Perceived Employability as a Manifest Resource Caravan: A Meta-Analysis of its Antecedents and Consequences

Abstract:

Perceived employability refers to an individual’s perception of the possibilities of obtaining, maintaining, and changing employment. By integrating the notion of the resource caravan with the model of sustainable careers, we present a comprehensive meta-analysis of both the antecedents and consequences of perceived employability (k =129 independent samples, N = 69.301 employees). In line with our employability framework, results indicate positive relationships between perceived employability and personal resources such are protean career orientation, career adaptability. proactive personality, psychological. human, and social capital, as well as organizational resources including human resource management practices, supervisory support and job autonomy. On the contrary, perceived employability was found negatively related to organizational barrier of job insecurity. In addition, perceived employability was also found relate to various outcomes that are indicative of sustainable careers, such as productivity, happiness, and health. Contrary to our expectations, we did not find significant relationships across studies between perceived employability and mobility outcomes, such as employment status, job search and turnover intentions.

In addition to providing a quantitative summary of how other variables relate to perceived employability, we explored whether some of the heterogeneous and inconsistent findings can be accounted for by several methodological and contextual moderators.

Overall, the findings of this meta-analysis underscore the relevance of perceived employability to developing sustainable careers, and provide insights for further theory building, empirical research and practice.