Stay in a Career? Personal Growth Initiative, Career Commitment, Calling among Millennials

Abstract

Millennials are described as the generation that regards personal development and work meaning as important factors to remain in a career. Hence, finding ways to retain millennials through their initiative for personal growth and how millennials perceive their career can provide benefits for individuals and organizations. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of personal growth initiative on perceiving and living out a career calling as well as career commitment among Indonesian millennials. Using convenience sampling, 109 millennials aged 18–32 years were recruited to complete an online survey. Based on structural equation modeling, the model in which living a calling in a career as the outcome of other variables was found better than the model in which career commitment serves as the outcome. Personal growth initiative was also found negatively correlated to living a calling in a career but positively correlated to perceiving calling in career and career commitment. It is expected that Personal growth initiatives would benefit both individuals and organization and help millennials prepare for their careers. The study recommends career counselors to assist millennials develop ability to plan life that would lead to living out one’s calling in a career