Jos Akkermans

Competencies for the Contemporary Career Development and Preliminary Validation of the Career Competencies Questionnaire

A new and promising area of research has recently emerged in the field of career development: career competencies. The present article provides a framework of career competencies that integrates several perspectives from the literature. The framework distinguishes between reflective, communicative, and behavioral career competencies. Six career competencies are discerned: reflection on motivation, reflection on qualities, networking, self-profiling, work exploration, and career control. Based on this framework, we developed the Career Competencies Questionnaire (CCQ) and preliminarily validated it in two samples of young employees between 16 and 30 years of age. The results provided initial support for the content, factorial, discriminant, and incremental validity of the CCQ. We hope to stimulate further discussion, research, and development of interventions in the area of career development. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.

Fresh and healthy?: Well‐being, health and performance of young employees with intermediate education

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to gain more insight into the well-being, health and performance of young intermediate educated employees. First, employees with low education (9 years or less), intermediate education (10-14 years of education), and high education (15 years or more) are compared on a number of factors related to well-being, health, and performance at work. Second, determinants of well-being, health and performance are examined for the intermediate educated group, based on the Job Demands-Resources model. Design/methodology/approach - Data from The Netherlands Working Conditions Survey 2007 are used: The largest working conditions survey in The Netherlands. ANOVAs with post hoc Bonferroni corrections and linear regression analyses are used for the analyses. Findings - Young intermediate educated employees differ from high educated employees with regard to job demands, job resources and health. They report less demands, but these demands still have an effect on well-being and performance. They also report less resources, while these resources are important predictors of their health and performance: Both directly and indirectly via job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Limitations/implications - Cross-sectional data are used and the theoretical model is tested using regression analyses. In a follow-up study, longitudinal data and structural equation modelling will be used. Originality/value - The study adds to the limited knowledge on young employees with intermediate education and gives insight into the processes that are important for their well-being, health, and performance. The study shows that this group deserves the attention of both researchers and professionals.

What about time? : Examining chronological and subjective age and their relation to work motivation.

Purpose The aging workforce is becoming an increasingly important topic in today’s labor market. However, most scientific research and organizational policies focus on chronological age as the main determinant of successful aging. Based on life span developmental theories – primarily socioemotional selectivity theory and motivational theory of life span development – the purpose of this paper is to test the added value of using subjective age – in terms of remaining opportunities and remaining time – over and above chronological age in their associations with motivation at work and motivation to work. Design/methodology/approach Workers from five different divisions throughout the Netherlands (n=186) from a taxi company participated in the survey study. Findings The results from the regression analyses and structural equation modeling analyses support the hypotheses: when subjective age was included in the models, chronological age was virtually unrelated to workers’ intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and motivation to continue to work for one’s organization. Moreover, subjective age was strongly related to work motivation. Specifically, workers who perceived many remaining opportunities were more intrinsically and extrinsically motivated, and those who perceived a lot of remaining time were more motivated across the board. Originality/value The findings indicate that subjective age is an important concept to include in studies focussing on successful aging, thereby contributing to life span developmental theories. Further implications for research and practice are discussed.

Career competencies and job crafting: How proactive employees influence their well-being

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to bring together job design and career theory in the examination of how proactive employees optimize their well-being (i.e. job satisfaction and perceived health) through job crafting and career competencies. This study offers an integrated account of the pathway from proactive personality to well-being. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected by a cross-sectional self-report survey study among 574 employees working in various organizations. Findings: The results of structural equation modeling analyses supported the proposed double mediation model: job crafting and career competencies both mediated the positive relationship between proactive personality and well-being. The findings suggest that proactive employees can enhance their well-being both through proactive job redesign and the development of career-related skills and abilities. Research limitations/implications: This study precludes causal explanations. Future research should further investigate the role of employee proactivity related to contemporary work topics, including temporary contracts and self-employment. Practical implications: Managers and HR practitioners can optimize employee well-being by focusing on HR policies related to job redesign, as well as investing in training and development of career competencies. Originality/value: This paper integrates two research domains by exploring how proactive employees take a proactive stance toward their job as well as their career, and investigates how this proactive approach contributes to their well-being. In addition, the authors demonstrated a link between the development of career competencies and employee health.

#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.

Core self-evaluations and work engagement: Testing a perception, action, and development path

Core self-evaluations (CSE) have predictive value for important work outcomes such as job satisfaction and job performance. However, little is known about the mechanisms that may explain these relationships. The purpose of the present study is to contribute to CSE theory by proposing and subsequently providing a first test of theoretically relevant mediating paths through which CSE may be related to work engagement. Based on approach/avoidance motivation and Job Demands-Resources theory, we examined a perception (via job characteristics), action (via job crafting), and development path (via career competencies). Two independent samples were obtained from employees working in Germany and The Netherlands (N = 303 and N = 404, respectively). When taking all mediators into account, results showed that the perception path represented by autonomy and social support played a minor role in the relationship between CSE and work engagement. Specifically, autonomy did not function as a mediator in both samples while social support played a marginally significant role in the CSE–work engagement relationship in sample 1 and received full support in sample 2. The action path exemplified by job crafting mediated the relationship between CSE and work engagement in both samples. Finally, the development path operationalized with career competencies mediated the relationship between CSE and work engagement in sample 1. The study presents evidence for an action and development path over and above the often tested perception path to explain how CSE is related to work engagement. This is one of the first studies to propose and show that CSE not only influences perceptions but also triggers employee actions and developmental strategies that relate to work engagement.

Practice Makes Perfect? Antecedents and Consequences of an Adaptive School-to-Work Transition

Young workers have been struck hardest by the worldwide economic crisis of the past few years, which has led to high unemployment rates across Europe and in many other countries. Competition for talent is fierce among organizations and many societies suffer from low productivity and unused human capital. For these reasons, it is more important than ever before to support young adults in achieving a successful transition to their working life. In order to stimulate an adaptive school-to-work transition (STWT), it is crucial that we gain a good understanding of the critical factors influencing a successful transition to the labor market. Therefore, in this chapter we analyze known antecedents and consequences of the STWT. In addition, we attempt to integrate this knowledge with the so-called new career, which is characterized by continuous learning and proactively making career-related choices, by discussing the emerging topics of career adaptability and career competencies. Next, we translate these insights into two concrete examples of evidence-based interventions in Finland and The Netherlands, which focus on stimulating an adaptive STWT. Finally, we provide some suggestions for researchers and especially practitioners who are dealing with the STWT.

The Best of Both Worlds: The Role of Career Adaptability and Career Competencies in Students’ Well-Being and Performance

In addition to acquiring occupation-specific knowledge and skills, students need to develop a set of career self-management skills – or resources – that helps them to successfully maneuver the various career-related challenges they face and that stimulate their well-being, engagement, and performance in studying tasks. In the current study, we apply the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory in an educational setting and suggest that career adaptability and career competencies are important career resources that predict both life satisfaction and academic performance via students’ satisfaction with the choice of their major and study engagement. Undergraduate students (N = 672) from nine different colleges and universities in Lithuania participated in the study. The results revealed that career adaptability and career competencies were positively linked to students’ life satisfaction, both directly and via study engagement. In addition, these career resources were positively, yet indirectly, related to academic performance via study engagement. Overall, the results suggest that career resources contribute to study engagement, life satisfaction, and academic performance. The results of our study further support JD-R theorizing and its applicability in student samples. Further theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Not My Breach! Innovative Ways to Study Psychological Contract Breach and Effects on Meaningfulness

This symposium aims to introduce innovative ways to understand psychological contracts at work, and in particular the role of contract breach and its aftermath. Extant previous research has shown that employee perceptions of psychological contract breach have profound effects on work attitudes and behaviors, and may have detrimental effects on employees’ experienced meaningfulness of work. There is an upcoming stream of research focusing on contextual factors influencing these relationships as breach is not always negative. However, little is still known concerning the specific context in which breaches occur, how these breaches affect work outcomes, and how organizations and employees may prevent, repair, or resolve the negative impact of breach. This symposium offers five papers which present studies on the context and content of contract breach, show how breach is manifested in the workplace, and how the effects of breach unfold over time. The Different Ways Breach Can Be Repaired: What Can the Organiz...

The Role of Career Competencies and Career Adaptability in Students’ Well-being and Performance

In addition to acquiring occupation-specific knowledge, students need to develop a set of career self-management skills, or resources, that help to successfully maneuver the various career-related challenges they face and to stimulate their well-being, performance and engagement in studying tasks. In the current study, we apply Job Demands – Resources theory (Bakker, & Demerouti, 2014) in an educational setting and suggest that career competencies and career adaptability can be viewed as career-related personal resources that can enhance study success via study engagement and students’ satisfaction with their choice of major. Undergraduate students (N = 672) from 9 different colleges and universities in Lithuania filled in anonymous questionnaires and reported their grade point averages. The results revealed that career competencies and career adaptability were linked to satisfaction with life both directly and via study engagement. In addition, career competencies and career adaptability were positively ...