A Moderated Mediation Model of Planned Happenstance Skills, Career Engagement, Career Decision Self‐Efficacy, and Career Decision Certainty

Abstract

This study examined how college students’ levels of planned happenstance skills influenced the relationships among career engagement, career decision self‐efficacy, and career decision certainty. Moderated mediation analysis was used with a sample of 217 Korean undergraduate students. The results indicated that career decision self‐efficacy mediated the relationship between career engagement and career decision certainty. Moreover, the positive indirect effect of career engagement on career decision through career decision self‐efficacy was strengthened as the level of planned happenstance skills increased. In conclusion, college students’ career engagement strengthens their career decision certainty via career decision self‐efficacy when they have enough planned happenstance skills to discover unexpected career opportunities.

The Planned Happenstance Career Inventory: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison

“…Using planned happenstance theory (Mitchell et al, 1999), B. Kim, Jang, et al (2014) developed and initially validated the Planned Happenstance Career Inventory (PHCI) to measure how responses to unexpected opportunities could influence career choice. In the initial scale development process, they conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) to verify the inventory’s five‐factor structure and provided support for its construct validity, internal consistency, and reliability.…”

“…Additional research revealed that the PHCI had a positive relationship with career engagement and career self‐efficacy (B. Kim, Jung, et al, 2014). PHCI skills were also related to career satisfaction (B. Kim, Rhee, Ha, Yang, & Lee, 2016).…”

“…Although planned happenstance theory was initially formulated in an individualistic culture (Krumboltz, 2009), existing empirical and conceptual research about the theory largely deal with samples from collectivist cultures such as Korea, Japan, or Taiwan (Chien, Fischer, & Biller, 2006; Hirschi, 2010; B. Kim, Jang, et al, 2014). Cross‐cultural studies are therefore needed to determine whether planned happenstance skills are universal constructs that are applicable regardless of culture or whether they are cultural phenomena that vary across different cultures (Q. Hu et al, 2014; Milfont, & Fischer, 2015; Nye, Roberts, Saucier, & Zhou, 2008).…”

“…The purpose of the present study was to verify measurement invariance of the PHCI among South Korean and American undergraduate students and to identify latent mean differences across cultures. Given that the concept of planned happenstance was initially developed by American scholars and the five‐factor structure was supported in both South Korean (B. Kim, Jung, et al, 2014) and American samples (J. H. Lee et al, 2017), there is a high possibility of measurement invariance across these samples. We sought to answer two research questions: First, is the factorial structure of the PHCI equivalent among both South Korean and American undergraduates?…”

Virtue Existential Career Model: A Dialectic and Integrative Approach Echoing Eastern Philosophy

“…At first, Mitchell et al (1999) brought out five yin type of planned happenstance skills: Curiosity refers to exploring new learning, persistence to exerting efforts in spite of setbacks, flexibility to adjusting to change, optimism to believing in new opportunities, and risk-taking to taking action in spite of uncertainty. Positive relationship between these skills and career evolution has been found (e.g., Magnuson et al, 2003; Kim et al, 2014). …”