Workplace learning: A context of college students’ career exploration through sport internship

ABSTRACT

Grounded in career construction theory, we proposed that proactive personality (a disposition that drives people to focus on the future) influences career adaptability (the attitudes and behaviours that people use to adapt to work), which in turn influences career exploration (purposive cognition and behaviour to seek information for self-career advancement). However, psychological safety as a boundary condition may affect career adaptability’s relation to career exploration. Hence, this study examined whether students’ psychological safety moderates career adaptability’s mediating effect on the relationship between proactive personality and career exploration. A total of 288 students who completed internships at Taiwanese sports centres or fitness clubs participated in this research. The results indicate that interns’ psychological safety, functioning as a moderator, intensifies proactive personality’s indirect effect on career exploration through career adaptability. The implications of this finding for students’ career counselling are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Career construction theory
• career exploration
• career adaptability
• psychological safety
• proactive personality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan MOST 106-2628-H-002-007-MY2,MOST 109-2410-H-153-021 (MOST 106-2628-H-002 −007-MY2) for Wan Chen Lu, and Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 109-2410-H-153-021) for Shin-Huei Lin.

Notes on contributors

Wan Chen Lu

Wan Chen Lu is a professor at the Department of Athletics and at the Master Program of Sport Facility Management and Health Promotion, National Taiwan University, Taiwan. Her research interests include career adaptability, JD-R model, and work-family interference.

Shin-Huei Lin

Shin-Huei Lin is an assistant professor at the Department of Leisure Management, National Pingtung University, Taiwan. Her research interests include interningship program in higher education, and interns’ proactive personalty.

Mei-Yen Chen

Mei-Yen Chen is a distinguished professor at the Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan. Her research has been focused on the effective management of sport as a tool for sustainabledevelopment, environmental conservation, and livelihood improvement.

Chang-Hsu Chen

Chang-Hsu Chen is an associate professor at the Department of Sport and Health Promotion, TransWorld University, Taiwan. His research interests include technology education, IT-supported teaching and learning, and sports management.