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The Influence of Career Success on Subjective Well-Being

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Psychological, Educational, and Sociological Perspectives on Success and Well-Being in Career Development

Abstract

It is a common assertion that being successful in one’s work and occupational career should enhance a person’s well-being. After introducing the constructs of subjective well-being and of career success studies concerned with their relationship are reviewed. We find that objective measures of career success (income) have a small positive influence on subjective well-being that is, however, moderated and mediated by goals, personality, and an individual’s rank on the income ladder in a country. We further find that the subjective experiencing of career success has an influence on well-being. Finally, the relationship of career success and well-being seems to be reciprocal and the influence of well-being on career success might even be stronger than the reverse influence of career success on well-being. We conclude that striving for career success is one means of enhancing well-being. However, there are still many open questions and further research on the interrelationship of career success and subjective well-being is needed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants of the German Research Council to Andrea E. Abele (AB 45/11.1). Thanks to Dr. Tamara Hagmaier-Göttle and Dr. Daniel Spurk for comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bismarckstr. 6, D-91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Andrea E. Abele-Brehm

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  1. Andrea E. Abele-Brehm
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Correspondence to Andrea E. Abele-Brehm .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Anita C. Keller

  2. Department of Social Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Robin Samuel

  3. Department of Social Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Manfred Max Bergman

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Norbert K. Semmer

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Abele-Brehm, A.E. (2014). The Influence of Career Success on Subjective Well-Being. In: Keller, A., Samuel, R., Bergman, M., Semmer, N. (eds) Psychological, Educational, and Sociological Perspectives on Success and Well-Being in Career Development. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8911-0_2

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