With the rapid transformations of the information age, hybrid work characteristics have become increasingly prevalent across organizations. Drawing on social cognitive career theory, this study examined the relationship between hybrid work characteristics and career success using three-wave survey data from 356 employees. The results indicate that career self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between hybrid work characteristics and career success, and that self-leadership partially moderates this indirect effect.
AlmahamidS.McadamsA. C.KalaldehT. (2010). The relationships among organizational knowledge sharing practices, employees’ learning commitments, employees’ adaptability, and employees’ job satisfaction: An empirical investigation of the listed manufacturing companies in Jordan. Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge & Management, 5, 327–356.
2.
AroraA.M GonzalezV.J PayneS. (2011). The social nature of work fragmentation: Revisiting informal workplace communication. The Ergonomics Open Journal, 4(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.2174/1875934301104010023
3.
BäcklanderG.RosengrenC.KaulioM. (2021). Managing intensity in knowledge work: Self-leadership practices among Danish management consultants. Journal of Management & Organization, 27(2), 342–360. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2018.64
BenabidM.Abdalla MikhaeilC. (2024). The visibility paradox: Impediment or benefit to vicarious learning in hybrid work environments?Information Systems Journal, 35(2), 480–503. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12547
6.
ÇetinF.AşkunD. (2018). The effect of occupational self-efficacy on work performance through intrinsic work motivation. Management Research Review, 41(2), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-03-2017-0062
7.
ChisholmC. D.CollisonE. K.NelsonD. R.CordellW. H. (2000). Emergency department workplace interruptions are emergency physicians “interrupt‐Driven” and “multitasking”. Academic Emergency Medicine: Official Journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 7(11), 1239–1243. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2000.tb00469.x
8.
DaleG.WilsonH.TuckerM. (2024). What is healthy hybrid work? Exploring employee perceptions on well-being and hybrid work arrangements. International Journal of Workplace Health Management, 17(4), 335–352. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-03-2024-0041
9.
DavisC. G.AsliturkE. (2011). Toward a positive psychology of coping with anticipated events. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 52(2), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020177
10.
DeemerE. D.NavarroR. L.Byars-WinstonA. M.JensenL. E.ChenC. P. (2019). Investigating graduate education and undergraduate research intentions of college science students. Journal of Career Assessment, 28(1), 43–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072718823777
11.
DeRueD. S.MorgesonF. P. (2007). Stability and change in person-team and person-role fit over time: The effects of growth satisfaction, performance, and general self-efficacy. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(5), 1242–1253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.5.1242
EbyL. T.ButtsM.LockwoodA. (2003). Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless career. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(6), 689–708. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.214
14.
FrankenE.BentleyT.ShafaeiA.Farr-WhartonB.OnnisL.-A.OmariM. (2021). Forced flexibility and remote working: Opportunities and challenges in the new normal. Journal of Management & Organization, 27(6), 1131–1149. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2021.40
15.
GagnéM.DeciE. L. (2005). Self‐determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 331–362. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.322
16.
GuanY.ArthurM. B.KhapovaS. N.HallR. J.LordR. G. (2019). Career boundarylessness and career success: A review, integration and guide to future research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 390–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.05.013
17.
GuoY.HuyQ. N.XiaoZ. (2016). How middle managers manage the political environment to achieve market goals: Insights from China’s state‐owned enterprises. Strategic Management Journal, 38(3), 676–696. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2515
18.
HamrickA. B.ZafarS.LePineJ.WessonM. (2024). A watched pot never boils: How appraisals of supervisor remote monitoring influence remote workers’ voice and silence. Work & Stress, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/02678373.2024.2410171
HeslinP. A. (2005). Conceptualizing and evaluating career success. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(2), 113–136. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.270
21.
HeslinP. A.KleheU. C. (2006). Self-efficacy. In RogelbergS. G. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of industrial/organizational psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 705–708). Sage.
22.
HildredK.PiteiraM.CervaiS.PintoJ. C. (2023). Objective and subjective career success: Individual, structural, and behavioral determinants on European hybrid workers. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1161015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1161015
23.
HofstedeG. H. (1994). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind: Intercultural cooperation and its importance for survival. Harper Collins.
24.
HoughtonJ. D.DawleyD.DiLielloT. C. (2012). The abbreviated self-leadership questionnaire (ASLQ): A more concise measure of self-leadership. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 7(2), 216–232.
25.
KaoR.-H. (2017). Task-oriented work characteristics, self-efficacy, and service-oriented organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Review, 46(4), 718–739. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-08-2015-0234
26.
KapadiaC.MelwaniS. (2021). More tasks, more ideas: The positive spillover effects of multitasking on subsequent creativity. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(4), 542–559. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000506
27.
KarasekR. A. (1979). Job demands, job decision latitude, and mental strain: Implications for job redesign. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(2), 285–308. https://doi.org/10.2307/2392498
LazarusR. S.FolkmanS. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. Springer.
30.
LeeT. C.Yao-Ping PengM.WangL.HungH. K.JongD. (2021). Factors influencing employees’ subjective wellbeing and job performance during the COVID-19 global pandemic: The perspective of social cognitive career theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 577028. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.577028
31.
LentB.HackettHackettG. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45(1), 79–122. https://doi.org/10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027
32.
LentR. W.BrownS. D. (2013). Social cognitive model of career self-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive career behavior across the life span. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 60(4), 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033446
33.
LentR. W.BrownS. D.HackettG. (2000). Contextual supports and barriers to career choice: A social cognitive analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47(1), 36–49. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-0167.47.1.36
34.
LentR. W.HackettG. (1987). Career self-efficacy: Empirical status and future directions. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 30(3), 347–382. https://doi.org/10.1016/0001-8791(87)90010-8
35.
LentR. W.IrelandG. W.PennL. T.MorrisT. R.SappingtonR. (2017). Sources of self-efficacy and outcome expectations for career exploration and decision-making: A test of the social cognitive model of career self-management. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 99, 107–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.01.002
36.
LePineJ. A.LePineM. A.JacksonC. L. (2004). Challenge and hindrance stress: Relationships with exhaustion, motivation to learn, and learning performance. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 883–891. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.883
37.
LiS.ReesC. J.ZhangH. (2023). The influence of the labour market and COVID-19 on human resource practices in SMEs in China: A longitudinal study. Employee Relations: The International Journal, 46(1), 170–187. https://doi.org/10.1108/er-04-2023-0176
38.
LiZ. K.YouL. M.LinH. S.ChanS. W. (2014). The career success scale in nursing: Psychometric evidence to support the Chinese version. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(5), 1194–1203. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12285
LiuG.PengH.WenH. (2023). How self-leadership promotes job crafting: Based on the perspective of self-determination theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1079196. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1079196
41.
LiuG.RongK.KoW. W. (2018). Promoting employee entrepreneurial attitudes: An investigation of Chinese state-owned enterprises. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(21), 2695–2713. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1460860
42.
LockeE. A.LathamG. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. The American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066x.57.9.705
43.
LondonM.SmitherJ. W. (1999). Career-related continuous learning: Defining the construct and mapping the process. In FerrisG. R. (Ed.), Research in personnel and human resources management (pp. 81–121). JAI Press.
44.
LuY.WuJ.PengJ.LuL. (2020). The perceived impact of the Covid-19 epidemic: Evidence from a sample of 4807 SMEs in Sichuan Province, China. Environmental Hazards, 19(4), 323–340. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2020.1763902
45.
MaoM.ZhangL.LiJ.RivkinW. (2024). My job is a game, and I am the owner: How gamification facilitates self-leadership for gig workers. Journal of Business Research, 183, 114877. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.114877
46.
MazzettiG.AlcoverC.-M.ÇetinM.De CarloE.DerousE.GuglielmiD. (2024). Exploring the benefits of boundarylessness: Pathways from boundaryless career orientation to insecurity and engagement. Journal of Career Development, 51(5), 579–597. https://doi.org/10.1177/08948453241268854
47.
NeckC. P.ManzC. C.HoughtonJ. D. (2019). Self-leadership: The definitive guide to personal excellence. Sage Publications.
48.
Oleksa-MarewskaK.TokarJ. (2022). Facing the post-pandemic challenges: The role of leadership effectiveness in shaping the affective well-being of healthcare providers working in a hybrid work mode. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(21), 14388. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114388
49.
PanJ.ChenS.BardhanR. (2024). Reinventing hybrid office design through a people-centric adaptive approach. Building and Environment, 252, 111219. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111219
50.
ParuzelA.AbendrothA.MayerA.XieJ. L.MaierG. W. (2022). The German version of the hybrid work characteristics scale. Psychological Test Adaptation and Development, 3(1), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1027/2698-1866/a000025
51.
PengJ.ZhangJ.ZhouX.WanZ.YuanW.GuiJ.ZhuX. (2021). Validation of the occupational self-efficacy scale in a sample of Chinese employees. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 755134. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.755134
52.
PremR.OhlyS.KubicekB.KorunkaC. (2017). Thriving on challenge stressors? Exploring time pressure and learning demands as antecedents of thriving at work. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(1), 108–123. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2115
53.
RaabeB.FreseM.BeehrT. A. (2007). Action regulation theory and career self-management. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70(2), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2006.10.005
54.
RambeP.ModiseD. L.ChipunzaC. (2018). The combined influence of self-leadership and locus of control on the job performance of engineering workforce in a power generation utility: An empirical perspective. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v16i0.952
55.
ReichardE. A.SmithD. J.ReichardR. J.HoughtonJ. D. (2025). Advancing the construct of self-leadership: A bibliometric review. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 32(2), 149–171. https://doi.org/10.1177/15480518251316085
56.
RigottiT.SchynsB.MohrG. (2008). A short version of the occupational self-efficacy scale: Structural and construct validity across five countries. Journal of Career Assessment, 16(2), 238–255. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069072707305763
57.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. The American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
58.
RyanR. M.DeciE. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1521/978.14625/28806
59.
SaputraD.RozyantiA. P. (2022). The role of emotional exhaustion in understanding the relationship between hybrid work characteristics and innovative work behavior in hybrid working arrangement. In Proceedings of the international conference on industrial engineering & operations management (pp. 3799–3810). IEEE.
60.
SeibertS.AkkermansJ.LiuC.-H. (2024). Understanding contemporary career success: A critical review. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 11(1), 509–534. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-120920-051543
61.
SeijtsG. H.LathamG. P. (2011). The effect of commitment to a learning goal, self-efficacy, and the interaction between learning goal difficulty and commitment on performance in a business simulation. Human Performance, 24(3), 189–204. https://doi.org/10.1080/08959285.2011.580807
62.
SeoM. G.IliesR. (2009). The role of self-efficacy, goal, and affect in dynamic motivational self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 109(2), 120–133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.03.001
63.
SongQ.WangY.ChenY.BenitezJ.HuJ. (2019). Impact of the usage of social media in the workplace on team and employee performance. Information & Management, 58(8), 103160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2019.04.003
64.
SpurkD.HirschiA.DriesN. (2019). Antecedents and outcomes of objective versus subjective career success: Competing perspectives and future directions. Journal of Management, 45(1), 35–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318786563
65.
SrnaS.SchriftR. Y.ZaubermanG. (2018). The illusion of multitasking and its positive effect on performance. Psychological Science, 29(12), 1942–1955. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618801013
66.
SullivanS. E.ArthurM. 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
67.
van Dorssen-BoogP.van VuurenT.de JongJ.VeldM. (2022). Healthcare workers' autonomy: Testing the reciprocal relationship between job autonomy and self-leadership and moderating role of need for job autonomy. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 36(9), 212–231. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHOM-04-2022-0106
XieJ. L.ElangovanA. R.HuJ.HrabluikC. (2019). Charting new terrain in work design: A study of hybrid work characteristics. Applied Psychology, 68(3), 479–512. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12169
70.
YangJ.XieP.TangH.HouY.MingX. (2025). Linking multitasking to creative process engagement through psychological detachment: Temporal leadership as a moderator. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 59(2), Article e70015. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.70015
71.
ZhouW.FengY.JinQ. (2024). How psychological capital impacts career growth of university students? The role of academic major choice. Journal of Career Development, 51(4), 431–446. https://doi.org/10.1177/08948453241253594
72.
ZhouX.RauP. L. P. (2023). Digital interruptions permeating work-nonwork boundaries: Effect of interruption values on knowledge workers’ emotional experiences. Current Psychology, 42(18), 15658–15673. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-02895-5
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
