Optimism and career planning: the role of gender as a moderator

Abstract

Building on the current developments in the career theories applied to career planning and the role of demographics, as appreciated by the various researchers in studies related to optimism and career planning. This paper aims to investigate the role of gender differences in optimism-career planning relationship in the Indian context. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey-based research and the sample consisted of 201 male and female respondents from Indian manufacturing and service organisations. The current study used PROCESS, an SPSS macro developed by Hayes to test the moderating role of gender on optimism-career planning relationship. The study depicted that male gender moderated the positive relationship between optimism and career planning in comparison to the female gender. Further, the societal norms and outlook render the career planning in females in lieu of the gender role ideology of the Indian society. The study suggests that employees need to have an optimistic outlook or positive attitude to plan for their career as career planning is an on-going process reflecting the effects of the environmental uncertainties. Further, the implications and limitations of the study have been discussed.