The Influence of Proactive Career Behaviours on Psychological Well-being among Malaysian Engineers

Abstract

As the key engine to support the country’s economic transformation goal, the influence of engineers on the lives of people comes with tremendous responsibilities (Abdull Rahman, 2012). Because they add values through the use of appropriate technology and processes (Malan, 2004), engineers need to be equipped with ways to build and capitalize on their strength, to keep up with changes in technology and to shorten design cycles and computerizing designs. All these are needed to maintain their excellent performance. Unfortunately, these tremendous responsibilities, such as the strong need for growth and personal development, have influenced the engineers’ psychological well-being. The lack of attention given to studying engineer’s psychological well-being has worsened the scenario, especially in the context of Asian countries. Therefore, this article reports on the influence of proactive career behaviours on engineer’s psychological well-being. In the context of this study, 387 registered professional engineers (PEs) were chosen as the sample of study. The hypotheses were investigated through a correlation and path analysis using partial least squares (PLS). The results provided useful information on the positive influence of career exploration on psychological well-being. The results further showed that there is a positive influence of career goal development on psychological well-being. On the other hand, the result also revealed the negative influence of career goal development on psychological well-being. The implications of these findings for understanding the process through which career attitudes affect individuals’ psychological well-being are discussed.