KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business, Belgium
People longing for career change often fail to realize their career desire. Recent research indicates that the failure in achieving one’s desired career change may be due to a lack of sufficient effort (i.e., not taking action or giving up prematurely). To date, it remains unclear which factors trigger actions or, conversely, lack of action among people with a career longing. Based on the mental contrasting theory, we propose that different temporal focus profiles may lead to varying career transition outcomes. By using latent profile analysis, we identified three temporal focus profiles – balanced focus, anytime-but-now, and carpe diem focus – among individuals with a clear desire for career change in Belgium. Our research reveals that, among all temporal focus profiles, individuals with a balanced temporal focus were the most likely to achieve a job change. By contrast, people with an anytime-but-now temporal focus or carpe diem focus had a lower likelihood of job change. However, surprisingly, we found that people with an anytime-but-now focus were more likely to feel stuck in their jobs (highest career inaction, lowest psychological wellbeing), while people with a carpe diem focus were more likely to have a high psychological wellbeing, despite the failure in achieving the desired career change.
