A longitudinal study of the relationship between career management and organizational commitment among graduates in the first ten years at work

Abstract

SummaryThis paper reports the findings of a two-wave longitudinal study investigating relationships between organizational and individual career management activities and organizational commitment in the early years of graduate careers. Several hypotheses are tested and receive mixed support. High organizational commitment predicts the practice of career management activities by graduates to further their career within the organization while low commitment is closely associated with behaviour aimed at furthering the career outside the organization. Graduates who manage their own careers also receive more career management help from their employer. This suggests that there may be the potential for employers to create a 'virtuous circle' of career management in which individual and organizational activities complement each other.

When do salary and job level predict career satisfaction and turnover intention among Chinese managers? The role of perceived organizational career management and career anchor

“…These organizational career management practices often benefit career development among employees by enhancing selfawareness (e.g., Greenhaus & Connolly, 1982), promoting career-planning skills (e.g., Noe, 2002) and integrating employees' career development with organizational opportunities (Harris & Desimone, 1994). Due to these beneficial effects, perceived organizational career management significantly predicts employees' satisfaction with the promotion process, organizational commitment and job performance (Eby, Allen and Brinley, 2005;Sturges, Conway, Guest, & Liefooghe, 2005;Sturges, Guest, Conway, & Mackenzie Davey, 2002). Accordingly, in the current research, we propose that perceived organizational career management is positively related to managers' career satisfaction and negatively related to their turnover intention.…”

“…According to social exchange theory (Blau, 1964;Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005;Gouldner, 1960;Homans, 1958), the exchange process between organizations and employees includes both extrinsic resources (e.g., salary, job level, promotion) and socio-emotional resources, such as organizational support (e.g., Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986), leader-member exchange (e.g., Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996) and organizational career management (e.g., Sturges et al, 2002). Blau (1964) suggested that, compared with extrinsic factors, socio-emotional exchange is more likely to engender employees' positive responses, such as feelings of being trusted, valued, and respected, as well as a positive expectancy of career development.…”

“…From a social exchange perspective (Blau, 1964), perceived organizational career management (Sturges, Guest, Conway, & Mackenzie Davey, 2002) represents an important type of socioemotional resource provided by organizations, which will increase an employee's positive feelings and expectations of career development. These psychological responses may buffer the negative effects of a lower salary and job level on career satisfaction and turnover intention.…”

Protean Career Development: Exploring the Individuals, Organizational and Job-related Factors

“…In view of different environmental contexts, researchers have struggled to find agreement on a generally accepted definition for the construct of different operationalization of terms employed for protean career (Ball, 1997;Orpen, 1994;Kossek, Roberts, Fisher, & DeMarr, 1998;Sturges, Conway, & Davey, 2002;King, 2004;De Vos & Seons, 2008). Some researchers ensuing characterizations of protean career have focused on the development of self (e.g., self-concept, self-image, self-awareness and individual agency).…”

Implementing HRM Systems: The Role of Employees' Co-Production Behavior and HRM Attributions

“…It is seen as including two types of employee behaviors: developmental feedback seeking and job mobility preparation (Kossek et al, 1998;Sturges, Guest, Conway, & MacKenzie Davey, 2002). As such, career self-management involves seeking feedback on past performance to assess probable career plans and attending trainings to improve employability.…”