Career management behaviours and subjective career success : job crafting and personenvironment fit as personal resources

Abstract

Career involves proactive behaviours to advance employee's professional standing. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources and Career Construction theories, this study focuses on how employees manage their careers proactively by changing or shaping their jobs (through job crafting and person-environment fit) to experience subjective career success. Data were collected in South Africa from 492 working adults through electronic surveys, and the relationships were explored through structural equation modelling. This study adds insights into the underlying mechanism (i.e., person-environment fit) that elucidates how approach crafting (career management behaviour) relates to subjective career success. Illustrating how employees can utilise approach crafting (by increasing structural and social resources or by increasing challenging demands) as a resource-generating behaviour to improve their person-environment fit. Thus, as a result of job crafting, person-environment fit can be utilised as a personal resource to increase subjective career success.