Career satisfaction

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of personal characteristics (proactive personality and performance goal orientation) and contextual characteristics (organizational learning culture and leader‐member exchange quality) on employees' career satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Data were drawn from 232 employees in a Fortune Global 500 company in Korea. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for measurement model assessment. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to explain the variance in career satisfaction. Findings As a result of correlation analysis, all the constructs were found to be significant predictors of career satisfaction. Accounting for 22 percent of the variance in career satisfaction, employees exhibited the highest career satisfaction, when they had higher performance goal orientation, and when they perceived higher learning culture and better relationship with supervisor. LMX turned out to moderate the relationship between performance goal orientation and career satisfaction. Research limitations/implications The contributions of this study to theory lie in the fact that it: took an integrative approach encompassing both personal and contextual factors; examined little researched constructs in career development, organizational learning culture and goal orientation; and was an international study, based on the Korean cultural context. Practical implications To support employees' career satisfaction in the Korean cultural context, the contextual factors (i.e. organizational learning culture and LMX quality) are more important than the personality factors. HR/OD practitioners can play a pivotal role in improving career satisfaction by adopting such practices as cultural change and leadership development using coaching/mentoring. Originality/value This paper is original in that it takes an integrative approach encompassing both personal and contextual factors, examines organizational learning culture and goal orientation, which have previously been the subject of little research, and has an international dimension, being based on the Korean cultural context.