Early Career Project Managers: Well-being and Life Satisfaction Analysis

Abstract

The essentials of the presented paper are the psychological well-being and life satisfaction of early-career project managers (maximum 18 months of experience in project management). The primary goal is to determine whether there is a relationship between the psychological well-being and life satisfaction of early-career project managers, and if relationships exist between these variables, to determine their strength. In the theoretical part of the paper, processed using the analysis of relevant information sources, we deal with the concepts of well-being and life satisfaction. As part of the research description, we define an early carrier project manager and describe a sample of respondents consisting of 88 early carrier project managers. To analyze the well-being and life satisfaction variables, we use the Psychological Well-Being Scale questionnaire and the Life Satisfaction Scale questionnaire, where the results of these questionnaires are subsequently subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. We found that there is a moderately strong and statistically significant relationship between the psychological well-being and life satisfaction of early-career project managers. The results of the research can serve as a basis for developing suitable adaptation programs for early carrier project managers, where HR professionals can devote their attention to improving the well-being of early carrier project managers and their life satisfaction and thus reduce the risk of burnout syndrome, which is a very common phenomenon not only among early carrier professions but also project managers. The issue of well-being appears to be relatively well researched and described, even in the context of project managers. However, the life satisfaction of project managers has not been analyzed in such detail, and it is no longer possible to find the issue of investigating the mutual correlation of well-being and life satisfaction of early-career project managers. It is our research that can narrow this gap in the theories of project management, human resource management, and work psychology. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2024-08-02-06 Full Text: PDF