Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Over the past several decades, new career theories have been developed in an attempt to explain the changing nature of work. Careers are now commonly considered to be self-driven and contingent on factors such as personal values and mobility. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how identification with cultural individualism and collectivism influences participants’ overall protean and boundaryless career attitudes and overall job satisfaction. The data were collected from 203 working adults in the United States. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether identification with certain cultural dimensions was predictive of levels of job satisfaction and adherence to particular career attitudes. Results indicated that several cultural variables within the individualism and collectivism constructs do have moderate predictive value in determining career attitudes and job satisfaction. The findings also supported previous research studies that sought to differentiate between the protean and boundaryless career attitudes.

Keywords

individualism collectivism career job satisfaction protean

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arthur

M. B.

Rousseau

D. M.

(Eds.). (1996). The boundaryless career: A new employment principle for a new organizational era. Oxford University Press.

Blau

(2001). On assessing the construct validity of two multidimensional constructs: Occupational commitment and occupational entrenchment. Human Resource Management Review, 11, 279–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-4822(00)00052-8

Briscoe

J. P.

Finkelstein

L. M.

(2009). The “new career” and organizational commitment: Do boundaryless and protean attitudes make a difference? Career Development International, 14, 242–260. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430910966424

Briscoe

J. P.

Hall

D. T.

Demuth

R. L. F.

(2006). Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69, 30–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2005.09.003

Briscoe

J. P.

Waters

L. E.

Hall

D. T.

(2005, August). A protean approach to unemployment: Results of a qualitative study [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, HI, United States.

Cabrera

E. F.

(2008). Protean organizations, reshaping work and careers to retain female talent. Career Development International, 14, 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430910950773

Carter

R. T.

Cook

D. A.

(1992). A culturally relevant perspective for understanding the career paths of visible racial/ethnic group people. In Lea

H. D.

Leibowitz

Z. B.

(Eds.), Adult career development (pp. 192–217). National Career Development Association.

Chung

Mallery

(2000). Social comparison, individualism-collectivism, and self-esteem in China and the United States. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality, and Social, 18, 340–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-999-1008-0

Chung-Yan

G. A.

(2010). The nonlinear effects of job complexity and autonomy on job satisfaction, turnover, and psychology well-being. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 15, 237–251. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019823

10.

Cooper-Hakim

Viswesvaran

(2005). The construct of work commitment: Testing an integrative framework. Psychological Bulletin, 131, 241–259. https://doi.org/10.1037/033-2909.131.2.241

11.

Coutinho

M. T.

Dam

U. C.

Blustein

D. L.

(2008). The psychology of working and globalization: A new perspective for a new era. International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance, 8, 5–18.

12.

Cui

Velasquez

(2015). Workforce diversity and religiosity. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(4), 743–767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1984-8

13.

De Vos

Soens

(2008). Protean attitude and career success: The mediating role of self-management. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73, 449–456. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2008.08.007

14.

Eby

L. T.

Butts

Lockwood

(2003). Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career. Journal of Management, 33, 350–377. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.214

15.

Faragher

E. B.

Cass

Cooper

C. L.

(2005). The relationship between job satisfaction and health: A meta-analysis. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(2), 105–112. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2002.006734

16.

Fouad

N. A.

(2007). Work and vocational psychology: Theory, research, and applications. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 543–564. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085713

17.

Fouad

N. A.

Byars-Winston

A. M.

(2005). Cultural context of career choice: Meta-analysis of race/ethnicity differences. The Career Development Quarterly, 53, 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045-2005.tb00992.x

18.

Gudykunst

Matsumoto

(1996). The influence of cultural individualism-collectivism, self-construals and individual values on communication styles across cultures. Human Communication Research, 22, 510–543. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1996.tb00377.x

19.

Hall

D. T.

(1976). Careers in organizations. Scott Foresman.

20.

Hall

D. T.

(2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vb.2003.10.006

21.

Hall

D. T.

Moss

J. E.

(1998). The new protean career contract: Helping organizations and employees adapt. Organizational Dynamics, 26(3), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0090-2616(98)90012-2

22.

Komarraju

Cokley

K. O.

(2008). Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism-collectivism: A comparison of African Americans and European Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 14, 336–343. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.14.4.336

23.

Mazzetti

Lancioni

Derous

Guglielmi

(2018). Tackling job insecurity: Can a boundaryless career orientation boost job crafting strategies and career competencies? Psicologia Sociale, 13(2), 129–146.

24.

Oishi

Schimmack

Diener

Suh

E. M.

(1998). The measurements of values and individualism-collectivism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 117–1189. https://doi.org/org/10.1177/01461672982411005

25.

Parker

(2008). Science and technology in undergraduate students’ worldview, shaped by globalization: The Chilean case. Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, 7, 69–90. https://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156914907X253215

26.

QuestionPro Survey Software. (2011). Demographic Questionnaire. http://www.questionpro.com/akira/showSurveyLibrary.do?surveyID=183105

27.

Robert

Lee

W. C.

Chan

K.-Y.

(2006). An empirical analysis of measurement equivalence with the INDCOL measure of individualism and collectivism: Implications for valid cross-cultural inference. Personnel Psychology, 59, 65–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2006.00804.x

28.

Sargent

L. D.

Domberger

S. R.

(2007). Exploring the development of protean career orientation: Values and image violations. Career Development International, 12, 545–564. https://doi.org/10.1108/13620430710822010

29.

Singelis

T. M.

Triandis

H. C.

Bhawuk

Gelfand

M. J.

(1995). Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism: A theoretical and measurement refinement. Cross-Cultural Research, 29, 240–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/106939719502900302

30.

Sivadas

Bruvold

N. T.

Nelson

M. R.

(2008). A reduced version of the horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism scale: A four-country assessment. Journal of Business Research, 61, 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.06.016

31.

Spector

P. E.

(1985). Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the job satisfaction survey. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13, 693–713. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00929796

32.

Strunk

D. R.

Chang

E. C.

(1999). Distinguishing between fundamental dimensions of individualism-collectivism: Relations to sociopolitical attitudes and beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 665–671. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00258-X

33.

Sullivan

S. E.

Arthur

M. B.

(2006). The evolution of the boundaryless career concept: Examining physical and psychological mobility. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 69(1), 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2005.09.001

34.

Tabachnick

B. G.

Fidell

L. S.

(2013). Using multivariate statistics (6th ed.). Pearson.

35.

Triandis

H. C.

(1995). Individualism and collectivism. Westview Press.

36.

Triandis

H. C.

Gelfand

M. J.

(1998). Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 118–128. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.118

37.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). U.S. Census regions and divisions. U.S. Department of Commerce. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(96)90045-8

38.

Van Saane

Sluiter

J. K.

Verbeek

J. H. A. M.

Frings-Dresen

M. H. W.

(2003). Reliability and validity of instruments measuring job satisfaction—A systematic review. Occupational Medicine, 53, 191–200.

39.

Walsh

W. B.

Whiston

Hardin

E. E.

Hartung

P. J.

Savickas

M. L.

Fouad

N. A.

(2010). The next big questions in vocational psychology [Symposium]. Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association Convention, San Diego, CA, United States.

40.

Yetim

(2003). The impacts of individualism/collectivism, self-esteem, and feeling of mastery on life satisfaction among the Turkish university students and academicians. Social Indicators Research, 61, 297–317. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021911504113

Impact of Cultural Individualism and Collectivism on Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References