Pennies and Professions: Examining the Role of Financial Stress and Self-Regulation on Proactive Career Behaviours

This study among 119 university students explored the relationship between individuals’ perceived financial stress and self-regulation on proactive career behaviours. According to the ego depletion theory, financial worry takes a toll on one’s cognitive performance and reduces one’s likeliness to initiate career-building. Meanwhile, better-regulated individuals tend to exhibit more proactive career behaviours as they are thought to be better in maintaining long-term goals and focus. Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses revealed a significantly positive correlation between financial stress and proactive career behaviours instead. However, financial stress non-significantly predicted of the variance of proactive career behaviours in students. Furthermore, we found that self-regulation was indeed positively but non-significantly correlated to proactive career behaviours, and that the former was a non-significant predictor of the latter as well. In addition, a surprising...Show moreThis study among 119 university students explored the relationship between individuals’ perceived financial stress and self-regulation on proactive career behaviours. According to the ego depletion theory, financial worry takes a toll on one’s cognitive performance and reduces one’s likeliness to initiate career-building. Meanwhile, better-regulated individuals tend to exhibit more proactive career behaviours as they are thought to be better in maintaining long-term goals and focus. Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses revealed a significantly positive correlation between financial stress and proactive career behaviours instead. However, financial stress non-significantly predicted of the variance of proactive career behaviours in students. Furthermore, we found that self-regulation was indeed positively but non-significantly correlated to proactive career behaviours, and that the former was a non-significant predictor of the latter as well. In addition, a surprising negative association was found between self-regulation and financial stress. The growing necessity for university students to exhibit proactive career behaviours remains a topic of relevance in today’s modern working climate, thus having implications on policy implementations for low-income university students. The present study hence adds nuance to the growing body of research regarding university students’ motives behind acting proactively when managing their careers, in that proactive career behaviours may arise from a dynamic combination of different contextual and individual factors.Show less

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Pennies and Professions: Examining the Role of Financial Stress and Self-Regulation on Proactive Career Behaviours