Kaleidoscope Career Model Research Articles

THE EFFECTS OF WORK ENGAGEMENT ON KALEIDOSCOPE CAREER MODELS

The Kaleidoscope Career Model has emerged as a novel framework within the realm of contemporary career approaches. Within the evolving landscape of the workforce, it offers significant analytical opportunities for individuals to manage their careers more effectively. Comprising parameters of authenticity, balance, and challenge, the Kaleidoscope Career Model reflects a dynamic interplay influenced by career stage, gender, and life circumstances, akin to the ever-changing patterns of a kaleidoscope. The aim of this study is to analyze the influence of employees' levels of work engagement on the Kaleidoscope Career Model and its parameters. Additionally, the study seeks to contribute to the literature on the Kaleidoscope Career Model. The sample for this research consists of employees working in call centers in Trabzon (n=393). Correlation analysis was employed to assess relationships, while simple regression methods were used to evaluate effects. These analyses were conducted using the SPSS package program. The findings reveal that work engagement positively and significantly influences the Kaleidoscope Career Model, balance, and challenge parameters, while negatively impacting authenticity. Another key finding indicates that in periods of high work engagement, the challenge parameter predominates, whereas during periods of low work engagement, the authenticity parameter takes precedence.

Investigating the impact of digital health technology adoption on female physicians’ work–life balance in Bahrain

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of digital health technology adoption on female physicians’ work–life balance (WLB) in Bahrain. This study also examines the impact of two moderating variables: career stage, based on the kaleidoscope career model (KCM) and the presence of domestic workers, based on Becker’s theory of the allocation of time. Design/methodology/approach An electronic quantitative survey was administered to female physicians working in Bahrain. The survey gathered data on various aspects of digital health technology, WLB and demographic characteristics such as age and the presence of domestic workers. From a target population of approximately 1,000 female physicians in Bahrain, 102 participated in the survey. Findings The authors found that the effect of digital health technologies on WLB is positive in general and specifically for the early-career stage; however, it harms WLB in the middle and late-career stages. This is consistent with KCM predictions. In addition, there is no moderating effect of having domestic helpers. Originality/value This paper contributes to the theoretical understanding of the effect of technology on WLB by expanding the traditional model (KCM) to include an economic model of how female physicians allocate their time between work and home responsibilities, including the effect that a domestic worker can have on this allocation. Beyond these theoretical contributions, this paper is also the first to study technology and WLB in the health sector in Bahrain following the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Work Doesn’t Work: An Alternative Framework to Examine Cognitive Factors in Employment-Entrepreneurship Transitions

Employees’ transition from wage employment to entrepreneurship, influenced by cognitive factors, has garnered significant scholarly attention. Despite this focus, the conventional Push and Pull Model, explaining these cognitive factors, has generated inconsistent findings. Our study critically reviews the cognitive factors shaping employees’ entrepreneurial transitions. Utilizing the Kaleidoscope Career Model parameters, we categorize these cognitive factors based on an analysis of 78 articles. Our comprehensive analysis identifies 23 distinct cognitive factors related to these transitions, which shed light on the multifaceted nature of employees’ decision-making processes. Our review reveals the limitations of the existing Push and Pull Model and advocates for the Kaleidoscope Career Model as an alternative model, which we argue offers a nuanced understanding of entrepreneurial transitions. Our research contributes to existing knowledge and provides a foundation for future studies, guiding scholars toward a more comprehensive exploration of employees’ transitions into entrepreneurship.

Private Patriarchy’s Impact on Women’s Careers: Through Kaleidoscope Career Model Lens

Women in patriarchal societies are often oppressed in a variety of ways both inside and outside the home. Although public patriarchy is known as a key impediment to women’s progression, how private patriarchy impacts women’s professional lives is yet to be understood. This study adopts the kaleidoscope career model (KCM) lens to investigate private patriarchy’s impact on women’s careers. Semi-structured interviews with 40 educated and professional Bangladeshi women reveal that these women experience private patriarchy directly and indirectly in the forms of discriminatory gender expectations, unequal marital power and society-imposed familial oppression. While pre-marital household restrictions and discrimination can impact the job performance of married women, the progress and continuity of their careers in patriarchal societies hinge upon obtaining consent to work from both their husbands and parents-in-law. Results from this first study combining KCM and patriarchy indicate that the interplay of career authenticity, balance and challenge may not necessarily correspond to distinct career stages. Rather, it is observed that professional women’s direct, indirect and no experiences of private patriarchy shape their career priorities in a patriarchal context.

A szociális területen tanuló felsőoktatási hallgatók életpálya tervei egy kelet-magyarországi pilotkutatás tükrében

Our paper explores the family and career plans of social sciences students at Hungary’s second largest university based on a questionnaire-based pilot study. Nowadays, careers include more than the traditional vertical promotion within an organisation, as seen from the emergence of the self-directed “protean” career type, which prompts organisations to adapt to individuals’ values, attitudes, and own career definitions. In addition, the Kaleidoscope Career Model sets out that individuals adapt their career goals to their life stages. Thus, students’ career and family plans matter to prospective employers. Our results show that a modern self-directed career type has emerged among students, for whom it is a priority to meet their own expectations. In several cases, starting a family is preceded by career goals. Furthermore, despite the “feminine” nature of social sciences, our pilot study shows that male students in the field still tend to conform to traditional gender roles regarding the importance of family and career. Our research implies that prospective employers need to adapt their HR strategies to young people’s family and career plans. Moreover, organisations should support students in gaining relevant work experience and in achieving their subsequent career plans.

The new meaning of retirement for bridge employees: Situating bridge employment through the lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model

AbstractRetirees re‐entering the workforce, popularly termed as bridge employment, is a phenomenon that is anticipated to increase in the coming years. Though research establishes that these employees have unique aspirations and work motives (see Mazumdar et al., 2020), primary research on how the retirement transition and bridge employment shape each other is scarce. This is troubling because a better understanding of the aspirations and motives of potential employees is an important step in designing suitable employee development strategies. To fill this gap in the literature, our paper explores the significance of retirement for those retirees who engage in bridge employment. We also explore whether bridge employment is unique from pre‐retirement employment. We interviewed 26 bridge employees and analyzed their narrations using the thematic analysis method. We utilized the Kaleidoscope Career Model by Mainiero and Sullivan (2005) to contextualize our analysis. Our study reveals that bridge employees uniquely reconstruct the meaning of retirement as a frontier between “prioritizing the obligations” and “prioritizing self.” Our findings also demonstrate how this view allows retirees to prioritize self‐directed goals during bridge employment. Our paper enriches the human resource development literature on careers and retirement by examining it from the vantage point of bridge employees. We shed light on how re‐framing the narratives of retirement helps distinguish between bridge employment and pre‐retirement employment for retirees. Better understanding this distinction can help lay the foundation for crafting suitable employee development programs for improved motivation and retention.

Career and Family Plans of Higher Education Students as Risk Factors for their future employers’ HR Management

This paper deals with higher education students’ career and family plans based on a quantitative pilot research conducted among students studying social sciences at a research university in Eastern Hungary. According to one type of career models, namely the self-directed, protean career concept, organisations should adapt to employees’ own career interpretation, values, and attitudes, furthermore, according to the Kaleidoscope Career Model, individuals nowadays adapt their careers to their life stages. Due to this, this paper deals with students’ family plans besides their career plans. The novelty of the research is that it examines the plans of Hungarian students studying in a specific field (social sciences) and analyzes their career and family plans in parallel. The research inestigates what family and career mean to students, what influences these, whether family or career is more important to students, how students time these, and to what extent they consider these to be compatible. Research methods include descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, and exploratory factor analysis. The results show that career goals often preceded family goals and, in accordance with traditional gender roles, career was slightly more important for male students than for female students. According to the factor analysis, students found it the most important to meet their own expectations. Furthermore, many students, especially females, interpreted career as a form of self-fulfilment. These results are in line with modern career models (the self-directed, protean career concept and the Kaleidoscope Career Model). An important implication of the research for prospective employers is the need to adapt their HR strategies to young people’s family and career plans. The research also highlights that students’ career goals are already emphasised during the studies, so employers should strengthen cooperation with universities to support students in acquiring professional experience during their studies to help them achieve their career goals.

Career Impact of High-Performance Work System: A Kaleidoscope Perspective.

High-performance work system (HPWS) is considered a solid predictor of individual outcomes, but there is less evidence about the impact HPWS on subjective career success (SCS). The current study examines the direct impact of HPWS on SCS through the lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model. In addition, employability orientation is expected to mediate the relationship while employees' HPWS attribution is hypothesized to moderate the HPWS-SCS linkage. A quantitative research design with two-wave survey collected data from 365 employees working in 27 firms in Vietnam. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. Results indicate that HPWS is significantly associated with SCS through the achievements of career parameters. In addition, employability orientation mediates the above relationship while HPWS external attribution moderates the relationship between HPWS and SCS. This research suggests that HPWS may influence employees' outcomes beyond the current employment, such as career success. HPWS fosters employability orientation which may encourage the employees to seek career advancements outside the current employer. Therefore, HPWS-implementing organizations should provide career opportunities to the employees. In addition, attention should be paid to employees' evaluative reports of HPWS implementation.

Generational differences in career perspective: applying kaleidoscope career model

Generational differences in career perspective: applying kaleidoscope career model

Careers of women public managers: Career needs of women public managers across generations

AbstractThis study examines women's managerial experiences in leadership roles and reflects on their career needs. Women's career needs are understood by applying the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM), which is yet to be widely explored in public sector settings. The KCM recognizes the interplay of multiple experiences that shape the career development of women in the workforce. Using 21 in‐depth interviews with women municipal government leaders in the United States; we find that while all three parameters of the KCM model are relevant for women public managers, the need for balance is overwhelmingly evident for women across all generations. Further, we demonstrate how the relationality of women public managers and the interplay of personal and professional needs drive their career goals. The findings from this study are relevant to human resource development policies and practices that consider generational differences into account. Work‐life balance needs are relevant for women across all generations (Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Generation Y), and organizations play a vital role in mitigating the burden for women managers. Women public managers' need for balance dominates across generations over the need for challenge and authenticity. Human resource management programs should consider policies and programs that are responsive to the specific needs of women across different generations. Women managers from Generation X and Baby Boomer generational cohorts express interest in leaving their current position or look forward to retirement in the future.

A longitudinal investigation of the Kaleidoscope Career Model, networking behaviors, and career success

Increased global competition and rapid technological advancements have dramatically altered organizational structures and the work environment. The Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) was developed to explain how individuals enact their careers within today's complex, dynamic workplace. The KCM is particularly relevant for studying career development activities, such as networking behavior, a key career management strategy. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to examine the relationship between the three parameters of the KCM – authenticity, balance, and challenge – and how individuals target their networking behavior. In addition, we examine the relationship between the KCM parameters and career success outcomes, and whether these outcomes are mediated by networking behavior. Alumni from a Midwestern U.S. university were surveyed in 2012 and again in 2019. Overall, the results of this study showed a link between the parameters of the KCM and how individuals target their networking behaviors to help achieve their career goals.

When Work Doesn’t Work: Cognitive Factors Impacting Employees Transition to Entrepreneurship Review

Cognitive factors are useful in explaining employees’ transition from the workplace to entrepreneurship. The potential for understanding the factors that explain how and why some individuals opt to be entrepreneurs while others choose to remain employees is relevant; yet, little systematic effort has attempted to accumulate knowledge of cognitive related factors that underpin these transitions. The purpose of this review is to identify the cognitive factors that impact employees’ transition from the workplace into entrepreneurship and to identify the conceptual gaps in the literature. This review aims to extend theory on employee career transitions by systematizing this broad body of research using the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM). Analysis of 69 articles revealed that individuals tend to fall into the challenge dimension when leaving the workplace to pursue an entrepreneurial career. Further, research outlining has paid very little attention to longitudinal design and mixed methods. Based on our findings, this review offers several avenues for future research.

Women’s Careers in a Patriarchal Context: Through the Lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model

Women in patriarchal societies are known to be oppressed in a variety of ways within their families. Although patriarchy is one of the key impediments to women’s progression and growth, how private patriarchy translates into career behaviors is yet to be understood. Using an intersectionality approach, this study investigates the impact of private patriarchy on women’s career. Career behaviors of authenticity, balance, and challenge are investigated through semi-structured interviews with 40 educated and professional women living and working in the patriarchal context of Bangladesh. As the first study to use the kaleidoscope career model in a patriarchal context, findings demonstrate that household restrictions as daughters, social exclusion as women, and post-marriage adjustments as wives, daughters-in-law and mothers contribute to determine women’s career behaviors. Although household restrictions and discrimination experienced before marriage hinders women’s performance at work, sustaining and advancing women’s career in patriarchal contexts depends on receiving permission to work from both husbands and parents-in-law. Findings from this study differ from previous findings by showing that women in both early and late career stages tend to prioritize authentic career behavior. Furthermore, balance and challenge career behaviors largely depend on the women’s marital status, rather than their career stages.

Supporting the Intersections of Life and Work: Retaining and Motivating Academic Librarians Throughout Their Careers

Objective – This study uses the Kaleidoscope Career Model (Mainiero & Sullivan 2006a) to determine key sources of motivation for library professionals during their careers and identifies strategies for how library administrators can better retain and inspire their staff. Methods – The authors adapted the Kaleidoscope Career Model survey tool with permission from Mainiero and Sullivan. The authors used Qualtrics to send out the adapted survey and in October 2019 emailed a call for participation with the survey link to six library electronic mailing lists. A total of 433 participants completed the survey. The authors reviewed the demographic data and charts Qualtrics generated and used an open-coding method to analyze the qualitative responses to open-ended questions included in the survey. First, they read through those responses, identified common words, phrases, and ideas, which became initial codes. Then the authors reviewed the codes and determined themes common in the data. Each author coded and analyzed each question. Those themes then informed the discussion and recommendations shared in this article. Results – Nearly 60% of respondents identified as being in the Authenticity phase, 15% in the Challenge phase, and 18% in the Balance phase. When asked if they felt supported, those in the Authenticity phase reported the highest overall level of satisfaction, with those in the 47–52 years old cohort experiencing peak feelings of support. The study found that all early career practitioners seemed interested in continuing in a supervisory role. Those older participants in the Balance phase were less interested than those in the other two phases in continuing to supervise. Those in the Authenticity phase identified most strongly with being organizational leaders. By contrast, older participants in the Balance phase did not identify strongly as leaders. Those in the Challenge phase showed strong interest in being leaders at an early age and that interest increased among older cohorts. Conclusion – This study is the first to analyze sources of motivation for academic librarians during the stages of their careers. When working with librarians who identify with the Authenticity phase, administrators should work with their employees to develop career goals that are extrinsically based, such as what can be achieved through good work rather than striving for a dream position. Librarians in the Balance phase would benefit from early opportunities to develop leadership roles or serve in supervisory roles. These early opportunities better fit with their efforts to prioritize family later in life. Librarians in the Challenge phase are intrinsically motivated to achieve and strive. They may experience disappointment as newer career librarians continue to advance and as they begin to plateau later in life. Leaders must consider the kinds of changes their organization can withstand as they strive to best support and foster the growth and development of all of their employees.

Normative Model of Women’s Brain Drain to Their Homes

The Normative model of women’s brain drain to their homes is a proposal to study the lives of women with higher level studies and who returned, voluntarily or involuntarily, to take care of household duties. Its design is based on the theories of expulsion-attraction, family-work trajectories, life course, kaleidoscope career model and career limits; they analyze each stage lived from different perspectives. The Normative model of women’s brain drain to their homes identify what are the situations that allow women to make the decision to leave their jobs and dedicate themselves to domestic, full-time household chores. In addition to the fact that the labor market is constantly evolving due to technological progress and globalization. With the use of this model, relevant elements were identified as a relevant part of their decision in the different areas of a woman’s life (i.e. family, professional, work), as well as their interrelations where governmental, organizational and social actions intermingle to chart the course of women’s lives.

Contemporary Career Theories in the Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Critical Literature Review

This paper critically reviews and observes the nature of contemporary careers and the orientation in which careers research has advanced over the past decade. The contemporary concept of career refers to an individual’s pursuit of career advancement without being restricted to a single job in a single company. Specifically, career concepts that appeared in the 1990s, including the protean and boundaryless career frameworks, and the next generation of career concept, including integrative frameworks, hybrid careers, and the kaleidoscope career model, are discussed. These models and theories all focus on the change in the concept of career management for individuals. This change occurred because of the developments taking place in this era, including economic aspects, globalization, and technology. This review aims to improve our understanding of careers in today’s dynamic work environment, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid changes that Saudi Arabia is witnessing at all levels. The challenges facing individuals in career advancement during this period are different from previous ones, so researchers should study the effects of the pandemic on changing the behavior of individuals towards the concept of career management. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of current theories and offers major questions for future research.

Generational differences in career perspective: applying kaleidoscope career model

Generational differences in career perspective: applying kaleidoscope career model

Factors influencing career success of clinical nurses in northwestern China based on Kaleidoscope Career Model: Structural equation model.

AimTo explore the relationships among self‐efficacy, information literacy, social support and career success of clinical nurses and identify factors influencing clinical nurses' career success in northwestern China.BackgroundUnderstanding the influencing factors of career success is important for the professional development of nurses and the improvement of clinical nursing quality. Many influencing factors of career success have been identified, but there is no large‐scale research on the relationships among self‐efficacy, information literacy, social support and career success of clinical nurses based on Kaleidoscope Career Model. Studies examining the association of the four factors remain limited.MethodsA total of 3011 clinical nurses from 30 hospitals in northwestern China were selected in the cross‐sectional survey, and the response rate was 94.71%. The clinical nurses completed the online self‐report questionnaires including self‐efficacy, information literacy, social support rating scale and career success scale. The data were analysed by SPSS23.0 statistical software using t test, analysis of variance, Pearson's correlation and multiple linear regression. Structural equation model (SEM) was used to analyse the influencing factors of career success using Mplus 8.3.ResultsThe career success of clinical nurses in northwestern China was at a medium level. The linear multivariate regression analysis showed that self‐efficacy (β = .513), social support (β = .230), information support (β = .106), information consciousness (β = −.097), information knowledge (β = .067), information ethics (β = −.053), hospital grade (β = .118), marital status (β = −.071) and age (β = −.037) entered regression equation of clinical nurses' career success (all P < .05). SEM results showed that the career success was negatively correlated with demographic characteristics and positively correlated with social support and self‐efficacy.ConclusionDemographic characteristics, self‐efficacy, social support and information literacy are the influencing factors of nurses' career success, which should be considered in the process of promoting nurses' career success.Implications for nursing managementNursing managers need to acknowledge the significance of nurses' career success both for the realization of their own value and for the improvement of clinical nursing quality. They should encourage nurses to enhance self‐efficacy and render more social support through incentive policies and foster nurses' information literacy through information technology training so as to improve their career success.

Running their own show: Malaysian women entrepreneurs’ kaleidoscope careers

PurposeConsiderable research has been conducted to highlight women's career decisions to opt-out of corporate positions, but little is said about those who leave to become entrepreneurs. The purpose of this paper is to theorize kaleidoscope career parameters in relation to entrepreneurship stages and demonstrate the role of macro-national context (i.e. government initiatives and cultural practices) in women entrepreneurs' career choices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors interviewed 34 Malaysian women entrepreneurs (MWEs) who were established in their careers and explored the following two research questions: (1) what career parameters are prioritized at different entrepreneurship stages? and (2) how does macro-national context influence women entrepreneurs' careers?FindingsAdopting a kaleidoscope career lens, the authors show that authenticity was prioritized during the initial entrepreneurship stage, while balance and challenge were prioritized during the establishment and business advancement stages, respectively. The authors demonstrate that government support was conducive to women's decision to opt-in and stay in the entrepreneurship path. The findings also denote that cultural practices facilitated women's pursuit of entrepreneurship by encouraging family members to support women entrepreneurs in their career choices and actions.Originality/valueThe qualitative approach enabled us to specify the context-specific meaning women entrepreneurs in our study associated with authenticity, balance, and challenge. In doing so, this research extends the kaleidoscope career model to better understand women's career patterns at different entrepreneurship stages.

Authentic Talent Development in Women Leaders Who Opted Out: Discovering Authenticity, Balance, and Challenge through the Kaleidoscope Career Model

We investigated the parameters of authenticity, balance, and challenge as viewed through the lens of the Kaleidoscope Career Model to discern the career motives of women who opted out and then returned to the workforce. We also were interested in comparing women and men in their leader practices. We triangulated quantitative and qualitative methods to explore these phenomena. First, in Study 1, 2009 individuals completed both the Kaleidoscope Career Self Inventory (the KCSI) as well as an abbreviated version of Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory (the LPI). Participants rated their needs for authenticity, balance, and challenge on the KCSI as well as their leader practices of challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, modeling the way, enabling others to act, and Encouraging the Heart. Women were found to exceed the leader practices of men, and women were most interested in authenticity. In Study 2, situational mapping and life history process was used to determine themes of eight high-achieving women who opted out. We interviewed an additional 15 women to deeply understand and assess their opt-out and re-entry experiences as well as “career shocks” they experienced upon returning to the workforce. Our second study offers a robust, deep, penetrating look into social ascription processes and endemic discriminatory social structures that hold women back from achieving advancement. To stop this “brain drain” of talent, we propose a series of actions for human resource professionals to develop the authentic leadership talent of women who reenter the workforce.