Hierarchical Component Model (HCM) of Career Success and the Moderating Effect of Gender, from the Perspective of University Alumni: Multigroup Analysis and Empirical Evidence from Quevedo, Ecuador

Abstract

The professional success of graduates is closely linked to the value of university performance, perhaps much more so than other indicators. This study analyses the predictive and explanatory capacity of a model on the career success of university alumni in a developing country (Ecuador), which serves as empirical evidence on the subject; we examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationships between constructs in the model. We use a Hierarchical Component Model (HCM) of Partial Least Squares Structural Equations (PLS-SEM) and a permutation-based multigroup analysis for moderation. The used database comprises 444 records from a self-administered survey of graduates of the State Technical University of Quevedo (UTEQ)—Ecuador. On the findings, the model proposed has good explanatory and predictive power for career success. Objective success has a lower incidence of professional success (22% of the variance explained) than subjective success (78% of the variance explained). In none of the latent variable correlations in the model were gender differences between men and women found to be statistically significant. Finally, we also cover the study’s theoretical and practical implications.

The Impact of Glass Ceiling Perceptions among Female Staff on Subjective Career Success: The Moderating Role of Organizational Culture: Afield study on Beni-Suef Governorate General Office

“…Career success is a social construct that helps us understand an individual"s goals and perceptions, what inspires him/her and enables him/her to make decisions, his/her personal values and what makes him/her happy at work. For these reasons, studies in various fields, such as management, economics, human resources, organizational sciences and psychology, have become increasingly interested in exploring career success (Saltos et al, 2023).…”

“…Many scholars have approached this with a variety of definitions and angles, such as the achievement of an individual"s pleasure, careerrelated work history or personal beliefs. For example, Arthur et al defined career success as "the accomplishment of desirable work-related outcomes at any point in a person"s work experiences over time" (Saltos et al, 2023). Judge et al, (1995) noted that career success is the positive psychological or work achievements accumulated as a result of one"s work experience (Fathy and Youssif, 2020).…”

“…Another aspect of subjective success is the individual"s judgements about important personal outcomes. Each person is responsible for his or her career progress (Saltos et al, 2023).…”

“…6/2/3 The Dependent Variable: Subjective Career Success: (q34-q45): ( 12) items, it is measured by the scale developed by (Shockley et al, 2016)) and used by (Najam et al, 2020;Saltos et al, 2023).…”