Career attitudes and employability: analysis of mediation via career strategies
| Published date | 20 November 2019 |
| Date | 20 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2018-0249 |
| Pages | 417-436 |
| Author | Gina Gaio Santos,Ana Paula Ferreira,José Carlos Pinho |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Career attitudes and
employability: analysis of
mediation via career strategies
Gina Gaio Santos, Ana Paula Ferreira and José Carlos Pinho
Department of Management, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of career attitudes (traditional career vs
boundaryless career) on perceived employability (internal vs external employability). In addition, the authors
examine whether career self-management strategies act as mediators of these relationships. Due to high
unemployment rates in the last two decades, it is important to assess the extent to which young graduates’
career attitudes affect perceived internal and external employability, along with the role of career
self-management strategies as an employability enhancement tool.
Design/methodology/approach –As part of a cross-sectional research design, the authors administered a
survey questionnaire to a sample of 131 graduates (i.e. master’s students) with at least one year of work
experience. The empirical data were analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling, which
combines confirmatory factor analysis, multiple linear regression and path analysis.
Findings –The results reveal that there is a positive and significant impact (direct effect) of a traditional
career attitude (TCA) on internal employability, while there is no significant negative impact of a TCA on
external employability. Additionally, the results show that there is a negative impact (direct effect) of a
boundaryless career attitude (BCA) on internal employability, while no significant positive impact is found of
a BCA on external employability. This study also confirms the mediation effect (full mediation) of career
positioning strategies on the BCA-external employability relationship, and a partial mediation of career
influence strategies on the TCA-internal employability relationship.
Research limitations/implications –Limitations of this study relate to the sample size and the use of a
convenience sampling technique. Hence, some caution is needed regarding results’generalization. In addition,
this research uses a cross-sectional design, thus the authors cannot assess longitudinal causal relationships
between variables. Future research should be replicated with different types of respondents and in different
cultural contexts.
Practical implications –The results suggest that organizations would benefit more from employees that
hold a TCA than those that hold a BCA, especially if they are interested in fostering the internal employability
of their workforce. At the individual level, the results identify optimal career self-management strategies
(internal vs external employability) for young graduates.
Originality/value –This study offers new empirical evidence of the predictive value of perceived internal vs
external employability and the mediating role of career self-management strategies in explaining
employability. Young graduates perceive a TCA as more advantageous than a BCA for both internal and
external employability. This is an unexpected but interesting finding, since the bulk of the literature on
contemporary career attitudes overemphasizes the advantages of a BCA, while disregarding potential
disadvantages for both individuals and organizations.
Keywords Career strategies, Perceived employability, Boundaryless career attitude,
Traditional career attitude, Young graduates
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Recently, “new”career attitudes have emerged emphasizing career mobility and the
transcending of organizational boundaries, or what is known as a “boundaryless”career
attitude (Arthur, 1994; Direnzo and Greenhaus, 2011; Lyons et al., 2015). We define a career
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 42 No. 2, 2020
pp. 417-436
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2018-0249
Received 21 September 2018
Revised 29 April 2019
16 July 2019
16 September 2019
Accepted 25 September 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
The authors would like to thank the participants in this study for their time and availability and for
agreeing to share their valuable experiences. The authors also thank both reviewers for their helpful
comments and suggestions in improving this manuscript. A first version of this manuscript was
presented on the 33rd EGOS Colloquium held July 6–8, 2017, in Copenhagen, Denmark. This research
received no funding.
417
Career
attitudes and
employability
attitude as an individual’s preference for pursuing specific work-related patterns (Briscoe
et al., 2006). Despite trends toward boundaryless careers (Sullivan and Baruch, 2009), recent
studies show that contemporary career patterns might be more diverse than previously
acknowledged (Gubler et al., 2014; Kovalenko and Mortelmans, 2014; Kuron et al., 2016).
Even though the literature suggests a widespread adoption of boundaryless (i.e. mobile
within organizations and between employers) and protean career attitudes (i.e. self-directed
and value-driven careers), doubts remain about how prepared many employees are for
full career mobility (De Vos and Soens, 2008; Lin, 2015; Kostal and Wiernik, 2017;
Kuron et al., 2016). Kuron et al. (2016) find that typical employees follow the “Solid Citizen”
career pattern, featuring employment in a single organization and a preference for low
physical mobility.
Similarly, Chudzikowski (2012) finds that traditional career transitions (i.e. intra-organizational
and upward mobility) remain the most prevalent type of career transition, even among the
younger cohort of business school graduates. Extant research highlights how contextual and
institutional obstacles (e.g. gender discrimination, recession and few job alternatives or
underemployment) limit career boundarylessness (Dafou, 2018; Dries et al., 2012; Kovalenko and
Mortelmans, 2014; Okay-Sommerville and Scholarios, 2014; Scurry and Blenkinsopp, 2011).
Given this contradictory evidence, our study assesses how young graduates embrace
either traditional career attitudes (TCA) or boundaryless career attitudes (BCA) in a
difficult economy. Contextual factors and even personal circumstances (e.g. the family life
cycle) help explain how individuals perceive their opportunities to keep jobs or find new
ones (McQuaid and Lindsay, 2005). Labor market conditions are paramount when finding
or changing jobs (Berntson et al., 2006). In Portugal, the economic crisis has caused high
unemployment rates, particularly for college graduates (Carneiro et al., 2014; ILO, 2018).
Despite a small economic recovery, unemployment remains high for young graduates in
Portugal, complicating the school-to-work transition (ILO, 2018). Many business and
management sciences graduates, in particular, are either unemployed or hold very
precarious positions (ILO, 2014, 2018). As such, we focus our analysis on this group
because they will be highly preoccupied with improving their employability prospects,
both in internal and external labor markets.
Second, we evaluate whether TCAs or BCAs impact young graduates’employability
perceptions. Perceived employability is defined as “the individual’s perception of his or her
possibilities of obtaining and maintaining employment”within the current employer or with
a different employer. This distinction refers to perceived internal employability within the
current organization (IE) and perceived external employability across other employers (EE),
respectively (Vanhercke et al., 2014, p. 594).
BCAs have become widespread because they emphasize reliance on the individual’s own
knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) for employability enhancement (Arthur, 1994;
Colakoglu, 2011; Direnzo and Greenhaus, 2011). While the literature establishes this positive
link between BCAs and employability, a gap remains in our understanding of whether
BCAs shape individuals’perceptions of external and internal employability. We fill this gap
by evaluating whether BCAs or TCAs affect young graduates’perceptions of IE and EE.
We argue that young graduates adopting a BCA, specifically an organizational mobility
preference across multiple employers and/occupations (i.e. inter-organizational), focus on
expanding their EE. Conversely, those adopting TCAs will foster their IE and be less eager
to change employers. To our knowledge, our study is the first to establish the link between
these two distinct career attitudes and perceived IE and EE. Lin (2015) assesses the impact
of a protean career orientation. By comparison, our study focuses on the organizational
mobility preference of those holding a BCA.
Third, we establish the relevance of career self-management strategies as a mediator in
the relationship between career attitudes and perceived employability. We define career
418
ER
42,2
To continue reading
Request your trial