Purpose This study aims to examine how the awareness of smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and algorithms (STARA) affects service employees' turnover intentions and when this relationship can be buffered. We assessed the mediating relationship between STARA awareness, job insecurity and turnover intention and the moderating effects of mindfulness and self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach To reduce common method variance and make stronger causal inferences, we administered surveys to 318 South Korean service employees in three waves, each spaced three months apart. We tested our hypotheses using Mplus macro and bootstrapping (N = 5,000). Findings As predicted, we found a mediating relationship between STARA awareness, job insecurity and turnover intention. We observed a three-way interaction effect of STARA awareness, mindfulness and self-efficacy on job insecurity. When mindfulness and self-efficacy were high, the positive association between STARA awareness and job insecurity and the positive effect of STARA awareness on turnover intention through job insecurity were the least pronounced. Originality/value Our study elucidates the buffering roles of personal traits in the context of STARA by demonstrating mindfulness and self-efficacy as synergistic psychological resources that mitigate the deleterious effects of STARA on job insecurity and turnover intention.

Purpose Career inaction—when employees fail to pursue desired career changes—has become an increasingly important concern in today’s dynamic work environment. While prior research has highlighted its negative consequences, little is known about factors that can help mitigate it. Drawing on career inaction theory, this study explores how contextual factors—specifically, developmental human resource management (DHRM) and visionary leadership—are associated with lower levels of perceived career inaction via employees’ thriving at work. Design/methodology/approach This study used a three-wave survey conducted with 354 employees from a logistics company in northern China. The hypotheses were tested using a series of hierarchical linear regressions. Findings The results show that DHRM promotes thriving at work, which is associated with lower perceived career inaction. Moreover, visionary leadership strengthens the positive relationship between DHRM and thriving, thereby enhancing the potential for employees to experience lower levels of career inaction. Originality/value By identifying organizational and leadership factors associated with lower levels of perceived career inaction through thriving at work, this study broadens the scope of career inaction research, addressing a critical gap in the literature and extending career inaction theory. Additionally, it provides nuanced insights into the effects of DHRM and its boundary conditions.

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of career crafting on personal brand equity, career sustainability and prosocial proactive behaviors, emphasizing the moderating role of career development idiosyncratic deals (i-deals). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 225 paired hotel employees and supervisors. Using structural equation modeling and the PROCESS macro, the study assessed the relationships between career crafting, personal brand equity and related outcomes while exploring moderating and mediating effects. Findings Career crafting positively influences personal brand equity, which enhances career sustainability and prosocial proactive behaviors. Development i-deals strengthen the indirect effects of career crafting through personal brand equity, yet their direct impact on prosocial behaviors is limited. High development i-deals amplify career outcomes through personal branding. Originality/value This study offers a novel theoretical lens by integrating signaling and social exchange theories to explain how career crafting and development i-deals jointly shape sustainable career outcomes and organizational effectiveness.

Purpose This study maps the conceptual structure of Career Development International (CDI) over its 30-year history. It identifies the principal topics based on published works between January 1996 and June 2025, tracing the shifting prevalence of these topics over time. Design/methodology/approach Structural topic modelling was applied to a dataset of 1,186 CDI abstracts. Model selection and interpretability checks supported a nine-topic solution that maximised thematic distinctiveness and coherence. The analysis tracks longitudinal variation in topic prevalence, profiles 18 influential authors and 12 high-impact articles to distinguish specialist and generalist patterns of contribution and links thematic clusters to citation impact. Interpretive depth was further enriched through reflections from seven scholars with strong connections to CDI. Findings The nine topics identified capture the journal’ evolving emphases and reveal both enduring interests and emerging priorities in the field. Temporal patterns highlight phases of growth and decline across topics, while author and article profiling distinguish between concentrated expertise and broad engagement. Citation analysis demonstrates how particular topics have influenced scholarly and practical impact. Insights from seven scholars contextualise these dynamics and suggest promising directions for future inquiry. Originality/value Extending earlier bibliometric work undertaken at CDI’s 25th anniversary, this study offers similar findings but with greater granularity and a multi-dimensional perspective that integrates computational text analysis with expert reflection. The findings provide an empirical foundation for current and future editors, broader editorial team members and prospective contributors to understand the journal’s trajectory and to shape its future development.

Purpose We aim to explore the changes in cultural identity that academics experience in the context of critical career events through the prism of career shocks and chance events theory. We acknowledge that Ukraine and Ukrainian people are the primary victims of the war and that their suffering is incomparable to other groups involved. However, it is also valuable to understand all affected populations who also oppose the war. This holds particular relevance given that academics and universities are key in shaping safe spaces during major conflicts. Design/methodology/approach By conducting 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Russian academics abroad, this study employs a qualitative methodology to examine the effect of a war on academics' cultural identity and career development. Findings The findings indicate that the war has had a significant impact on changing cultural identity, whereby we identify four types of cultural identity changes. Practical implications The implications can be applied to all displaced academics affected by traumatic events. Implications for human resource management and organizational career management concern possible practices and techniques for managing changes in cultural identities during war. Originality/value We extend the concept of cultural identity in a war context and equip universities worldwide with practical tools to support displaced academics. We expand the theoretical understanding and application of the concept of cultural identity and cultural trauma in the context of war, contributing to the growing body of career literature on cultural trauma and academics' cultural identity.

Purpose Since jobs are dynamically embedded in a social context, job crafting is often driven by emotional experiences that prompt individuals to reshape relationships with others at work. However, previous studies have overlooked the question of why employees are motivated to engage in relational job crafting. Using the find-remind-and-bind theory, this research elucidates the mechanism through which gratitude functions as a critical emotion that activates relational crafting. Design/methodology/approach In a two-week daily diary study with 138 full-time employees from various industries (n = 1,121 observations), we measured momentary feelings of gratitude and tested its indirect effect on relational crafting through perceived responsiveness. Findings The results consistently support a mediation model in which gratitude enhances perceived responsiveness from coworkers, which, in turn, increases relational crafting. These findings remain robust even after controlling for positive affect. Originality/value This paper represents an original effort to examine how gratitude motivates relational crafting. Exploring perceived coworkers’ responsiveness as the underlying mechanism, the study offers a novel affect-driven perspective. Additionally, it offers practical value by demonstrating that gratitude-based interventions can more precisely and effectively foster relational crafting.

Purpose Most new fathers in the US take less than 2 weeks off when their children are born. While some men take little to no leave because of the financial barriers associated with unpaid leave, many others who do have access to paid leave take fewer days than allotted. In this research, we draw on identity theory to explain why this underutilization may occur, proposing that men's utilization of leave is affected by what it means to them to be good parents and good employees. We also explore the moderating effects of spouses' expectations and workplace leave-taking norms. Design/methodology/approach Following scale development and validation studies, we test the proposed theoretical model in a time-separated survey design with 234 expecting fathers. Findings Results showed that men's parental identities were unrelated to leave use intentions, regardless of their spouses'/partners' expectations. In contrast, the extent to which men identify as ideal workers was negatively related to leave use intentions, such that a single point increase in ideal worker identification was associated with five fewer planned days of leave. However, this negative effect was mitigated when men's leave use was normative in their organization. Originality/value This research addresses recent calls to better understand men's utilization of parental leave, going beyond demographic and policy-level (e.g. length of leave) predictors of leave-taking behavior. We contribute to research on ideal worker norms, examining how leave-taking is affected when fathers endorse and internalize expectations associated with “ideal workers.”

Purpose Women are underrepresented in high-level positions, which has often been attributed to women being less likely to actively pursue higher level positions. Previous studies have focused on the mechanisms underlying women's career ambitions, ignoring how framings of masculinity relate to the ambition gender gap. Building on precarious manhood theory, we propose that men's higher levels of career ambitions can be understood as a response to their concerns about living up to standards of masculinity and the pressure to prove themselves as “real men”. Accordingly, we hypothesized an interaction between gender identity threat and participant gender in predicting career ambition. Design/methodology/approach In line with previous research, we manipulated gender identity threat versus affirmation by giving participants bogus feedback on a gender identity assessment. Thereafter, we measured participants' career ambitions. Additionally, we assessed masculinity contest culture – based on participants' perceptions of their real-world employer – as a moderator variable. Findings As predicted, results revealed an interaction effect between gender identity threat and participant gender on career ambitions. In contrast to our predictions, however, this effect was not moderated by participants' perceptions of masculinity contest culture. Originality/value By focusing on men and framings of masculinity, our results provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying gender differences in career ambitions. To our knowledge, the current work is the first to demonstrate that gender identity affirmation reduces the ambition gender gap.

Purpose Career orientations are a central motivational force driving people’s career goals, choices and career-related behaviors. By identifying career orientation profiles among employees from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, we extend our understanding of generalizable and context-dependent aspects of career orientations relevant to adaptive human resource management. Design/methodology/approach We used a multi-group latent class analysis to identify career orientation profiles in a sample of 4,627 employees from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. These countries exemplify a number of cultural and economic commonalities and differences, which allowed us to test contextual influences. Findings We found five distinct career orientation profiles named ambitious self-actualizer, unassuming pragmatist, loyal citizen, corporate climber and career explorer, which entail different combinations of boundaryless, protean and advancement preferences. These profiles showed distinct relations to sociodemographic characteristics and work- and career-related attitudes. Moreover, their prevalence varied across the four countries, reflecting systematic contextual influences on career orientations. Originality/value By identifying five meaningful and robust career orientation profiles across four countries, we reaffirm the breadth of career orientations beyond classic distinctions of “traditional” and “contemporary” careers. We also demonstrate the joint relevance of personal and contextual factors in the expression of career orientations and offer an evidence-based approach for effective career management, especially in international organizations where contextual factors create a particularly complex amalgam of career orientations.

Purpose Career insecurity is an important issue for individuals in their early career stages. On the basis of stress and resource theories, we postulate career insecurity as a stressor that initiates the use of coping strategies (i.e. approach and avoidance coping), depending on personal resources such as ambiguity tolerance (i.e. preference for or aversion to ambiguity). We further posit that approach and avoidance coping have consequences for psychological well-being and subjective career success. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected at two time points with a one-month timespan among early-career individuals in Italy (N = 411). Findings Path analyses showed that career insecurity was negatively related to approach coping and positively related to avoidance coping. Ambiguity tolerance played a moderating role in which preference for ambiguity weakened the career insecurity-avoidance coping relationship. Furthermore, approach coping mediated the negative relationships between career insecurity and the two outcomes (i.e. psychological well-being, subjective career success). Practical implications The findings suggest that promoting approach coping and a preference for ambiguity may reduce the maladaptive outcomes of career insecurity among early career individuals. Originality/value The study uncovers the unique roles of coping strategies and personal resources in the associations between career insecurity and individual outcomes in the early career stage.