Psychological career resources and subjective work experiences of working adults : an exploratory study

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between the psychological career resources (as measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and the subjective work experiences of a sample of working adults (as measured by a four item global work experiences scale). The research also aimed to explore broad trends regarding how the participants differed on these variables in terms of their socio-demographic characteristics (marital status, educational level, age, gender and race). A sample of 2 997 working adults, registered as students at a South African higher distance education institution, participated in this study. Stepwise regression analyses indicated dimensions of psychological career resources as significant predictors of the four subjective work experiences: life satisfaction, job / career satisfaction, happiness and perceptions of work as a valuable activity. The results further indicated significant differences between participants with regard to their socio-demographic characteristics and their psychological career resources and subjective work experiences. Considering that the employment equity context in South Africa contributes to a more diversified workforce, the findings add valuable new knowledge that can be used to inform organisational career development practices concerned with promoting experiences of psychological career success.