The route to employability : Examining resources and the mediating role of motivation

Purpose – Drawing from the job characteristics model and the job demands‐resources model, this study aims to examine the associations of resources (i.e. feedback, autonomy, and variety) with intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and employability. Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling on data from 611 employees of a Dutch municipality. Findings – Consistent with the hypotheses, the authors' results indicated that resources are related to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and that the association between resources and employability was mediated by extrinsic motivation but not by intrinsic motivation. Research limitations/implications – The authors use a one‐dimensional measure of perceived employability and do not make a distinction between internal and external employability and other dimensions of employability. The authors feel that distinguishing between internal employability and external employability will contribute to understanding if internal and external opportunities relate differently to perceptions of employability with the same organization and with a different organization. Originality/value – Job resources are important for improvement of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, but the route from job resources to employability is via extrinsic job opportunities and not via intrinsic job opportunities. That is, the perception of performance outcome goals by employees is important for the association between job resources and employability. The paper shows that, without denying the value of intrinsic motivation, it is important for management to emphasize the instrumental value of resources embedded in the job itself that have implications for employability and career advancement.