Katharina Chudzikowski

In search of the blue flower? Grand social theories and career research: The case of Bourdieu’s theory of practice

Responding to the various calls for more interdisciplinarity in career research over the last few decades, we identify five touchstones for theoretical concepts to advance the interdisciplinary dialogue on careers. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, we outline its contributions to such a dialogue in the light of these touchstones. In spite of some potential pitfalls, the theory of practice not only invites interdisciplinary dialogue, but also provides a unifying framework for generating new questions in career research and systematically integrating concepts from other disciplines. Overall, this is but one example of how grand social theories can stimulate interdisciplinarity in career research.

Career transitions and their causes: A country-comparative perspective

This empirical paper investigates how individuals conceptualize causes of career transitions, focusing on the three European countries of Austria, Serbia, and Spain in comparison to the USA and China. Collectively, these countries represent four separate cultural regions according to Schwartz. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of three occupational groups: business people, nurses, and blue-collar workers. Analysis of the data generates greater insight about the existence of both region-specific patterns as well as potentially universalistic tendencies regarding perceived causes of career transitions. Perceptions of internal (to the person) drivers of career transitions as activating forces are evident in all five countries. The overall results support contemporary notions of occupational careers that are highly individualized, a characterization strongly emphasized in the current career literature. In the European culture clusters, causes of career transitions are attributed internally and externally. China, representing the Confucian cultural region, stresses external causes for career transitions. By contrast, in the USA only internal attributions of causes are reported.

Career success across 11 countries: implications for international human resource management

This qualitative study examines perceived meanings of career success across 11 countries. The results show that people define career success in ways that enrich and illuminate the basic dichotomy of objective and subjective career success and establish their relative strengths across countries. Juxtaposing our data with human resource management (HRM) practices, we contribute to the universalist versus contextualist debate in HRM by adding the career management angle. We shed light on the relative importance of cultural and institutional factors for HRM in the area of careers and add a global perspective to the discussion about agentic careers. In our discussion we offer practical suggestions for multinational companies including how to individualize HRM to address diverse views of career success.

Mehr Unabhängigkeit im neuen Karrierekontext? Der Kampf um Arbeit und die rosa Brille der Karriereforschung

Karrieren sind ein zentrales Phanomen individueller Erwerbsleben, die in organisationalen und gesellschaftlichen Kontext eingebettet sind. Im deutschsprachigen Raum wird Karriere stark mit hierarchischem Aufstieg verbunden, in der englischsprachigen Literatur ist sie definiert als „the unfolding sequence of a persons work experience over time“ (Arthur et al. 1989a: 8, Arthur et al. 1989b: 8) und stellt ein bedeutendes Konzept an der Schnittstelle von Individuum, Organisation und Umwelt dar. Die starke Verbindung von Karrieren mit dem organisationalen, institutionellen und okonomischen Umfeld hat zur Folge, dass Kontextanderungen Karrieren elementar beeinflussen.

Human Resource Development in Austria: A Cultural Perspective of Management Development

Cultural sensitivity is of central importance when dealing with human resource practices such as recruitment, selection, or development. There is voluminous literature devoted to cultural values at a general level. These studies are based on surveying attitudes or values of respondents in large samples from different countries, and they provide general frameworks for understanding cultures as a whole. Not surprisingly, these models lack specificity when it comes to predicting and understanding specific HRD practices (Klarsfeld et al., 2004). Only a few writers (Budhwar et al., 1998; Segalla et al., 2001a, b; Sparrow, 1996) apply a more cultural lens to work-related issues. Thus, the application of this cultural perspective to the development of human resource practices is limited. Especially scarce is empirical research that addresses different cultural approaches to the training and development of managers in organizations. In these very few studies (Derr, 1987; Klarsfcld et al., 2004; Ramirez et al., 2005a) that actually deal with management development (MD) from a cultural perspective, Austria is never considered. This chapter describes MD in Austria and offers explanations derived from its cultural values and institutional environment.