Major Determinants of Career Development: Employees’ Perception

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the factors influencing employee’s career development within the organization. Based on the comprehensive literature review, the determinants of Career Development have been broadly classified into three categories: organizational, social and personal. Empirical investigation is conducted to test the influence on employee’s Career Development in the social settings of Pakistan’s banking sector in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The organizational factors (Political Skills, Work Content, Affective Commitment and Leader-Member Exchange), the social factors (Family & Friends Support & Peer Support) and personal factors (Core-Self-Evaluation) along with four demographic traits (Gender, Age, Qualification and Experience) have been taken as independent variables. The relationship of these variables with Career Development is tested and explored. Research items are adopted from well-established previous studies. Convenient sample design is used to select the sample. General Linear Model is applied to test the hypothesized relationship among the variables. Study finds that Organizational factors and social factors like Family Support positively influence on the Career Development. Peer support is perceived to have inverse relation with career development. Core-Self-Evaluation is found insignificant with employee’s Career Development. Career Development perception is same across the levels of gender and across the levels of Age. Career Development perception is found highest with Experience category 5-10 years. This study provides a vision to employees about their Career Development process and motivates them to focus on important dimension of Career Development. This study enhances the existing body of knowledge by investigating Organizational; Social and Personal factors (Scale Predictors) with a combination of demographic traits (Qualitative Predictors). It supplements the Career Development practices by establishing a comprehensive framework on Career Development. This study highlights the importance of education and experience for the employees.