Complementarity in Future Selves: How Networks of Future-Oriented Cognitive Representations Influence Individuals’ Ability to Proactively and Adaptively Manage Their Career

When thinking about one’s future work life and career with its seemingly endless possibilities, individuals rarely have a singular “put together” vision of their future self, in which all components neatly fit together. We investigate how the complementarity of a future self impacts an individual’s efforts to work toward their desired future career. We conceptualize and operationalize a future self as a network of future-oriented cognitive representations and complementarity as the extent of mutually beneficial connections in this network. We propose that future self complementarity amplifies the energizing effect of activated future self representations as it spreads across the network, enhancing vitality, and thus promoting proactive career behavior. In Study 1, we developed and validated a network-based measure to capture future self complementarity. In Study 2, we found, in a temporally lagged sample of 517 employees at 11 organizations, an indirect effect of future self complementarity on proactive career behavior through vitality. Study 3, a preregistered causal chain experiment, provided further support for this link. In Study 4, a preregistered field experiment, we again found an indirect effect of future self complementarity on proactive career behavior, assessed using a scale as well as a behavioral measure, via vitality. Funding: Financial support from a grant overseen by the French National Research Agency as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program [ANR-16-IDEX-008]; a grant from the Community for Learning & Innovation at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and by the ESSEC Research Center is gratefully acknowledged. Supplemental Material: The online supplement is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.18204 .