An examination of the relationships between university students' proactive career behaviors, planned happenstance skills in career, and uncertainty tolerance

This study aims to examine the mediating role of tolerance for uncertainty in the relationship between planned happenstance skills and proactive career behaviors among undergraduate students. The research employs a correlational survey design. The sub-objectives of the study are to determine whether planned happenstance skills predict proactive career behaviors and whether tolerance for uncertainty mediates this relationship. The study group consists of undergraduate students enrolled at a public university in Adana, Turkey. Among the participants, 67.8% identified as female, 31.9% as male, and 0.3% preferred not to disclose their gender. Data on students' planned happenstance skills were collected using the "Planned Happenstance Career Inventory" developed by Kim, Jung, Jang, Lee, Rhee, Cho, and Lee (2014) and adapted into Turkish by Akıman (2018). Tolerance for uncertainty was measured using the "Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale – Short Form," developed by Carleton, Norton, and Asmundson (2007) and adapted into Turkish by Sarıçam, Erguvan, Akın, and Akça (2014). Proactive career behaviors were assessed using the "Proactive Career Behaviors Scale" developed by Doğanülkü and Kırdök (2025). Personal information was collected through a "Personal Information Form" created by the researcher. To analyze the research data, Pearson correlation was used to examine the relationships among planned happenstance skills, tolerance for uncertainty, and proactive career behaviors. Hierarchical regression was used to test the predictive power of planned happenstance skills on proactive career behaviors. Additionally, PROCESS Model 4 was employed to test the mediating effect of tolerance for uncertainty in this relationship. The correlation analysis revealed that the stability and risk-taking dimensions of planned happenstance skills were positively correlated with tolerance for uncertainty, while the dimensions of stability, optimism, risk-taking, and curiosity were positively correlated with proactive career behaviors. Moreover, tolerance for uncertainty was found to be positively correlated with proactive career behaviors. According to the results of the hierarchical regression analysis, the variables of consistency, risk-taking, and optimism significantly and strongly predict proactive career behaviors (p < .01). In contrast, the variables of curiosity and flexibility did not make a significant contribution to the model (p > .05). The greatest contribution was obtained with the inclusion of optimism, raising the explanatory power of the model to 34.1%. The findings of the mediation analyses further indicated that tolerance for uncertainty plays a mediating role in the prediction of proactive career behaviors by each of the planned happenstance skills—namely, consistency, flexibility, optimism, risk-taking, and curiosity. The findings obtained from the study were discussed within the framework of the relevant literature, and appropriate recommendations were provided. Keywords: Planned happenstance skills in career, uncertainty tolerance, proactive career behaviors, emerging adulthood