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Extraversion and Career Satisfaction During the University-to-Work Transition: Exploring Long- and Short-Term Changes

IDA alumna Marie Steinkampf presented her Master thesis at the graduation ceremony of the IDA cohort 2022-2024.

Extraversion has been linked to individual differences in career satisfaction over time. Yet, the relationship between extraversion and long-term changes in career satisfaction is not yet well understood. Further, short-term processes contributing to long-term changes have been neglected in the current literature. The present study examined extraversion as a predictor of intraindividual change trajectories of career satisfaction across the university-to-work transition and investigated the relationship between extraversion and study satisfaction on a daily level. Longitudinal data from a sample of 165 young adults (78.8% female, Mage = 24.26) transitioning from university to work in the Netherlands collected at three timepoints across two years were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Experience sampling data from 32 first-year university students (90.7% female, Mage = 20.27) in the Netherlands were analyzed using multilevel modeling. Higher levels of extraversion were related to higher levels of career satisfaction after the transition into working life and over time, but were not related to changes in career satisfaction. Daily fluctuations in extraversion were not related to daily fluctuations in study satisfaction. The results suggest that extraversion is relevant for career satisfaction in the long term. Future research should replicate the current findings and examine mechanisms of change in career satisfaction related to personality with larger sample sizes and across longer time intervals.

Keywords: career satisfaction, extraversion, young adults, experience sampling, longitudinal data

Marie is now continuing her career in academia as a PhD candidate at Tilburg University. Congratulations Marie and best of luck with your new position!

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