IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v14y2022i7p3753-d777081.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Self-Perceived Employability on Sustainable Career Development in Times of COVID-19: Two Mediating Paths

Author

Listed:
  • Wenxia Zhou

    (School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Zhen Pan

    (School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Qiuping Jin

    (School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

  • Yue Feng

    (School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China)

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 added further stress to individuals’ work life, and employability may be especially important to help individuals to pursue sustainable career success in such a context. However, previous studies that examined the impact and the mechanisms of employability on sustainable career success are lacking, especially in the context of pandemic threat. Based on conservation of resource theory (COR), the current study aims to explore whether and how employability, as an important resource, reduced work-related emotional exhaustion and increased work engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. We expected that self-perceived employability would reduce emotional exhaustion and increase work engagement. We further expected that coping strategy mediated the effect of self-perceived employability on emotional exhaustion, and career commitment mediated its effect on work engagement. Data were collected via a national survey in China among a sample of 4990 human resource practitioners from October to December 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The proposed model was tested with structural equation modelling. Results supported the proposed model. Self-perceived employability reduced emotional exhaustion and to a larger extent, increases work engagement. The two mediating effects were of partial mediation. The implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenxia Zhou & Zhen Pan & Qiuping Jin & Yue Feng, 2022. "Impact of Self-Perceived Employability on Sustainable Career Development in Times of COVID-19: Two Mediating Paths," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-16, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3753-:d:777081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3753/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/7/3753/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Landers, Richard N. & Behrend, Tara S., 2015. "An Inconvenient Truth: Arbitrary Distinctions Between Organizational, Mechanical Turk, and Other Convenience Samples," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 142-164, June.
    2. Jean-Pierre Neveu & Stevan E. Hobfoll & Jonathon Halbesleben & M Westman, 2018. "Conservation of resources in the organizational context : the reality of resources and their consequences," Post-Print hal-02472360, HAL.
    3. Paola Magnano & Giuseppe Santisi & Andrea Zammitti & Rita Zarbo & Santo Di Nuovo, 2019. "Self-Perceived Employability and Meaningful Work: The Mediating Role of Courage on Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Caroline Gurvich & Natalie Thomas & Elizabeth HX Thomas & Abdul-Rahman Hudaib & Lomash Sood & Kali Fabiatos & Keith Sutton & Anton Isaacs & Shalini Arunogiri & Gemma Sharp & Jayashri Kulkarni, 2021. "Coping styles and mental health in response to societal changes during the COVID-19 pandemic," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(5), pages 540-549, August.
    5. Nazanin Naderiadib Alpler & Huseyin Arasli, 2020. "Can Hindrance Stressors Change the Nature of Perceived Employability? An Empirical Study in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Maria Elena Magrin & Emanuela Marini & Matilde Nicolotti, 2019. "Employability of Disabled Graduates: Resources for a Sustainable Employment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(6), pages 1-17, March.
    7. Ju Guo & Yanjun Qiu & Yongtao Gan, 2022. "Workplace incivility and work engagement: The mediating role of job insecurity and the moderating role of self‐perceived employability," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 192-205, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mariusz Zieliński, 2022. "The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Labor Markets of the Visegrad Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-20, June.
    2. Jialing Miao & Hao Hu & Fang Wang & Baoguo Xie, 2023. "Positive Affectivity as a Motivator: How Does It Influence Employees’ Sustainable Careers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-15, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hao Zhou & Xinyi Sheng & Yulin He & Xiaoye Qian, 2020. "Ethical Leadership as the Reliever of Frontline Service Employees’ Emotional Exhaustion: A Moderated Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Wendian Shi & Feng Wang & Xiujun Li, 2021. "Depletion Effect of Work-Leisure Conflict: A Daily Diary Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 297-317, November.
    3. Xie, Junyi & Ifie, Kemefasu & Gruber, Thorsten, 2022. "The dual threat of COVID-19 to health and job security – Exploring the role of mindfulness in sustaining frontline employee-related outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 216-227.
    4. Mohd Fadhli Mohd Fauzi & Hanizah Mohd Yusoff & Rosnawati Muhamad Robat & Nur Adibah Mat Saruan & Khairil Idham Ismail & Ahmad Firdaus Mohd Haris, 2020. "Doctors’ Mental Health in the Midst of COVID-19 Pandemic: The Roles of Work Demands and Recovery Experiences," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    6. Clarke, Samuel L. & Rhodes, Eric S., 2020. "Entrepreneurial apologies: The mediating role of forgiveness on future cooperation," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    7. Deena A. Isom & Hunter M. Boehme & Toniqua C. Mikell & Stephen Chicoine & Marion Renner, 2021. "Status Threat, Social Concerns, and Conservative Media: A Look at White America and the Alt-Right," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, July.
    8. Martin Hoegl & Silja Hartmann, 2021. "Bouncing back, if not beyond: Challenges for research on resilience," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 20(4), pages 456-464, September.
    9. Eun Jung Kim & Inhan Kim & Mi Jeong Kim, 2020. "The Impact of Workplace Disability Facilities on Job Retention Wishes among People with Physical Disabilities in South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-13, September.
    10. Wenjun Wu & Dengke Yu, 2023. "The role of individual perceptions in the completion of formalistic tasks," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    11. Yi Wang & Xianfang Xue & Han Guo, 2022. "The Sustainability of Market Orientation from a Dynamic Perspective: The Mediation of Dynamic Capability and the Moderation of Error Management Climate," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-15, March.
    12. Francoise Contreras & Juan C. Espinosa & Gustavo A. Esguerra, 2020. "Could Personal Resources Influence Work Engagement and Burnout? A Study in a Group of Nursing Staff," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440199, January.
    13. Luo Lu & Ting-Ting Chang & Shu-Fang Kao & Cary L. Cooper, 2021. "Do Gender and Gender Role Orientation Make a Difference in the Link between Role Demands and Family Interference with Work for Taiwanese Workers?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Mashal Ahmed Watoo & Man Cao & Zhao Shuming, 2023. "High-performance work systems and the work–family interface: a cross-level investigation," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(3), pages 935-954, July.
    15. Yan Chen & Feilian Zhang & Yan Wang & Junwei Zheng, 2020. "Work–Family Conflict, Emotional Responses, Workplace Deviance, and Well-Being among Construction Professionals: A Sequential Mediation Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-19, September.
    16. Muhammad Umer Azeem & Inam Ul Haq & Ghulam Murtaza & Hina Jaffery, 2023. "Challenge–Hindrance Stressors, Helping Behavior and Job Performance: Double-Edged Sword of Religiousness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 687-699, May.
    17. Haar, Jarrod & O'Kane, Conor, 2022. "A post-lockdown study of burnout risk amongst New Zealand essential workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    18. Joanna Chwaszcz & Michał Wiechetek & Rafał P. Bartczuk & Iwona Niewiadomska & Patrycja Wośko, 2022. "Determinants of Quality of Life in the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation among Persons Using Psychological Help at Various Stages of the Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-14, May.
    19. Wei-Li Wu & Yi-Chih Lee, 2020. "Do Work Engagement and Transformational Leadership Facilitate Knowledge Sharing? A Perspective of Conservation of Resources Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(7), pages 1-17, April.
    20. Allison, Thomas H. & Davis, Blakley C. & Webb, Justin W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2017. "Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 707-725.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:7:p:3753-:d:777081. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.