The impact of career visions on work attitudes: a longitudinal approach

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of difficult and specific career visions on job satisfaction and turnover intentions seven years after students reported their visions.

Data for this study were collected in two waves, seven years apart, from the same cohort. At time 1 the career visions of MBA students were measured in terms of difficulty and specificity. At time 2 MBA students reported their job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

Results showed that MBA students with a specific and challenging career vision were less likely to report intentions to leave their work seven years after reporting their visions. Further, job satisfaction mediated this relationship.

The study was limited due to the small sample size used (n=74). Future studies should also test whether goal progress and job performance could be mediators between the quality of career vision and job satisfaction.

Results of this study indicate that individuals who formulated more specific career visions were more satisfied with their jobs seven years after reporting their visions. This finding has implications for career counsellors, coaches and managers who care for the development of their subordinates.

This is the first study that examined the impact of the quality of career visions (i.e. specificity and difficulty) on future job satisfaction and turnover intentions.