Measurement of Career Success: The Case of Rural to Urban Migrant Labourers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract:Despite the rich literature on the antecedents of career success, the success criterion has generally been measured in a rather deficient manner. This study aims to operationalize and measure career success of rural to urban migrant laborers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by developing an integrated index. The Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) with a combination of both reflective and formative constructs is applied. Employing the primary data of 419 migrant laborers in a survey conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2015, the hierarchical model confirms the statistically significant contribution of objective and subjective components to the career success index. Compared to objective career success, subjective career success has a stronger effect on the index. Five dimensions of career success are distinguished including: 1) job satisfaction, 2) career satisfaction, 3) life satisfaction, 4) other-referent criteria and 5) promotion. The first four and the final one are categorized as subjective career success and objective career success respectively. Among the four dimensions of subjective success, job satisfaction, career satisfaction and life satisfaction share lesser weights than success using otherreferent criteria in the model. This finding implies that other-referent criteria play an important role when people evaluate their career success. The index shall provide a general picture of the career success of rural to urban migrant laborers in Ho Chi Minh City and give an empirical result for further micro-research on career success determination.