Original Research

Validity of the career embeddedness scale as predictor of affective commitment

Nadia Ferreira, Melinde Coetzee, Ingrid Potgieter
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology | Vol 48 | a1956 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v48i0.1956 | © 2022 Nadia Ferreira, Melinde Coetzee, Ingrid Potgieter | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 27 September 2021 | Published: 11 February 2022

About the author(s)

Nadia Ferreira, Department of Human Resource Management, College of Economic and Management Sciences, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa
Melinde Coetzee, Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, College of Economic and Management Sciences, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa
Ingrid Potgieter, Department of Human Resource Management, College of Economic and Management Sciences, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa

Abstract

Orientation: In times of rapid change, organisations have a dire need for workers who remain psychologically attached and committed to their work for optimal sustainable organisational performance and survival.

Research purpose: The aim of the study was to explore the construct validity of the Career Embeddedness Scale (CES) as predictor of individuals’ affective commitment.

Motivation for the study: There is a paucity of research regarding the construct validity of the CES and whether it predicts an individual’s affective commitment.

Research approach/design and method: The study involved a cross-sectional quantitative survey on a sample of employees in the services industry. The sample consisted of African (South African = 70% and Zimbabwean = 15%) and European (15%) participants (N = 290), with a mean age of 38.58 years.

Main findings: Confirmatory factory analysis (CFA) analysis provided evidence of the construct validity of the CES in predicting affective commitment.

Practical implications: The use of the CES measure of the degree to which organisational career support conditions fulfil individuals’ psychological career needs potentially provides opportunity for engagement with the organisation and individual on career development issues in response to workplace changes that potentially affect employees’ psychological attachment to the organisation.

Contribution/value-add: The study contributed to the career development research literature by providing valuable psychometric information on the CES and its application in the person–environment (P–E) fit theory and work context.


Keywords

career embeddedness; personal career fit; career needs support; person–environment fit; affective commitment

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Crossref Citations

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