1105: How Career Shocks Make “Sense”: A Chain Mediation Model (17217)

In the dynamic professional context, employees seek fulfillment beyond material rewards, emphasizing spiritual satisfaction and self-realization. The importance of meaningfulness has become prominent. According to sensemaking theory, we explored that career shocks are associated with subjective career success through career crafting and meaningfulness. In Study 1, we employ a three-wave survey and established a chain mediation model. The results show that positive career shocks do not directly relate to meaningfulness, while negative career shocks have an adverse impact. Career crafting mediates the relationship between career shocks and meaningfulness. It is verified that positive and negative career shocks are related to subjective career success through the sensemaking process, albeit in opposite directions. To complement and explain the findings, we selected 8 participants from the survey for in-depth interviews in Study 2. Through coding of interview data, the qualitative results provide a possible explanation. It reveals that individual attributions, mismatch with career plan, and focus on the self may constitute explanatory pathways through which positive career shocks cannot directly affect meaningfulness, but rather through career crafting. Conversely, negative career shocks are influenced by personal traits and organizational factors. Indeed, there exists variation in the construction of meaningfulness arising from negative career shocks, influenced by temporal distance. Our findings provide theoretical and practical insights into enhancing meaningfulness amidst career shocks.

view paper (if available)