Millennials’ career attitudes: The roles of career anchors and psychological empowerment

Abstract

This study examines the mediating effect Millennials’ psychological empowerment perceptions on the relationship between their career anchors (technical/functional competence, general managerial competence, autonomy/independence, security/stability, entrepreneurial creativity, service/dedication to a cause, pure challenge and life style) and career attitudes. Participants were 492 engineers who are working in different Information Technology companies. The results indicate a significant relationship between Millennials’ psychological empowerment and their protean career attitudes. Hierarchical regression analyses show that the relationships between career anchors (autonomy, security, entrepreneurial creativity, service and pure challenge) and Millennials’ protean career attitudes are partially mediated by their psychological empowerment perceptions. The findings reveal that organizations should focus more on giving importance to empowerment mechanisms for Millennials that is the underlying effect between their career anchors and career attitudes.