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Unravelling the process between career shock and career (un)sustainability: exploring the role of perceived human resource management
Abstract
Purpose
Employees need a sustainable career to prolong their working lives. The ability, motivation and opportunity to work form an important basis for sustainable careers across the lifespan. However, over the lifespan of their careers employees are likely to experience several career shocks (e.g. becoming chronically ill or being fired) which might result in unsustainable trajectories. This study aims to contribute to the literature on sustainable careers by unraveling the process through which careers shocks relate to career (un)sustainability and what role perceptions of human resource practices play in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
Three in-depth retrospective interviews with participants of 50 years and older were conducted and analyzed using a template analysis.
Findings
Results showed that career shocks influence career sustainability through a process of changes in demands or changes in resources, which in turn, relate to changes in person–job fit. When person-job–fit diminished, the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working decreased, whereas when person–job fit improved, the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working improved as well. Organizations appear to be able to diminish the negative consequences of career shocks by offering job resources such as HR practices in response to career shocks.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation of this study is the retrospective nature of the interviews, which could have resulted in recollection bias.
Practical implications
This study gives HRM practitioners insight into the HR practices that are effective in overcoming career shocks.
Originality/value
This study extends existing literature by including career shocks as possible predictors of sustainable careers.
... Career resilience (Seibert et al., 2016) and adaptability (Mansur and Felix, 2021) are found to play a key role in responding to career shocks. Nevertheless, little is understood about the impact of career shocks on career development (Akkermans et al., 2018(Akkermans et al., , 2021Mansur and Felix, 2021;Pak et al., 2021). Moreover, recent studies emphasise individual agency as a driver of career development, while overlooking the influence of career shocks (Akkermans et al., 2018). ...
... Career shocks can have negative or positive impacts on career development. Positive career shocks, such as obtaining a research grant or promotion, can foster career development (Greco et al., 2015;Pak et al., 2021;, and critical and novel workplace events may fuel employee creativity and outstanding performance (Chen et al., 2021;Mousa, 2022a, b). Conversely, negative career shocks, such as job insecurity or downsizing, can have damaging effects on career optimism and progression (Hofer et al., 2021). ...
... The choice of a qualitative design pertains to its usefulness in gathering critical information about social and institutions practices, as well as a particular phenomenon in an understudied socio-cultural context (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994, 2008. Because cronyism is still an under-researched research area (Pak et al., 2021) particularly in Egyptian higher education studies, using a qualitative research design would be best to examine the target organisational population and phenomena. 32 female faculty working full time at four, out of a total number of 26 Egyptian public universities, were recruited to participate in this study. ...
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how female academics use cronyism to cope with the lack of emancipative support resulting from their intense teaching and research duties, poor representation at senior administrative levels and their exhausting familial commitments.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 female academics working full-time at four public universities in Egypt.
Findings
The findings showed that the low action resources (considering their unreasonable teaching loads, research requirements and supervision engagements), emancipative values (the unfair representation of female academics at senior administrative levels) and civic entitlement (universities not serious about promoting gender equality) are perceived by female academics as a lack of empowerment that necessitates their adoption of cronyism as their main coping strategy. Moreover, in male-dominated societies, female academics who do not have the power to shape their work-related status tend to use undesirable behaviours such as cronyism to mitigate the negative consequences of the shocks they encounter.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by filling a gap in human resources management in which empirical studies on the relationship between cronyism, emancipation and career shocks have been limited so far.
... For instance, going through a divorce, having children, being diagnosed with a serious illness, accepting a new job or reorganizations are likely to affect nurses' career choices. Changes in demands or resources at home or at work can make careers more or less sustainable over time [54,55]. If nurses' work becomes too demanding without an increase in the necessary resources, it could lead to stress and exhaustion according to the job demand-resource (JD-R) model [56] and affect nurses' choice to leave home care services or the profession [57]. ...
... The time dimension relates to the dynamic evolution of careers [36]. Employees' careers might be more or less sustainable over time due to changes in demands or resources at home or at work [54,55]. For example, registered nurses often work part-time while the children are young [65]. ...
... In line with the JD-R theory [56], high demands and low resources over time can decrease person-job fit, which causes nurses to leave home care services for a more sustainable career. However, research has indicated that employers can mitigate the negative effects of increased work demands by offering job resources [54]. In line with previous research [29,44,50], this study highlights the important role of first-line managers for nurses' career choices. ...
Background
The anticipated growth in number of older people with long-term health problems is associated with a greater need for registered nurses. Home care services needs enough nurses that can deliver high quality services in patients’ homes. This article improves our understanding of nurses’ career choices in home care services.
Methods
A qualitative study using individual semi-structured interviews with 20 registered nurses working in home care services. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed.
Results
The analysis resulted in three themes emphasizing the importance of multiple stakeholders and contextual factors, fit with nurses’ private life, and meaning of work. The results offer important insights that can be used to improve organizational policy and HR practices to sustain a workforce of registered nurses in home care services.
Conclusion
The results illustrate the importance of having a whole life perspective to understand nurses’ career choices, and how nurses’ career preferences changes over time.
... The latter refers to "a disruptive and extraordinary event that is, at least to some degree, caused by factors outside the focal individual's control and that triggers a deliberate thought process concerning one's career" (Akkermans et al., 2018, p. 4). Career shocks are unexpected and unplanned, and they may disrupt an individual's career (Pak et al., 2020;Akkermans, 2018;Akkermans et al., 2018). They can be positive (e.g. ...
... motivation, ability and opportunity to continue working) through a process of changes (see, e.g. Pak et al., 2020). When an unexpected event occurs, individuals might re-evaluate their fit with the job and the organization (Pak et al., 2020). ...
... Pak et al., 2020). When an unexpected event occurs, individuals might re-evaluate their fit with the job and the organization (Pak et al., 2020). As for the second research question, the obtained results revealed both variations related to the respondents' career preferences per industry and work arrangement, as well as variations based on gender, education level and ethnic origin. ...
Purpose
The COVID-19 crisis caused a high level of job insecurity, layoff and low employment opportunities. It generated a worldwide shock, which might have a long-lasting effect on individuals' careers. Changes might occur in terms of individuals’ career choices, objectives, perception of career success and preferences in terms of industries and work arrangements. This study aims to examine crisis-induced career shock among the workforce, which might be translated into changes or doubts related to career choices, objectives and perception of career success, and to analyze individuals' preferences in terms of industries and work arrangements. It focuses mainly on investigating variations among the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin. These variations are also examined regarding job insecurity, layoff and perceived employability.
Design/methodology/approach
Frequency counts, percentages, mean ranking, independent t -test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for a sample of 317 workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Three research questions were developed and examined, which are: (1) is there a variation in the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin concerning crisis-induced career shock (specifically changes related to career choices, objectives and career success? (2) Is there a variation among the workforce related to career preference per industry and work arrangement? If yes, is there a difference in the workforce-based gender, education level and ethnic origin? And (3) is there a variation in the workforce, based on gender, education level and ethnic origin concerning job insecurity, layoff and perceived employability?
Findings
The findings revealed that career shock was significantly higher among pre-university respondents (specifically, doubts about career choices and perceived career success). As for career preferences per industry, e-business, media and marketing had significant values for all respondents, with e-business as the top-rated choice except for Emiratis who rated it as their third choice. Education was the choice of both men and women. The choices related to other industries (e.g. Healthcare, information, communication technology, etc.) and work arrangements (telework) varied significantly based on gender, education and ethnic origin. Men seem to worry more than women about losing their job as well as Emiratis compared to expatriates, and university-level respondents compared to pre-university.
Practical implications
This study contributes to highlighting variations related to career shock and career preferences per industry among the workforce based on gender, education level and ethnic origin. This can help organizations in these industries to have a portrait of the situation in the employment market to be able to develop relevant interventions. This research provides insights for managers and HRM practitioners.
Originality/value
This study contributes to expanding research on career and career shocks in a context of a crisis. It responded to authors who called for more research about career shocks, as well as their implication for specific target groups, by examining variations based on gender, education level and ethnic origin.
... Accordingly, sudden unexpected and disruptive events might (not) be a career shock, but in all cases, they stimulate thinking about one's career. Pak et al. (2021) consider a career shock as stemming from unusual important events that influence one's career. Akkermans et al. (2018) perceive a career shock as unplanned events which happen in one's private or work life but constantly influence one's career. ...
... Accordingly, and based on the studies of Akkermans et al. (2021aAkkermans et al. ( , 2021b, Pak et al. (2021) and Akkermans et al. (2018), who assert the lack of empirical studies on career shocks, the author of the present paper using the transactional stress model (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) focuses on female academics in Egyptian public universities in an attempt to answer the question: How do female academics cope with the career shock resulting from the spread of COVID-19? The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: following the literature review, the author will describe the methodology and design of the study, then the results will be presented followed by their discussion, and finally, the implications, conclusions and limitations of the study, and potential for future research. ...
... Very few theoretical and empirical studies have addressed the phenomenon of career shocks despite their significance (Pak et al., 2021). This might happen because career shocks might take place in one's private life, and accordingly, his/her employer might lack full information about the employee's out of work life and/or events (Holtom et al., 2005;Akkermans et al., 2018). ...
Purpose
Through addressing female academics in four public universities in Egypt, the author of this paper aims to answer the question: How do female academics cope with the career shock resulting from the spread of COVID-19?
Design/methodology/approach
The author used a qualitative research method through semi-structured interviews with 32 female academics from four public universities selected from among 26 public institutions of higher education in Egypt. Thematic analysis was subsequently used to determine the main ideas in the transcripts.
Findings
The findings assert that the following three strategies: heroism, cronyism and temporalism are used by female academics in the Egyptian context to cope with the career shocks they feel during the time of COVID-19. The findings assert that female academics try to reassert their professionalism in their academic duties and familial obligations even after the spread of COVID-19. Moreover, they tend to use forms of cronyism behaviour to alleviate the effect of the career shock, mostly via hypocritical phrases. Furthermore, the thought that COVID-19 is a temporary stage helps female academics to actively accept their challenging new work conditions.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by filling a gap in human resources management and higher education in which empirical studies on the career shock of female academics have been limited so far.
... Several recent studies have attempted to examine predictors of career sustainability. For example, studies examined the role of organizational practices (Bozionelos et al., 2020;de Grip et al., 2020;Pak et al., 2021;Straub et al., 2020;Tordera et al., 2020) and contextual factors (Hennekam et al., 2022;Lent and Brown, 2020;Richardson and McKenna, 2020). Though these studies have provided valuable insights, it is largely unknown to what extent and how individual differences play a role in shaping sustainable careers. ...
... With these indicators of career sustainability, studies recently started to investigate the antecedent role of organizational practices and contextual factors. At an organizational level, studies examined the impact of organizational human resource practices (Pak et al., 2021;Tordera et al., 2020), continuous training programs (Bozionelos et al., 2020;de Grip et al., 2020) and career customization initiatives (Straub et al., 2020) on career sustainability. At a context-level analysis, Lent and Brown (2020) developed an integrative content-processcontext framework that facilitates career choice assessment and interventions to promote career sustainability. ...
... individual, organizational and contextual) is still in the nascent stages . Complementary to studies recently exploring the role of the organization (Bozionelos et al., 2020;de Grip et al., 2020;Pak et al., 2021;Straub et al., 2020;Tordera et al., 2020) and contextual factors (Hennekam et al., 2022;Lent and Brown, 2020;Richardson and McKenna, 2020) on career sustainability, the current study enhances our understanding on the antecedental role of individual factors. These results further strengthen the extant theoretical perspectives (e.g. ...
Abstract
Purpose
Though the recent conceptualization of career sustainability, defining its indicators and dimensions prompted an important field of careers research, empirical research is still in its infancy. The current study empirically investigates how proactive personality, career adaptability and proactive career behaviors promote career sustainability based on the career construction model of adaptation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a two-wave survey design to collect data from 414 full-time working professionals representing different organizations located in India. The authors tested the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modeling in IBM SPSS AMOS.
Findings
Results supported a serial indirect effect model with career adaptability and proactive career behaviors carrying the effect of proactive personality on career sustainability.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the emerging sustainable careers literature by unveiling the role of individual factors in career sustainability. Furthermore, the authors investigated these relationships through the complete career construction model of adaptation. By doing so, the current study contributes to careers literature by revealing the linkage between the career construction model of adaptation and career sustainability.
... To date, few studies have examined the effect of affective job disruption (Barhate et al., 2021;Pak et al., 2020) using a nationally representative dataset. There has been limited research on informal employees as a major effect of affective job disruption. ...
... Some studies conceptualized it as a global view of affective job disruption about the continued existence of prosecution (Brand, 2015;Jiang & Lavaysse, 2018). Although some studies (e.g., Balz & Schuller 2021;Barclay et al., 2022;Brougham & Haar, 2020;Daovisan & Mamom, 2022;Gowan, 2012;Mauno et al., 2011;Pak et al., 2020) have been conceptualized on multidimensional factors, in addition to various job stress, there is powerlessness to counteract, job dissatisfaction, low-skilled labor and low educational level. ...
... Further, previous literature on affective job disruption (e.g., Cairó & Cajner 2018;Liu & Ngo, 2017, Kundu & Gahlawat, 2016Murray et al., 2020), we extend the precarious employment, division of work, inter-role conflict and deviant behavior. Theoretically, our structural hypothesized model can be applied to certain research to generate new insights into understanding the affective job disruption of informal employees (Balz & Schuller, 2021;Barclay et al., 2022;Barhate et al., 2021;Bohle et al., 2021;Brougham & Haar, 2020;Costa & Neves, 2017;Eersel et al., 2019;Gallie et al., 2017;Itzkovich, 2016;Pak et al., 2020;Voßemer & Heyne, 2019). ...
Affective job disruption is one of the most common problems of informal employees in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). However, whether affective job disruption correlated with job insecurity, job loss and unemployment has not been studied. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of precarious employment, division of work, inter-role conflict and deviant behavior on affective job disruption of informal employees. The questionnaires were distributed to 1500 informal employees in Vientiane, in the Lao PDR for the period 2018–2019. A structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses, which performs using STATA statistical software program. The hypothesized model showed that precarious employment, division of work, inter-role conflict and deviant behavior are correlated with affective job disruption. This study suggested that affective job disruption has important implications for informal employees when experience over a long-term period. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Chance events experienced by an individual during their university education as they seek to prepare for transition into the labour market are referred to as a pre-career shock. Like traditional career shocks, precareer shocks can also have either positive, neutral or negative outcomes (Kraimer et al., 2019), can trigger changes in demands or resources (Pak et al., 2021), and can lead to associated loss or gain spirals across the lifespan (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). ...
... Our empirical findings also explore unique and shared shock events among different populations of graduates (Akkermans et al., 2021) and build on conceptual interest in linking career shocks and the JD-R model (Hofer et al., 2021;Pak et al., 2021) and the integration of JD-R and sustainable careers (Bozionelos et al., 2020;Nimmi et al., 2021;2022). ...
This empirical paper aims to understand how graduates believe the future of work will evolve concerning demands and resources from early career talent and organizations and what steps can be taken to enhance the career readiness of individuals undertaking the university-to-work transition. Twenty-eight university graduates participated in semi-structured interviews, whereby 15 graduated in 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis and thirteen in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings identified four future of work themes: ‘Skill Development’, ‘Motivation’, ‘Career Ownership’, and ‘Wellbeing’. Additionally, four themes were identified for how university graduates can be best prepared for sustainable careers: ‘Career Awareness’, ‘Tailored Career Support’, ‘Industry Partnerships’ and ‘Additional Career Support’. The theoretical contribution comes from empirically validating conceptual links between chance events, career shocks, sustainable career theory, and the Job Demands-Resources model. Practical implications come from empirically informed strategies to prepare university graduates for sustainable careers based on graduates’ views with lived experience in university and workplace settings.
... Chance events experienced by an individual during their university education as they seek to prepare for transition into the labor market are referred to as a pre-career shock. Like traditional career shocks, pre-career shocks can also have either positive, neutral or negative outcomes (Kraimer et al., 2019), can trigger changes in demands or resources (Pak et al., 2021), and can lead to associated loss or gain spirals across the lifespan (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). ...
... Identifying the interplay between these demands and resources responds to calls for such an approach (Naidoo-Chetty & du Plessis, 2021). Our empirical findings also explore unique and shared shock events among different populations of graduates (Akkermans et al., 2021) and build on conceptual interest in linking career shocks and the JD-R model (Hofer et al., 2021;Pak et al., 2021) and the integration of JD-R and sustainable careers (Bozionelos et al., 2020;Nimmi et al., 2021;2022). ...
This chapter aims to understand how graduates believe the future of work will evolve concerning demands and resources from early careers talent and organizations, and subsequently, what steps can be taken to enhance the career readiness of individuals undertaking the university-to-work transition. Twenty-eight
university graduates participated in semi-structured interviews whereby 15 graduated in 2008 during the global financial crisis, and thirteen in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings identified four future of work themes: ‘skill development’, ‘motivation’, ‘career ownership’, and ‘well-being’. Additionally, four themes were identified for how university graduates can be best prepared for sustainable careers: ‘Career awareness’, ‘tailored career support’, ‘industry partnerships’ and ‘additional career support’. Theoretical contribution comes from linking the traditional job demands-resources model to sustainable career theory and career shocks. Practical implications come from empirically informed strategies to prepare university graduates for sustainable careers.
... On the contrary, negatively valenced career shocks from a certain source may, for instance, strongly affect the career development of workers, and hinder workers' reflection on their career change towards freelancing. Moreover, such career shocks and their sources may impact their sustainable careers (Pak Kooij, De Lange, Meyers, & van Veldhoven, 2020), that can be measured through three measurement indicators of sustainable careers: happiness, productivity, health. Hence, the sources, or 'context' in a sustainable career perspective, are central to workers in their career transition; but are generally neglected in the past career literature (Arthur, 1994;Hall, 1996;Inkson, 2006). ...
... we noticed that a third of the career shocks experienced by freelancers are caused by organisations, what leads to their transition from traditional workers into freelancers. It is clearly stated in the literature that freelancers are skilled contingent workers important for organisations, as they bring core or peripheral skills and knowledge (Bidwell, 2009;Cappelli & Keller, 2013;David, 2005 in order to reduce their consequence, and maybe the level of turnover of the organisation (Pak et al., 2020). Second, a new trend within companies is to develop intrapreneurship behaviours. ...
... There is a constant demand for upgrading skills, knowledge, and competences of people. Therefore, higher education (HE) needs to prepare students for disruptive changes in the WoW with enabling them to successfully overcome their career shock 22 events, and with enabling them to sustain their careers (Akkermans et al. 2018;Blokker et al. 2019;De Vos et al. 2020;Pak et al. 2021;Schleischer 2020;Seibert et al. 2012; Van der Heijden & De Vos 2015). ...
... productivity(Van der Heijden & De Vos 2015;De Vos et al. 2020) in turbulent times and to manage shock events(Akkermans et al. 2018;Pak et al. 2021;Seibert et al. 2012) and crises(Deloitte 2021; WEF 2021 WEF , 2022 if HE focuses on enhancing their emancipatory competences(Barnett 1994(Barnett , 2015 Blokker et al. 2012;OECD 2019;Standaert 2012). ...
There is a constant demand for upgrading skills, knowledge, and competences of people to sustain their careers due to constant disruptive changes and challenges in the world of work (WoW). This theoretical paper focuses on educating for life in higher education (HE). It explores what competences students would need to be successful actors in the changing WoW and how HE could support them in achieving a sustainable career (SC). The method is literature study. Educating for life in HE means empowering individuals for ‘life-world-becoming’. Universities aim to shape students for becoming authentic and responsible citizens who are capable of acting authentically and responsible based not only on their knowledge, skills, competences but also based on their moral and ethical values and attitudes. This paper offers practical guidelines for universities to help their students to sustain their careers and to successfully navigate through global chance events and career shocks.
... These theories address the strategies and implications of the human resource functions that promote sustainable performance (Gholami et al., 2016;Guerci & Pedrini, 2014;Renwick et al., 2013;Stone, 2000). The AMO and self-determination theories are the most used theories in the extant literature while studying Sustainable HRM and sustainable careers (Pak et al., 2020). According to AMO theory, the three independent and interconnected componentsability, motivation and opportunity-play a crucial role in achieving organisational goals if the organisation takes adequate care of them. ...
... Supervisors play a crucial role in employees' career-related decisions, especially when they experience various positive or negative career shocks. Along with supervisors' support, HR practices and job resources provided to employees during these periods play a crucial role in the optimum person-job fit (Pak et al., 2020). This emphasises the critical role of Sustainable HRM and employer-supported career management in fostering employees' productivity, health and happiness in their careers Van der Heijden, 2005). ...
All companies should care about the natural environment, though they may implement different environmental strategies. Since the overall company strategy is reflected in functional strategies, vertical consistency needs to exist between the type of corporate environmental strategy and human resource (HR) policies and practices (which reflect the HR strategy). This consistency makes the message concerning expectations towards employees coherent, being the basis for guiding their activities in the appropriate direction.
Many previous studies have proven that green HR development practices (including HR appraisal, training, and HR flow) are important stimulators of environmental performance; however, their authors did not address the issue of intraorganizational green careers. Moreover, the linkage between the type of environmental strategy and HR development as well as the internal consistency of green HR development has not been studied before.
This article fills the above-presented gap by extending the concept of HR development to include the issue of intraorganizational green careers, measuring the differences between the three types of environmental strategy (reactive, preventive, and proactive) in the extent to which they use practices related to green HR development and determining the horizontal consistency of HR development.
Research, in the form of a survey of 299 manufacturing companies in Poland and statistical analyses (based on the Kruskal–Wallis test, ANOVA and a method designed to assess horizontal HR development consistency) show that although the most significant relationship exists between the proactive environmental strategy and green HR development treated holistically, there are significant differences in the extent to which individual HR development practices are vertically consistent and there is a lack of horizontal consistency of HR development. This provides both practical and theoretical implications. This study also proposes directions for further research.
... In the third article of this special issue, Pak et al. (2021) performed a qualitative study among 33 individuals to study the process through which career shocks and career sustainability are related. They focused on employees aged 50þ to explore whether career shocks play a role in their ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working. ...
... The special issue articles contribute to some of these, most notably including positive and negative career shocks (Mansur and Felix, 2021;Rummel et al., 2021). In addition, Pak et al. (2021) contribute to the source attribute to point to a difference between work-related and private career shocks. Finally, Petrovi c et al. (2021) suggest adding identity relatedness to the list of attributes defined by Akkermans et al. (2018). ...
Purpose
This article aims to introduce the special issue entitled “the role of career shocks in contemporary career development,” synthesize key contributions and formulate a future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors provide an introduction of the current state-of-the-art in career shocks research, offer an overview of the key lessons learned from the special issue and present several important avenues for future research.
Findings
The authors discuss how the special issue articles contribute to a better understanding of career shocks' role in contemporary career development, focusing on (1) conceptual clarity of the notion of career shocks, (2) career outcomes of career shocks, (3) mechanisms that can explain the impact of career shocks and (4) interdisciplinary connectivity.
Originality/value
This article offers a synthesis of the critical contributions made within this special issue, thereby formulating key ways to bring the field of career shocks research forward. It also provides new avenues for research.
... A qualitative research design is employed to accumulate underlying knowledge about institutions and social processes and investigate phenomenon occurring in unknown settings (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994. Research on cronyism is still emerging (Pak et al., 2021) and hence new in the Egyptian academic context; therefore, the authors chose a qualitative research method that would be the best technique to examine the target organizational phenomena and population. In this study, participants were enlisted using purposive and snowball sampling. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how cronyism is employed by some married female faculty to secure workplace rights and privileges.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research design is employed and interviews were conducted with 32 female academics working at four different universities.
Findings
The narrative demonstrates the gendered use of cronyism at work – pre-COVID-19, during which female academics had to work full-time and be present on school campuses, and after COVID-19 pandemic, when academic working conditions changed due to the lockdown of university campuses and the reliance on remote online protocols to fulfil academic duties. The paper shows an increased use of cronyism as a mechanism to reduce heavy workloads. This type of cronyism is known as the expectation of mutual favour cronyism, which means that benefits are exchanged between a female academic and the chair of her department and/or the school rector, but the interests of the university they work in are not taken into consideration.
Originality/value
Virtually, no research exists on the sociocultural determinants of nepotism that undermine the professional performance of female academics at work. The authors draw on social exchange theory and the norm of negative reciprocity to identify the conditions under which social capital is undermined. The results have important implications for theory, practice and future research.
... As per her words in The Ayn Rand Letter (Wollen, 2021), she differentiates a career from a job as requiring a constant development of the mind, knowledge and abilities suggesting lifelong learning (Rand, 2023.). Rand's ideas hold true in the disrupted world we live in today, where career shocks have become commonplace (Pak et al., 2020). Each generational cohort is conditioned by the world events they witness in their developmental years (Pew Research Center, 2015). ...
The chapter outlines an experimental project to integrate GROWTH – a group coaching technique – into large-enrollment classes for career development training. In this experimental pedagogical approach, career exploration intended to overcome challenges, find possibilities, and widen perspectives was introduced through group projects. The tools to prepare the students for a profession included mindfulness for success, wellbeing, locus of control, and self-reflection. The approach is intended to assist Gen Z students in realigning their professional aspirations with their current situations. This chapter also discusses the potential benefits of applying design thinking to career education. The chapter purports to explore the interrelationship between career adaptability and sustainable careers, and suggest a contemporary pedagogical method for career development learning in differing contexts, using the GROWTH coaching model and design thinking.
... Motivation-enhancing HRM practices emphasize on increasing employee participation in appraisal activities, thereby providing employees a greater sense of control over the advancement of their professional career (Liao et al., 2009;Tharenou et al., 2007). It raises employees' aspiration to do well in their profession, and thus augments the level of their career ambition (Pak et al., 2020). The policy of fast track career option for high performers in motivation-enhancing HRM practices implies that such organizations do not only promote a strong career orientation among employees but also provide them opportunities to pursue careers inside the organization. ...
Ability‐motivation‐opportunity (AMO) based human resource management (HRM) practices connote positive organizational outcomes, in general. This study has identified the deviant outcome of motivation‐enhancing HRM practices by delineating how it can lead to an undesirable workplace behavior like unethical pro‐organizational behavior (UPOB) through employees' career ambition. Further, such effects are amplified in the presence of UPOB descriptive and injunctive norms. The hypotheses were tested by using two multi‐wave time‐lagged studies for sales executives working in organizations representing two different industries. Career ambition partially mediated the relationship between motivation‐enhancing HRM practices and UPOB. The conditional indirect effect of motivation‐enhancing HRM practices on UPOB through employees' career ambition was stronger when they perceive high level of descriptive and injunctive norms in the workplace. While the relationship between career ambition and UPOB was strengthened for high descriptive and injunctive norms, it was weakened for low injunctive norms but not for low descriptive norms.
... This complex and dynamic relationship between career shocks and career outcomes has been a subject of some recent conceptual works (Akkermans et al. 2021a) and empirical studies (Blokker et al. 2019;Hofer, Spurk, and Hirschi 2021;Kraimer et al. 2019;Nadvi et al. 2011;Pak et al. 2021;Seibert et al. 2013), some of which in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Akkermans et al. 2020;Hite -McDonald 2020). They have, however, offered only initial and fragmented insights and the understanding of the mechanisms explaining how career shocks impact individual career development is still insufficient (Akkermans et al. 2021b). ...
This study explored the impact of the COVID-19 career shock to career capital among sports clubs personnel. With this aim, an explanatory mixed-method research was undertaken based on data gathered via a survey among the personnel of sports clubs in Poland (N = 226). The quantitative stage of data analysis (a multivariate analysis of covariance) determined the scale of the changes in career capital and its elements (knowing-how , knowing-why , knowing-whom) across different respondent groups, while the subsequent thematic analysis of the data gathered through open questions explored the sources of these changes. The results show that the shock had a positive impact mainly on knowing-how, and a lesser one on knowing-why, while it was neutral for knowing-whom. Nevertheless, there is an important heterogeneity of the experiences among sports club personnel, even when accounting for the differences in the way that COVID-19 impacted their clubs. By exploring the consequences of a career shock to career capital, this study contributes to career construction theory.
... However, they have ignored the influence of industry characteristics and organizational factors, and the overall characteristics of employees [8]. Employees will increase their motivation to achieve their goal of CS owing to the faith given by leaders, while building confidence in the organization and performing actions that are conducive to organizational development, in achieving CS as a collection of HRM activities that allow the acquisition of distinct capabilities such as knowledge, skills, and ability, as well as the use of ability-enhancing practices [56]. Selective staffing and internal training and development, for example, are required for an organization to pick the optimal mix of available resources for CS. ...
Innovative behavior (IB) is an important issue in academic and other sectors. The increasing uncertainty caused by COVID-19 has resulted in rising job insecurity for employees in the e-commerce industry. This has jeopardized career sustainability (CS). Numerous studies have explored the influence of supportive leadership (SL) on IB, but so far there is still a dearth of research investigating the role of CS. In addition, CS must be considered because the perceived sustainability of a career has an impact on individual innovation. Therefore, based on job demands-resources (JDR) theory, we analyzed the effects of SL on IB as well as the roles of CS in IB. The mediating role of employee’s perceived occupational sustainability was explored. This study investigates the associations between supportive leadership style (job resource) and employee innovative behavior (job demand). In total, 308 valid samples were collected from China. Structural equation modeling examines the construct validity and path relationships. The results show that in China’s e-commerce industry, under the uncertainty brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, only when employees perceive CS can SL promote the transformation of job resources into workplace IB. That is, CS completely mediates SL and IB. This provides new information for the management of employee behavior in the current special period. The result revealed that SL improves IB through CS. Theoretically, this study fills the gap and establishes a theoretical framework for SL and IB. Practically, we offer guidance for enterprises and managers in that they should provide their employees with work resources which are good for employee CS so as to promote employees’ IB.
... There is a constant demand for upgrading skills, knowledge, and competences of people. Therefore, higher education (HE) needs to prepare students for disruptive changes in the WoW with enabling them to successfully overcome their career shock events, and with enabling them to sustain their careers (Akkermans et al. 2018;Blokker et al. 2019;De Vos et al. 2020;Pak et al. 2021;Schleischer 2020;Seibert et al. 2012; Van der Heijden & De Vos 2015). 22 This theoretical paper focuses on educating for life in higher education (HE) and it explores educational philosophy and educational literature (Barnett 1994Blokker et al. ...
This is the published abstract of my soon published conference paper where I focus on educating for life in higher education and explore what competences students would need to be successful actors in the changing WoW and how HE could support them in achieving a sustainable career (SC).
... However, it is not clearcut to make a distinction based on the valence of the career event, for example. Sometimes, positive versus negative interpretations of events and their effects are different from what we would expect at first glance (Pak et al., 2021). While some events (such as missed promotions) affect individuals heavily in a negative fashion, other individuals reappraise this event and rewrite their career narrative into "this happened for the best" or "this turned out to bring me where I actually wanted to be." ...
Purpose
To deepen the understanding of the process of growth and development of career resilience, this study aims to investigate the impact of career history and openness to change as antecedents of career resilience and the effect of career resilience on career self-management and career outcomes (salary and career satisfaction) over time using the Career Construction Theory.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied structural equation modeling with cross-lagged associations between career characteristics (number of employees, job seniority and missed promotions), openness to change, career resilience, individual career management (ICM) and career success (salary and career satisfaction) using three-wave data of 872 employees.
Findings
Openness to change had cross-lagged positive relationships with career resilience. The number of (previous) employers and missed promotions had a positive effect on career resilience, whereas job seniority was related negatively to career resilience. Furthermore, career resilience had a positive effect on individual career self-management in terms of networking, practical things and drawing attention over time. No effect was found on the individual career self-management dimension of mobility-oriented behavior over time. Finally, ICM had a positive effect on salary and career satisfaction over time.
Originality/value
Altogether these results suggest that career resilience is not only a way to stay active as an employee and cope with career changes, but it also enhances employees’ chances to achieve objective and subjective career success.
... Akkermans et al. (2018) discuss how individual agency interacts reciprocally with contextual factors in the form of career shocks, which can be positive or negative, and suggest that existing career decision theories such as career construction theory (Savickas et al., 2009) and social cognitive career theory Brown, 2013, 2020) are still overly agentic and goaldirected. Recent work highlights the effect of early positive and negative career shocks on career sustainability (Blokker et al., 2019) and Pak et al. (2020), found that organizations can assist in mitigating the impact of career shocks to assist with career sustainability. ...
The purpose of this article is to present a new distributed interactive career decision-making framework ( di CDM) in which person and context together determine the development of a sustainable career. We build upon recent theories from two disciplines: decision theory and career theory. Our new conceptual framework incorporates distributed stakeholders into the career decision-making process and suggests that individuals make decisions through a system of distributed agency, in which they interact with their context to make each career decision, at varying levels of participation, from proactive to reactive. We focus on two key career decision-making drivers originating from the person (exercising personal agency and seeking meaning), and two key drivers from the career context (making demands on an individual’s resources and affording scripts). This manuscript challenges the individual-driven approach to career development, and instead proposes that a process of distributed career decision-making takes place between each person and the various stakeholders, both individual and institutional, that also drive their career. Career seekers and counselors can use this framework to supplement an individual-focused approach and incorporate the role of distributed decision-makers in sustaining an individual’s career. Empirical research is needed to explore and test the applicability of the framework to career decisions in practice.
... For example, a sudden illness or a major stressful event at work can lead individuals to reappraise their career goals, potentially leading them to change their current career trajectory (cf. Pak et al., 2021). Hence, the career shock literature can help understand how employees' health and wellbeing is impacted by sudden external events. ...
Career shocks have become an increasingly important part of current careers scholarship. In this article, we focus on the role of career shocks in career choice, career development, and career adaptation by exploring interdisciplinary connections with the domains of: (1) job search, (2) human resource management, (3) entrepreneurship, and (4) diversity. Specifically, we argue that a self-regulated job search process is likely often triggered by a career shock, yet could also trigger career shocks in its own right. We also note that employees' perceptions of the HR practices in their company are likely influenced by career shocks, and that the chance of employees to return to their employer in the future (i.e., boomerang employment) is affected by the occurrence of positive or negative shocks. Furthermore, there are ample opportunities to study how career shocks may trigger transitions between paid employment and entrepreneurship, and the role of identity and emotions in such processes. Finally, we argue that career shocks may instigate changes in the salience of social identity or even constitute threats to social identity, thereby reflecting on how career shocks may differentially impact people belonging to different social groups. We hope that our article, in the spirit of this JVB 50-year anniversary issue's aims, will inspire scholars both within and outside of the field of career studies to better understand how career shocks may impact the way in which people work and develop their careers.
This chapter focuses on the role of universities in cultivating students' capabilities to sustain their careers in the changing world of work and to flourish in life through their personal becoming. First, the chapter outlines the ecosystems of universities. Next, it presents the challenges and opportunities society and the world of work pose to universities. This chapter introduces a novel framework that shows how the academic and operational competencies lead to the life-world becoming of students and contributes to the existing university ecosystems theory. Based on the explored literature and the authors' long-term experience in higher education, this chapter also outlines the implications for educational researchers, practical implications for educational practitioners, and broader society.
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the extent to which global shocks like Covid-19, climate crisis or war in Ukraine represent a negative career shock for hotel employees and how their individual resilience helps them to mitigate such shock.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative research method is used, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 full-time employees working at four hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Thematic analysis was used to extract the main ideas from the transcripts.
Findings
The findings showed that some of the addressed employees do not perceive the impact of current wicked problems as a negative career shock that would cause them to divert their career paths particularly because of the recent support they receive from their professional and social circles. However, some respondents are worried about their career prospects owing to the dramatic events affecting beach tourism in Egypt this past decade. Findings reveal that managing negative career shocks necessitates institutional support, as well as employee responsibility and the adaptation.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by filling a gap in hospitality, and human resources management, in which empirical studies on the relationship between career shock of hotel employees and their individual resilience have been limited so far.
This chapter focuses on the role of universities in cultivating students’ capabilities to sustain their careers in the changing world of work and to flourish in life through their personal becoming. First, the chapter outlines the ecosystems of universities. Next, it presents the challenges and opportunities society and the world of work pose to universities. This chapter introduces a novel framework that shows how the academic and operational competencies lead to the life-world becoming of students, and it contributes to the existing university ecosystems theory. Based on the explored literature and on the authors’ long-term experience in higher education, this chapter also outlines the implications for educational researchers, practical implications for educational practitioners, and implications for society.
Keywords: Emancipatory Competence, Life-World Becoming, University Ecosystems, World of Knowing How, World of Knowing That, World of Knowing Why, World of Work.
The present study attempts to investigate how career adaptability predicts psychological well-being (PWB) among employees based on career construction theory (CCT). Precisely, the study examined the role of career sustainability as a mediator and sustainable career climate (SCC) as a moderator establishing the relationship between career adaptability and psychological well-being. Data collected from 550 Indian employees in the Indian banking and IT organizations indicate that career adaptability has a significant effect on career sustainability that eventually predicts PWB. In addition, the findings on the interaction effect of career adaptability and SCC on PWB via career sustainability highlighted the significance of unison between individual and contextual factors in realizing important employee outcomes. The results revealed that the indirect effect of career adaptability on PWB through career sustainability is stronger among employees who perceived their organizational career climate to be sustainable.
Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically transformed the traditional business process, especially in education sector. Due to the social distancing, compulsory lockdown changes the way teacher conduct class in a regular basis. Education sector has embraced technological innovation immediately after the announcing lockdown worldwide. This mediate enforce lecturer switching their traditional classroom to online classroom. Many related studies identified that this dramatic shift negatively affect lecturer's not only productivity but also psychological wellbeing. In fact, many prior studies utterly agreed there is a lack of understanding on how do these changes affect lecturer's psychological wellbeing. Hence, this study investigates the causes of lecturers' psychological wellbeing in the Job demand and control model. A conceptual model was tested which consisted of three independent, one moderating and dependent variables. Four hypotheses were proposed based on the conceptual model. Quantitative and cross-sectional approach were used to test and collect primary data. A structured questionnaire was developed adopting from prior studies and distributed to the lecturers from different private and public universities across West Malaysia. Based on two-month effort, this study managed to get 431 respondents, which considered a valid sample size for conducting any statistical techniques. Findings of this study confirmed that high job demand and control has significant negative effect on lecturers' psychological wellbeing, especially during pandemic. Institutional support, however, significantly improves and elevates lecturers' psychological wellbeing. Findings also confirms that social support during covid 19 significantly moderate the relationship between job demand and control with lecturer's psychological wellbeing. In other words, social supports help mitigating negative effect of job demand and control on lecturers' psychological wellbeing. This study is one of the limited studies emphasizing on lecturers instead of employees in general. These findings help educational institutions understanding the dark side of high job demand and control on their lecturers' psychological wellbeing, subsequently design an effective work life balance environment for their lecturer.
The fear and uncertainty created by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have strained the employer-employee relationship. This research seeks to understand how psycho- logical contract breach shapes employees’ perspectives of meaningful work and its influence on turnover intention. Drawing on event systems theory, we investigated how objective events in the environment (e.g., global pandemic) impact employees. We also argue that the career shock caused by the COVID-19 pandemic affected employees’ choices based on their job fit and psychological resources. Findings indi- cate that experiencing meaningful work reduced turnover intention, especially for those that experienced less psychological contract breach. Also, experiencing mean- ingful work reduced turnover intention most for individuals whose working hours were not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings show that experienc- ing meaningful work in a relatively stable job reduces employees’ potential turnover during exogenous shocks. The study also highlights the importance of meaningful work and why organizations should collaborate and assist their employees in making work more meaningful.
Career shocks are defined as shocking events that trigger individuals to think about current career status and have the thought to change career decisions. Influences of career shocks could be positive, negative or neutral. This paper reviewed the origins, conceptualizations, measures, and theoretical perspectives of career shocks. And then, it summarized main research findings on career shocks. The antecedents of career shocks included organization-related factors such as mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, work-related factors such as job transfers and salary deduction, and individual-related factors such as spouse job relocation and divorce. The consequences included individual cognition and attitudes such as career success and career optimism, career decisions such as pursue education and turnover, work behaviors and performance such as counter-productive work behaviors, organizational citizenship, and innovation. In addition, this paper illustrated the mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions of career shocks from the perspectives of resource conservation theory, job embeddedness, career construction, affective events theory, and event system theory. Finally, this paper proposed some suggestions for future research, including exploring the antecedents, new theoretical perspectives, and novel research design.
Career shocks are defined as shocking events that trigger individuals to think about current career
status and have the thought to change career decisions. Influences of career shocks could be positive, negative
or neutral. This paper reviewed the origins, conceptualizations, measures, and theoretical perspectives of career
shocks. And then, it summarized main research findings on career shocks. The antecedents of career shocks
included organization-related factors such as mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, work-related factors such
as job transfers and salary deduction, and individual-related factors such as spouse job relocation and divorce.
The consequences included individual cognition and attitudes such as career success and career optimism, career
decisions such as pursue education and turnover, work behaviors and performance such as counter-productive
work behaviors, organizational citizenship, and innovation. In addition, this paper illustrated the mediating
mechanisms and boundary conditions of career shocks from the perspectives of resource conservation theory, job
embeddedness, career construction, affective events theory, and event system theory. Finally, this paper proposed
some suggestions for future research, including exploring the antecedents, new theoretical perspectives, and novel
research design.
Although aging workforces result in numerous practical challenges for organizations and societies, little research has focused on successful aging at work. The limited existent research has generated rather diverse conceptualizations of successful aging at work, which are often broad and difficult to operationalize in practice. Therefore, to advance research and practice, we offer a specific and practical conceptualization of successful aging at work by developing a process model, which identifies relevant antecedents and mechanisms. In particular, we define successful aging at work as the proactive maintenance of, or adaptive recovery (after decline) to, high levels of ability and motivation to continue working among older workers. We also argue that proactive efforts to maintain, or adaptive efforts to recover and restore, high ability and motivation to continue working result from a self-regulation process that involves goal engagement and disengagement strategies to maintain, adjust, and restore person-environment fit. Further, we propose that at various levels (i.e., person, job, work group, organization, and society) more distal factors function as antecedents of this self-regulation process, with age-related bias and discrimination potentially operating at each level. Finally, we offer a roadmap for future research and practical applications.
Organizations are challenged to retain older workers, however knowledge on how this should be done is scattered. The aim of this paper is to integrate knowledge on the actions organizations can take to facilitate the extension of working lives by identifying and examining the effectiveness of Human Resource Management activities directed at the extension of working lives. To this end a systematic review was conducted, which identified 110 peer-reviewed and unpublished empirical articles concerning the influence of job demands, job resources and Human Resource practices on the ability, motivation and opportunity to work(ing). The results indicate that offering job resources has a positive effect on the ability, motivation and opportunity to continue working. Furthermore, work ability was found to be most negatively related with job demands whereas employability was most positively related with developmental practices. The paper concludes by suggesting directions for future research and practical implications to encourage evidence-based practice.
There is much research about those who exit the labour market prematurely, however, comparatively little is known about people working longer and about their employment and working conditions. In this paper, we describe the employment and working conditions of men and women working between 65 and 80 years, and compare them with previous conditions of those retired in the same age group. Analyses are based on wave 4 data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with information collected between 2009 and 2011 from 17,625 older men and women across 16 European countries. Besides socio-demographic and health-related factors (physical and mental health), the focus lies on employment conditions (e.g. employment status, occupational position and working hours) and on stressful working conditions, measured in terms of low control at work and effort-reward imbalance. In case of retired people, information on working conditions refer to the last job before retirement. Following descriptive analyses, we then conduct multivariable analyses and investigate how working conditions and poor health are related to labour market participation (i.e. random intercept models accounting for country affiliation and adjusted for potential confounders). Results illustrate that people working between the ages of 65 and 80 are more likely to be self-employed (either with or without employees) and work in advantaged occupational positions. Furthermore, findings reveal that psychosocial working conditions are generally better than the conditions retired respondents had in their last job. Finally, in contrast to those who work, health tends to be worse among retired people. In conclusion, findings deliver empirical evidence that paid employment beyond age 65 is more common among self-employed workers throughout Europe, in advantaged occupations and under-favourable psychosocial circumstances, and that this group of workers are in considerably good mental and physical health. This highlights that policies aimed at increasing the state pension age beyond the age of 65 years put pressure on specific disadvantaged groups of men and women.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12062-016-9160-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Purpose To longitudinally investigate (1) whether lower work ability and work engagement predict the use of company policies on reduced working hours and exemption from evening/night work among older workers, and (2) whether using such policies subsequently contribute to higher work ability and work engagement. Methods In total 6922 employees (45-64 years) participating in the first three waves of the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation were included. Participants yearly filled out an online questionnaires. Regression analyses were applied to study the influence of baseline work ability and work engagement on the incident use of policies during the first year of follow-up, and the incident use of these policies on work ability and work engagement during the second year of follow-up. Results Employees with a higher work ability were less likely to start using the policy 'reduced working hours' [OR 0.91 (95 % CI 0.83-0.98)]. Starting to use this policy was in turn related to lower work ability 1 year later [B -0.28 (95 % CI -0.47 to -0.08)]. Starting to use the policy 'exemption from evening/night work' was related to higher work engagement 1 year later [B 0.23 (95 % CI 0.07-0.39)]. Conclusions Low work ability precedes the use of some company policies aiming to support sustainable employability of older workers. Further research is needed to explore whether company policies result in a (longstanding) improvement, or reduced deterioration, of older workers' employability.
In recent years, researchers in work and organizational psychology have increasingly become interested in short-term processes and everyday experiences of working individuals. Diaries provide the necessary means to examine these processes. Although diary studies have become more popular in recent years, researchers not familiar with this method still find it difficult to get access to the required knowledge. In this paper, we provide an introduction to this method of data collection. Using two diary study examples, we discuss methodological issues researchers face when planning a diary study, examine recent methodological developments, and give practical recommendations. Topics covered include different types of diary studies, the research questions to be examined, compliance and the issue of missing data, sample size, and issues of analyses.
Research on the correspondence between retirement intentions and subsequent behaviours is scarce. We aimed to explore possible associations between retirement intentions and behaviours, using 5-year high quality quantitative panel data on Norwegian senior workers. Intentions operate at different levels of firmness: i) considerations; ii) preferences; and iii) decisions. Compared to work continuation considerations, a targeted age for retirement improved predictive power whether the target was preferred or decided, and particularly so if the target (i.e. the preferred or decided age of retirement), corresponded with a normative retirement age. Because more workers are able to state preferences for rather than exact timing of retirement, preferences may be better proxies for retirement behaviours when the issue is the prediction of larger groups of workers, as in planning for policies.
The correspondence between intentions and actual behaviours varies primarily by health and education. Older workers with poor health retire earlier than they prefer, while workers with high education less often retire earlier than they prefer. These findings illustrate the possible effect of labour market resources for labour market participation and for senior workers’ opportunities to retire at preferred or decided ages.
The aim of this paper is to explain and discuss timeline interviews as a method for doing life history research. It is a ‘how to’ article explaining the strengths and weaknesses of using a timeline when conducting qualitative interviews. The method allows the interviewee to participate in the reporting of the interview which may give raise to ownership and sharing of the analytical power in the interview situation. Exactly for this reason, it may not be the most appropriate method for interviewing elites or for conducting insider interviews where positionality can be at play. The use of the timeline should not lead the interviewer or the interviewee to assume linearity and coherence; it is an organising principle for the events. It provides an opportunity for linking the story with the wider social, political and environmental context during the interview. While the method is very suitable for life story research, it can also be used for other types of studies where interviews are made.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to define employability within the psychological literature with a focus upon perceived employability.
Design/methodology/approach
– To achieve the aim, the paper defines five objectives as follows. First, the paper discusses how employability is interpreted in the psychological literature. Second, the paper defines perceived employability within this literature. Third, the paper goes one step further by comparing the perceived employability approach to other approaches in the psychological field, namely, approaches based on competences and dispositions. The paper concludes with an integration of the three approaches into a process model to demonstrate their interrelationships, which the authors see as the fourth objective. With approach, the paper refers to a specific view on employability, including both definitions and measures, which share significant common ground. Finally, the paper highlights some implications.
Findings
– The paper concludes that each approach comes with specific advantages and disadvantages. Researchers and practitioners should use an approach according to the general research question one aims to address.
Originality value
– The authors believe to contribute to the employability literature in the following ways. First, the paper raises awareness that not all psychological notions of employability are equal, though they are often treated as such in the literature. Second, the paper highlights how perceived employability is tied to competences and dispositions. That is, though all notions are clearly different, they are also related.
Since abilities and motives change with age and common human resource (HR) practices might be less suitable for aging employees, scholars and practitioners are currently challenged to find new ways of managing aging workers and motivating them to continue working. Therefore, this mixed methods study builds on literature on lifespan development and literature on HR practices in proposing four new bundles of HR practices for aging workers: accommodative, maintenance, utilization and development HR bundles. Since we draw on separate bodies of literature to propose new constructs, we use a mixed methods design in order to triangulate our findings. The proposed HR bundles were explored with a qualitative interview study among HR managers, line managers and employees in the Dutch construction sector, and tested with a quantitative survey study among Dutch government workers. Both studies confirmed that HR practices for aging workers can be classified into accommodative, maintenance, utilization and development HR bundles of practices.
Demographics of workforce aging in the developed world have spurred research on the determinants of older worker motivation to work, motivation to retire, and motivation at work. We propose an integrative framework of later adulthood goals related to work and the motivational determinants of these goals in order to better understand goal relations. We also discuss the common and unique effects of person and contextual determinants of later adulthood work-related goals and propose new directions for future research.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship perceived employability (the employee's perception about available job opportunities in the external labour market) and performance, accounting for felt job insecurity. Performance is conceptualized broadly in terms of optimal functioning (i.e. in-role performance and helping behaviour) and malfunctioning (i.e. organizational and interpersonal counterproductive work behaviour).
Design/methodology/approach
– Survey data were collected among 433 Romanian workers.
Findings
– The authors hypothesize and demonstrate that perceived employability relates positively to optimal functioning, but less so when workers feel insecure: highly employable workers may be high achievers, but withdraw from the organization when they feel insecure. Furthermore, the authors hypothesize that perceived employability relates positively to malfunctioning, the more so when workers feel insecure. Highly employable workers may care less about organizational norms, particularly when they see reasons to violate these norms: felt job insecurity may be such a reason. However, the interaction between perceived employability and felt job insecurity was not significantly related to malfunctioning. Instead, the authors established a main effect of perceived employability on both organizational and interpersonal counterproductive work behaviour.
Originality/value
– The paper concludes that perceived employability contributes to optimal functioning when workers feel secure, but it may also bring along some costs in the form of malfunctioning.
Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity model, this meta-analysis examined the effects of three dimensions of HR systems-skills-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing-on proximal organizational outcomes (human capital and motivation) and distal organizational outcomes (voluntary turnover, operational outcomes, and financial outcomes). The results indicate that skill-enhancing practices were more positively related to human capital and less positively related to employee motivation than motivation-enhancing practices and opportunity-enhancing practices. Moreover, the three dimensions of HR systems were related to financial outcomes both directly and indirectly by influencing human capital and employee motivation as well as voluntary turnover and operational outcomes in sequence.
This article investigates the factors influencing the motivation to continue working after retirement among a sample of Dutch teachers. Based on previous research, it was proposed that teachers will be motivated to work after their legal retirement age when organizational support, possibilities to change work roles and financial needs are high. Moreover, based on conversation of resources theory, it was expected that these factors would interact with each other, with the strongest effects for combinations of high support, high change of work role and high financial needs. A survey was distributed among 123 teachers working in a high school in the Netherlands. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis showed that organizational support and change of work role were positively related to motivation to continue working. However, contrary to hypothesis, organizational support and change of work role interacted negatively, such that organizational support was only positively related to motivation to continue working for those who wanted to conduct the same kind of work after their retirement. This article shows that organizations should focus on offering support to their teachers in their decisions for working after retirement, and on offering possibilities for changes in the tasks they conduct.
Purpose
Demotion is sometimes recommended as an instrument for extending older workers' labor force participation. There is, however, very little research on the effects of demotion on employees. The purpose of this paper is therefore to investigate these effects, and to test whether they differ for older and younger workers.
Design/methodology/approach
The data come from a biannual panel study among employees working in health care or social services. There were 45 cases of demotion among older employees (aged 45 or over) and 62 cases among younger employees in the data set. The control group consisted of 7,727 cases in which there had been no change in function.
Findings
Employees who were demoted had more feelings of exhaustion prior‐to the demotion than employees who did not change function. The demotion only reduced the levels of exhaustion in the case of older employees who moved to a less physically demanding position. Satisfaction with job content decreased regardless of age group or changes in physical workload.
Research limitations/implications
The number of demotions was relatively small. There was no information on the reasons for the demotion. Therefore, we could not test whether the effects of demotion vary according to the reason for the demotion.
Practical implications
In light of the results of this study, employers who are considering demoting an employee should check carefully whether there are other suitable options that have fewer negative consequences for the employee.
Originality/value
There is very little empirical research on the effects of demotion – this paper fills some of the gaps.
This two-wave (16-month lag) Belgian panel study is one of the first to test theory-driven hypotheses on the relations between job resources, work engagement, and actual turnover across time. The study focuses on three groups: stayers, workers who have obtained promotions (“promotion makers”), and external job movers. In line with the Job Demands-Resources model, we hypothesized normal cross-lagged effects of job resources on work engagement for stayers. Based on broaden-and-build theory, a reversed causal effect of work engagement on job resources was predicted for the job changers. Additionally, we examined whether the changes in the job change groups matched the refuge hypothesis (that less engaged workers change to jobs providing more resources) or the positive gain hypothesis (that engaged workers get promoted to jobs having even more resources). The results partially supported our hypotheses. We found that low work engagement, low job autonomy, and low departmental resources predicted actual transfer to another company. Furthermore, for stayers we found positive effects of job autonomy on work engagement, but also reversed causal effects. For external movers and promotion makers the expected reversed causal effects of work engagement were found. The across time mean changes support the positive gain hypothesis for promotion makers, and the refuge hypothesis for external movers.
Drawing on career self-management frameworks as well as image theory and the unfolding model of turnover, we developed a model predicting early career employees' decisions to pursue graduate education. Using a sample of 337 alumni from 2 universities, we found that early career individuals with intrinsic career goals, who engaged in career planning, who were less satisfied with their career, or who experienced impactful positive career shocks were more likely to intend to go to graduate school. In contrast, individuals with extrinsic career goals who were highly satisfied with their careers were less likely to intend to go to graduate school. Graduate education intentions, career planning, and the impact of having one's mentor leave the organization positively related to actual applications to graduate school. However, having extrinsic career goals, an impactful sooner than expected raise or promotion (a positive career shock), and a negative organizational change (a negative career shock) negatively related to the likelihood of applying. The career shocks' direct relationship to applications to graduate school, regardless of one's intentions, suggests that "the best laid plans" can sometimes be altered by unplanned events. This study contributes to the literatures on career self-management and graduate education and extends the application of the shock construct from the unfolding model of turnover to other career-related decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
One of the central tenets of life-span psychology is that the process of development entails gains and losses that occur over the entire life span. Thus, Paul and Margret Baltes (1990)3.
Baltes , P. B. and Baltes , M. M. 1990 . “ Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation ” . In Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences , Edited by: Baltes , P. B. and Baltes , M. M. 1 – 34 . New York : Cambridge University Press . [CrossRef]View all references conceptualized successful aging as a lifelong process of maximizing gains and minimizing losses by means of three processes: selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC). This article reviews empirical studies that have investigated the use of SOC during adulthood with different methodological approaches and have found evidence for the importance of SOC for successfully managing one's resources. The article highlights the importance of prioritizing goals (selection) according to their importance for increasing gains (optimization) and avoiding losses (compensation) in consideration of currently available resources. Age-related changes in resource availability and time perspective can also result in a shift in goal orientation towards gains or losses and in goal focus on the process or the outcome of goal pursuit. Taken together, the action-theoretical approach to the SOC framework suggests that selection, optimization, and compensation can be seen as key concepts for understanding successful aging.
The workforce in most industrialized countries is aging. However, the role of age in job design has largely been ignored. In the present paper, we apply lifespan development perspectives to the interaction between job characteristics and age. Specifically, we examine the possible joint effects of age and job characteristics on job satisfaction, engagement, and performance, developing a series of propositions to guide future research. We also discuss possible boundary conditions, mediating mechanisms, and future research challenges.
Psychology has increasingly turned to the study of psychosocial resources in the examination of well-being. How resources are being studied and resource models that have been proffered are considered, and an attempt is made to examine elements that bridge across models. As resource models span health, community, cognitive, and clinical psychology, the question is raised of whether there is overuse of the resource metaphor or whether there exists some underlying principles that can be gleaned and incorporated to advance research. The contribution of resources for understanding multicultural and pan-historical adaptation in the face of challenge is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose:
To investigate the impact of rehabilitation measures on work ability and return to work (RTW), specifically the association between workplace rehabilitation/supportive conditions at work and work ability and RTW over time, among women on long-term sick leave.
Methods:
Questionnaire data were collected (baseline, 6 and 12 months) from a cohort of women (n = 324). Linear mixed models were used for longitudinal analysis of the repeated measurements of work ability index (WAI), work ability score and working degree. These analyses were performed with different models; the explanatory variables for each model were workplace rehabilitation, supportive conditions at work and time.
Results:
The individuals provided with workplace rehabilitation and supportive conditions (e.g. influence at work, possibilities for development, degree of freedom at work, meaning of work, quality of leadership, social support, sense of community and work satisfaction) had significantly increased WAI and work ability score over time. These individuals scored higher work ability compared to those individuals having workplace rehabilitation without supportive conditions, or neither. Additionally, among the individuals provided with workplace rehabilitation and supportive conditions, working degree increased significantly more over time compared to those individuals with no workplace rehabilitation and no supportive conditions.
Conclusion:
The results highlight the importance of integrating workplace rehabilitation with supportive conditions at work in order to increase work ability and improve the RTW process for women on long-term sick leave.
Approximately 10 years ago, Lee et al. reviewed the qualitative methods published during 1979–99 in the major US journals in the organizational sciences. This ten‐year follow‐up review of 198 qualitative articles assesses the progress made in qualitative research in management by specifically considering: (1) the strength and legitimacy of recent publications that challenge any positivistic stigmatizations of qualitative research; (2) the methodological advances in qualitative methods, including the use and elucidation of novel techniques; and (3) the general contribution of qualitative research to the accumulation of management knowledge. By encompassing both US and European journals in our review, we also compare and contrast the qualitative research published on both sides of the Atlantic, stressing what each can learn from the other. We highlight exemplary articles and procedures and make recommendations for the next decade of qualitative research in management.
Chance events are considered important in career development, yet little empirical research is available on their predictors and consequences. The present study investigated socio-demographic (gender, nationality, school-type), personality (openness, locus of control) and career development variables (career decidedness, career planning) in relation to perceived chance events with a retrospective (N = 229, eleventh grade), and 1-year longitudinal prospective study (N = 245, eighth/ninth grade) among Swiss adolescents. The results showed that the majority of both groups reported a significant influence of chance events on their transition from compulsory school to vocational education or high school. Importance of chance events related to socio-demographics and personality but not career preparation. Career preparation and chance events predicted subjective career success in terms of wish correspondence and overall satisfaction with transition outcome among the younger cohort. Implications include the necessity to integrate both thorough career preparation and chance events in theory and counseling practice.
This study examined the role of three personal resources (self-efficacy, organizational-based self-esteem, and optimism) in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. The authors hypothesized that personal resources (1) moderate the relationship between job demands and exhaustion, (2) mediate the relationship between job resources and work engagement, and (3) relate to how employees perceive their work environment and well-being. Hypotheses were tested among 714 Dutch employees. Results showed that personal resources did not offset the relationship between job demands and exhaustion. Instead, personal resources mediated the relationship between job resources and engagement/exhaustion and influenced the perception of job resources. The implications of these findings for the JD-R model are discussed.
Purpose
The central theme of this article is early retirement intentions and burnout among older workers. The paper aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between the burnout dimensions exhaustion, cynicism and competence and retirement intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were taken from a survey held among Dutch older workers (50+) and their spouses ( n =2,892).
Findings
The results show that a high workload, heavy physical work, lack of challenge, autonomy and social support from colleagues and managers are related to burnout complaints, although in a different way for the three dimensions. The results show that besides the effect of burnout, retirement intentions are related to the level of marital quality. Older workers who report a higher level of marital quality report a stronger intention to retire. Burnout and retirement intentions are related, but appear to have partly different predictors. While burnout can generally be explained by the work environment, non‐work related factors enhance the understanding of retirement intentions.
Originality/value
This study shows that actual retirement is often preceded by feelings of burnout, in particular a mental detachment from work and feelings of exhaustion.
Purpose of this systematic literature review was to identify current knowledge about employment in cancer survivors. Sixty-four studies met inclusion criteria that were original papers published between 01/2000 and 11/2009. Overall, 63.5% of cancer survivors (range 24-94%) returned to work. The mean duration of absence from work was 151 days. Factors significantly associated with a greater likelihood of being employed or return to work were perceived employer accommodation, flexible working arrangements, counseling, training and rehabilitation services, younger age and cancer sites of younger individuals, higher levels of education, male gender, less physical symptoms, lower length of sick leave and continuity of care. Cancer survivors had a significantly increased risk for unemployment, early retirement and were less likely to be re-employed. Between 26% and 53% of cancer survivors lost their job or quit working over a 72-month period post diagnosis. Between 23% and 75% of patients who lost their job were re-employed. A high proportion of patients experienced at least temporary changes in work schedules, work hours, wages and a decline in work ability compared to non-cancer groups.
The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-reported work ability and long-term term of sickness absence or early retirement from the labour market.
Data on work ability were retrieved from a representative cohort study of Danish wage earners and linked with a register of social payment transfers. In all, 4.743 individuals were followed from 2001 to 2005. Cox regression was used for the analyses.
A one point decrease in perceived work ability, on a 10 point scale, was associated with an increased risk of long-term sickness absence (LTSA) of 15.1% (95% CI 12-19%, P < 0.0001) and an increased risk of early retirement from the labour market of 33% (95% CI 20-48%, P < 0.0001).
Reports of reduced work ability were significantly associated with both an increased risk of onset of LTSA and early retirement from the labour market, after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics and lifestyle variables.
Major perspectives concerning stress are presented with the goal of clarifying the nature of what has proved to be a heuristic but vague construct. Current conceptualizations of stress are challenged as being too phenomenological and ambiguous, and consequently, not given to direct empirical testing. Indeed, it is argued that researchers have tended to avoid the problem of defining stress, choosing to study stress without reference to a clear framework. A new stress model called the model of conservation of resources is presented as an alternative. This resource-oriented model is based on the supposition that people strive to retain, project, and build resources and that what is threatening to them is the potential or actual loss of these valued resources. Implications of the model of conservation of resources for new research directions are discussed.
The job demands-resources (JD-R) model proposes that working conditions can be categorized into 2 broad categories, job demands and job resources. that are differentially related to specific outcomes. A series of LISREL analyses using self-reports as well as observer ratings of the working conditions provided strong evidence for the JD-R model: Job demands are primarily related to the exhaustion component of burnout, whereas (lack of) job resources are primarily related to disengagement. Highly similar patterns were observed in each of 3 occupational groups: human services, industry, and transport (total N = 374). In addition, results confirmed the 2-factor structure (exhaustion and disengagement) of a new burnout instrument--the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory--and suggested that this structure is essentially invariant across occupational groups.
In diary studies, people provide frequent reports on the events and experiences of their daily lives. These reports capture the particulars of experience in a way that is not possible using traditional designs. We review the types of research questions that diary methods are best equipped to answer, the main designs that can be used, current technology for obtaining diary reports, and appropriate data analysis strategies. Major recent developments include the use of electronic forms of data collection and multilevel models in data analysis. We identify several areas of research opportunities: 1. in technology, combining electronic diary reports with collateral measures such as ambulatory heart rate; 2. in measurement, switching from measures based on between-person differences to those based on within-person changes; and 3. in research questions, using diaries to (a) explain why people differ in variability rather than mean level, (b) study change processes during major events and transitions, and (c) study interpersonal processes using dyadic and group diary methods.
While scholars and practitioners are increasingly aware of the positive effect of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) on employee attitudes, little is known about how i-deals might affect work and career outcomes for employees with disabilities, a marginalized and understudied group. The present study builds on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to explain how i-deals might influence perceived work ability for employees with disabilities, and in turn, their turnover intentions. Furthermore, this study is the first to compare the experiences of employees with physical, psychological and no disabilities regarding these relationships. Our hypotheses are tested using field data from 19,770 employees working for a German federal agency. In brief, the negative direct effect of i-deals on turnover intentions is found to be stronger for employees with physical disabilities than for those without disabilities. Further, the results indicate a significant negative indirect effect of i-deals on turnover intentions through perceived work ability for all employee groups. As expected, we find that this indirect effect increases in magnitude when going from the condition having a physical disability or no disability to the condition having a psychological disability. Implications for research, theory and practice are discussed.
The authors reviewed more than 70 studies concerning employees' general belief that their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support; POS). A meta-analysis indicated that 3 major categories of beneficial treatment received by employees (i.e., fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and favorable job conditions) were associated with POS. POS, in turn, was related to outcomes favorable to employees (e.g., job satisfaction, positive mood) and the organization (e.g., affective commitment, performance, and lessened withdrawal behavior). These relationships depended on processes assumed by organizational support theory: employees' belief that the organization's actions were discretionary, feeling of obligation to aid the organization, fulfillment of socioemotional needs, and performance-reward expectancies.
Idiosyncratic deals (I‐deals) are work arrangements between an employee and a manager, aimed at meeting the employee's specific work‐related needs (Rousseau, 2005, I‐deals: Idiosyncratic deals employees bargain for themselves, M. E. Sharpe, New York, NY). Studies to date have focused on the effects of successful I‐deal negotiations, but have paid little attention to what determines whether negotiated I‐deals are also obtained. We propose that managers play a crucial role in this process, and explore the role of managers' emotions in translating negotiation into obtainment. We suggest that I‐deals are more likely to be obtained when managers feel more positive and less negative about an employee's I‐deal process in the aftermath of the negotiation. We then aim to determine what shapes managers' emotions about the I‐deal process. Given that I‐deals are intended to be beneficial for the entire team (Rousseau, 2005, I‐deals: Idiosyncratic deals employees bargain for themselves, M. E. Sharpe, New York, NY), we expect that managers feel more positive about the I‐deal process of employees who engage in socially connecting behaviours following their I‐deal negotiation. In contrast, managers feel more negative about the I‐deal process of employees who engage in socially disconnecting behaviours. Results from a two‐wave study of employees and their managers supported our hypotheses. Our findings contribute to research on I‐deals by distinguishing between the negotiation and obtainment of I‐deals and by highlighting the role of managers' emotions in translating negotiated I‐deals into obtainment and the importance of employees' socially connecting and disconnecting behaviours following I‐deal negotiations.
Practitioner points
• I‐deals are individually negotiated work agreements between an employee and an employer about parts of their jobs or specific tasks. Previous research has predominantly focused on the negotiation of I‐deals.
• Yet, negotiated I‐deals may not always materialize. How managers feel about the I‐deal process of employees in the aftermath of the negotiation is a crucial factor in translating successfully negotiated I‐deals into obtained I‐deals.
• When managers feel more positive and less negative about the I‐deal process, they are more likely to facilitate the obtainment of employees' deals.
• Because I‐deals are supposed to benefit the entire team, managers' emotions about the I‐deal process are influenced by employees' behaviours following the negotiation. Managers are likely to feel more positive about an employee's I‐deal process if he/she displays socially connecting behaviours and more negative when the employee disconnects from others in the aftermath of I‐deal negotiations.
Conservation of Resources Theory The Construct of PE Fit Theories of Multidimensional Fit PE Fit and COR The Nomological Network of PE Fit Time and PE Fit Levels of Analysis, Fit, and COR PEMisfit Benefits of COR View of PE Fit Conclusion References
This chapter outlines the nature and causes of demographic (population) aging. Diversity is a global feature, with countries and regions worldwide at rather different stages in terms of percentages of older persons. Falling and sometimes very low fertility has generally caused the demographic aging of populations, although greater life expectancy also plays a part. The chapter outlines effective age of retirement and labor force participation of older workers and the key aspects of the 2002 Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing. Selected issues arising from aging workforces are examined: older workers' skills; unemployment and underemployment; mental and physical changes; and age bias and workplace discrimination. The future implications of the interplay between population aging on economic growth are introduced.
The aim of this study was to investigate the work ability of Polish workers in different occupations and to evaluate occupational and extra-occupational factors influencing work ability in those workers. Work Ability Index (WAI) was served as a tool for work ability assessment and European Foundation for Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Questionnaire for selected occupational and non-occupational assessment. Statistical analysis was performed by the mean of ANOVA tests. The WAI results varied from 16 to 49, the mean was 41.33, SD 5.25. Excellent WAI was found in 43.81% of workers, good in 43.81%, moderate in 16.14% and poor in 1.20%. Among all analyzed factors, statistically significant differences in WAI were found (in the whole studied group) for the following factors: assistance from colleagues, possibility of taking a break, additional paid job, painful or tiring position, carrying or moving heavy loads and possibility of taking a course. For workers, who have the possibility to get assistance from colleagues, possibility of taking a break, additional paid job or possibility of taking a course, WAI results were statistically significantly higher. For those, who work in painful or tiring position, carry or move heavy loads, WAI results were statistically significantly lower.
Professional cleaners have many work-related problems, which threat their health and work ability. In 1991, the sample of 96 female professional cleaners participated in the intervention study developing their occupational ergonomics and individual resources. In 2003, 75 of them participated in the follow-up study. The aim of the study was to investigate perceived work ability and individual characteristics as predictors for early exit from working life in professional cleaners. According to the present 12-year follow-up study, the Work Ability Index (WAI) and obesity seemed to be powerful predictors for the early exit from working life in female professional cleaners.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to give a state‐of‐the art overview of the Job Demands‐Resources (JD‐R) model
Design/methodology/approach
– The strengths and weaknesses of the demand‐control model and the effort‐reward imbalance model regarding their predictive value for employee well being are discussed. The paper then introduces the more flexible JD‐R model and discusses its basic premises.
Findings
– The paper provides an overview of the studies that have been conducted with the JD‐R model. It discusses evidence for each of the model's main propositions. The JD‐R model can be used as a tool for human resource management. A two‐stage approach can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of individuals, work groups, departments, and organizations at large.
Originality/value
– This paper challenges existing stress models, and focuses on both negative and positive indicators of employee well being. In addition, it outlines how the JD‐R model can be applied to a wide range of occupations, and be used to improve employee well being and performance.
Purpose
– Numerous empirical works have found evidence to support a positive relationship between managers' transformational leadership behaviour and employees' individual performance. Studies have also begun to examine the process by which the effects on performance ultimately take place. This research aims to move forward in this direction. The paper aims to analyse the mediating role of a contextual variable (organizational learning capability) and a subordinate characteristic (employability) in the relationship between transformational leadership and individual performance.
Design/methodology/approach
– The hypothesis was tested through a sample of 795 workers from 75 university departments, using a multilevel path analysis with a two‐level data structure.
Findings
– Empirical evidence was found to show that: there is a positive relationship between worker‐perceived organizational learning capability in a firm and his/her own employability perception; the worker‐perceived transformational leadership of his/her leader, and his/her own employability perception; the worker‐perceived organizational learning capability of a firm and his/her performance; the worker's perception of his/her own employability, and his/her performance; transformational leadership, OLC, and individual performance have a significant influence on the group, while employability can be considered only as an individual phenomenon; and at group level, the effects of transformational leadership on performance are mediated by organizational learning capability.
Originality/value
– As far as is known, there has been no attempt to connect transformational leadership and employability and organizational learning capability and employability theoretically and/or empirically.
The aim of present study was to ascertain the association between perceived work ability and sickness absence among workers in food industry by using both detailed register data and questionnaire interviews. The study was undertaken in the food industry in a concern with four factories and one central administration. A questionnaire was answered by 856 persons (592 women and 264 men and the sickness absence of this persons were obtained from the company register. The main results were that all the sickness absence figures were higher among women than among men, among those less than 40 years and among the blue collar than among the white collar workers. Work ability was statistically significant associated to sickness absence. Low work ability was associated with sickness absence more among women than among men and more among the younger than the older employees. It was concluded that perceived work ability may be useful as a prognostic tool in preventing certified sickness absence.
Conservation of Resources (COR) theory predicts that resource loss is the principal ingredient in the stress process. Resource gain, in turn, is depicted as of increasing importance in the context of loss. Because resources are also used to prevent resource loss, at each stage of the stress process people are increasingly vulnerable to negative stress sequelae, that if ongoing result in rapid and impactful loss spirals. COR theory is seen as an alternative to appraisal-based stress theories because it relies more centrally on the objective and culturally construed nature of the environment in determining the stress process, rather than the individual’s personal construel. COR theory has been successfully employed in predicting a range of stress outcomes in organisational settings, health contexts, following traumatic stress, and in the face of everyday stressors. Recent advances in understanding the biological, cognitive, and social bases of stress responding are seen as consistent with the original formulation of COR theory, but call for envisioning of COR theory and the stress process within a more collectivist backdrop than was first posited. The role of both resource losses and gains in predicting positive stress outcomes is also considered. Finally, the limitations and applications of COR theory are discussed.
This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between person–job (PJ), person–organization (PO), person–group, and person–supervisor fit with preentry (applicant attraction, job acceptance, intent to hire, job offer) and postentry individual-level criteria (attitudes, performance, withdrawal behaviors, strain, tenure). A search of published articles, conference presentations, dissertations, and working papers yielded 172 usable studies with 836 effect sizes. Nearly all of the credibility intervals did not include 0, indicating the broad generalizability of the relationships across situations. Various ways in which fit was conceptualized and measured, as well as issues of study design, were examined as moderators to these relationships in studies of PJ and PO fit. Interrelationships between the various types of fit are also meta-analyzed. 25 studies using polynomial regression as an analytic technique are reviewed separately, because of their unique approach to assessing fit. Broad themes emerging from the results are discussed to generate the implications for future research on fit.
Performance appraisal has widened as a concept and as a set of practices and in the form of performance management has become part of a more strategic approach to integrating HR activities and business policies. As a result of this, the research on the subject has moved beyond the limited confines of measurement issues and accuracy of performance ratings and has begun to focus more of social and motivational aspects of appraisal. This article identifies and discusses a number of themes and trends that together make up the developing research agenda for this field. It breaks these down in terms of the nature of appraisal and the context in which it operates. The former is considered in terms of contemporary thinking on the content of appraisal (contextual performance, goal orientation and self awareness) and the process of appraisal (appraiser-appraisee interaction, and multi-source feedback). The discussion of the context of appraisal concentrates on cultural differences and the impact of new technology. In reviewing these emerging areas of research, the article seeks to explore some of the implications for appraisal practice at both organizational and individual levels.
This paper examined the impact of certain work-related factors on older workers' intentions to continue paid work and whether the impact of these work-related factors varies between men and women. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey of a sample of employees, aged 50 years and older, working in a large public sector organisation in Australia. Results identified the work-related factors that influence older workers' intentions to continue paid work as 'importance of work', flexibility' and 'interests outside of work', irrespective of gender. Results also indicated that this influence can be substantially enriched when examining the differences between males' and females' intentions. The findings suggest a significant level of differentiation, based on gender, in relation to 'autonomy', 'work environment' and 'interests outside work'. Management will need to consider these important work-related factors in addressing attrition and turnover data and formulating human resource forecasts and specific strategies for retention of older workers. Yes Yes
The aim of this systematic literature analysis was to study the association between work health promotion and job well-being, work ability, absenteeism, and early retirement. This systematic review is a part of a large research project studying multiple workplace factors and interventions that may affect workers' health and well-being.
Original articles published in 1970 to 2005 were searched in Medline and PsycINFO databases, the main search terms being health promotion, well-being, work ability, sick leave, and disability pension. Out of 1312 references and 35 potentially eligible publications, 10 studies were included in the analysis. Other sources producing 36 eligible studies, 46 studies in total were included in the analysis.
There is moderate evidence that work health promotion decreases sickness absences (risk ratio [RR], 0.78; range, 0.10 to 1.57) and work ability (RR, 1.38; range, 1.15 to 1.66). It also seems to increase mental well-being (RR, 1.39; range, 0.98 to 1.91), but not physical well-being. There is no evidence on disability pension. Exercise seems to increase overall well-being (RR, 1.25; range, 1.05 to 1.47) and work ability (RR, 1.38; range, 1.15 to 1.66), but education and psychological methods do not seem to affect well-being or sickness absences. Sickness absences seem to be reduced by activities promoting healthy lifestyle (RR, 0.80; range, 0.74 to 0.93) and ergonomics (RR, 0.72; range, 0.13 to 1.57).
Work health promotion is valuable on employees' well-being and work ability and productive in terms of less sickness absences. Activities involving exercise, lifestyle, and ergonomics are potentially effective. On the other hand, education and psychological means applied alone do not seem effective. Work health promotion should target both physical and psychosocial environments at work.
Human resource management and sustainability at work across the lifespan: an integrative perspective
- A H De Lange
- D Kooij
- B Van Der Heijden