Untangling the dynamics of career resources and its impact on career outcomes: The mediating role of career crafting and the moderating role of career self-efficacy and talent philosophies

Abstract

The current state of contemporary work environments characterised by high talent volatility has called to question the pronouncement that traditional organisational careers are dead and talent management practices are old-fashioned. This study, therefore, aims to understand how career inducements from the organisation function as resources that, over time, influence individuals’ career management and achievement of career-related outcomes. Building on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research tests the importance of career resources trajectories – job autonomy, supervisor support and organisation career management – in determining employees’ proactive career reflection and career construction for career goal fulfilment. It also investigates career self-efficacy as a personal resource with the potential to moderate the relationship between career resources and career outcomes. Moreover, the harmony between talent and career literature was explored by investigating how a perceived fit between individuals and the organisation’s talent philosophies function as a moderator that determines employees’ career self-management. This study thus puts forward talent philosophies, a related yet distinct body of research from careers literature, as a theoretically vital construct for understanding individuals' career development. Using cross-lagged and latent growth modelling, the indirect effect of career resources on career-related outcomes through career crafting and the boundary conditions of career self-efficacy and talent philosophy were examined. Using Prolific sample, month-level data across six months was collected from 253 full-time employees in the UK at different organisational levels and from multiple industries. The results showed that dimensions of career crafting at the base level each mediate the relationship between career resources and career outcomes and fit in stable talent philosophy moderate the indirect relationship. Supervisor support was identified as the career resource with the most career-related outcome. This study also found that career self-efficacy and person-organisation talent philosophies fit significantly but differently impact employees’ career resources. By longitudinally analysing career incentives at different levels of the organisation as resources, the current study enriches understanding of how career resources influence employees’ behaviours and desired outcomes and the complementary nature of career and talent management research.