CAREER PROGRAMS AND CAREER NEEDS AS DETERMINANTS OF CAREER EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Recent literature pertaining on human capital development highlights that career program consists of two salient elements: planning and management. The ability of management to appropriately plan and manage career programs will help to meet employees’ career needs, and this situation may lead to enhanced career effectiveness. Although the nature of this relationship is interesting, the role of career needs as an important mediating variable is largely ignored in workplace career development model. Thus, this study was conducted to measure the correlation between career program, career needs and career effectiveness using self-report questionnaires gathered from employees at a Malaysian defense higher learning institution. The outcomes of SmartPLS path model analysis confirmed that fulfillment of career needs does act as an important mediating variable in the relationship between career program and career effectiveness in the organizational sample. Further, this study offers discussion, implications and conclusion.