THE ROLE OF TRAINING IN IMPROVING EMPLOYABILITY, JOB SATISFACTION AND THE CAREER SUCCESS OF PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYEES

The importance of knowledge for the success of modern organizations results in growing interest in the issue of the professional development and the employability of public sector employees. Constant development and professional training are necessary. This situation poses a serious challenge for many employees, affecting their job satisfaction and opportunities for career success. The paper attempted to answer the question of what are the relations between training and professional development, and employability, job satisfaction and the subjective career success of public sector employees? This goal was achieved by examining the results of surveys conducted in public sector organizations. The results indicate that employee training and development positively influence employability, as well as employee career success and job satisfaction. Moreover, the positive impact of job satisfaction on subjective career success was identified.


INTRODUCTION
The dynamic increase in knowledge means that the development and professional training of employees are now an important element of human resource management (HRM) in many public organizations. Nevertheless, its goals are often subordinated primarily to the needs of the organization, with little regard to the ambitions and aspirations of the employees. According to some researchers, one of the crucial tasks of modern HRM should be caring for the well-being of employees (Siikaniemi, 2009), which in the perspective of the changes in public organizations and the labour market, means, among others, the need to support the development of the employability of employees. This issue is of particular importance in the context of tasks performed by public organizations, changes in these organizations and the growing social expectations regarding the quality of public services, resulting in the need to constantly improve employee competences. This development is strongly determined by the specificity of the functioning of public organizations and the requirements for their employees. Compared to the private sector, these requirements are definitely more formally defined, as are the professional development paths, and yet the resources allocated to employee training are limited and subject to detailed control (Frączkiewicz-Wronka and Marzec, 2012).
These conditions significantly affect not only the employability of public sector employees, but also their job satisfaction and opportunities for career success, considered important factors which affect employee performance (Carmeli and Freund, 2004;Cohen, 1993;Ballout, 2007). Changes in the psychological contract and employee careers also affect the perception and criteria of career success. According to Rousseau (2001), an "employment deal" is becoming more individualistic, which is reflected in the subjective nature of the psychological contract and translates into understanding career success. Public sector employees often do not expect a 'job for life', realizing that it is supplanted by a new type of career (the so-called 'boundaryless' career), associated with a different understanding of career success. Not having job security any more, employees expect the support of the organization in the development of their employability, which will enable them to find alternative, satisfying employment in another organization or a sector in the event of job loss (De Caluwé et al., 2014).
Despite the growing importance of the issue of employability in the public sector, the level of its understanding is still low, as there is little research conducted in this area. The paper attempted to answer the question of what are the relations between training and professional development, and employability, job satisfaction and the subjective career success of public sector employees? This goal was achieved by presenting the findings of surveys conducted in public sector organizations. The paper begins with a theoretical framework and review of the relevant literature allowing for the formulation of hypotheses. The research methodology, research results and conclusions were subsequently presented.

Training and development as a basis for the employability enhancement
Employability is a multi-faceted concept that can be analyzed from many perspectives. In this discussion, a definition based on a competence-based approach is adopted, according to which employability is defined as "the continuously fulfilling, acquiring or creating work through the optimal use of competences" (Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden, 2006, p. 453), which implies the achievement of long-term results through the process of adaptation and learning. The employability of public sector employees is significantly affected by the development support offered by organizations. According to some researchers, other activities undertaken in the organization are of rather supportive nature (Talavera and Pérez-González, 2007). Responding to changes in employment relations and the growing expectations of employees regarding opportunities for professional development, the organization's activities in this area are more frequently aimed not only at improving the employability of employees on the internal, but also on the external labour market (Martini and Cavenago 2017).
However, not all organizations adopt this approach. Thijssen, Van der Heijdenand Rocco (2008) distinguished three basic strategies for the development of employability used by organizations, namely the broadening strategy, according to which the organization supports the development of employee employability, the selling strategy used in organizations that have limited investment in employee development and the consuming strategy, used in organizations that do not invest in the development of employee employability, based on the assumption that employees are responsible for maintaining their value on the labour market. Although it has long been known that investment in human capital can improve organizational performance, many employers are not keen on improving such competencies that can be used in a different workplace, and thus improving employability is not considered as a good strategy by many employers. Unfortunately, in many public organizations, the development of employee employability is seen as an unnecessary cost or even a threat to the organization. It should be noted, however, that the development of a wide range of employee competencies leads to the increased flexibility of human resources of the organization (Van Dam, 2004). According to the theory of human capital, investment in the training and professional development of employees strengthens their functional flexibility. As a result, it reduces the need for dismissals and related costs, because employees develop broad competencies, which allow them to perform various tasks and organizational roles, which subsequently enables the maintenance of employment stability in the case of the changing needs of the organization (Juhdi et al., 2010;Bratnicka-Myśliwiec, 2018).
Numerous empirical research conducted mainly in the private sector, confirmed the positive impact of training on the employability of employees. In research carried out in the United States, positive relations were already observed between employee participation in training and their professional mobility (Bowlby and Schriver, 1970). Research conducted in the Netherlands indicated that training has a positive impact not only on the employability of employee, but also on their career advancement (Groot and Maasen van den Brink, 2000). In addition, research conducted in various industries in Malaysia found that training enhances both the internal and external employability of employees (Juhdi et al., 2010), some research in public sector organizations shows that formal on-the-job learning supported by organization leaders has a positive impact on employability (Nelissen et al., 2017;Strużyna and Marzec, 2017).Thus, it can be assumed that: H1: Training and development have a positive impact on the employability of public organization employees.

The results of the development of employability at the individual level: job satisfaction and career success
As mentioned, in some organizations investments in the development of employability are perceived as not only unprofitable, but even increasing the risk of employees leaving the organization. However, the findings of recent research among the Flemish labour force are contrary to the employability paradox. A very weak relationship was demonstrated between training and turnover intention and actual turnover (Nelissen et al., 2017). In practice, however, a greater threat for the organization is limiting development activities because valuable employees who seek development will leave such an organization (Marzec, 2015). Nowadays, employees are becoming aware of changes in the labour market and are looking for employment in organizations that offer them opportunities to train and enhance their employability. Empirical research indicates that investments in the development of employee employability improve their organizational commitment and efficiency of operations, and they also lead to reduced costs related to dismissals and employment of new personnel, thus increasing the functional flexibility of human resources in the organization (Van Dam, 2004;Marzec, 2015;Bozionelos et al., 2016). In addition, employability treated as a personal resource can lead to a higher level of satisfaction (Lu et al., 2015). One of the most commonly used definitions of job satisfaction is that it is "a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one's job or job experiences" (Locke, 1976;p. 1304). Job satisfaction is considered a consequence of various organizational processes.
Job satisfaction is influenced by numerous organizational and individual factors, which are variously classified. Often mentioned organizational factors which affect job satisfaction include the features of work performed, working conditions, the quality of interpersonal relationships in the organization, climate and organizational culture, the sense of job security, training and opportunity for professional development, supervisor support, intrinsic motivation, etc. (Judge et al., 2001;Spector, 1997;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010;Grobelna et al., 2016). So far, little research has been conducted into the relation between employability and job satisfaction (Kinnunen et al., 2011;De Cuyper et al., 2010;Thaler et al., 2017), indicating the relation between these variables. It can therefore be assumed that: H2: The employability of public organization employees has a positive impact on job satisfaction.
Career success is defined as accumulated positive professional and psychological results resulting from professional experience (Ng et al., 2005). This can be understood both as objective and subjective (internal, psychological) success. The former is determined by measurable indicators such as the number of promotions in one's career and/or an organization, the amount of remuneration and income, and position (Seibert et al., 2001). The latter is an individual assessment of the individual's achievements in his/her professional career. There are various models of subjective career success, which cover different dimensions, constituting various aspects of the professional career (e.g. Smale et al., 2019;Parker and Arthur, 2002;Heslin, 2005). One of the most popular models was proposed by Gattiker and Larwood (1986), which comprises five dimensions, i.e. position, interpersonal, financial, hierarchical and life success. It should be noted, however, that changes in employee career models mean that employees are increasingly often guided in their career choices by subjective rather than objective criteria when assessing their career success (Eithet et al., 2011).
Various factors affect the possibility of employees achieving career success. Key factors include organizational support, which concerns the extent to which an organization provides an employee with assistance in achieving career success. This includes their superior's support, access to resources, and an opportunity to participate in training and the development of competencies (Judge et al., 1995;Wayne et al., 1999;Spurk et al., 2019). This support results in employability, which can subsequently determine career success. Only recently has research confirmed the relationship between employability and success (Marzec, 2019). Van der Heijden (2006) andDe Vos andDe Hauw (2011) found evidence that employability is the antecedent for success in both objective and subjective terms. Moreover, Cerdin et al. (2020) discovered positive influence of dispositional employability on perceived internal career prospects. However, research conducted by Lo Presti et al. (2018) among Italian freelancers did not confirm the direct but only the indirect relationship between these variables, where professional commitment had an intervening role.
H3: The employability of public sector employees has a positive impact on their subjective career success.
The relationship between job satisfaction and career success seems intuitive. Subjective career success, understood as a career assessment in aspects that are important to the individual implies that various aspirations, such as income, job security, the development of competencies, etc. may be related to success (Van Maanen, 1977). Therefore, job satisfaction can be one aspect of subjective success (Arthur et al., 2005). Research which combines both constructs is not common. When analyzing 68 articles published up to 2005, where career success was a dependent variable, Arthur et al. (2005) pointed to one research where job satisfaction was a predicate. In subsequent years the findings of research conducted among German graduates confirmed that people who are more satisfied with their job also rate their career success more highly (Spur and Abele, 2014). By conducting a meta-analysis of articles which presented the results of research into career success, Ng and Feldman (2014) confirmed the hypothesis that the lack of job satisfaction is negatively correlated with subjective success. Many consequences of job satisfaction such as turnover, commitment, and performance have already been studied (Jin, 2018) job satisfaction and subjective career success in relation to public sector employees. Therefore, the following hypothesis was formulated: H4: Job satisfaction has a positive impact on the subjective career success of public sector employees.

METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH RESULTS 1
Surveys were conducted in 2016 among a total of 566 employees in 147 organizations, which provide the basic types of public services, i.e. municipal cultural centres, public health care facilities, district labour offices, municipal social welfare centres, primary schools, district family assistance centres and city/municipality offices. A complex sampling method was used; in the first stage, a selection criterion was the type of public services provided by organizations, and then a random selection method was implemented at the level of selecting organizations and employees. Due to the specificity of the public services rendered, women constituted 81.3% and men 18.7% of the sample. Most of the respondents had a Master's degree (61.7%), 13.3% Bachelor's degree, 23.5% secondary school education, and only 1.6% of respondents had vocational and primary education. The average age of the employees surveyed was 39.9 years (with a median of 39 years) and the average work experience was 16.5 years (with a median of 39 years).
The research adopted a competence-based approach to employability which assumes that employability is a general construct encompassing the specific competences required to deal with the situation in both external and internal labour markets (Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden, 2006). To measure employability, a tool constructed for the purpose of the research was used, based mainly on the measurement models of employability proposed by Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden (2006), Fugate and Kinicki (2008) and Marzec (2015). However, because these models were validated in the private sector, and the literature study, as well as the interviews with public managers carried out at the first stage of the research, revealed that expectations regarding the employability of public employees differ somewhat, the scale was thus developed and adjusted to these specific needs (Bennet, 2011;Hoskins et al., 2012;Frączkiewicz-Wronka and Marzec, 2012). To test its validity and reliability, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA, CFA), as well as scale homogeneity analysis, were used. The final scale included eight subscales used to measure the dimensions of the employability of public organization employees identified during the research, i.e. social competences (e.g. "I am committed to the mission and goals of my organization"), adaptability (e.g. "I quickly take advantage of the changes in my workplace"), civic competences (e.g. "I believe that men and women should be paid the same for doing the same job"), knowledge and professional skills (e.g. "I consider myself sufficiently competent to indicate when my knowledge is insufficient to perform a task or solve a problem"), the ability to maintain balance (e.g. "I achieve a balance in alternating between a high degree of involvement in my work and a more moderate one at the appropriate moment"), ethical competences (e.g. "sometimes my reports do not give my supervisor the whole truth"), being professionally proactive (e.g. "I stay abreast of developments in my branch"), and the anticipatory pursuit of professional development (e.g. "I prepare myself conscientiously for the current changes taking place in my organization", a total of 46 items on the scale).
To measure the remaining variables, previously constructed scales with proven validity were used, i.e. training and development were measured using 10 items of the scale developed by Tsui (1987); e.g. "In my organization, employees participate in creating plans of professional development". It should be mentioned that this scale did not allow for the specification of the type of training in which employees participated. Subjective career success was assessed with the 18 items of Gattiker and Larwood's scale (1986): "I am pleased with the promotions which I received". Finally, job satisfaction was measured using the Agho, Price and Mueller (1992) scale, which contains 5 items (e.g. "I enjoy my work"). The reliability of these scales was checked in the ongoing research. All items were rated on the seven-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = I strongly disagree, to 7 = I strongly agree).
In the analysis of results, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used. This method allows for the examination of complex cause and effect relations between variables, as well as the determination of the strength and direction of occurring relations. Additionally, by using SEM, it is possible to test and optimize the model of the relationship between the studied variables, represented in the form of a path diagram (Figure 1; Konarski, 2009;Marzec, 2015). The method of maximum likelihood (ML) was applied as a model estimation method. For its assessment, the following fit indices were used: RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation), chi 2 /df, GFI (Jöreskog and Sörbom Goodness-of-Fit Index), CFI (Comparative Fit Index), and Tucker-Lewis Coefficient (TLI). The model was tested using SPSS 24.0 for Windows and Amos 24.0 software.
First of all, the average level of studied variables was determined by means of descriptive statistics. 2 The obtained results show that the employees highly evaluated all examined variables. Employability was rated at an average of 5.66 points on a sevenpoint scale, job satisfaction at 5.74 points, and training and professional development at 5.18 on the seven-point scale. The respondents clearly rated their career success -the average rating was 4.36 points on the seven-point scale (Table 1).
In the next step, using structural equation modelling (SEM), the theoretical model of the relation between (1) training and development, (2) employability, (3) job satisfaction and (4) subjective career success was analyzed (Figure 1). In the model, two theoretically important variables such as age and position were not considered (e.g. Okay-Somerville and Scholarios, 2017;Yeves et al, 2019). The previous analysis of differences in the level of employability in the different age groups revealed that these differences are not significant at p=0.01; hence, the moderating impact of age was not analysed. Due to the structure of the final sample, the level of variability of job positions of employees was too low for the analysis. Therefore, analysing the moderating effect of the position could result in unreliable results. The presented conceptual model assumed that employee training and development have a positive impact on their employability, which in turn has a positive effect on their job satisfaction and subjective career success (Figure 1). Therefore, employability plays the role of a mediator in the relation between training and employee development and job satisfaction and the subjective career success of employees. According to Judge and Colquitt (2004), the relation of mediation is confirmed if adding a direct path between the examined variables -in this case the path which indicates a direct impact of employee training and development on job satisfaction and subjective career success of employees -will not significantly improve the quality of the model or make an indirect path statistically insignificant.
The conducted SEM analysis proved the correctness of the intended conceptual model. It was found that all tested relationships were significant and the model had a satisfactory fit. However, as indicated by Januszewski (2011), meeting the admissibility criterion by the model does not mean that this model is the only and the best one. Therefore, alternative models were also analysed, which take into account the direct impact of training and development on job satisfaction (Model 2), the direct impact of training and development on subjective career success (Model 3), and a model that takes into account the direct impact of training and development on both subjective career success and job satisfaction (Model 4) and Model 0, which assumes no relation between the variables (Table 2). Table 2 The goodness-of-fit of the alternative models of relations between training and development, employability, job satisfaction and subjective career success The relations between the studied variables are shown in the path graph, where only those relations between the main elements of the model and standardized values of path coefficients were marked for greater clarity ( Figure  2; cf. Byrne, 2010). The analysis of the models showed that Model 4, which takes into account both the direct and indirect impact of training on job satisfaction and subjective career success, has the best fit. The results of the analysis of alternative models show that considering the direct impact of training on job satisfaction and subjective professional success in the case of Models 2 to 4 only slightly improves the quality of the model and indirect paths are still statistically significant, indicating that employability serves as a mediator. However, in the case of Model 4, which takes into account both the direct and indirect impact of training and development, some improvement in the quality of the model was observed in comparison to the alternative models (see Table 2). The results also show that training and development have a positive impact on employability (employee training and development: γ=0.356; p<0.01; H1), which has a positive effect on job satisfaction (β=0.523; p<0.01; H2) and subjective career success (β=0.541; p<0.01; H3). To sum up, it can be stated that training and development have both an indirect and direct impact on job satisfaction (γ=0.224; p<0.01) and career success (γ=0.235; p<0.01). It was also observed that job satisfaction has a positive influence on the subjective career success of employees (β = 0.326; p <0.01; H4). The research results do not give reasons for the rejection of the hypotheses. The analyses showed that training and professional development have a positive impact on the employability of public sector employees (H1), which in turn has a positive impact on their job satisfaction (H2) and subjective career success (H3). It was also found that job satisfaction has a positive impact on the subjective career success of public sector employees (H4). It is also worth noting that the assessment of the career success of the public sector employees surveyed is clearly lower than the assessment of the other variables, which indicates that despite high job satisfaction, they believe that they have limited opportunities for career success. This conviction can spur many ambitious employees to leave the organization and look for other career opportunities.

CONCLUSION
Public sector organizations should strive to meet social needs at the highest level (Boyne, 2002). However, this goal is not real without competent and committed employees, satisfied with their job and who are able to flexibly respond to the changing needs of the organization. It should be noted that job satisfaction may also have a positive organizational outcomes (Kanafa-Chmielewska, 2019). The analysis of the determinants of the development of employability in the public sector and its effects can help public sector organizations build human capital that is able to face new challenges. The development of the employability of public sector employees may also lead to an increase in the still low mobility of staff in this sector. Activities related to enhancing employability by employers are often insufficient due to the socalled employability paradox (Nelissen et al., 2017). Moreover, from the organizational point of view, the employee's subjective career is a by-product of a process aimed at increasing the efficiency of the activities of the individual . However, with regard to public organizations, which should set an example in terms of the employer's ethical behaviour towards employees, the issue of the organizational responsibility for the professional future of employees, who are no longer guaranteed job security by public organizations, is of particular importance. An employment model in the public sector is evolving and becoming similar to the employment model in the private sector, where the so-called flexible forms of employment have become very popular, leading only to the increased numerical flexibility of the organization's human resources.
The research results add to the discussion of training of public employees (e.g. Vyas, 2017;Thaler et al., 2017) and confirm that training and professional development are an important factor in improving the employability of employees in public sector organizations in Poland. The lack of training opportunities results in the lowered employability of employees, and the dynamic increase in knowledge only speeds up this process. Moreover, training and development are not only the fundamental factor for building the human capital of public organizations, but they are also an important tool for improving employee satisfaction and increasing their opportunities for career success. The growing expectations towards employees, pressure on results, dynamic changes, and job insecurity pose a threat to the level of job satisfaction of employees in public sector organizations in Poland. These signal to employees that even without guaranteeing job security, the organization cares about their professional future and the situation on the labour market. Currently, public sector employees are expected to be ready to constantly learn and develop their professional competences. Those who wish to maintain and improve their employability should independently seek training and development opportunities, but public organizations should support them in these activities. However, in public sector organizations, red tape results in dysfunctional principles, especially with regard to personnel development procedures (Hattke et al., 2018). In some of these organizations, however, the employees' needs and expectations regarding professional development are hardly taken into consideration, which adversely affects not only their job satisfaction, but also the opportunity for career success.
As the results of the empirical research conducted in Poland indicate that training is usually conducted in the area of the employee's current professional activity (see Marzec and van der Heijden, 2003;Marzec, 2015). This type of training, however, has a limited impact on employability because specialized competences are primarily developed, which the employee can use only to a limited extent in other workplaces and organizations. The employability is strongly influenced by training in areas related to and different from the domain of current professional activity because they improve the functional flexibility of the employee, as well as training focused on improving general competences, which can be used in various jobs and organizations. In general, it can be stated that training which develops transferable competences, i.e. those that employees can use in various organizations, workplaces or career stages (Turek and Wojtczuk-Turek, 2010), are of particular importance for improving staff employability. These statements confirm the results of empirical research conducted in Spain, which shows that the impact of training on employability depends on the type of training (Mamaqi et al., 2011). In this context, the limitations of the research conducted should be mentioned. Only the general impact of training and professional development on employees was analysed. However, in future research, the impact of various types of training on employability should be determined. Moreover, employability is also affected by other individual and organizational factors. In the case of public sector organizations, many of them have a specific character, largely resulting from the management paradigms adopted in the public sector, the objectives of these organizations and the existing legal determinants. It is also necessary to analyse other possible, both positive and negative effects of the development of employability. The extension of the scope of training can lead to their significantly increased costs, and the development of employee employability to increased staff turnover and a further increase in personnel costs. It is also worth conducting a comparative analysis of organizations which provide various types of public services. The sample studied included public sector organizations, which also significantly differ in many respects in the area of human resource management due to the specificity of the services rendered.
To sum up, it can be stated that strong pressure on the quality of the operations of public sector organizations makes employee training and professional development necessary. At the same time, as a result of progressive changes in the sphere of employment and the pursuit of the improved flexibility and increased mobility of human resources in public sector organizations, this development should be more focused on improving the employability of their employees rather than only addressing the current needs of the organization.