Validation of the German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress

TitleValidation of the German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale and its relation to orientations to happiness and work stress
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsJohnston, C, Luciano, EC, Maggiori, C, Ruch, W, Rossier, J
JournalJournal of Vocational Behavior
Volume83
Issue3
Pagination295-304
Date Published12/2013
ISSN00018791
Keywordscareer adapt-ability, mediator, orientations to happiness, work stress
Abstract

Career adapt-ability has recently gained momentum as a psychosocial construct that not only has much to offer the field of career development, but also contributes to positive coping, adjustment and self-regulation through the four dimensions of concern, control, curiosity and confidence. The positive psychology movement, with concepts such as the orientations to happiness, explores the factors that contribute to human flourishing and optimum functioning. This research has two main contributions; 1) to validate a German version of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS), and 2) to extend the contribution of adapt-abilities to the field of work stress and explore its mediating capacity in the relation between orientations to happiness and work stress. We used a representative sample of the German-speaking Swiss working population including 1204 participants (49.8% women), aged between 26 and 56 (Mage = 42.04). Results indicated that the German version of the CAAS is valid, with overall high levels of model fit suggesting that the conceptual structure of career adapt-ability replicates well in this cultural context. Adapt-abilities showed a negative relationship to work stress, and a positive one with orientations to happiness. The engagement and pleasure scales of orientations to happiness also correlated negatively with work stress. Moreover, career adapt-ability mediates the relationship between orientations to happiness and work stress. In depth analysis of the mediating effect revealed that control is the only significant mediator. Thus control may be acting as a mechanism through which individuals attain their desired life at work subsequently contributing to reduced stress levels.

DOI10.1016/j.jvb.2013.06.002
Short TitleJournal of Vocational Behavior

The effect of receiving supplementary UI benefits on unemployment duration

TitleThe effect of receiving supplementary UI benefits on unemployment duration
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsKyyrä, T, Parrotta, P, Rosholm, M
JournalLabour Economics
Volume21
Pagination122–133
Date Published04/2013
Keywordsduration analysis, lock-in effect, part-time work, treatment effect, unemployment benefits
Abstract

We consider the consequences of working part-time and receiving supplementary benefits for part-time unemployment in the Danish labor market. Following the timing-of-events approach we estimate causal effects of part-time work with supplementary benefits on the hazard rate out of unemployment insurance benefit receipt. We find evidence of a negative in-treatment effect and a positive post-treatment effect, both of which vary across different groups of individuals. The resulting net effect on the expected unemployment duration is positive for some groups (e.g. married women) and negative for others (e.g. young workers).

DOI10.1016/j.labeco.2013.02.002

Personality assessment and career interventions

TitlePersonality assessment and career interventions
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsRossier, J
JournalLIVES Working Papers
Volume2013
Issue26
Pagination1-40
PublisherNCCR LIVES
Place PublishedLausanne
Type of ArticleResearch paper
ISSN2296-1658
Keywordscareer adapt-abilities, career interventions, five-factor model, personality, personality assessment, regulation processes, vocational guidance
Abstract

Career interventions for adults frequently include personality assessment. Personality in career counseling contexts should no longer be considered as vocational personality associated with personality interests but, rather, as a set of dispositions that has an impact on several vocational and career-related outcomes, such as work engagement, work satisfaction, job performance, etc. Although the relationship between personality and the vocational and career related outcomes is not direct, it might certainly be mediated by several regulatory processes, such as work adaptability, and moderated by contextual and environmental factors. Personality assessment initiates an individual’s self-regulatory process and contributes to the overall effectiveness of career interventions when feedback is individualized and stimulates a deconstruction, reconstruction, and co-construction of the vocational or multiple self-concept. Personality assessments can also promote the reconstruction of a self-concept more aligned with the perception of the environment about the personality of the counselee, strengthening the reality principle allowing more rational and controlled choices. In addition, some specific personality profiles, such as having high levels of neuroticism and low levels of conscientiousness, can be considered as risk factors frequently leading to career decision-making difficulties. Moreover, people with low conscientiousness benefit less from career interventions, so special attention should be devoted to counselees having that characteristic. Two case studies are provided to illustrate these important aspects of personality assessment in career interventions.

DOI10.12682/lives.2296-1658.2013.26

La visibilité du genre dans des revues de sociologie du travail

TitleLa visibilité du genre dans des revues de sociologie du travail
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsLe Feuvre, N, Bataille, P, Morend, L
JournalCahiers du Genre
Volume54
Issue1
Pagination121-150
Date Published2013
ISSN1298-6046
Keywordsédition, études genre, France, Grande-Bretagne, revues, sociologie du travail
Abstract

Labour was the primary subject of early academic work on gender relations in France and “gender studies” remained marked by this legacy. Can we however assert that the gender dimension of work is now fully integrated into this branch of sociology and that gender specialists receive full recognition in the field? To answer this question, we propose a comparative analysis of the evolution of the number of articles devoted to the “gendering of work” in two sociology of labour journals in France and Great Britain. We show that the number of articles relating to gender and work is consistently much smaller in France than on the other side of the Channel, throughout the period studied. This “gender blindness” which pervades labour sociology in France does not obscure only the reality of women’s work in this country; it also hides and marginalizes the female researches who specialize on gender within this academic field.

DOI10.3917/cdge.054.0121
Refereed DesignationRefereed