Effect of career adaptability on flourishing among Pakistani university undergraduates: Mediating role of study engagement

Sana Nisar, Adnan Adil, Sultan Shujja, Saba Ghayas

Accepted September 6, 2023

First published December 22, 2023

https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.2023.00011

Abstract

University students are at a critical stage of personal and professional development. Understanding the
factors that contribute to their academic success and well-being can inform effective interventions and policies. The
present study aims to understand whether students who are more adaptable in terms of their career aspirations and
goals are more likely to flourish in their academic and personal lives and whether this relationship is influenced by their
level of engagement in their studies. Thus, we hypothesized that study engagement plays a mediating role between
career adaptability and flourishing. This study was based on a purposive sample of 300 undergraduate students at
various public sector universities in the Punjab province in Pakistan. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design
and used the Career Adapt-Abilities Short Form Questionnaire (Maggiori, Rossier & Savickas, 2015), the Utrecht Study
Engagement Scale (Sui et al., 2014), and the Flourishing Scale (Diener, Napa Scollon & Lucas, 2009) to operationalize the
focal constructs. Structured equation modeling indicated that after controlling for age, gender, and family background;
career adaptability and study engagement had positive direct effects on flourishing, and career adaptability had positive
direct effect on study engagement. Moreover, career adaptability had a significant positive indirect effect on flourishing
through study engagement, indicating that career adaptability led to enhanced study engagement, resulting in improved
flourishing. This study can provide insights into how career adaptability and study engagement influence flourishing and
contribute to the development of interventions to support student’s academic and career pursuits.

References

  • AKKERMANS, J., PARADNIKÉ, K., VAN DER HEIJDEN, B.I. &DE VOS, A. (2018). The best of both worlds: The role of careeradaptability and career competencies in students’ well-being andperformance. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1678.

    doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01678
  • ANTARAMIAN, S.P., HUEBNER, E.S., HILLS, K.J. & VALOIS, R.F.(2010). A dual‐factor model of mental health: Toward a morecomprehensive understanding of youth functioning. AmericanJournal of Orthopsychiatry, 80 (4), 462-472.

    doi.org/10.1111/j.1939-0025.2010.01049.x
  • BAKKER, A.B. & DEMEROUTI, E. (2008). Towards a model of workengagement. Career Development International, 13 (3), 209-223.

    doi.org/10.1108/13620430810870476
  • BOULTON, C.A., HUGHES, E., KENT, C., SMITH, J.R. &WILLIAMS, H.T.P. (2019). Student engagement and well-beingover time at a higher education institution. PLOS ONE, 14 (11),e0225770.

    doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225770
  • BOWDEN, J.L.H., TICKLE, L. & NAUMANN, K. (2019). The fourpillars of tertiary student engagement and success: A holisticmeasurement approach. Studies in Higher Education, 46 (6),1207-1224.

    doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1672647
  • BRIDGES, B.K., CAMBRIDGE, B., KUH, G.D. & LEEGWATER, L.H.(2005). Student engagement at minority-serving institutions:Emerging lessons from the BEAMS project. New Directions forInstitutional Research, 2005 (125), 25-43.

    doi.org/10.1002/ir.137
  • BROWN, A., BIMROSE, J., BARNES, S.A. & HUGHES, D. (2012).The role of career adaptabilities for mid-career changers. Journalof Vocational Behavior, 80 (3), 754-761.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.003
  • DATU, J.A.D. & KING, R.B. (2018). Subjective well-being isreciprocally associated with academic engagement: A two-wavelongitudinal study. Journal of School Psychology, 69, 100-110.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.05.007
  • DIENER, E., NAPA SCOLLON, C. & LUCAS, R.E. (2009). Theevolving concept of subjective well-being: The multifacetednature of happiness. Assessing Well-Being, 67-100.

    doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2354-4_4
  • DIENER, E., WIRTZ, D., TOV, W., KIM-PRIETO, C., CHOI, D.W.,OISHI, S. & BISWAS-DIENER, R. (2010). New well-beingmeasures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive andnegative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97 (2), 143-156.

    doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9493-y
  • DUFFY, R.D. (2010). Sense of control and career adaptability amongundergraduate students. Journal of Career Assessment, 18 (4),420-430.

    doi.org/10.1177/1069072710374587
  • FAUL, F., ERDFELDER, E., BUCHNER, A. & LANG, A.G. (2008).StatisticalpoweranalysesusingG*Power3.0:Testsforcorrelationand regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41 (4),1149-1160.

    doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
  • HEFFNER, A.L. & ANTARAMIAN, S.P. (2016). The role of lifesatisfaction in predicting student engagement and achievement.Journal of Happiness Studies, 17 (4), 1681-1701.

    doi.org/10.1007/s10902-015-9665-1
  • HIRSCHI, A. (2009). Career adaptability development inadolescence: Multiple predictors and effect on sense of powerand life satisfaction. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74 (2), 145-155.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.01.002
  • HIRSCHI, A. (2010). The role of chance events in the school-to-worktransition: The influence of demographic, personality and careerdevelopment variables. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77 (1), 39-49.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2010.02.002
  • HIRSCHI, A. (2012). The career resources model: An integrativeframework for career counselors. British Journal of Guidance &Counselling, 40 (4), 369-383.

    doi.org/10.1080/03069885.2012.700506
  • HOOPER, D., COUGHLAN, J. & MULLEN, M.R. (2008). Structuralequation modeling: Guidelines for determining model fit. TheElectronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6 (1), 53-60.

  • HUPPERT, F.A. & SO, T.T.C. (2013). Flourishing across Europe:Application of a new conceptual framework for defining well-being. Social Indicators Research, 110 (3), 837-861.

  • IBMCorp.(2016).IBMSPSSAmos(Version24)[Computersoftware]. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.

  • IQBAL, N., HASSAN, B., JADOON, S. & EHSEN, N. (2021).Association of school engagement, well-being, resilience,and growth mindset among adolescents in high school.Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 36 (4), 631-644.

    doi.org/10.33824/pjpr.2021.36.4.35
  • KEYES, C.L.M. (2002). The mental health continuum: Fromlanguishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and SocialBehavior, 43 (2), 207-222.

  • KIRDOK, O. & BOLUKBASI, A. (2018). The role of senior universitystudents’ career adaptability in predicting their subjective well-being. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 6 (5), 47-54.

    doi.org/10.11114/jets.v6i5.3010
  • KONSTAM, V., CELEN-DEMIRTAS, S., TOMEK, S. & SWEENEY,K. (2015). Career adaptability and subjective well-being inunemployed emerging adults. Journal of Career Development, 42(6), 463-477.

    doi.org/10.1177/0894845315575151
  • KRIESHOK, T.S., BLACK, M.D. & McKAY, R.A. (2009). Careerdecision making: The limits of rationality and the abundance ofnon-conscious processes. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75 (3),275-290.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.006
  • KUH, G.D., KINZIE, J., SCHUH, J.H. & WHITT, E.J. (2005). Neverlet it rest lessons about student success from high-performingcolleges and universities. Change: The Magazine of HigherLearning, 37 (4), 44-51.

    doi.org/10.3200/chng.37.4.44-51
  • LENT, R.W. & BROWN, S.D. (2013). Social cognitive model of careerself-management: Toward a unifying view of adaptive careerbehavior across the life span. Journal of Counseling Psychology,60 (4), 557-568.

    doi.org/10.1037/a0033446
  • LEWIS,A.D.,HUEBNER,E.S.,MALONE,P.S.&VALOIS,R.F.(2011).Life satisfaction and student engagement in adolescents. Journalof Youth and Adolescence, 40 (3), 249-262.

    doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9517-6
  • MAGGIORI, C., ROSSIER, J. & SAVICKAS, M.L. (2015). CareerAdapt-Abilities Scale – Short Form (CAAS-SF). Journal of CareerAssessment, 25 (2), 312-325.

    doi.org/10.1177/1069072714565856
  • MAGNANO, P., LODI, E., ZAMMITTI, A. & PATRIZI, P. (2021).Courage, career adaptability, and readiness as resources toimprove well-being during the university-to-work transition inItaly. International Journal of Environmental Research and PublicHealth, 18 (6), 2919.

    doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18062919
  • MATZ-COSTA, C., BESEN, E., BOONE JAMES, J. & PITT-CATSOUPHES, M. (2012). Differential impact of multiple levelsof productive activity engagement on psychological well-beingin middle and later life. The Gerontologist, 54 (2), 277-289.

    doi.org/10.1093/geront/gns148
  • MERINO-TEJEDOR, E., HONTANGAS, P.M. & BOADA-GRAU,J. (2016). Career adaptability and its relation to self-regulation,career construction, and academic engagement among Spanishuniversity students. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 93, 92-102.

  • MONTANO, R.L.T. (2021). Academic engagement predictsflourishing among students in online learning setup: Themediating role of psychological needs. Journal of Psychologicaland Educational Research, 29 (1), 177-194.

  • OUWENEEL, E., LE BLANC, P.M. & SCHAUFELI, W.B. (2014). Onbeing grateful and kind: Results of two randomized controlledtrials on study-related emotions and academic engagement. TheJournal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and Applied, 148 (1), 37-60.

    doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2012.742854
  • PARADNIKE, K. & BANDZEVICIENE, R. (2016). Careerconstruction in an academic setting: Links between careeradaptability and study engagement. International Journal ofPsychology: A Biopsychosocial Approach, 18, 71-88.

  • PAROLA, A. & MARCIONETTI, J. (2022). Positive resourcesfor flourishing: The effect of courage, self-esteem, and careeradaptability in adolescence. Societies, 13 (1), 5.

    doi.org/10.3390/soc13010005
  • PIPERE, A. & MIERINA, I. (2017). Exploring non-cognitivepredictors of mathematics achievement among 9th-gradestudents. Learning and Individual Differences, 59, 65-77.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.09.005
  • PLOMINSKI, A.P. & BURNS, L.R. (2018). An investigation ofstudent psychological wellbeing: Honors versus nonhonorsundergraduate education. Journal of Advanced Academics, 29 (1),5-28.

    doi.org/10.1177/1932202×17735358
  • PODSAKOFF, P.M., MacKENZIE, S.B. & PODSAKOFF, N.P.(2012). Sources of method bias in social science research andrecommendations on how to control it. Annual Review ofPsychology, 63, 539-569.

  • ROSSIER, J., ZECCA, G., STAUFFER, S.D., MAGGIORI, C. &DAUWALDER, J.-P. (2012). Career adapt-abilities scale in aFrench-speaking Swiss sample: Psychometric properties andrelationships to personality and work engagement. Journalof Vocational Behavior, 80 (3), 734-743.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.004
  • RYAN, R.M. & DECI, E.L. (2001). On happiness and humanpotentials: A review of research on hedonic and eudaimonicwell-being. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 141-166.

  • RYFF, C.D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations onthe meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personalityand Social Psychology, 57 (6), 1069.

  • SALANOVA, M., SCHAUFELI, W., MARTINEZ, I. & BRESÓ,E. (2010). How obstacles and facilitators predict academicperformance: The mediating role of study burnout andengagement. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 23 (1), 53-70.

    doi.org/10.1080/10615800802609965
  • SALMELA-ARO, K. & UPADYAYA, K. (2014). School burnout andengagement in the context of the demands-resources model.British Journal of Educational Psychology, 84 (1), 137-151.

    doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12018
  • SAVICKAS, M.L. (1997). Career adaptability: An integrativeconstruct for lifespan, life-space theory. The Career DevelopmentQuarterly, 45 (3), 247-259.

    doi.org/10.1002/j.2161–0045.1997.tb00469.x
  • SAVICKAS, M.L. (2005). The theory and practice of careerconstruction. In R.W. Lent & S.D. Brown (Eds.), Careerdevelopment and counseling: Putting theory and research to work.Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

  • SAVICKAS, M.L. (2011). Constructing careers: Actors, agents, andauthors. Journal of Employment Counseling, 48 (4), 179-181.

    doi.org/10.1002/j.21611920.2011.tb01109.x
  • SAVICKAS, M.L. (2013). Career construction theory and practice.Career development and Counseling: Putting theory and researchto work, 2, 144-180.

  • SAVICKAS, M.L., NOTA, L., ROSSIER, J., DAUWALDER, J.,DUARTE, M. E., GUICHARD, J. et al. (2009). Life designing: Aparadigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal ofVocational Behavior, 75 (3), 239-250.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
  • SAVICKAS, M.L. & PORFELI, E.J. (2012). Career adapt-abilitiesscale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalenceacross 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80 (3), 661-673.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2012.01.011
  • SCHAUFELI, W.B. & BAKKER, A.B. (2004). Job demands, jobresources and their relationship with burnout and engagement:A multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25,293-315.

  • SELIGMAN, M.E.P. (2011). Flourish: A visionary new understandingof happiness and well-being. Free Press.

  • SKORIKOV, V. (2007). Continuity in adolescent career preparationand its effects on adjustment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70(1), 8-24.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2006.04.007
  • SMITH-OSBORNE, A.M. (2012). Supporting resilience in theacademic setting for student soldiers and veterans as an aspectof community reintegration: The design of the student veteranproject study. Advances in Social Work, 13 (1), 34-50.

  • STEELE, J.P. & FULLAGAR, C.J. (2009). Facilitators and outcomesof student engagement in a college setting. The Journal of˙ˇ˙’Psychology, 143 (1), 5-27

  • STOEBER, J., CHILDS, J.H., HAYWARD, J.A. &. FEAST, A.R.(2011). Passion and motivation for studying: Predictingacademic engagement and burnout in universitystudents. Educational Psychology, 31 (4), 513-528.

    doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2011.57025
  • SULLIVAN, S.E., CARDEN, W.A. & MARTIN, D.F. (1998). Careersin the next millennium: Directions for future research. HumanResource Management Review, 8 (2), 165-185.

  • SUPER, D.E. (1951). Vocational adjustment: Implementing a self-concept. Occupations: The Vocational Guidance Journal, 30 (2),88-92.

    doi.org/10.1002/j.21645892.1951.tb02607.x
  • SUPER, D.E. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to careerdevelopment. In D. Brown, L. Brooks & Associates (Eds.), Careerchoice and development (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

  • TLADINYANE, R. & VAN DER MERWE, M. (2016). Careeradaptability and employee engagement of adults employed in aninsurance company: An exploratory study. SA Journal of HumanResource Management, 14 (1), 1-9.

    doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v14i1.752
  • WANG, Z. & FU, Y. (2015). Social support, social comparison,and career adaptability: A moderated mediation model. SocialBehavior and Personality: An International Journal, 43 (4), 649-660.

    doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2015.43.4.649
  • ZHUANG, M., SHE, Z., CAI, Z., HUANG, Z., XIANG, Q., WANG,P. & ZHU, F. (2018). Examining a sequential mediation modelof Chinese university students’ well-being: A career constructionperspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 593.

    doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00593
SHOW ALL REFERENCES (61)HIDE REFERENCES

Related articles

Article info

Cite the article:

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Nisar Sana . Adil Adnan . Shujja Sultan . Ghayas Saba . Effect of career adaptability on flourishing among Pakistani university undergraduates: Mediating role of study engagement. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2023;298(1):2-16. doi:10.26387/bpa.298.1.

Citation tool

How to cite this article

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Nisar Sana . Adil Adnan . Shujja Sultan . Ghayas Saba . Effect of career adaptability on flourishing among Pakistani university undergraduates: Mediating role of study engagement. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2023;298(1):2-16. doi:10.26387/bpa.298.1.