Managing One’s Career: The Joint Effects of Job Autonomy, Supervisor Support, and Calling

In the contemporary work environment, which is characterized by change and uncertainty, employees must proactively manage their careers to develop and maintain their competitiveness. Drawing on self-determination theory, this study developed an interactive model that uses job autonomy, supervisor support, and calling to predict career self-management. With a sample of 245 full-time employees in China, the time-lagged survey showed that job autonomy has a direct effect on career self-management, which is moderated by supervisor support and employees’ calling. Furthermore, the three-way interaction indicated that the moderating effect of supervisor support on the relationship between job autonomy and career self-management is stronger when calling is low. Finally, the implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.