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With the ageing global population the demand for nursing jobs and the requirements for complex care provision are increasing. In consequence, nursing professionals need to be ready to adapt, obtain variety of skills and engage in career self-management. The purpose of this paper is to investigate individual, micro-level, resources and behaviors that can facilitate matching processes between nursing professionals and their jobs.

A survey-based study was conducted among 314 part-time and full-time nursing professionals in Hungary.

Consistent with the career construction theory, this study offers evidence on career adaptability as a self-regulatory resource that might stimulate nurses’ adaptation outcomes. Specifically, it demonstrates positive relationships between adaptive readiness (proactive personality and conscientiousness), career adaptability, adapting behaviors (career planning and proactive skill development) and adaptation outcomes (employability and in-role performance).

The cross-sectional design limits causal inference. Relatively small sample of full-time professionals for whom supervisory-ratings were obtained yields the need of further replication.

Stimulating development of nurses’ career adaptability, career planning, and proactive skill development can contribute to sustainable career management. It can facilitate the alignment of nurses to performance requirements of their current jobs, preventing individual person-job mismatch.

Zooming into the context of nursing professionals in Hungary, the study elucidates the understudied link between adaptivity and adapting responses and answers the call for more research that employs other-ratings of adaptation outcomes. It demonstrates the value of career adaptability resources for nurses’ employability and in-role performance.

Scholars in the feedback seeking domain have predominantly focused on subordinate feedback seeking. The authors still know very little about feedback seeking when the leader is the “seeker” and subordinates are the “targets” of such seeking. This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework that explores the potential benefits and costs of leader feedback seeking, specifically, leader feedback inquiry for subordinates.

The authors draw upon the transactional theory of stress to propose a framework in which leader feedback inquiry influences two subordinate behaviors (in-role and proactive skill development behaviors) via appraisal processes (challenge and threat appraisals). With insights from regulatory focus theory, the authors propose that individual characteristics, namely, the regulatory focus of subordinates (promotion and prevention focus), determine the appraisals of leader feedback inquiry, subsequently influencing subordinate behavioral outcomes.

The authors contend that leader feedback inquiry can be appraised as a challenge which then produces beneficial subordinate behaviors (i.e. higher in-role and proactive skill development behaviors). However, leader feedback inquiry can also be appraised as a threat which then elicits detrimental subordinate behaviors (i.e. lower in-role and proactive skill development behaviors). The authors then argue that subordinates with a high promotion focus appraise leader feedback inquiry as challenging, thereby enabling beneficial behaviors. Subordinates with a high prevention focus, by contrast, appraise leader feedback inquiry as threatening, thereby prompting detrimental behaviors.

The authors shed light on the benefits and costs of leader feedback seeking for subordinates. The resulting framework underlines the importance of including individual characteristics and cognitive appraisal processes in research investigating the effects of leader feedback inquiry on subordinate outcomes.

This study aims to examine which variables at the level of the individual employee and at the company level are predictors of self‐directed learning in low‐qualified employees.

Results were obtained from a sample of 408 low‐qualified employees from 35 different companies. The companies were selected from the energy sector, the chemical industry and the food industry. Multilevel analysis was applied to examine which variables are significant predictors of perceived self‐directed learning.

At the company level, the economic sector in which the employee is employed in particular played a striking role in the prediction of self‐directedness, as did presence of a participatory staff policy. At the level of the individual employee, a proactive personality (a disposition to take personal initiative in a broad range of activities and situations), striving for knowledge work, past learning initiative, task variety and the growth potential of the job were significant predictors of self‐directed learning.

Research on the predictors of self‐directed learning has primarily focused on correlational studies examining the relation between individual variables and level of self‐directedness. There is little research available that systematically traces the extent to which individual as well as company factors play a role in level of self‐directed learning. Nor is it clear which category of variables should be considered as the most critical. In addition, earlier research on this subject has mainly focused on a higher‐qualified group of workers (employees with at least a diploma of secondary education). Factors that are predictors of self‐directed learning and their relative weight might differ for certain groups of employees. This issue has hardly been addressed up to now.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of servant leadership on perceived employability and examine the mediating role of three proactive career behaviours, namely, career planning, skill development and networking behaviour in this relationship.

Data for this study were collected from 176 employees who were working in a large food and beverage company operating in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling and the bootstrapping procedure were used to test the research hypotheses.

Results showed that servant leadership was positively related to career planning, skill development and networking behaviour, which, in turn, were positively associated with perceived employability. Furthermore, it was found that the three proactive career behaviours fully mediated the effects of servant leadership on perceived employability.

The findings of this study indicate that servant leadership can play a key role in enhancing workers’ employability. Thus, it is important that organisations focus on creating conditions, which help them to develop servant leaders.

This is the first study, which has empirically established a link between servant leadership and perceived employability. In addition, it uncovers three distinct mechanisms in the form of career planning, networking behaviour and skill development through which servant leadership can influence workers’ employability.

This research examined the presence of career orientation profiles by investigating how young workers combined protean career orientation attitudes, motivation to learn to develop one's career and an optimistic future perspective on their career. It explored how a differentiated endorsement of these attitudes and motivation (i.e. career orientation profiles) were associated with the adoption of multiple career-enhancing behaviors, namely proactive career behaviors (i.e. career planning, networking and skill development) and learning behaviors with technologies.

Latent profile analysis was conducted among young individuals starting their career (N = 767) and found four distinct profiles.

The first profile revealed that 17.2% of workers in this sample were displaying low levels in protean career orientation, motivation to learn and optimistic future time perspective (profile 1). Two differentiated profiles showed either low levels of protean career orientation and high levels of motivation to learn (profile 2) or high levels of protean career attitudes and low levels of motivation to learn (profile 3). These profiles presented an average level of future time perspective and represented 13.8 and 40.6% of the sample. Finally, 28.4% of the sample showed high levels on all these variables (profile 4).

Only young workers who showed high levels on all these indicators also presented high levels of proactive behaviors and learning with technologies. The other three profiles were associated with suboptimal levels on these outcomes. Taken together, these results offer new insights into the psychological state of mind of workers most adapted to succeed in a modern career.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organisational support for career development (OSCD) and employees' career satisfaction. Based on an extended model of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and an integrative model of proactive behaviours, the study proposed that career management behaviours would mediate the relationship between OSCD and career satisfaction, and between proactive personality and career satisfaction.

Public and private sector employees (N=90) participating in career development activities completed a survey regarding their proactivity, OSCD, career management behaviours and career satisfaction.

OSCD, proactive personality and career management behaviours were all positively related to career satisfaction and career management behaviours mediated the relationship between proactive personality and career satisfaction. There was no support for the career management behaviours mediating between OSCD and career satisfaction.

This study provided support for the extended SCCT model by testing a subset of its proposed relationships using a cross‐sectional approach. The sample surveyed (employees participating in career development activities) and the large proportion of full‐time employees, may limit the generalisability of the findings. Future longitudinal research could more fully test the relationships proposed by the extended SCCT model and include a greater representation of part‐time and casual employees.

The results suggest that there are benefits for organisations and individuals investing in career development.. First, from an organisational perspective, investing in OSCD may enhance employees' career satisfaction. Second, employees may enhance their own career satisfaction by participating in career management behaviours.

This study integrated the predictions of two models (an extension of SCCT and a model of proactive behaviours) to test the influence of environmental (OSCD) and individual difference (proactive personality) variables on career satisfaction. Exploring how organisational and individual variables together influence career satisfaction provides a more balanced approach to theoretical development.

The purpose of this research is to examine how entrepreneurs in new venture creations use social competence skills, such as proactive help‐seeking behaviours, to acquire knowledge.

An investigation is conducted into how entrepreneurs, in a new venture creation, acquire business and technical knowledge utilizing proactive help‐seeking behaviour. Social competence is operationalised as a construct dependent on a number of psychological and behavioural factors. As such, proactive help‐seeking behaviour suggests that individuals will recognise a deficiency in knowledge and actively search for possible solutions to solve the problem. However, there are social costs involved during the help‐seeking process. The level of social competence skill will impact the new venture because entrepreneurs do not want to appear incompetent, inferior, or dependent on another individual or organization in the environment.

It is theorised that entrepreneurs who proactively seek help will increase their acquisition of knowledge. However, individual autonomy, reputation of the help‐giver, and gender of the entrepreneur will moderate entrepreneurs to proactively seek help.

The value of the research is that it contributes to the body of literature that examines individual and firm level constructs to understand the question of why some entrepreneurs succeed while others fail. It specifically utilises the psychological construct, proactive help‐seeking behaviour, with the firm level construct, resource‐based view to understand firm formation and development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of political skill in the relationship between proactive personality and citizenship performance, as mediated by career satisfaction.

The authors collected data from a diverse sample of 356 employees, and tested a moderated mediation model, in which proactive personality and political skill jointly impact career satisfaction, which in turn impacts citizenship performance.

The results indicate that career satisfaction mediates the relationship between proactive personality and two forms of citizenship performance, citizenship toward supervisor, and job/task conscientiousness. Political skill moderates these mediated relationships such that proactive individuals who are also politically skilled are more likely to demonstrate greater citizenship toward supervisor and job/task conscientiousness via increased career satisfaction.

The study suggests that proactive employees, due to their enhanced career satisfaction, tend to demonstrate greater organizational citizenship. Such positive tendencies are enhanced when proactive employees are equipped with political skill. Limitations include the use of cross-sectional design and single source data.

Organizations and human resources managers should be aware of the importance of personal career satisfaction and interpersonal competency in building organizational citizenship. Organizations may facilitate citizenship performance by recruiting individuals high in proactive personality and political skill.

Prior research has typically considered career satisfaction as an outcome variable. The authors examine career satisfaction as an intermediate variable leading to citizenship performance. The authors also examine the contingent effect of proactive personality.

The purpose of this paper is to contrast the foundations of (affective) organizational and career-oriented commitment. Using social exchange theory as a background, organizational commitment is proposed as a mediator between perceived organizational support (POS) and competence development activities and feedback-seeking behavior. Career-oriented commitment, defined as a self-interested orientation toward one’s career, is proposed to mediate a positive relationship between proactive personality and competence development but a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking.

Data were collected from 126 employees using one-year time-lagged study in which POS and proactive personality were measured at Time 1, commitment variables at Time 2, and competence development and feedback-seeking at Time 3.

Organizational commitment mediated a positive relationship between POS and competence development but not feedback-seeking. Career-oriented commitment mediated a negative relationship between proactive personality and feedback-seeking but did not mediate the relationship to competence development. Proactive personality exerted direct and positive effects on competence development and feedback-seeking, but had a negative effect on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment.

An implication of these findings is that organizations need to reduce the detrimental effects that the proactivity trait exerts on feedback-seeking through career-oriented commitment. One way to do this is to increase the fit between organizational career opportunities and the career expectations of employees with high career-oriented commitment.

This study indicates that social exchange and self-interest motives act as distinct drivers of organizational and career-oriented commitment, respectively, and that these motives have implications for how individuals learn and socialize in the workplace.

Critiques the visions of management gurus in comparison to the measures which they offer to “deliver” them. Argues that organization development requires a qualitatively different look at workers and work going beyond behavioural prescription. Presents the concept of the new skills mix supported by arguments that integrate and develop more systematic analyses informed by frames of reference often regarded as mutually exclusive – this leads to a critical examination of proactivity and empowerment.