Career Shocks: The Impact of Perceived Employability, Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Emotion Regulation

Setz, Sophie (2025) Career Shocks: The Impact of Perceived Employability, Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Emotion Regulation. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

Unexpected career shocks often lead to career reflection, yet little is known about how these moments of reflection shape workplace behavior. Negative career shocks, defined as sudden disruptive events, may undermine organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A scenario-based experimental study was conducted with 108 participants to examine how individuals respond to negative career shocks and how emotion regulation engagement strategies might shape these responses. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examined whether perceived employability is positively associated with OCB (H1) and whether this relationship is moderated by emotion regulation engagement strategies (H2). Findings showed a significant positive relationship between perceived employability and OCB, supporting the first hypothesis. In contrast, the overall moderating trend of emotion regulation engagement strategies was insignificant, providing no support for the second hypothesis. However, exploratory analyses separating engagement strategies revealed that reappraisal significantly strengthened the relationship between perceived employability and OCB, whereas problem-solving did not exert a significant moderating effect. These findings highlight the role of perceived employability as a psychological resource that fosters proactive behavior during career shocks and suggest that training in specific emotion regulation engagement strategies, such as reappraisal, may enhance employees’ sustained engagement in organizational contexts.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Kitz, C.C.
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Psychology]
Date Deposited:	08 Jul 2025 09:10
Last Modified:	08 Jul 2025 09:10
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5352

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