Work-role overload, work–life conflict, and perceived career plateau: The moderating role of emotional stability

Abstract

As perceived career plateau is a prevalent but undesirable state which is harmful to employees and organizations, human resource management (HRM) research has devoted efforts to exploring ways of managing it. However, to date, research has largely been limited to variables that reduce perceived career plateau. There is a need to understand what factors increase these perceptions and how/when they do so, to advance theoretical and practical perspectives. This study contributes to the career plateau literature by investigating how and under what conditions work-role overload can increase employees' perceived career plateau (hierarchical and job content plateaus). Based on a three-wave survey of employees from the service sector of China, we found that work-role overload interacted with employees' trait emotional stability and affected their work–life conflict, which had downstream implications on the two types of perceived career plateaus. Specifically, work-role overload related positively to work–life conflict only when employees had a high (versus low) level of emotional stability. Also, work–life conflict mediated the effects of work-role overload on perceived hierarchical and job content plateaus for employees with high, but not for those with low, emotional stability. These findings provide new insights into how, by taking into account stressful work contexts and individual differences, HRM professionals may intervene to prevent employees from perceiving career plateau.