A Career Path Leading to Well‐being and Success

• Author: Jacques Forest,Sarah Girouard
• Date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1488
• Published date: 01 June 2019

A Career Path Leading to Well-being and Success

Sarah Girouard*

Alia Conseil

Jacques Forest

Université du Québec à Montréal

Abstract

In line with self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000),

this study aims to determine the inf‌luence of different

contents and motives of career aspirations, together with

objective career success, on subjective career success and

well-being. Moreover,it aims to verify if psychological need,

satisfaction, and frustration play a mediating role in these

relationships. Results suggest that the pursuit of some aspi-

rations and the underlying motives for their pursuit are more

benef‌icial. Aspiration contents, and aspiration motives, to-

gether with objective career success, inf‌luence subjective

well-being and subjective career success, in part because

they satisfy or frustrate psychological needs. This study

brings together two f‌ields of research evolving in parallel

—career and life aspirations—to shed new light on both

of them. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley

& Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: career aspirations, motivation, career success,

subjective well-being, psychological needs

Résumé

En phase avec la théorie de l’autodétermination (Deci &

Ryan, 2000), la présente étude a pour but de déterminer

l’inf‌luence de différents contenus et motifs d’aspirations de

carrière ainsi que du succès de carrière objectif, sur le

succès de carrière subjectif et le bien-être au travail. De

plus, elle vise à vérif‌ier si la satisfaction et la frustration

des besoins psychologiques jouent un rôle médiateur dans

ces relations. Les résultats suggèrent que la poursuite de

certaines aspirations et certains deses motifs sous-jacents

à leur poursuite sont plus bénéf‌iques que d’autres. Les

contenus des aspirations et leurs motifs de poursuite,

conjointement au succès de carrière objectif, inf‌luencent le

bien-être subjectif et le succès de carrière subjectif, en partie

parce qu’ils satisfont ou frustrent les besoins psychologiques.

Cette étude fait le pont entre deux champs de recherche

qui auparavant évoluaient en parallèle, et ce, af‌in de leur

apporter, tous deux, un éclairage nouveau. Copyright ©

2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Mots-clés: aspirations de carrière, motivation, succès de

carrière, bien-être subjectif, besoins psychologiques

Introduction

In recent decades, profound transformation in work en-

vironments has changed the concept of career, from an idea

of "career" implying opportunities for linear advancement

within the organization (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk,

2010) to a variety of pathways, such as non-linear, protean,

or boundaryless careers (Briscoe, Hall, & DeMuth, 2006),

where everyone owns more freedom, but also more respon-

sibility to set the path they wish to follow (Baruch, 2006;

Cardinal, 2006; Dries, 2011).

Transformation of Careers and Conceptions of Career

Success

In that career transformation context, achieving objec-

tive criteria of success like vertical advancement seems to

be more limited than it was before. Two different forms of

success thus emerged. The f‌irst one, in line with traditional

conceptions of career, is called “objective success,”because

it can be judged by criteria observable to others, such as

income (as observed by Judge, Higgins, Thoreson, &

Barrick, 1999; Ng, Eby, Sorenson, & Feldman, 2005), pro-

motions (seen in De Vos, Klippeleer, & Dewilde, 2009;

Ng et al., 2005) or hierarchical status (as in Dries, 2011;

Ng & Feldman, 2010). The second one, in line with new

conceptions of the career, is called “subjective success,”

and extends to include the sense of achievement related

to workers’diverse personal aspirations (Mirvis & Hall,

1994). In order to encompass all of these different criteria,

satisfaction with personal career aspirations is often used to

conceptualize and measure subjective career success

(Hall, 1996). It generally comprises satisfaction with both

external (for example, salary or hierarchical status) and

Given that this article has been supported f‌inancially, we wish to thank the

organizations that believed in our project: the Fonds de recherche du

Québec-Société et Culture (FQRSC), the Syndicat des professionnelles et

professionels du Gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ), and the Université du

Québec à Montréal Fonds à l’accessibilité et à la réussite des études

(FARE). Their funding has contributed to the design, data collection and

writing of this research project.

*Please address correspondence to: Sarah Girouard, PhD, Alia Conseil,

2960 Laurier Blvd., Iberville III, Off‌ice 214, Quebec, Quebec, Canada,

G1V 4S1. Email: girouard.sarah@gmail.com

Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences

Revue canadienne des sciences de l’administration

36: 193–207 (2019)

Published online 30 March 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1488

Can J Adm Sci

36(2), 193–207 (2019)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 193