Despite the widespread belief that “your future self helps you become that person,” limited attention has been given to examining its applicability within organizational contexts. This study aims to address this gap by investigating how and when individuals’ future work selves influence their subsequent career adaptability.
A three-wave online survey was administered to 203 full-time employees in China. Anonymous tracking codes were utilized to ensure participant confidentiality and enable longitudinal data matching. Hypotheses were examined using regression-based analysis.
Future work self exerts a positive influence on career adaptability through the mediating role of work meaningfulness. Furthermore, psychological closeness moderates this relationship by strengthening the effect of work meaningfulness on career adaptability.
This research advances the literature on future work self and career adaptation by identifying work meaningfulness as an underlying mechanism and psychological closeness as a key moderator. The findings offer practical insights for organizations seeking to enhance workforce adaptability by selecting and nurturing employees with a well-defined future work self.
