Predictors of job-search behaviors among Italian job-centers users
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Predictors of job-search behaviors
among Italian job-centers users
Alessandro Lo Presti, Department of Psychology, Second University of Napoli
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ABSTRACT
. Una maggiore comprensione dei comportamenti di ricerca lavorativa è essenziale per meglio
supportare gli individui alla ricerca di un’occupazione. Il presente studio, sulla base del modello di Kanfer e colleghi
(2001), ha valutato tutta una serie di variabili quali potenziali antecedenti di tali comportamenti. I risultati, raccolti su
505 utenti dei Centri per l’Impiego, hanno mostrato che il livello d’istruzione, la personalità proattiva e l’autoefficacia
nella ricerca lavorativa sono predittori significativi di tali comportamenti, individuando anche fenomeni di moderazione
e mediazione. Tali evidenze sono state poi commentate sulla base della letteratura e delle loro implicazioni pratiche.
Versione integrale in lingua italiana su
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ABSTRACT. Introduction:
Reaching a deeper understanding of job
–
search behaviors is essential in order to improve
ways individuals can enter and remain into the labour market, especially in countries like Italy, characterized by increasing
levels of unemployment and inefficient job
–
centers. Several psychological and situational factors predict job-search behaviors
which, in turn, affect chances of reemployment.
Objectives
.
This paper aimed to explore the role of several psychosocial
(i.e. proactive personality and job-search self-efficacy), biographical (i.e. educational level) and socio-economic (i.e. social
support and financial hardship) variables as predictors of job-search behaviors, building upon the theoretical model by
Kanfer, Wanberg and Kantrowitz (2001).
Methods.
Data were collected among 505 Italian job-centers users via a self-report
questionnaire. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to evaluate associations between variables and identify potential
mediated/moderated effects.
Results.
Educational level, proactive personality and, above all, job-search self-efficacy
proved to be main predictors of preparatory and active job-search behaviors; mediated and moderated effects were also
found.
Conclusions.
Results were discussed on the basis of the current literature and provided an original and innovative
contribution to this topic about the Italian situation which was largely unexamined. Moreover, evidence from this study can
guide practitioners to tailor their counseling and re-employment support interventions.
Keywords:
job-search behaviors, unemployment, job-search self-efficacy
INTRODUCTION
Understanding the role played by the predictors of job-
search behaviors has become progressively more important
in the light of the continued deterioration of the Western
economies labour markets and, in particular, of their
unemployment rates. In many countries, there has also been
an increase in the average rate of entry into, and especially exit
from, the labour market cause of increased flexibilization and
precarization (Lo Presti, 2009), phenomena which promote the
need, felt by public opinion, policy makers and practitioners
working in employment services, to increase the employment
opportunities of those who are currently looking for a job.
ISTAT data (2014a) depict the Italian situation as in
progressive and worrying deterioration; the unemployment
rate has increased from 8.2% in July 2011 to 12.5% in the
third quarter of 2013; data even more alarming concern
Campania region (ISTAT, 2014b), the most populous
and rich region of Southern Italy which has suffered the
most from the effects of the crisis due to processes of
deindustrialization and loss of competitiveness of large
productive sectors, and where the unemployment rate has
risen from 15.5% in the second quarter of 2011 to 20.5% at
end of 2013.
