abstract: 'Purpose - Individual employability has become a crucial element in

  ensuring labor security in flexibilizing labor markets. The importance

  of agency-side factors as antecedents of employability has been

  emphasized in the relevant literature, spurring the criticism that some

  worker groups may be more restricted than others by contextual factors

  in respect to their employment prospects. The purpose of this paper is

  to examine empirically how labor market groups differ in what shapes

  their employability.

  Design/methodology/approach - The authors used a representative sample

  of 1,055 employees to detect differences in the impact of career

  self-directedness (agency-side) and several contextual factors

  (structure-side) on employability, comparing workers with and without

  higher education and workers in and outside managerial positions.

  Confirmatory factor analysis with subsequent tests of invariance was

  used.

  Findings - Results confirm that employability is affected both by

  contextual factors and by self-directedness. No significant differences

  were observed between the compared groups in the extent to which

  self-directedness and the contextual factors influence employability. An

  important finding is that self-directedness itself is affected by

  preceding career history (career mobility and previous unemployment),

  which may suggest a vicious-circle relationship between past and future

  career precariousness.

  Practical/implications - The findings support the view prevailing in

  policy circles that fostering agency-side factors such as

  self-directedness is instrumental toward achieving higher employment

  security. At the same time, individual agency cannot replace traditional

  policy measures in tackling structural labor market inequalities.

  Originality/value - This study uses robust methodology and a

  representative respondent sample to statistically disentangle the

  effects of agency and context on employability. Its key contribution

  pertains to the explicit comparison of different worker groups, with

  separate contrasts on each model parameter.'
affiliation: 'Kovalenko, M (Corresponding Author), Univ Antwerp, Fac Social Sci, Dept
  Sociol, Antwerp, Belgium.

  Kovalenko, Maxim; Mortelmans, Dimitri, Univ Antwerp, Fac Social Sci, Dept Sociol,
  Antwerp, Belgium.'
author: Kovalenko, Maxim and Mortelmans, Dimitri
author-email: maxim.kovalenko@uantwerpen.be
author_list:
- family: Kovalenko
  given: Maxim
- family: Mortelmans
  given: Dimitri
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1108/CDI-01-2016-0012
eissn: 1758-6003
files: []
issn: 1362-0436
journal: CAREER DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL
keywords: 'Employability; Agency and structure; Career self-directedness; Labor

  market strata; New career; New employment relationship'
keywords-plus: 'BOUNDARYLESS CAREERS; PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY; ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYMENT;

  MOBILITY; UNEMPLOYMENT; EMPLOYEES; ASSOCIATIONS; SATISFACTION;

  MANAGEMENT; OUTCOMES'
language: English
number: '5'
number-of-cited-references: '73'
orcid-numbers: 'Mortelmans, Dimitri/0000-0003-3285-8223

  Kovalenko, Maxim/0000-0002-1527-8860'
pages: 498-517
papis_id: cd2db411f0caf92b6be2563ea856690c
ref: Kovalenko2016contextualizingemplo
researcherid-numbers: 'Mortelmans, Dimitri/B-3860-2010

  Kovalenko, Maxim/R-7386-2016'
times-cited: '17'
title: Contextualizing employability Do boundaries of self-directedness vary in different
  labor market groups?
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000386016200004
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '22'
volume: '21'
web-of-science-categories: Psychology, Applied; Management
year: '2016'