Proactive Personality and Career Adaptability of Chinese Female Pre-Service Teachers in Primary Schools: The Role of Calling

Abstract

Career adaptability has attracted extensive attention from international scholars as one of the important factors predicting the future sustainability of individuals. Proactive personality and calling have a positive influence on individual career development and life satisfaction, with reference to promoting the sustainable development of individuals. This study focuses on the positive effects of career adaptability and calling on shaping female primary school pre-service teachers and provides suggestions for training excellent elementary school teachers and building quality primary education. This study investigated the relationship between proactive personality, calling, and career adaptability among 707 female pre-service elementary school teachers in Chinese universities. The results showed that proactive personality positively predicts calling and that proactive personality and calling positively predict career adaptability. Calling partially mediated the relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability. Therefore, it is possible to enhance calling by cultivating the proactive personality of female pre-service teachers in elementary schools, thus further promoting the career adaptability of this group. On this basis, effective strategies should be adopted in the future to improve the career adaptability of female pre-service teachers in elementary schools for the sustainable development of this group.

Teacher burnout and turnover intention in higher education: The mediating role of job satisfaction and the moderating role of proactive personality

“…The need for proactivity, particularly during the pandemic, is based on a challenging educational environment that requires teachers to innovate, think creatively, and enhance their pedagogical skills in order to address the needs of students and the demands of their school. Thus, from the perspective of higher education, proactive personality is a powerful and important construct in the context of COVID-19, as it strengthens the quality of learning and self-efficacy among university students (Zheng et al, 2020) and has been shown to predict improved career adaptability among instructors (Wen et al, 2022), with adaptability associated with lower levels of burnout and turnover intention (Liu et al, 2021) during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, the present study evaluates the potential role of proactive personality in moderating the relationships among the variables of job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention.…”

What happened to your calling? The development of calling across college-to-work transition

“…Calling and proactivity were found to be positively related within and across time. Proactivity was found to promote calling through job crafting (Hanan et al, 2021;Yu et al, 2022) and to promote adaptability through calling (Wen et al, 2022). Proactive individuals are future oriented, employ goal management and are motivated by positive influences derived from perceiving situations as challenging and stimulating (Greenglass, 2002;Wanberg et al, 2000).…”

Proactive Personality and Career Adaptability: The Mediating Role of Career Pessimism

“…Studies dealing with the relationship among proactive personality and career adaptability (Brown & Ryan-Krane, 2000;Cai et al, 2015;Guan et al, 2017;Hou, Wu, & Liu, 2014;Jiang, 2017;Öncel, 2014;Pan et al, 2018;Tolentino et al, 2014;Wen et al, 2022) have increased, especially in recent years. Additionally, there are some studies where proactive personality is an important predictor of career adaptability (Li, 2019).…”

“…The relationship between proactive personality and career adaptability seems to be covered in detail in some studies, despite limited research. It is noteworthy that there is a strong relationship between these structures, especially in studies conducted on young adult groups (Cai et al, 2015;Hou, Wu & Liu, 2014;Jiang, 2016;Öncel, 2014;Pan et al, 2018;Tolentino et al, 2014;Wen et al, 2022). Despite these studies, studies dealing with cognitive-based emotional factors related to careers are limited.…”