Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications

Psychological career resources as predictors of working adults’ career anchors: An exploratory study

“…In this regard, individuals' repertoires of psychological career resources consist of those career preferences, career values, attitudes and competencies that go beyond work-related technical skills (Coetzee, 2008;Gunz & Heslin, 2005). Psychological career resources have been found to be linked to people's experiences of life satisfaction and job/career satisfaction, perceptions of general employability and their ability to deal resourcefully with life and career challenges (Coetzee & Bergh, 2008;Esterhuizen & Coetzee, 2008;Fugate et al, 2004;Parker, 2008). Moreover, a well-established psychological career resources profi le enables people to pro-actively engage in career self-management activities that enhance their job performance and experiences of subjective career success within a particular socio-cultural context (Coetzee, 2008;Ebberwein, Krieskok, Ulven & Prosser, 2004;Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006).…”

“…In this regard, it appears that individuals' psychological resources provide the energy and impetus that facilitate the actual enactment of their career desires. As shown in Figure 2, whereas people's career anchors or 'master career motives' (as an intrinsic aspect of their career consciousness) act as a cognitive compass (Fugate et al, 2004) that motivate and pull them towards (or constrain them from) specific career choices and decisions, their psychological career resources (in the form of preferences, values, skills and attitudes) empower them to proactively realise or create opportunities that match their career aspirations. The aim of this research therefore was to investigate…”

“…Moreover, the growing concern about employability necessitates that employees take greater agency in their career decisions and development. Employability is regarded as a psycho-social construct that embodies individual characteristics that foster pro-active adaptive cognition, behaviour and affect, and enhance the individual-work interface (Fugate, Kinicki & Ashforth, 2004). In this regard, pro-active career behaviour includes the ability to employ a range of psychological career resources such as being behaviourally adaptable and fl exible in dealing with more frequent career transitions; having a sense of calling regarding one's career; having a sense of awareness of one's career preferences, values and motives; and demonstrating positive core self-evaluations, self-management skills, relationship skills and emotional literacy (Briscoe & Hall, 1999;Coetzee, 2008;Hall & Chandler, 2005;Judge, Bono, Erez & Locke, 2005;Kuijpers & Scheerens, 2006).…”

“…Although a vast majority of career-related studies conducted continue to focus on the external organisational factors and material incentives related to career progression and career success (Herr et al, 2004), other researchers seem to increasingly emphasise more subjective measures of career success (Arnold & Cohen, 2008). These measures focus on the career self-concept or career identity, the internal career orientation and the core self-evaluations related to people's psychological career resources (Coetzee, 2008;Fugate et al, 2004;Kanye & Crous, 2007;Kuijpers & Scheerens, 2006;Van Dam, 2004;Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006). In view of the above, this paper extends research on the internal career by investigating the relationship between the notion of internal career orientations or career anchors as conceptualised by Schein (1978) and psychological career resource constructs related to individuals' career preferences and values and their career enablers, career drivers and career harmonisers.…”

Career self-management resources in contemporary career frameworks: a literature review

“…Employability also refers to behaviours and competencies that are necessary when seeking external support, coping and taking charge of one's career. This psycho-social construct subsumes a host of person-centred constructs that enable the individual to effectively adapt to the work-related changes, identify and realize career opportunities, and stay productive and attractive in the labour market (Fugate et al, 2004).…”