The outbreak of COVID-19 added further stress to individuals’ work life, and employability may be especially important to help individuals to pursue sustainable career success in such a context. However, previous studies that examined the impact and the mechanisms of employability on sustainable career success are lacking, especially in the context of pandemic threat. Based on conservation of resource theory (COR), the current study aims to explore whether and how employability, as an important resource, reduced work-related emotional exhaustion and increased work engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic. We expected that self-perceived employability would reduce emotional exhaustion and increase work engagement. We further expected that coping strategy mediated the effect of self-perceived employability on emotional exhaustion, and career commitment mediated its effect on work engagement. Data were collected via a national survey in China among a sample of 4990 human resource practitioners from October to December 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak. The proposed model was tested with structural equation modelling. Results supported the proposed model. Self-perceived employability reduced emotional exhaustion and to a larger extent, increases work engagement. The two mediating effects were of partial mediation. The implications of the results for theory and practice are discussed.

The dramatic changes in modern careers call for more knowledge about employability, a key indicator of career sustainability. In reply, this study introduces the recently developed concept of forgone identity dwelling (FID) into the employability debate and aims to explain whether and how FID promotes employees’ perceived employability. Specifically, we draw on a self-regulatory perspective to propose that FID may serve as a meaningful way to enhance employability through a proactive career self-regulatory pathway characterized by career crafting, especially for employees high in promotion regulatory focus. To investigate this, we used the method of a three-wave survey study conducted among 435 Chinese employees and tested the hypotheses using path analysis with Mplus. The findings showed that FID motivated the employees to engage in career crafting, which in turn positively affected their perceived employability. Furthermore, promotion focus strengthened the positive effects of FID, such that the employees high in promotion focus were more likely to translate FID into employability through career crafting. These results highlight the importance of leveraging FID experiences to enhance employees’ proactive behaviors and employability. This study is the first to link FID to sustainable career outcomes, inspiring future research to explore additional mechanisms for the nuanced effects of FID on career sustainability.