Career adaptability, job crafting and subjective career success: the moderating roles of lone wolf personality and positive perfectionism

PurposeUsing career construction theory, the authors empirically examine the mechanism by which career adaptability promotes employee subjective career success (career satisfaction and career commitment) through job crafting.Design/methodology/approachA moderated mediation model is tested using survey data from 324 full-time business professionals in France. Hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling (SEM).Findingshe authors found that job crafting mediated the relationship between career adaptability and subjective career success (career satisfaction and career commitment). The positive effect of career adaptability on job crafting was greater under higher levels of lone wolf personality and positive perfectionism, as was the indirect effect of career adaptability on subjective career success via job crafting.Research limitations/implicationsdata are cross-sectional in nature. Robust theoretical contentions and affective means of identifying common method variance (CMV) are addressed and evaluated.Practical implicationsHigh levels of career adaptability may be a useful strategy for promoting employee job crafting and subjective career success. In addition, individuals with lone wolf personality and positive perfectionism should be given opportunities to craft their jobs in the workplace.Originality/valueThis research confirms a moderated mediation model positioning job crafting as a mediator of career adaptability's effects on employee subjective career success and lone wolf and positive perfectionism as moderators of such effects. This study suggests that job crafting and career-focused personality traits are important factors that influence the relationship between career adaptability and subjective career success.