A Framework of Facilitators and Barriers to Career Adaptability: Migrant Hotel Workers During COVID-19

Abstract

We examine internal and external factors that build or thwart the career adaptability resources of migrant hotel workers. Drawing on qualitative data at two points in time over a 12-month period during COVID-19, results show that while some migrant workers changed roles and exited hotels, for most, job changes were a shorter-term, separation phenomenon, with migrants transitioning back to their employer within a year. Psychological, social, and human capital resources facilitated career adaptability, while psychoemotional support from managers and peers fostered the confidence of temporary migrants, and facilitated positive affect, which was integral to their openness to exploring alternate hospitality careers. Inhibitors to career adaptability included a lack of agency among temporary migrants, and career entrenchment of mid-career permanent migrants. Our model provides a fine-grained, holistic understanding of the antecedents of career adaptability, enriching career construction theory by clarifying the contexts that drive career adaptability in the evolving, COVID-19 context.