Trajectories of Perceived Employability and Their Associations With Well-Being at Work

The first aim of this study was to identify trajectories of perceived employability (PE) with a longitudinal person-centered approach, accounting for both the level of PE and changes in PE. The second aim was to examine how the trajectories were related to well-being at work (i.e., vigor at work, job satisfaction, and job exhaustion) with a variable-centered approach. The data were collected in two Finnish universities (N = 926) during 2008–2010 with three measurement points. Growth Mixture Modeling identified four trajectories, which differed in level, stability, and change in PE across time: we established two trajectories with stable PE (88% of the participants), and two trajectories with a nonlinear change pattern in PE (12%). Furthermore, variable-centered analyses showed that the level of PE was positively associated with well-being at work. Moreover, in one change trajectory, the increase in PE was associated with an increase in vigor at work. Overall, these results indicate that PE can be seen as a personal resource. However, the effect of PE is minor in terms of change in employee well-being among highly educated employees.