Active Career Research Articles

The impact of age norms on career transition intentions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how age norms influence the relationship between individual differences, job attitudes, and intentions to pursue career transitions for midlife adults (aged 35 and above). The authors hypothesized that the effects of individual difference variables (i.e. resilience and reframing abilities) on career change intentions in addition to the effects of job attitude (i.e. commitment) on such intentions are moderated by career youth norms (CYN) which the authors defined as perceptions that the typical worker in a career field is younger than midlife.Design/methodology/approachIn all, 206 people comprised the sample which was derived from an online survey. Moderated regression analysis was used to assess the extent to which age norms operated as a moderator of proposed relationships. Control variables were included based on prior research findings.FindingsFindings demonstrated that age norms operate as a significant moderator for midlife adults. Specifically, the relationships between resilience, reframing, and commitment on intentions to pursue alternative careers are moderated by CYNs.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected from a single source and assessed behavioral intentions in place of actual career change choice. Future research should derive data from multiple sources and assess behavior beyond intentions.Practical implicationsIndustry leaders’ stereotypes about the appropriate ages for specific occupations or professions may impact the psychological mobility of midlife workers. Managers may wish to highlight midlife workers with particular skills (e.g. technological savvy), examine recruitment advertising for language that emphasizes youth, and invest in resilience training for aging workers.Originality/valueResearch examining careers at midlife and beyond has extensively discussed age discrimination and stereotypes as potential barriers to professional or occupational change. However, few studies have investigated how age norms and the comparisons people make between themselves and those they believe are occupying the jobs they desire may also pose barriers to career transition.

Bound for entrepreneurship? A career-theoretical perspective on entrepreneurial intentions

Research on entrepreneurial intentions, as an important step in the decision to undertake an entrepreneurial career, tends to position career actors as choosing entrepreneurship as a first career decision. However, most scholars agree that entrepreneurs emerge from existing organizations, not from college dorm rooms. Therefore, individuals choosing to enter entrepreneurship typically do so after having made previous career decisions to work in paid-employment careers. Despite the usefulness of the accumulated knowledge of individual and contextual antecedents to entrepreneurial intentions, few studies offer a careers theory-based explanation for why some people who have previously decided to pursue paid-employment careers view moves to entrepreneurial careers as feasible and desirable as proposed by entrepreneurial intentions-based models. In this paper, we extend boundaryless and protean career orientations, established theoretical career concepts, to explain the entrepreneurial intentions of actors already working in wage-employment careers. Our theoretical integration sheds new light on entrepreneurial intentions research and fills important gaps in our understanding of the mindsets of those inclined towards entrepreneurial careers.

Outpatient Mental Health Treatment Utilization and Military Career Impact in the United States Marine Corps.

Service members (SM) are at increased risk of psychiatric conditions, including suicide, yet research indicates SMs believe seeking mental health treatment may negatively impact their military careers, despite a paucity of research examining actual career impacts. This study examined the link between seeking outpatient mental health (MH) treatment and military career impacts within the United States Marine Corps. In Phase 1, a retrospective medical record review of outpatient MH treatment-seeking Marines (N = 38) was conducted. In Phase 2, a sample of outpatient MH treatment-seeking Marines (N = 40) was matched to a non-treatment-seeking sample of Marines (N = 138) to compare career-progression. In Phase 1, there were no significant links between demographic, military, and clinical characteristics and referral source or receipt of career-affecting treatment recommendations. In Phase 2, MH treatment-seeking Marines in outpatient settings were more likely than matched controls to be separated from the military (95.0% versus 63.0%, p = 0.002), but no more likely to experience involuntary separation. MH treatment-seeking Marines were more likely to have documented legal action (45.0% versus 23.9%, p = 0.008) and had a shorter time of military service following the index MH encounter than matched controls (p < 0.001). Clinical, anti-stigma, and suicide prevention policy implications are discussed.

Boundary-crossing careers and the ‘third space of hybridity’: Career actors as knowledge brokers between creative arts and academia

This article examines how boundary-crossing careers influence creative knowledge combination by looking at a group of creative artists whose careers straddle professional arts and academia. Whereas previous research has treated individuals as vehicles for knowledge transmission across intertwined networks, this study emphasizes their active role as knowledge brokers. It examines how work role transitions trigger a dynamic interplay between actors and contexts, and brings about changes in the cognitive frames of individuals and their propensity to connect knowledge across contexts. The study employs Bhabha’s concept of the ‘third space of hybridity’ to denote the agency space where career actors construct hybrid role identities and engage in knowledge brokering. The analysis identifies two categories of hybrid with different boundary-crossing careers and shows how work role transitions influence the topology of the third space where knowledge brokering occurs. The ‘artist-academics’ whose careers span art and academia concurrently experience recurrent micro-role transitions. They are ‘organic’ hybrids operating at the ‘overlapping space’ where knowledge translation and integration occur naturally in everyday work. They are ‘embedded’ knowledge brokers. The ‘artists-in-academia’, who cross over from the art world to academia, experience more permanent macro-role transitions. They are ‘intentional hybrids’ who make conscious efforts to bridge two discrete work domains by creating a separate ‘transitional space’. Their knowledge brokering activities are instrumental in transforming both their own knowledge and that of their work context: they are transformative knowledge brokers. The study advances our understanding of career mobility as a mechanism that facilitates creative knowledge combination by highlighting actor agency and the underlying cognitive-behavioural mechanisms.

Exploring audit assistants’ decision to leave the audit profession

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore why audit assistants leave the audit profession. By including both the perceptions held by audit assistants that left the audit profession and the perceptions of audit assistants still working in the audit profession, this study aims to explore how determinants of job satisfaction are associated with decisions to leave the audit profession.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the association between determinants of job satisfaction and decisions to leave, a survey was developed based on a literature review of determinants of job satisfaction. The survey was sent to both current and former Swedish audit assistants. The subsequent analysis was based on 231 complete surveys, of which 78 were from former audit assistants.FindingsThe main finding of this study is that there is a negative association between the choice to leave the profession and audit assistants’ perceptions of the profession and between the choice to leave and work-life balance. Another finding was that met expectations and Big 4 were found to be positively associated with career change.Originality/valueBy approaching both current and former audit assistants, this study contributes to the literature on audit employee turnover by exploring determinants of actual career change, rather than turnover intentions. It also contributes by identifying and testing a variable not previously used as a determinant of job satisfaction, namely, perceptions of the audit profession.

대구시 다문화청소년의 학업 및 진로발달 경험에 대한 해석학적 연구

This study conducts an in-depth analysis of study and career development experiences among multicultural adolescents, this by investigating the potential semantic structures presented in their social venues and their influences on the lives of multicultural adolescents. The study also compared compared common and different features among their experiences in each case, reorganizing the ways that the causal mechanism of social structural acts, which multicultural adolescents chose and practiced in their study and career development experiences, revealed it’s tendency. Eight multicultural adolescents participated in a “narrative interview about their actual study and career development experiences,” and the collected data were analyzed using “objective hermeneutics.” The researchers reorganized the entire cases and found that the multicultural adolescents were not free from the urgent needs of their inferior social and economic life and accordingly experienced difficulties with their study and career development. Strongly characterized by the features of state-nation of a single race, the South Korean society led the multicultural adolescents to the provisional agreement of “game of hiding one’s culture” for survival and some symbolic game of “becoming Koreans.” Based on those findings, the study proposed some practical and policy-related tasks to help multicultural adolescents with their study and career development for social integration.

Directing our own careers, but getting help from empowering leaders

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the potential effects of empowering leadership on followers’ subjective career success through psychological empowerment, protean career orientation, and career commitment.Design/methodology/approachFull-time employees working in the USA were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Participants answered surveys at three separate points over a six-week period (n=261). Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping were used to verify the indirect effect of empowering leadership on career satisfaction controlling for common method variance and growth need strength.FindingsEmpowering leadership was positively related to followers’ subsequent psychological empowerment, which in turn predicted protean career attitudes and career commitment, but only career commitment had a significant relationship with career satisfaction.Research limitations/implicationsEmpowering leadership behaviors focus on potentially career-enhancing factors, including providing followers with the confidence, inspiration, and authority to assume control of their work lives. Empowering leaders benefit their followers’ careers, and psychological empowerment and career commitment may be important mechanisms in the empowering leadership-career success relationship when their effects are considered simultaneously. Employees’ development of a protean career orientation has less direct effect on subjective career success than simple commitment to a career.Originality/valueEmpowering leadership has been overlooked in career literature. The findings advance the understanding of how empowering leader behaviors could help employees’ subjective career success in a serial mediation model. Additionally, the study empirically demonstrates that psychologically empowered employees are more likely to engage in protean career actions and navigate their own career goals.

Andrew Groover.

Andrew Groover.

Dynamic global careers: a new conceptualization of expatriate career paths

PurposeMost studies of expatriates have explored global careers as unfolding within assigned or self-initiated expatriation contexts in a predominantly linear fashion. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize that expatriates’ career progression is facilitated by frequent moves between domains, with an increasing overlap among assigned-expatriate (AE) and self-initiated expatriate (SIE) contexts.Design/methodology/approachUnderpinned by findings from extant literature, the authors review and integrate studies of expatriation and careers to conceptualize an AE-SIE career continuum.FindingsThe authors debunk the idea that AEs and SIEs are a type of expatriate per se, but instead is indicative only of their career orientation in terms of where they choose to sit on the AE-SIE career continuum at any point in time. Specifically, individuals pursuing global careers in international labor markets include up to eight types of expatriate who retain varying degrees of AE vs SIE characteristics dependent on the point they choose along the continuum.Practical implicationsThe tension that dynamic global careers cause for multinational enterprises (MNEs) is not necessarily “bad”, and that by accepting and accommodating changes in career orientation MNEs will be able to make clearer and more consistent global staffing decisions.Originality/valueThe authors provide a new, improved conceptualization of linear and non-linear global careers and of the challenges global career actors face throughout their career development both at home and abroad. They further show that while career orientation explains why expatriates engage in various types of international work experiences, their typology adds explication of the various types of expatriate who pursue global careers.

Entrepreneurial intentions of information technology students: the theory of planned behaviour, the role of gender and education

Entrepreneurial activity and self-employment is considered a major motor of innovation, and economic development. Entrepreneurial intention, introduced in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), is considered a major predictor of actual entrepreneurial career. Statistical regression analysis was used for the empirical examination of the entrepreneurial intentions of information technology (IT) students, in order to identify possible points of intervention, in the direction of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit. The contribution of the TPB antecedents was evaluated, along with the effect of gender and entrepreneurial course. Personal attitudes and perceived behavioural control proved to play a vital role in entrepreneurial intentions, whereas social norm had no significant effect. Female students showed reduced intentions towards entrepreneurship, in comparison to their male counterparts. Finally the role of entrepreneurship course attendance was not significant. These findings have considerable implications for educators, curriculum designers and policy makers.

How do Tertiary Dropouts Fare in the Labour Market? A Comparison between EU Countries

AbstractDropping out of university is regularly discussed as a negative indicator. However, research on actual career trajectories of dropouts is virtually non‐existent. This study estimates the association between tertiary dropouts and career chances in 15 European countries. Using data from the 2011 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), estimates are derived from the application of propensity score matching taking a variety of individual background characteristics including cognitive skills into account. Results indicate that individuals are likely to fare better in the labour market if they enrol in university and drop out than if they do not enrol at all. Policy makers need to revise the notion that dropping out is purely negative.

Explores of the Urban and Architectural Cognitive Practice Course under the "Three-three System" Education Model Innovation

With China’s industrial restructuring and the increasing important role of information and knowledge industry in recent years, talents nurtured under the traditional educational mode are not able to meet the needs of the society. Nanjing University has began to implement the ‘three-three system’ education model featured with ‘three phases’ and ‘three paths’. The new model proposes to fulfill the requirements of the new standards through innovative education. The first two stages are able to develop a student’s general knowledge of a topic and provide a base for choosing a professional field that they are interested in. Then in the final stage the students are able to cultivate their knowledge and apply it through, academic research, an interdisciplinary lens and finally an employment lens. Based on this model, the undergraduate teaching curriculum of urban and rural planning at Nanjing University has conducted a ‘discipline-oriented to student-oriented shift’ reform including the course, urban and architectural cognitive practice. Within this course students apply their understanding of architecture and urban form to real world situations by visiting sites throughout China, and meeting professionals in the field. This paper systematically reviews and analyzes the new teaching philosophy, constructive goals and practical content of this newly designed course. Students in this class are motivated to seek out their interest through, writing research papers, drawing and learning how it applies to an actual career in urban architecture. Through the newly created ‘three-three’ cultivating course on architectural cognitive practice the three new features of this course are effectively building a student’s professional academic ability, interdisciplinary capacity and the entrepreneurial ability--thus providing a useful reference to the teaching reform of the urban planning curriculum.

Problems of Polish Students with Gaining Professional Experience from the Perspective of Europe 2020 Strategy Goals

IntroductionThe Europe 2020 strategy provides the direction to the development of the EU economies by formulating main objectives which should contribute to smart, sustainable growth fostering social inclusion. One of its dimensions concerns an increase in the employment rate, a reduction in the early school leavers share and raising the percentage of the population with a university degree (Europa 2020). From what has been observed in the Polish labour market, although the educational goals have been accomplished, the employment rate remains alarmingly low. This fact motivates the search for new means of boosting the employment rate. The high percentage of population with university degrees accompanied by a relatively high unemployment rate amongst the university graduates sets the area of study on tertiary education and its adjustment to the expectations of the employers and generally the issue of graduates transition from a university into the labour market.One of the conditions to find a job in a short time is to have practical skills developed from hands-on experience. Research shows that this condition is extremely difficult to meet (Kocor et al., 2012, p. 80; Kocor Strzebonska, 2014, p. 74; Heyler, Lee, 2014). The paper aims to identify the problems with gaining professional experience by students in full-time courses during education at the tertiary level. The issue was illustrated with the example of students in the master's degree course in economics at the University of Economics in Katowice. According to the research presented in this paper, they often try to combine studies with work.University of Economics in Katowice is one of the five public economic universities in Poland. Full-time studies at Polish public universities are free of tuition fees. Relatively low number of hours spent physically at the university and elastic working hours schemes offered by employers give an opportunity to reconcile full-time studies with job, even though it is not an easy task and affects diploma grades.The results of the survey performed provide the arguments for the thesis that students' preferences concerning the means of gaining expertise do not comply with available opportunities and actual career paths, and work during studies hardly ever helps to get the type of professional experience which could be appreciated by a potential employer. The paper consists of four parts. The first part formulates the problem in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. The second part contains the review of the literature which exemplifies the importance of professional experience for successful transition of university graduates to the labor market. The third part describes the survey performed at the University of Economics in Katowice. The last part presents the outcomes of the survey.1. Problem formulationTwo out of five main goals formulated by the Europe 2020 strategy relate to the labour market. One states that the employment rate of the population aged 20-64 should reach 75%. The other assumes the reduction in the share of early leavers from education and training of the younger generation, aged 18-24, to 10% and the increased share in the population aged 30-34 having tertiary educational attainment to 40% (Europa 2020). The goals concerning education should naturally support the superordinate, employment-related goals. At the stage of formulating the objectives Poland with the indices roughly equal to the EU average had already satisfied the condition referring to early school leavers from education, whereas the tertiary educational attainment goal was reached in 2013 (Eurostat). Therefore, the objectives were adequately modified as presented in Table 1. The rates referring to educational goals were set at a higher level and the expected employment rates were decreased to 71%.Satisfactory outcomes in terms of educational objectives are accompanied by the employment rates explicitly lower than the EU average. …

Predicting End‐of‐Career Transitions for Baby Boomers Nearing Retirement Age

Retirement has traditionally been conceptualized as a point‐in‐time decision to physically and psychologically withdraw from the workforce on reaching a certain age. However, the expectations of older workers demonstrate a new retirement paradigm, with many more retirement trajectories. The purpose of this study was to examine actual career decisions being made by older workers and to understand sociodemographic factors that might differentiate their career trajectories. Data from the Health and Retirement Study (Juster &amp; Suzman, ) were analyzed using multinomial logistic regression to compare 4 retirement trajectories (i.e., no retirement, full retirement, bridge employment, and encore career). Gender, age, education, marital status, health, and wealth differentially predicted the odds of pursuing each of the 4 retirement decisions. Career practitioners may use these results to help baby boomers make retirement decisions and provide them with appropriate education, guidance, and resources. Additional research is needed to examine other factors salient to each of the retirement trajectories.

Gaps Between Actual and Preferred Career Paths Among Professional Employees

Organizations are increasingly opting to offer alternative career paths to the traditional managerial ladder (particularly, a technical ladder). Although research has mainly focused on differences between the managerial and technical paths with regard to rewards and prestige, our study focuses on gaps between employees’ actual (current) and preferred career paths, that is, being on the technical path while preferring the managerial path and vice versa. We examine how employees experiencing career path gaps compare with employees experiencing career path fit, in terms of self-rated performance and burnout. The results, based on data from 210 professional employees working in four global high-technology companies, suggest that performance levels are lowest among employees who are currently on the technical career path but would prefer the managerial path, whereas burnout levels are lowest among employees experiencing career path fit. Furthermore, among employees experiencing the former, career path gap, performance is lower when supervisor support is high.

Professionalising teachers in career dialogue: an effect study

ABSTRACTAs a result of the changing notions of work, schools are increasingly acknowledging that they have a strong responsibility in guiding students not only in their academic growth, but also in their career development. This paper presents the results of a study about the effects of teacher training on career dialogues promoting career competency development in students. For the quantitative part of the study, a quasi-experimental research design was used to measure effects among 2291 students. Video recordings of conversations were used to do qualitative research. The results show that only when off-the-job training is followed by on-the-job coaching, the professionalising of teachers proves to be effective as measured on student level. Students notice that the guidance conversations are more appreciative, reflective and activating and that they focus more on self-image development, work and career action. The observations made with regard to the guidance conversations also show that these conversations become more career related.

Association between self-efficacy, career interest and rural career intent in Australian medical students with rural clinical school experience

ObjectivesTo investigate medical student's self-efficacy at the time of finishing their rural clinical school (RCS) placement and factors associated with self-efficacy. Secondary aims are to explore whether interest levels or...

Departures from the formal of actual students' university careers: an application of non-homogeneous fuzzy Markov chains

As in most higher education (HE) systems, the Italian university organisation draws paths of credit progression in formal curricula, which aim at framing the acquisition of knowledge and competencies within each specific major. The resulting yearly syllabi therefore develop in a sequence of examinations that are to be successfully passed, and formal administrative registration allows access to the following academic year. In general, there is a divergence between formal and actual career progression because each university student can proceed at her/his own pace, sketching her/his own trajectories, free to depart from the formal progression. Even if applied to various HE settings, Markov chain models do not fit the aforementioned situation. A methodological extension has been introduced, whereby progression levels are considered as fuzzy states. Markov chains with fuzzy states identify the latter with specified academic years and express each student's situation as a relational link to present and past academic attainments. This link is operationalised by means of a membership function, which is here discussed with reference to the Italian HE system.

Micro­microcelebrity: Branding Babies on the Internet

Micro­microcelebrity: Branding Babies on the Internet

Ten‐year follow up of graduates from the Aspiring Dietitians Study: Implications for dietetic workforce development

AbstractAimTo explore the career pathways and practice experiences of dietitians in the first decade following graduation to identify factors influencing workforce development.MethodsA qualitative, follow up study was conducted on a previously recruited cohort of aspiring dietetic students who had graduated as dietitians over the preceeding decade. Participants completed an individual, semistructured telephone interview which focused on retrospectively exploring factors influencing career pathways, perceptions of career success and satisfaction and the competencies required for effective practice. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and underwent qualitative descriptive and triangular analysis.ResultsCareer pathways were opportunistic rather than planned, influenced more by actual employment opportunities and lifestyle preferences (particularly location) than initial career preferences and plans. Most acknowledged that initial unfamiliarity of the profession, employment realities and pragmatic career decision‐making explained the misalignment of plans with actual career pathways. Participants rated competencies of communication, teamwork, counselling and specific disciplinary knowledge as most relevant to effective practice. Despite some participants acknowledging that their career was not as originally anticipated, there was a consistent theme of career success and satisfaction determined more by intrinsic factors (helping people, effective in job, being acknowledged as a specialist) than extrinsic variables (remuneration level, management progression). Retention in the dietetic workforce appeared to be high, particularly when opportunities to specialise or undertake research were realised.ConclusionsWorkforce preparation that facilitates graduates to be flexible to employment, continuing professional development opportunities and support specialisation and research in practice are likely to be important for nutrition and dietetic workforce retention.