The development and validation of a measure for protean career orientation

Abstract

Contemporary careers systems are characterized by a boundaryless career environment and dynamic labor markets. New career attitudes and orientations emerge, and their evaluation is challenging. This manuscript reports on two sets of studies that utilized nine various samples (N =  2287) to construct and validate a measure of a prominent contemporary career orientation – the protean career. We tested the measure for its validation in the USA, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Evidence of strong face-, content-, construct- and discriminant- validity was obtained. The design of the final scale of seven items provides future academic scholars, HR managers and consultants, with a rigorous, practical and concise measure.

Keywords::

• boundaryless career
• protean career
• quantitative evaluation
• validation

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank the colleagues and students who collaborated with the various studies.