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The development and validation of a measure for protean career orientation
Baruch, Y. (2014). The development and validation of a measure for protean career orientation. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(19), 2702-2723.
DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2014.896389
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.
Key words: protean career; boundaryless career; validation; quantitative evaluation
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The current turbulent business environment is characterized by what is termed ‘boundaryless organizations’
(Ashkenas, Ulrich, Jick & Kerr, 1995), in which new modes of employment relationships have emerged
(Rousseau, 1995) and careers become boundaryless (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). While some have criticized
this view (Inkson, Ganesh, Roper & Gunz, 2012), academic scholars and practitioners consider the current
business environment, hence, career landscape, to be dynamic and vibrant (Arthur, 2008; Sullivan &
Baruch, 2009). Recent theoretical contributions to the career literature manifest what Arthur, Inkson and
Pringle (1999) and Lips-Wiersma and Hall (2007) termed a ‘new career’, and are applied both at the national
and global level (Cerdin & Pargneux, 2009). The ‘new career’ stands in sharp contrast to the traditional,
stable and hierarchy-based career system which comprised the mainstream concept during the last century
(Rosenbaum, 1979; Schein, 1978). While many organizational and societal systems still employ traditional
career systems (Baruch 2006; Inkson, et al., 2012), ‘new careers’ characterizes growing segments of labour
markets. Thus, it is important to conduct a study that will contribute to our ability to have a valid and
reliable measure for such concepts.
Academic scholars, as well as HR managers and consultants have a growing need to evaluate such new
orientations in order to identify, develop and manage human talent. Careers and their management are part
of any HRM system, thus of relevant to HRM scholars and practitioners. To conduct survey-based studies,
there is a need to develop appropriate and rigorous measures for testing various constructs, including
employees’ attitudes and orientations.
Studying contemporary career concepts is hampered by the lack of quality measures for rigorous evaluation
of constructs, pertaining to evolved career models and theories. There is a definite need to develop
applicable measures for the novel phenomena associated with the ‘new career’. Such measures would allow
us to study emerging types of employment relationships and career systems (Arthur, Hall & Lawrence,
1989; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009) and to test models that build on theoretical progress (O’Sullivan, 2002).
The value of contributions to the academic community depends not merely on innovation, but also on its
relevance and applicability – namely, whether or not the measure is valid. Thus, validation studies are of
paramount importance for scholars and practitioners in the area of management and of industrial psychology
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(Casper, Eby, Bordeaux, Lockwood & Lambert, 2007; Plouffe & Grégoire, 2011) An example of good
practice in validation studies, which we followed, is Kumar and Beyerlein’s (1991) scale development.
Studies that target the ‘new career’ phenomena tend to be based on anecdotal evidence or to rely on
qualitative data (e.g. Arthur et al., 1999; Crowley-Henry, 2007). While qualitative data is worthy on its own
merit, it is better to be able to complement it with quantitative work. Translating conceptual and theoretical
frameworks into a set of items that grasp its true meaning is challenging. Testing for evidence of reliability
and validity of constructs is critical to both new and well accepted constructs (Carlson, Kacmar, & Williams,
2000; Judge, Piccolo & Ilies, 2004).
This paper tackles the need for a measure that will help to mitigate against scarcity of empirical studies in
the area of new careers, and the challenges about testing new measures for emerging theories for evidence of
reliability and validity. It is done by conducting nine separate studies, all of which employed a measure
developed for the evaluation of the protean career orientation, alongside other variables, for which well
established and validated measures exist. All the studies utilized questionnaires to collect data in different
business and career environments, covering various sectors, cultures, global regions and personal
characteristics. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a scale that captures the true nature of
the protean career orientation in a concise and focused measure. Our goal was to produce a concise yet
versatile measure that can be used to advance understanding of contemporary careers. The availability of
this measure will therefore contribute not only to theoretical development, but particularly to research
methods which are of direct relevance to the study of careers.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
The Protean Career
One of the most innovative contributions capturing the changing nature of careers is the protean career
(Hall, 1976, Briscoe & Hall, 2006), a conceptual framework that is complementary to the ‘boundaryless
career’ (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). The idea of protean career was offered by Hall as early as 1976, but
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gained wider attention and recognition only in the late 1990s, when the conceptualization of the term
‘career’ was vastly transformed to better reflect emergent business and employment practices. From a
handful of citations in the early 1990’s, to hundreds of citations in recent years, there is an accelerated
interest in the concept and its application, both in western and in global contexts (Grimland, Vigoda-Gadot,
& Baruch, 2012; Tams & Arthur, 2010).
Definition of the construct
Hall and Mirvis (1996) describe the protean career as a new career form or orientation where the individual
rather than the organization takes on the responsibility for one’s own career and for transforming one’s own
career path. The term protean was taken from the name of the Greek god Proteus, who could change shape
at will. A further metaphorical clarification came from the use of the ‘career fingerprint’ metaphor (Hall &
Mirvis, 1996) to describe the individual nature of protean career. It is described as a phenomenon that takes
place outside structures and traditional boundaries of organizational hierarchies, professional progress or
stable directions. The person takes on the role of being his or her own agent. His or her career and life
success will be defined and formed by the individual.
Hall posits: “The protean career is a process which the person, not the organization, is managing. It consists
of the entire person’s varied experience in education, training, work in several organizations, changes in
occupational field, etc. The protean person’s own personal career choices and search for self-fulfillment are
the unifying or integrative elements in his or her life.” (Hall, 1976, p. 201)
At the individual level, the protean career is a career orientation (sometimes labeled as attitude – see for
example Briscoe & Finkelstein, 2008). In its essence, the protean career is the contract within oneself, rather
than between oneself and the organization, leaving much of the career development to people’s initiation
and proactivity (Seibert, Crant & Krainer, 1999; Strauss, Griffin, & Parker, 2012), and where selfmanagement of careers is paramount (Kossek, Roberts, Fisher & Demarr, 1998; Özbilgin, Küskü, &
Erdoğmuş, 2005). This alters the relationship between individuals and organizations. Earlier, individuals
were mostly led by the organization and employers tended to use a paternalistic approach, whereas
nowadays the organization must relate to individuals’ needs and plans, especially in western Anglo-Saxon
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environments. It should be borne in mind, though, that even when people hold a protean career orientation,
certain organizational and contextual boundaries will still exist, with which they have to comply (e.g. LipsWiersma & Hall, 2007).
Measurement of Protean Career
Currently, studies that measure the construct or concept of the protean career in a systematic, scientific
manner are scarce, though there is an increased interest in studying it (Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). Apart from
the measure suggested in this paper, there is only one other existing measure for protean career. Briscoe,
Hall and Frautschy DeMuth (2006) have developed a 14 items measure, and tested it mostly via student
populations. Their findings suggest that the measure consists of two-dimensions, in contrast to the original
presentation of the protean career as a single construct (Hall, 1976; Hall & Moss, 1998). Thus, their
resulting two dimensional sub-constructs framework does not necessarily add clarity to the study of protean
career. Further, subsequent research could not always confirm the proposed two-factorial structure of the measure
because the values-driven scale emerged to be problematic in non-US samples (Chan et al., 2012). Uni-
dimensionality, a basic assumption in measurement theory, is the degree to which the items represent a
single underlying latent variable (Garver & Mentzer, 1999), and is a desired feature for newly developed
measures for concepts that were not tested empirically via quantitative studies. Further, Briscoe et al.’s
(2006) measure is not concise, due to its length and ambiguity of dual dimensionality, as well as to the
limited nature of its scale validation test. On the positive end, many of the items in Briscoe et al. seem to be
capturing the true nature of the protean orientation.
With the inundation of employees with surveys, in particular in western societies (Lyness & Kropf, 2007;
Rogelberg, Fisher, Maynard, Hakel & Horvath, 2001; Rogelberg & Stanton, 2007), survey design requires
measures that are not only valid and reliable, but are also concise and practical. Developing newer, more
refined measures is of high importance when the measure adds value to an existing one (Kaptein, 2008). The
need for a concise measure of the construct of the protean career is clearly warranted.
Nomological Network for the Protean Career Orientation
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We followed the nomological network idea (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955) to establish construct validity. To
provide evidence it is needed to develop a nomological network for the measure that includes the theoretical
framework for the construct, and present an empirical framework for actual measurement.
Theoretically, a protean career orientation is distinct from a traditional career approach, which is
characterized by a stable and upward-mobility orientation of career (Rosenbaum, 1979). Its definition and
description suggest that a measure can be developed to capture its essence (Hall, 1976; Hall & Mirvis,
1996). It also varies in terms of the perception of the meaning of career success accordingly (Derr, 1986;
Greenhaus et al. 2000). Traditional career success is typically measured by financial and hierarchical gains,
whereas protean career orientation takes into account also, and particularly personal development and the
ability to follow one’s own dreams as the most important career success factor (Hall & Chandler, 2005).
With the exception of hybrid career type (Sullivan & Baruch, 2009), which cannot be tested this way, career
success can be manifested in forms of both internal and external success (Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman,
2005).
People who can adapt to the current turbulent and dynamic labor markets should flourish if they hold career
values that fit such environments (Arthur, Claman & Defillippi, 1995; Conway & Briner, 2005; Rousseau,
1996), in line with person-environment fit (Maynard, Joseph, & Maynard, 2006). The person-environment
fit theory suggests that individuals holding protean career orientation will be more satisfied in protean and
boundaryless environments whereas individuals holding traditional hierarchical attitudes will be more
satisfied in traditional hierarchical environments.
Exploring the prospect relationship between holding protean career orientation and other attitudes, we may
consider several options for dealing with the analysis of the relationships. We expect that the relationships
between our measure and other positive work related attitudes and constructs are positive. One can study the
relationship as a ‘within-person’ hypothesis, i.e. if being protean is malleable rather than a trait. If this would
be the case, then when the ‘within-person’ changes over time, so do attitudes and satisfaction. Another
option is to explore the relationships as a ‘within-situation’ hypothesis, because some people are more
“protean” than others within the same job/situation, in terms of career-self-management (Seibert et al.,
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1999). A ‘cross-situation’ hypothesis, where some jobs may allow for more ‘protean’ characteristics than
others (e.g. professionals vs. blue collar), is another option. Lastly, the subject can be studied as a ‘crosslevel’ hypothesis, when some may be more protean when in some jobs vs. others, or some time points vs.
others, whereas other people may be more immune to job type or time point. The question is why protean
individuals would be expected to be more satisfied than others (such as people working in rigid
organizations or those who hole traditional bureaucratic view of careers), and the answer is that current labor
markets became more boundaryless (Hall, 2002), creating numerous prospects of work environments that
are less traditional or stable, and more work environments that are dynamic. Across all these options, we
expect the protean career, being a central construct relating to career aspirations and behaviors, to be
associated with a variety of work attitudes and work related satisfaction measures (cf. Vinkenburg & Weber,
2012).
Hypothesis 1: Protean career is positively related to positive personal work attitudes and work related
satisfaction.
The protean career is associated with career self-management (Baruch & Quick, 2007; Kossek et al., 1998;
King, 2004; Sturges, Conway, & Liefooghe, 2010) and career proactivity (Seibert et al., 1999). Career
proactivity is empirically related to career success (Seibert, Kraimer, & Crant, 2001). This leads either
directly to performance, or indirectly to general self-efficacy, which is a strong antecedent of performance
(Bandura, 1977; Gist & Mitchell, 1992; Locke, Frederick, Lee, & Bobko, 1984). Bearing in mind the
relevance of proactivity to career success (Seibert et al., 1999), this can also mean that people with a high
protean career orientation would have a higher tendency to change their job or career (Shen & Hall, 2010).
This is in line with the extant literature on intention to quit (see Griffeth, Hom, & Gaertner, 2000). We
predict that in the current dynamic business environment, an individual would be more likely to gain a high
level of general self-efficacy and performance when he or she ranges high on protean career orientation. A
simplistic approach would suggest that as protean orientation is associated with positive work attitudes, and
these are negatively associated with intention to quit, then protean orientation will be negatively associated
with intention to quit. Yet, the idea of the protean careers would suggest that it will be positively related to
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intentions to leave, due to the nature of contemporary labor markets, and the idea that people can change and
look for better or more fit work environments (compared with people with traditional career orientation, that
would tend to remain in single employer). Therefore, as implied from the nature of the protean career,
employees would have a higher inclination to change jobs, or at least be open to career transitions (Sullivan
& Baruch, 2009). Self motivation and self direction, which characterize the protean career orientation (Hall,
2002), work as strong internal motivators for work performance. In contrast, motivators offered by
traditional systems, tend to focus on external related factors. As a result we hypothesized the following
anticipated relationships:
Hypothesis 2: Protean career is positively related to intention to quit, self efficacy and work performance.
The concept of the protean career was developed in a western, Anglo-Saxon labor market environment, and
as such was subjected to the typical set of initial assumptions about frame of mind of employees (such as
level of individualization and expectations for personal and professional freedom in society) and
considerations under which many management theories were developed. These assumptions do not
necessarily apply to other cultures. In general, culture is expected to moderate relationships across a variety
of constructs (Ajzen, 1989, p. 256; Erez & Earley, 1993; Nauta, Vianen, Heijden, Dam, & Willemsen,
2009), and attitudes are related to behaviors and practices, according to the theory of planned action
(Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). However, two factors point out that this would not be the case for the protean
career construct. One factor is the convergence of management practices, including people management,
across borders (Pugh & Hickson, 2002). There is certain evidence for convergence across cultures in
implementing management practices, though with some exceptions (Carr & Pudelko, 2006; Sparrow Schuler
& Jackson, 1994). The other factor illustrates that the concept was designed to be general and common, in
order for it to fit across global labor markets. That’s why the empirical results are not anticipated to be
moderated by diversity in cultural values.
Hypothesis 3: The relationship between protean career and its antecedents, as well as its outcomes, will
exist in a similar manner across cultures.
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The argument posited by scholars offering new career concepts is that contemporary career attitudes stand in
sharp contrast with the traditional views which were typical in the past (Arthur et al, 1989). Yet traditional
careers are ripe, and different from protean (McDonald, Brown, & Bradley, 2005). The characteristics of
protean careers (Hall, 2004) suggest that these are people with orientation that rejects or refuse to comply
with the rigidity of traditional structures and look for alternative routes for progress and to reach inner
feeling of career achievement (Hall & Chandler, 2005). While both systems, stable and traditional versus
dynamic and protean, boundaryless co-exist (Baruch, 2006), they are different in the way people set
themselves, for example, career targets.
Hypothesis 4: The relationship between protean career and traditional career attitudes will be negative.
METHOD
Development of the measure
The purpose of this article is to test one construct via several studies. The new measure was employed and
tested in conjunction with several other work attitudes, including job satisfaction, career satisfaction,
organizational commitment, as well as self-efficacy and performance.
Following consultation with the originator of the concept (Douglas Tim Hall, personal communication), the
protean career orientation items for this study were developed in conjunction with the nature and notion of
the concept as depicted in the work of Hall and colleagues. We deliberately developed statements that
explicate the concept of the protean career based on the works of Hall and colleagues. Face-validation
evaluation of the items and the wordings were done in consultation with a team of five career scholars who
were well versed in career theory and acquainted with the concept of the protean career. A set of items was
presented to these scholars, asking them to indicate the extent to which each statement truly reflects the
nature and notion of protean career orientation. Following their responses we deleted or amended wordings
for items that were not clearly representing protean career orientation.
In the first five studies presented and discussed below, a combination of set of items was utilized. Some of
these included only a partial list, due to a space limitation within the questionnaire survey. In others we
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utilized different versions of wordings in order to determine the feasibility of measuring the construct with a
reduced number of items. Different items were introduced for checking whether or not reliability can be
improved by using certain variations (cf. Kacmar & Carlson, 1997). The set was then condensed into a
seven-item measure and was utilized in four additional studies. In the studies conducted in a non-native
English speaking country the questionnaires were back-translated using Brislin’s (1970) method.
In the next section we present the general characteristics and the relevant results of the nine different
empirical studies, based on the positivistic, quantitative research method approach. All these studies
employed a questionnaire survey as the research tool which was utilized for a quantitative evaluation of
constructs. These include the protean career and other constructs which vary according to the specific
frameworks and aims of each of these studies.
Stage I - Five Studies
Our studies were conducted consecutively. The first three were conducted with the major aim of testing the
reliability of the measure, whereas the follow-up studies were conducted with two other aims. The first one
was to test the validity of the construct, and the second to evaluate it across different sectors and cultures.
The reliability was also re-evaluated in these follow-up studies, which used different populations and tested
a wider range of constructs for a thorough examination of the validity of the measure, aiming to identify a
concise and practical set of items tapping the protean career construct.
To validate the measure we performed a factor analysis in conjunction with a variety of other constructs. For
the first three studies, bearing in mind the pioneering stage of the construct development, we ran an
exploratory factor analysis (EFA). In the last two studies we ran a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to
verify the distinctiveness of our measure. A brief summary of the methodology and results of these five
studies is provided in the following section. See Table 1 for the specific sets of items used in each of the
studies.
---------------------------------Insert Table 1 about Here
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---------------------------------Study 1
A mail survey was sent to graduate business alumni from a large university in southwestern USA, requesting
that they complete a questionnaire regarding their program of study and their career and work related
attitudes and orientations, in particular, the protean career.
The questionnaires were sent to known addresses of 1098 alumni. Completed surveys were received from
318 graduates (221 with an MBA and 97 with other Master’s degrees), representing a 29% response rate.
Gender wise, males formed 74% of the sample. Ethnic origin distribution was as follows: 77.5% Caucasian,
3% African American, 15.5% Asian, 3% Hispanic, 1% Native American. Participants’ average age was 36.8
years old (SD 7.1).
Protean career was measured with five items, using a Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to
strongly agree (7) (see Table 1). The Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was .71 and EFA indicated a clear
distinction between the measure’s items and other variables’ sets of items.
To evaluate construct validity and test discriminant validity, a correlation was calculated with a number of
well-established variables (Bagozzi & Phillips, 1991; Westen & Rosenthal, 2003). These were job
satisfaction, which was assessed by participants using a three item measure (reliability Cronbach’s alpha =
.94); intention to quit – a four-item measure with coefficient alpha of .71, and a variable labeled “learning
propensity”, expected to be linked to protean career, which comprised 2 items, and yielded a coefficient
alpha of .68. Lastly we measured three distinct types of human capital: scholastic capital, social capital, and
cultural capital. The coefficient alpha reliabilities for these three factors were .87, .82, and .85 respectively.
The results of the study, as well as of the other following studies, are presented in Table 2.
Study 2
Questionnaires were sent to former US Navy admirals, focusing on their transition from a career in the
highly bureaucratic system of the armed forces, into a civilian career within a turbulent business
environment. Responses of 334 out of 712 relevant questionnaires reflect a 47% response rate, which is
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considered high for an executive level. Most (99%) were males and the vast majority (95%) were white. At
the time of the survey, 179 (54%) were employed/at work (73 of which self-employed), 5 (1.5%) were
unemployed, and 143 (44%) were fully retired. Those employed typically held executive positions in a
variety of industrial sectors, with a large percentage (40%) in the defense industry.
The major constructs were: career satisfaction; Labor market perception; Life satisfaction; Satisfaction with
the Navy treatment of careers (Cook, Hepworth, Wall & Warr, 1981); traditional career; and feelings during
the transition process. The protean career was measured using a seven-item set as two additional items were
added to the initial five items for improving reliability (see Table 1). Using the same Likert scale,
Cronbach’s alpha was .75. As in study 1, EFA indicated a clear distinction between the measure’s items and
other variables’ sets of items.
The questionnaire for this study focused on the participants’ current careers and the transition process from
a career in the Navy into a civilian career. The major constructs (and their respective coefficient alphas) were:
career satisfaction: 5 item measure (coefficient alpha .90); conventional career success: 3 item measure
(coefficient alpha .70); Labor market perception: 3 item measure (coefficient alpha .75); Life satisfaction: 3 item
measure (coefficient alpha .85); Satisfaction with the Navy treatment of careers: 4 item measure (coefficient alpha
.79); and Negative feelings during the transition process (coefficient alpha .85).
Study 3
A questionnaire was developed to study academic careers in the context of the changing psychological
contract within academic environments. Out of 784 questionnaires sent to academics in six universities in the
United Kingdom, 337 were returned, representing a 43% response rate. Overall, the majority of the sample was
made up of white (67.3%), male (90.8%) academics, with an average age of 45.4 years (ranging from 30 to 67
years). They were working mainly in the social sciences rather than the natural sciences (73.9% and 26.1%
respectively). Most of the sample came from a traditional research focused UK university sector (67.7%), as
opposed to 32.3% from the teaching oriented universities.
The other major constructs in the study were: career future perception; organizational commitment (Meyer
& Allen, 1991); job satisfaction (Cook et al, 1981); and self evaluation of research performance. The other major
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constructs in the study and their respective coefficient alphas were: career future perception: 4 item measure
(coefficient alpha .88); organizational commitment: 5 item measure (coefficient alpha .76); job satisfaction: 5 item
measure (coefficient alpha .77), and self evaluation of research performance (measured separately, not via the
questionnaire, to avoid common method bias).
The protean career was measured using a five-items’ set (see Table 1), reaching a coefficient alpha of .70
(two items that reduced the reliability were removed from the initial set of seven items). As in Studies 1&2,
EFA indicated a clear distinction between the measure’s items and other variables’ sets of items.
Study 4
A questionnaire was developed to study careers, organizational and occupational commitment, as well as
identification issues. This study was conducted in 17 firms in Vietnam. The 502 participants represent a response
rate of 50%. Gender distribution was balanced, with 52% males. The average age was 31.61 years (ranging from
20 to 60), consistent with the young age distribution of the labor force in Vietnam. Over half (56%) of the
respondents have worked in South Vietnam, while the rest (44%) worked in the North. About 54% of the
respondents worked in the industrial sector and 45% were employed in the service sector.
The other major constructs and their respective coefficient alphas were: affective organizational identification
(Mael & Ashforth, 1992), a coefficient alpha of .83; evaluative organizational identification, coefficient alpha of
.82; cognitive organizational identification, coefficient alpha of .77; perceived organizational support
(Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison & Sowa, 1986), coefficient alpha of .91; traditional career approach,
coefficient alpha of .80; affective organizational commitment, coefficient alpha of .81; continuance organizational
commitment, coefficient alpha of .83; normative organizational commitment, coefficient alpha of .82; affective
occupational commitment, coefficient alpha of .78; continuance occupational commitment, coefficient alpha of
.86; normative occupational commitment, coefficient alpha of .84; turnover intention, coefficient alpha of .73;
internal career success, coefficient alpha of .92; and external career success, with coefficient alpha of .86. Job
performance was self-evaluated using a single item.
Protean career was measured using the original eight items’ set, with Cronbach's alpha of .76. A
confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with the data from this study. The results of CFA were in line
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with the expectation of distinction between protean career and other career constructs – traditional career
orientation, and also internal and external career success. The CFA results were: χ2 of 337.73 (p<.001); GFI
of 0.93; RMSEA of 0.064; SRMR of 0.054, and CFI of 0.97. In addition, CFA revealed low factor loadings
(below .5) for items 2, 4 and 5. After dropping these three items (in line with Hair. Black, Babin, Anderson,
& Tatham, 2006), the coefficient alpha improved to 0.82.
Study 5
A questionnaire was developed to study career success of bus drivers in New Zealand. Participants were 113 bus
drivers in a major bus firm in New Zealand, to whom the survey was administrated by a research assistant. A 1-5
Likert scale generated Cronbach's of .75. Descriptive statistics was as follows: 79% males; average age 51.3; 69%
are New Zealand born (the rest immigrants). Mean occupational and tenure at current employment as bus drivers
were 9.24 and 6.25 years respectively.
Other variables measured in this study included: organizational commitment, with coefficient alpha of .91;
occupational identity, with coefficient alpha of .89; traditional career orientation, with coefficient alpha of .77; job
satisfaction, with coefficient alpha of .85; and turnover intention, with coefficient alpha of 0.79. A CFA results
were in line with the expectation of distinction across other career constructs – traditional career orientation, as
well as internal and external career success. The CFA results were: χ 2 of 15.31; GFI of 0.96; RMSEA of 0.04;
and CFI of 0.986.
Stage II
Based on the above five studies, we realized that some items are poorly worded, or tangential to the essence
of the construct. We discuss the issue with career scholars and compared reliability scores if certain items
were to be deleted. As a result, we selected a final set of seven items and conducted four additional studies
with diverse populations, in line with earlier studies (Plouffe & Grégoire, 2011). In choosing the final set of
items we opted for items that were consistently providing strong reliability in the first studies and benefitted
from face validity. The results support the reliability of the measure, and validated it compared with further
variables, as described below. The selected seven items are listed in the discussion section. Below we list the
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four studies in which we utilized the recommended final set to a variety of populations. The correlations
between the measure and other constructs for all these four studies are reported in Table 3.
Stage II, Study 1: A questionnaire was developed to study values and career progress of employees in a
UK organization within the service industry. Participants were 212 managers and professionals, who filled-in a
web-based survey. Response rate varied across the participating departments, from 20% to 65%. Just over half
(52%) were males, and age distribution was: 5% up to 29, 17% 30-39, 46% 40-49, and 32% age 50+. They were
employed in a variety of professional and managerial roles within one organization.
Other variables measured in this study included: organizational commitment, with coefficient alpha of .88;
traditional career orientation, with coefficient alpha of .77; job satisfaction, with coefficient alpha of .77; and
turnover intention, with coefficient alpha of 0.71. The correlations with other constructs were as follows: .23
(.01>p) with traditional career orientation; .24 (.01>p) with job satisfaction; .14 with organizational commitment;
and .21 (.01>p) with performance (measured separately, not via the questionnaire, to avoid common method bias).
Cronbach's alpha of the protean career measure was .74.
Stage II, Study 2: A questionnaire was developed to study career attitudes of managers and employees and
the impact of training at Hangzhou Fusheng Electric, a Chinese firm that employs over 1,500 employees. The 97
returned surveys represent a 79% response rate of the sample. To test impact of training, the participants were
classified into two groups: the employees who took at least one training course (returned 67) and those who didn’t
take any training course (returned 27). Gender was equally divided, managers were mostly between 30 and 50
years old, and employees were mostly in their 20s and 30s. The coefficient alphas for the variables measured
were: Organization Commitment (.76), Job Satisfaction (.82), Performance (.69), and Intent to quit (.85).
The protean career measure had a strong Cronbach's alpha of .84. Protean career orientation was highly
associated with job satisfaction, performance and organizational commitment, but there was no significant
correlation with intent to quit.
Stage II, Study 3: To study career attitudes of UK managers and professional employees we recruited 65
participants through a snowball sampling method. Descriptive statistics was as follows: Gender was almost
15
equally distributed, with 51% males; average age was 46.8 (SD=17.2). They were occupied in a variety of
business sectors. The protean career measure had a strong Cronbach's alpha of.81. The coefficient alphas for
the other variables measured were: Organization Commitment (.91), Job Satisfaction (.81), traditional career
(.92), and Intent to quit (.74). The protean career measure was significantly associated with intention to quit
and with a number of voluntary career/job moves.
Stage II, Study 4: Business management students at a leading French business school answered an on-line
questionnaire. The responses from 422 students represent approximately 95% of the total number of students
in the cohort. This high response rate was reached due to the fact that the process formed a part of class
activity. Descriptive statistics: Gender was 40% males, a majority for females, as typical to these students;
average age was very young, 20.3 (SD=4.01) in line with the stage of study for the students. They were
studying in a variety of business courses, and were not yet assigned to their ‘major’ specialization. Other
variables were traditional career orientation (Cronbach Alpha of .88), three cluster of skills the graduates
anticipate having following their studies – general skills, analytical skills, and executive skills had good
Cronbach Alphas (.73; .74; and .88 respectively); network activities; expected future salary; and anticipated
future career type, using the proxy of choice of major (the specialization area) they will make. The results
confirmed a strong reliability for the protean career measure (Cronbach Alpha of .74) and a traditional
career orientation (Cronbach Alpha of .88). CFA analysis revealed a clear distinctiveness of the measure,
with The CFA results were: χ2 of 513.09 (p<.001); RMSEA of 0.06 and CFI of .90, providing strong
support for the model. We found differences across the career choices, manifesting the relevance of both
traditional and protean career for career choice.
Analysis
In the analysis section, we will first focus on providing evidence of the reliability and validity of the
measure. We will then proceed to testing the specific hypotheses.
Evidence of reliability and validity
16
The results across all the studies indicate strong evidence of reliability for the protean career measure, in line
with earlier recommendations by Nunnally (1978), of Cronbach’s alpha over the .70 threshold. Some of the
items in Stage I were somewhat problematic, partially due to the exploratory nature of that stage and the
need we felt to try several optional items. In particular, reversed items reduced coefficient alpha, a common
occurrence in the process of a measure development (Chester, Schriesheim, Eisenbach, & Hill, 1991).
The protean career measure was also evaluated for evidence of face, construct and discriminant validity.
Face validity was generated via a choice of items reflecting the notion of the original concept of protean
career. Personal correspondence with the initiator of the protean career concept (Professor Tim Douglas
Hall) enabled the identification of a number of indicators to represent the concept. Further consultations with
subject matter experts acquainted with the theory and practice of new career systems dynamics supported
the face validity of the items. Both construct- and discriminant-validity were evaluated by assessing the level
of the correlation between the measure and other well established, previously validated measures. To assess
discriminant validity we utilized the following rule of thumb: “A set of variables presumed to measure
different constructs shows discriminant validity if their intercorrelations are not too high. If rxy = .90, for
example, then we can hardly say that variables X and Y measure different constructs” (Kline, 2005, p. 60).
Others suggest an even lower threshold, arguing that a factor correlation that exceeds .80 or .85 is often used
as a criterion to define poor discriminant validity (Brown, 2006, p. 131; Carlson et al., 2000, p, 263).
Further, sample testing of single items from the measure showed that the protean items were loaded
markedly higher on our proposed construct, compared to the loading with other constructs. For example, in
study 4, stage II, none of the other items loaded higher than 0.30 on the protean career factor, and only in
one case, one of the protean career items was loaded more than 0.30 on another measure (negatively related
to ‘traditional career). Tables 2 and 3 present the correlations between the protean career and other
constructs measured in the studies.
--------------------------------------Insert Tables 2 & 3 about Here
--------------------------------------17
Strong evidence of construct and discriminant validity is implied from these sets of correlations and from the
higher loading of the items on the suggested construct compared to the loading with other constructs. On the
one hand, across the studies, we found significant associations with career related variables (such as
satisfaction, salary, competence, self-efficacy, and age), but not as high as to suggest a similarity (Hinkin,
1995; 1998). Sometimes it had a low positive correlation with traditional career approach (which values
hierarchical position and job stability), supporting the claim for a construct validity (Podsakoff &
MacKenzie, 1994; Westen, & Rosenthal, 2003). On the other hand, these relationships were not extremely
high, and the level of correlation indicates clear discriminant validity, as the correlations with other
constructs satisfied both the thresholds of Kline (2005) and of Brown (2006). This set of correlations point
out that the protean career measure is distinct from other constructs measured in the studies, indicating clear
discriminant validity.
Criterion related validity study: Hypotheses testing
The analysis provided clear and strong support for four of the hypotheses. We expected that respondents will
be able to distinguish among different career-related constructs, in particular, protean career, traditional
career, and the respective forms of career success associated with each type of career. To test this
distinctiveness, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted for the first three studies and a confirmatory
factor analysis for the last two studies in stage I and studies one and four in stage II (the numbers in studies
two and three in stage II were insufficient for running CFA). The protean career orientation was found to
comprise a single factor, with consistent evidence of reliability as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The
results indicate that the constructs were clearly distinct from each other. Correlation sets across these
variables manifest moderate levels of correlation between the protean career measure and a traditional career
perception, career success and a career future perception. The results obtained across a variety of
populations, indicate that the data fit very well for all the studies (Hair et al, 2006). In particular, it is
interesting to note that a protean career orientation is not negatively related to a traditional career
orientation, but is orthogonal to it, thus rejecting hypothesis four, and suggesting that moderation might
account for the different results. The moderation might be due to type of organizations, sector, even
organizational size (where in large organization people can be protean, proactive, and strive for progress
18
within the current rank). People can have varying levels of these career orientations (cf. Granrose & Baccili,
2006; Inkson et al. 2012; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009).
The first hypothesis examined the possible relationship between protean career orientations and individual
work attitudes and work-related satisfaction. Various work attitudes as well as work related satisfaction
factors were evaluated across the five studies. Among the work attitudes, we examined organizational
commitment, organizational identification, occupational commitment, stress, and learning propensity. Work
related satisfaction factors included job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and career satisfaction.
Similarly to the results relating to the distinctiveness of the concept, the correlation sets across these
variables presented in Tables 2 and 3 suggest moderate levels of correlation between the protean career
measure and these factors, demonstrating positive relations with organizational commitment, organizational
identification, occupational commitment, and learning propensity; and negative relations with stress. The
correlations with the satisfaction factors were all positive, at levels between .30 and .50, suggesting these
constructs are related yet distinct, lending support for the suitability of the data across the five studies (Hair
et al., 2006).
The association between protean career and intention to quit was tested in three of the five studies in stage I
and the first three in stage II, and was found to be negative only in Study 4 stage I .Correlations with self
efficacy, work performance and salary were positive and significant in most cases (Studies 1, 3, 4 in stage I
and 1 and 2 in stage II).
Hypothesis 3 suggested that the relationship between protean career and its antecedents, as well as its
outcomes, was held across cultures. This hypothesis was supported for most of the variables, when
comparing studies 1 through 5 in stage I and 1 and 3 in stage II, conducted in the US and UK, with the last
two studies conducted in Vietnam and in New Zealand, and the studies in stage II conducted in China and in
France. In two cases, though, there were clear differences between the results for Vietnam and the UK/US
results. Intention to quit was negatively associated with the protean career in Vietnam, compared with nonsignificant correlation in the US, in China, and in New Zealand, and positively associated with the
traditional career perception, which was non-significant in the Western populations. These exceptions
19
indicate that cultural differences may moderate relationships. Hypothesis 3 gained partial support in Stage I
and stronger support in Stage II. As the relationships with the various other constructs were not different –
they were stronger in the study conducted in China, possibly due to common method bias.
DISCUSSION
The present research constructed and validated a concise scale of protean career orientation measure. We
tested the measure for reliability and validity, and assessed the distinctiveness of the items in relation to a
variety of constructs already validated in the literature. The series of studies reported in this paper have
generated a new measure for the evaluation of protean career orientation, and examined its nature as a new
construct within the field of career studies. The measure will be instrumental in studies on new careers, as
indicated in contemporary career studies (Arthur, 2008; Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). In developing and
validating a measure for the protean career orientation we add a tool that enables current surveys to employ
measurement of contemporary construct.
The measure was tested across cultures, nations, sectors, and professions. A caveat should be borne in mind,
that there is a large number of potential reasons (individual, organizational and cultural) that may cause
differences in work attitudes and orientations, and this study did not cover all of them. The measure was
found to be uni-dimensional and with strong evidence of reliability. As such we recommend its use in
surveys, both in surveys conducted by HR managers and consultants for practical purposes such as testing
employees’ attitudes, and by academic scholars for conducting rigor quantitative empirical studies using
questionnaires. Understanding employees’ career orientation could help realizing possible inclinations to go
through changes, for example, opting for expatriation position (van der Heijden, van Engen, & Paauwe,
2009; Yan & Hall, 2005). Consultants or HR managers should be able to evaluate motives and mind-sets of
individuals.
Using several studies to test the appropriateness of alternative items is in line with past work of scale
validation (Kacmar & Carlson, 1997). The results of the studies indicate a good level of reliability, in line
with Nunnally’s recommendation (1978) i.e. over the 0.70 threshold. Further, comparing with Casper et al.
20
(2007), the tests conducted and reported here go beyond the norm reported in validation across the industrial
organizational psychology and organizational behavior areas. Overall, we provide strong evidence to support
the protean career scale as a valid, reliable, concise, and practical measure of the construct. It also offered
insights regarding the relationships with other career related constructs. In particular, it is interesting to note
that the association between the protean career orientation and the traditional career attitude were not
necessarily opposing, in line with earlier observations (Hall, 2002; Lips-Wiersma & Hall, 2007). The finding
may be explained by a moderation of different factors that cause the different results, and should be tested in
future studies. These factors may be general, such as culture; organizational, such as industrial sector; and
individual characteristics, such as various work attitudes. One should consider the meaning of being protean
in different cultures. While a need for development and even spiritual progress is equally relevant in most
cultures, the facet of self-management may be more relevant in individualistic societies, and long term plans
can be relevant where the culture has a higher level of long-planning horizons (Hofstede, 1994). HR
managers should be aware that holding protean orientation does not exclude people from simultaneously
holding a traditional view on the relevance of a clear hierarchy system for their progress along the formal
organizational levels.
The results provided evidence for the validity of this scale by showing that this construct is distinct from
other career related constructs such as a variety of work attitudes. Examining the construct of protean career
against a variety of work related constructs is characterized by high reliability and well established validity.
These studies covered a wide range of work environments, though most of them targeted professional and
managerial employees. The findings lend strong support for the validity of the new measure. This will
hopefully encourage scholars to employ the new validated measure in future academic investigations, in line
with earlier examples of highly valued validation studies (Kacmar & Carlson, 1997; Lee & Ashforth, 1990;
McFarlane, Shore & Tetrick, 1991). The new measure can also be employed in in-company surveys,
typically conducted by HR managers and consultants.
Strengths and weaknesses
21
Within the behavioral sciences no single measure may be considered perfect or optimal, and our measure is
no exception. While these studies used participants from a variety of occupations across a number of
cultures and locations, there is still the possibility that the construct exists only or mostly for managers,
professionals, business graduates or people with a specific mindset (see Inkson et al. 2012 and Arthur, 2008
for critique). The last study in stage I, focusing on bus drivers, suggests that the measure is indeed
generalizable to a wider population. Future studies on the protean career should cover a wider range of
professions and cultures, countering this possible limitation. A further point to take into account is that
hypothesis 2 pointed out that protean careerists could consider physical mobility, such as the intention to
quit, as well as being open to transitions (i.e. psychological mobility). Also, a protean careerist may be more
likely to engage in career crafting. While physical mobility was tested in this study, psychological mobility
was not tested. Studying other forms of physical and that of psychological mobility should be considered as
a direction for future research. Another limitation is the need to run longitudinal studies to evaluate the
lasting impact of the protean career orientation.
The limitations of this paper are countered by certain crucial strengths. Most notably, the studies reported
here bridge a clear gap in the literature, taking a theory from the conceptualization stage to research
application, as well as to practical surveying work of HR managers and consultants. Given recent emphasis
on shorter and concise measures for employee surveys, the parsimonious scale tested here was proven to be
a useful measure with strong evidence of reliability and validity. It means that this concise measure can be
further employed in studies which utilize a quantitative, positivistic approach, and in attitudes surveys. With
the growing interest in the changing nature of careers and labor markets, this measure is a significant
addition to the arsenal of tools that scholars can use. It is a tool which would enable to capture the true
original meaning of the protean career when studying the contemporary workforce across various sectors,
industries and cultures.
Research implications
The implications of this newly developed measure for future research in the area of career studies are
significant. Protean career theory can now be further developed and tested via quantitative studies, using a
22
concise and practical measure with strong evidence of reliability and validity. Scholars and managers can
use this scale to assess and monitor employees’ protean career orientation, such as implications for job
design (Hall & Las Heras, 2010) or for global management of expatriation (Cerdin & Pargneux, 2009). The
measure is ‘user-friendly’, being neither unnecessarily complex nor overly simplistic. Space in
questionnaires is becoming an important issue, as employees are increasingly inundated with questionnaires,
and becoming reluctant to fill in the longer ones. Based on a Likert scale and with only seven items, the
measure can be easily incorporated into conventional questionnaires’ design, typically used in the behavioral
sciences to generate new knowledge. Using a short measure would also help in having shorter surveys, a
factor that influences response rate in academic studies (see Dillman, 1978; Baruch & Holtom, 2008).
Such a measure of protean career orientation could be useful also for career planning, in career counseling
and in applying career practices (Greenhaus, Callanan, & Godshalk, 2009). It is possible that protean
individuals might prefer other ways of being managed than those who are more traditional in their career
approaches. They would prefer to be consulted rather than being told about their next career move. They
would tend to take initiatives, and to be engaged with self-setting their training needs. Most importantly for
employers, protean individuals might well need creative challenges in order to be retained in their
employing organization. For these advantages, we recommend career counselors to include this measure
added in their ‘tool-kit’.
Theoretical implications
Theoretically, the area of ‘new career’ (Arthur, 2008; Lips-Wiersma & Hall, 2007) is still in its early stages
in terms of quantitative empirical studies (Inkson et al. 2012), but novel concepts should be tested using
acceptable measures. Without the ability to asses such constructs, further developments in careers studies are
limited. In light of the new conceptual developments which regularly occur in the area of careers studies, it
is of crucial importance for the scholarly community to be able to test such concepts in a rigorous, academic
manner. If this fails to take place, the study of career systems will suffer from high conceptual ambiguity
that hinders further development (Arthur et al., 1989; Greenhaus, Callanan, & DiRenzo, 2007). Hall’s
23
conceptualization of the protean career has contributed greatly to the career studies literature (Arthur, 2008;
Sullivan & Baruch, 2009). Our major contribution is having an academically sound, practical and concise
measure for the construct that is at the cutting edge of career-theory evolution. Future studies focusing on
careers will be able to use this construct to enrich and expand theory boundaries. It will do so by being used
for rigor research methodology and by enabling rigor theoretical investigation, a crucial factor for the
progress of knowledge on the area of careers. With the dynamic nature of contemporary careers (e.g. the
debate on generational differences and the globalization of the workforce), this measure will be highly
valuable.
Practical implications
Practitioners and the scholarly community employ multiple-item measures to evaluate various constructs,
essential for the ability to conduct a sound and effective evaluation of the protean career orientation both for
individuals, and at the aggregate level, for organizations too. The managerial implications of this study refer,
first, to the academic management of research studies which aim to explore the ‘new career’ arena, and
second, to those who run attitudes’ surveys. The most significant implication is that the suggested measure
boasts clear evidence of strong reliability and validity. We recommend employing a seven-point Likert scale
when utilizing this measure, unless the population is of a lower ability to make a detailed distinction across
levels (e.g. less educated). The set we propose comprises of the items utilized in Stage II, as presented in
table 1. Based on the studies that used fewer items, if there are space limitations within a questionnaire, it
may be sufficient to use a subset of 6 items from the above list, depends on the type of the population (e.g.
item 3 represent more of the perceived ‘employability’ which can be taken as an outcome rather part of
protean career; also, for students, dropping the second item would make a good sense).
It should be remembered that the protean career is a complex phenomenon. Studies that intend to
specifically analyze the protean career as the focus of investigation may employ a wider set of items to test
possible multidimensionality of the construct (Briscoe & Hall, 2003). Conversely, it would not make good
theoretical and practical sense to try and evaluate protean career via a single item measure. While the use of
single-item measures in the behavioral sciences should not be perceived as a 'fatal error' (Wanous, Reichers,
24
& Hudy, 1997), it would not be appropriate in this case. A single item measure can be useful in evaluating
simple constructs such as ‘job satisfaction’ (Greenberg & Barling, 1999). Employing multiple items as
suggested in this study makes good theoretical and practical sense. Our measure is concise, focused,
practical, fits for conventional questionnaire survey designs, and can be translated to different languages and
be applied in various cultures.
In conclusion, this study suggests that the protean career is a distinct construct, related to but different from
other career and work attitudes. Our study enables further investigation based on contemporary frameworks,
as it offers a new measure for a major construct in career studies – the protean career. It will permit the
rigorous exploration of the nature of the relationship between employees, their careers, and their employers,
via the perspective of the ‘new career’ vision.
The contribution to the career literature is made as new concepts should be evaluated in a rigor manner. The
most cited contemporary career concepts are the boundaryless career (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; DeFillippi
& Arthur, 1994) and the protean career (Hall, 1976; 200). While the boundaryless was recently criticized for
lack of validity across sectors and cultures (Inkson et al., 2012), the protean career exists in many global
labor markets (Altman & Baruch, 2012; Richardson & Mallon, 2007), and this study would enable its
investigation, thus supporting prospects of future theoretical contributions to the career literature.
25
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Table 1: Items used and reliability results for Stage I (marked in bold are those eventually used in Stage II)
Items
Study
1. For me, career success is how I am doing
1
2
*
*
*
*
3
4
5
*
*
against my goals and values
2. I navigate my own career, mostly according to
*
*
my plans ()
*
3. If I have to find a new job, it would be easy ()
*
4. I am in charge of my own career
*
*
*
*
5. I take responsibility for my own development
6. Freedom and autonomy are driving forces in
*
*
*
*
*
*
my career
*
7. For me, career success means having flexibility
in my job
8. I consider a wide variety of possible career moves
9. Choosing between two career options, I’ll prefer
*
*
*
the one I haven’t tried yet
10. My focus is on enhancing my employability
*
rather than just the tasks in a job
11. For me, career success means… Having
*
opportunity to learn new skills
12. I often explore other work options, even when my
*
current job goes well
13. If my current work does not support my values,
*
I’ll try to change it
14. I make my career choices based primarily upon
*
financial considerations (R)
Cronbach’s alpha
.71 .75 .70 .82 .75
 - this item represent ‘employability’, and thus can be dropped if a shorter item is looked for
 - this item does not fit for students’ populations
32
Table 2: Correlation between Protean Career and other Constructs, Stage I
Items
Job satisfaction
1
2
.29**
3
4
.07
Life Satisfaction
.42**
Career satisfaction
.41**
.34**
Internal career success
.25**
External career success
.12*
Scholastic gains from MBA
.18**
Networking gains from MBA
.14*
Cultural gains from MBA
.20**
Learning propensity
.48**
Intention to quit
Self efficacy
.09
-.33** .02
.38**
Performance (self evaluation, apart from
.53** .26**
study 3)
Salary
5
.25**
Satisfaction with the transition process
.26**
Stress level during the transition
-.32**
Exhaustion during the transition
-.27**
Unhappiness during the transition
-.28**
Creating something New
.23**
Family support during the transition
.16**
Friends support during the transition
.22**
Time to gain new job
-.13*
33
Traditional Career attitude
.09
Labor market perception
.25**
Working hours
-.16**
.40** .69**
Career future perception
.28**
Organizational commitment (Affective)
.32** (.45**) .36**
Organizational commitment (Continuance)
(.07)
Organizational commitment (Normative)
(.28**)
Age
-.23**
-.10
Affective organisational identification
.46**
Evaluative organisational identification
.47**
Cognitive organisational identification
.43**
Perceived organisational support
.28**
Affective occupational commitment
.57** .38**
Continuance occupational commitment
.10*
Normative occupational commitment
.34**
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table 3: Correlation between Protean Career and other Constructs in Stage II
Variables
1
2
34
3
4
Job satisfaction
Organizational Commitment
Traditional Career Attitude
Intention to quit
Performance – self evaluation
Performance – organizational data
Skills (in study 2, actual skills; in study 4,
.24** .56** .05
.14 .42** -.18
.23**
.00
-.14
.03
.06
.21
.50**
.21** .04
.19
.15**
anticipated scholastic gains from studies)
.10*
.20**
Voluntary turnover
.25**
* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
35