The protean career: What can we learn from the literature on P-O fit and job search?

The protean career: What can we learn from the literature on P-O fit and job search? Rein De Cooman Nicky Dries EGOS – July, 2013

The bottom line… • 1 specific concept ( careers field as a whole) • Work in progress • Longitudinal study (3 time points) • T3: Alternative hypotheses testing ( straightforward research process)

Protean career orientation “The protean career […] focuses on achieving subjective career success through self-directed vocational behavior […] Individuals who hold protean career attitudes are intent upon using their own values (versus organizational values for example) to guide their career (i.e., values-driven) and take an independent role in managing their vocational behavior (i.e., self-directed)” (Briscoe, Hall, & DeMuth, 2006, p. 31)

Protean: Self-directed • Our expectations about empirical relationships/outcomes < • Career proactivity = Taking initiative in improving current circumstances or creating new ones; • Proactive personality = A dispositional tendency for some individuals to be more proactive, meaning they behave more confidently, actively work to control their environment, and seek out information; • Career planning = Setting career goals and developing strategies for achieving those goals; • Mastery orientation = An orientation toward continued task improvement or mastery, even when it is not required, associated with deeper engagement and greater perseverance in the face of setbacks.

Protean: Values-driven • Our expectations about empirical relationships/outcomes < • Vocational self-concept clarity = The relative degree of clarity and certainty of self-perception with respect to vocationally relevant attitudes, values, interests, needs, and abilities; • Personal identity = A sense of self built up over time as the person embarks on and pursues projects or goals that are not thought of as those of a community, but as the property of the person—personal identity thus emphasizes a sense of individual autonomy rather than of communal involvement; • Authenticity = the self-perception of behaving in keeping with one’s values.

Person-organization (P-O) fit • Can a protean orientation help young people find the perfect job? (Perfect defined as perfect match). • “Person-organization fit is the compatibility between peopleand organizationsthat occurs when: (a) at least one entity provides what the other needs, or (b) they share similar fundamental characteristics, or (c) both.” (Kristof, 1996). • (Kristof, 1996, p. 4) • Antecedents: • ASA model (Schneider, 1987) • Fit management tactics (Yu, 2013)

Assumed relationships • The literature relates protean career attitude to career planning (e.g., Saks & Ashforth, 2002), proactive personality andproactive behavior(e.g., Brown et al., 2006), and job search (Waters, 2008); • These variables are believed to be antecedents of P-O fit (Saks & Ashforth, 2002, Yu, 2013); • We posit that having a protean career attitude helps people achieve P-O fit because protean people might be more motivated to fit and thus exhibit better ‘fit management tactics’ (Yu, 2013); • This would help us answer the question: “If everyone yearns for fit, why doesn’t everyone achieve it?”

Gaps (1) Sense and nonsense of the protean career ? Basic assumption in the conceptual literature is that it results in positive career behavior and outcomes; (2) Empirical literature on protean career has focused mostly on the self-directed aspect (often equated to proactivity) and hardly ever on the values-driven aspect; (3) P-O fit is usually studied as an antecedent (e.g. to satisfaction, commitment, turnover), not an outcomeof interest in its own right.

Study design • Longitudinalstudy in a sample of “new employees” • Why this sample? Starting point = identical for everyone (leaving higher education). Divergence after that. • 3 points in time (inspired by ASA): • graduation time • 6 months after graduation • 3 years after graduation • (NT1= 1,109), T2 RR = 53%, T3 RR > 30% (so far)

Hypotheses “Graduates who are protean will reach higher PO fit.” T1 T3 T2 • Protean career orientation • Self-directed • Values driven • P-O fit • Actual fit • Perceived fit • P-O fit • Actual fit • Perceived fit T1-T2 • Job search • Intensity • Specificity • ‘Performance’ T2-T3 Staying or leaving

T2:  Alternative explanations:  (1) Effects need more timeto manifest (2) Discrepancyconcept vs. measure (3) Flawed basic assumptions (4) Labor market factors

1. Effects need more time to manifest - Maybe having a protean career attitude does lead to better P-O fit, but not in the first few months of employment (T2). Maybe our hypotheses will be confirmed at T3, and this is ‘simply’ a case of lagged effects. - Perhaps effects are non-linear. Research strategy for this scenario = - Test quadratic functions (they look promising!)

2. Discrepancy concept vs. measure • Maybe there is something wrong with the measureof protean career attitude (i.e., face validity, construct validity) >> especially for values-driven dimension. • Research strategy for this scenario = • Include extra measures on T3 that correspond to the protean career as conceptualized in the theoretical literature, i.e. authenticity; • Include extra measures on T3 that correspond to the protean career as measured by Briscoe, Hall, & DeMuth (2006), i.e. need for autonomy; • >> Study correlation patterns. • >> Do these measures produce better results (P-O fit)?

3. Flawed basic assumptions We indirectly assume that people who are protean (esp. values-driven) attach more importance to P-O fit. Maybe this is incorrect (cfr. loners, mavericks, critics, impossible to satisfy?) Research strategy for this scenario = Measure “importance attached to fit” at T3 and study correlation with protean measure + use as moderator? Add outcomes at T3 other than P-O fit (e.g. job/employment quality, demands-abilities fit) >>> Maybe protean career attitude ‘objectively’ leads to a better job quality, but not ‘subjectively’ (i.e., fit, satisfaction, commitment)

4. Labor market factors Maybe economic crisis/labor market factors impact on our data? I.e., people may be protean but it is very difficult to achieve a good job (= job quality) or P-O fit because of external circumstances out of their control. Research strategy for this scenario = Objectively: Control for graduation major < odds of finding a job in that field within 1 year (= VDAB data); Subjectively: Add measures at T3 about perceived labor market demand, perceived job opportunities, and perceived overqualification.

What’s next? Currently: T3 data in, getting ready to analyze alternatives Odds of employment for study major Perceived labor market demand Perceived overqualification Lagged effects Quadratic effects T2 T1 T3 Protean career orientation Authenticity Need for autonomy P-O fit P-O fit Job/employment quality T1-T2 Job search T2-T3 Staying or leaving Importance attached to fit

The protean career: What can we learn from the literature on P-O fit and job search?