Letizia Palazzeschi

Career Indecision Versus Indecisiveness: Associations With Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence

The goal of the present study was to investigate the distinctions between career indecision and indecisiveness. The different patterns of the associations between career indecision and indecisiveness, on one hand, and personality traits, career decision-making self-efficacy, perceived social support, and emotional intelligence, on the other, were studied in a sample of 361 university students. The results showed that career indecision, as measured by the Career Decision-making Difficulties Questionnaire, is most highly associated with emotional intelligence, whereas career indecisiveness, as measured by the Indecisiveness scale, is most highly associated with personality traits, and in particular with emotional stability. This pattern of results was obtained for both women and men; however, the prediction was stronger for indecision (R 2 = .76 and .55, for women and men, respectively) than indecisiveness (R 2 = .35 and .28, for women than for men, respectively). Possible explanations of these differences are discussed.

Hedonic and eudaimonic well-being: the role of resilience beyond fluid intelligence and personality traits.

Resilience is a key factor in the well-being of individuals. The present study set out to analyze the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits, and resilience in hedonic and eudaimonic well-being (EWB) in order to determine the incremental validity of resilience with respect to fluid intelligence and personality traits in 168 Italian high school students. The Advanced Progressive Matrices, the Big Five Questionnaire, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Meaningful Life Measure, the Authenticity Scale were administered to the participants in the study. The results showed that resilience added a significant percentage of incremental variance with respect to fluid intelligence and personality traits in relation to life satisfaction, positive affect, life meaning, and authenticity. These results underline the value of resilience in both hedonic and EWB, thus offering new perspectives for research and intervention.

Marginalization and Precariat: The Challenge of Intensifying Life Construction Intervention

This article discusses the case study of a graduate student who, at the time of the study, was doing an internship, considered in the literature as a new form of precariat (temporary or insecure employment). The student participated in a life construction intervention during which he completed two new qualitative instruments: the Life Adaptability Qualitative Assessment (LAQuA) and the Career Counseling Innovative Outcomes (CCIO) before and after the life construction intervention. The results are discussed in the article. The life construction intervention helped the participant understand himself better, develop his life and career paths, and construct his identity. The study confirmed the value of enhancing life construction interventions using a preventive approach, particularly for precarious people (people in temporary or unstable jobs), with early interventions starting with young internees in organizations.

In an Unpredictable and Changing Environment: Intrapreneurial Self-Capital As a Key Resource for Life Satisfaction and Flourishing

The twenty-first century is characterized by an unpredictable and challenging work environment, and the Intrapreneurial Self-Capital (ISC) career and life construct can be seen as a core of individual intrapreneurial resources that enables people to cope with ongoing challenges, changes, and transitions founding innovative solutions when confronted with the constraints imposed by such an environment. The ISC is a challenging construct since it can enhance behavior and attitudes through specific training, unlike personality traits, which are considered substantially stable in the literature. Against this background, the present study examined the relationship between ISC and well-being (hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being) controlling for the effects of personality traits. The Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ), the Intrapreneurial Self-Capital Scale (ISCS), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and the Flourishing Scale (FS) were administered to 258 Italian workers. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that ISC explained a percentage of incremental variance beyond that explained by personality traits in relation to both life satisfaction and flourishing. These results indicate that ISC is a key resource for hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being and that it offers new research and intervention opportunities.

The challenge of fostering healthy organizations: An empirical study on the role of workplace relational civility in acceptance of change and well-being

The world of work in the twenty-first century is characterized by globalization, instability, and unavoidable change. Organizations need to develop a positive relational environment in the workplace thereby enabling workers to enhance their personal resources in order to face with on-going changes in the sphere of work for promoting their well-being. Against this background, the aim of this research was to examine the relationship between workplace relational civility and both acceptance of change and well-being (hedonic well-being as well as eudaimonic well-being) beyond the effect of personality traits. The following instruments were administered to 261 Italian workers: the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), the Acceptance of Change Scale (ACS), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and the Meaningful Life Measure (MLM). The results of hierarchical regression analyses revealed that workplace relational civility explained a percentage of incremental variance beyond personality traits in relation to acceptance of change, life satisfaction, and meaning in life. These results underscore the positive relationship between workplace relational civility and acceptance of change, hedonic well-being, and eudaimonic well-being, offering new research and intervention opportunities to meet the challenge of fostering healthy organizations.

The Role of Personality in the Career Decision-Making Difficulties of Italian Young Adults

Both career-related developmental indecision and chronic indecisiveness are manifested in the difficulties individuals experience when choosing a career. Developmental career indecision is often regarded as a normal stage that many individuals undergo, regardless of individual differences in various personality factors. Testing this premise was the focus of this study. Specifically, the associations between career decision-making difficulties (Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire, a measure of developmental career indecision) and the Big Five personality factors were investigated among participants from three educational settings: 248 high school students, 167 on-the-job training (OJT) interns, and 186 university students. The results revealed that university students experience less developmental career indecision than high school students and OJT interns, suggesting that individuals’ educational setting affects the prevalence of such difficulties. However, the personality factors of Extroversion and Neuroticism consistently explained a significantly larger percentage of variance in participants’ developmental career indecision levels in all three samples than did educational setting or age. These results suggest that developmental career indecision may in fact be more personality related than previously thought.

Gratitude in Organizations: A Contribution for Healthy Organizational Contexts

This article reviews the construct of gratitude. Gratitude has been shown to be a fundamental resource for strengthening individual well-being. From a positive psychology perspective, gratitude is recognized as a promising opportunity for individuals because it can be enhanced through specific training according to a primary prevention framework. In organizations, gratitude is now thought to be crucial to employees’ efficiency, success, and productivity while also improving organizational citizenship behaviors, prosocial organizational behavior, and the organizational climate. Thus, gratitude is noteworthy because it increases positive relationships, social support, and workers’ well-being, reduces negative emotions at the workplace, and enhances organizational health and success. This perspective article concludes by suggesting new directions for gratitude research and intervention in the organizational context.

Life Design Counseling Intervention: Two Case Studies on Italian Workers Using Career Construction Interview and LAQuA and CCIO as Qualitative Evaluation Tools

This chapter describes two cases studies. The first case study regards a young male physiotherapist, graduated in France, who decided to move to Italy some months after graduation to find a job in his field of specialization. He was uncertain about his future career, and he did not know the best choice for him. He participated in a life design counseling intervention at the University of Florence where he was required to complete the Life Adaptability Qualitative Assessment (LAQuA) before and after the life design counseling intervention. The second case study is relative to a personnel director of a large company in the center of Italy who participated in a narrative career counseling intervention and filled two new qualitative instruments before and after the intervention: the Life Adaptability Qualitative Assessment (LAQuA) and the Career Counseling Innovative Outcomes (CCIO). The results are discussed for the two studies, underlining the importance of using life design counseling intervention in helping people to understand themselves more deeply, identify their actual objectives, and the necessary steps in order to develop their career and life paths.

High Entrepreneurship, Leadership, and Professionalism (HELP): A New Resource for Workers in the 21st Century

World of work in the 21st century is characterized by instability, insecurity, and continuous change. To face these challenges of the post-modern era, workers are required to use their personal resources. A new construct called high entrepreneurship, leadership, and professionalism (HELP) is a preventive resource that helps maintain, improve, and find work in uncertain or dynamic conditions. This study aims to examine the personality correlates of HELP in Italian workers and identify different clusters based on HELP and other variables, such as workplace relational civility and flourishing. To this end, the following instruments were administered to 204 Italian workers: the HELP questionnaire, the Big Five Questionnaire, the Workplace Relational Civility Scale, and the Flourishing Scale. The personality correlates of HELP underscored the role of conscientiousness (and its subdimension perseverance) and extraversion (and its subdimension dominance). The cluster analysis identified three clusters characterized by high, average, and low HELP scores. Participants in the first cluster with high HELP scores appeared to possess higher perseverance, dominance, workplace relational civility, especially readiness, and higher flourishing than those in the other two groups. The present results can open new opportunities for future research and interventions in a primary prevention perspective to foster resources for workers and healthy organizations in the 21st century.

Re-thinking Innovation in Organizations in the Industry 4.0 Scenario: New Challenges in a Primary Prevention Perspective

In organizations, innovation is considered a relevant aspect of success and long-term survival. Organizations recognize that innovation contributes to creating competitive advantages in a more competitive, challenging and changing labor market. The present contribution addresses innovation in organizations in the scenario of Industry 4.0, including technological innovation and psychological innovation. Innovation is a core concept in this framework to face the challenge of globalized and fluid labor market in the 21st century. Reviewing the definition of innovation, the article focuses on innovative work behaviors and the relative measures. This perspective article also suggests new directions in a primary prevention perspective for future research and intervention relative to innovation and innovative work behaviors in the organizational context.