UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
-----------------------------

Tran Ha Quyen

FACTORS AFFECTING
INDIVIDUALS’ SUBJECTIVE
CAREER SUCCESS

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2017


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
-----------------------------

Tran Ha Quyen

FACTORS AFFECTING
INDIVIDUALS’ SUBJECTIVE
CAREER SUCCESS
ID: 22130060
MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)
SUPERVISOR: Dr. NGUYEN THI MAI TRANG

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2017

This page is intentionally left blank.


DECLARATION
I hereby declare that:

student’s work or from any other source except where due acknowledgement
and citation is made in the thesis.

person.
This work has not been published.

Signature: Tran Ha Quyen

1


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This thesis could not be complete without support, guidance, and
encouragement of many people.
I would want to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen
Thi Mai Trang, for her tremendous patience and professional guidance to my
thesis.
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the members of the
examination committee for their valuable comments and suggestions for my
thesis.
I would want to thank all of my lecturers at International Business School at
University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their teaching and guidance
during my Master course.
I also want to send a big thank you to the program coordinator, Ms. Lien

Nguyen, for her continuous admin support and paper work guidance.
I would like to thank my colleagues for their encouragement during the
progress of this thesis.
Last but not least, I want to express my great thank you to my husband and
family for their assistance and encouragement for my study.

2


ABSTRACT
This study examines the factors affecting individuals’ subjective
career success based on the sponsor and contest mobility of career success
(Turner, 1960; Rosenbaum, 1984). Subjective career success has been
normally approached by three perspectives: individual, structural, and
behavioral in which the individual and behavioral approaches belong to the
contest-mobility model of career success while the structural one belongs to
the sponsored-mobility model. With critical components of individuals’
subjective career success such as organizational sponsorship, external
marketability, person-organization fit, and its consequence which is life
satisfaction, the research makes an attempt to examine all of the three
perspectives mentioned.
Research findings indicate that organizational sponsorship and
external marketability make significant impacts on subjective career success
and these relationships are positive. This study also examines a number of
personal information like gender, marital status, age, highest diploma,
occupation, number of working years, and monthly salary when it comes to
perceived career success. In addition, subjective career success also
positively affects life satisfaction. The findings have important practical
implications for managers and leaders, who generally seek to motivate their
employees toward career achievement.


Key words: individuals’ subjective career success, organizational
sponsorship, external marketability, person-organization fit, life satisfaction

3


TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION .......................................................................................... 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................ 2
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................. 4
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ 6
LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................... 6
LIST OF APPENDICES ............................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 8
1.1. Research background ......................................................................... 8
1.2. Research problem ............................................................................... 9
1.3. Research objectives .......................................................................... 10
1.4. Research scope ................................................................................. 10
1.5. Structure of the thesis ....................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................... 12
2.1. Theoretical foundation ..................................................................... 12
2.2. The nature of subjective career success ........................................... 12
2.3. Person-organization fit and subjective career success ..................... 15
2.4. Organizational sponsorship and subjective career success .............. 16
2.5. External marketability and subjective career success ...................... 17
2.6 Subjective career success and life satisfaction .................................. 17
2.7. Conceptual model............................................................................. 19

CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHOD ...................................................... 21
3.1. Research design ................................................................................ 21
3.1.1. Research process ....................................................................... 22
3.1.2. Measurement scales .................................................................. 22
3.2. Measurement refinement .................................................................. 26
3.3. Quantitative study ............................................................................ 26
4


3.3.1. Sampling and data collection .................................................... 27
3.3.2. Data analysis ............................................................................. 27
CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH RESULTS ...................................................... 28
4.1. Participant demographic .................................................................. 28
4.2. Scale reliability and validity ............................................................ 32
4.2.1. Reliability analysis .................................................................... 32
4.2.2. Convergent and discriminant validity ....................................... 34
4.3. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) ................................................ 35
4.3.1. CFA for subjective career success ............................................ 35
4.3.2. CFA for measurement model .................................................... 36
4.3. The overall fitness of the structural equation model ........................ 38
4.4. Hypothesis testing results ................................................................. 40
CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .......................... 42
5.1. Key findings of the study ................................................................. 42
5.2. Managerial implications ................................................................... 43
5.3. Limitations of the study and future research .................................... 45
REFERENCES ............................................................................................ 46
APPENDICES............................................................................................. 52

5



LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Operationalization of the variables ...............................................24
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of demographic variables (Base=150) .........28
Table 3. Descriptive statistics of items (Base=150).....................................30
Table 4. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ........................................................33
Table 5. Assessment of convergent validity ................................................34
Table 6. Assessment of discriminant validity ..............................................35
Table 7. Correlation coefficients ..................................................................38
Table 8. Overall fitness ..............................................................................38
Table 9. Regression weights ........................................................................40
Table 10. Hypothesis testing results ............................................................41

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Conceptual model ........................................................................19
Figure 2. Research process ..........................................................................22
Figure 3. CFA for subjective career success ................................................36
Figure 4. CFA for measurement model .......................................................37
Figure 5. Structural results (standardized estimates) ...................................39

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LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A - IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW .................................................52
APPENDIX B - QUESTIONNAIRE ...........................................................53
APPENDIX C- QUESTIONNAIRE – VIETNAMESE ..............................63
APPENDIX D - DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ..........................................67
APPENDIX E - MODEL FIT SUMMARY ................................................68
APPENDIX F - CORREATION COEFFICIENTS .....................................71

APPENDIX G - REGRESSION WEIGHTS FOR HYPOTHESIS TESTING
......................................................................................................................72
APPENDIX H - REGRESSION WEIGHTS FOR CONTROL VARIABLES
......................................................................................................................76

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Research background
Most of Vietnamese people are under working age. According to the
General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the labor force is considered above 15
years old. In the year of 2013, 58.2% of the Vietnam population was
employed and the majority of the labor was between 25 and 49 years old
accounting for 59.9% of the above-15 labor force (General Statistics Office
of Vietnam, 2015). Therefore, there is a need to help the employed enhance
their career success in terms of both subjective career success and objective
career success so that the employees could contribute more values to their
organizations and themselves.
A career is the opening sequence of a person's work experiences over
time and across multiple jobs, organizations, and occupations (Arthur, Hall,
& Lawrence, 1989; Feldman, 1989). Subjective career success refers to
individuals' perceptual evaluations of, and affective reactions to, their careers
(Greenhaus et al., 1990; Turban & Dougherty, 1994). In the early 1950s,
social scientists observed significant variance in the way individuals saw
success in their own career (Gattiker & Larwood, 1986; Pellegrin & Coates,
1957). Researchers report that a growing proportion of employees determine
their career success in terms of subjective indicators than in terms of
objective indicators such as wage and frequency of promotions (Eith,
Stummer, & Schusterschitz, 2011; Littler, Wiesner, & Dunford, 2003;

Sturges, Guest, Conway, & Davey, 2002). Due to the compelling evidence,
to investigate and understand the components of subjective career success is
a significant and meaningful work for every individual in the labor force.
This research investigates the overview components of the
individuals’ subjective career success so every people in the labor force can
take advantage of the research results. Based on the implication of the
8


research, employees can understand more about what kind of components
influence their career success in their organizations, which one weighs the
largest and which one weighs the least so that they can recognize their
strengths and weaknesses in order to make improvement where needed. In
addition, the management board can also definitely rely on the research
insights to recognize whether the reward system and the company policy fit
their employees’ expectation or not.
1.2. Research problem
Subjective career success is often a drive for individuals’ lives, as a
result understanding how to continuously enhance subjective career success
is a need. Meanwhile there are many researches conducted to investigate the
factors of subjective career success taken in developed economies (Shen et
al., 2015; Tlaiss & Kauser, 2011; Lirio et al., 2007), there is less study of
these drives carried out in such an emerging economy like Vietnam. In
addition, after the global economic crisis since 2008, the unemployed has
been increasing (Tanveer et al., 2012), therefore the labor force really needs
to know how to remain their subjective career success by understanding the
components of the career success. In Vietnam, the unemployed at the
working age proportion had jumped from 2.38% in 2008 to 2.90% in 2009,
followed by a dramatic decrease between 2010 with 2.88% and 2012 with
1.96%; however the proportion tends to be increasing because there is 2.18%

unemployment in the year 2013 (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2015).
Moreover, the competitiveness in the labor force in the global job market
nowadays becomes fierce since Vietnam has been open and joining several
associations to impulse the economic development of the nation such as the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the forthcoming
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Therefore, doing such a study like this not
only helps the unemployed but also the employed in the labor force remain
9


and enhance their career success. This situation pushes a need to examine the
factors affecting individuals’ subjective career success.
1.3. Research objectives
The overall objective of this study is to examine some antecedences and
consequences of individuals’ subjective career success in the Vietnamese
context. Specifically, it investigates four factors taken into consideration
which are organizational sponsorship, external marketability, personorganization fit, and life satisfaction as follows:
 The relationship between person-organization fit and individuals’
subjective career success;
 The relationship between organizational sponsorship and individuals’
subjective career success;
 The relationship between external marketability and individuals’
subjective career success;
 The relationship between individuals’ subjective career success and
life satisfaction.
1.4. Research scope
This study examines the factors affecting individuals’ subjective
career success based on the sponsor and contest mobility of career success
(Turner, 1960; Rosenbaum, 1984). Subjective career success has been

normally approached by three perspectives: individual, structural, and
behavioral in which the individual and behavioral approaches belong to the
contest-mobility model of career success while the structural one belongs to
the sponsored-mobility model. With the four components of individuals’
subjective career success: organizational sponsorship, external marketability,

10


person-organization fit, and life satisfaction, the research makes an attempt
to examine all of the three perspectives mentioned.
This study specifically focuses on the employees who necessarily
have at least two years of working experience in Vietnam after graduation
and they have to be between 22 and 59 years old. Both indirect method of
data collection via electronic mail and online survey and direct method of
data collection via hard copies will be used to deliver questionnaires to
participants. The convenient sampling approach was employed for this study
in order to obtain an expected sample size.
1.5. Structure of the thesis
This thesis is organized as follows:
Chapter 1 introduces the statement of the problems, research questions
and objectives, scope of the research and thesis structure.
Chapter 2 presents literature review including the definition of each
concept and their relationships in previous studies. Hypothesis and
conceptual model are then proposed based on literature review.
Chapter 3 illustrates the method of setting up the measures and
conducting the study. It presents the research design, development of survey
questionnaire, and main survey.
Chapter 4 shows the research results based on data analysis and
discuss these findings in connection with research model.

Chapter 5 summarizes the research results and indicates implications
and limitations of the study.

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CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW
This section introduces an overview of subjective career success and
its factors which have been discussed in previous studies. Based on these, a
conceptual model is proposed.
2.1. Theoretical foundation
The research was developed based on the career success theories of
sponsored and contest mobility (Turner, 1960; Rosenbaum, 1984). Turner
(1960) identified two different systems of career mobility: one based on a
contest-mobility norm and the other based on a sponsored-mobility norm. A
system which follows the contest-mobility norm allows for a fair and open
contest for each promotion decision. The contest-mobility norm assumes that
employees’ attainments are largely a function of how hard they work and the
ability, education, and training they possess (Rosenbaum, 1984). This
implies that the contest-mobility norm is represented by a hybrid of
motivation and human capital theories whereby motivation may be
represented by the employees’ effort on the job and human capital by the
employees’ education level, work experience, and participation in training
programs. In contrast, under the sponsored-mobility norm, selected
individuals receive high levels of support and guidance from superiors
(Rosenbaum, 1984). Thus, the sponsored-mobility norm assumes that the
supervisor sponsors some selected employees and others are deprived of
sponsorship by the supervisor. This differential sponsorship of subordinates
is deemed necessary as it would not be efficient, and perhaps not possible,
for the supervisor to utilize the time and resources needed to sponsor all

subordinates (Rosenbaum, 1984).
2.2. The nature of subjective career success
A number of competing approaches have been identified to explain
career success predictors. The three well-known approaches are the
12


individual, the structural, and the behavioral perspectives (Rosenbaum, 1989;
Aryee et al., 1994) in which the first and the third approaches belong to the
contest-mobility model of career success and the second one belongs to the
sponsor-mobility norm (Wayne et al. 1999). The individual approach draws
heavily on individual variables found in the popular literature of human
capital and motivation theories (Ballout, 2007). This approach focuses on the
individuals as the ones who develop their own human capital and therefore
maximizes their education and skill investments for achieving success in
careers. The structural approach relies on the management theory of the firm
and vacancy models which and postulates that organizational factors such as
organizational size and internal promotional practices are prerequisites for
successful individual careers in organizations. The behavioral approach
assumes that career achievement is a function of certain career strategies
including political influence behavior (Ballout, 2007).
In the work of Turner (1960) and others (e.g. Cable and Murray, 1999;
Judge et al., 2004), the sponsored-mobility model of career success assigns
an elite status to individuals chosen by the organization’s leaders in order to
be part of their group and enjoy upward mobility. The organization thereby
pays special attention to some members, but not to others. The sponsoredmobility model thus relays such factors as career sponsorship, supervisor
support, training and development opportunities, and other similar predictors
of career success. In addition to these, Ng et al. (2005) hinted that personorganization fit may be a candidate for study within the sponsored-mobility
model.
The contest-mobility model rather views upward mobility as a prize

to be won in an open competition. No selection is made; efforts rather
establish differences between individuals (Turner, 1960). External
marketability (i.e. the belief that one is valuable to other employers), a second
variable that has not received much attention in career success research, can
13


be addressed from the contest-mobility perspective. Indeed, when career
success is viewed as a competition that is won by adding value and
contributing job performance (Turner, 1960), then human capital predictors
such as education level, skills, and work experience are most relevant to
career success (Ng et al., 2005). Although at times considered an indicator
rather than a predictor of career success (De Vos et al., 2011; Eby et al.,
2003), external marketability relates strongly to human capital. Feldman
(1996), for instance, argued that competency development increases
employee marketability in the external labour market.
Although the major divide between the sponsored and contest
mobility models offers a meaningful heuristic for organizing the correlates
of career success, the relative status of person-organization fit and external
marketability remains largely undetermined within this configuration,
especially for groups of professional workers.
Career success, defined as the accumulated positive outcomes and
achievements resulting from one’s work experiences ( Judge et al., 1995;
Seibert and Kraimer, 2001), is associated with positive outcomes, including
health, well-being, and longevity (Kern et al., 2009; Leung et al., 2011).
Consistent with recent studies, career success may be defined in terms of
objective and subjective dimensions (Judge and Bretz, 1994; Judge et al.,
1995). Objective career success includes observable career achievements
which relates to an external assessment of professional achievements such as
salary, promotion rates, hierarchical status (Hennequin, 2009, as cited in

Haines et al., 2014; London and Stumpf, 1982). On the other hand, subjective
career success has been defined as individuals’ feelings of accomplishment
and satisfaction with their careers. Based on this definition, one subjective
indicator of career success is the individual's self-report of career satisfaction,
with facets including career advancement, salary growth, and professional
development (Greenhaus, Parasuraman and Wormley, 1990). Because an

14


individual's supervisor typically makes the final recommendations for pay
raise and promotion decisions, the supervisor's judgement of the
subordinate's career success is an important assessment. Thus, the
supervisor's assessment of the subordinate's promotability is a second
subjective indicator of career success. In sum, career success is defined in
terms of the employee's objective salary progression, the employee's career
satisfaction, and the supervisor's subjective assessment of the employee's
promotability.
2.3. Person-organization fit and subjective career success
According to the sponsored-mobility model, those in positions of
power within the organization pay special attention to those members who
are deemed to have high potential. More than five decades ago, Turner (1960)
observed that early selection of those few who are given elite status can
proceed through psychological testing. The process he described is not unlike
the process of determining employee potential for corporate succession plans
wherein supervisors or advisory committees make assessments of each
member’s ability to learn and advance within the organization (Bower,
2007). Given that employee potential is more a function of person adaptation
to the organization than to specific task or role requirements, it would seem
that this is reflected in the concept of person-organization fit defined in this

study as a person’s perception of his or her compatibility with an
organization’s culture and members (i.e. perceived supplementary fit).
Those who are chosen by the powerful are favored; so the sponsoredmobility model goes. The degree of compatibility between the individual and
the organization is likely to set this in motion. Indeed, according to the
attraction-selection-attrition framework (Schneider, 1987), it would seem
that people are attracted to organizations that have values similar to their own
and that organizations select people who share their values. An individual
who perceives high person-organization fit is expressing that she or he shares
15


the values of the organization. This compatibility is likely to be noticed and
provide a basis for selection into the elite group that is favoured in terms of
career progression. As a result, at any point in time, across workplaces, there
should be a positive association between perceptions of person-organization
fit and subjective career success (Erdogan et al., 2004; Bretz and Judge,
1994).
In sum, because they are more likely to be noticed and selected into
an elite group, those who fit are more likely to express positive attitudes
towards their career. Empirical evidence of associations between personorganization fit and positive employee attitudes provides collateral evidence
of this proposed association. Perceptions of person-organization fit are
therefore expected to also be associated with career success.
H1: Subjective person-organization fit is positively associated with
subjective career success.
2.4. Organizational sponsorship and subjective career success
At a most basic level, the sponsored mobility model contends that
career success is more a function of compatibility or similarity than
competence. Although employee perceptions of person-organization fit do
not provide a complete account of this compatibility or similarity, they
seemingly convey some information about the correspondence between the

person and the organization. This is supported by the strong association
between person-organization fit and the perception that one’s personal
characteristics are similar to those of the organization and to those of others
in the organization (Piasentin and Chapman, 2007).
H2: Organizational sponsorship is positively associated with
subjective career success.

16


2.5. External marketability and subjective career success
Within the contest-mobility model of career success, the emphasis is
on abilities, skills, accomplishments, devotion, involvement, performance on
the job, and adding value to the organization. This model exists to varying
degrees in most organizations because of the established belief that all people
can compete for advancement in a system based on merit. The notion of
meritocracy thus seems to relay the dynamics of the contest-mobility model
(Son Hing et al., 2011). A meritocracy is a mode of governance and
administration in which positions and responsibilities are assigned to those
members with more human capital and aptitude rather than to those with a
social position or an inherited status. A meritocracy is thereby a system in
which members compete on the basis of craft and effort. Individual
achievement is heralded; organizational sponsorship de-emphasized.
A person with valued skills and noteworthy accomplishments is likely
to believe that he or she is valuable to other employers. This close association
between skills and external mobility is recognized in career success research
(Feldman and Ng, 2007). For professional workers with recognized
qualifications (i.e. diplomas, professional certifications), the ultimate test of
their human capital might be whether or not their experience and skills are
valued by other employers, rather than their proficiency in accomplishing

specific job tasks. Hence, when contest mobility is the ideal-typical
normative pattern of career success, we expect that perceptions of external
marketability will be directly associated with career success.
H3: Perceived external marketability is positively associated with
subjective career success.
2.6 Subjective career success and life satisfaction
Satisfaction has been widely studied in the management literature
(Spector, 1997). While it is a subjective variable that cannot be measured
objectively, levels of reported satisfaction have been consistently related to a
17


variety of behaviors; less satisfied employees are more likely to be absent, to
quit their jobs, to change careers (Harrison and Martocchio, 1998; Hackett,
1989), and to engage in counterproductive work behaviors (Spector et al.,
2006; Harrison and Martocchio, 1998; Hackett, 1989). In addition,
dissatisfaction is associated with higher levels of stress, and attendant
negative consequences (Antoniou et al., 2003; Van Katwyk et al., 2000).
Satisfaction therefore seemed to be an important variable to consider in the
context of career success, because of the consequences of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction.
H4: Subjective career success is positively associated with life
satisfaction.

18


2.7. Conceptual model
Based on the above studies, a conceptual model is proposed in
conjunction with its hypotheses as follows:


Figure 1. Conceptual model
Hypotheses need to be tested include:
H1: Subjective person-organization fit is positively associated with
subjective career success.
H2: Organizational sponsorship is positively associated with
subjective career success.
H3: External marketability is positively associated with subjective
career success.
H4: Subjective career success is positively associated with life
satisfaction.

19


In addition to the three components related to subjective career
success, some of demographic variables are considered to examine the
subjective career success. These elements include age, gender, education,
spouse, and wage. As defining the concept subjective career success, wage
is also a measure of subjective career success (Ng et al., 2005). Education as
a variable of human capital in terms of individual perspective, therefore it
should be involved in this research. The other elements such as age, gender,
and spouse are some of personal information that may affect the status of
career.

20


CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHOD
In this chapter, whole procedure of research, including qualitative and

quantitative studies, is described. In order to modify and refine the measures,
the qualitative phase involves in-depth interviews. After data collection with
a revised questionnaire, analysis of data from the survey is conducted to test
the measurement and the structural model.
3.1. Research design
Two phases of the study which is a qualitative study and a quantitative
study will be employed in this research. Based on previous researches and
the Vietnamese context, the draft questionnaire consists of demographic
variables and four constructs which are organizational sponsorship, external
marketability, person-organization fit, and subjective career success. Then,
the draft questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese. Through the
qualitative study, in-depth interviews with six people will be conducted in
order to refine all observed items of the draft questionnaire to make
improvement for the official questionnaire. In the quantitative study, the
adjusted questionnaire will be used to collect data and then to test the
measurement models and structural models.
The convenient sampling approach was employed for this study in
order to obtain an expected sample size of about 200. This study specifically
focuses on the employees who necessarily have at least two years of working
experience in Vietnam after graduation and they have to be between 22 and
59 years old. According to Vietnam context, after two years of graduation,
employees will normally be 22 years old if they study vocational training or
college and they will be 24 years old if they take university training. Due to
the fact that the majority of the labor in the year 2013 was between 25 and
49 years old and accounted for 59.9% of the above-15 labor force (General
Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2015), this research recruits the employed who

21



are in the range of 22 and 59 years old. Both indirect method via electronic
mail and online Google survey and direct one via hard copies will be used to
deliver questionnaires to participants.
SPSS 20 and Amos 20 or equivalent software will be used to test the
model. The reliability and validity will be tested by running Confirmatory
Factor Analysis (CFA). Then, Structural Equation Model (SEM) will be used
to test the hypotheses.
3.1.1. Research process

Problem definition

Literature review

Draft scale
Translation

In-depth interview
(n=6)

Refinement

Final scale
Main survey
(n=200)
Measurement
assessment
Hypotheses testing
Figure 2. Research process
3.1.2. Measurement scales
The survey instrument is administered in Vietnamese and all the scale

items are translated by a translate-retranslate methodology (Brislin, 1970) to
ensure that they accurately reflect the wording of the original version. To the

22