Future Time Orientation

Essay by katerina729 January 2004

download word file, 7 pages 3.0

Background/Introduction

Future Time Orientation for career is a personality characteristic defined as the "general capacity to anticipate, shed light on and structure the future of one's career. (Gjesme, 1983)" Those who score high in the construct are likely to spend more time thinking about their future career and engaging in career development activities for the benefit of their future career than those who score low in the construct.

The construct being measured is an important assessment tool for the workplace, specifically for hiring practices. By measuring potential employees' FTO for career, human resource personnel and managers can recognize candidates who have the personality to succeed in a work position. A candidate with a personality that is conscientious and proactive is likely to succeed on the job. Taking initiative and action in relation to one's environment and future has been found to be related to career success. Those with proactive personalities, meaning they initiate change and counteract situational forces in their environments, are likely to "identify opportunities and act on them, show initiative, and persevere until they bring about meaningful change.

(Bateman & Crant, 1993)" Those who have this type of proactive personality are more likely to have a higher salary, receive more promotions and have higher career satisfaction than those who do not have a personality that is proactive (Seibert et al., 1999). Similarly, those who are more conscientious, a Big Five Personality Trait, are likely to have more intrinsic career success defined as job satisfaction, and extrinsic career success, defined as income and occupational status (Judge & Higgins, 1999). Since having a high general FTO suggests a proactive and conscientious personality, and such a personality predicts career success, a person with high FTO for career would be more likely to succeed in their career than a person who...