The why, what and how of career research: a review and recommendations for future study

Kicking off a Gig Work Career: Unfolding a Career Learning Cycle of Gig Workers

We observe gig workers' retrospective sense-making of their career development, from creating an account on online labor platforms to managing gigs successfully. Our data reveals that gig workers advance through three career stages in their initial career learning cycle. We identify each stage as characterized by stage-specific emotions and that they react with specific behaviors to gig work challenges. Gig work challenges that occur in the platform environment are namely the newbie challenge, the positioning and relational challenge, and the balancing challenge, which workers need to overcome in order to transition to the next stage. In line with contemporary career and protean career theory on career learning cycles, gig workers need to build a set of specialized skills and meta-competencies to successfully navigate their careers. As an outcome of the here-described career learning cycle, gig workers develop an entrepreneurial identity aspiration, as they are empowered and can use the platform as a playground or stepping stone for entrepreneurial activities. Our paper, thus, develops an understanding of gig workers' initial career learning cycle by examining the factors that enable gig workers to kick off a career and allow them to thrive and advance on the platforms professionally.

Unlocking green growth challenges: role of green HRM, green career adaptability, and green career success

Multiple industries face challenges in achieving green growth that needs a fix. This research presents an alternative explanation for the acquisition of green growth using the perspective of employees of manufacturing industries. Thus, the study examines the role of green HRM, green career adaptability, and green career success in achieving green growth. Green growth drivers can construct green infrastructures for developing green aspects in economic sectors such as power generation, transportation, and the residential sector. We inquired Chinese SME employees to fill out a closed-ended online survey. PLS-SEM techniques are used to estimate how the study will turn out. According to the results, green career adaptability plays a big part in green HRM and career success. It also plays a significant role in bringing the two together. The results shown that green HRM, adapting to a green career and doing well in a green career, all help green growth in manufacturing SMEs in China. The study's results are strong in their ability to explain. This is especially true in the academic world, where people who can adapt to setbacks and have a green career are likelier to have a good career in organizations that care about the environment. By doing this, the study also helps guide the strategic development goals (SDGs) for climate action and environmental management by acquiring green growth. So, the study makes different suggestions for what to do.

Proactive Career Orientation and Subjective Career Success: A Perspective of Career Construction Theory

In the current dynamic and flexible work environment, traditional career models are constantly challenged by individuals' self-concepts of career development. Previous studies have investigated the predictors of subjective career success, yet little is known about the impact of proactive career orientation on subjective career success. This study, grounded in the career construction theory, aims to examine the influence mechanism of proactive career orientation on subjective career success by analyzing questionnaire data from 296 employees. Empirical results indicate that proactive career orientation has a positive impact on subjective career success. Second, career adaptability partially mediates the relationship between proactive career orientation and subjective career success. Third, mentoring moderates the relationship between proactive career orientation and career adaptability, as well as the relationship between career adaptability and subjective career success. Specifically, both the positive impact of proactive career orientation on career adaptability and the positive impact of career adaptability on subjective career success are stronger when the level of mentoring is higher. Fourth, the indirect relationship between proactive career orientation and subjective career success through career adaptability is stronger when mentoring is high compared to when mentoring is low. This study contributes to the career construction theory by identifying the influence mechanism of proactive career orientation on subjective career success through career adaptability, with mentoring moderating the process. As for practical implications, research findings remind managers of the importance of career planning and mentorship in enhancing employees' subjective career successes.

Sustainable talent pipelines and person-organisation fit: strategic insights from UK graduates

Purpose

Drawing on a framework of person-organisation fit (POF) theory, this paper aims to understand how organisations can establish and maintain sustainable early-career talent pipelines. Research question one asks, “How do graduates feel that organisations can attract early-career talent?” Research question two asks, ‘What can employers learn from graduate perspectives about the retention of early-career talent?

Design/methodology/approach

Twenty-eight graduates from UK universities participated in semi-structured interviews in early 2022. Cohort one was composed of 15 individuals who graduated in 2008. Cohort two was composed of 13 individuals who graduated in 2020.

Findings

The findings identified two themes associated with attracting early-career talent: “Company Culture” and “Supply and Demand”. However, 2020 graduates prioritised the job role and job security, whereas 2008 graduates prioritised job location and commute duration. Three additional themes were related to the retention of early-career talent: “Career Progression”, “Health and Well-being” and “Remuneration”. Findings also highlighted how POF could evolve over time, whereby retention can be beneficial or detrimental to either party.

Practical implications

The study identifies pragmatic approaches to attracting and retaining early-career talent and understanding how graduates' views on POF evolve over time.

Originality/value

The study extends POF research and bridges the shared sustainability themes of “person”, “context” and “time” from vocational behaviour and HRM literature streams.

Being an “outsider in”: skilled migrants' career strategies in local organizations

Purpose

Although the literature on the careers of skilled migrants is growing, relatively little is known about their experiences inside host country organizations. This article is a replication and an extension of a study by Zikic et al. (2010) on career challenges and coping strategies of skilled migrants. In contrast to the replicated study, where the focus was on the unemployed pool of talented migrants, in this study, the authors look at the career experiences of those who are already employed. Similar to the study of Zikic et al. (2010), the authors seek to explore how migrants understand their careers and what approaches they use to enact career opportunities from the perspective of “insiders” in local organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a qualitative explorative approach. Based on 24 in-depth interviews with highly qualified specialists, who were hired for positions in Luxembourg corresponding to their professional profiles, the authors explore what challenges they face at the workplace and how they tackle them.

Findings

This research not only replicates the study of Zikic et al. (2010) but also extends the authors’ knowledge of the careers of skilled migrants in the context of local organizations. By focusing on employed skilled migrants, the authors open a “black box” of their career challenges and strategies and extend an earlier career typology (Zikic et al., 2010) into what happens within local organizations. In particular, this study identifies two major challenges that skilled migrants experience, namely, “trying to fit in” and “managing career mismatch”. Then, it shows three unique strategies that skilled migrants use to manage their careers. This allows us to cluster skilled migrants into three categories that the authors conceptualized, namely “workhorses”, “career rebels” and “career conformists”.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on the careers of skilled migrants by theorizing the experiences of migrant careers after organizational entry. It also contributes to the talent management literature by providing nuanced insights into the challenges, strategies and profiles that this global talent has.

Toward a sustainable career perspective on contingent work: a critical review and a research agenda

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis of the contingent work field and to advocate a sustainable career perspective on contingent work.

Design/methodology/approach

Adopting a broader review approach allowed to synthesize the contingent work literature across contingent work types (temporary agency work, gig work and freelance work) and develop a sustainable career perspective on contingent work. The authors searched for empirical, conceptual and review articles published from 2008 to December 2021. In total, the authors included 208 articles.

Findings

The authors advocate a sustainable career perspective that allows for organizing and synthesizing the fragmented contingent work literature. Adopting a sustainable career perspective enables to study contingent work from a dynamic perspective transcending one single organization.

Originality/value

The field is suffering from fragmentation and most importantly from an oversight of how contingent work experiences play a role in a persons’ career. This paper addresses this problem by adopting a sustainable career perspective on contingent work.

From personal resources to proactive work strategies and performance: testing the antecedents and outcomes of strengths use in a three-wave study

Purpose

Based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory, this study aims to identify person-contingent antecedents and consequences of proactive strength-oriented behaviors at work. Thus, the authors propose and test a model in which psychological capital (PsyCap), as a personal resource, represents a precursor of strengths use, which in turn is a facilitator of employees' self-rated performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors tested the hypothesized mediation process through a cross-lagged study with three waves, using data collected from a sample of Romanian employees. The authors analyzed the data through structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results provided support for our model. The data showed significant, positive cross-lagged relationships between PsyCap, strengths use and performance across waves. Also, the authors identified a significant and positive indirect effect between PsyCap at T1 and performance at T3 through increased strengths use at T2.

Originality/value

This research brings new evidence for strengths use's placement as a proactive individual strategy within the JD-R theory. Practical implications are related to career self-management and work from home.

Academic independent directors in China: factors influencing career decision-making

Purpose

The board independence norm has shaped corporate governance globally, but research on the supply of independent directors (IDs) is limited. “New careers” studies suggest that dynamic non-conventional career paths are evolving, but empirical evidence is mostly limited to Western societies. The authors studied reasons for academics to consider taking on an ID role in firms in China.

Design/methodology/approach

Employing a quantitative methodology, data were collected via a survey targeting 1,500 academics, representing a quarter of business-linked academics in China's National Key Universities. The response rate was 55% and, after eliminating irrelevant responses, the sample used comprised 581 academics, 111 of whom have taken on an ID role.

Findings

Career orientation and work attitudes play significant roles in decision-making around career success. Becoming an ID can be a rewarding and positive career path for academics who look for additional responsibility, income and impact. This new academic career path manifests in how career actors interact with each other to reach a state of equilibrium in a wider career ecosystem. Appointing academics with relevant knowledge and willingness to create impact can help organisations – both firms and academic institutions.

Practical implications

Becoming an ID can increase future collaborations and success in terms of research and corporate governance, and offer individuals another route to career success.

Originality/value

The results contribute to research on career studies and corporate governance, revealing a new source of talent for firms and a new career path for academics.

The Moderating Effect of Occupational Burn-Out on the Link of Career Competencies to Career Sustainability Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Method Study

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most employees face increasing career-related stress, particularly those who work in multinational corporations (MNCs), because the international travel constraints prevent them from going back to their families. Hence, it is imperative to investigate the critical impact of employees' occupational burnout (OB) on career-related outcomes. In response, this research explores the moderating effect of OB on the relationships between career competencies (CCs) and career sustainability (CS). To achieve a more comprehensive understanding of relevant issues, we adopted a mixed-method research design that includes both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Findings indicate that all the three dimensions of CCs (i.e., reflective, communicative, and behavioral career competencies; RC, CC, and BC) were positively related to CS; moreover, OB negatively moderated the individual relationships of CC and BC with CS. The main contribution of this study is to enrich the existing career literature by addressing the critical moderating role of OB in the links of CC and BC individually with CS. Practical implications are also discussed in this study.

Involuntary Career Changes: A Lonesome Social Experience

Like any other career process, career changes are influenced by relationships. Moreover, involuntary career changes are a challenging, yet understudied, career transition. Based on a relational perspective of work and careers, we investigated the way people’s social environment affects the process and experience of involuntary career changes. Specifically, we aimed to identify the sources of relational influences and to understand how these influences affect career changes. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 14 adults who were forced to change career because of unemployment or health issues. Through thematic analysis, we identified three sources of relational influences (personal, work, and institutional environment) and three forms of influence that others had on career changes (positive, negative, and ambivalent). These influences manifested at four distinct moments of the process: When participants were leaving their former job, when they were shifting between their former occupation and a new livelihood, when they were exploring new career options, or when they were trying to implement their new career plan. Overall, results suggest that involuntary career changes are deeply shaped by heterogeneous and differentiated relational influences. The effect of the personal environment varied depending on the moment of the career change process. In particular, family and friends tended to be perceived as barriers when it came to shifting from the old to a new occupation and implementing a new career plan. The work environment mostly had a negative effect on the career change experience, suggesting the labor market might be somewhat refractory toward adult career changers. Institutions played a critical role throughout the change process, with support structures often being perceived as inappropriate, but with guidance professionals generally recognizing participants’ difficulties. Moreover, diverse forms of ambivalence characterized the identified relational influences, which were sometimes both appreciated and avoided or had ambiguous and fluctuating effects. Finally, although being a fundamentally social experience, involuntary career changes were also characterized by moments of loneliness that reflected the inadequacy of available support and a sense of shame associated with the status of career changer. Study limitations, research perspectives, and practical implications at the labor market, institutional, and individual levels are addressed.

Risk or Return? The Effect of Face Consciousness Influences on the Career Construction of Chinese Rural Dwellers in Urban Areas

This research improves our understanding of entrepreneurial intention in the Chinese cultural context. Drawing on career construction theory, we received 408 valid surveys from rural Chinese dwellers and examined the relationships rural Chinese have among "face consciousness," indecisiveness, career adaptability, and entrepreneurial intention. We found that those who are fearful of losing face are less likely to have entrepreneurial intentions, but one's desire to gain face has no significant direct impact on entrepreneurial intention. In addition, face consciousness and an indecisive personality interact to influence career adaptability and, in turn, entrepreneurial intention. In sum, this study supports the career construction perspective on understanding the formation of entrepreneurial intention and offers theoretical, practical, and policy implications for entrepreneurial career counseling and training.