10.5465/AMBPP.2014.10 THE SPILL-OVER EFFECT OF MARITAL QUALITY ON CAREER MANAGEMENT SELF-EFFICACY: ENRICHMENT, CONFLICT, OR BOTH XIANG YI Western Illinois University Macomb, IL 61455 WEIBO CHENG Central South University, China BARBARA A. RIBBENS Illinois State University ABSTRACT In a dynamic business environment it is more important than ever for employees to be able to manage their careers through career management self-efficacy (CMSE). In this study, we explored the direct and moderating effect of marital quality on employee’s CMSE. We also examined the mediating effect of career salience between career identity salience and CMSE. INTRODUCTION Career self-management is a dynamic process an employee uses to guide career decisions and proactive behaviors in order to manage their career and achieve goals (e.g., King, 2004; De Vos & Soens, 2008). Self-efficacy is perceived competence to effectively perform required tasks or behaviors (Bandura, 1986) and is domain-specific. Domain studies devoted to self-efficacy include career planning, development and decision- making (Betz, 2007; Choi et al., 2012; Lent et al., 2003; Lent et al., 2008). Even though King (2004) specified that self-efficacy is a key antecedent to career self-management, specific domains in CMSE have not been examined. The spillover effect of marriage quality on employee CMSE should be examined, especially when conflicting theories and inconsistent findings exist regarding whether this family domain characteristic enhances or conflicts CSME. (e.g., Greenhaus & Powell, 2006). THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT Identity salience is a critical notion of identity theory (Stryker, 1987), defined as the relative centrality of a particular performed role, i.e., work, family, and gender. Career identity salience is the relative importance of career self-definition and evaluation, describing an individual’s identity tradeoff between career and family (Major et al., 2002). We propose that career identity salience more positively associates with CMSE to gauge self-esteem and self-efficacy, while influencing self-definition, worth, and psychological