Employee alienation: relationships with careerism and career satisfaction

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which employees' perceptions of alienation (personal and social) are related to positive (career satisfaction) and negative (careerist orientation) career‐related outcomes and to examine the mediating role of career satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper used a cross‐sectional design, with questionnaires administered to 165 employees working in organizations in the USA to test the relationship between alienation and careerism through career satisfaction.

Findings

Alienation was found to be a positive predictor of employee careerism, and a negative predictor of their career satisfaction. The data were consistent with a model positioning career satisfaction as a mediator of the alienation to careerism relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should examine the relationship between alienation and career outcomes in other organizations and job families, to enhance generalizability. Data should be also collected longitudinally, to extend the current cross‐sectional design.

Practical implications

Understanding the empirical link between alienation and career outcomes can provide useful information to reduce negative career outcomes.

Originality/value

The findings point toward a positive relationship between employee alienation and their careerism. In doing so, the paper adds to a body of work where careerism was connected with structural rather than individual predictors.

Citation

Chiaburu, D.S., Diaz, I. and De Vos, A. (2013), "Employee alienation: relationships with careerism and career satisfaction", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 4-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683941311298832