Young adults in flux

decades, identifying various predictors of intention to voluntarily quit the organization.
However, although previous studies indicated that younger employees are more prone to
turnover intentions, emerging adulthood, as a specific developmental period, has been ne‑
glected in previous research dedication to turnover intentions. Emerging adulthood cor‑
responds to ages 18–29 years, during which individuals consider themselves as no longer
adolescents, but not yet as full‑fledged adults. Besides the achievement of developmen‑
tal milestones, various psychologically based qualities – known as dimensions of emerging
adulthood – are differentiated in a research literature, and can play a role in turnover inten‑
tions. Relatedly, although Psychological capital (PsyCap) – as a second‑order construct in‑
tegrating hope, self‑efficacy, resilience, and optimism - has been established as a correlate
of intention to remain in the organization in previous studies, the role of positive psy‑
chological resources in intention to stay in an organization during emerging adulthood,
as a specific developmental period, has been neglected. Moreover, recent literature also
indicates that the relationship between psychological capital and turnover intention
could be indirect – i.e., mediated by other variables such as work engagement – and that
a similar pattern of results could be expected also in the case of dimensions of emerging
adulthood. Thus, the aim of the present paper is to examine the role of (A) dimensions
of emerging adulthood (as potentially important developmental factors) and (B) psycho‑
logical capital (as a positive psychological state that could be purposefully cultivated) in
the intention to remain in the organization both directly, and indirectly (i.e., potentially
mediated via work engagement).
Method. The sample consisted of 192 people in the age range of 19-29 years. A cross­
­sectional design has been employed. Psychological capital (CPC – 12R), Dimensions of emerging adulthood (IDEA-8), Work engagement (UWES – 17), Intention to remain in the current organization (scale), and Big­‑Five personality traits (BFI‑II‑Short) have been used.
Results. Results indicated that the intention to remain in the organization was positive‑
ly related to engagement and to psychological capital, but it was not related to dimensions of
emerging adulthood. In fact, a model with psychological capital - as the only predictor - was
preferred according to the Bayesian multi‑model linear regression. Moreover, mediation
analysis indicated that conditional on the model assumption – X (psychological capital)
→ M (work engagement) → Y (intention to remain in the organization), work engagement
can account for a significant portion of the variance between X and Y. A similar pattern of
results occurred concerning one dimension of emerging adulthood, namely the feeling in‑
‑between – X (feeling in between) → M (work engagement) → Y (intention to remain in the
organization). However, other dimensions of emerging adulthood were not relevant in the
present context. The further exploratory analysis also indicated that dedication - as specif‑
ic aspect of engagement - could be of some importance in the present context.
Conclusions. It can be concluded that psychological capital predicted intention to re‑
main in the current organization both directly and indirectly – via work engagement – and
this could have practical implications as it seems that psychological capital is possible to
cultivate. Moreover, although the role of feeling in‑between was rather indirect, smaller,
and less certain, it can help us to better understand the nuances of the turnover intentions
in a turbulent period of emerging adulthood.
Limitations. The main limitation of the present study is the cross‑sectional research
design and the convenience sampling. Therefore, replication and further extensions are
recommended for future research.