Exploring the Relationship Between Job Quality, Performance Management, and Career Initiative: A Two-Level, Two-Actor Study

This study examines how job quality and performance management influence career initiative in the workplace. Based on signaling theory and the notion of internal fit in performance management and HRM, we argue that performance management with a learning orientation further enhances career initiative, whereas performance management with a results orientation constrains it. Combining the two performance management types is expected to diminish career initiative. In addition, we expect the positive effect of job quality to be contingent upon the performance management types. A total of 772 employees working in the (public) service industry or manufacturing industry and nested within 53 work units rated their job quality (job variety and job autonomy) as well as career initiative. Line managers from these work units rated the performance management types practiced. Results indicate that job variety and learning-oriented performance management positively relate to career initiative. The positive relationships between learning-orientated performance management, job variety, and career initiative are weakened when line managers simultaneously practice results-oriented performance management. These findings underline the need to focus on how performance management orientations and job quality combine to influence career initiative.