Career insecurity is a central topic in career research because many career paths are characterized by high levels of uncertainty. In academia, individuals face not only high levels of insecurity in ...the early career phase but also the responsibility of managing their careers by themselves. Building on the motivational theory of life-span development and the social cognitive theory of self-regulation, this longitudinal study investigates the relationship between perceived career insecurity, work-related self-management, and occupational self-efficacy beliefs based on a sample of 3118 PhD students and PhD holders. We employed the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to separate between-person effects from within-person effects across eight measurement points (6-month time intervals). At the between-person level, career insecurity was negatively correlated with self-management and self-efficacy. At the within-person level, (a) increases in self-management and self-efficacy predicted decreases in subsequent career insecurity, and (b) increases in career insecurity predicted decreases in subsequent self-management and self-efficacy. Mediation analyses showed self-management to reduce career insecurity via increases in self-efficacy.
•Eight-wave longitudinal study with 3118 young scientists•Self-management, self-efficacy, and career insecurity relate at the within level.•Increases in self-management/self-efficacy predict decreases in career insecurity.•Increases in career insecurity predict decreases in self-management/self-efficacy.•Self-management reduces career insecurity via increases in self-efficacy.
Based on a “whole-life”-perspective and integrating theories of self-identity and resource management, the present longitudinal study examines the dynamic relationship between career involvement and ...conflicts between work and nonwork goals in a sample of 3095 German-speaking doctoral students and doctorate holders (37.0% women) from various STEM fields. We expected increases in goal conflicts to decrease career involvement, and simultaneously tested reciprocal relationships, that is, from involvement on conflicts. The random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to analyze within-person associations across eight measurement occasions (6-month time intervals) while controlling for between-person effects. At the between-person level, career involvement and goal conflicts were negatively correlated. At the within-person level, results showed negative cross-lagged effects from goal conflicts to career involvement as well as negative cross-lagged effects from career involvement to goal conflicts. This indicates that the interplay of goal conflicts and career involvement can result in either an upward or a downward spiral. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The purpose of the present investigation is to shed light on the intraindividual (i.e., within-person) process of distancing from the goal of obtaining a PhD. Based on the motivational theory of ...action crisis, we assume that a lack of both individual (here: self-directed career management) and external (here: social support) resources may fuel doubts concerning PhD completion. An action crisis, in turn, is proposed to undermine the subsequent motivation to engage in proactive behavior and seek out social support. We analyzed five waves of longitudinal self-report data (
N
T1
= 2011 PhD students, 61.7% men; half-year intervals) with the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model. This method allows to separate between-person from within-person effects. As expected, we found intraindividual increases in self-directed career management and perceived social support to reduce the development of an action crisis, and vice versa. Practical implications on how to avoid a loss spiral in the PhD process are discussed.
In the present studies, we examined the prospective relations between general self-efficacy beliefs and different types of domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs, namely occupational and academic ...self-efficacy beliefs as well as self-efficacy beliefs regarding the compatibility of work and family life. Data stem from two longitudinal data sets of 297 and 107 women during their transition into the workforce after maternity leave; in addition, 196 university students served as a non-transitional control sample. In both studies of mothers, we observed top-down effects: General self-efficacy beliefs predicted domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs. Bottom-up effects seem to be restricted to non-transitional settings and situations when demands have become more familiar. Results speak in favor of conceptualizing general and specific self-efficacy beliefs as separate constructs; implications for self-efficacy theory are discussed.
•Test of relations between general and domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs•Data from mothers during transition back to work after maternity leave•Top-down effects appear to be specific for transition phase.•Bottom-up effects emerge when domain-specific competence is built.
This study examines how men and women in heterosexual partnerships influence each other’s parental leave decisions through their gender role attitudes. We differentiate between attitudes toward ...women’s parental role, women’s worker role, men’s parental role, and men’s worker role, and consider the role of traditional gender ideology denoting an attitude of negatively evaluating mothers’ employment when children are young. We investigated communal traits as a potential moderator to better understand partner effects, i.e., one partner’s role attitudes affecting the other partner’s leave decision. We analyzed longitudinal data from
N
= 365 heterosexual, mainly German dual-earner couples, collected between pregnancy and about 18 months after the birth of their first child, using the actor-partner interdependence model. We examined mothers’ and fathers’ attitudes toward all five types of gender roles and found that both mothers and fathers were influenced in their leave decisions by their partners’ attitudes toward early maternal employment. Mothers whose partners were more traditional in this regard took longer leaves; fathers whose partners were more traditional took shorter leaves. Fathers’ leave length was also influenced by their partners’ attitudes toward men’s worker role, with more traditional attitudes resulting in shorter leaves. The latter relationship was moderated by fathers’ communal traits, such that more communal fathers were more strongly influenced by their female partners’ attitudes. Overall, this research extends the understanding of mutual influences and decision-making dynamics in dual-earner couples in the early family phase.
The purpose of the present investigation is to analyze the relation of frustration tolerance and delay of gratification with PhD-intention and expectations. We conducted one correlational and two ...experimental studies. In Study 1 (
N
1
= 171 undergraduates), we found the hypothesized positive association between delay of gratification and frustration tolerance and the intention to obtain a PhD. In Studies 2 and 3, we used experimental vignette designs. In Study 2, doctoral students and postdocs (
N
2
= 180) evaluated a fictitious student regarding PhD-intention and a successful PhD-process. As expected, students with high gratification delay and frustration tolerance were judged as more likely to start and complete a PhD than students described low in these volitional traits. In Study 3, we contrasted Study 2’s findings by asking employees of the private sector (
N
3
= 150) to rate the same students’ intention to join a company instead. None of the factors influenced participants’ judgments when it comes to a non-academic career track.
Objectives. This study aimed to examine the influence of office noise and multitasking on decision confidence, overconfidence, satisfaction, calibration and affective well-being. Detrimental effects ...of noise and multitasking on perceived annoyance and concentration are well documented. Little is known about whether decision confidence and well-being during decisions are also affected. Methods. The study was a between-subjects laboratory experiment (n = 109) involving a noise condition with office noise presented through headphones (A-weighted equivalent sound pressure level of L
A
eq
= 60 dB), a multitasking condition with an email-sorting task as the primary task and a control condition. Results. Compared to the control condition, subjects in the noise and multitasking conditions exhibited overestimation of confidence. There was also a significant decrease in well-being for people in the noise condition. Calibration was not affected. Conclusion. In the case of noise, well-being is affected even before the thresholds of workplace legislation are reached. Undue overconfidence can have detrimental effects upon subsequent decisions and risk-taking. Findings suggest that there should be greater consideration of environmental influences during decision-making in work environments.
Postpartum mothers have to decide whether to leave the workforce for some time and, if so, when to return to paid work. Two kinds of regrets might evolve as a result of women's leave‐related ...decisions: stay‐at‐home and return‐to‐work regrets. The present research investigates how these forms of regrets are associated with women's affective organizational commitment. We conducted a four‐wave longitudinal study with female participants mostly living in Switzerland (61%) and Germany (37%). The first measurement occasion took place during pregnancy (N = 294), and the subsequent three postnatal measurement points were at 6 (n = 281), 12 (n = 254), and 24 months (n = 230) after childbirth. As expected, higher organizational commitment during pregnancy predicted stronger stay‐at‐home regrets. By contrast, women's prenatal organizational commitment did not turn out to be predictive for lowered return‐to‐work regrets. We further assumed cross‐lagged associations between post‐birth organizational commitment and return‐to‐work regrets. Our results suggest that return‐to‐work regrets are predictive of decreases in affective organizational commitment. Reversed causation, that is, effects from postnatal organizational commitment to return‐to‐work regrets, could not be confirmed. Results are discussed regarding theoretical, methodological, and practical implications.
The present research investigates the impact of gender-role attitudes on dual-earner couples' parental work decisions after childbirth. We assumed both parents' length of leave and changes in working ...hours are associated with individual as well as the partner's attitudes. Dyadic data from two lagged-design studies (Study 1: N=138 heterosexual couples; Study 2: N=168 heterosexual couples) were analyzed by using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) to account for interdependencies between spouses. As expected, in Study 1 fathers' individual attitudes predicted their changes in working hours. Fathers with more egalitarian attitudes decreased their working hours to a larger extent. Most importantly with respect to the interdependence between couples' attitudes and each partner's decisions concerning the work and the family domains, results of both studies showed that fathers' attitudes predicted their wives' work decisions: women with more egalitarian partners took shorter leaves and decreased their working hours less. In contrast, mothers' attitudes did not influence their husbands' behavior. Hence, this research highlights the importance of couple dynamics, that is, men's gender-role attitudes, to explain women's work-involvement decisions after childbirth.
•Investigation of parents' work decisions with a longitudinal dyadic design•Use of two independent dyadic data sets•Mothers with traditional partners take longer maternity leaves after childbirth.•Mothers with traditional partners decrease working hours to a larger extent.•Fathers' behavior is not influenced by mothers' attitudes.
Going beyond the relation of work and family, the present three-wave longitudinal study spanning one year assessed different forms of conflict and facilitation between leisure and the life domains ...work and family and their relation to subjective well-being. A sample of N = 277 employed men and women reported their perceived conflict and facilitation between leisure, work, and family and subjective well-being. Results suggest that leisure is a source of facilitation for work and family, and, at the same time, a major recipient of conflict from work and family. Moreover, leisure conflict was negatively correlated and leisure facilitation was positively associated with concurrent subjective well-being. Both conflict and facilitation between all three life domains remained highly stable over the course of one year. Only few and non-systematic lagged effects were found, indicating that the variance of the stability of the constructs and their relations over time leave little room for longitudinal predictions. Taken together, the study demonstrates that, similar to work–family relations, conflict and facilitation with the leisure domain are also associated with subjective well-being and remain highly stable over the course of a year in the lives of young and middle-aged adults.
PDF
