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: With the rapid growth of the gig economy worldwide, gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control has been proven to have a crucial impact on the service performance, well-being and mental health of gig workers. However, the literature suggests that gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control may be a double-edged sword. The purpose of this research is to explore how the perceived algorithmic control of gig workers can accelerate thriving at work.Design/methodology/approach: Based on the model of proactive motivation and work design literature, a three-wave survey was employed, yielding 281 completed responses. The structural equation modeling method was used to test the theoretical hypothesis.Findings: The results indicate that gig workers’ perceived algorithmic control has positive and indirect effects on thriving at work through the mediating role of job crafting. In addition, job autonomy can moderate the mediated relationship; specifically, when job autonomy is high, this mediated relationship will be stronger.Practical implications: The health and well-being of gig workers is a concern around the world. The findings provide insights for service platform enterprises and gig workers.Originality/value: Perceived algorithmic control is critical to mental health and positive work experiences during a gig worker’s service process. However, the current literature focuses more on the negative aspects of algorithmic control. This paper provides a comprehensive research agenda for how to accelerate thriving at work for gig workers.

Learning from work failures is not only beneficial for individual development but also crucial for improving organizational performance and achieving sustainable development. We hypothesize that leader bottom-line mentality, which is commonly used by leaders to prevent profit and performance losses, may reduce subordinates learning from work failures. Drawing on social information processing theory, this paper examines how and when leader bottom-line mentality negatively affects subordinates learning from work failures. We tested our hypotheses through a three-wave survey of 245 employees from several high-tech companies in China. For data analysis, we used SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.0 to test the theoretical model and research hypotheses. The results indicated that leader bottom-line mentality has a negative indirect effect on subordinates learning from work failures through the mediating role of subordinates’ psychological availability. In addition, subordinate self-compassion can mitigate this negative mediating mechanism. The present study has several theoretical and practical implications for the current literature.

Purpose: Although visionary leadership has been on the radar of organizational scholars for a long time, limited research has noted its impact on individual career consequences. Based on the model of proactive motivation, this paper investigates how visionary leadership affects individual career prospects within an organization. At the same time, this paper tests the sequential mediating roles of career optimism and career crafting, and the moderating effect of core self-evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: Through a vignette experimental study (Study 1) and a field survey study (Study 2), combined with SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.0 software, we empirically tested the proposed hypotheses through data analysis. Findings: Findings suggest that visionary leadership can positively predict followers’ career development, via the sequential mediating roles of career optimism and career crafting. In addition, followers’ core self-evaluations acted as a boundary condition to enhance the sequential mediated relationship. Originality/value: By innovatively exploring the career-related consequences of visionary leadership, our study enriches the application of visionary leadership in career management research. At the same time, our study further complements research on the leadership antecedents of career crafting. In addition, our study extends the model of proactive motivation to career management research, which provides important guidance for understanding the generative process and the consequences of individual proactive career behaviors.