Antecedents and Outcomes of Career Adaptability: An Empirical Study in the Hotel Industry

The purpose of this thesis is to develop and test a research model that examines the interrelationships of high-performance work practices, career adaptability, met expectations, creative performance, and extra-role performance. In the model, career adaptability is treated as a mediator in the abovementioned relationships. In other words, high-performance work practices influence met expectations, creative performance, and extra-role performance through the mediating role of career adaptability. These relationships were tested with data collected from full-time customer-contact employees and their immediate supervisors in the four- and five-star hotels in Mashhad in Iran. Data were collected with a time lag of two weeks in three waves. The aforementioned relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate that selective staffing, job security, training, empowerment, rewards, teamwork, career opportunities, and work-life balance as the indicators of high-performance work practices jointly trigger career adaptability. The results also indicate that career adaptability increases met expectations, creative performance, and extra-role performance. Career adaptability has a mediating role in these relationships. Specifically, career adaptability fully mediates the effects of high-performance work practices on met expectations, creative performance, and extra-role performance. The abovementioned findings are discussed and their theoretical and managerial implications are given in this thesis. Limitations and future research directions are also provided in this thesis.