Employability and involuntary occupational transitions management: an explorative research with workers on unemployment benefit

Fragmented nature of current careers has placed at the centre of attention the concept of employability. This paper presents an explorative study aimed at analysing employability during the occupational transition of dismissed workers. In the light of the psychosocial approach suggested by Fugate and colleagues, the principal goal was to explore the relationship between dispositional employability and two crucial aspects of outplacement, re-employment and physical and mental health, hypothesizing a mediating role of perceived employability and perceived utility of outplacement services. The research involved pharmaceutical workers on unemployment benefit. Our analysis confirmed that dispositional employability can be considered as a latent multidimensional construct which sparingly summarizes three latent dimensions (self-efficacy in managing work changes; social capital; work career proactivity). Results highlighted that dispositional employability has a fairly direct impact on physical and mental health, but it is not associated with reemployment. Moreover perceived employability mediates the relationship between dispositional employability and perceived utility of outplacement services, while it doesn’t have a direct connection with psychophysical health. Implications on career counselling are discussed.