Young researchers frequently experience career challenges, including low well-being, mental health issues, and burnout, yet these aspects have rarely been investigated in an integrated manner. This study draws on SCCT to examine whether sustainable career outcomes–perceived internal marketability, career satisfaction, and sickness absence–can be predicted by psychological characteristics (career optimism and intrinsic career goals) and contextual factors (hard and soft skill training), with occupational self-efficacy as a mediator. We conducted a five-year longitudinal study with 1,218 early-career researchers in Germany, using Multilevel modelling to separate person-level from year-level effects. The results indicate that career optimism positively influenced career satisfaction and perceived internal marketability but not sickness absence. Intrinsic career goals predicted career satisfaction but had no effect on perceived internal marketability or sickness absence. Surprisingly, training participation at Time 1 did not affect any outcome over time. Occupational self-efficacy mediated all significant relationships and additionally linked intrinsic career goals to perceived internal marketability. These findings underline the importance of career optimism, intrinsic career goals, and occupational self-efficacy in young researchers’ career development, but show that the role of training is more complex than expected. Theoretical and practical implications for researchers, leaders, and university management are discussed. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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