Perceived employability in relation to psychological functioning: Causality and explaining mechanisms in different contexts

During this lunch seminar I will present my PhD “Perceived Employability in Relation to Well-being: Causality and Explaining Mechanisms in Different Contexts”. This PhD includes 4 studies which are mainly grounded in the Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989). During the lunch seminar I would like to receive feedback concerning the theoretical reasoning. Perceived employability has become an important research topic, with challenges on two levels. Conceptually, there are many different views on employability and perceived employability in particular. Empirically, several studies have been done on perceived employability, its antecedents and its outcomes. In light of several demographic and economical trends over the last decades, the need to support individuals in preserving their ability to be employed until retirement became more prevalent. This ability is, among other factors, associated with physical and mental health (i.e., well-being). However, studies on the relationship between perceived employability and well-being produced mixed results. Also, most research on this relationship has been cross-sectional which rules out the possibility to establish causality. My PhD will address these issues by doing the following 4 studies. The first study is a conceptual paper: I elaborate on how perceived employability is situated within the broader psychological literature on employability and how the different views on employability connect in a process model. Building on this process model, studies 2, 3, and 4 are empirical studies which are grounded in the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory (Hobfoll, 1989). In study 2 I study the causal pathways between perceived employability and well-being in two different contexts: a two-wave sample of unemployed job seekers in outplacement and a two-wave sample of employed workers. The results were different depending on the sample: among the employed perceived employability positively affected well-being while among the unemployed job-seekers well-being positively impacted perceived employability. Studies 3 and 4 build further on these results. The third study explores the gain spiral idea advanced by the COR Theory among the sample of employed by stating that the job resource of skill utilization acts as a mediator in the positive effect of perceived employability on well-being. Finally, the fourth study explores the loss spiral idea advanced by the COR Theory among the sample of unemployed job seekers by advancing the loss of networks and lowering of demands concerning a new job at a later point in time (i.e., third wave).status: publishe