Impact of Cultural Individualism and Collectivism on Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

Abstract

Over the past several decades, new career theories have been developed in an attempt to explain the changing nature of work. Careers are now commonly considered to be self-driven and contingent on factors such as personal values and mobility. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how identification with cultural individualism and collectivism influences participants’ overall protean and boundaryless career attitudes and overall job satisfaction. The data were collected from 203 working adults in the United States. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether identification with certain cultural dimensions was predictive of levels of job satisfaction and adherence to particular career attitudes. Results indicated that several cultural variables within the individualism and collectivism constructs do have moderate predictive value in determining career attitudes and job satisfaction. The findings also supported previous research studies that sought to differentiate between the protean and boundaryless career attitudes.