See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/27378388

Proactivity and work experience as predictors of career-enhancing strategies

Article  in  Human Resource Development International · November 2008

DOI: 10.1080/13678860802417668 · Source: OAI

CITATIONS READS

10 132

2 authors, including:

Dimitrios Mihail
University of Macedonia
53 PUBLICATIONS   682 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) in the Greek healthcare context View project

High Performance Work Systems in the Greek Manufacturing sector View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Dimitrios Mihail on 25 May 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

This article was downloaded by: [HEAL-Link Consortium]
On: 17 June 2009
Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 772811123]
Publisher Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,
37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Human Resource Development International

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713701210

Proactivity and work experience as predictors of career-enhancing strategies

Dimitrios M. Mihail a
a
University of Macedonia, Greece

Online Publication Date: 01 November 2008

To cite this Article Mihail, Dimitrios M.(2008)'Proactivity and work experience as predictors of career-enhancing strategies',Human
Resource Development International,11:5,523 — 537
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13678860802417668
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13678860802417668

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or
systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or
distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.

The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents
will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses
should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss,
actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly
or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.
 Human Resource Development International
Vol. 11, No. 5, November 2008, 523–537

Proactivity and work experience as predictors of career-enhancing

strategies
Dimitrios M. Mihail*

University of Macedonia, Greece

The present study aims to enhance researchers’ understanding of career self-manage-

ment behaviour by introducing proactivity along with human capital variables into the
analysis. By modelling employees’ career strategies, this empirical investigation assesses
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

the relative importance of human capital predictors as well as that of proactive

personality. A survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire. There were 328
participants in the survey, consisting of individuals working for firms across all sectors
of the Greek economy. Factor analysis was used to form implemented career strategies
reported in the survey. Regression analysis was applied for assessing the impact of each
predictor on career self-management behaviour. The main findings indicate that the
primary sources behind shaping employees’ career strategies are their own proactive
personality and their work experience in full-time jobs. The importance of combining
human capital variables with employees’ proactivity in modelling career development is
stressed by the present study.
Keywords: career development; proactivity

Introduction
In today’s volatile business environment of corporate mergers and takeovers, a company’s
long-term commitment to employees’ job security and career development are disappear-
ing. Each individual is responsible for his or her own career (Arthur 1994: Schein 1996;
Adamson, Doherty, and Viney 1998; Cohen and Mallon 1999). Indeed, career-driven
individuals perform diversified job tasks, developing new skills, acquiring knowledge,
using different skill sets and accumulating human capital (Judge et al. 1995; Garavan,
O’Brien, and O’Hanlon 2006; Nafukho, Hairston, and Brooks 2004; Zula and Chermack
2007). This willingness to multi-task communicates a willingness to be employable and
flexible in the workplace, thereby increasing one’s ability to remain marketable and
manage one’s own career. Furthermore, within the context of a protean, multi-employer
career orientation, individuals tend to enhance their career prospects by changing
employers across businesses and industries, facing new challenges and accumulating
valuable work experience (Hall 1996, 2004; Arthur 1994; Arthur and Rousseau 1996;
Arthur, Khapova, and Wilderom 2005; Baruch 2004; King 2003).
Working people need to not only update job specific skills but also prepare themselves
for future jobs and new challenges in the workplace. In a constantly changing labour

*Email: mihail@uom.gr

ISSN 1367-8868 print/ISSN 1469-8374 online

Ó 2008 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13678860802417668
http://www.informaworld.com
 524 D.M. Mihail

market (Capelli 1997, 1999; Gual and Ricart 2001), being in a continuous state of
preparedness and developing an adaptive orientation to the job market seem to be key
determinants of a career self-management strategy. In other words, environment-led
changes such as waves of mergers and acquisitions and rapid technological advances lead
career-driven individuals to become proactive (Crant 2000). Rather than reacting to their
workplace changes, proactive individuals who are both aware and prepared for the future
challenges can manage their own careers.
The present study aims to enhance researchers’ understanding of the determinants of
career self-management behaviour and hence to contribute to the human resource
development literature. Having mentioned both the importance of human capital
and proactive behaviour, this research seeks to complement human capital and career
mobility predictors with proactive personality, as indicator of proactivity, in analysing
career-enhancing behaviour (Seibert et al. 1999; Eby, Butts, and Lockwood 2003). Thus,
modelling employees’ career strategies, this empirical investigation simultaneously assesses
the relative importance of human capital variables and the proactive personality indicator.
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

This adds to existing research given that analysis of the impact of proactivity on career
self-management behaviour has been very limited so far. This article tries to shed light on
this issue introducing proactive personality as a predictor of an individual’s career
strategies along with work experience, training, and career mobility for the Greek job
market.
The study is organized into five parts. The first part serves as an introduction, while the
second presents the theoretical framework of the research and stipulates the research
hypotheses. The third discusses the research design providing information on the method
and data collection of the survey. The fourth presents the main findings of the empirical
research. Finally, the most important conclusions of the empirical investigation are
summarized.

Theoretical framework and research hypotheses

Competencies and proactivity shaping career self-management behaviour
During recent decades, corporate restructuring, delayering and massive waves of
downsizing have resulted in workplace turbulence marked by job insecurity, flatter
organizational structures, fewer promotion opportunities and limited career prospects
(Cappelli 1997; Appelbaum and Santiago 1997). Actually, even in fast growing firms,
employers have been increasingly diverted from formal career management practices and
lifelong career planning (Kossek et al. 1998).
In light of widespread corporate restructuring and economic uncertainty, scholars have
pointed out that the core assumptions of the stable employment path and the employee’s
organizational commitment that have underpinned traditional notions of career are no
longer valid (Kanter 1989; Handy 1994; Arthur 1994; DeFillippi and Arthur 1994; Hall
and Mirvis 1995; Schein 1996; Peiperl and Baruch 1997). Systemic changes and workplace
transformation forcing a decoupling of individual careers from employing organizations
lead individuals to form their own boundaryless, multidirectional careers (Baruch 2004),
creating an even greater need for enhancing employability and accumulating social capital,
namely networking, consultation and mentoring (Eby, Butts, and Lockwood 2003;
Lambert et al. 2006; Mihail 2008).
In understanding boundaryless career behaviour, the present study relies on the
competency-based perspective proposed by Defillippi and Arthur (1994). The know-how
competencies according to the authors consist of knowledge and skills employees may
 Human Resource Development International 525

possess not to accommodate specific performance requirements of an organization but

rather to enhance their employability and potential in the workplace. The know-whom
competencies relate to the individual’s efforts in forming a career-centred ‘social capital’
rather than developing firm-centred networking and information. Such social capital
includes networking, mentoring and consultation that extend beyond the employer
environment to social contacts with family, acquaintances and, even more importantly,
friends (Lin and Dumin 1986; Eby, Butts, and Lockwood 2003). The know-why career
competencies are linked to employees’ concerted efforts to integrate their work experiences
into a coherent individual career plan decoupling their own career paths from current
employer’s job settings (Eby, Butts, and Lockwood 2003).
Even though concepts such as Hall’s protean career (Hall 1996, 2004; Hall and Moss
1998) and Arthur’s boundaryless career (Arthur 1994; Arthur and Rousseau 1996; Arthur,
Khapova, and Wilderom 2005) could frame an employee-centred career theory based on
individual’s accumulation of human and social capital (Defillippi and Arthur 1994), a
paradox in the modern workplace must be taken into account. Along the lines of the
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

boundaryless career perspective, more and more employees tend to assume greater
responsibility for their careers, while corporate restructuring and fluid job markets
increase the uncertainties of the future, thus deterring working people from committing
resources to additional education and training.
Under these circumstances, proactive behaviour seems to be instrumental in allowing
employees to keep their own career on track (Bateman and Crant 1993, 1999). In fact, even
if someone is satisfied with his/her current job, it is imperative to keep an eye on the future
and exhibit proactive behaviour, i.e. have a proactive personality. Proactive behaviour
stems from proactive personalities who can ‘intentionally and directly change their current
circumstances’ in the labour market by scanning ‘for opportunities, show initiative, take
action, and persevere until they reach closure by bringing about change’ (Bateman and
Crant, 1993, 104–5).
A growing literature has used the concept of the proactive personality in theorizing
career outcomes (Crant 2000). In approaching the traits of a proactive personality
empirically, Bateman and Crant (1993) devised the proactive personality scale that has
been incorporated into a series of pertinent studies. Thus, empirical research has
established relationships between proactive personality and job performance (Crant 1995),
entrepreneurial intentions (Crant 1996), career success (Seibert, Crant, and Kraimer 1999;
Seibert, Kraimer, and Crant 2001), proactive behaviour at work (Parker, Turner, and
Williams 2006) and job search (Brown et al. 2006).

Hypothesis setting
The present study, drawing both on the competency-based perspective and on
proactive personality research, tests a model of career self-management behaviour
and tries to expand our understanding of human resource development in corporate
Greece. Based upon the above discussion, several research hypotheses may now be
postulated.
People have the opportunity to perform job tasks, learn new skills and use different
skill sets through work experience. This communicates a willingness to learn and face
versatile tasks, thereby increasing one’s ability to remain employable in the workplace.
Along this line of reasoning, lack of such a work experience due to spells of unemployment
would undermine an individual’s employability. In addition to work experience, training is
essential to continue learning and adding skill sets. Continuously acquiring knowledge and
 526 D.M. Mihail

new skills is a positive approach to career self-management that prevents the atrophy of
skills in a rapidly changing workplace. That is:

Hypothesis 1: Work experience, training and education are related positively to career-
enhancing strategies, such as employability, networking, mentoring and career planning.
Spells of unemployment are expected to undermine individuals’ career-enhancing strategies.

Another dimension of work experience is approached through career mobility.

Promotions within organizations and relatively frequent employer changes might point to
individuals that besides developing updated skills are capable of cultivating upward
relationships in the employing firm and know the ‘right people’ both in and outside the
organization. Career mobility behaviour leading to promotions and employer changes are
indicative of career-driven individuals that are likely to commit themselves to career-
enhancing strategies. That is:
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Hypothesis 2: Promotions and employer changes are positively related to career-enhancing

strategies, such as employability, networking, mentoring and career planning.

Third, it is hypothesized that proactive personality is expected to enhance employee’s

strategies of career development. That is:

Hypothesis 3: Proactive personality will be related positively to an individual’s employability,

networking, mentoring and career planning.

Methodology
Research design
The research design that was used to examine the research hypotheses mentioned above is
based on the replies of the participants that were surveyed. A set of questionnaire
statements was aimed at exploring respondents’ concerted actions towards career building
such as ‘enhancing employability’, ‘networking’, ‘mentoring’ and ‘career planning’ (Claes
and Ruiz-Quintannila 1998). Another set of questionnaire statements was designed to
construct the proactive personality scale using Bateman and Crant’s (1993) 17-item
measure.
Exploratory factor analysis with a principal components extraction was used to reduce
the career behaviour items to a smaller number of uncorrelated variables or factors. Thus,
factor analysis was performed and it was instrumental in identifying and therefore
measuring certain career-centred behaviour. Furthermore, the study tried to model career-
enhancing behaviour by regressing the identified factors of career strategies on the
proactive personality scale, that of career mobility and work experience, along with
personal and organizational characteristics. Regression analysis, therefore, led to some
conclusions on the relative impact of certain predictors on pursuing distinct career
strategies, such as employability, networking, mentoring and career planning.

Sample and survey instrument

Survey participants for this research were randomly selected working people who attended
seminars enhancing business-centred skills and knowledge such as accounting, finance and
marketing techniques and practices. These seminars, lasting two months, are financed by
 Human Resource Development International 527

the participants and offered on a regular basis by the University of Macedonia, located in
the city of Thessaloniki. This sample design ensures that the sample included working
people who are career-driven individuals and at the same time have diversified educational
and professional backgrounds. The former sample characteristic is considered as necessary
to model career strategy behaviour and the latter as important in broadening the
generality of the research findings.
In order to survey working people’s attitudes toward career-enhancing behaviour, a
structured questionnaire was distributed to 328 employees attending seminars during a six-
month period in 2006 and 2007. Participants in this survey were given an introductory
letter explaining the aim of the research, and were provided instructions on how to
complete the questionnaire. These questionnaires also ensured absolute confidentiality.
Questionnaires were administered during class and were filled out anonymously just after
the completion of the class in the respondents’ free time. The researcher’s assistants
collected the questionnaires from the respondents immediately upon completion. A total
of 266 questionnaires were returned to the investigator, of which 252 were completed
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

correctly in their entirety. The high response rate of 81% is because the participants in the
survey were attending seminars organized and offered by the researcher’s faculty. The
sample was comprised of 163 women and 89 men. The respondents’ average age was 25
years and more than 86% of the participants were under 30 years old. More than 68% of
the surveyed people held a degree of higher education, 88% worked in the private sector,
and 70% were under full-employment contract.
The structured questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section was used for
gathering personal and organizational information of the respondents. The second section
included participants’ responses on 11 statements concerning career-enhancing actions
which were empirically assessed using a Likert-scale format from 1 (not at all) to 5 (a great
deal). The third section consisted of 17 statements pertinent to the proactive personality
scale. Respondents’ replies on proactivity were also assessed by a seven-point Likert scale
ranging from 1 (I strongly disagree) to 7 (I strongly agree).

Measures
The dependent variables were measured using multi-item scales. The career-enhancing
strategy items were adapted from a previous empirical study on career development (Claes
and Ruiz-Ouintanilla 1998) that in turn was based on Bachman, O’Maley, and Johnston
(1978), and Penley and Gould (1981). An exploratory factor analysis of 11 items indicated
four indices of career strategies (dependent variables). The response items, the extracted
factors, and coefficient alpha reliability estimates are presented in the findings section
(Table 1).
The first set of predictors represents human capital variables. As Becker (1993)
maintains, besides formal education, individuals invest in additional types of human capital
such as on-the-job training, formal training and any other knowledge that could potential
increase their command of their career prospects. Within this framework, the present study
introduces all the main types of work experience – full-time employment, temporary, part-
time work and internships – to empirically approximate the dimension of on-the-job
training, along with formal training and education. Thus, the employment variables include
the length (in months) of work experience on full-time, temporary, part-time employment
contracts, internships, formal training programmes and unemployment. While the
education level variable (0 ¼ basic education and high school diploma, 1 ¼ higher
education degree) accounts for the formal education dimension of human capital.
 Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Table 1. Exploratory factor analysis for career-enhancing behaviours.

528

Questionnaire statements and factors: Career-enhancing Enhancing Career Factor means

behaviour employability Mentoring Networking planning (SD)
Factor I. Enhancing employability (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.76) 3.49 (.80)
‘I have developed skills that may be needed in future job .776
positions’
‘I have gained experience in a variety of work assignments to .848
D.M. Mihail

increase my knowledge and skills’

‘I have developed more knowledge and skill in tasks critical to .764
my work unit’s operation’
Factor III. Mentoring (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.69) 2.82 (1.04)
‘I have recently sought advice from my co-workers, family or .777
other people about additional training or experience I need
to improve my future work prospects’
‘Since I have worked here I have initiated talks with my .763
supervisor about training or work assignments I need to
develop skills that will help my future work chances’
‘I have made my supervisor aware of my work aspirations and .658
goals’
Factor II. Networking (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.71) 3.33 (1.08)
‘I have built a network of contacts or friendships with other .873
employees to obtain information about how to do my work
or to determine what is expected of me’
‘I have built a network of contacts or friendships with .800
co-workers or other people to provide me with help or
advice that will further my work chances’
Factor IV. Career planning (Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.65) 3.78 (.96)
‘I have begun to think more about the kind of work for which I .828
am best suited since I began working in my present job’
‘I have recently begun to think more about what I would like .827
to accomplice in my work during the next year or two’
Explained variance 0.19 0.18 0.15 0.16
Eigenvalues 2.08 1.97 1.67 1.70

Note: N ¼ 238; Varimax rotation was used and loadings was used and loadings greater than 0.50 are reported; The five rotated factors accounted for 53% of the total
variance; Factor means are in bold and statements were rated on a five-point Likert-type scale (1, ‘not at all’, 5, ‘a great deal’).
 Human Resource Development International 529

Another set of predictors represent career mobility variables such as organizational

promotions and employer changes. Following Crant (1995) and Seibert, Crant, and
Kraimer (1999), proactive personality was added as a predictor in theorizing about career
behaviour. Proactive personality was measured with 17 questionnaire items adapted from
Bateman and Crant (1993). Sample items from this scale are: ‘I enjoy facing and
overcoming obstacles to my ideas’, ‘I excel at identifying opportunities’ and ‘When I have
a problem, I tackle it head-on’ (Appendix, Table 1A). Responses ranged from (1) ‘strongly
disagree’ to (7) ‘strongly agree’. The Cronbach’s alpha of the scale was 0.86 (X ¼ 4.69,
SD ¼ 0.79).
Besides the predictors in modelling career strategies, control variables were used in the
regression analysis to account for the influence of personal and organizational
characteristics. Main demographic characteristics, such as gender (0 ¼ female, 1 ¼ male)
and age were used as control variables. Considering organizational-industry controls, it
was hypothesized that in contrast to private employees, civil servants and managers in
stagnant career paths, with seniority as the main criterion for career advancement, will not
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

have strong motives toward career self-management behaviour (Kufidu, Petridou, and
Mihail 1997). Further, one needs to control for the effects of working for a small company
with strong atypical employment relations. These can be found within the stagnant
manufacturing industry and have a diverse effect on an individual’s career behaviour
(Mihail 2003, 2004, 2008). Thus, organizational-industry controls were company size
(1 ¼ 200 þ employees, 0 ¼ less than 200), economic sector (1 ¼ private, 0 ¼ public) and
the manufacturing industry (1 ¼ manufacturing, 0 ¼ services).

Findings
A factor analysis was conducted to determine the dimensionality of respondents’ career-
enhancing behaviour. Table 1 presents the factors obtained, the variables and the mean
score of each factor, and the factor loadings. Factor analysis was used with varimax
rotation on the 11 career statements. Tests for appropriateness, including the Bartlett Test
of Sphericity and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy were
then performed. These tests indicated that the factor analysis was an appropriate
technique for career variables (KMO ¼ 0.77).
Four factors were extracted, accounting for 68% of the variance in working people’s
career-centred statements. All factors were internally consistent and well defined by the
variables with Cronbach alpha scores ranging from 0.65 to 0.76, with a 0.6 cut-off
(Eisenhardt 1988, 510).
Scores represent significant factor loadings (i.e. above 0.5) of individual scale items on
each of the four factors (Finkelstein 1992, 519–20). Thus, the statement ‘I have a well
developed plan for the next few years of my work future’ concerning career planning was
dropped by using item loadings higher than 0.50. Apart from factor loadings for each
single statement, the mean for each single factor (as the average score of the means of its
constituent items) is illustrated in Table 1.
The first factor of the career strategy items is labelled ‘enhancing employability’
(Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.76) and respondents’ mean score 3.49 indicates a relatively high
preference for pursuing career actions aimed at building up high levels of job skills, work
experience and job-related knowledge.
The second factor is labelled ‘mentoring’ (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.64) and includes
statements that refer to social behaviour systematically seeking advice and assistance
from key persons at work such as supervisors and colleagues. Respondents are certainly
 530 D.M. Mihail

quite active in seeking ‘mentoring’ (mean score 2.82), even though it seems not to be their
first priority.
The third factor is labelled ‘networking’ (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.71) and consists of
concerted actions directly related to career networking. Respondents’ mean score 3.33
shows that enacting social contacts is considered vital in building up career prospects.
Hence, mentoring and, even more importantly, networking tend to accumulate social
capital, which in combination with human capital enhancement are perceived as the basis
for career-enhancing behaviour by working people.
Apart from accumulating human and social capital, participants rate the self-
management of their own careers very high (mean score 3.78). Thus, the fourth factor
labelled ‘career planning’ (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0.65), consists of career self-management
behaviour, which tends to shape career prospects. It becomes evident from the relatively
high mean score of 3.78 that respondents commit ample effort and time in designing their
own career, a trend that is consistent with the emergence of a ‘new career’ orientation
among high-skilled employees in Greece (Mihail 2008).
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations, and inter-correlations among the
variables in the study. As one can see, no high correlations between the independent
variables exist, thus multicollinearity seems not to be a problem. To assess the
relationships between predictors included in the analysis more rigorously, a more
sophisticated collinearity statistic was estimated: the Variance Inflation Factor (VIF). The
value of the statistic for each single independent variable was much lower than the critical
value of two (Miles and Shelvin 2001), indicating that the predictors of the study can be
included in multiple regression analysis.
Hierarchical regression analysis was instrumental in examining the hypothesized
relationships between alternative sets of predictors and career-enhancing behaviour. More
specifically, hierarchical regression procedure was used in order to determine the
incremental effect of the employment, career mobility variables and the proactive
personality scale on career strategies, after controlling for personal and organizational
variables. There is a separate regression equation for each of the four dependent variables:
employability, networking, mentoring, and career planning. Following the recommenda-
tions of Cohen and Cohen (1983), the control variables were entered first. In the third step
of each equation, ‘employment variables’ were entered. In the fourth step, the career
strategies were regressed on career mobility variables such as job position changes, career
promotions, and employer changes. The proactive personality scale was entered in the
final step in the hierarchical regression.
To estimate the direct effects of each single control and independent variable on the
dependent variables, the standardized regression coefficients were used in the statistical
analysis, often called b weights. These standardized coefficients allow for direct
comparison of the relative strengths of relationships between predictors and dependent
variables. Table 3 summarizes the results, providing beta values and significance levels for
the single variables. The total explained variance, R2, is illustrated for each of the four
equations at the bottom of Table 3.
The regression analysis suggests that personal characteristics do not play an important
role in career-enhancing behaviour. The only one exception is age exerting some influence
on employability. Age is positively associated with skill accumulation and employability
and its effect is in the expected direction (b ¼ 0.22; p 5 0.01).
Only two organizational variables, firm size and economic sector, had an impact on
some of the career-enhancing behaviour. The development of informal, intimate employee
relations in small and medium-sized companies (Mihail 2004), in contrast to large
 Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Table 2. Means, standard deviations and intercorrelations among study variables.

M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

1.Gender .353 .478 –

2. Age 25.41 5.148 7.012 –
3. Industry .103 .3049 7.032 .052 –
4. Sector .884 .320 .165 .028 .042 –
5. Firm size .131 .338 7.238 7.047 7.093 7.302 –
6. Full-time employment 15.93 30.49 7.142 .523 .014 7.138 .124 –
7. Temporary employment 2.89 6.023 7.006 7.081 7.055 7.090 7.020 7.144 –
8. Part-time employment 3.63 9.931 7.006 7.104 7.047 .014 7.053 7.108 .064 –
9. Work-study experience 10.23 12.928 .131 .065 7.014 .088 7.001 .147 .093 .344 –
10. Unemployment 2.72 6.032 7.102 .151 7.027 .021 .004 .028 .052 7.017 .020 –
11. Training 1.74 3.418 7.124 .276 .153 .021 7.067 .076 .021 .061 .046 .142 –
12. Education .676 .468 .009 .370 .096 7.004 7.144 .160 7.021 7.069 .021 .240 .113 –
13. Promotions .17 .482 .025 .255 .067 .080 7.068 .128 7.037 7.056 .100 7.012 .371 .128 –
14. Changes of employers .92 1.119 7.022 7.140 .188 .175 .007 7.109 .140 7.008 .007 .040 7.029 7.022 .033 –
15. Proactivity personality 4.685 .790 .140 .161 7.086 7.056 7.051 .051 7.077 .036 .095 7.067 .048 .031 .131 –.027 –
16. Employability 3.495 .801 7.056 .229 .100 7.013 7.024 .255 7.042 .045 .143 7.117 .160 .122 .209 –.006 .230 –
17. Networking 3.325 1.080 .058 7.049 7.048 7.058 7.014 .039 .023 .068 .029 7.103 7.020 7.094 .158 .010 .189 .308 –
18. Mentoring 2.816 1.048 .045 .004 7.065 .001 7.142 .072 7.066 7.001 .100 7.016 .090 .120 .090 .001 .102 .312 .398 –
19. Career planning 3.779 .963 .022 .100 .057 .190 7.027 .147 7.080 .053 .116 .053 7.008 .049 .036 .067 .148 .278 .217 .299
Human Resource Development International
531
 532 D.M. Mihail

organizations, seem to encourage employees to get involved in mentoring (b ¼ 0.15;

p 5 0.05). Private employing organizations, in contrast to public ones (Kufidu, Petridu,
and Mihail 1997), tend to condition working people’s career planning favourably
(b ¼ 0.18; p 5 0.01).
Human capital variables encompassing work experience, training, and education were
entered as a separate block of predictors in the third step. Together, the human capital
variables produced a significant increase in the amount of variance explained in
employability and mentoring strategies. This set of predictors explained an additional
9% of the variance in employability (p 5 0.01) and 6% of the variance in mentoring
(p 5 0.05). In fact, human capital was the strongest among the alternative sets of
predictors for enhancing employability and mentoring. Still, the results show that the
human capital did not have a significant effect on the other two career strategies. Studying
the beta weights, the analysis shows that full-time work experience was a significant
predictor for employability (b ¼ 0.21; p 5 0.01), career planning (b ¼ 0.17; p 5 0.05),
and marginally significant for mentoring (b ¼ 0.14; p 5 0.10). In contrast to full-time
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

work experience, working on atypical employment contracts seem not to affect any
dimension of career-enhancing behaviour. The length of unemployment, as expected, had
a negative impact on behaviour concerning skill development (b ¼ 70.17; p 5 0.01),
while the attendance of training programmes is marginally significant for employability
enhancement (b ¼ 0.13; p 5 0.10) and mentoring (b ¼ 0.13; p 5 0.10).
The fourth set of predictors labelled ‘career mobility’ variables exerted a significant
effect only on networking. In fact, it is the strongest effect on networking accounting for an
additional 4% (p 5 0.05) of the variance in building up personal contacts. More
specifically, promotions are significantly related to networking (b ¼ 0.21; p 5 0.01),
whereas changes in employers do not have any significant impact on networking or on any
other career-enhancing behaviour.
The proactive personality scale, entered at the final step in the hierarchical regressions,
was significantly related to all the career strategies except mentoring. A proactive
personality was found to produce a significant increase in the amount of variance
explained by the employability equation (DR2 ¼ 0.03; p 5 0.01; b ¼ 0.19; p 5 0.01).
Actions aimed at networking (DR2 ¼ 0.024; p 5 0.05; b ¼ 0.16; p 5 0.05), and career
planning (DR2 ¼ 0.027; p 5 0.01; b ¼ 0.17; p 5 0.01) were also found to be influenced
significantly by the proactive personality variable.

Discussion
This exploratory study, surveying 252 working individuals, attempted to measure and to
model main dimensions of their career-enhancing behaviour. Factor analysis led to four
types of career strategies: enhancing employability, engaging in career planning, and
building up social capital through active networking and mentoring. The main findings
indicated that respondents were particularly involved in career strategies that aimed at
enhancing their employability and career planning and to a lesser extent at building up
their social capital.
A series of hierarchical regression analyses was conducted to assess the relative impact
of various sets of determinants on career strategies. Of the human capital variables, only
the full-time work experience seems to have a significant impact on two dimensions of
career-enhancing behaviour: employability and career planning. By contrast, atypical
forms of work, such as part-time employment, contingent jobs and internships do not have
any impact on career self-management behaviour. This can be easily understood in the
 Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Table 3. Regressing career-enhancing behaviour on personal and organizational characteristics, human capital, career mobility and proactive
personality scale.

Employability Networking Mentoring Career planning

St. Beta Sig. St. Beta Sig. St. Beta Sig. St. Beta Sig.
2
I. Personal variables DR .052 .002 .005 .514 .003 .714 .011 .263
Gender (0 ¼ female, 1 ¼ male) 7.052 .405 .055 .390 .051 .423 .019 .765
Age .220 .000 7.048 .454 .012 .851 .103 .107
II. Organizational variables DR2 .009 .508 .007 .617 .025 .110 .034 .039
Industry (1 ¼ manufacturing, 0 ¼ services) .091 .149 7.043 .502 7.080 .215 .045 .479
Sector (1 ¼ private, 0 ¼ public) 7.008 .905 7.077 .253 7.034 .606 .184 .006
Firm size (1 ¼ 200 þ employees, 0 ¼ 2–199 employees) 7.023 .731 7.030 .663 7.153 .026 .027 .694
III. Human capital variables DR2 .088 .002 .027 .486 .058 .043 .038 .222
Full-time work experience .214 .005 .117 .145 .140 .076 .170 .031
Temporary work experience 7.040 .515 .017 .793 7.069 .286 7.041 .522
Part-time work experience .046 .488 .069 .329 7.045 .509 .062 .367
Education work experience .074 .277 7.021 .773 .100 .158 .050 .481
Unemployment experience 7.174 .006 7.088 .186 7.032 .620 .046 .477
Training .127 .055 .017 .807 .134 .051 7.043 .527
Education (0 ¼ basic, 1 ¼ higher) .051 .441 7.076 .278 .127 .065 .023 .737
IV. Career mobility variables DR2 .010 .261 .037 .011 .003 .712 .002 .826
Promotions .108 .112 .211 .003 .032 .652 7.018 .797
Employer changes .019 .769 .026 .695 .044 .510 .039 .565
V. Proactive personality scale DR2 .033 .002 .024 .014 .007 .185 .027 .009
PPS .193 .002 .164 .014 .089 .185 .173 .009
Adjusted R2 .139 .042 .036 .052
N ¼ 252
Human Resource Development International
533
 534 D.M. Mihail

Greek labour market context, where atypical forms of employment are firmly linked to
low-paid jobs with practically limited career prospects (Giannikis and Mihail 2007). As
was expected, unemployment was found to have a significant negative effect on
employability, since it reduces opportunities for skill utilization and development (Warr
1987). Even though marginally significant, training tends to enhance both skill
development and consultation with senior personnel in organizations. Therefore,
Hypothesis 1 was supported partially by the empirical analysis.
Upward mobility within an organization and ‘outward’ mobility through employer
changes are found not to be important in explaining variation in career self-management
behaviour. The only exception is the significant effect of promotions on developing social
networks with peers and senior personnel. Quite expectedly, ascending the corporate
ladder allows working people to expand networking and thus enhance career prospects.
Therefore, the study’s results indicate limited support for Hypothesis 2.
Along with widely used predictors, such as stable employment, training and prior
career achievement, proactivity seems to be instrumental in analysing career-shaping
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

behaviour. Specifically, the proactive personality scale is related positively to employ-

ability, networking and career planning, but not to mentoring. These findings provide
substantial support for hypothesis 3 that states that proactive personality is a significant
predictor of career-enhancing behaviour, and therefore it seems very useful in career
modelling (Crant 1995, 1996; Seibert, Crant, and Kraimer 1999).
In the current study, the demographic and organizational variable sets add anaemic
explanatory power in predicting career-enhancing behaviour. Still, controlling for
organizational variables, such as economic sector and firm size, seem to be imperative in
modelling career strategies in the Greek labour market context. Even though firm size is an
insignificant variable for the most of the career strategies, it is related negatively to
mentoring. Apparently, working people seek consultation and support for building their
careers from proprietors of small firms but not from senior managers in large
organizations. This is an expected result for the Greek case, since patron-client
relationships among small proprietors and their employees are typical and pivotal in
managing human resources in small and medium-sized companies (Mihail 2004). Within
the same context, the finding that being employed in the Greek private sector enhances
career planning is not surprising at all. By contrast, career planning as a career self-
management strategy seems to be obsolete in the public sector where career advancement is
strictly determined by employee’s seniority (Kufidu, Petridu, and Mihail 1997).
Overall, the complete regression model accounted for significant variance only in two
career strategies: employability enhancement (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.14; p 5 0.01) and career
planning (adjusted R2 ¼ 0.05; p 5 0.05). For enhancing employability, age, full-time
work experience, the length of training and proactive personality, as was hypothesized,
had a significant positive effect. Quite expectedly, the length of unemployment exerted a
negative effect on skill development and employability. For initiatives leading to career
planning, as was expected for the Greek case, being someone employed in a private instead
of a public company had a significant positive effect. Among the predictors, only full-time
work experience along with possessing a proactive personality seems to condition career
planning favourably.
By contrast, the model did not explain significant variance in the two measures of
social capital, namely networking and mentoring. The analysis indicated that only
promotions within the employing organizations and proactive personality are positively
associated with networking. As concerns mentoring behaviour, respondents who work for
relatively small-sized companies with close employee–employer relationships were found
to seek career-related advice and guidance systematically. Besides this control variable,
 Human Resource Development International 535

full-time work experience, training schemes and higher education were singled out as
marginally significant predictors for mentoring strategy.

Conclusion
Implications of the study
To my knowledge, this empirical study is the first attempt to measure and to model the
main dimensions of career-enhancing behaviour in corporate Greece. Factor analysis led
to four types of career strategies: enhancing employability, engaging in career planning,
and building up social capital through active networking and mentoring. The main
findings indicated that respondents were particularly involved in career strategies that
aimed at enhancing their employability and career planning and to a lesser extent at
building up their social capital.
Hierarchical regression analysis allowed us to assess the relative impact of various sets of
predictors on career strategies. Thus, in modelling career-enhancing behaviour, after
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

controlling for personal and organizational effects, proactivity emerged as the main predictor
having a positive impact on almost every dimension of career-related behaviour. Thus,
despite its relatively recent introduction into the organizational literature, the present study
indicated that proactive personality could have considerable utility in analysing human
resource development issues. Among human capital variables, full-time employment and
training, to a lesser extent, emerged as significant determinants of career-building behaviour.
By contrast, contingent work did not have any impact on self-management career behaviour.
In addition, the block of predictors concerning career mobility did not have any significant
impact on the dependent variables, with the exception of organizational promotions that
seem to facilitate active networking. Overall, the study contributes to human resource
development literature by demonstrating the influence of proactivity, along with traditional
human capital variables, in modelling career self-management behaviour.

Limitations of the study

The findings of this study are not without limitations. In this exploratory investigation, the
size and the geographical coverage of the sample on which the results were based are
relatively small, so conclusions must be drawn with caution. Further extensive research
surveying more working people across the whole country would lead to findings that are
more reliable. Furthermore, the findings of this paper may not be applied easily to other,
more specific samples of working youth, such as working graduates, young professionals
and managers. Examining and comparing attitudes among employers, senior managers
and working people would certainly allow for a more articulated discussion of the main
sources of influence on career-enhancing behaviour in corporate Greece.
Future research along the lines suggested above can enhance our understanding of
young employees’ career development in Greece. Such knowledge is vital, because it is
economically imperative for the country to allow an ever-increasing number of well-
educated people to pursue career advancement in the business world.

References
Adamson, S.J., N. Doherty, and C. Viney. 1998. The meanings of career revisited: Implications for
theory and practice. British Journal of Management 9, no. 4: 251–9.
Appelbaum, S., and V. Santiago. 1997. Career development in the plateaued organization. Career
Development International 2, no. 1: 11–20.
 536 D.M. Mihail

Arthur, M.B. 1994. The boundaryless career: A new perspective for organizational inquiry. Journal
of Organizational Behavior 15, no. 4: 295–306.
———., and D.M. Rousseau. 1996. The boundaryless career. New York: Oxford University Press.
———., S.N. Khapova, and C.P.M. Wilderom. 2005. Career success in a boundaryless career world.
Journal of Organizational Behavior 26, no. 2: 177–202.
Bachman, J., P. O’Maley, and J. Johnston. 1978. Adolescence to adult change and stability in the lives
of young men. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Baruch, Y. 2004. Transforming careers: From linear to multidirectional career paths. Career
Development International 19, no. 1: 58–73.
Bateman, T.S., and M.J. Crant. 1993. The proactive component of organizational behavior: A
measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior 14, no. 2: 103–18.
———. 1999. Proactive behavior: Meaning, impact, recommendations. Business Horizons 42, no. 3:
63–70.
Becker, G.S. 1993. Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis with special reference to
education. 3rd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Brown, D.J., K. Kane, J. Shalhoop, R.T. Cober, and P.E. Levy. 2006. Proactive personality and the
successful job search: A field investigation with college graduates. Journal of Applied Psychology
91, no. 3: 717–26.
Capelli, P. 1997. Change at work. New York: Oxford University Press.
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

———. 1999. The new deal at work. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Claes, R., and S.A. Ruiz-Quintanilla. 1998. Influences of early career experiences, occupation group,
and national culture on proactive career behaviour. Journal of Vocational Behavior 52, no. 3:
357–78.
Cohen, J., and P. Cohen. 1983. Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral
sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Cohen, L., and M. Mallon. 1999. The transition from organisational employment to portfolio
working: Perceptions of boundarylessness. Work, Employment & Society 13, no. 2: 329–52.
Crant, M.J. 1995. The proactive personality scale and objective job performance among real estate
agents. Journal of Applied Psychology 80, no. 4: 532–7.
———. 1996. The proactive personality scale as a predictor of entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of
Small Business Management 340, no. 3: 42–9.
———. 2000. Proactive behavior in organizations. Journal of Management 26, no. 3: 435–62.
DeFillippi, R.J., and M.B. Arthur. 1994. The boundaryless career: A competency-based perspective.
Journal of Organizational Behavior 15, no. 4: 307–24.
Eby, L., M. Butts, and A. Lockwood. 2003. Predictors of success in the era of the boundaryless
career. Journal of Organizational Behavior 24, no. 6: 689–708.
Eisenhardt, K. 1988. Agency- and institutional-theory explanations: The case of retail sales
compensation. Academy of Management Journal 31, no. 3: 488–511.
Finkelstein, S. 1992. Power in top management teams: Dimensions, measures, and validation.
Academy of Management Journal 35, no. 3: 505–38.
Garavan, T.N., F. O’Brien, and D. O’Hanlon. 2006. Career advancement of hotel managers since
graduation: A comparative study. Personnel Review 35, no. 3: 252–80.
Giannikis, S., and D. Mihail. 2007. Unmet expectations at work for the female part-time workforce:
The case of the Greek retail sector. Paper presented at the annual conference of the British
Sociology Association: Work, Employment and Society Conference 2007, Aberdeen, UK.
Gual, J., and J.E. Ricart. 2001. Strategy, organization and the changing nature of work.
Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
Hall, D.T. 1996. Protean careers of the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive 10, no. 4: 8–16.
———. 2004. The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior 65, no.
1: 1–13.
———., and J.E. Moss. 1998. The new protean career contract: Helping organizations and
employees adapt. Organizational Dynamics 26, no. 3: 22–37.
———., and P.H. Mirvis. 1995. The new career contract: Developing the whole person at midlife and
beyond. Journal of Vocational Behavior 47, no. 3: 269–89.
Handy, C.B. 1994. The empty raincoat: Making sense of the future. London: Hutchinson.
Judge, T.A., D.M. Cable, J.W. Boudreau, and R.D. Bretz Jr. 1995. An empirical investigation of the
predictors of executive career success. Personnel Psychology 48, no. 3: 485–519.
Kanter, R.M. 1989. The new managerial work. Harvard Business Review 86, no. 6: 85–92.
King, Z. 2003. New or traditional careers? A study of UK graduates’ preferences. Human Resource
Management Journal 13, no. 1: 5–24.
 Human Resource Development International 537

Kossek, E.E., K. Roberts, S. Fisher, and B. Demarr. 1998. Career self-management: A quasi-
experimental assessment of the effects of a training intervention. Personnel Psychology 51, no. 4:
935–60.
Kufidu, S., E. Petridu, and D. Mihail. 1997. The nature of middle managers’ work in the civil service:
The case of Greece. In Middle managers in Europe, ed. Y.-F. Livian and J.G. Burgoyne. London:
Routledge.
Lambert, T.A., L.T. Eby, and M.P. Reeves. 2006. Predictors of networking intensity and network
quality among white-collar job seekers. Journal of Career Development 32, no. 4: 351–65.
Lin, N., and M. Dumin. 1986. Access to occupations through social ties. Social Networks 8, no. 4:
365–85.
Mihail, D. 2003. Atypical working in corporate Greece. Employee Relations 25, no. 5: 470–89.
———. 2004. Labour flexibility in Greek SMEs. Personnel Review 33, no. 5: 549–60.
———. 2008. Graduates’ career orientations and strategies in corporate Greece. Personnel Review
37, no. 4: 393–411.
Miles, J., and M. Shelvin. 2001. Applying regression and correlation. London: Sage Publications.
Nafukho, F.M., N.R. Hairston, and K. Brooks. 2004. Human capital theory: Implications for
human resource development. Human Resource Development International 7, no. 4: 545–51.
Parker, S.K., N. Turner, and H.M. Williams. 2006. Modeling the antecedents of proactive behavior
at work. Journal of Applied Psychology 91, no. 3: 636–52.
Downloaded By: [HEAL-Link Consortium] At: 09:07 17 June 2009

Peiperl, M.A., and Y. Baruch. 1997. Back to square zero: The post-corporate career. Organizational
Dynamics 25, no. 4: 7–22.
Penley, L., and S. Gould. 1981. Measuring career strategies: The psychometric characteristics of the
career strategies inventory. San Antonio, TX: Center for Business, Economics and Human
Resources, University of Texas.
Schein, E.H. 1996. Career anchors revisited: Implications for career development in the 21st century.
Academy of Management Executive 10, no. 4: 80–8.
Seibert, S.E., M.J. Crant, and M.L. Kraimer. 1999. Proactive personality and career success. Journal
of Applied Psychology 84, no. 3: 416–27.
———., M.L. Kraimer, and M.J. Crant. 2001. What do proactive people do? A longitudinal model
linking proactive personality and career success. Personnel Psychology 54, no. 4: 845–74.
Warr, P.B. 1987. Work, unemployment, and mental health. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zula, K., and T.J. Chermack. 2007. Human capital planning: A review of literature and implications
for human resource development. Human Resource Development Review 6, no. 3: 245–62.

Appendix

Table 1A. The proactive personality scale.*

1. I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to improve my life

2. I feel driven to make a difference in my community, and maybe the world
3. I tend to let others take the initiative to start new projects
4. Wherever I have been, I have been a powerful force for constructive change
5. I enjoy facing and overcoming obstacles to my ideas
6. Nothing is more exciting than seeing my ideas turn into reality
7. If I see something I don’t like, I fix it
8. No matter what the odds, if I believe in something I will make it happen
9. I love being a champion for my ideas, even against others’ opposition
10. I excel at identifying opportunities
11. I am always looking for better ways to do things
12. If I believe in an idea, no obstacle will prevent me from making it happen
13. I love to challenge the status quo
14. When I have a problem, I tackle it head-on
15. I am great at turning problems into opportunities
16. I can spot a good opportunity long before others can
17. If I see someone in trouble, I help out in any way I can

*Bateman and Crant (1993).

View publication stats