Assessing sustainable career development: the Future-Sustainable Career Scale (F-SCS) for young adults

Purpose Developing sustainable careers has emerged as a critical concern in career studies, particularly for young adults preparing for transition into the world of work. However, no existing instrument aligns with recent theoretical models to measure this construct. This study aimed to develop and validate the Future-Sustainable Career Scale (F-SCS), a novel tool designed to assess subjective perceptions to build happy, healthy, productive (De Vos et al., 2020) and socially empowering careers (Russo et al., 2023, 2025) in the future. Design/methodology/approach To achieve our aim, we conducted four studies with university students aged between 18 and 30 years. Study 1 focused on item development and explored the factorial structure of the F-SCS. Study 2 confirmed the factorial validity of the four-factor scale (happiness, health, productivity and social empowerment). Study 3 examined the concurrent and discriminant validity of the F-SCS by correlating it with career adaptability, self-efficacy and college satisfaction. Finally, Study 4 assessed the scale’s internal consistency and predictive validity, focusing on both eudaimonic and hedonic well-being. Findings The F-SCS demonstrated robust psychometric properties across all studies, successfully measuring key aspects of career sustainability, relating with career-related resources and having a predictive value for well-being outcomes. Originality/value This new scale allows researchers and practitioners for deeper exploration into the factors contributing to university students’ subjective sustainable career trajectories within a sustainable career ecosystem (Donald et al., 2023) that takes into account the need to promote positive outcomes for both individuals and societies.