curiosity, and career confidence. The common synthetic themes that emerged from the positive associations described the characteristics of proactive career self-management behaviour, including (1) self-efficacious adaptive goal-directed behaviour, (2) proactive psychosocial career engagement behaviour, and (3) career resilience. The three dimensions offer considerations for practitioners involved in career development and counselling discussions with employees who need to develop personal agency in their career development and management.

Psychological career resources identity and life orientation among young emerging adults in a Nigerian setting

This study explored whether young emerging adults’ psychological career resources identity predicted their orientation to life. The participants were a random sample of 400 predominantly full-time undergraduate students from four tertiary institutions in Nigeria (47% = female; age range 18 to 30 years). They completed psychological career resources and life orientation measures. The data were analysed by performing multiple regression analysis to explore whether psychological career resources accounted for the variance in life orientation. Overall, the results showed that those participants with well-differentiated career preferences and strong career drivers (sense of career calling, career goals and career intentionality) were likely to have a stronger sense of coherence. Developing a strong psychological career resources identity may potentially assist the young adult in developing a positive orientation to their life-career in developing country employment settings.