Assessing the behavioral outcome of perceived employability: a call on integrative research on career satisfaction, productive and counterproductive work behaviors

Abstract

Perceived employability (PE) is advanced as a security mechanism in today’s dynamic labor market and as a personal resource with overall beneficial outcomes. There is quite some work done in realm of occupational health research with overall conclusion that PE promotes well-being. However, existing literature in other streams on specific behavior is far more fragmented, though there are obvious links with employability in the career literature (e.g., PE should promote individuals’ career) and performance literature (e.g., employable workers are thought to be high achievers). Due to the prime importance of behavior in organizational effectiveness, in this thesis, I aimed to summarize what is known and what is still to be explored in PE mainly with respect to behavior. However, the thesis is divided into three studies. The first study directed to synthesize three literature streams (occupational health, career and performance) with respect to PE and work behaviors. A total of twenty three peer-reviewed articles out of 328 studies retrieved from the three main databases (Web of sciences, Scopus, and Business source complete) after filtering four staged selection criteria. In the light of different behavioral theories (e.g. social exchange theory, human capital theory, and conservation of resource theory), I tried to conceptualize and better understand the employees’ behavior and mechanics involved in the workers with PE (re)act. The second study was conducted in the vein of intense competitive job market that building pressure for stakeholders (academicians, employers and policymakers) to better understand the factors influence graduates’ smooth entry and the successful transition in the labor market. With the aim to contribute to the debate on the antecedents and consequences of graduates’ employability, I collected three years’ time-lagged data of a sample of Italian graduates with 360 degree feedback. In the light of findings, I conclude with guidelines to build and equip graduates with the essential competencies that are valued and required in the labor market. The third study tested the theoretical linkages of PE and investigates the behavioral implications of PE and responds to the recent assumptions in the relevant research that PE may have negative behavioral implications. I mainly addressed three main questions i) Does PE have positive effects on productive behavior such as in-role and extra-role? ii) Does PE entail a dark side such as destructive behavior? iii) Does PE have the same function in developing economies as it does in developed economies? Data was collected from 230 white-collar employees (62 managers and 168 non-managers) from four multinational companies operating in Pakistan and analyzed through PLS-SEM. Results confirm that PE is positively associated with organizational citizenship behavior-individual (OCBI), whereas, a positive relationship exist between PE and counterproductive work behavior-individual (CWBI) and counterproductive work behavior organization (CWBO). Overall all three studies may be a droplet in organizational behavior literature with some interesting findings of PE and open a new research avenue by challenging the existing positive approach to PE..