Test of a Social Cognitive Model of Proactive Career Behavior

Abstract

We applied the social cognitive model of career self-management (CSM) to the study of proactive career behavior, referring to workers’ active attempts to guide their own career development. Within the CSM framework, proactive behavior is conceived as a key agentic ingredient linking cognitive, social, and personality mechanisms with a variety of career advancement and sustainability outcomes. A sample of 511 early to mid-career adult workers in the U.S. completed an online survey including measures of proactive career behavior, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations; proactive personality; supervisory support; and three positive career self-management outcomes (perceived career success, growth in work rewards, and job marketability). We tested measurement and structural models, respectively, examining the factor structures of, and hypothesized paths among, the constructs. These models offered good overall fit to the data and were found to be invariant across gender. We consider the implications of the findings for future inquiry on career sustainability from a social cognitive perspective.