Career adaptability and citizenship outcomes: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Purpose Drawing upon the career construction theory (Savickas, 2002, 2013) and the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001), the purpose of this paper is to explore whether, how and when career adaptability influences citizenship outcomes (i.e. citizenship behavior and citizenship fatigue). Design/methodology/approach Two-wave data were collected from 306 employees working in the operation department of an e-commerce company in Eastern China. Findings The results showed that both affective commitment and emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between career adaptability and both citizenship behavior and citizenship fatigue, revealing a dual-process mechanism. Moreover, both the positive association between career adaptability and affective commitment and the negative association between career adaptability and emotional exhaustion were stronger among employees with a high (vs low) level of hindrance stressors. Research limitations/implications This study sheds light on the mechanisms and boundary conditions of the career adaptabilities–citizenship outcomes relationship. Originality/value This is one of the first studies to investigate the mechanism of the relationship between career adaptability and citizenship outcomes using multi-wave data.