A-Ra Lee and Eun-Sul Lee
This study draws on the Psychology of Working Theory (PWT) framework to examine a structural model of the predictors of decent work in a sample of 392 Korean job seekers. Participants completed measures of subjective social status, marginalization, career adaptability, and decent work. The research model consists of subjective social status and marginalization as precursors, decent work as an outcome, and career adaptability as a mediator. Overall, the results supported the most hypothesized direct and indirect paths in expected directions. Marginalization was negatively associated with career adaptability and securing decent work and subjective social status was positively linked to career adaptability. Also, the results supported the significant mediating roles of career adaptability in the associations between subjective social status and marginalization to decent work. Based on the results, we discussed the theoretical and practical implications of the PWT in its application to Korean emerging adult populations.
