Occupation as a Personal Project System: Application of the Ontological Well-Being Concept to Workplace

Abstract

In this research, factor structure of the Occupational Project Scale (OPS) was investigated to determine whether the four-factor structure (e.g., regret, activation, nothingness, and hope) obtained from the research by O. F. Simsek and E. Kocayoruk (2010, Unpublished manuscript) would be validated in the context of workplace. Additional relationships between this new construct and personality, general affect, and job satisfaction were then computed for construct validity. The second aim of the present research was to provide support that the evaluations of occupational projects mediate the relationships between general affect, affect in the workplace, and job satisfaction. Consequently, structural relations among the constructs were tested using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the four-factor structure and showed that this construct mediated the relationship between affect variables (general mood and affect in the workplace) and job satisfaction. The results are discussed in the context of career counseling.