Employability as mediator in the relationship between the meaning of working and job search behaviours during unemployment


Abstract


Most of past research on job search has focused on the relationship between individual strategies and perceived quality of re-employment, focusing mostly on effort and intensity of job search behavior during unemployment. Few studies have investigated the role played by individual beliefs, values and representations of work in determining job search behavior during unemployment, while there is a lack of literature about the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between the meaning of working and job search behavior. The aim of this paper was to explore if and to what extent employability activities can mediate the relation between the meaning attached to work, the participation in job activities and the strategies to develop job search behaviors in a group of unemployed. More specifically, the main hypothesis was that employability activities could mediate the relationship between the meaning of work and job search behavior. Data were gathered through public Employment Agencies. Participants (N = 385) were unemployed people living the South of Italy. Results showed that the relationship between the meaning of work and job search behavior was mediated by employability activities.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20705948v9n1p1

Keywords: job search behavior, meaning of work, employability, unemployment

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