Career Prospects for Human Resource Management Professionals in Portugal

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of career attitudes (traditional career vs boundaryless career) on perceived employability (internal vs external employability). In addition, the authors examine whether career self-management strategies act as mediators of these relationships. Due to high unemployment rates in the last two decades, it is important to assess the extent to which young graduates’ career attitudes affect perceived internal and external employability, along with the role of career self-management strategies as an employability enhancement tool.Design/methodology/approachAs part of a cross-sectional research design, the authors administered a survey questionnaire to a sample of 131 graduates (i.e. master’s students) with at least one year of work experience. The empirical data were analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling, which combines confirmatory factor analysis, multiple linear regression and path analysis.FindingsThe results reveal that there is a positive and significant impact (direct effect) of a traditional career attitude (TCA) on internal employability, while there is no significant negative impact of a TCA on external employability. Additionally, the results show that there is a negative impact (direct effect) of a boundaryless career attitude (BCA) on internal employability, while no significant positive impact is found of a BCA on external employability. This study also confirms the mediation effect (full mediation) of career positioning strategies on the BCA-external employability relationship, and a partial mediation of career influence strategies on the TCA-internal employability relationship.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of this study relate to the sample size and the use of a convenience sampling technique. Hence, some caution is needed regarding results’ generalization. In addition, this research uses a cross-sectional design, thus the authors cannot assess longitudinal causal relationships between variables. Future research should be replicated with different types of respondents and in different cultural contexts.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that organizations would benefit more from employees that hold a TCA than those that hold a BCA, especially if they are interested in fostering the internal employability of their workforce. At the individual level, the results identify optimal career self-management strategies (internal vs external employability) for young graduates.Originality/valueThis study offers new empirical evidence of the predictive value of perceived internal vs external employability and the mediating role of career self-management strategies in explaining employability. Young graduates perceive a TCA as more advantageous than a BCA for both internal and external employability. This is an unexpected but interesting finding, since the bulk of the literature on contemporary career attitudes overemphasizes the advantages of a BCA, while disregarding potential disadvantages for both individuals and organizations.

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 protean and boundaryless career attitudes have gained special attention during the past years. A protean career attitude implies that a person strives towards a developmental progression and self-fulfillment; a boundaryless career attitude is characterized by a high physical and/or psychological mobility. The aim of the present paper is twofold: First, we want to empirically investigate the relationship between protean and boundaryless career attitudes and subjective (i.e., career satisfaction and success in comparison with colleagues) and objective (i.e., promotions and salary) career success. Second, we want to integrate research on protean and boundaryless career attitudes with research on predictors of career success. We analyze the career attitudes-career success relationship with a sample of 116 professionals. Our findings suggest that components of the protean career attitude are rather more related with subjective career success and that components of the boundaryless career attitude are more related with objective career success. Conclusions regarding the relevance of career attitudes for career success are drawn.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between proactive personality (PP), goal orientation (GO), meta-skills and the underlying dimensions of protean (self-directed and value-driven) and boundaryless (boundaryless mobility and mobility preference) career attitudes among Indian IT professionals.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 600 IT professionals working in six IT companies in the Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) in India. Structural equation modeling was used to validate the measures of the selected constructs and for testing the hypothesis.FindingsThe results of the study revealed that PP significantly affects individuals’ protean and boundaryless career attitudes. Moreover, GO significantly affects protean career attitudes, and meta-skill significantly affects boundaryless mobility, respectively.Practical implicationsThe study serves as a guide for the HR managers to devise the company’s strategies keeping in mind the employees’ requirements in parallel with the policies for IT industries in India.Originality/valueThe study enriches the protean and boundaryless career literature by identifying and empirically establishing the relationship between various personality traits and career patterns opted in the context of the Indian IT industry.

Protean and boundaryless careers have emerged as new ways of handling careers in organizations. This concept is gaining a significant place in career studies. In line with this, the current study examines the relationship between the underlying dimensions of protean (self-direction and value-driven), boundaryless (boundaryless mindset (BM)) and mobility preference (MP) career attitudes and organizational commitment (OC) (affective, normative and continuance). Organizational commitment is important for all kinds of organizations. For data collection, 600 IT professionals employed in different organizations in the Delhi-NCR region of India were approached. Descriptive statistics, correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) were utilized to validate the research outcomes and test hypotheses. Prior literature studies focusing on the effects of protean and boundaryless career attitudes on organizational commitment have not been much explored. The current study suggests that mobility preference has a significant contribution towards individuals’ continued commitment to the employing organization. Other variables assert an insignificant relationship with organizational commitment. These results demonstrate how decision-makers and managers should proceed to design a blueprint for the education of employees in conjunction with the underlying dimensions of protean, boundaryless and mobility preferences, career attitudes and organizational commitment (OC).

In the era of globalisation, a lot of disruptions have brought about radical changes in how businesses operate. This has led to the changing patterns of employer-employee relationships which are important for the health of the organisation. This has called for the need to understand the career attitude of employees, working in the organisations. The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between protean career, boundaryless career attitude, organisational mobility preferences and organisational citizenship behaviour (an important parameter of sound organisational health) of Indian millennials. Data from 204 employees, working in multi-national organisations located in Delhi and the NCR region of India, was used to investigate the relationship between the said constructs and their relationship. The study focussed on multi analytical approach using structural equation modelling to study the relationships among the various dimensions. The results of the study show that protean career attitude, boundaryless career attitude and organisational mobility preferences are significantly related to each other. The study would help the organisations to work on designing career coping strategies for the employees to enhance their productivity at work. The study may add some important perspectives to the literature on career already available and may serve as a basis for further enhancing the psychological contract of the current workforce.

Globalisation, organisational restructuring and new technology have been connected with a shift to ‘protean’ and ‘boundaryless’ career attitudes with workers, including new graduates, increasingly required to be self-reliant in successfully navigating their careers. This study explores protean and boundaryless career attitudes among Business undergraduates and the influence of demographic, background and employment characteristics on these attitudes. Data were collected for Business undergraduates at a UK ( N = 88) and Australian university ( N = 284). Results indicate the students score more highly, on average, in the self-direction and boundaryless mindset dimensions. Relatively lower mean scores for physical mobility and values-driven suggest a ‘one high, one low’ pattern among the two items that constitute protean and boundaryless career attitudes. Employment status and Business degree specialisation were found to significantly predict career attitudes. Findings develop our understanding of whether emerging professionals are equipped to effectively self-manage their careers and implications for educators and professional practitioners are discussed.

Over the past several decades, new career theories have been developed in an attempt to explain the changing nature of work. Careers are now commonly considered to be self-driven and contingent on factors such as personal values and mobility. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine how identification with cultural individualism and collectivism influences participants’ overall protean and boundaryless career attitudes and overall job satisfaction. The data were collected from 203 working adults in the United States. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine whether identification with certain cultural dimensions was predictive of levels of job satisfaction and adherence to particular career attitudes. Results indicated that several cultural variables within the individualism and collectivism constructs do have moderate predictive value in determining career attitudes and job satisfaction. The findings also supported previous research studies that sought to differentiate between the protean and boundaryless career attitudes.

Drawing on the Resource‐Based View (RBV) of the firm and the Human Resource Architecture (HRA) model, this study aimed to overcome the agency perspective in scholarly work on employability, and to extend prior research by considering the role of organizational resources and career attitudes for its development. In particular, we examined the mediating role of perceived organizational support for competency development (POSCD) on the association between (perceived) employability culture and self‐perceived employability, also considering boundaryless career attitude (BCA) as a moderator. We sampled 422 Italian employees across two‐time points over a period of four months, and we analyzed results by means of multi‐group structural equation modeling. We found that POSCD fully mediated the association between (perceived) employability culture and self‐perceived employability. As for moderation effects, the association from POSCD to employability was positive only at lower BCA values, impacting on the mediated effect of employability culture. Our findings contribute to the RBV of the firm by highlighting the importance of aligning the organizational culture with concrete actions (i.e., POSCD) to enhance employability. Moreover, by highlighting the moderating role of BCA, we contribute to the HRA model by suggesting that organizations should also take into account employees' differences as regards their career attitudes. As for the employability literature, we stressed the predictive role of contextual factors (e.g., POSCD) hence counterpoising the predominant agency perspective. Our study offers implications for HR practices, advocating tailored competency development that considers individual career attitudes and emphasizes the importance of developing an organizational culture that supports employee involvement and growth, hence suggesting that both horizontal and vertical integrations are needed for delivering beneficial HR bundles.

This study aimed to identify the types of career development that emerge when considering both protean career attitude and boundaryless career attitude simultaneously, and to identify the differences in affective organizational commitment and subjective career success according to each type. Specifically, cluster analysis was conducted based on the two sub-factors of protean career attitude—self-directed career development and value driven orientation—and the two sub-factors of boundaryless career attitude—boundaryless mindset and organizational mobility preference—to derive career development types. As a result of cluster analysis, four types of career development were derived based on the sub-factors of protean career attitude and boundaryless career attitude, and this study named each type as Boundary Exploring, Value Anchored, Protean Career Architect, and Balance Seeking. As a result of analyzing the differences in subjective career success and affective organizational commitment according to type, Protean Career Architect type showed a significantly higher level of subjective career success than the Boundary Exploring and Balance Seeking types. Also, protean career architect type showed a higher level of affective commitment than the Value Anchored and Balance Seeking types. Based on the research results, implications and suggestions for future research were derived.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of protean and boundaryless career attitudes in early career employees during a time of economic recession in Ireland, specifically regarding their relationship to work characteristics, job satisfaction and career satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach– Using a quantitative design, data were obtained from a variety of Irish organizations. Employees in the trial career stage (aged between 18 and 29) responded to questions pertaining to their career attitudes, perceived work context and satisfaction.Findings– Skill variety was related to higher job satisfaction for those with a strong organizational mobility preference, and skill specialization was related to lower job satisfaction for those with a weak organizational mobility preference. Autonomy and skill specialization were positively related to career satisfaction for those who held a strong self-directed career attitude.Research limitations/implications– For researchers, this study contributes to our understanding of the boundary conditions of the work design-satisfaction relationship, and provides further insights into how these findings extend to career satisfaction.Practical implications– For managers, they demonstrate the importance of considering career attitudes when considering the relationship between job design and satisfaction during recessionary times.Originality/value– The research extends past findings on careers attitudes during times of recession, and provides insights into psychological and contextual variables that contribute to satisfaction during such economic periods.

PurposeThe increasing flexibility and discontinuity of labor relations have been associated with the development of new forms of psychological contracts as well as the development of more self-directed and mobile career attitudes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the forms of psychological contract and protean/boundaryless career attitudes on the one hand and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) on the other.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 458 employees of three large Italian organizations were sampled through a self-report questionnaire. Zero-order correlations were carried out to examine the associations between study variables while dominance analysis, along with multiple linear regression, was used for evaluating their unique contribution with respect to OCB.FindingsOCB were positively predicted by relational and balanced psychological contracts, protean career attitude and boundaryless mindset.Practical implicationsOrganizations must pay particular attention to the content of the psychological contract and the career attitudes of their employees because they influence their willingness to carry out OCB.Originality/valueThe results add new evidence to the careers literature in terms of boundary conditions with regard to the effects of protean and boundaryless career attitudes as well as different forms of psychological contracts.

Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration

Recent economic and organisational changes have fostered an increasing diversification of the workforce, among whom freelancers are an under‐represented population in the literature. This study aimed at examining the role of protean and boundaryless career, professional commitment, and employability activities in fostering freelancers' subjective career success. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 425 Italian freelancers and analysed through structural equation modelling. Results partially confirmed several hypotheses: higher self‐directed career management and boundaryless mindset predicted higher employability activities and professional commitment; moreover, employability and professional commitment acted as mediators between career attitudes and subjective career success. The study provides support for the importance of such variables to freelancers' career success, as well as for the significance of protean and boundaryless careers among nontraditional occupational groups. Interventions aimed at fostering such attitudes could support freelancers in improving their attainment of professional progress and perception of career success.

PurposeThis 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/approachA 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.FindingsJob 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 implicationsOrganizations can promote stronger organizational identification and job embeddedness to retain boundaryless-oriented talent and foster positive extra-role behaviours.Originality/valueThis study integrated the protean/boundaryless careers literature with organizational behaviour theories to examine contextual factors influencing the effects of these contemporary career attitudes.