Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability

Ans de Vos*, Sara de Hauw, Beatrice I.J.M. van der Heijden

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    351 Citations (Scopus)
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    Abstract

    The present study aims to unravel the relationship between competency development, employability and career success. To do so, we tested a model wherein associations between employee participation in competency development initiatives, perceived support for competency development, self-perceived employability, and two indicators of subjective career success (i.e. career satisfaction and perceived marketability) have been specified. A survey was conducted among a sample of 561 employees of a large financial services organization. The results support the idea that employee participation in competency development initiatives as well as perceived support for competency development is positively associated with workers' perceptions of employability. Moreover, self-perceived employability appeared to be positively related with career satisfaction and perceived marketability. A full mediation effect was found for the relationship between participation in competency development initiatives and both career satisfaction and perceived marketability, while a partial mediation effect was found in case perceived support for competency development was the predictor variable. The implications of our findings for understanding the process through which individuals and organizations can affect subjective career success are discussed.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)438-447
    Number of pages10
    JournalJournal of vocational behavior
    Volume79
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2011

    Keywords

    • Career satisfaction
    • Employee participation in competency development initiatives
    • Perceived marketability
    • Perceived support for competency development
    • Self-perceived employability
    • n/a OA procedure

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