The career resilience of senior women managers: A cross‐cultural perspective

Understanding South Korean women workers' career transition experiences: using the career decision tree model

Introduction

Relatively little research has explored non-Western women workers and their career transitions within their unique cultural contexts. Thus, more context-sensitive approaches to women's career trajectories are needed.

Methods

Based on Bian and Wang's Career Decision Tree Model (2019) as a conceptual framework, the reasons for South Korean women workers' career transitions and influencing factors were explored using a qualitative approach with in-depth interviews with 35 South Korean women workers at various career stages.

Results and Discussion

Their main motive of career transitions was difficulty maintaining their physical and mental health, which stemmed from their demanding work life. A typical issue, the burden of child rearing and family responsibilities, was also reported, but it was not the primary reason for their career transitions. Instead, the women workers often mentioned these responsibilities along with other reasons. Other reasons were unresolved career interests and expectations associated with their lack of career goals and preparation prior to joining the labor market. These factors led to significant changes in women's values and priorities along their career path, which finally triggered a decision to make a career transition. South Korean socio-cultural characteristics embedded in the South Korean women's personal and organizational lives provide insights on how to interpret the findings. Although on the surface some of our findings appeared to confirm previous studies on women's career transitions in Western-based literature, noteworthy differences were discovered when delving deeper into women's career transitions in the South Korean context.

A network approach to the relationship between career adaptability and starting salary among graduates

Career adaptability is a psychological resource for individuals to deal with career events, and it is a system of human-environment interaction. The components of the career adaptability concept are not independent of each other but rather an interactive network. The present study aims to shed light on the nomological network of career adaptability and the starting salary by investigating their indicators using network analysis to reveal their structural networks and interrelationships. In addition, we compared the similarities and differences between the networks of different gender groups. Results indicate that career adaptability directly connects to starting salary for graduates, and some indicators are the core factors that influence starting salary. Besides, the global structure of gender-specific networks is very similar. However, some differences have been detected, such as becoming curious about new opportunities is the male network's core, while the core of the female network is doing the right thing.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-023-04655-5.

The subjective career success of women: The role of personal resources

Introduction

Research on women’s career success has been the subject of extensive investigations, emphasizing the barriers they encounter in their careers. However, far less attention has been given to the personal resources that promote women’s career success. The purpose of our study was to provide more conclusive evidence regarding the role that personal resources such as resilience and grit can play in the relationship between women’s person-environment fit and the perceptions of their career success. Underpinned by the Job Demands Resources and social cognitive theory, our study aims to investigate whether resilience and grit could either explain how person-environment fit translates into feelings of subjective career success or could strengthen this relationship.

Method

A cross-sectional online survey research design was used, and a convenience sample of 408 female employees was obtained. Relationships were explored through structural equation modelling.

Results

When controlling for age, the findings of this study revealed significantly positive relationships between the constructs, with person-environment fit, resilience, and grit, explaining a large portion of the variance in subjective career success. Although our data supported the mediating role of grit and resilience in the person-environment fit and subjective career success relationship, the moderating effects of grit and resilience could not be established.

Discussion

These findings illustrate both grit and resilience as mechanisms that indirectly affect the person-environment fit and subjective career success relationship of women. However, our findings indicate that resilience and grit cannot be considered mechanisms that would buffer against poor person-environment fit’s effect on their career success perceptions. Firstly, our study advances our understanding of the roles personal resources such as resilience and grit play in women’s career success as ways to overcome obstacles and workplace barriers. Secondly, using the motivational process of the Job Demands Resources Framework as theoretical background, we contribute by shedding light on how personal resources (resilience and grit) can be considered underlying factors influencing the person-environment fit and career success relationship for women. If women experience good person-environment fit, there is a greater opportunity for developing resilience and grit and, consequently, subjective career success.