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Introduction: The Boundaryless Career A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era
Abstract
Work gets done. Time passes. Careers— sequences of work experiences over time—unfold. A career depicts the person, the elementary unit in work arrangements. Careers invoke relationships within and among firms. Careers spell economic and social outcomes. Put simply, everyone who works has a career. And everyone’s life outside work is connected to the career. As lives are lived, a focus on careers, rather than on jobs, insists that we account for time and its implications. Careers matter!
... Stephens Company (EBSCO) database, with the search criteria established based on the primary subjects of the investigated topic, employing the "context-intervention-mechanismoutcome (C-I-M-O) framework (Briner and Denyer, 2012;Arthur and Rousseau, 1996))". The choice of journals were due to three criteria: (1) journals with a business and management focus; (2) journals concentrating on quality and process management research, as SS falls within these domains; and (3) peer-reviewed journals that solely focus on SS and its related ...
Purpose
Numerous attempts at installing six sigma (SS) have faced challenges and fallen short of the desired success. Thus, it becomes vital to identify the critical factors and characteristics that play a pivotal role in achieving successful adoption. In this study the research has aimed to highlight that a considerable number of corporate SS initiatives, around 60%, fail primarily due to the improper incorporation of essential elements and flawed assumptions.
Design/methodology/approach
To validate the influence of critical success factors (CSFs) on SS accomplishment, the study employed a research design combining exploratory and mixed-methods approaches. A Likert-scale questionnaire was utilized, and a simple random sampling method was employed to gather data. Out of the 2,325 potential participants approached, 573 responses were received, primarily from Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The analysis focused on 260 completed questionnaires and statistical methods including structural equation modeling (SEM), exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized for data analysis.
Findings
The study acknowledged four essential components of CSFs that are imperative for sustaining the success of SS: (1) Competence of belt System employees; (2) Project management skills; (3) Organizational economic capability and (4) Leadership commitment and engagement. These factors were identified as significant contributors to the maintenance of SS’s success.
Practical implications
The practical implications of this research imply that institutions, practitioners, and researchers can utilize the four identified factors to foster the sustainable deployment of SS initiatives. By incorporating these factors, organizations can enhance the effectiveness and longevity of their SS practices.
Originality/value
The investigation's originality lies in its contribution to assessing CSFs in SS deployment within the European automobile industry, utilizing a mixed-methods research design supplemented by descriptive statistics.
Purpose
Using conservation of resources and self-determination theories, this study explores the negative ties between proactive career behaviour and job insecurity, which are mediated by work-related basic needs satisfaction, and how contract type affects these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Two waves of data were collected from 332 Chinese employees. The mediation and moderated mediation models were tested with MPLUS 8.30 and SPSS’s PROCESS macro.
Findings
Proactive career behaviour negatively affects (both quantitatively and qualitatively) job insecurity through work-related basic needs satisfaction. Contract type moderates the relationship between proactive career behaviour and work-related basic needs satisfaction as well as the indirect relationship between proactive career behaviour and quantitative (but not qualitative) job insecurity via work-related basic needs satisfaction. These findings suggest that temporary employees can obtain greater benefits by engaging in proactive career behaviour than can their permanent counterparts.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the limited research on job insecurity antecedents, mechanisms and key moderators.
This study aimed to investigate differences in dominant career orientations between self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and company-assigned expatriates (AEs). Schein’s career model provides a theoretical framework to investigate differences in career preferences and orientations between SIEs and AEs. This paper builds career constructs by dividing the eight career anchors into two groups (boundaryless and traditional-oriented anchors). The career anchor model is used to investigate if a comparable sample of SIEs and AEs drawn from the banking sector in Saudi Arabia exhibits traditional and/or boundaryless career orientations. A between-subjects design was used, and MANOVA was used to analyze data from 418 expatriates working within the Saudi banking sector to understand how the career orientations of SIEs and AEs differ. Compared to AEs, SIEs were found to be more oriented to traditional career anchors characterized by technical/functional competence and security/stability. This study makes an important contribution to existing knowledge on SIE orientations by identifying differences that exist between traditional and boundaryless careers. The findings reveal differences between SIEs and AEs regarding their technical/functional competence, security/stability, lifestyle, and pure challenge career anchors. Managers need to use bespoke HRM policies and procedures to cater to the career orientation of each expatriate cohort accordingly. This quantitative study reveals factors that impact organizationally and individually managed careers in different directions. Therefore, this study presents a clear distinction between the two career orientations and argues that they can be viewed through the lenses of boundaryless and/or traditional career perspectives.
The study aims to find out the factors motivating to choose teaching profession and their impact on job satisfaction of teachers of public university in Bangladesh. Through careful review of relevant literature, factors motivating to the choice of teaching career were identified. Primary data were collected through a structured, closed-ended questionnaire on Five-point likert scale from two hundred twenty-one (221) teachers of five public universities and the respondents were selected on basis of purposive and convenience sampling technique. Different statistical tests including descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression were applied to check out the relationship between the factors motivating the choice of teaching profession and their impact on job satisfaction. The findings of the study indicate that a significant relationship exists between motivating factors of teaching profession and job satisfaction. The study also indicates that the career selection like teaching based on the consideration of need for achievement. need for affiliation, self-esteem, freedom and autonomy, recognition, status and authority, family timing and holidays might lead to job satisfaction.
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the mediating role of job embeddedness and the moderating role of
organizational identification on the relationships between boundaryless career attitude and extra-role
behaviours (i.e. organizational citizenship behaviours and counterproductive work behaviours).
Design/methodology/approach – A two-wave study was carried out on 296 employees from public and
private organizations in Italy. Boundaryless career attitude, organizational identification and demographics
were measured at Time 1. Four months later (Time 2), job embeddedness, organizational citizenship behaviours
and counterproductive work behaviours were assessed. Responses were analysed by means of multigroup
structural equation modelling.
Findings – Job embeddedness mediated the positive relationship between boundaryless career attitude and
counterproductive work behaviours, as well as its negative association with organizational citizenship
behaviours; organizational identification buffered this latter indirect effect.
Practical implications – Organizations can promote stronger organizational identification and job
embeddedness to retain boundaryless-oriented talent and foster positive extra-role behaviours.
Originality/value – This study integrated the protean/boundaryless careers literature with organizational
behaviour theories to examine contextual factors influencing the effects of these contemporary career attitudes.
Keywords Boundaryless career attitude, Job embeddedness, Organizational identification,
Organizational citizenship behaviours, Counterproductive work behaviours, Extra-role behaviours
Paper type Research paper
This research sought to explore the new career approaches of employed students. A comparative analysis was conducted with nonstudent employees to comprehensively grasp the novel career attitudes of working students. The neoliberal era has profoundly reshaped various disciplines, including economics, human resource management, and employment structures. Among these changes, career management has undergone a significant transformation. Conventional organisational careers have been supplanted by new approaches such as boundaryless, protean, subjective career success and kaleidoscope careers. These emerging career paradigms align with the emergence of novel forms of employment. Moreover, in an increasingly liberalised world, the rising costs of education and the growing prevalence of paid education are prompting students to enter the workforce while continuing their studies. The proliferation of companies offering part-time employment, such as private employment agencies, corresponds to an increase in students seeking part-time work. In other words, supply and demand within the part-time labour market intersect more robustly. Furthermore, working students gain valuable experience while employed, shaping the future supply of the labour market. Our research aims to assess the suitability of new career approaches for future workers and contributes to unravelling their complexities. The study also investigates whether employees are students and whether this affects their career approaches. To analyse this research, boundaryless career attitude and professional career attitude scales were utilised as assessment tools. These new career approaches represent innovation in careers. The research dataset comprised responses from 521 working students and 374 nonstudent employees, all of whom were actively employed in Istanbul, the most populous city in Turkey and home to many universities. The data analysis employed a quantitative research methodology using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlation analysis, and independent t tests. The findings revealed that working students exhibited significantly greater boundaryless career orientation, organisational mobility, boundaryless mindset, and value-driven career attitudes than did their nonstudent counterparts. The outcomes of this study will make a valuable contribution to the existing body of literature concerning employed students. Furthermore, the findings are anticipated to provide valuable insights into formulating and implementing human resources policies within organisations that engage in student employment practices. By shedding light on the experiences, challenges, and potential areas for improvement in this context, this research aims to inform and enhance the effectiveness of human resource strategies tailored toward working students.
The purpose of this study is to explore women knowledge workers’ experiences of the intersectionality of the gender pay gap and to scrutinize the reasons behind gender pay gap. The study problematizes the gender pay gap phenomenon by using intersectionality theory. The study describes how the gender pay gap varies based on ethnical differences besides being women and reveals how this situation deinstitutionalizes women’s careers. The study employed descriptive analysis based on the qualitative research paradigm conducted in Germany and Türkiye with purposefully sampled participants. The study’s empirical material was generated through semi-structured interviews with women knowledge workers who differ in ethnicity and generally work in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The study results indicated that ethnicity should be considered among other intersectional factors to analyze the gender pay gap comprehensively. The reasons behind the gender pay gap are found to be the lack of transparency in the workplace, gender-based occupational segregation, culture, the glass ceiling, the existence of male-dominated informal communication channels, and the fact that women workers are more easily preferred in organizational downsizing initiatives.
The role of gender in career mobility is a major practical and scholarly concern. Drawing on boundaryless career literature and social role theory, we examined whether gender influences employees' psychological mobility, whether this influence varies depending on the nature of career boundaries (the boundaries of job, organisation and industry) and whether it is contingent on organisational or occupational characteristics. We conducted cross‐classified multilevel analyses on 3,527 Australian employees nested within 725 organisations and 43 occupations. The results suggest that females show higher mobility preferences than males when it comes to crossing industries but not changing organisations or jobs. However, their preference for crossing career boundaries is significantly reduced when their organisation has a strong presence of female leadership. We also find that in female‐dominated occupations, females show a higher cross‐organisational mobility preference than males, while in male‐dominated occupations, females show a lower cross‐organisational mobility preference.
In this paper, we employ the life story method to investigate the multiple boundaries that, visible or invisibly, have influenced the trajectories of outsourced cleaners working in organizations, delimiting their career opportunities. Based on the Bourdieusian framework, we aim to contribute to the expansion of the debate in the field of career studies by emphasizing the influence of the contextual dimension of analysis in the career construction process. Above all, we privilege a social class perspective, scarcely present in career studies, in which the dominance of constructs such as boundaryless and protean careers reflects the typical emphasis attributed to individual agency. Access to the life stories of the respondents enabled us to unveil multiple boundaries interposed throughout their trajectories, associated with family (family disorganization and early transitions: maternity, conjugality, and insertion into domestic work), educational (early school dropout), neighborhood (local ties associated with low career returns), and professional (intersubjective relationships associated with experiences of pleasure and social humiliation) contexts. Taken together, these boundaries ended up circumscribing the topography of their careers by largely limiting them to providing care and cleaning services.
Keywords:
career; boundaries; social class; life stories; Bourdieu
Existing literature and research on the career impacts of expatriation have focused on expatriates sent abroad by their employers. In turn, the career experiences of other types of global workers (e.g., migrants and self-initiate expatriates) are more limited in number. However, a growing number of individuals self-initiate their international professional journey and search for a job abroad without organizational support. Such experiences often offer similar developmental opportunities as expatriation within companies, but our evidence is still limited. Due to their developed international competencies, self-initiated expatriates (SIE) represent an attractive global staffing alternative for organizations assuming that they understand how expatriation develops individuals’ competencies. Based on an internet survey and interviews with SIE members of two Finnish trade associations, this chapter investigates the career capital (CC) development of highly skilled Finnish SIEs. The two associations identified individuals working abroad in 2015 and 2016, and they received our questionnaire in 2020. The present study’s results support the view that SIEs generally develop their CC fairly extensively when working abroad. This view contrasts with previous studies that emphasize more negative views on the development of SIEs, who are described as facing challenges in finding suitable jobs abroad that fit their level of education and CC. Therefore, the context in which the SIEs work may impact their learning opportunities and perception of the value of such international work experience.
Drawing on human capital theory, we explore the impact of global mobility on individuals and their employing firms. We also investigate the role of cultural distance between workers who move across country borders and the local culture, and the role that HRM may play to improve capitalizing on global talent mobility. We use a big data set comprising the entire population in one country, including about 30,000 expatriates from 143 countries employed by 15,000 firms, over 11 years of data covering about 100,000 observations on expatriates and 80,000 on their firms. Our findings support the existence of positive impact of global firms on performance (6.7% higher revenues after labor costs) and individuals' wages (10%–20% higher salaries). Both relationships are statistically and economically significantly influenced by cultural distance for the performance of global firms, leading to HRM implications.
Mentoring is important to career development and employee morale of public sector employees, but little is known about how employee mentoring needs change over the course of one’s career or at different job classification levels. An online survey about the mentoring needs of 251 aquatic professionals in the USDA Forest Service was conducted in 2019. Quantitative data were analyzed across three federal employee grade levels and four career stages. This study found that grade levels influenced the type of skills employees seek to develop and the attributes associated with successful mentoring. Employees in lower grade positions believed that mentoring would help them to achieve a faster promotion or prepare them for a new position, but they also had less access to mentors and received the least encouragement from their supervisors to seek mentoring. Employees at all career stages believed that mentoring was valuable to their professional growth, while middle- and late-career employees received less encouragement from their supervisor to seek a mentor. Differences in mentorship needs, access, importance, and structures across career stages and grade levels suggest potential areas of future development or intervention to expand the benefits of mentoring to all employees.
Objective
The purpose of the study was to develop and initially validate a context-specific scale assessing Career Self-Management for Chinese coaches (Career Self-Management Scale-CC; CSMS-CC).
Methods
Firstly, qualitative data obtained from in-depth interview with coaches were contently analyzed to generate potential CSMS-CC items. The content validity of the items was evaluated by a panel of experts. Secondly, the factor structure and item performance of the CSMS-CC were examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and internal consistency reliability of its subscales were evaluated in sample 1 (n = 229, 24.01% females). Thirdly, factor structure of the CSMS-CC was further examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in sample 2 (n = 295, 32.54% females). Internal consistency reliability was evaluated using Cronbach’ alpha coefficient and composite reliability. Nomological validity was examined using Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) by investigating the correlations between CSMS-CC subscales with career success. Finally, measurement invariance and latent mean difference of the CSMS-CC was examined across gender, professional title and coaching class using multiple-group CFA (MGCFA).
Results
Based on the results of the content analysis and content validity evaluation, 18 CSMS-CC items were retained for further analysis. Results of EFA in sample 1 revealed that eight items were problematic and removed. The second round of EFA revealed that three components were retained and labelled as Networking Behavior (4 items), Training Exploration (3 items), and Guanxi Development (3 items). Results of CFA in sample 2 suggested that the 10-item three-correlated-factors model of CSMS-CC demonstrated acceptable model fit to the data, χ² = 135.01, df = 32, p < 0.01, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, SRMR = 0.05, RMSEA = 0.092 (90% CI = 0.076–0.108). Composite reliability (ranging from 0.84 to 0.88) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients (ranging from 0.78 to 0.81) of three subscales were found satisfactory. Nomological validity was supported by the results that total score and subscale scores of the CSMS-CC were significantly associated with internal marketability and external marketability. It was found that the CSMS-CC measurement model was strict invariant across gender, professional title and coaching class. Significant differences on all three subscales across professional title and on Guanxi development across coaching class were revealed.
Conclusion
Results of this study provided initial support for the psychometric properties of the 10-item CSMS-CC, which suggested that the CSMS-CC could be used for measuring the career self-management of Chinese coaches.
Music composers exemplify precarious work: they historically have been freelancers and have relied on multiple jobs to subsidize their creative work. We focus here on the gender pay gap amidst such precariousness—heeding their income earned solely from composition and from the totality of jobs recently held. There is no gender pay gap when it comes to income earned from composition but there is a significant gap for income earned from all jobs, showing that women composers face relative disadvantage in subsidizing their creative work. We also find that men and women composers experience different and racialized returns to their capitals and career positioning when navigating precarious work. These findings have lessons for multiple literatures—including those on the new sociology of work and on creative careers.
Purpose - Due to globalization and digitalization, the world of work is undergoing comprehensive change. These trends are challenging management accounting (MA) and pressuring individuals and organizations to change. The literature postulates a replacement of traditional organizational careers by “new” career models characterized by dynamism and flexibility. However, the state of the art on careers in MA lacks empirical evidence and has disparate research interests.
Design/methodology/approach - In this study, the authors investigate the status quo of careers in MA, key influencing factors and assumed change in such careers. To do so, the authors conducted a quantitative empirical study, based primarily on the careers of 83 graduates of a department offering a MA major at a German-speaking university. Nine qualitative empirical interviews supplement the quantitative findings.
Findings - The authors’ findings indicate that while MA careers are changing, the characteristics of the profession are continuing to concur with the traditional organizational understanding of careers. Accumulated professional experience is the key factor to achieving a management position although management accountants tend to become more dynamic in terms of career paths and career understanding. Thus, employment in various functional areas opens new career paths in MA.
Research limitations/implications - The methodology of analysing quantitative and empirical cross-sectional data and the resulting final sample size is too small to guarantee robust statistical inference. Moreover, further interviews would lead to greater data saturation.
Practical implications - The study sheds light on the under-researched question of how careers in MA proceed and develop. This could be of interest for practitioners working with management accountants such as personnel consultants.
Originality/value - This study contributes to the field through its comprehensive consideration of careers in MA in this changed context, thus providing new insights for academia and business practice.
Current debates about the gig economy pay increasing attention to the heterogeneity of platform workers. Using a large sample of 10,574 freelancers from an international online labor market, this article investigates the association between individual work values and career trajectories, constructed as a combination of current employment status and future career intentions. The authors consider not only the pure form of freelancing but also hybrid models when people have multiple jobs, combining freelancing with a regular job as an employee (moonlighters) or starting their own business with hired employees (entrepreneurs). The findings suggest that freelancers, moonlighters, and entrepreneurs have distinct work value profiles reflecting the opportunities and constraints in gaining specific rewards from their work. In contrast to moonlighters, freelancers and entrepreneurs are similar in their relative preference for intrinsic values and ignoring security values. In contrast to freelancers, entrepreneurs and moonlighters value social recognition but do not seek a comfortable job. In contrast to entrepreneurs, freelancers and moonlighters prefer a job that meets their abilities. The authors argue that different work values must be better acknowledged when trying to reflect adequately on participation and mobility in the gig economy. The study contributes to a deeper understanding of the gig economy as well as to the general literature on the role of work values in labor markets.
Individuals often need to be proactive in order to successfully navigate their career development journeys. To what extent one is vocationally proactive has critical implications for his or her attitudes, behaviors, and other outcomes in career and work‐related settings. However, research in career proactivity has been accumulating from divergent perspectives, resulting in a substantially fragmented literature which has not been comprehensively, objectively synthesized to guide the field to move forward. To advance the domain of career proactivity, this paper synthesizes theoretical and empirical literatures using two major bibliometric analyses. We first analyze the intellectual basis of the career proactivity literature by performing document citation analysis. We then review the developmental trends of main conceptual themes in career proactivity literature using a temporal co‐word analysis. Informed by these bibliometric findings, we propose a roadmap for future research highlighting the need to clear up concepts, account for context, develop new meso‐level theories, and bridge the domains of organizational behavior and vocational development.
Die Arbeitswelt befindet sich in einem umfassenden Wandel. Unter dem Einfluss von Globalisierung, Ökonomisierung, technischem Fortschritt sowie dem demografischen Wandel und der strukturellen Veränderung hin zur Dienstleistungs- und Wissensgesellschaft sind Arbeitsverhältnisse und Karrieren mehr denn je geprägt durch Komplexität und Dynamik. Deutliche Veränderungen haben im Controlling aufgrund anhaltender Megatrends wie bspw. Digitalisierung und Industrie 4.0 bereits stattgefunden und werden weiter an Bedeutung gewinnen. Diese Entwicklungen bringen großen Veränderungsdruck für Unternehmen, aber auch für die Individuen selbst und die Literatur postuliert eine gänzlich „neue“ Arbeitswelt. Kennzeichnend ist eine Abnahme von Kontinuität und Stabilität sowie zunehmende Unberechenbarkeit und Flexibilität der Karrieremuster über alle Berufsgruppen hinweg.
Today, an increasing number of young adults’ first systematic work experiences occur beyond the boundaries of their homelands, leading to transnational school-to-work transitions. Work migration trends in the past decades indicate that more young adults choose or are forced to live their first systematic work experiences in a new country. This chapter explores transnational school-to-work transitions in the European context in emerging adults who migrate to find work. First, the author analyzes the dynamics of transnational school-to-work transitions for European emerging adults who have completed extensive schooling (university graduates). Next, the author examines how educational and labor market factors may influence the development of meanings of work and of work identities in these young adults. Lastly, the author details implications for educational and occupational policies targeting immigrant young adults.
Purpose
The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized, Canadian-licensed recreational cannabis industry.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology utilizes a qualitative method, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 late-career executives. Inductive examination of data uncovered subthemes related to motivations for late-career transition, exploring and exploiting competencies, and known and unknown boundary conditions.
Findings
Motivations explained the impetus to join, while ambidexterity allowed executives to employ explorative and exploitive competencies to weather boundary conditions. Late-career transitioning to a stigmatized emerging industry presents an unprecedented mode of bridging employment for older workers.
Research limitations/implications
This small exploratory study of a nascent industry is limited in its generalization across different contexts but relevant to others in cannabis and other emerging industries. Increased focus on Human resources management (HRM) related research on late-career transition due to limited studies and IA.
Practical implications
Cannabis can be a risky employment venture for older workers that may affect future job prospects due to stigmatized views or present devastating financial risk. Older workers with knowledge, experience and skill remain relevant utilizing IA and their ability to manage difficult boundary conditions. Older experienced workers can bridge novel new opportunities before retiring.
Originality/value
The authors incorporated IA, expanding on literature related to boundary conditions in the late-career transition of executives into stigmatized recreational Cannabis. The authors introduce a new mode of bridge employment for late-career workers.
This study sets out to argue for the interplay between structure and agency to create a deeper understanding of careers. Using Bourdieu's Theory of Practice as an integrative framework for career theory, this study sets out to answer two questions: (1) does the concept of a Holistic Career Framework add value to the career debate by placing emphasis on both agency and structure? (2) does a Holistic Career Framework help link theory with practice? One hundred and thirty-nine career stories from university professional staff were analysed using a narrative approach, coded and thematically analysed for overarching patterns. The Holistic Career Framework was used as a lens to further understand individual career needs and decisions. By analysing the career stories of university professional staff, and understanding the context in which they operate, a deeper understanding of career behaviour and decision-making is provided.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between protean career attitude, career resilience, proactive career behavior and external employability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study sampled 212 training apprentice employees who participated in training programs using a proportional stratified sampling in South Korea. The study tested the research model using structural equation modeling.
Findings
This study revealed that protean career attitude influenced external employability through career resilience and proactive career behavior. Career resilience fully mediated the relationship between protean career attitude and external employability and partially mediated protean career attitude and proactive career behavior. Proactive career behavior also mediated the relationship between protean career attitude and external employability.
Research limitations/implications
This study has a limitation by relying on cross-sectional data. In terms of theoretical implications, this study can add new knowledge to the protean career research by demonstrating that the protean career attitude influences perceived external employability through career resilience and proactive career behavior for the sample of young training apprentice employees.
Originality/value
This study uncovers the dynamic processes between protean career attitude and perceived external employability. Moreover, this study’s sample is significant because training apprentice employees are mostly young in their 20s and 30s with less than three years of working experience and working in small and medium-sized enterprises in South Korea.
In spite of the considerable importance of career issues in the field of family business gender studies, current literature shows a lack of attention to careers in family businesses. Due to this theoretical limitation, this chapter aims to investigate quantitatively the second generation's career in a sample of Italian family firms (N=297). Findings suggest that the careers of females and males show different characteristics. This chapter contributes to the limited research on daughter succession. Moreover, it provides a contribution to understanding the daughters' organizational and educational career in small and medium-sized family firms specifically, filling a gap in the current literature. Finally, this chapter prompts a reflection on the cultural/contextual aspects that impact upon entry into the company.
Organizational crossvergence is the identifying framework in this study of the emerging similarities between both educational systems and business systems in India and the United States. A sample of 237 international MBA graduates was examined relative to the education they received in a combined United States and India management program. They studied in both countries, and pursued careers in either country. We confirm that the applied value of advanced business education originating in India was enhanced, but not significantly surpassed, by the Western learning experience. The applicability of graduates’ acquired skills was as relevant for employment in India as in American organizations. Implications for policymakers resulting from the findings highlight the clear justification of deepening management education collaboration amongst educators and employers in emergent and developed markets.
As the U.S. population ages and the demand for long-term care increases, an insufficient number of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) is expected in the nursing workforce. Understanding the characteristics of LPN participation in the workforce is essential to address this challenge. Drawing on the theory of boundaryless careers, the authors examined longitudinal employment data from LPNs in North Carolina and described patterns in LPN licensure and career transitions. Two career patterns were identified: (a) the continuous career, in which LPNs were licensed in 75% or more of the years they were eligible to be licensed and (b) the intermittent career, in which lapses in licensure occurred. Findings indicated that LPNs who made job transitions were more likely to demonstrate continuous careers, as were Black LPNs. These findings suggest the importance of organizational support for LPN career transitions and support for diversity in the LPN workforce.
Despite the increasing number of studies that address various types of developmental relationships and their outcomes, we still know little about the mechanisms through which these relationships affect career outcomes. We investigated the mediating role of academics’ research productivity in the relationship between both developmental network quantity and developmental relationship, and career satisfaction. This study proposed a theoretical model for the aforementioned mechanism, and empirically tested it. Questionnaires were administered in-person to academics across eighteen universities in Turkey and 564 responses were received. Findings revealed that research productivity plays a significant mediating role in the relationship between developmental networks and career satisfaction. Results were evaluated for theoretical contributions and practical implications and discussed with regard to future research in the field.
The purpose of this qualitative study is to contribute to the scholarship on career success within the social entrepreneurship context. Based on the career accounts of eighteen social entrepreneurs in Malaysia, the study’s findings provide a nuanced perspective of the Career Success Framework and explicate career success for social entrepreneurs as multifaceted across personal and social goals. The findings provide nuance to how the four broad dimensions of the Career Success Framework (material concerns, social relations, learning and pursuing one’s own projects) are experienced and perceived in the social entrepreneurship context. The emergent career success framework of social entrepreneurs suggests that perceived career success is appraised with nine sub-dimensions captured within the broad dimensions of the Career Success Framework in ways that challenge taken-for-granted assumptions in careers research, while also highlighting the tensions social entrepreneurs face.
Career re-entry of women in the technology sector remains an unexplored area. With the increasing focus of information technology (IT) organisations to attract, retain and promote women at the workplace, career re-entry among women professionals’ merits attention. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons and enablers of career re-entry among women who plan a re-entry in the IT sector in India. This study employed a qualitative research method and used interviews as a tool for data collection. Data collected through the interviews of re-entry women ( n = 28) was analysed with the help of qualitative analysis software ATLAS.ti. Further, text analysis was also performed through Voyant tools. Findings suggest that a strong career identity, a high level of work centrality and an urge to regain financial independence motivated women to return to IT careers. Findings revealed seven distinct enablers of career re-entry. Based on this finding, a model of the support ecosystem is discussed that presents an intricate relationship between the enablers of career re-entry, support ecosystem and career resumption. Moreover, findings indicate that an active agency of women, a support ecosystem and favourable life events lead to career re-entry. Managerial and theoretical implications of findings are discussed. The article concludes with limitations and future research agenda.
Flexibility is considered one of the key resources for a successful adaptation to the world of work. It has also been defined as “the positive side” of career reconsideration process in vocational identity theory. However, previous empirical observations conducted in the Italian context have highlighted the negative relationship between vocational identity flexibility and psychological resources in adolescence. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between vocational reconsideration dimensions and positive and negative outcomes of psychosocial functioning in a sample of Italian high school students. Structural equation modeling was performed in order to test theoretical hypothesis about the relations between reconsideration dimensions, agency, well-being, internalizing symptoms and externalizing behavior. Results confirmed a general association between vocational identity flexibility and negative psychosocial functioning. The study shows how a better conceptualization of career reconsideration dimensions is needed. Finally, the results warn against an excessive promotion of vocational flexibility among adolescents and encourage high schools to support students in their life design process.
This ‘perspectives on research’ paper presents the first stage of an innovative in-progress study aimed at understanding the career trajectories of graduates of a technology management undergraduate program with a strong integration of a human resource development component. The program is housed in the College of Education at an American University and started graduating students in 2008. The scope of work is limited to obtaining critical information to the institution on the career trajectories of its graduates and to provide perspectives on research to the HRD community through an online survey instrument (first stage of the study). The total amount of alumni, approximately 500, were invited via postal mail and phone calls and 75 responded to the survey, a simple 4 open-ended questionnaire that included demographic information. This online survey, first stage of the study, provided participants’ responses that were qualitatively analysed. The results are presented here in the form of strengths and weakness of the program. Some of the findings include females’ perception of their gender as a factor affecting their careers and an almost generalized petition for courses more focused on technology content. Also, aspects of career development from classic HRD literature are discussed and presented here.
This study examines how people from refugee and asylum‐seeking backgrounds draw on their social capital to develop their career adaptability. To examine this issue, we drew on interview data from twenty‐five people based in Melbourne, Australia, who have sought asylum between 2008 and 2016. The present study examines the influence of different dimensions of social capital on individuals’ career adaptability. Findings revealed that a more nuanced understanding of linking, bridging and bonding social capital is needed when exploring the career adaptability resources of refugees and people seeking asylum. In particular, important differences were identified between engaging with a social network and trusting a social network.
Various career development models and concepts have been developed over the years to explain career trajectories of employees in the workplace. The new employer-employee relationship in the workplace has resulted in more dynamic careers; boundaryless, protean, kaleidoscope, hybrid and multiple level careers. However, the impact of these relatively new career theories on human resource development (HRD) is still unclear. In this chapter, the author discusses the role of career development in human resource development and different models of career development. In addition, various organizational activities that can support career development are presented. The author then proposes a framework that links career models to specific organizational career development activities. This provides direction to organizational efforts geared towards employee development.
This study contributes to the stream of research on job embeddedness and internal marketing. Greater attention needs to be paid to understand the mechanisms and processes through which internal marketing influences work-related attitudes such as turnover intention in order to develop complete understanding of the effect of internal marketing on job embeddedness. This study fills this research gap using a sample of respondents employed by telecommunication companies in Egypt. The author examines whether job embeddedness mediated the effects of internal marketing on turnover intention. Results from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that job embeddedness fully mediates the relationship between internal marketing and turnover intention. Results also support that internal marketing has obviously positive influence on job embeddedness and a clearly negative influence on turnover intention; finally, internal marketing has direct and indirect influences on turnover intention through job embeddedness. Implications for research and practice of the findings are discussed.
The chapter researches theoretical positions and practical applications that enable educationalists to equip students with the knowledge and skills to self-manage their careers and develop professionally, thus facilitating the successful transition of students from the academic environment to the workplace. It locates the discussion within a context which recognises the different models that business schools can adopt when providing learning and talent development generally, and career and professional development specifically. The main focus of the chapter relates to three inter-related themes that underpin career management and professional development. First, situating career management and professional development within a contextualising discourse. Second, exploring the contemporary career concepts that influence career management and professional development. Third, considering career management and professional development from three varying perspectives. Issues and solutions are offered to educationalists through the integration of theory and practice.
Despite growing interest in the influence of social and institutional settings on the nature of career trajectories, research into comparative differences in boundaryless careers is scarce. Informed by the Varieties of Capitalism approach, which emphasizes the embeddedness of employment practices within discrete types of capitalist market economy, and based on rich qualitative data from in-depth interviews with 32 self-employed and directly employed information and communications (ICT) professionals based in the UK and Germany, we investigate variation in their experience of, and attitudes towards, boundaryless careers. The research findings provide scant evidence that ICT professionals embrace boundaryless careers, despite working in a sector where positive engagement with boundarylessness, if it is going to be found anywhere, should be evident. The findings also point to cross-national differences; directly employed ICT professionals based in Germany are more concerned about insecurity than their UK-based counterparts. In highlighting the complex and subtle influences on how boundaryless careers are experienced and understood, the research builds on existing work which both attests to the importance of context in influencing boundarylessness and its consequences and questions an overly crude distinction between 'bounded' and 'boundaryless' careers, to emphasize the value of an approach which is concerned with understanding comparative variation in the degree of career boundarylessness.
This study investigates the impact of systemic oppression on a marginalized group and their response to it through market-based choices of careers. The marginalized group consists of single, semi-closeted, middle-aged Irish gay men. Their lives have been severely impaired by the Catholic condemnation of homosexuality. Through an oral history approach and by considering the under-theorized intersection of religion, homosexuality, and career, our study shows the importance of the underlying process of coping. Our findings reveal that the study participants initially engaged in various forms of self-punishment amidst a state of hopelessness. This later led to their pursuit of altruistic careers through which they seemingly gained a sense of redemption. By delving into coping processes involving career choices, we show that altruism can be a means to cope with systemic oppression.
Resumo A crise capitalista dos anos 1970 introduziu uma série de transformações que modificaram as formas de organização do trabalho. Essas mudanças foram compreendidas, por Boltanski e Chiapello (2009), como promotoras de um novo espírito para o capitalismo. Em consonância com essas alterações, o conceito de carreiras sem fronteiras emerge a partir dos anos 1990, trazendo em seu bojo a ideia de mobilidade interorganizacional, associada ao sucesso profissional. Adotado de maneira ampla, o conceito de carreiras sem fronteiras propõe, como orientação geral, a necessidade de o trabalhador desenvolver uma série de competências com vistas a adequar-se ao novo paradigma produtivo. Objetivamos, neste ensaio, refletir sobre o construto carreiras sem fronteiras, à luz da caracterização que Boltanski e Chiapello (2009) fazem da fase atual do capitalismo. Defendemos que o conceito de carreiras sem fronteiras serve como instrumento de mobilização da força de trabalho, contribuindo para ressignificar, sob a forma de autonomia e liberdade de escolha, a precariedade do trabalho sob esse novo paradigma. Apesar de seus aspectos controversos, o referido conceito vem se tornando referência no debate atual acerca da inserção no mundo do trabalho, o que justifica a importância desta discussão.
The construct of career adaptability has recently gained importance in research on vocational development and has led to a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches. Alongside with vocational identity it has been theorised as the crucial meta-competency of modern career construction. Due to its roots in adolescent career development, career adaptability is not limited to the vocational adjustments of working adults, but is also highly relevant for the pre-occupational orientation processes of adolescents initially developing a vocational identity. Despite the recent increase in empirical research on career adaptability, the field of vocational education has been largely neglected so far. Therefore, a quantitative survey among nearly N = 400 commercial apprentices within the German dual system of VET has been conducted. This study focuses on the replication of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) among commercial apprentices within the German dual system, and its discrimination against alternative operationalisations of career adaptability. Furthermore, the relationship between career adaptability and vocational identity (operationalised as occupational and organisational identification) was explored. Results showed that the four-dimensional structure of career adaptability covered by the CAAS could be largely replicated in the dual system. In addition, it was found that the CAAS can in part be separated from alternative operationalisations. Finally, the results confirmed career adaptability positively predicts both foci of identification in a cognitive and affective manner. This indicates that career adaptability can be seen as a beneficial factor for vocational education and training as it fosters the vocational ties of apprentices in terms of their identity.
Resumo O estudo apresentado neste artigo teve como objetivo analisar a racionalidade das decisões tomadas por professores universitários, em sua transição de outras profissões para a carreira docente. Foram analisados 357 respondentes, que consideram ter mudado de profissão na época em que decidiram seguir a carreira de docentes de nível superior. Quatro hipóteses foram avaliadas, relacionando a influência da profissão anterior, dos impulsionadores da transição, dos atributos da transição e dos recursos acionados pelo indivíduo sobre a racionalidade de suas decisões. Os resultados mostraram que os atributos e os recursos influenciam tanto as decisões racionais como as que extrapolam a racionalidade; a menor carga de trabalho na profissão atual permite que a pessoa identifique mais positivamente os atributos da transição que viveu; a percepção da incerteza na profissão anterior leva a decisões mais emocionais e mais sujeitas a variações contextuais. De forma geral, embora os estudos atuais considerem fortemente a emoção no processo decisório, para evitar frustrações futuras, é importante equilibrar a racionalidade e a subjetividade nas decisões de carreira.
Resumo O estudo apresentado neste artigo teve como objetivo analisar a racionalidade das decisões tomadas por professores universitários, em sua transição de outras profissões para a carreira docente. Foram analisados 357 respondentes, que consideram ter mudado de profissão na época em que decidiram seguir a carreira de docentes de nível superior. Quatro hipóteses foram avaliadas, relacionando a influência da profissão anterior, dos impulsionadores da transição, dos atributos da transição e dos recursos acionados pelo indivíduo sobre a racionalidade de suas decisões. Os resultados mostraram que os atributos e os recursos influenciam tanto as decisões racionais como as que extrapolam a racionalidade; a menor carga de trabalho na profissão atual permite que a pessoa identifique mais positivamente os atributos da transição que viveu; a percepção da incerteza na profissão anterior leva a decisões mais emocionais e mais sujeitas a variações contextuais. De forma geral, embora os estudos atuais considerem fortemente a emoção no processo decisório, para evitar frustrações futuras, é importante equilibrar a racionalidade e a subjetividade nas decisões de carreira.
Work arrangements are evolving rapidly throughout the world. Coupled with rapid changes in jobs and the movement to a global labor market, this is creating new career pathways. This chapter examines changes in work arrangements and how these changes are impacting career pathways. Major forces driving transformations in work arrangements and career pathways are addressed, and differences by country, global geographic region, and occupational area in the prevalence of alternative and independent work arrangements are described. Positive and negative aspects of changes in work arrangements are delineated, and the shifting focus of individual careers is discussed. The chapter also explores how individuals and organizations can shape career pathways in the new work environment. The implications of these changes for future research and practice are discussed.
Mechanisms that lead to individual failure in professional careers and the way they are resolved can be seen as a « black box » in management research. This article presents an analysis of individual failure in professional careers which relies on four dimensions, the objective and subjective transactions (Dubar, 2015), identity tensions and strategies. Six cases of failures and four identity strategies (manipulation of results, skills, blind conformity and run away) could be identified from a longitudinal study, based on 87 inter- views and observations of management accountants and banking advisors, within three organizations. Our research shows the importance of the relational and subjective dimen- sion of failure, whose resolution requires the implementation of evolutionary strategies. Our interactionist and processual approach enables us to look at the most hidden failures in organizations.
Individuals can proactively craft their careers by shaping both their individual jobs and the series of jobs or roles that comprise their career journeys. We illustrate how being proactive at one’s job (i.e., job crafting) may allow individuals to achieve a better job for themselves and how being competent with regard to one’s career (i.e., career competencies) may help individuals to better proactively navigate their career, which we refer to as career crafting. Drawing on the parallel with the literatures on job crafting, career competencies, and career self-management, we introduce career crafting as a valuable new variable for career research. We define career crafting as proactive behaviors that individuals perform to self-manage their career to attain optimal person-career fit. Furthermore, we present the Career Crafting Scale (CCS) that can be used in future research to further accumulate knowledge about how and when career crafting may help individuals to achieve a successful and fulfilling career.
In today's war for talent, as the demographic landscape has shifted, firms who are leveraging the advantages of a more mature workforce may have strategic advantages. Indeed, the aging workforce is being acknowledged as an organizational phenomenon yet present scholarship on key organizational domains is both narrow and inconclusive. Specific strategies and tactics that focus on developing and recruiting a mature workforce to provide new opportunities for employers need to be more fully explored. The field of workforce development provides an approach through which to explore the intersection of the domains of mature workers and the dynamic employment needs of organizations and industry. Key components of workforce development such as partnerships, innovative workforce planning and recruitment practices, education and training, and career pathways will be examined to propose a practical framework and to provide using strategies and initiatives to strengthen the mature workforce.
The existing literature on generational differences in work attitudes has so far relied strongly on generational stereotypes and provided mixed empirical results. Instead of studying individual differences, the chapter takes a human resource management (HRM) approach and explores generational differences that managers have experienced in three European countries. In addition, this chapter examines the HRM practices the organizations have implemented as a response to potential generational differences. Findings show that, especially when it comes to work-life balance, motivation, careers, and preferred leader qualities, generational differences are apparent. However, teamwork attitudes do not seem to be influenced by generational effects. The results suggest that among other impact factors, especially the national context and life stage may cause differing preferences in work attitudes. Furthermore, it seems that many companies have already started to take measures to adapt to the varying needs of a multigenerational workforce; however, they still lack a comprehensive approach.
Project managers experience unique careers that are not yet sufficiently understood, and more people than ever before are pursuing such careers. The research on project management and careers is therefore urgently needed in order to better understand the processes and systems shaping the careers of project managers. We address this gap by reviewing several key career theories and constructs and examining how these are mobilized to understand project managers’ careers in existing research. Our main conclusion is that boundaryless career theory has been the dominant career perspective in project management research, whereas other career theories—specifically protean career theory, social cognitive career theory, career construction theory, and sustainable career theory—are far less often mobilized as a basis for studies. We also find that some of the most popular constructs in careers research, such as career success and employability, have been used in recent project management research. However, their use in these studies is often implicit and does not necessarily leverage existing work from the careers field. We argue that there is strong potential for further and more systematic integration between project management and careers research in order to enrich both fields, and we offer a research agenda as a starting point.
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