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Experiencing career plateau on a Career plateau

on a committed
committed career journey: career journey

a boundary condition of
career stages
Yi-chun Lin Received 27 March 2020
Revised 25 September 2020
Graduate Institute of International Human Resource Development, Accepted 19 October 2020
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, and
Angela Shin-yih Chen
Department of Business Administration, National Taipei University,
New Taipei City, Taiwan

Abstract
Purpose – Career plateau is a major concern for many seasoned employees because they often stay in the same
position longer than expected and over time begin to lack job challenges. This phenomenon is now considered a
normal stage in career development. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of two types of career
plateau: hierarchical and job content on career commitment (career identity, career insight and career
resilience), along with the mediating effect of perceived external employability. We also determined in the
moderated mediation model if Super’s (1957) three career stages amplify and attenuate the indirect effect of
hierarchical/job content plateau on career commitment (career identity, career insight, career resilience) via
perceived external employability.
Design/methodology/approach – We tested the hypotheses with survey data collected from a convenience
sample of 472 white-collar full-time employees who also studied in the MBA and continuing education program
in five large universities in Taiwan (77% return rate).
Findings – The mediation model result showed that perceived external employability partially and negatively
mediated the influence of hierarchical plateaus on career commitment (career identity, career insight and career
resilience). Perceived external employability partially and negatively mediated the influence of job content
plateaus on career identity and career insight but fully and negatively mediated on career resilience. The result
of the moderated mediation model also demonstrated that only employees in the trial stage had influences on
the mediation relationships among the hierarchical plateau, perceived external employability and career
commitment with its two dimensions of career identity and career insight only other than those in the
stabilization and maintenance stages.
Practical implications – The findings of this study can benefit career management scholars and
practitioners since they promote a better understanding of the career management practices that are relevant
for seasoned employees who are valued for their knowledge, experience and expertise when encountering the
three career stages.
Originality/value – Drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theoretical perspective, we fill the gap in
the literature by proposing perceived external employability as a mediator in the link between career plateau
and career commitment and generalize the results to plateaued employees at the different career stages.
Keywords Career plateau, Hierarchical plateau, Job content plateau, Perceived external employability, Career
commitment, Career stages
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The current career landscape has been characterized as turbulent, unpredictable and
challenging due to several interconnected factors, including the volatile economy, advanced
Personnel Review
This work was fully supported by funding from The Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan © Emerald Publishing Limited
0048-3486
(NSC102-2410-H-003-101). DOI 10.1108/PR-03-2020-0192
PR technology and a more diverse workplace. In the contemporary employment model,
organizations sometimes downsize and restructure their business to remain flexible and
adaptable to changes (Savickas et al., 2009), as well as to increase their emphasis on
employability instead of long-term job security (Hall and Heras, 2010). Employers today are
more likely to look for individuals who have the capacity to make an immediate and possibly
short-term contribution, rather than individuals who want long-term development and stable
career paths (Clarke and Patrickson, 2008). In some cases, employees who cannot be easily
fired or dismissed are encouraged to look for ways to find new employment with another
employer in the external labor market (De Cuyper and De Witte, 2011; Rothwell and Arnold,
2007). Perceived external employability refers to a worker’s perception of the possibility of
obtaining a future job with another employer (De Cuyper et al., 2012). Perceived external
employability is self-efficacy perception on the a worker’s increased capability to cope with
change (Berntson et al., 2006).
Most employees acknowledge the importance of increasing their external employability
since they tend to face limited lateral and upward career movement the longer they remain
with an organization. Nevertheless, they often feel at a loss as to how they might change their
situation; thus, career plateauing results. There are two types of career plateaus: hierarchical
and job content. Hierarchical plateauing stands in the way of upward promotion (Barwick,
1986; Feldman and Weitz, 1988). Job content plateau occurs when the work one does is no
longer perceived as offering challenging or valuable obstacles (Barwick, 1986; Allen
et al., 1998).
Experiencing either hierarchical or job content career plateau may bring into question an
employee’s sense of worth and purpose with respect to a chosen career (McCleese and Eby,
2006). Many studies have shown that employees usually react to hierarchical or job content
plateaus with negative work and organizational attitudes (Jiang, 2016; Tremblay et al., 1995;
Xie et al., 2015), including lower job satisfaction (Chao, 1990; Hurst et al., 2017; Lee, 2003),
lower job performance (Allen et al., 1999; Bardwick, 1986; Ettington, 1998; Lemire et al., 1999)
and lower career satisfaction (McCleese and Eby, 2006). Other studies have found that
plateaued employees tend to report lower organizational commitment (Chao, 1990; Milliman,
1992; Tremblay et al., 1995) and a higher turnover intention (Heilmann et al., 2008; Hofstetter
and Cohen, 2014; Xie et al., 2016). Unfortunately, what all of these reported outcomes have in
common is a singular focus on the organization.
This study takes a different approach to hierarchical and job plateaus by examining
career-related outcomes, rather than organization-related outcomes (e.g. job satisfaction,
turnover and performance). Career commitment is generally defined as “the strength of one’s
motivation to work in a chosen career role” (Hall, 1971, p. 59). Clearly, commitment to a career
and organization are distinct concepts, as a number of scholars have pointed out (Blau, 1988,
1989; Blau et al.,1993). Thus, it is a mistake to conflate career commitment and organizational
commitment or assume that they overlap. Past empirical studies have tended to argue that
the pursuit of a career in an organization increases one’s commitment to the organization and
subsequently to one’s career role (Hall et al., 1970). Following this line of thinking, several
scholars have maintained that organizational commitment is a significant determinant of an
employee’s career commitment (Steffy and Jones, 1988; Darden et al., 1989). This present
study considers the near conflation of organizational and career commitments as an
increasingly obsolete assumption and adopts a different perspective, whereby a career is
viewed as physically and psychologically independent from an organization.
Unlike an organization, a career tends to be boundaryless (Arthur and Rousseau, 1996)
and, in many cases, driven by the individual; hence the term “protean career” (Mirvis and Hall,
1994). Career theorists have argued that given the basic distinction between organizations
and careers, new career paths should be flexible and adaptive to help employees move
across organizations and obtain consequent career benefits (Fugate et al., 2004; King, 2004).
Many studies support the contention that employees who are committed to their careers have Career plateau
a relatively high level of positive career outcomes regardless of the length of time they remain on a committed
with an organization; in addition, they maintain long-term relationships with their chosen
careers despite their mobility across organizations (Aryee and Tan, 1992; Colarelli and
career journey
Bishop, 1990; Nabi, 2003; Noordin et al., 2002).
It is therefore surprising that a clear picture of the mechanism by which career plateaus
affect career outcomes is lacking in the extant literature (Hurst et al., 2016; Shabeer et al.,
2018). In this study, perceived external employability is proposed as the critical mediator
linking a perceived career plateau to a low level of career commitment. When plateaued
employees perceive few attractive opportunities outside their current organization, they may
be less motivated to commit themselves to their chosen career.
In addition, hierarchical plateau or job content plateau are always measured by age (Gould
and Penley, 1984; Tremblay and Roger, 1993), job tenure (Chao, 1990) or the number of
promotions (Ettington, 1998; Tremblay and Roger, 1993; Veiga, 1981) to objectively
determine whether employees face career plateauing. A recent study that made great efforts
to examine employees at the career establishment stage showed hierarchical plateau to be
more positively associated with a number of consequences, such as turnover intention (Xie
et al., 2015) and more negative work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviors other than
maintenance and disengagement career stages (Kong et al., 2012; Xie and Zhou, 2014).
However, no study has yet examined if the different career stages act as the boundary
condition for eliminating the negative indirect effects of hierarchical and job content on
plateau employees in response to the career-related outcome, i.e. career commitment
relationship via perceived external employability. In fact, career stages may be a more
important factor for some groups of plateaued employees than the other ones.
This study has three research purposes. The first purpose is to examine whether a career
plateau (hierarchical or job content) significantly relates to career commitment with its three
dimensions of career identity, career insight and career resilience. Assuming that a relation
exists, the second purpose of this study is to examine whether the effect of a career plateau is
indirect, by introducing perceived external employability as a possible mediator. Aligned
with the perspective that plateaued employees tend to conflate their present work with their
careers, instead of viewing their work as employment within an organization, this study
hypothesizes that individuals who face career plateaus (hierarchical or job content) are less
likely to perceive themselves as highly employable across organizational boundaries, and
this lack of perceived mobility leads to decreased commitment to their current career path.
The third purpose is to determine if Super’s (1957) three career stages amplify and attenuate
the indirect effect of hierarchical/job content plateau on career commitment (career identity,
career insight, career resilience) via perceived external employability.

Literature and hypotheses development

Hierarchical plateau, job content plateau and career commitment
According to the commonly accepted definition, a person is considered to be in a career
plateau when promotion or the likelihood of hierarchical career advancement is very low in
the foreseeable future (Bardwick, 1986; Feldman and Weitz, 1988; Ference et al., 1977; Near,
1985; Veiga, 1981). Career plateau is generally viewed as an undesirable career experience
whereby plateaued employees continue working in a very stable state, performing various
activities without change. According to Bardwick (1986), there are two types of career
plateau: hierarchical and job content. Hierarchical plateau defines the limits of promotion that
prevent or hinder employees from moving vertically within an organization (Ference et al.,
1977; Feldman and Weitz, 1988). Job content plateau occurs when employees are no longer
challenged by their work or job responsibility and consequently no longer feel valued within
PR the organization. Work has been mastered, and the job has become boring and routine (Allen
et al., 1999; Lentz and Allen, 2009).
Ference et al. (1977), who originally established the concept of career plateau more than
four decades ago, used the term to refer to an objective status independent of employee
perceptions. That understanding has prevailed among many scholars, who consider career
plateau something that is measured by age (Gould and Penley, 1984; Tremblay and Roger,
1993), the number of years working in the same position (job tenure) (Chao, 1990) or the
number of promotions (Ettington, 1998; Tremblay and Roger, 1993; Veiga, 1981). However,
other scholars argue that it is more appropriate to use employees’ subjective perceptions
when measuring career plateau (Allen et al., 1998; Bardwick, 1986; Chao, 1990; Milliman, 1992;
Near, 1985; Shabeer et al., 2018). Tremblay et al. (1995) support the use of subjective
perceptions and find a greater variance in outcomes when career plateau is measured by an
individual’s psychological response than when it is measured by traditional objective
assessments, such as age, tenure or time of the last promotion. Many empirical studies have
also observed a weak and even insignificant correlation between objective and subjective
measurements of career plateau (Nicholson, 1993; Tremblay and Roger, 1993).
Experiencing a career plateau, whether hierarchical or job content, may have wide-
ranging negative outcomes including bringing into question an employee’s sense of self-
worth and organizational contribution, as well as the purpose of an employee remaining in his
or her chosen career (McCleese and Eby, 2006). To cope with such feelings of uncertainty,
employees may abandon their careers altogether or, in some cases, take a different approach
and exhibit more loyalty to their careers than to their organizations (Noordin et al., 2002),
since the latter provide little opportunity for growth (Skromme Granrose and Baccili, 2006).
Career commitment refers to the degree of dedication and motivation employees exhibit in
working toward personal advancement in their professions or line of work (Carson and
Bedeian, 1994). Unlike organizational commitment, career commitment is characterized by
the development of personal goals, along with an attachment to, and identification with, these
goals (Hall, 1976).
According to Greenhaus (1971) and Colarelli and Bishop (1990), career commitment is
comprised of three individual components: career identity, career insight and career
resilience. Career identity refers to the way individuals define themselves in the context of
their careers as opposed to their personal lives, which may or may not overlap. Career insight
concerns the extent to which employees have realistic perceptions of themselves and the
organizations in which they work and relate their perceptions to career goals. The third
component, career resilience, concerns the extent to which employees are resistant to career
disruption when encountering adversity. According to Super (1957), employees in the
stabilization stage (ages 31–45) have higher levels of career identity, insight and resilience
than in the trial stage (ages 30 or below) or maintenance stage (ages 46 or older). The reason is
that employees in the stabilization stage usually compete with their peers for advancement
opportunities, which requires conformity to values of the organization; have a reduced fear of
failure, which promotes ambition and give less importance to career goals (Schein, 1978),
thereby demonstrating a more realistic self-assessment.
The limitations imposed by a career plateau are perhaps most apparent when a
hierarchical plateau is reached. At this point, future promotions become less likely, and
employees begin to perceive a ceiling to their opportunities for advancement within the
organization (Ference et al., 1977). Facing a hierarchical plateau is an undesirable and
stressful phase of one’s career. Moreover, the perception of a hierarchical plateau negatively
affects an individual’s perception of his or her career future, which has an impact on work
attitudes (Chao, 1990; Tremblay et al., 1995). Drawing on Hobfoll’s (1989). In the conservation
of resources (COR) theoretical perspective, employees experiencing a high level of
hierarchical plateau seem to strive to protect and accumulate values resources, including
advancement, recognition, dominance and pay increase, all of which are components of career Career plateau
identity within an organization. The loss of this identity can create frustration in the current on a committed
working environment, which can impact an employee’s career commitment. Experiencing a
hierarchical plateau can also lead employees to lose sight of their strengths and weaknesses
career journey
in relation to their careers. When an employee’s hard work remains unacknowledged, the
employee feels less valuable to the organization, and this can lead to a questioning of career
goals. Finally, hierarchical plateaued employees lack the organizational feedback necessary
to enable them to adapt to changing circumstances and cope with situational constraints.
Thus, they are likely to be risk-aversive in situations where organizational outcomes depend
on their behaviors.
Overall, a weaker career commitment will be reflected by higher hierarchical plateaued
individuals deriving their sense of identity from their current jobs, by their framing of
personal career goals in terms of goals developed within organizations, and by their
persistence in pursuing them in spite of obstacles and setbacks (Noordin et al., 2002). It follows
that the higher the level of hierarchical plateau that workers experience, the lower the levels of
career identity, career insight and career resilience they will exhibit. In this paper, we tested
the following hypothesis:
H1a. Hierarchical plateau is negatively related to career commitment (career identity,
career insight, career resilience).
In comparison to hierarchical plateau, job content plateau has received much less attention
from scholars, most likely because it is not integral to the structure of an organization and
therefore does not have immediate implications for career commitment, now viewed in terms
of organizational commitment. Job content plateau refers to a situation in which there is a lack
of new, challenging and varied tasks, which means reduced possibilities for improvement or
learning (Appelbaum and Santiago, 1997; Bardwick, 1986; McCleese and Eby, 2006). While
this type of plateau does not correlate by definition with decreased organizational
commitment or career commitment, most empirical studies on job content plateauing find
it significantly associated with both of these outcomes. Negative work attitudes, including
decreased job satisfaction (Allen et al., 1998; Lee, 2003; McCleese and Eby, 2006), decreased
career satisfaction (Lee, 2003) and reduced organizational commitment (McCleese and Eby,
2006; Nachbagauer and Riedl, 2002), often accompany a job content plateau, and all progress
to reduced job performance (Allen et al., 1998) and increased turnover intention (Allen et al.,
1998; Lee, 2003; Lentz and Allen, 2009; Wang et al., 2014).
Employees working in jobs feel plateaued when their work ceases to be challenging and
meaningful. In such situations, they tend to be less inclined to identify with their career goals
or persist in attaining these goals. Job content plateau is often caused internally by employees
who do not continue to learn and gain skills; at some point they begin to realize they have
outgrown their current job content but lack the skills for advancement. However, job content
plateau can also be caused externally when employers do not regard their employees’
expertise and experience as a vital human resource. Following COR theoretical perspectives
in these situations, employees themselves have perceived significant loss of resources at
work and also may begin to feel disassociated from their interests and skills, with the result
that they identify less with their profession or line of work, realized career goal setting and
resistance to career disruption in a less-than-optimal environment. It follows that employees
who experience a high level of job content plateau will display lower levels of career
commitment, including career identity, career insight, career resilience. Thus, we hypothesize
the following:
H1b. Job content plateau is negatively related to career commitment (career identity,
career insight, career resilience).
PR The mediating role of perceived external employability in the relation of hierarchical and job
content plateau to career commitment
Employability has become one of the leading research topics in career-related literature
(Akkermans and Kubasch, 2017). As Rothwell and Arnold (2007) have noted, individuals in
the contemporary world of work need to be especially vigilant to build and maintain their
opportunities, especially in the external labor market, because job security is no longer the
norm for young professionals. This study proposes that perceived external employability,
which refers to an individual’s perception of employment opportunities with another (i.e.
external) employer (De Cuyper and De Witte, 2008, 2011), mediates the relation of career
plateau to career commitment.
Several studies have compared perceived external employability to self-efficacy
perceptions (Berntson et al., 2008; Nelissen et al., 2017; Peeters et al., 2019), which refer to
what individuals believe they can accomplish in certain circumstances using their own
skills or abilities. Based on social cognitive theory, Gist (1987) has argued that, among the
many possible influences on self-efficacy perceptions, including self-modeling behavior,
positive mastery experiences and verbal persuasion (self-talk), the expectations of others,
particularly those of a leader in relation to a subordinate, may be particularly persuasive.
It follows that expectations of how others perceive an employee’s external employability
may have a significant impact on an employee’s own perceptions. That said, perceived
external employability from an employee perspective is a context-specific personal
resource that supports an employee’s ability to cope with change (De Cuyper et al., 2012;
Silla et al., 2009). In line with COR theory, a loss of perceived external employability often
correlates with a hierarchical plateau as employees who are denied personal resources,
such as promotions or pay raises, subsequently lose confidence in their ability to face the
challenges of an unstable external market. For this reason, employees may not believe
that seeking outside employment opportunities will help them advance their careers, and
this may result in a decline in their career commitment. We therefore expect a negative
mediation effect for perceived external employability:
H2a. Perceived external employability negatively mediates the relationship between
hierarchical plateau and career commitment (career identity, career insight, career
resilience).
Just as hierarchical plateau may indirectly affect career commitment via a loss of
perceived external employability, the negative effect of job content plateau on career
commitment may occur in the same way. Drawing on the perspective of COR theory, this
study argues that employees who experience job content plateau feel less confident in
their employability in the external market and consequently less motivated to pursue
their careers outside their organizations. Employability requires resources, which job-
plateaued individuals lack. Employees who lose resources are no longer able to fulfill
their needs; thus, they typically seek ways to replenish their loss and foster goal
accomplishment (London, 1983). However, when employees lose interest in their work
because it is no longer challenging, or when they perceive themselves as less valuable
within their present work environment, basic resources that provide the impetus for the
acquisition of future resources begin to decline. Two basic resources are motivation and
self-confidence, which may be inter-related. When these resources are lacking, an
employee is unlikely to perceive that skills acquired in the workplace may be transferable
to another organization where career growth can continue. On the contrary, he or she is
likely to hold the opposite perception. Thus, we hypothesize that perceived external
employability acts as a negative mediating element in the relationship between job
content plateau and career commitment:
 H2b. Perceived external employability negatively mediates the relationship between job Career plateau
content plateau and career commitment (career identity, career planning, career on a committed
resilience).
career journey
Career stage: a boundary condition
Realistically, everyone plateaus at one time or another. Although plateauing can occur at any
career stage, it is particularly relevant to the seasoned employees. For this reason, we
consider career stage as an antecedent to predict career commitment. Aryee et al. (1994) cited
Super’s (1957) career stages model’s divisions into trial stage (ages 30 or below), stabilization
stage (ages 31–45) and maintenance stage (ages 46 or older), which span an individual’s
working life. In the trial stage, individuals are concerned with identifying interests and
capabilities, achieving a sense of mastery and gaining peer and organization acceptance.
Individuals in this stage normally assume an apprentice role and might have only few
opportunities to experience psychological success and career growth. In the stabilization
stage, individuals have achieved a greater sense of independence and competence and are
concerned more with career advancement and growth than those in the maintenance stage.
Career growth is pursued by an emphasis on opportunities for challenging assignments,
becoming an expert and upward career progress. In the maintenance stage, individuals are
expected to have settled well into a career pattern and have broadened interests and
capabilities. In this stage, individuals demonstrate a lessened need for promotion and instead
are interested in assuming responsibility for others by way of mentoring (Ornstein
et al., 1989).
While COR explains the relation between hierarchical or job content plateaus as resource
drain, this theory also emphasizes that an influx of additional resources can temper this
relation. Career stages, which provide employees with greater difference in work attitudes
and behaviors and types of social relationships needed and aspects of work which are valued
(Slocum and Cron, 1985) can be viewed as a contextual resource in the career life. In other
words, career stages as a resource may enable employees to possess various work experience
that enables them to ameliorate the feeling of hierarchical or job content plateaus across
different career stages. Plateaued employees will perceive less loss of resources at work and
may also begin to get more in touch with their interests and skills, thereby increasing their
self-confidence for further enhancing their career commitment that may become identified as
higher on their profession or line of work, realized career goal setting and greater level of
resistance to career disruption in a less-than-optimal career environment. Thus, we
hypothesize the following:
H3a. The indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on career commitment (career identity,
career planning, career resilience) via perceived external employability is
moderated by career stages, such that the indirect effect varies in different career
stages.
H3b. The indirect effect of job content plateau on career commitment (career identity,
career planning, career resilience) via perceived external employability is
moderated by career stages, such that the indirect effect is various in different
career stage.

Methods
Research Framework, samples and procedures
According to above section, we developed the following framework (Figure 1). The sample for
this study is a convenience sample of white-collar employees enrolled in the MBA and
PR Career
H3a/H3b
Stages

H1a

Hierarchical Career
Plateau Perceived Commitment
External
• Career Identity
Employability
• Career Insight
Job-content • Career Resilience
Plateau
H2a/H2b
Figure 1.
Research framework
H1b

continuing education programs in five large universities in Taiwan. These participants had
full-time jobs in diverse organizations and occupations (including administrative,
managerial, professional and technical). A total of 608 survey questionnaires were
distributed with a cover page that described the general purpose of the study while also
ensuring anonymity and confidentiality. The participants returned the completed
questionnaires to the respective course instructors who administrated the survey. Because
the survey was administered in class, almost all of the students who were enrolled in the
classes involved in the study participated. The survey was a paper-and-pencil instrument,
and all employees in attendance were invited to participate. The researcher remained in the
room during the break time, while the respondents completed the survey and answered
questions related to the survey. To encourage participation, each participant who completed
the survey was given a gift card. In the end, 472 valid questionnaires (77% return rate) were
returned for data analysis.
Regarding the demographics of the participants, the age of the respondents ranged from
20 to 65 years (average age: 35.22 years). More than half of the respondents were female
(52.5%). The majority had at least an undergraduate degree (84.4%). Meanwhile, the average
job tenure of the respondents was 11.54 years; 45.6% of them had worked fewer than 10
years. Regarding their job positions, 45.8% of the respondents indicated they were staff,
39.5% indicated they were line managers and 12.6% indicated they were executives/
directors.

Measures
The measurements on the questionnaire were initially developed in English. For the
convenience of the participants, all items were translated into Chinese. Back-translation was
employed to ensure the face validity and reliability of the measurements (Brislin, 1980). The
researchers of this study consulted with the back-translator to determine discrepancies. In
addition, a pilot study was conducted to identify possible confusing wording and to look for
suggestions for improving the format of the instrument. The 40 pilot test samples were
excluded from the final survey results.
Hierarchical plateau. Based on a scale developed by Milliman (1992), the 6-item
hierarchical-content plateau scale adopted by Allen et al. (1999) was used to assess
hierarchical plateau. A sample item is, “I have reached a point where I do not expect to move
much higher.” Higher scores indicated a greater degree of plateau. Previous studies utilizing
this scale have reported reliability of 0.90 (Milliman, 1992). This scale used a five-point Likert Career plateau
rating (1 5 strongly disagree, 5 5 strongly agree). In the current study, the internal on a committed
consistency reliability was 0.86.
Job content plateau. The 6-item scale developed by Allen et al. (1999) was used to assess job
career journey
content plateau. A sample item is, “My job tasks and activities have become routine for me.”
Previous studies utilizing this scale have reported reliability of 0.87 (Milliman, 1992). Higher
scores indicated a greater degree of plateau. This scale also used a five-point Likert rating
(1 5 strongly disagree, 5 5 strongly agree). In the current study, the internal consistency
reliability was 0.87.
Perceived external employability. This study used the Rothwell and Arnold (2007) self-
perceived employability scale to assess external employability. It has seven items. Sample
items include the following: “I could easily get a similar job to mine in almost any
organization.” This scale used a seven-point Likert rating (1 5 strongly disagree,
7 5 strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for self-perceived employability in
this study was 0.89.
Career commitment. In this study, Carson and Bedeian (1994) career commitment measure
(CCM) was applied. The CCM includes 12 items in three dimensions: career identity with four
items, career insight with four items and career resilience with four items. “Career identity”
refers to the establishment of a close emotional association with one’s career; a typical sample
item is, “My line of work/career field is an important part of who I am.” “Career insight” refers
to the determination of developmental needs and the setting of career goals; a typical item is,
“I have created a plan for my development in this line of work/career field.” Finally, the term
“career resilience” indicates a resistance to career disruption in the face of adversity; a
statement that was used to measure this sub-dimension is, “The discomforts associated with
my line of work/career field sometimes seem too great.” This scale used a seven-point Likert
scale (1 5 strongly disagree, 7 5 strongly agree). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the CCM
for the current study was 0.88.
Career stage. We assessed career stages according to Super’s (1957) categorization.
Individuals aged 30 or below were grouped as the trial stage, aged 31–45 were grouped as the
stabilization stage and aged 46 or older as the maintenance stage.

Preliminary analyses
ANOVA analysis. We conducted a series of preliminary analyses prior to testing this study’s
hypotheses. First, we examined if the major variables exhibit differences among the career
stages. According to Super (1957), participants’ career stages were categorized into three
subgroups: ages 30 or below, ages 31–45, ages 46 or above. Table 1 demonstrates the results
of the ANOVA test. The means and standard deviation of the major variables were reported.
The career plateaus (hierarchical and job-content plateaus) show no difference among the
three career stages (F 5 1.069, p > 0.05 and F 5 2.400, p > 0.05, respectively). However, the
ANOVA results indicate that external employability and career commitment were significant
among the different career stages. Generally speaking, participants in career stage 3 (ages 46
or above) perceived themselves to have higher external employability and career
commitment than other two groups.
Confirmatory analysis. Prior to analyzing our hypotheses, we conducted a confirmatory
factor analysis. Our hypothesized model contained four variables: hierarchical plateau, job
content plateau, career commitment and perceived external employability. We applied
parceling techniques to reduce the complexity of the model and establish more stable
parameter estimates (Bandalos, 2002; Bagozzi and Edwards, 1998). Regarding the CFA
results, the fit indices of the five-factor model were within the acceptable range
(χ 2 (61) 5 243.65, RESEA 5 0.077, CFI 5 0.936, IFI 5 0.936, SRMR 5 0.0464). We also
PR Career stages
1 2 3 F Post hoc

Hierarchical plateau 1.45(0.50) 1.49(0.50) 1.58(0.50) 1.069 –

Job content plateau 1.59(0.49) 1.48(0.50) 1.49(0.50) 2.400 –
External employability 5.11(0.92) 5.41(0.95) 5.46(0.95) 6.027** 2 > 1; 3 > 1
Career commitment 4.64(1.01) 4.71(0.98) 5.13(0.80) 6.445** 3 > 1; 3 > 2
(1) Career identity 5.24(1.06) 5.37(1.07) 5.66(0.81) 3.803* 3>1
(2) Career insight 4.70(1.29) 4.89(1.26) 5.16(1.21) 3.182* 3>1
(3) Career resilience 3.93(1.39) 3.89(1.38) 4.59(1.20) 6.702** 3 > 1; 3 > 2
Note(s): *p < 0.05**p < 0.01. ***p < 0.001. Mean and standard deviation were reported
Table 1. Career Stage 1: The trail stage (ages below 30), n 5 167
Results of ANOVA Career Stage 2: The stabilization stage (ages between 30–45), n 5 244
analysis Career Stage 3: The maintenance (ages 46 and older), n 5 61

conducted a model comparison to confirm the structure of our measurement model. In the
end, the comparison results showed the five-factor model fit better than all the other models;
they were better than the goodness-of-fit indices of a series of alternative models (e.g. three-
factor model: χ 2 (64) 5 531.130, RESEA 5 0.124, CFI 5 0.814, IFI 5 0.815, SRMR 5 0.097; one
factor model: χ 2 (65) 5 646.66, RESEA 5 0.138, CFI 5 0.769, IFI 5 0.770, SRMR 5 0.1054). In
the meantime, Harman’s one-factor test was applied to check if the items loaded on a general
single factor, and the result indicated that common method variance was not a concern in our
data (the first factor accounted for 29.89%). In summary, both the CFA and Harman’s one-
factor test results supported the adequacy of our proposed measurement model.
Correlation and reliability. Table 2 shows the means, standard deviations and correlations
among the study variables. As for the study variables, hierarchical plateau was positively
related to job content plateau (r 5 0.52, p < 0.001) and negatively related to perceived external
employability (r 5
0.25, p < 0.001) as well as career commitment (r 5
0.45, p < 0.001). In
addition, job content plateau had a negative correlation with perceived external
employability (r 5
0.28, p < 0.001) and career commitment (r 5
0.44, p < 0.001).
Finally, career commitment had a positive correlation with perceived external employability
(r 5 0.38, p < 0.001), and its three sub-dimensions were significantly correlated with each

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1. Hierarchical 2.62 0.78 (0.86)

plateau
2. Job content 2.13 0.67 0.52*** (0.87)
plateau
3. External 5.31 0.95
0.25***
0.28*** (0.89)
employability
4. Career 4.74 0.98
0.45***
0.44*** 0.38*** (0.88)
commitment
5. Career 5.36 1.04
0.38***
0.46*** 0.36*** 0.78*** (0.84)
identity
Table 2. 6. Career insight 4.85 1.27
0.33***
0.37*** 0.42*** 0.82*** 0.56*** (0.85)
Means, standard 7. Career 3.99 1.38
0.36***
0.24*** 0.15** 0.78*** 0.39*** 0.40*** (0.86)
deviations and resilience
correlations among Note(s): n 5 472. Internal consistency reliabilities (alpha) are in parentheses
study variables ***p < 0.001
other. For details, please refer to Table 2. All Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.86 to Career plateau
0.89, which were acceptable according to Nunnally and Bernstein (1994). on a committed
career journey
Hypotheses testing
The direct effects (H1a/H1b) and indirect effects (H2a/H2b) were tested by using AMOS
version 22 with maximum likelihood parameter estimation, combined with the bootstrapping
procedures proposed by Preacher and Hayes (2008), to further investigate the relationships
among the major variables in this study. The moderated mediation hypotheses (H3a/H3b)
were tested by using Hayes PROCESS macro (model 7). The 95% bias-corrected confidence
interval from 5,000 resamples was generated by the bias-corrected bootstrapping method to
examine the significance of the moderated mediation effect. We used gender and job title as
controls for all the analyses. The results of the direct effects (H1a/H1b) and indirect effects
(H2a/H2b) are presented in Tables 3 and 4, respectively, while the results of the moderated
mediation effects are presented in Table 5.
Hypotheses 1a/1b stated that hierarchical/job content plateau would have negative effects
on career commitment. As shown in Table 3, the β coefficients between hierarchical plateau
and career commitment as well as between job content plateau and career commitment were
both negative (β 5
0.333, p < 0.001; β 5
0.333, p < 0.001, respectively). Moreover, the 95%
confidence interval (CI) around the estimates were [
0.469,
0.203] and [
0.470,
0.182], and
no zero appeared between the upper and lower limits of the intervals. The three-sub-
dimensions of career commitment also showed similar results, with the exception of job
content plateau to career resilience (β 5
0.044, [
0.157, 0.070]). Hence, the direct effects
result mostly support Hypotheses 1a/1b.
For mediation effects, we hypothesized that perceived external employability would
mediate the link of hierarchical plateau and career commitment (H2a), as well as the link of job
content plateau and career commitment (H2b). Based on 5,000 bootstrapping runs, if the 95%
CI does not straddle zero, the existence of a mediation effect can be inferred (Preacher and
Hayes, 2004). In H2a, the indirect effect was significant (β 5
0.049, p < 0.05, [
0.105,

0.009]) as was the direct effect (β 5
0.271, p < 0.01, [
0.399,
0.146]), indicating a partial
mediation result. For the three sub-dimensions of career commitment, the results had a
similar pattern (please refer to Table 4). Hence, H2a, that perceived external employability
partially mediates the link of hierarchical plateau and career commitment, was supported.
Similar results were also shown for the H2b. The indirect effect through perceived external
employability on job content plateau and career commitment was significant (β 5
0.072,
p < 0.01; [
0.126,
0.030]) as was the direct effect (β 5
0.286, p < 0.01, [
0.414,
0.152]),
suggesting a partially mediating effect. Furthermore, for the three sub-dimensions of career

95% BC bootstrapped
confidence interval
Hypotheses Estimate Lower Upper

Direct effects
H1a: Hierarchical plateau → career commitment
0.333***
0.469
0.203
(1) Hierarchical plateau → career identity
0.218***
0.332
0.105
(2) Hierarchical plateau → career insight
0.213***
0.329
0.103
(3) Hierarchical plateau → career resilience
0.334***
0.438
0.229
H1b: Job content plateau → career commitment
0.333**
0.470
0.182
(1) Job content plateau → career identity
0.314**
0.438
0.179
(2) Job content plateau → career insight
0.224**
0.344
0.100
(3) Job content plateau → career resilience
0.044
0.157 0.070 Table 3.
Note(s): *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; All coefficients reported were standardized Results of H1a and H1b
PR 95% BC bootstrapped confidence
interval
Hypotheses Estimate Lower Upper

Mediation effects
H2a: hierarchical plateau → external employability → career commitment
Indirect effect
0.049*
0.105
0.009
Direct effect
0.271**
0.399
0.146
Hierarchical plateau → external employability → career identity
Indirect effect
0.053*
0.109
0.009
Direct effect
0.178**
0.286
0.070
Hierarchical plateau → external employability → career insight
Indirect effect
0.050*
0.101
0.009
Direct effect
0.151**
0.255
0.051
Hierarchical plateau → external employability → career resilience
Indirect effect
0.022*
0.065
0.002
Direct effect
0.328**
0.428
0.216
H2b: job content plateau → external employability → career commitment
Indirect effect
0.072**
0.126
0.030
Direct effect
0.286**
0.414
0.152
Job content plateau → external employability → career identity
Indirect effect
0.077**
0.140
0.029
Direct effect
0.285**
0.409
0.168
Job content plateau → external employability → career insight
Indirect effect
0.073**
0.124
0.030
Direct effect
0.179**
0.287
0.059
Job content plateau → external employability → career resilience
Table 4. Indirect effect
0.031**
0.076
0.007
Results of mediation Direct effect
0.039
0.159 0.075
(H2a and H2b) Note(s): *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001; All coefficients reported were standardized

commitment, partial mediation results were delivered except for the link of job content
plateau to career resilience through perceived external employability to be full mediation
(please refer to Table 4). Hence, H2b was partially supported.
We further tested if career stages moderated the indirect relationship between hierarchical
plateau/job content plateau on career commitment via external employability. The career
stages were defined as low and high based on one standard deviation above and below its
mean score. The moderated mediation analysis procedure suggested by Hayes (2013) was
used to assess if the indirect effect is contingent on the level of the moderator. Model 7 in
Hayes’ (2013) template was applied. Table 5 exhibits that the values of estimates, standard
errors and bootstrap confidence intervals for the conditional indirect effects of hierarchical
plateau (H3a)/ job content plateau (H3b) on career commitment via external employability
respectively lie on the low (
1 SD), medium (mean) and high (þ1 SD) levels of the career
stages.
For H3a, based on a 5,000 bootstrapping runs, the conditional indirect effect of external
employability is significantly at the lower level of career stages (β 5
0.113, [
0.178,
0.059];
it became insignificant at the higher level of career stages, β 5
0.035, [
0.086, 0.013]; the
index of moderated mediation 5 0.102, SE 5 0.047 [0.014, 0.200]). The detailed results are
demonstrated in Table 5.
 95% BC bootstrapped
Career plateau
Confidence interval on a committed
Estimate SE Lower Upper career journey
Results of H3a (Y 5 Career Commitment)
IndexMM 0.102 0.047 0.014 0.200

1 SD
0.113 0.030
0.178
0.059
Mean
0.074 0.020
0.117
0.039
þ1 SD
0.035 0.025
0.086 0.013
Results of H3a (Y 5 career identity)
IndexMM 0.060 0.030 0.008 0.126

1 SD
0.115 0.032
0.184
0.057
Mean
0.075 0.021
0.122
0.037
þ1 SD
0.036 0.026
0.088 0.015
Results of H3a (Y 5 career insight)
IndexMM 0.102 0.047 0.015 0.203

1 SD
0.195 0.045
0.287
0.113
Mean
0.128 0.030
0.190
0.072
þ1 SD
0.061 0.042
0.142 0.024
Table 5.
Results of H3a (Y 5 career resilience) Results of moderated
IndexMM 0.015 0.020
0.018 0.064 mediation (H3a/H3b)

To further understand the moderated mediation effects, graphs were plotted. Figure 2
demonstrates the conditional indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on career commitment through
external employability, conditioned on the moderator (career stages), with 95% confidence bands.
It was shown that the lower level career stage was associated with a stronger negative indirect
effect from hierarchical plateau to career commitment through external employability.

5.60
Indirect Effect of Hierarchical Plateau to Career
Commitment via External Employability

5.40 Indirect Effect

Upper Bound
Lower Bound

5.20

Figure 2.
Conditional indirect
effect of hierarchical
plateau on career
5.00
commitment through
external employability,
conditioned on the
moderator (career
–1.00 –0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00
stages), with 95%
confidence bands
Levels of Career Stages
PR We also included all three dimensions of career commitment (career identity, career insight
and career resilience) as criteria variables to test the moderated mediation effects. Detailed
data regarding career identity, career insight and career resilience as criteria variables are
also reported in Table 5. Conditional indirect effects are provided in Figures 3 and 4. The
results for career identity and career insight were in accordance with the outcome of career
commitment but show no moderated mediation effect when career resilience was used as the
criterion variable (index of moderated mediation 5 0.015, SE 5 0.020, [
0.180, 0.064]).
Therefore, H3a is partially supported.
Finally, H3b stated that job content plateau on career commitment via external
employability would be moderated by career stages. There are no significant moderated
mediation results for H3b. The index of moderated mediation was not significant ([
0.089,
0.036]), and no significance results emerged at any level of career stages. Therefore, H3b was
not supported.

Discussion
This study focused on examining the negative relationship between hierarchical/job content
plateau and career commitment with its three dimension of career identity, career insight and
career resilience and on exploring the mechanism underlying this relationship by
investigating the mediating role of perceived external employability. We then determined
if Super’s (1957) three career stages amplify and attenuate the indirect effect of hierarchical/
job content plateau on career commitment (career identity, career insight, career resilience)
via perceived external employability. The moderated mediation model hypothesis results
represent the most important conclusions of this study.
The first result of the present study indicates that hierarchical plateaus had direct
negative effects on career commitment with its dimensions of career identity, career insight
and career resilience, while perceived external employability partially and negatively
Indirect Effect of Hierarchical Plateau to Career Identity via

5.60

5.40
External Employment

Indirect Effect
Upper Bound
Lower Bound

5.20

Figure 3.
Conditional indirect
effect of hierarchical
plateau on career
5.00
identity through
external employability,
conditioned on the
moderator (career
stages), with 95%
–1.00 –0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00
confidence bands
Levels of Career Stages
 Career plateau
Indirect Effect of Hierarchical Plateau to Career Insight via

5.60
on a committed
career journey

5.40
External Employment

Indirect Effect
Upper Bound
Lower Bound

5.20

Figure 4.
Conditional indirect
effect of hierarchical
5.00
plateau on career
insight through
external employability,
conditioned on the
moderator (career
–1.00 –0.50 0.00 0.50 1.00
stages), with 95%
confidence bands
Levels of Career Stages

mediated the influence of hierarchical plateaus on career identity, career insight and career
resilience. It means that employees reaching the high level of plateau on the upward
promotion in the organization perceived themselves as less confident concerning their ability
to be employed outside the current organization, consequently leading to their losing sight of
their strengths and weakness, with less commitment on persisting in attaining their goals and
their resilience in relation to their careers.
The second result showed that job content plateaus had direct negative effects on career
identity and career insight but no direct negative effect on career resilience; this is consistent
to the mediation model that perceived external employability as partially and negatively
mediating the influence of job content plateaus on career identity and career insight but fully
and negatively mediated on career resilience. An explanation for our two hypotheses’
findings may apply to COR theory, i.e. that individuals with a high degree of job content
plateaus perceive themselves as having a personal loss for working on the unchallenged job
content, which brings them a low psychological state with less willingness to maintain a long-
term relationship with their chosen career and reach their personal career goals. It is also
easier to understand the result of no significant career salience effect. Plateaued employees
are not like sportsmen who reflect a high tolerance for less-than-perfect situations and have a
resilient personality that pervades one’s response to adversity across all settings. That is why
resilience has not yet been noticed as much in academic studies as the other two dimensions:
career identity and career insights (Carson and Carson, 1998).
The final result also further confirmed the hypothesized moderated mediation model,
demonstrating that the magnitude of indirect effect was contingent upon different career
stages. The findings demonstrated that when employees in the trial and stabilization stages
have more influence on the mediation relationship between hierarchical plateau, perceived
external employability and career commitment, with its two dimensions of career identity and
career insight, than the employees in the maintenance stage. However, career stages did not
show significant influence on the mediation relationships among job content plateau,
PR perceived external employability and career commitment with its three dimensions. There
are some previous empirical studies supporting the similar findings. For example, employees
at the career establishment stage show a strong pursuit of vertical mobility (Hall and
Nougaim, 1968; Kong et al., 2012) as well as more negative work-related attitudes
and withdrawal behaviors (Xie and Zhou, 2014) than employees at the maintenance and
disengagement stages. These results imply that individuals in the trial stage are concerned
with identifying personal interests and capabilities, achieving a sense of mastery and gaining
peer and organization acceptance. Employees in the stabilization stage have achieved a sense
of independence and competence and are concerned with career advancement and growth. In
a basic sense, when experiencing more hierarchical plateaued employees in both stages, of
greater concern is whether they lack the sufficient skills for advancement and the less upward
opportunities across the organization boundary in order to become an expert and achieve
career progress, which can incline to low commitment on their advancement and recognition
(career identity), and risk-taking (career insights). On the contrary, when employees are aged
46 or older (maintenance stage), they have settled well into a career pattern and have broader
interests and capabilities. In this stage, individuals demonstrate a lower need for promotion
and instead are interested in assuming responsibility for others by way of mentoring or
volunteering.

Practical implications
The results of this study have practical implications for both plateaued employees and HR
managers and practitioners. For employees, this study’s findings indicate that learning how
to scan the environment to assess personal employability possibilities in the external labor
market is crucial to maintain a strong career path, especially at the both stages of trial and
stabilization. Ideally, this should happen before a plateau is reached. The phrase “an ounce of
prevention” is applicable here since reaching a plateau can be the beginning of a downward
spiral. Employees who find themselves in a hierarchical or job content plateau need to guard
against negative thoughts and fatalistic imaginings and recognize that their frustrations may
reflect situational constraints that bear no reflection on themselves or their abilities. Acting is
the way to forge ahead; this includes learning where and how to look for information related
to employment trends and professional requirements and then using such information to
prepare for future roles and responsibilities (Ashley, 1998). In sum, developing one’s external
employability in the early and mid-career journey is the foundation of building a sustainable
career for future development.
With respect to the hierarchical plateau, HR managers should be well versed on how to
cater to the needs of plateaued employees. The first strategy might be for HR practitioners
to discuss their plateauing concerns with these employees; in this way, possible solutions
within the organization might be identified. To date, researchers have identified some
human resource practices to help plateaued employees (Bardwick, 1986; Ettington, 1998;
Ference et al., 1977). Based on the finding that different career stages lessen the negative
responses of hierarchically plateaued employees; employees at the trial and stabilization
stages show a stronger pursuit of vertical mobility and hopefully are identified with high
reputation as professional and having achieved career success. Thus, the first strategy for
decreasing hierarchical plateau is to give employees more flexibility and autonomy, which
can make employees fully responsible for their work while providing them with meaningful
feedback. This approach will hopefully increase core values for their job and help fulfill
their personal career meaning in their early and mid-career stages. The second strategy is to
use job enrichment interventions such as job rotation or lateral transfer to assist employees
in obtaining new challenges in their job positions. Thus, they can become functional or
technical experts or work on special projects with other team members (Rotondo, 1999;
Wang et al., 2014). The purpose of this strategy is to lead the employees from plateau to Career plateau
potential, which is what they pursue for personal career growth during their trial and on a committed
stabilization stages. The third strategy we suggest is that HR managers provide goal-
setting projects to hierarchical plateaued employees to keep them productive in their
career journey
present position and thus feel the sense of working independently and increasing their
competence, especially in the early career stage. A fourth strategy involves the use of
systematic performance management and career training focused on how to set realistic
career goals, followed by strategies and action plans for achieving these goals (Jung and
Tak, 2008; Stevens, 1996). Employees will be more likely to have a positive perception of the
organization’s HRM policy, i.e. career advancement and growth while they are in the
stabilization stage. They expect the HR department to provide a clear direction for their
career planning and training so that they can become experts and make career progress. As
McDonald and Hite (2005) have argued, managing an employee’s career development
involves ongoing interaction between an employer and employee, and the results include
not only enhanced work performance, which may be temporary, but also increased
employee capabilities, which are not restricted to a particular job or organization.

Theoretical contribution and future research directions

Career plateau often comes as a great shock to an employee, and the consequences are almost
always negative. Decreased performance and low career commitment are among the most
common outcomes. To address these concerns in the workplace, many studies have been
conducted that aim to further investigate the link between career plateau and career
commitment; unfortunately, what most of these studies assume is that the latter is tied to an
organization (Milliman, 1992; Heilmann et al., 2008; Hofstetter and Cohen, 2014; Tremblay et al.,
1995). In this study, we view careers as physically and psychologically independent from
organizations, which better reflects the instability of the current labor market and the evolving
global economy. The results indicate that a low level of perceived external employability
partially explains the relation between career plateau and career commitment. Thus, our study
contributes to the research on career planning and organizational management by uncovering
a mediator in the aforementioned relation, which is lacking in the extant literature (Hurst et al.,
2016; Shabeer et al., 2018). This study adopted a cross-sectional method using convenience
sampling to obtain the results. In the future, we aim to use a longitudinal design to understand if
career commitment among plateaued employees changes across different time spans.
Since our results show that perceived external employability partially mediates the
relationship between career plateau and career commitment, future research may want to
investigate the existence of other mediators. Studies that distinguish between internal and
external types of employability would be worthwhile for the purpose of comparing which
type of employability is more influenced by career-plateau and has a greater influence on
career commitment. As past studies have reported, it is obviously not easy to completely
prevent the negative impact of career plateau (hierarchical or job content) on job or
organization-related outcomes (Jung and Tak, 2008). However, examining further how career
plateaus shape an individual’s career journey and under what circumstances this occurs
could be an illuminating path for future research.
Finally, we offer new insights into the perceived external employability as a mediator in
the link between career plateau (hierarchical and job content) and career commitment with its
three sub-dimensions and also generalize the magnitude of indirect effect contingently upon
different career stages by drawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theoretical
perspective in this study. For future studies, we suggest that career stage can be based on the
termination of different transitional periods, such as organizational tenure and job tenure to
test the results, especially in the current nonlinear career pattern.
PR Limitations
Despite the theoretical and practical contributions discussed above, the current research has
several limitations. First, since our constructs dealt with individual self-perceptions, it was
necessary to collect the data all at once via a self-reported format. The results may be affected
by common method variance, which might have inflated the relationships among the
measured variables (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Hence, we recommend that future research could
include measures rated by others than the participants themselves.
The second limitation involves the characteristics of our sample. We collected our data
from a group of white-collar employees enrolled in the MBA and continuing education
programs. It is possible that our findings and conclusions cannot be generalized to other
types of workers. However, pursuing a high degree of education in Asian culture is an
important mission in life for many people, and upward hierarchical movement is still the
primary indicator of success at work, as Wen and Xiao (2012) have stated. Obtaining a
high level of education is a shortcut to reaching career success, gaining social status and
prominence in both the family and workplace. Therefore, we consider that our samples
still fulfill our research purposes and still provide some implications for career
management.
The third limitation is that the criterion used to operationalize career stage is age,
following Super’s (1957) model, although career stage does not appear to be age-linked. In this
regard, future studies may need to use subjective measures of career stage by Super et al.’s
(1981) Career Concerns Inventory which operationalizes career stages in terms of the
respondent’s perceptions, organization tenure (Gould and Hawkins, 1978) or job tenure
associated with specific positions or assignment (Katz, 1978).
The last limitation is related to the above-mentioned concern regarding generalizability.
This study was conducted in Taiwan, which has a collectivist culture. Future studies might
consider taking cultural variables into account when further examining the relationship
between career plateau and career commitment. Conducting a study similar to the one
presented here, but in a more individualistic cultural context, might be worthwhile.

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About the authors

Dr. Yi-chun Lin received her Ph. in workforce development and education from The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. Now, Dr. Lin is an assistant professor of Graduate Institute of
International Human Resource Development at National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Her recent research works are in the field of training and education, cross-cultural human resource
development and international human resource management. Some of her publications can be seen in
the Career Development International, Human Resource Development International and International Career plateau
Journal of Intercultural Relations.
Dr. Angela Shin-yih Chen is an associate professor in the Department of Business Administration at on a committed
the National Taipei University in Taiwan. She received her PhD in human resource development from career journey
the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Her recent research interests focus on cross-cultural human
resource and organization behavior. Some of her publications can be seen in the International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, Personnel Review and Leadership Quarterly. Her teaching interests include
human resource management, organizational behavior and research methods. Angela Shin-yih Chen is
the corresponding author and can be contacted at: angela.ntpu@gmail.com

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