Abstract
This study focuses on distinctive themes of career success and their relationship with fundamental societal logics. Drawing on theoretical insights from neo-institutionalism, and adopting a mixed-method approach based on semi-structured interviews and questionnaire surveys with Chinese managers, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative study on the meaning of career success in a typical ‘hybrid’ society. In contrast with understandings of career success centred on market-based logics, our analysis highlights the complex, reflective relationship between career success themes and societal logics. The results indicate that among the identified career success themes, traditional logics and their market-based counterparts coexist, and are consistent with each other in some ways and conflicting in others. The results further show that the reflection of societal logics in derivative meanings, in contrast to that in core meanings, is more institutionally contextualised and, therefore, less consistent. Our study adds to the understanding of how social contexts shape the meaning of career success, and has important implications for career and human resource management research and practice.
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