Career self-management behaviours are key to overcoming the challenges of entry into the labour market. Combining the Conservation of Resources and Career Self-management theories, this study delves ...into the concept of Career Engagement among Italian University students by examining its relationship with Support from teaching Staff and Movement Capital. We hypothesised a mediation model in which Support from Teaching Staff predicts Career Engagement which, in turn, fosters Movement Capital. As the pandemic led to the adoption of online learning solutions, we also explored whether and how the interaction between teachers and students during online classes moderates the said mediation relationship.
We collected data from 276 Italian University students through an online questionnaire. Results supported the mediation hypothesis, corroborating the mediating role of Career Engagement. We also observed that this relationship is stronger at medium and higher levels of online interaction between teachers and students.
Findings contribute to existing evidence about the role of Career Engagement in facilitating career resources' acquisition and extend the understanding of its contextual antecedents in Higher Education contexts. Results also align with the importance attributed to interaction in online learning environments. This work suggests ways to encourage career behaviours in Higher Education and equip prospective labour market entrants with career resources.
The current study aims to test a moderated-mediation model in which occupational self-efficacy determines the indirect effect of negative stereotypes about older workers in the organization both on ...psychological engagement in the work domain and on attitudes toward development opportunities through identification with the company. The survey involved 1,501 Italian subjects aged over 50 who were employed by a major large-scale retailer. Consistently with the Social Identity Theory and the Social Exchange Theory, results showed that the perception of negative stereotypes about older workers in the organization is associated with low identification with the company and, subsequently, with poor psychological engagement in the work domain and with attitudes indicating very little interest in development opportunities. In addition, this association was found to be stronger in older workers with higher and medium levels of occupational self-efficacy. These findings suggest that organizations should discourage the dissemination of negative stereotypes about older workers in the workplace because they may lead to older workers' disengagement from the work domain and their loss of interest in development opportunities.
The current theorising of career self-management advocates that personal resources that support an adaptive transition to work are bound to individual agency. Yet, research still needs to enrich the ...empirical exploration of how behaviours in personal life affect careers. For this reason, we explored the impact of mental-health activities—a group of self-help activities that people can perform to increase their mental health—on movement capital among Italian new entrants in the labour market. We also explored a mechanism underlying this relationship by testing the mediating role of flourishing and career engagement. We collected data from 229 Italian university students and recent graduates through an online questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, we found no significant direct relationship between mental-health activities and movement capital, yet the results supported an indirect relationship. The findings contribute to existing evidence about how personal life behaviours affect career self-management and advance the understanding of the role of mental health activities. This work suggests ways to encourage engagement in self-help behaviours and implement public and higher education interventions to foster these behaviours’ benefits for an adaptive transition to work.
The present study examined the career goal management strategies of Italian young adults. Based on the dual-process framework of goal management, assimilation and accommodation, which are considered ...adaptive personal resources, were hypothesized to be associated with young adults' career goal engagement and career goal disengagement. Perceived employability and career adaptability were also hypothesized to play a mediating role in these associations. A two-time study was carried out among Italian university students (N equivalent 294). The results confirmed that assimilation was positively associated with career goal engagement and perceived employability mediated this relationship. Additionally, assimilation was found to be negatively associated with career goal disengagement, whereas accommodation was positively associated with career goal disengagement. These findings have implications in career counseling and uni- versity programs related to young adults' university-to-work transitions.
Nowadays organizations have to cope with two related challenges: maintaining an engaged and highly performing workforce and, at the same time, protecting and increasing employees' well-being and job ...satisfaction under conditions of a generalized increase of job demand, in an increasingly growing older population. According to the motivational process of the JD-R model, a work environment with many organizational resources will foster work engagement, which in turn will increase the likelihood of positive personal and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, and intention to stay. However, it is not clear how this motivational process could work in different age cohorts, as older workers may have different priorities to those of younger colleagues. Postulating the existence of a gain-cycle in the relationship between work engagement and outcomes, in this study we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which job satisfaction increases over time through an increment in work engagement. We hypothesized that this process is moderated by job demand and aging. We collected data in public administrations in Northern Italy in order to measure work engagement and job satisfaction. 556 workers aged between 50 and 64 replied to the survey twice (the first time and 8 months later). The findings confirmed a moderated mediation model, in which job satisfaction at time 1 increased work engagement, which in turn fostered job satisfaction 8 months later, confirming the hypothesized gain-cycle. This relationship was shown to be moderated by the joint influence of job demand intensity and age: higher job demands and younger age are related to the maximum level of level gain cycle, while the same high level of job demands, when associated with older age, appears unable to stimulate a similar effect. The results confirm that, on one hand, older workers cannot be seen as a homogeneous group and, on the other hand, the importance of considering the role played by the gain cycle of resources. Our findings show that age matters, and that greater consideration should be devoted to age differences in order to design appropriate human resources practices that foster work engagement and satisfaction.
The research undertaken for this article aims to analyse the correspondence between perceived employability and the actual national employment rate among Italian students and graduates undertaking ...different courses in a large Italian university. Data were collected through a cross-sectional survey of 2087 students in 19 faculties, and compared with the national indicators of employment rate for each faculty. Using faculty as unit of analysis, the results indicated a significant correlation between participants' perceived employability and national employment rate. This trend was similar for both genders. However, the results showed a difference between bachelor's and master's degrees: the correlation between perceived and actual employability was not significant among bachelor's participants while it remained significant among master's participants. The results suggest that graduates are only partially aware of their possibility to enter the labour market and this, in turn, highlights that universities have only partially met the goal to increase awareness about the chances of finding a job among students and graduates.
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Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Organizational safety is not only influenced by technological aspects and technical skills, but also by such factors, as regulatory and business pressures, job demands, workers’ behaviours and skill. ...However, a need to consider Non-Technical Skills (NTS), that can contribute to a safer and more efficient task performance should be considered. A research group of the University of Bologna developed an organizational intervention named “NoTeS – Non-Technical Skills for Safety”, which aims to give an effective answer to companies that want to enhance safety in their own work environment. The paper describes the four phases of this intervention. In addition, safety interventions in chemical plants are analysed. Finally, the first positive outcome of improving safety in chemical plants based on participants’ reactions, behaviour and interesting perspectives is discussed.
Perceived Employability acquires growing relevance as a psychological protective resource now that new entrants in the labour market from higher education are experiencing a deterioration of their ...occupational prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brings worries and jeopardises psychological well-being. This study aims to extend research on perceived employability among Italian University students and graduates. Perceived employability is posited to predict flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing material, social, and health worries related to COVID-19. Moreover, this study contends that perceived employability buffers the positive impact of perceived adverse conditions of the labour market on worries, changing the effect on flourishing. In total, 471 university students and graduates completed an online survey. The analyses reveal that perceived employability positively influences flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing COVID-19-related worries. Nevertheless, the results do not support the moderating action of perceived employability. Despite some limitations (e.g., a cross-sectional design), this study significantly advances the exploration of perceived employability as a critical personal resource to deal with the transition to work under pandemic-related crises. This study draws on its results to advise higher education to increase perceived employability, such as through career guidance activities and work-based learning experiences.
The authors explored the effects of a structured‐group career intervention among 280 Italian high school students. Hierarchical linear models indicated the intervention's effectiveness in increasing ...career decision‐making self‐efficacy and, consequently, career exploration, but not in decreasing career choice anxiety. In addition, partial confirmation was found for the moderating effects of participants' expectations and motivation to change on the relationship between career decision‐making self‐efficacy and career choice anxiety. The findings support the development of a systematic vocational guidance program in Italian schools.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between general self-efficacy (GSE), job search self-efficacy (JSSE), extraversion and job search success within a sample of new ...entrants in the labour market. It is hypothesised that JSSE acts as a mediator between GSE and job search success. Evaluation of the hireability – made by expert interviewers – of new entrants involved in a job interview simulation is proposed as a job search success criterion. Moreover, the moderating role of extraversion on the relationship between JSSE and job search success is explored.Design/methodology/approachData were collected on 177 graduates from an Italian university. Participants were involved in a simulation of an interview conducted by experts of the personnel selection process, who gave an evaluation. Macro PROCESS for SPSS was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsGSE has an indirect effect on job search success via JSSE. Moreover, extraversion has a moderating effect on the JSSE–job search success relationship for more extraverted job seekers.Practical implicationsJob search and counselling practitioners should consider extraversion and personal differences to improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at fostering new entrants' self-regulatory resources and behaviours during the job search.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing research about the job search process by testing a new and important job search success criterion, showing that GSE could help new graduates in establishing a specific self-efficacy, such as JSSE, and demonstrating that extraversion interacts with JSSE.
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