“Let me handle this myself”: The value of psychological empowerment and kaleidoscope career orientation for career sustainability

BACKGROUND: High staff turnover in residential aged care threatens both care quality and workforce sustainability, highlighting the urgent need to understand factors that support employee well-being and performance. PURPOSE: Building on self-determination theory and the kaleidoscope career model, this study examines how psychological empowerment, authenticity, balance, and challenge predict career sustainability among eldercare staff. METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional survey data from 370 staff in 21 facilities in metropolitan and regional Australia were analyzed. Participants completed validated measures of the predictor variables, job satisfaction, psychological distress, and task performance. Hypothesized relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Psychological empowerment was positively related to job satisfaction and task performance and negatively related to psychological distress. Contrary to expectations, an authentic career orientation was negatively associated with job satisfaction and positively associated with psychological distress. Balanced career orientation was not associated with any sustainable career indicators. Challenge career orientation was positively associated with job satisfaction and negatively associated with psychological distress. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Given the predictive value of psychological empowerment and challenge career orientation for workers' career sustainability, HR professionals and line managers need to be aware of the importance of fostering psychological empowerment in the workplace, and enabling opportunities for growth and development across the working life. In doing so, career sustainability can be protected and supported, which will be reflected in improved retention-relevant outcomes, well-being, and performance. Findings suggest that authenticity-oriented career priorities may be more difficult to realize in structurally constrained care settings.