Bouncing back for promotability through recognition: Does having diversive curiosity matter?

Abstract Are employees with career resilience more likely to get promoted? Building on the conservation of resources theory, we extend career resilience research to propose that resilient employees are more likely to receive recognition from others. This recognition then improves their promotion prospects. We further explore how this relationship is particularly salient in the presence of diversive curiosity—an individual difference in dispositional tendencies to participate in exploration, accompanied by a desire for a novel, interesting, or entertaining stimuli. Using a three‐wave survey of 294 employees from private and government organizations in Indonesia, combined with PROCESS macro‐based bootstrapping, we find that employee resilience positively impacts their promotability, directly and indirectly, through perceived recognition. This relationship is especially prominent when diversive curiosity is high. We conclude that those who can enhance their resilience will also boost their promotability in the workplace. This study offers implications for resilience, prosocial motivation, recognition, and promotability by explaining how and when resilience will help employees achieve professional success, what employees can do to enhance their careers, and what management can do to enhance their succession planning.