Protean and boundaryless careers: A study on potential motivators

This paper conceptually links hypothesized scales of the Motivation Questionnaire (SHL (1992). Motivation questionnaire: Manual and users’ guide. Thames Ditton: SHL) to the underlying dimensions of the protean (values-driven and self-directedness) and boundaryless career (physical and psychological mobility) attitudes. Results of regression-analyses (N = 13,000) confirmed most of the hypotheses in terms of the influence of gender, age, education, and managerial experience on motivators linked to the underlying dimensions. A cluster analysis that was conducted to explore how many profiles can be observed when matching work motives to the protean and boundaryless careers, resulted in four motivational groups (Protean career architects, Trapped/lost, Hired/hired hand, and Curious/wanderer). The clusters are discussed in light of the current career literature and provide empirical support for the latest theorizing about the protean and boundaryless career models. Managerial implications and directions for future research are offered.     

promoting employability in a “flat” world

T. L. Friedman (2005) described a “flat” world platform where competition and collaboration take place in real time among people all over the planet. Implications exist for people to assume responsibility for managing their own careers and ensuring their own security in a global economy. This article addresses those challenges from both the individual's and the career counselor's perspectives. It proposes the “intelligent career” framework—comprising 3 “ways of knowing” and interdependencies among them—as a helpful basis for effective career development. People can use the framework to navigate their careers in order to develop new skills, develop broader reputations, and in turn sustain employability.     

Career transitions and career success in the ‘new’ career era

The ‘new’ career, most notably the boundaryless career, is associated with high career mobility, which is in turn associated with employability and career success of individuals. The current study examined how frequency, form (organisational, horizontal or vertical) and impact (objective career success) of career transitions have changed across two cohorts of Austrian business graduates (1970 and 1990) throughout the first 15 years of their careers (n = 291). Data for the study were collected by way of standardised questionnaires; participants' career transitions (n = 807) were plotted based on curriculum-vitae type lists of their successive jobs. This research examined two assumptions: (1) that careers have become more turbulent and complex and (2) that this is generally a positive evolution for individuals. Results indicate that overly dramatic claims about the ‘death’ of the traditional-organisational career need to be reconsidered.     

无边界职业生涯研究:二十年回顾与展望

当今社会个体职业生涯发展与管理的背景发生了巨大变化,无边界职业生涯应运而生,它指一种不限于单一雇佣范围的一系列就业机会的职业路径。文章在介绍概念及发展历程的基础上,综述了影响无边界职业生涯的四类因素,并指出以往研究在概念、发展现状、维度和影响广度等方面存在的争议。未来应该针对当前争议有目的地展开研究,界定更加清晰的概念,扩展对无边界职业生涯类型的研究,以及这种流动环境在更深层上对个体以及组织的影响。     

Rethinking Gibbard’s Riverboat Argument

According to the Principle of Conditional Non-Contradiction (CNC), conditionals of the form “If p, q” and “If p, not q” cannot both be true, unless p is inconsistent. This principle is widely regarded as an adequacy constraint on any semantics that attributes truth conditions to conditionals. Gibbard has presented an example of a pair of conditionals that, in the context he describes, appear to violate CNC. He concluded from this that conditionals lack truth conditions. We argue that this conclusion is rash by proposing a new diagnosis of what is going on in Gibbard’s argument. We also provide empirical evidence in support of our proposal.     

Can career self-directedness be improved through counseling?

We examine the learnability, antecedents and outcomes of career self-directedness using a longitudinal dataset of Flemish career counseling clients. The results show that the career counseling clients improved their career self-directedness during the counseling and that this improvement lasted for at least 6 months. Furthermore, we found career self-directedness to be explained in a significant way by self-awareness and adaptability, two competences identified by Hall [Hall, D. T. (1996). Protean careers in the 21st century. Academy of Management Executive, 10(4), 8-16; Hall, D. T. (2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1-13] as crucial for steering one’s career. Also, career self-directedness related positively to training participation, job mobility and career satisfaction. The main implications of our findings for the protean career and the career counseling literature are discussed.     

Managerial aspirations of high school seniors: A comparison of males and females

Empirical research in the past has indicated that young people are generally not oriented toward managerial careers and that females are less so than are males. However, the greater career orientation of today's students, recent changes in societal values, persistent attempts by women to obtain equality, and federal legislation expressly forbidding discrimination may have changed this situation by the late 1970s. A survey of 2112 high school seniors in the state of Alabama was conducted to investigate these issues. Results indicate that few high school seniors aspire to management careers and that sex continues to be a major discriminator. The “male managerial model” continues to be reinforced by the values and attitudes of society as reflected in its young people.     

An integrative review of sensory marketing: Engaging the senses to affect perception,judgment and behavior

I define “sensory marketing” as “marketing that engages the consumers' senses and affects their perception, judgment and behavior.” From a managerial perspective, sensory marketing can be used to create subconscious triggers that characterize consumer perceptions of abstract notions of the product (e.g., its sophistication or quality). Given the gamut of explicit marketing appeals made to consumers every day, subconscious triggers which appeal to the basic senses may be a more efficient way to engage consumers. Also, these sensory triggers may result in consumers' self-generation of (desirable) brand attributes, rather than those verbally provided by the advertiser. The understanding of these sensory triggers implies an understanding of sensation and perception as it applies to consumer behavior—this is the research perspective of sensory marketing. This review article presents an overview of research on sensory perception. The review also points out areas where little research has been done, so that each additional paper has a greater chance of making a bigger difference and sparking further research. It is quite apparent from the review that there still remains tremendous need for research within the domain of sensory marketing—research that can be very impactful.     

Examining career persistence and career change intent using the career attitudes and strategies inventory

This is the first study to examine Holland and Gottfredson’s [Holland, J. L., & Gottfredson, G. D. (1994). Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory: An inventory for understanding adult careers. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.] assertion that the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory (CASI) is a useful instrument for differentiating career persisters and career changers. Based on Holland’s (1996; Holland and Gottfredson) [Holland, J. L. (1996). Exploring careers with a typology: What we have learned and some new directions. American Psychologist, 51, 397-406.] expectations and empirical evidence it was hypothesized that persisters (expressed intent to remain in current career) would score higher than changers (expressed intent to change career) on the Job Satisfaction, Work Involvement, Skill Development, and Geographical Barriers scales comprising the CASI. Conversely, it was hypothesized that changers would score higher than persisters on the CASI scales measuring Dominant Style, Career Worries, Interpersonal Abuse, Family Commitment, and Risk-Taking Style. To test these hypotheses, 249 career persisters and 200 career changers completed the CASI. Results indicated that changers were more likely to take risks and were more motivated towards skill development, while persisters were more satisfied in their jobs and reported greater career concerns.     

Career trajectories of Dutch pop musicians: A longitudinal study

Systematic studies of artistic careers are scarce and this is the first large-scale study on the career development of pop musicians. Using a prospective longitudinal approach we followed a sample of aspiring pop musicians in the Netherlands (N = 369) over a three-year period. First we identified four groups of pop musicians with different career patterns, that is, upward careers, downward careers, stable successful careers and stable unsuccessful careers. By means of a multigroup growth mixture model we examined how career success was influenced by social support, professional attitude and professional network. Results showed that successful pop musicians experience more social support, have a stronger professional attitude and a more extensive professional network. Moreover, our study shows that these findings were consistent both between and within the different career pattern groups.     

Rules as the Impetus of Cultural Evolution

In this paper I put forward a thesis regarding the anatomy of “cultural evolution”, in particular the way the “cultural” transmission of behavioral patterns came to piggyback, through us humans, on the transmission effected by genetic evolution. I claim that what grounds and supports this new kind of transmission is a complex behavioral “meta-pattern” that makes it possible to grasp a pattern as something that “ought to be”, i.e. that transforms the pattern into what we can call a rule. (Here I draw especially on the philosophical insights of Wilfrid Sellars.) In this way I interlink empirical research done in evolution theory with some more speculative philosophical theories, thus shedding new light on the former and adding an empirical footing to the latter.     

Multiple mentoring in academe: Developing the professorial network

Previous studies in business organizations have shown that mentoring provides numerous benefits for both individuals and organizations. Most of this mentoring research has been based on traditional, hierarchical mentor-protégé relationships in non-academic settings. We discuss why there is little empirical research on faculty mentoring and review changes in professors’ careers that necessitate a fresh look at this issue. We suggest that because of environmental changes, the traditional model of professors being guided throughout their careers by one primary mentor, usually the dissertation advisor, may no longer be realistic or desirable. Instead, professors may be better served by a portfolio of mentors (Baugh & Scandura, 1999; Higgins & Kram, 2001) who facilitate the protégé’s development of career competencies. Building on the work of intelligent careers (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996), we examine how the career competencies of knowing why, how, and whom interact with learning demands to produce the need for faculty to develop multiple mentoring relationships across their academic career. We build on this conceptualization by considering the role of signaling of career competencies (Jones, 2002) in developing the professorial network, offering managerial implications in developing mentoring programs, and discussing avenues for future research.     

The “hot hand” reconsidered: A meta-analytic approach

ObjectivesExtensive searches for the “hot hand” have been performed in a variety of sports since the pioneering study of Gilovich, Vallone, and Tversky (1985), but empirical evidence for the existence of the effect is still fairly limited. The current review reconsiders the hot hand in sports using a meta-analytic approach.DesignMean effect size and 95% confidence interval were determined using a random effects model. Heterogeneity of the mean effect size was examined applying Cochran's Q test and the “75 percent rule”.MethodTo be included in the meta-analysis, studies had to provide an empirical investigation of the hot hand phenomenon related to sport and exercise behavior. Approximately 250 papers were located, but the final dataset included only 22 publications that met inclusion criteria, with 30 studies and 56 independent effect sizes. The articles extended over a period of twenty-seven years from 1985 until 2012.ResultsThe analysis of the effects yielded a minor positive mean effect size of .02, p = .49, using a random effects model, which is sufficient evidence for arguing against the existence of the hot hand. Due to the limited sample of studies available, only a few candidate-variables could be extracted and further examined as potential moderator variables. However, none of the considered variables had the power to explain the heterogeneity of effect sizes.ConclusionsThe present study provides additional support for Gilovich et al.'s claim that a general hot hand effect probably does not exist in sport. The scientific implications of this review for prospect advances in the field are presented and discussed.     

How ‘boundaryless’ are the careers of high potentials,key experts and average performers?

The talent management literature declares talent management a prime concern for HRM professionals while the careers literature calls talent management archaic. Three sets of assumptions identified through comparative review of both streams of the literature were tested in a large-scale survey (n = 941). We found more support for the assumptions advocated in the talent management literature. Those who organizations consider their ‘best’ people are more often found in traditional-organizational careers – both in terms of employer inducements and employee attitudes. Traditional–organizational careers yield more career satisfaction than careers displaying more boundaryless features. Individuals' career types are mostly determined by supervisor-rated performance, much more so than by personal career orientation.     

Women’s occupational career patterns over 27 years: Relations to family of origin, life careers, and wellness

This study aimed at identifying and describing occupational career patterns (OCPs) from age 16 to 43 by applying optimal matching techniques to sequence data obtained from a sample of Swedish women. Women’s occupational trajectories were found to be diverse. Upward mobility (3 patterns) and stable careers (4 patterns) were prevalent, but there were also women characterized by downward mobility, fluctuation and being outside the labor market (1 pattern each). Women’s OCPs were related to family of origin, but more strongly to their overall life career (i.e., multiple role constellations over the life course). The study indicates that occupational mobility patterns do matter in terms of job perceptions, work attitudes, and quality of life. The results generally confirm the popular belief of the advantage of upward mobility, followed by stable occupational careers, whereas women with downward or fluctuating careers fared worst.     

Eleven-year career stability and change as reflected in Project Talent data through the Flanagan,Holland, and Roe occupational classification systems

The vocational psychologist seeks classifications of occupations which maximize career stability as occupations change from time to time in the life. This study investigates the extent of career stability and the patterns of career change which have occurred in the lives of Project TALENT twelfth grade students in the 11 yr elapsing since they were tested. “Career” plans in the last year of high school and at 1, 5, and 11 yr after testing were classified by the Flanagan, Holland, and Roe occupational classification systems in order to study the career stability and patterning within each system and to contrast both among systems. Career stability proved to be about the same in all three classification systems but decreased in all cases as the interval over which it was measured increased. Career stability increased as subjects grew older, proving to be the greatest from 5 to 11 yr after high school. Patterns of change mildly conformed to the circular patterns claimed by Holland and Roe for their systems and the linear pattern hypothesized for the Flanagan system. Generally, the direction of “career” flow was away from intellectual careers to careers in business and sales but each system had unique results as well.     

A Cross-Cultural and Developmental Analysis of Self-Esteem in Chinese and Western Children

In this review, we examine the construct of self-esteem from a cross-cultural perspective in Chinese and Western children and adolescents. We also explore the role of childrearing practices in the development of self-esteem in these different cultures. In doing so, we first review the concepts of emic (i.e., variations in patterns of behavior within a given culture) and etic research (i.e., variations in common patterns of behavior or activities across cultures). Then, we invoke Berry's notions of “imposed-etic” and “derived-etic” approaches (J. Berry, 1989) in understanding crucial cross-cultural differences that are evident in the literature. We pose basic questions such as: (1) What does self-esteem “look” like in Chinese children? (2) How do childrearing practices in China influence the development of self-esteem in children? And, (3) what are the limitations of cross-cultural research in understanding a phenomenon such as self-esteem? We suggest that self-esteem does not “mean” the same things across these collectivist and individualistic cultures. We conclude our discourse with specific recommendations for clinical theory, research, and practice.     

Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration

While the constructs of protean and boundaryless careers have informed career theory for years, rigorous empirical examinations of these career models have lagged behind. This study seeks to redress this situation by constructing and developing four new scales to measure protean and boundaryless career attitudes. The scales related to protean career attitudes measure self-directed career management and values-driven predispositions. The scales related to boundaryless career attitudes measure boundaryless mindset and organizational mobility preference. The initial validation of these scales, consisting of three studies, demonstrates their reliability and validity.     

Increasing nontraditional career choices in women: Relation of attitudes toward women and responses to a career intervention

This study examined whether 80 college women, grouped according to their scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; J. T. Spence, R. Helmreich, & J. Stapp 1973 Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 2, 219–220), were differentially affected by a videotape career intervention. The videotape was entitled “Women: Choices and Changes,” and it focused on career development, broadly defined. It was developed as part of Project Born Free. A variety of outcome measures were used, including a brief measure of career decidedness, a measure of the traditionality of the women's own career choices and of the career choices they selected for their hypothetical daughters. In addition, two measures of self-efficacy were used, the Vocational Self-Efficacy Scale (Hackett & Betz 1981) and the Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale (K. M. Taylor & N. E. Betz 1983 Journal of Vocational Behavior, 22, 63–81). The results indicated that AWS scores were related to the traditionality of the careers chosen for the subjects' hypothetical daughters and to self-efficacy. Increases were found for the Career Decision Making Self-Efficacy Scale and on career decidedness. Careers chosen by the women for themselves and for their daughters were more non-traditional after the videotape intervention. These results are discussed and their implications for career counseling and future research are examined.