The protean career attitude, emotional intelligence and career adjustment

D.Litt. et Phil.The rampant and unpredictable changes in the world of work have recently become a particular point of concern. Organisations worldwide require career agents who are more adaptable to respond appropriately to these challenges. The study aimed to firstly assemble a viable empirical career adjustment model to address these challenges. Secondly, the study differentiated and profiled four career agent groups which utilise this model in different and dynamic ways. These career agent profiles provided an exploratory and contextual platform for the third aim, to uncover a narrative of the adaptable career in the South African context. A convenience sample (n = 427) mostly representing engineers (38%), financial professions (22%) and technicians (15%) responded to three instruments which operationalised the dimensions of the proposed career adjustment model. The dimensions included in the model were the (i) Protean and Boundaryless career attitude, (ii) Emotional Intelligence and (iii) Work-Stressor experience. These dimensions were operationalised by (i) the Protean (Self-Directed Career Management and Values Driven scale) and Boundaryless (Organisationally Mobile and Boundaryless Mindset scale) career attitude scales, (ii) the BarOn EQ-i composite scales (Intrapersonal EQ, Interpersonal EQ, Adaptability, Stress Management and General Mood) and (iii) selected scales from the Sources of Work Stress Inventory (Lack of Autonomy and Workload). These instruments were tested for reliability and validity which provided acceptable results in terms of Cronbach alphas and EFA. The Protean and Boundaryless career attitude (PBca) instrument showed less reliable results with the Values Driven scale (α = .65). The SDCM scale produced more reliable results (α = .74). The BM and OM scales rendered the most reliable results (α = .86 and α = .87 respectively). The other instruments reflect excellent alpha iii coefficients ranging from α = .80 to α = .92 for the SWSI and from α = .81 to α = .96 for the BarOn EQ-i composite scales. The EFA of the PBca was primarily guided by the theoretical structure to extract four factors. A similar process followed for the SWSI rendered excellent factor loadings for General Work Stress (GWS), LA and WL. In the empirical construction of the career adjustment model both the use of correlations and hierarchical multiple regression rendered statistically significant results for the intercorrelations between the proposed dimensions of the model. The correlation results (within and between the dimensions) were as expected except for Organisational Mobility and Self-Directed Career Management which did not correlate significantly. Together the three dimensions predicted approximately 32% to 33% of the explained variance in GWS (i.e. the dependent variable chosen to represent a subjective experience of career adjustment). Overall, the findings supported the proposition that the model could be utilised as a viable career adjustment model. The non-hierarchical clustering analysis provided four significantly different clusters based on the PBca scales which were labelled the Protean (P), the Non- Protean (NP), the Organisationally Mobile Protean (OMp) and the Boundaryless Minded Protean (BMp). The Protean clusters all shared the Self-Directed Career Management and Values-Driven scale. These clusters were distinctly different after considering their attributes which originated from the BarOn EQ-i composites and SWSI scales. The most significant factors (attributes) revealed after conducting Descriptive Discriminant Analysis (DDA) where AD, RA, SM, GM and LA. The DDA procedure rendered Lack of Autonomy (SWSI) and Adaptability (EQ-i) as the most significant discriminators. This lead to the profiling of career agent types, namely the Protean Career Architect, the Conglomerate Citizen (study specific), the Solid Citizen and the Traditionalist. With these career agent profiles as basis an attempt was made to explore how their careers can unfold in the South African context