An Exploratory Study on Korean Workers'' Cognition of Career Success : Basic Research for International Comparison

본 연구는 한국형 경력성공에 대한 개념 정의를 통해 한국 직장인들의 경력성공에 대한 인식 차이를 성별, 세대별, 직종별로 규명하는 것을 일차적 목적으로 한다. 이를 위해 한국 직장인들을 대상으로 경력성공에 대한 인식 및 관련요인을 조사하고, 이를 통하여 한국 직장인들의 ‘경력성공’ 인식에 차이를 가져오는 선행요인(antecedent)은 무엇이며, ‘경력성공’의 세부 차원들이 어떤 결과요인(outcome)들과 연관되는지를 규명하고자 한다. 또 향후 5C project의 국제연구 결과가 발표되면 한국인을 대상으로 한 본 연구의 분석 결과와 총체적 비교가 이루어질 수 있을 것으로 기대한다. 이 연구 결과는 취업 대상자들의 직업선택 및 직장인들의 경력상담에 의미 있는 시사점을 제시하고, 아울러 정부의 인적자원개발 및 경력개발 프로그램을 위해 필요한 정책들을 수립하는 데 필요한 기초자료로 활용될 수 있을 것이다. 구체적인 연구문제는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 한국 직장인들은 경력성공을 어떻게 정의하는가? 둘째, 성별, 세대별, 직종별로 경력성공 인식에 차이가 있는가? 있다면 어떠한 차이가 있는가? 셋째, 경력성공 인식에 영향을 주는 요소들은 무엇인가? 넷째, 경력성공 인식이 ‘개인의 행복’과 ‘조직유효성’에 어떠한 영향을 주는가?I. Introduction 1. Objective and Necessities of Study In 2013, the Park, Geun-hye Administration aimed to expand job opportunities for young people by supporting their entrance to foreign countries and vitalizing job creation, in order to build up the base of job expansion for young people. Not only the central government but also local governments are promoting office workers’ self-directed career development by creating new jobs and supporting entrance to foreign countries. Moreover, the recent changes in corporate environment such as internationalization, intense corporate competition, aging, youth unemployment and early retirement have changed not only organizational structure, but also viewpoint on office workers’ career management, which is the reason why office workers have paid attention to self-directed activities for career development(Yun, Ha-Na, Tak, Jin-Guk, 2006; Walton & Mallon, 2004). The protean career referring to individuals’ self-directed career management behaviors indicates that individuals’ cognition of career is an important factor that composes career success, together with objective elements such as wage and promotion. Contrary to traditional society in which objective elements such as high wage and promotion explain career success, in modern society, subjective career success cognized by individuals is considered as an important factor that explains office workers’ career success(Heslin, 2005; Lee, Hyoung-Ryong, Park, Seul-Gi, 2009). Recently, Prof. Jon Brisco, Douglas Hall, and Wolfgang Mayrhofer are performing 5C project as an international-level development regarding career success, to establish the differences depending on each state and cultural area. In the results of the primary research through 5C project, the concept of career success can be set up variously depending on historical/cultural process, socioeconomic background, degree of individuals’ socialization and life stages (Briscoe et al., 2012). Thus, there is a problem rising that the conceptual framework measuring career success cannot be equally applied to diverse cultural areas. The primary objective of this study is to establish the differences in Korean office workers’ cognition in each sex, generation, and job type through defining the Korean concept of career success. By researching Korean office workers’ cognition of career success and the relevant factors, we aim to determine what causes the differences in Korean office workers’ cognition of ‘career success’, and also what result variables are related to sub-factors of ‘career success’. The results of this study will be suggesting significant implications for job seekers’ job selection and office workers’ career counseling. Futhermore, it can be used as basic data necessary for establishing policies related to government human resource development and career development programs. Detailed research questions can be summarized like following. First, how do Korean office workers define career success? Second, are there any differences in cognition of career success depending on sex, generation and job type? Third, what elements have influence on cognition of career success? Fourth, what is the influence of cognition of career success on ‘personal happiness’ and ‘organizational effectiveness’? II. Literature Review 1. Concept of Career Success ‘Career’ means accumulated ‘individual job path(Enache, Sallan, Simo, & Fernandez, 2011)’, ‘rise from a career ladder(Arthur, Khapova, & Wilderom, 2005)’, and ‘understanding of his/her own vocational development’(Abele, Spurk, & Volmer, 2011). Also ‘success’ means descriptive explanations of goal-oriented progress and also positive evaluation of results and development(Abele et al., 2011). In this study, therefore, ‘career success’ means work-relevant products and positive mentality accumulated from individual work experience (Seibert & Kraimer, 2001). Generally, the concept of career success is divided into objective career success and subjective career success(Arnold and Cohen, 2008; Arthur, Khapova and Wilderom, 2005). The objective career success means outcomes such as rise in income and promotion, easy to be measured from outside(Ituma, Simpson, Ovadje, Cornelius and Mordi, 2011) while the subjective career success includes personal experiences such as job satisfaction, satisfaction with life and belief in job(Arnold & Cohen, 2008; Choi & Mun, 2012). 2. Conceptual Framework In this study, the analysis framework of the concept of career success is based on four levels of career success suggested by Mayrhofer, Briscoe and Hall(2012) through the research on people’s cognition of career in each state and cultural area. The first level means achievement and satisfaction in work, and learning and self-realization through organizational life. The second level means economic reward. The third level includes employment stability, and job characteristics and results, and the fourth is related to work environment and interactions. 3. Antecedents of Career Success Cognition Since the cognition of career success is influenced by complex factors, various preceding factors have been considered by many scholars. In order to establish the Korean concept of career success, the research by Rasdi et al(2011) showing relatively comprehensive approach to preceding factors of career success divided preceding factors having influence on cognition of career success into ‘sociodemographic factor’, ‘human resource factor’, ‘personal factor’, ‘structural factor’, and ‘behavioral factor’. This study recomposed the preceding factors reviewed by Rasdi et al(2011) into ‘sociodemographic factor’, ‘human resource factor’, ‘structural factor’, and ‘behavioral factor’. The sociodemographic factor includes sex, age, health condition and family environment(Dries et al., 2009; Ng et al., 2005; Rasdi et al., 2011), and generally, there were differences in cognition of career success, career path, and results of career success in accordance with sex(Kim & Jung, 2013; Blickle, Witzki & Schneider, 2009). Things like degree, employment type and job experience are the human resource factor having influence on career success(Kim, Bo-Kyoung, Jung, Cheol-Young, 2013; Chen, 2011; Rasdi, 2011). The personality characteristics have been studied as a factor that has significant influence on career satisfaction and career success(Jung, Mun-Young, Lee, Gyu-Man, 2011; Ng et al., 2005), and especially, sincerity and extroversion among personality type showed relatively big influence on career success(Lounsbury et al., 2004; Seibert & Kraimer, 2001). The preceding factor in structural level includes the size and form of organization, and organizational and bosses’ support of organization members’ career development(Abele, Spurk & Volmer, 2011). Lastly, the career plan for career development, as a behavioral factor, was analyzed to have positive influence on both individuals'' career success and major outcomes in organization(Crant, 2000; Hwang, Ae-Young, Tak, Jin-Guk, 2011). 4. Outcomes of Career Success Cognition The result factors led by cognition of career success include satisfaction with life, work engagement, employment possibility, organizational engagement and turnover intention. The satisfaction with life was influenced by every experience through changes in career, important state and relevant mental conditions(Lounsbury et al., 2004) while the career-oriented behavior and personality which were the preceding factors of career success had positive influence on vitality and engagement at work(Christian, Garza, & Slaughter, 2011). Therefore, it is expected that career success and relevant elements would have significant influence on satisfaction with life and work engagement as much as objective life conditions. The cognition of career success increased the level of organizational engagement while it had negative(-) relationship with turnover intention(Nam, Kim, & Yang, 2008; Choi, & Mun, 2012). III. Method 1. Subject This study selected 1,000 office worker samples out of the whole Korean office workers. Through sampling based on ‘Population and Housing Census(Statistics Korea, 2010)’ and ‘Survey on Labor Conditions by Employment Type(Ministry of Employment and Labor, 2012)’, we aimed to have equal distributions of job type, age and region. Through proportionate quota sampling considering the international comparative guidelines, we selected total 1,000 subjects including 200 managerial workers, 200 professionals, 350 office workers/ service workers/sales workers, and 250 blue collars. The international comparative guidelines such as simple laborers, office workers with experience less than two years after completing the final education, housewives and unemployed people were excluded from the research subjects. The characteristics of respondents were shown in in Chapter 3. 2. Measurement and Procedure For the survey of this study, we conducted web-panel research for more than 3,000 office workers targeting 1,000 from September 15th 2013 to October 15th 2013. When necessary, we also carried out research through mail and visiting companies. Through the survey, the preceding factors and result factors were analysed to understand factors related to Korean office workers’ cognition of career success. The detailed research contents were comprised of employment type & characteristics of company, characteristics related to job and position, career success, career path, turnover intention, work/ organizational engagement, career development in organizational level, satisfaction with life, support by boss, respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics. The whole questionnaire used for the survey is shown in . The collected data was analyzed by using IBM SPSS(Statistical Package for Social Science) 19.0 program and SAS program. IV. Result 1. Validity Analysis of Career Success Concept By conducting factor analysis on 47 questions about the concept of career success based on the discussions in 5C project, this study extracted five factors such as ‘stable life’, ‘self-realization’, ‘wealth and fame’, ‘lifelong workplace’, and ‘private business’. In average, Korean office workers cognized ‘stable life’ and ‘wealth and fame’ as importance. In the results of comparing the importance and achievement of the level of career success, every concept level showed less achievement than importance. 2. Relationship between Cognition of Career Success and Antecedents In the results of examining the relation between sociodemographic factor and cognition of career success, first, men rather than women, older generation and people whose spouses were employed and fathers were unemployed highly cognized the importance of career success level while people in 20s had relatively high cognition of the importance of ‘stable life’ and ‘wealth and fame’. In the results of examining the relation between human resource factor and cognition of career success, second, among personality characteristics, people with extroverted personality highly cognized the importance of career success. In case of academic background, overall, college graduates rather than high school graduates, and graduate school graduates rather than university graduates more highly cognized the importance of each level of career success. The importance of career success levels cognized by workers in technical position with working period for 5-15 years was low. In the results of examining the relation between structural factor and cognition of career success, third, The importance of career success levels evaluated by members of public agencies and service/ charity groups was higher, than members of private companies. The support by boss(overall) and organizational support (partially) had positive influence on cognition of the importance of career success levels. Compared to employees of multinational enterprises, employees of domestic companies put emphasis on ‘lifelong workplace’ and ‘stable life’. Fourth, workers who were active in career planning, a behavioral factor cognized career success levels as more important. 3. Relationship between Cognition of Career Success and Outcomes First, the satisfaction with life was low when putting low emphasis on the level ‘self-realization’ and ‘lifelong workplace’ of career success, and also the importance of ‘stable life’ and ‘wealth and fame’ was cognized very low. In other words, the satisfaction with life was more related to having opportunities to show competence in stable workplace, rather than comfortable life and material success. Second, the work engagement was high when ‘self-realization’ was cognized as important, and also cognition of the importance of ‘stable life’ was low. When work was cognized as the level of ‘self-realization’ instead of a way for ‘stable life’, in other words, its engagement level was also high. When the cognition of the importance of ‘lifelong workplace’ was low, third, they saw high possibility of employment in other organizations. Fourth, the engagement in the current organization was low when ‘stable life’ and ‘private business’ were considered as important. In case of cognizing ‘self-realization’ and ''lifelong workplace’ as important, the degree of organizational engagement was high. Fifth, the turnover intention was high when putting emphasis on ‘private business’ and evaluating achievement in the level of ‘lifelong workplace’ as low, which shows the accordance between cognition of the importance of sub-levels of career success and cognition of their own future career. In general, ‘self-realization’ showed positive influence on not only satisfaction with life, but also work engagement, so that it should be essentially dealt with in the contents of career development and career counseling. When ‘private business’ was cognized as important, the level of organizational engagement was lowered and the turnover intention was increased. When the cognition of the importance and achievement of ‘lifelong workplace’ was low, the possibility of employment was highly evaluated with high turnover intention. V. Implications and Policy Measures The implications of this study are like following. First, Korean workers recognizes ‘stable life’ and ‘wealth and honor’ as the most important factors among all the dimensions of the career success, and this implies that social, economic, and cultural aspects such as the rapid economic growth in Korea and the IMF crisis affects the form of career success recognition. Second, in the concept of career success, ‘self-realization’ was analyzed to be strongly related to not only satisfaction with life, but also work engagement and organizational engagement, which means that forming a place for communication between organization and individuals, and also providing members with opportunities to show their competence would be measures to improve individuals’ self- realization and organizational effectiveness. Third, the degree of organizational engagement was high when men put emphasis on the value of ‘self-realization’, and women put emphasis on the level of ‘lifelong workplace’, which means that human resource development should be differently applied depending on sex. Fourth, the desire for self-realization and employment instability of the current workplace became factors of considering changing jobs, which suggests that it would be necessary to build up organizational environment that guarantees autonomy and creativity when organizations aim to decrease members’ turnover intention. In order to contribute to institutional improvement for the future human resource development policies, office workers’ career counseling and career development, this study drew policy measures like following. First, it is needed to provide various opportunities of career development suitable for women''s career desires. Second, it is necessary to provide more jobs to young people in 20s and also to educate them various values of career success besides ‘wealth and fame’. Third, it is required to reinforce the career development education for high school and university graduates in the level of academic background. Fourth, it is needed to strengthen the opportunities of career development for office workers with experience for 5-15 years. Fifth, organizations with intense competition should support career development. Sixth, companies should design and provide career development support programs focusing on bosses, rather than extensive organizational support. Seventh, employees should be motivated to be actively engaged in career planning, by establishing social support system and organizational culture that can support individual career plans.요약 ix 제1장 서 론_1 제1절 연구의 필요성 및 목적 3 제2절 연구의 내용 7 제3절 연구 방법 및 절차 8 제4절 용어의 정의 12 제2장 경력성공 개념 및 관련 문헌 분석_15 제1절 경력성공의 개념17 제2절 경력성공 인식과 선행요인 26 제3절 경력성공 인식과 결과요인 39 제4절 소결 44 제3장 연구방법_47 제1절 연구모형 및 변수 정의 49 제2절 모집단 및 표본 56 제3절 조사 및 분석 방법 62 제4장 경력성공 개념 타당성 분석_67 제1절 경력성공 개념 타당도 분석 70 제2절 경력성공 개념 신뢰도 분석 82 제3절 경력성공 차원의 중요도와 성취 정도에 대한 한국인의 인식86 제4절 소결 88 제5장 경력성공 인식과 선행요인 간의 관계 분석_91 제1절 사회인구학적 요인 93 제2절 인적자본 요인 104 제3절 구조적 요인 110 제4절 행동요인 114 제5절 소결 118 제6장 경력성공 인식과 결과요인 간의 관계 분석_121 제1절 삶의 만족 및 업무몰입과의 관계 123 제2절 고용가능성과의 관계 137 제3절 조직몰입 및 이직의도와의 관계 144 제4절 소결 156 제7장 결론 및 정책방안_159 제1절 결론 161 제2절 시사점 및 정책방안 164 SUMMARY_173 참고문헌_189 부 록_205 1. 영문 설문지 207 2. 국문 번역 설문지 22