Workplace Self-Expansion: Implications for Job Satisfaction, Commitment, Self-Concept Clarity, and Self-Esteem Among the Employed and Unemployed

Abstract

Similar to how individuals in close relationships incorporate aspects of their partner into their self-concept, we suggest that jobs promote self-expansion when they lead people to develop skills and assume new identities. In Study 1, we sampled currently employed individuals, and results show that self-expansion predicts job satisfaction and commitment, even when controlling for salary, tenure, and demographic variables. In Study 2, we examined the impact of losing a self-expanding job by sampling currently unemployed individuals, and results show that losing a self-expanding job results in lower amounts of self-concept clarity and self-esteem.