With rapid technological advancement, globalization, and economic turmoil, employees face challenges of workplace competition, health issues, and psychological pressure. Promoting sustainable career has become a key concern for employees. This study investigates whether and how long-term orientation, a stable individual trait, fosters a sustainable career. Drawing on self-regulation and paradox theories, this study explored the mechanisms underlying the relationship between long-term orientation and sustainable career. Through a three-time point questionnaire survey of working employees in several industries, this study found that long-term orientation has a chained dual-path effect on sustainable career, via positively influencing both vocational delay of gratification and future work self salience, which uphold career self-management, further fostering sustainable career. The study expands the understanding of long-term orientation's impact on career development, enriching paradox theory, and provides practical guidance for organizations in selecting employees with long-term orientation.
