ARGUMENTOS UTILIZADOS PARA JUSTIFICAR LA DEDICACIÓN DE BEBES EN LA IGLESIA

Career success is often defined as the positive psychological or works outcomes one accumulates thru work experiences (Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz Jr, 1994; Seibert, Crant, & Kraimer, 1999). Accordingly, career success can be viewed from both objective and subjective perspectives (Hughes, 1937). Objective career success can be described as those career accomplishments that are directly observable and measurable (i.e., salary, position, organisational status, and promotions); while subjective career success is based on personal assessments of own career accomplishments which reflect the importance of one’s values, mind-sets, and goals in evaluating his or her career success (Greenhaus, 2002; Judge et al., 1994). Some scholars (Arthur, Khapova, &

32 Wilderom, 2005; Gattiker & Larwood, 1988; Wolff & Moser, 2009) argue that the subjective appraisal of one’s career success is not just affected by objective criteria, but also by intrinsic influences such as personal motivation and aspiration, social comparisons, and assessments of the situational constraints. As such, subjective career success covers both the intrinsic and extrinsic aspects of one’s career and define the one’s unique set of values that guide personal evaluations of success.

Moreover, in this era of boundaryless careers, subjective career success or the intrinsic dimension of success has become particularly relevant and essential because individuals in this career era are often engaging in non-linear careers and, therefore, are much more inclined to set their career plan and to determine the standards by which its success is measured (Heslin, 2005). Also, many scholars speculate that objective measures can no longer adequately capture subjective career success in this contemporary career era (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). As the result of changes in career paths from linear and vertical promotion to non-linear, it is unlikely that hierarchical status and salary affect career satisfaction as what have been previously theorised. Hence, in view of the changed nature of modern careers, subjective career success denotes a more thorough perspective since research proposes that individuals can achieve extrinsic success, and yet still feels dissatisfied with their career (Korman, Wittig-Berman, & Lang, 1981). Furthermore, in this study, where the protean career attitudes contain values-driven dimension, stressing on personal values over organisational values, subjective career success is deemed to be a more salient measure for success. Hence, the present study chooses to use subjective career success as the indicator of career success perceived by employees.

Several studies in the past have examined the predictors of career success. Some of these studies focused on the traditional and organisational career context (see Cannella & Shen, 2001; Kirchmeyer, 2002). Many other studies on career success did not

33 distinguish the traditional from the non-traditional careers (see Abele & Spurk, 2009; Barnett & Bradley, 2007). However, Eby et al. (2003) argue that factors that constitute to career success for a conventional organisational career may be quite distinct from those of a non-traditional patterns of career. Individuals who embrace the protean and boundaryless career attitudes may place a higher value on career mobility, flexibility, autonomy and control in making career decisions over other factors. Lee et al. (2006) explored the definitions of career success amongst 87 part time professionals in the U.S. and Canada. The study found that the three most often occurring themes were: (a) the ability to have a life outside work; (b) having an impact or making a contribution; (c) continuing to grow professionally. Other presents but less prominent themes were upward mobility, financial or non-financial recognitions.

Ng, Eby, Sorensen, and Feldman (2005) performed a meta-analysis of 140 empirical research papers about the predictors of career success without making any distinction between the traditional and the boundaryless career patterns in the analysis. The analysis reported 26 predictors, which were grouped into four categories: (a) human capital, (b) organisational sponsorship, (c) socio-demographic status, and (d) stable individual differences. The results demonstrated that organisational sponsorship (e.g. training and skills development opportunities) and stable individual differences (e.g. proactivity, openness to experience) were more strongly related to subjective career success. The authors also call for more research to identify other predictors of career success especially within the boundaryless career research.

More recently, numerous studies began to investigate predictors of subjective career success in the contemporary career era. For instance, De Vos and Soens (2008) found that the protean career attitudes were a significant predictor of career satisfaction and that the relationship was fully mediated by the development of career insight. Furthermore, Vos, Clippeleer, and Dewilde (2009) in their longitudinal study found that

34 career self-management behaviours were positively related to career satisfaction among graduates during their early years of career. In a recent study by van den Born and van Witteloostuijn (2013) of professional freelancers found that both personal capital (i.e., career insight, pro-activeness, and openness) and motivational factors (i.e., flexibility, work-life balance and autonomy) were positively related to subjective career success. Likewise, O'Shea, Monaghan, and D. Ritchie (2014) examined early career employees during the economic recession in Ireland, found that autonomy and skill specialisation were positively related to career satisfaction for those who held a strong self-directed career attitude. Recently, Zhang et al. (2015) in their study of Chinese employees found that protean self-directed career attitude is positively associated with career and life satisfaction, mediated by the employees’ perception of calling.

According to Judge, Higgins, Thoresen, and Barrick (1999), individuals’ career success is important not only to individuals but also to organisations because an employee’s personal success can eventually contribute to organisational success. Hence, factors that contribute to individuals’ success in their careers and jobs are likely to help organisations to succeed in their endeavours also. Given that much of the responsibility for managing careers is shifting from employers to employees, it remains vital to identify the predictors of career success in this changing career landscape. However, some emerging variables within the new career context (e.g., the protean and boundaryless career attitudes and job crafting behaviour) have largely been overlooked in the career research. Thus, this study aims at examining the protean and boundaryless career attitudes and job crafting behaviour as antecedents to subjective career success.