The Effects Of Career Motivation And Intellectual Curiosity On Proactive Career Behaviors In Undergraduate College Students

Abstract

The rapid change in the contemporary business environment has made careers more complex and requires employees to take a more active role in their career in order to keep pace. This study explored the relationship between career motivation (including career insight, career identity, and career resilience), intellectual curiosity, and proactive career behaviors, measured two ways. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between the career motivation components of career identity and career insight with proactive career behaviors, but not with the component of career resilience unless it is moderated by the general area of the student’s major. Additionally, student’s self-knowledge has a positive relationship with proactive career behaviors, as does intellectual curiosity when moderated by class standing. The implications for practice are that educators who want to encourage students to increase their voluntary participation in proactive career behaviors may be able to do so by focusing primarily on student’s career insight and career identity, and secondarily their self-knowledge and intellectual curiosity. Further research could be done developing interventions and measuring their impact on students’ career behaviors. And if resources limit the scope of future interventions for either research or practice, an emphasis on career insight will likely make the most impact on students’ career behaviors.