Career crafting is a new concept in the field of career research in recent years. However, the research on career crafting is still in its infancy, and there are few systematic and integrated studies. In this study, we have collected the existing research and extracted the 12 most related articles from 10 databases (Web of Science, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and EBSCO Host, etc.) by the end of 2022 to discuss the concepts of discrimination, theoretical basis, research methods, and measurement tools and variables of career crafting. As a reference for the follow-up in-depth study, future research should progress forward, such as by deepening and expanding the theoretical basis, testing and developing mature scales, building multilevel influencing factors and testing their interaction, and furthering the research on the mechanism of multi-field effects.

Purpose: As an increasingly important variable in the career field, career sustainability has received particular attention, yet few empirical studies have been conducted to examine its antecedents. The authors propose a moderated mediation model based on the goal-setting theory and the wise proactivity perspective for exploring when and how self-goal setting can influence career sustainability.Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a time-lagged design and collect three waves of data from 1,260 teachers in basic education schools in China. The authors test the proposed hypotheses with SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3.Findings: The results show that self-goal setting positively relates to career sustainability and that career crafting plays a mediating role in this relationship. This relationship is strengthened when perceived organizational goal clarity is high.Originality/value: The authors extend the application scenarios of the goal-setting theory to the field of career research and find out that self-goal setting is also a self-initiated and wise antecedent of career sustainability. From a wise proactivity perspective, the authors examine the mediating mechanism of career crafting to make positive career outcomes. Furthermore, the authors consider the impact of perceived organizational goal clarity as a boundary condition and broaden the understanding of “when to wise proactivity” from the goal-setting theory.

Purpose: Drawing upon strengths-based inclusive work theory, this study explores how strengths-based leadership promotes employee career sustainability, particularly in the absence of protean career orientation (PCO), with career adaptability as a mediator.Design/methodology/approach: A three-wave survey of 329 Chinese employees tested the moderated mediation model. Hypotheses were assessed using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3.Findings: Strengths-based leadership positively influences career adaptability, leading to greater career sustainability. The effect is stronger when PCO is low, highlighting the compensatory role of strengths-based leadership.Originality/value: The present paper extends the existing literature on strengths-based leadership and unveils that strength-based leadership can compensate for a lack of PCO. Also, it augments strengths-based inclusive work theory and provides meaningful insights to cultivate employee career sustainability.Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design and self-reported data limit causal conclusions. Future research should use longitudinal methods and diverse cultural contexts to improve generalizability.

Purpose: In the evolving landscape of work, individuals are transitioning from relying on employers to self-manage their careers in pursuit of progression and growth. This study aims to advance the understanding of career growth by identifying family motivation as a crucial antecedent. Drawing upon the wise proactivity perspective, we examine how family motivation influences career growth through the mediating role of career crafting, with work–family balance serving as a moderator.Design/methodology/approach: A three-wave survey involving 244 employees in China was conducted to test hypotheses using hierarchical regression in SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.Findings: The results indicate that family motivation positively influences career growth through the mediating role of career crafting, with the effects amplified under high work–family balance.Practical implications: Organizations can promote career growth by enhancing work–family balance through flexible work arrangements, improved welfare policies, and relevant training programs. For employees, understanding and leveraging family motivation can encourage proactive career crafting and reflection, enabling individuals to align professional goals with family focused values. By fostering this alignment, the study offers insights into achieving sustained career growth while supporting individual and organizational development.Originality/value: This study clarifies the mediating mechanism from family motivation to career growth from the wise proactivity perspective, thereby expanding the literature on career crafting. Also, it extends the wise proactivity perspective into the family and career domains, enriching research on the antecedents of career growth.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish a moderated mediation model to examine the paradoxical effect of new college graduates’ employability on their career decision-making difficulties, with the mediating role of perceived overqualification. We also examined the moderating role of perceived COVID-19 crisis strength to strengthen this mediating relationship.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the person-environment fit theory, a time-lagged survey was conducted with a sample of 398 new college graduates from five universities in China. The structural equation modeling method was used to test the theoretical hypotheses.Findings: The results show that employability directly and negatively affects career decision-making difficulties among new college graduates. However, employability also indirectly and positively affects career decision-making difficulties through perceived overqualification. Moreover, the perceived COVID-19 crisis strength acted as a boundary condition to moderate this positive mediated relationship.Practical implications: While employability can be beneficial for new college graduates, our findings also remind new graduates and college career coaches to be aware of the potential dark side of employability and the changing employment environment.Originality/value: Prior work has focused on the positive effects of new college graduates’ employability on their career decision-making. Based on the person–environment fit theory, we adopted a three-wave time-lagged research design, theoretically derived and empirically tested the paradoxical effect mechanism of college students’ employability on their career decision-making difficulties. Our study contributes to the theoretical advancement of employability research while offering higher education institutions a holistic framework for enhancing new college graduates’ employability.

Career crafting offers a new approach for individuals to cope with changing career situations. However, few studies have focused on personality-related antecedents that stably predict career proactivity. Additionally, as individuals’ careers are embedded in various social relationships, career crafting involves significant social interaction. Our study focuses on gratitude, which is related to social interaction, suggesting that gratitude fosters an appreciation for interpersonal relationships, providing a beneficial impetus for career crafting. A quantitative approach was adopted with a three-wave survey with 825 responses, and SPSS 26 and Mplus 8.3 were used as the analytical software for confirmatory factor analysis, hierarchical regression analysis, and path analysis. We conducted an empirical examination employing a moderated mediation model grounded in the framework of proactive motivation. The results revealed a positive correlation between gratitude and career crafting, with prosocial motivation mediating this relationship. Simultaneously, intrinsic motivation moderated the relationship between prosocial motivation and career crafting. Our study emphasizes gratitude’s role in career crafting and explores how it, along with prosocial motivations, drives proactive behaviors, responding to calls for relational work redesign and examining interactions between intrinsic and prosocial motivations in careers. It has important practical implications for individuals, organizations, and career counselors.