Employability as a compass for career success: a time-lagged study on the mediating role of job performance

Purpose – Despite employability being an individual resource that can be beneficial to both employees and employers, organizations have often ambiguously dealt with it because, even while a higher employability can improve employees' job performances, it can also increase the chances of employees' turnover and inter-organizational mobility. Hence, with the objective of reconciling individual and organizational perspectives on employability, adopting a conservation of resources theorizing perspective, this paper aims to investigate the mediating role of job performance in the relationships between employability and two facets of career success (i.e. objective and subjective career success). Design/methodology/approach – In total, 315 Italian employees filled out 3 questionnaires through a time-lagged research design; employability and demographic data were collected at Time 1, job performance was assessed at Time 2 and objective and subjective career success were evaluated at Time 3. The data were analysed through structural equation modelling. Findings – Job performance appeared to play a mediating role in the positive associations between employability, on the one hand, and both objective and subjective career success, on the other hand. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing scholarly literature by highlighting the pivotal role of employability for the success of both employees and employers. Moreover, we elucidate the underlying mediated chain of mechanisms through which employability contributes to increasing career success. Our results are translated into recommendations for organizations that are aimed at increasing both objective and subjective career success in order to keep them committed and connected.