How Does Forgone Identity Dwelling Foster Perceived Employability: A Self-Regulatory Perspective

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.