The new career mentality and psychological contract : integrative theory and measurement

The purpose of this dissertation was to summarize and integrate several theoretical notions of the so-called new career mentality with the concept of the psychological contract; the ultimate goal was to successfiilly operationalize the individual adoption of this new mentality. A theoretical precursor to the psychological contract, employment goals (Shore and Tetrick, 1994), was used as a measurement framework. Three types of employment goals were operationalized: relational, transactional, and personalized. While relational and transactional psychological contracts have enjoyed extensive attention within the psychological contract literature, the personalized employment goals construct was created to reflect the rich theoretical base surrounding the new career mentality. Three iterative studies were conducted to develop the employment goals subscales. A Pilot Study was conducted with 262 undergraduate students, Study One included 302 participants drawn from three distinct samples, and Study Two was conducted using 310 respondents, again from three separate samples. In each of these three studies, iterative versions of the employment goals subscales were administered in questionnaire format, as were several individual difference, attitudinal, and behavioral measures.