The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation
VULNERABILITY AND THE PROFESSIONAL TRAJECTORY:
INDIVIDUAL SELF-REGULATION AND WELL-BEING Claire Johnston
SNSF Site Visit,
University of Geneva,
November 12-13, 2012 IP 7 – Professional trajectories: Impact of individual characteristics and
resources, and cultural background
Contact: [email protected]
Supervisors: Jérôme Rossier and Franciska Krings
Introduction to IP7 • Labor market uncertainty and job insecurity changes in traditional careers and increased number of transitions (Rudisill et al., 2010)
• The result Increased demands on the individual to adapt and deal with increased professional challenges while managing other life roles (Savickas et al., 2009; Klehe et al., 2011)
• The risk Individuals are vulnerable with increased chance to experience detrimental outcomes. Vulnerability is related to entry, participation and development in the professional trajectory:
• Individual risk factors (disability, inadequate self-regulation capacities) and contextual risk factors (minority, unemployment)
• Deficit or lack of individual resources (adaptive capacities) and contextual resources (financial, social network)
• IP7 aims identify personal and contextual resources and risk factors, as well as possible interactions between these
• IP7 objectives assess psychological processes, inter-individual differences and intra-individual variability involved in the professional trajectory
Thesis Project • Intersection of the individual and environment provides opportunity for unsuccessful or successful adjustment What factors influence the outcome?
• Key focus The individual response, understood as self-regulation, and the subsequent impact on well-being
Conclusions • Further exploration is justified longitudinal analysis will allow for clearer exploration of causality, mediation and moderation effects
• Career adapt-abilities and just world beliefs are important characteristics at the intersection of the individual and environment
• Vulnerability in the professional trajectory is associated with lower well-being due to individual characteristics and features of the professional situation:
• Individual characteristics (such as neuroticism or lower adapt-abilities) are associated with decreased well-being
• Professional situation (such as unemployment, fear of loosing job or job demands) contribute to decreased well-being
• Individual and professional situation factors interact – unemployment seems to prompt changes in adapt-abilities and just world beliefs
• Adapt-abilities may be activated by the environment and are therefore important for self-regulation:
• Unemployed individuals tend to display higher adapt-abilities
• Levels of adapt-ability change with the length of unemployment
• Past unemployment doesn’t seem related to current reported adapt-abilities
Professional
Situation
Stable
Personality
Traits
Well-Being
Aspect 1:
The role of adapt-abilities
(Savickas, 1997) as self-
regulation in response to the
interaction of the individual and
environment.
Aspect 2:
An exploration of the role of just
world beliefs (JWB; Dalbert,
1999) at the intersection of
individual and environment:
• Stable?
• Context specific?
• Involved in self-regulation?
• Moderator/Mediator?
Articles Submitted
• Johnston, C., de Bruin, G., Györkös, C., Geldenhuys, M., Massoudi, K., & Rossier, J. (submitted). The combined effects of Sense of Coherence and job characteristics in the prediction of burnout in South Africa. Applied Psychology: An
International Review
• Krings, F., Johnston, C., & Binggeli, S., & Maggiori, C. (submitted). Selective incivility: Immigrant groups experience subtle discrimination at different rates. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
In preparation
• Johnston, C., Broonen, J.P., Hamtiaux, A., Pouyaud, J., Zecca, G., Stauffer, S., Houssemand, C., & Rossier, J. (in preparation). Validation of the French-form and adaptation of the career adapt-abilities scale.
• Johnston, C, Ruch, W., Rossier, J., Luciano, E., & Maggiori, C. (in preparation). German version of the career adapt-abilities scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress.
• Maggiori, C., Johnston, C., Rossier, J., & Massoudi, K. (in preparation). Professional Situation and well-being of adults living in Switzerland: Moderating impact of adapt-abilities.
• Maggiori, C., Rossier, J., Krings, F., Johnston, C., & Massoudi, K. (in preparation). Considerations in longitudinal survey research on professional trajectories: Indications from 1st wave data collection.
Procedure & Participants T1 • Mixed mode data collection with 2 steps:
• 1: Profile - Professional situation and biography – completed online or computer
assisted telephone interview
• 2: Base - Work environment, personal characteristics, resources and outcomes –
completed paper-pencil or online
• Career adapt-abilities scale (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012), NEO-FFI-R (McCrae & Costa, 2004),
perceived stress scale (Cohen, 1994), general work stress scale (de Bruin & Taylor, 2005),
satisfaction with life scale (Diener et al., 1985), general health questionnaire (Goldberg, 1979), job
content questionnaire (Karasek, 1979) and just world beliefs (Dalbert, 1999)
• Final sample: N= 2469 (Mage = 41.92)
Conferences 2012 conference presentations
• Johnston, C., Maggiori. C., & Massoudi, K. (2012). Professional situation and well-being of adults living in Switzerland: Moderating impact of adapt-abilities. Paper presented at the 30th International Congress of Psychology, South Africa.
• Maggiori, C. Rossier, J., Krings, F., Johnston, C., & Massoudi, K. (2012). Considerations in longitudinal survey research on professional trajectories: Indications from the 1st wave of date collection. Paper presented at the LIVES Methodological
Conference, Switzerland.
• Maggiori, C., Johnston, C., & Massoudi, K. (2012). The impact of adapt-abilities on professional characteristics and well-being in a representative sample of adults living in Switzerland. Paper presented at the IAVEG International Conference,
Germany
2013 Conference submissions
• Krings, F., Johnston, C., Binggeli, S., & Maggiori, C. (submitted). Selective incivility: immigrant groups experience subtle discrimination at different rates. Paper submitted to Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology conference.
• Johnston, C., Krings, F., Fiori, M., & Maggiori, C. (submitted). The experience of work stress: An investigation of personal resources and buffers. Paper submitted to European Association of Work & Organizational Psychology conference.
Professional
Situation
Stable
Personality
Traits
Well-Being Moderator: JWB
Characteristic Proportion Proportion
Language German (n=1538, 62%) French (n=931, 38%)
Employment status Active (n=1895, 77%) Unemployed (n=574, 23%)
Gender Males (n=1216, 49%) Females (n=1253, 51%)
Nationality Swiss (n=1636, 66%) Double (n=314, 13%) Foreigner (n=519, 21%)
Results T1 Career adapt-abilities as a mediator in the relationship between personality characteristics and well-
being:
Relationships between these variables are as expected: adapt-abilities relate positively to well-
being and to all personality characteristics with the exception of a negative correlation with
neuroticism
Career adapt-abilities as a mediator in the relationship between context and well-being:
Adapt-abilities and context are related in interesting ways:
• Unemployed individuals tend to show higher adapt-abilities and employment status is a
predictor of adapt-abilities
• Individuals with higher levels of adapt-ability do not fear loosing their job
• Those currently searching for a job have higher adapt-abilities
• No differences in adapt-abilities between those who have and have not been unemployed in
the past - The activation of adapt-abilities appears limited to present events with adapt-
abilities possibly returning to a baseline level after previous activation.
• During unemployment levels of reported adapt-abilities change over time with highest levels
reported during 4-10months of unemployment
Relationships between just world beliefs, personality, context and well-being:
Relationships are as expected between these variables:
• Just world beliefs are associated with well-being
• Decision authority and skill discretion at work are associated with just world beliefs
• Unemployment is associated with lower just world beliefs
• Adapt-abilities and just-world beliefs show positive associations
