Occupational Stability in Turbulent Times

Abstract

In today’s dynamic work environments, individuals are increasingly required to manage their own career trajectories. Also in careers that appear stable for the outside observer, constant adjustment takes place, where the fit between the person and their work environment is repetitively (re-)established. Prior research on career management and person-environment fit mostly focused on jobs and organizations, missing the role of occupations as important points of orientation. Person-occupation fit is usually explored in the context of occupational choice but how employees manage to (re-)establish this fit over time has not yet been addressed. Hence, little is known about the process of occupational stability maintenance. This study addresses this gap and explores how occupational stability is maintained through the continuous adjustment of individual needs and environmental requirements. Understanding occupational stability as a process calls for a qualitative research design. Therefore, 32 semi-structured interviews with employees from different vocational backgrounds were conducted. Qualitative content analysis inductively revealed eight major categories underlying the process of occupational stability maintenance, condensed into the three overarching conceptual themes: growth, meaning, and balance. We discuss these themes using job crafting and work role adaptation as theoretical lenses, thereby showing the relevance of these concepts not only for understanding behavior related to one's job, but also to one's occupation.