Uncovering Project Management Professionals Careers: A JD-R and Career Construction Theory Approach

Abstract

The project management literature on how project employees experience their unique careers is still understudied, and there is little knowledge about the career paths of project employees. Interestingly, literature regarding sustainable careers, their antecedents, consequences, and boundary conditions is also in its infancy. This research addresses these research gaps by integrating careers and the project management field to understand better the procedures and structures that influence the career sustainability of project employees. Considering the individual perspective, this research uncovers and enriches our understanding of how job crafting behavior contributes to career sustainability and satisfaction through optimization of job demands and resources by considering Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) and Career Construction Theory Lense. Additionally, examine whether employee autonomy at projects as a boundary condition strengthens the proposed relationships. This study utilizes a cross-sectional (time-lag) research design and survey approach to collect data from 230 employees working on software projects in Lahore, Pakistan. A structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze the relationship between the studied variables. We run the structural model using Hayes (2018) process model 7 and use self-developed estimands to analyze the moderated mediation relationships instead of using SPSS macros. The results of this study show that job crafting significantly contributes to career sustainability and career satisfaction. Sustainable careers partially mediate the positive relationships between job crafting and career satisfaction. Further, the moderated mediation results show that additional job resources, such as job autonomy, further strengthen job crafting and career success relationships mediated by career sustainability. The results of this study provide help to human resources managers, project managers, and organizations to develop strategies and policies to stimulate proactive behaviors, making employees responsible for their career sustainability.