The study explored whether the positive links between individuals’ psychosocial career attributes and career adaptability resources empirically represent the characteristics associated with proactive career self-management behaviour. A cross-sectional convenience sample of Black and White (N = 248) working adults participated in the study. The redundancy analysis of the canonical correlation analysis indicated positive links between the career attributes of behavioural adaptability, career directedness, self-esteem, self/other skills, social connectivity, and career purpose, and the four career adaptability resources of career concern, career control, career curiosity, and career confidence. The common synthetic themes that emerged from the positive associations described the characteristics of proactive career self-management behaviour, including (1) self-efficacious adaptive goal-directed behaviour, (2) proactive psychosocial career engagement behaviour, and (3) career resilience. The three dimensions offer considerations for practitioners involved in career development and counselling discussions with employees who need to develop personal agency in their career development and management.
AkkermansJ.BrenninkmeijerV.HuibersM.BlonkR. W. B. (2012). Competencies for the contemporary career: Development and preliminary validation of the career competencies questionnaire. Journal of Career Development, 40(3), 245–267.
2.
AkkermansJ.SchaufeliW. B.BrenninkmeijerV.BlonkR. W. B. (2013). The role of career competencies in the Job Demands-Resources Model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83, 356–366.
3.
AnakweU. P.HallJ. C.SchorS. M. (2000). Knowledge-related skills and effective career management. International Journal of Manpower, 21, 566–579.
4.
BezuidenhoutM. (2011). The development and evaluation of a measure of graduate employability in the context of the new world of work (Unpublished master’s dissertation). University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
5.
BriscoeJ. P.HallD. T.DeMuthR. L. F. (2006). Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 30–47.
6.
CoetzeeM. (2008). Psychological career resources of working adults: A South African survey. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology, 34(2), 32–41.
7.
CoetzeeM. (2014). A psychological career resources framework for contemporary career development. In CoetzeeM. (ed.), Psycho-social career meta-capacities: Dynamics of contemporary career development (pp. 87–122). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer International.
8.
CoetzeeM.SchreuderA. M. G. (2012). Subjective work experiences, career orientations, and psychological career resources of working adults. South African Journal of Higher Education, 26, 813–828.
9.
DeciE. L.RyanR. M. (2000). The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of goal pursuits: Human needs and the internal motivation of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227–268.
10.
DeFillippiR. J.ArthurM. B. (1994). The boundaryless career: A competency-based perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 307–324.
11.
De GuzmanA. B.ChoiK. O. (2013). The relations of employability skills to career adaptability among technical school students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82, 199–207.
12.
De VosA.De ClippeleerI.DeWildeT. (2009). Proactive career behaviors and career success during the early career. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82, 761–777.
13.
De VosA.SoensN. (2008). Protean attitude and career success: The mediating role of self-management. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73, 449–456.
14.
DuffyR. D. (2010). Sense of control and career adaptability among undergraduate students. Journal of Career Assessment, 18, 420–430.
15.
FerreiraN. (2012). Constructing a psychological profile for staff retention (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
16.
GagneM.DeciE. L. (2005). Self-determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 331–362.
17.
HairJ.BlackW.BabinB.AndersonR. (2010). Multivariate data analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson Education.
18.
HirschiA.FreundP. A. (2014). Career engagement: Investigating intraindividual predictors of weekly fluctuations in proactive career behaviors. The Career Development Quarterly, 62, 5–20.
19.
HirschiA.LeeB.PorfeliE. J.VondracekF. W. (2013). Proactive motivation and engagement in career behaviors: Investigating direct, mediated and moderated effects. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83, 31–40.
20.
KahnW. (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33, 692–724.
21.
KahnW.HeapyE. D. (2014). Relational contexts of personal engagement at work. In TrussC.DelbridgeR.SoaneE.AlfesK.ShantzA. (Eds.), Employee engagement in theory and practice (pp. 163–179). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
22.
KingZ. (2004). Career self-management: Its nature, causes and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65, 112–133.
23.
KuijpersM. A. C. T.MeijersF.GundyC. (2011). The relationship between learning environment and career competencies of students in vocational education. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 78, 21–30.
24.
LentR. W.BrownS. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management: Towards a unifying view of adaotive career behavior across the life span. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60, 557–568.
25.
LentR. W.EzeoforI.MorrisonM. A.PennL. T.IrelandG. W. (2016). Applying the social cognitive model of career self-management to career exploration and decision-making. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 93, 47–57.
26.
MaggioriC.JohnstonC. S.KringsF.MassoudiK.RossierJ. (2013). The role of career adaptability and work conditions on general and professional well-being. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 83, 437–449.
27.
ParkerP.KhapovaS. N.ArthurM. B. (2013). The Intelligent Career Framework as a basis for interdisciplinary inquiry. In InksonK.SavickasM. L. (Eds.), Career studies, Vol. I: Foundations of career studies (pp. 343–365). London, England: SAGE.
28.
RodriguesR.GuestD.OliveiraT.AlfesK. (2015). Who benefits from independent careers? Employees, organizations, or both?Journal of Vocational Behavior, 91, 23–34.
29.
RottinghausP. J.DayS. X.BorgenF. H. (2005). The career futures inventory: A measure of career-related adaptability and optimism. Journal of Career Assessment, 13, 3–24.
30.
RyanN. J.HopkinsS. (2013). Combining social media and career development learning: An intensive tertiary preparation programme for disadvantaged youth. Australian Journal of Career Development, 22, 107–111.
31.
SAS Institute Inc. (2013). Statistical Analysis System, Version 6.1 [Computer software]. Cary, NC: Author.
32.
SavickasM. L.PorfeliE. J. (2012). Career Adapt-Abilities Scale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 661–667.
33.
SherryA.HensonR. K. (2005). Conducting and interpreting canonical correlation analysis in personality research: A user-friendly primer. Journal of Personality Assessment, 84, 37–48.
34.
ShunmugumC. (2016). Psycho-social career meta-capacities, work engagement and generational cohorts in a media organisation in South Africa (Unpublished master’s dissertation). University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
35.
SpurkD.KauffeldS.MeineckeA. L.EbnerK. (2016). Why do adaptable people feel less insecure? Adaptability on job and career insecurity via two types of perceived marketability. Journal of Career Assessment, 24, 289–306.
36.
StoltzK. B.WolffL. A.MonroeA. E.FarrisH. R.MazahrehL. G. (2013). Adlerian lifestyle, stress, coping, and career adaptability: Relationships and dimensions. The Career Development Quarterly, 61, 194–209.
37.
TladinyaneR. T. (2012). Psychological career resources, work engagement and organisational commitment: A psychological profile for staff retention (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
38.
TolentinoL. R.RaymundP.GarciaJ. M.LuV. N.RestubogS. L. D.BordiaP.. . .PlewaC. (2014). Career adaptation: The relation of adaptability, proactive personality, and career optimism. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84, 39–48.
39.
UnsworthK. L.MasonC. M. (2016). Self-concordance strategies as a necessary condition for self-management. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 89, 711–733.
40.
Van der HeijdeC. M. (2014). Employability and self-regulation in contemporary careers. In CoetzeeM. (Ed.), Psycho-social career meta-capacities: Dynamics of contemporary career development (pp. 7–18). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer International.
41.
ZacherH. (2014). Career adaptability predicts subjective career success above and beyond personality traits and core self-evaluations. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 84, 21–30.
42.
ZhouW.GuanY.XinL.MakM. C. K.DengY. (2016). Career success criteria and locus of control as indicators of adaptive readiness in the career adaptation model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 94, 124–130.
