Ans De Vos

Antwerp Management School · Competence Centre "Next Generation Work"

Across Europe, ongoing changes in higher education, such as the stagnating (even decreasing) percentage of permanent or tenure‐track jobs, and the reduced government budgets impress on us the need to conduct empirical research on the dynamics of the careers in this sector. In this study, we focussed on career success in higher education, and specif...

De centrale vraag van dit adviesrapport is: hoe kan een leer- en loopbaanoffensief helpen om wat mensen kennen en kunnen beter te laten aansluiten op wat werkgevers zoeken? Welke veranderingen zijn daarvoor nodig in beleid, organisatie en bestuur?

Dit advies bevat de aanbevelingen van zes arbeidsmarktexperts die ingingen op de vraag van Vlaams Minister van Economie en Innovatie, Werk, Sociale Economie en Landbouw Hilde Crevits om vanuit een evidence-based benadering paden uit te tekenen voor een arbeidsintensief herstel uit de economische recessie en navenante arbeidsmarktontwrichting, aange...

We describe how idiosyncratic deals (I-deals), in this case I-deals focused on workers’ employability enhancement, can serve as a powerful strategic HR tool for simultaneously meeting both the strategic goals of employers and the career goals of employees. Building on a sustainable career perspective, I-deals are interpreted as highly valuable, as...

Career mobility is important for the employability and career security of workers, helps organizations to flexibly match the supply and demand of talent, and is a lever to a dynamic labor market. In other words, career mobility is a feature of (and prerequisite for) a sustainable career. Despite academic and policy recognition of its importance, th...

How individuals can be employable and make successful career transitions throughout their working life is gaining increased attention from scholars in the field of vocational and organizational psychology for several decades now. Although contemporary career literature implicitly or explicitly assumes a strong connectedness between career transitio...

In this chapter we have examined the STWT from a sustainable careers perspective and argued that an adaptive STWT is crucial as a building block for long- term sustainability of careers. We showed that the STWT has become more challenging for young adults and we underlined how individual agency and structural factors can interact to lay an early fo...

This study presents a comparative case study of the careers of 105 creative professionals in Western-Europe . The study looks into both engagement and subjective career success as indicators of sustainable careers. From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, the configurational analysis explores the combination of different conditions regarding e...

De COVID-19-crisis kwam onverwacht en heeft een wereldwijd schokeffect veroorzaakt. Al snel werd duidelijk dat de gezondheidscrisis niet daartoe beperkt ging blijven. De nodige, verregaande maatregelen om het aantal slachtoffers te beperken en de druk op het gezondheidssysteem te verlichten, hadden en hebben nog steeds een grote operationele en fin...

Work plays a crucial role in rising social inequalities, which refer to unequal opportunities and rewards for different social groups. Whereas the conventional view of workplaces as meritocracies suggests that work is a conduit for social equality, we unveil the ways in which workplaces contribute to the accumulation of social inequality. In our cu...

This paper aims to move the research field on sustainable careers forward by building conceptual clarity about what a sustainable career means and delineating what distinguishes sustainable from non-sustainable careers, thereby providing key indicators of a sustainable career. Moreover, we approach sustainable careers from a systemic and dynamic pe...

We have learned that sustainable careers involve the proactive and reactive actions of both employees and their employers. Sustainable careers thus require more than individual agency, such as building sustainable career resources through leisure activities or asking for I-deals to accommodate work-life needs. They also include responding to circum...

Research has shown the importance of engaging in networking behaviors for employees’ career success. Networking behaviors can be seen as a proactive way of creating access to career-related social resources and we argue that this type of proactive career behaviors might be particularly relevant for freelancers who cannot depend on an organizational...

In this study, we examine employees' perceptions of their work ability from a sustainable career perspective. Specifically, we investigate the role of a person's perceived current fit (i.e., autonomy, strengths use and needs-supply fit), and future fit with their job as resources that affect perceived work ability, defined as the extent to which em...

In dit artikel ontwikkelen we een theorie rond loopbaaninactie. Loopbaaninactie verwijst naar het fenomeen dat iemand geen of onvoldoende actie onderneemt om een gewenste loopbaanverandering te realiseren. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan iemand die voortdurend zegt weg te willen gaan bij de huidige werkgever, maar geen stappen onderneemt. Of iemand die droom...

Research on psychological contracts has made significant contributions to theoretically advancing our understanding of the employee-employer exchange relationship and its implications for organizational practice. However, the predominant emphasis of this empirical research has been on the individual level of analysis and in the process does not giv...

At present, individuals increasingly have to take ownership of their working lives. This situation requires them to self-manage and plan their careers. However, individuals’ career management does not happen in a vacuum. Studies have therefore stressed the importance of organizations introducing Sustainable Human Resource Management to share the re...

Werk heeft belangrijke zingevende functies en heeft daardoor een potentieel positief effect op het leven van mensen: het biedt idealiter een inkomen, het zorgt voor sociaal contact, het geeft meer zin en regelmaat aan het leven en het draagt potentieel bij aan iemands eigenwaarde en welzijnsgevoel. Of en waarom mensen hun werk als zinvol ervaren, i...

In addition to acquiring occupation-specific knowledge and skills, students need to develop a set of career self-management skills – or resources – that helps them to successfully maneuver the various career-related challenges they face and that stimulate their well-being, engagement, and performance in studying tasks. In the current study, we appl...

Sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) implies individuals and organizations to share responsibility for workers’ employability, including vulnerable workers, such as older workers (> 50 years). Witnessing the emerging scholarly and societal attention for sustainable career development (SCD), this chapter outlines how the concepts of social di...

This paper approaches the sustainability of careers, departing from contemporary views on sustainable Human Resource Management (HRM) and key concepts in the current career literature. Recently, the notion of sustainable careers has gained attention as a key perspective on contemporary careers and is assumed to be critical for the resilience of ind...

Purpose In the current war for talent employers are concerned about the idea that the best employees are more likely to leave the organization for another employer (i.e. the management paradox). This study tests this management paradox. It This study aims to advance our understandings of how employees’ occupational expertise is associated with job...

In this study, we invoke a social identity and job resources perspective to investigate the impact of an organization’s internal and external employer brand images on employee absenteeism. Specifically, using workforce samples of 56 Belgian companies (n = 12670) and a second independent study sample (n = 4461), we assess the relative importance of...

Whilst the previous chapter aimed to formulate recommendations at a more strategic level, this chapter proposes practical advices for different stakeholders and relevant actors involved in sustainable career management: policy makers, trade unions, HR decision makers, direct supervisors and individuals. Regarding the latter, the individual career a...

This chapter introduces the most important concepts that will be used throughout this book. The changing career context brings a need for a fresh perspective to understand career dynamics and the implications for individuals as well as stakeholders at different levels. Starting with the changing nature of careers and the meaning of sustainable care...

In the current career context the individual has to play a focal role in his or her own career. It is important therefore to address the competencies that are essential for sustainable careers. This chapter focuses on the individual’s career capital (his or her “backpack” of competencies), made of technical competencies, transversal competencies an...

Transferability of a good practice is defined as the degree to which a good practice can easily be transferred and used in other contexts. At system level it refers to how a policy or good practice can be transferred from one EU country or region to another and which parameters should be taken into account. At the organizational level it refers to...

In this chapter we formulate five recommendations to facilitate sustainable careers. The focal point that we take is the individual’s career and how the sustainability of careers can be improved by a combination of measures taken at different levels. More specifically we propose five types of initiatives that policy makers and organisations can tak...

This chapter outlines the objectives and scope of this book and introduces the Career and AGE (Age, Generation, Experience) learning network set up by the European Social Fund. It starts with highlighting the challenges of making careers more sustainable

In this Chapter we will introduce nine relevant examples of good practice that were validated as part of the Career & AGE network: Career vouchers, Cité des Métiers, Age management in the City of Helsinki; Compte Individuel de Formation, House of Workability, Minerva plan, Kestrel, Navigator Centres, Diversity & Inclusion a good driver. For each of...

The aim of this study is to investigate the elements of organizational career management (OCM) that can lead to strong organizational performance. The growing unpredictability of careers requires a different organizational approach of careers. Yet, new career models all focus on the individual as the central actor, leaving the role of the organizat...

This book offers insights into facilitating sustainable careers through the study of a wide interdisciplinary range of policy investigations and assessment of ongoing practices in the field. By assessing and comparing the transferability of policies and good practices between firms in ten countries and regions of the European Union this book consid...

In this epilogue, Mrs Marianne Thyssen, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility reflects upon the labour market challenges Europe is facing. Faced with such challenges there is a need to adopt a holistic approach to employment and social policy. This is precisely what the European Commission intends to do wi...

This chapter visits the concept of social capital and provides a comprehensive review of the social capital or “knowing whom” approach to careers. That approach suggests that relationship ties in the workplace and the society provide resources, such as information, influence and solidarity, that enhance individual career prospects over and above ot...

Een sociologische realiteit waar we-ook binnen HRM-niet om heen kunnen, is de toenemende trend naar individualisering. Individualisering steunt op de overtuiging dat in de wereld vele mogelijkheden open liggen en dat men daarbij zelf moet/kan kiezen welke men wil gebruiken. Binnen het HR-vakgebied zijn de laatste decennia talrijke con-cepten en too...

In this chapter, the concept of sustainable careers is positioned within a broader framework of sustainable HRM. It broadens the scope from a single career-perspective to a more integrated HRM and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) perspective. The academic debate on sustainable HRM is relatively young but can count on an increasing interest (Cl...

The prominent role of competency development in enhancing the success of employees and organizations has drawn the attention of practitioners leading them to introduce competency development as a central part of their human resource practices. Unfortunately, this strong managerial interest has not been fully translated into the academic world, crea...

Although the academic debate on the link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and HRM is relatively young, it is generating increasing interest. We suggest that sustainable HRM is a next, innovative and promising domain for theory building, research and practice in the field of HRM. It nonetheless poses several new challenges. To date, the...

Many organizations are currently facing an aging workforce and have therefore called for researchers to examine how older employees can be optimally motivated and retained. To this end, we believe it is essential to understand what older employees expect from their organization. We therefore introduce the psychological contract—describing the mutua...

This paper presents a model of psychological contract fulfillment in teams that is tested in a study among 609 employees and their team leaders from 81 teams. We introduce the construct of team psychological contract fulfillment climate defined as team members’ shared perceptions of psychological contract fulfillment. Drawing on social information...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between self-perceived employability resources and perceived psychological contract (PC) obligations. To examine the extent to which organizational ratings of potential, through their “signaling” function, might serve as a buffer between employability and PC perceptions that are undes...

The central thesis I have developed is that career management in organizations is affected by processes that fall outside rational thinking. This holds not only for the career decisions of individual employees, but also for those made by organizations. Organizational career management that is solely built on rational management principles focuses m...

The present study investigates how self- and other-perceptions of a leader’s work-life balance impact the leader’s perceived leadership skills and motivation. Using a multi-source feedback tool, we collected data from 182 managers with supervisory responsibilities, as well as their supervisors and direct reports. Within-source analyses showed that...

Acht jaar terug verscheen in dit tijdschrift het artikel “Bouwstenen van de duurzame arbeidsorganisatie” van Willem de Lange. Uitgangspunt was de stelling dat de onderneming die zegt maatschappelijk verantwoord te handelen – om geloofwaardig te zijn – in haar intern ondernemingsbeleid consistent gedrag moet vertonen. Een organisatie die met andere...

This chapter begins by providing a snapshot of the current position and place of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within Belgium’s workforce. Investigation of the difficulties surrounding encouragement and pursuit of training activities follows, which highlights areas such as cost, lack of specialist training suppliers, and absence of form...

Purpose Career self‐directedness is a concept that has gained widespread attention in the literature on new careers and managerial thinking about contemporary career development. In a related sense, the topic of employee retirement has become popular in both the academic and managerial literature. However, to date, career self‐directedness has not...

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which employees' perceptions of alienation (personal and social) are related to positive (career satisfaction) and negative (careerist orientation) career‐related outcomes and to examine the mediating role of career satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach The paper used a cross‐se...

The impact of new and persistent career practices on sustainable employability The impact of new and persistent career practices on sustainable employability This article addresses two central research questions: Which career levers stimulate work engagement and do these also have retention power? A broad conceptual spectrum is used covering typica...

In this study, insight is given into the temporal nature of psychological contract-related information seeking during organizational entry, by examining how the frequency of information seeking changes across the first year of employment for a sample of 280 newcomers. We examined the pattern of changes in the frequency of information seeking from f...

The present study aims to unravel the relationship between competency development, employability and career success. To do so, we tested a model wherein associations between employee participation in competency development initiatives, perceived support for competency development, self-perceived employability, and two indicators of subjective caree...

This policy review of vocational education and training in East Flanders, Belgium was prepared within the framework of the OECD LEED project, "Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs". The report has contributed to a better understanding of the dynamics in and between SMEs concerning training and skills development.

The prominent role of competency development in enhancing the success of employees and organizations has drawn the attention of practitioners leading them to introduce competency development as a central part of their human resource practices. Unfortunately, the strong managerial interest in competency development was not fully translated into the...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of generational, contextual, and individual influences on Millennials’ career expectations. Design/methodology/approach Two matched samples of Millennials graduating in 2006 (n = 787) and 2009 (n = 825) filled out a questionnaire regarding their psychological contract expectations, car...

To study whether public sector employees are a different type of employee with different expectations than the private sector employees, we look at differences in the generic dimensions of their psychological contract. Data from a survey of 4956 Belgian employees show that, compared to private sector employees, public sector employees attach less i...

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of generational, contextual and individual influences on Millennials’ career expectations. Design/methodology/approach – Two matched samples of Millennials graduating in 2006 (n = 787) and 2009 (n = 825) filled out a questionnaire regarding their psychological contract expectations,...

The present study aims to unravel the relationship between competency development, employability and career success. To do so, we test a model in which we specify associations between employees’ participation in competency development initiatives, perceived support for competency development, employability, career satisfaction and marketability. A...

The current article tests a longitudinal model of the process of proactive career behaviours and career success with two samples of graduates making the transition from college to work. Using structural equation modelling, we tested a theoretical model that specified the relationships between career progress goals, career planning, networking behav...

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to investigate career-related antecedents of graduates’ anticipatory psychological contracts. Design/Methodology/ApproachA survey was filled out by a sample of 722 graduates addressing questions on career strategy, individual career management, work importance, and beliefs about employer and employee obligation...

This article explores the relationship between organizational career management and career self-management and addresses the impact on employee outcomes. Within six large organizations, a sample of 491 employees reported on their career self-management initiatives, on their expectations towards organizational career support, and on their commitment...

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore HR managers' and employees' views on the factors affecting employee retention using the perspective of the psychological contract. Design/methodology/approach - Two studies were conducted. First, a sample of HR managers gave their view on the factors affecting employee retention and turnover and des...

The current article tests a model of proactive career behaviors and career success with two samples of graduates making the transition from school to work. Using structural equation modeling, we tested a theoretical model that specified the relationships among career goal, career planning, career self-management behaviors, and career success. A lon...

This study examined the association of two work-related factors, namely working hours and fulfilment of expectations related to work-home balance, with work-home interference for two groups of recently graduated Belgian employees based on their change in work centrality between graduation (T1 = 2004) and current employment (T2 = 2007), i.e. employe...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore HR managers' and employees' views on the factors affecting employee retention using the perspective of the psychological contract. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted. First, a sample of HR managers gave their view on the factors affecting employee retention and turnover and de...

A protean career attitude is considered as an important determinant of career success in the contemporary career era. In this article we test a model in which we specify the relationships between protean career attitude, career self-management behaviors, career insight, and career success outcomes (career satisfaction and perceived employability)....

In this study, we propose and empirically test a model in which we explore the role of individual and organizational antecedents on reported levels of workaholism and we investigate the relationship between workaholism and some important employee outcome variables. Using data from a sample of 2759 full-time employed Belgian workers, our findings in...

Managing careers: the interplay of career self-management and organizational career support Managing careers: the interplay of career self-management and organizational career support A. de Vos, K. Dewettinck & D. Buyens, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 20, maart 2007, nr. 1, pp. 21-40 This paper explores the relationship between organizational career...

Purpose - The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first is to relate the negative image of older workers to stereotype threat and to propose that effective retention management should start by replacing this negative image. The second is to assess the needs, perceptions and preferences of older workers regarding their career-ending. Design/meth...

The development of a career is subject to an interaction and exchange process between employer and employee. In addition, the changing nature and meaning of a career in today’s competitive labor market has stimulated researchers to relate this with the psychological contract theory (e.g. Herriot, 1998; Sparrow & Cooper, 1998). However, the research...

Although current career literature continues to build on the new career concepts that reflect a shift from ‘traditional’ towards ‘transitional’ career patterns, recent research presents a different reality. In Belgium, among other countries, the traditional career pattern remains the dominant picture on the labour market. This study seeks to explai...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore professional employees' career move preferences and the impact of both individual and organizational career management. Departing from theoretical work on the “new career”, different types of career moves employees can make on the internal labor market are discussed and related to the literature on bo...

In the current career reality people not only make traditional career transitions such as entry into and exit from the labor market or upward in-company mobility, but also horizontal movements and transitions between employment and different social spheres such as household, care and leisure time. This broad perspective on career mobility that take...

The development of a career is subject to an interaction and exchange process between employer and employee. In addition, the changing nature and meaning of a career in today’s competitive labor market has stimulated researchers to relate this with the psychological contract theory (e.g. Herriot, 1998; Sparrow & Cooper, 1998). However, the research...

This article examines HR managers’ and employees’ views on the factors affecting employee retention. This is done by integrating findings from the literature on retention management with the theoretical framework of the psychological contract. In a first study a sample of HR managers from a diverse group of public and private firms described the fa...