Sean T. Lyons

AN EMPIRICAL ASSESSMENT OF GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN BASIC HUMAN VALUES

This study assessed generational differences in human values as measured by the Schwartz Value Survey. It was proposed that the two most recent generations, Millennials and Generation Xers, would value Sell-enhancement and Openness to Change more than the two older generations, Baby Boomers and Matures, while the two older generations would value Self-transcendence and Conservation more. The hypotheses were tested with a combined sample of Canadian knowledge workers and undergraduate business students (N = 1,194). Two hypotheses were largely supported, although an unexpectedly large difference was observed between Millennials and Generation Xers with respect to Openness to Change and Self-enhancement. The findings suggest that generation is a useful variable in examining differences in social values.

How have careers changed? An investigation of changing career patterns across four generations

Purpose – Popular literature argues that successive generations are experiencing more job changes and changes of employer. The “new careers” literature also proposes that career mobility patterns are becoming more diverse as people engage in more downward and lateral job changes and changes of occupation. The purpose of this paper is to test these assertions by comparing the career mobility patterns across four generations of workers. Design/methodology/approach – The authors analyzed the career mobility patterns of four generations of Canadian professionals (n=2,555): Matures (born prior to 1946); Baby Boomers (1946-1964); Generation Xers (1965-1979) and Millennials (1980 or later). Job mobility, organizational mobility and the direction of job moves were compared across groups through analysis of variance. Findings – Significant differences were observed in job mobility and organizational mobility of the various generations, with younger generations being more mobile. However, despite significant enviro...

Comparing apples to apples: A qualitative investigation of career mobility patterns across four generations

Purpose – This study aims to compare the career patterns of Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials over the various stages of their careers to determine whether there have been notable shifts away from the “traditional” career model characterized by long‐term linear, upward career movement, toward a “modern” career model characterized by increased job mobility, organizational mobility and multi‐directional career movement.Design/methodology/approach – The retrospective career accounts of 105 Canadians were gathered through review of resume information and semi‐structured interviews. The job changes and organizational changes experienced by each respondent in each five‐year career period (e.g. age 20‐24, 25‐29) and the direction of job changes (i.e. upward, downward, lateral or change of career track) were recorded. The generations were compared statistically on each of these measures through analysis of variance (ANOVA).Findings – Significant inter‐generational differences were observed on...

Too Much to do, and Not Enough Time: An Examination of Role Overload

Publisher Summary The purpose of this chapter is to provide the theoretical framework from which role overload arises. This is followed by a discussion of the definitional issues associated with the role overload construct. The antecedents and consequences of role overload are presented and discussed. The theoretical underpinnings of the role overload construct can best be understood by examining the sociological theory of social roles. The term “role” refers to the pattern of behaviors expected and demanded of a person in a given social position by others within the social system. It provides a theoretical framework for understanding role overload and discusses the issues involved in defining the role overload construct. It then reviews the literature on the antecedents and consequences of role overload. Finally, it present findings from the 2001 Canadian National Work–Life Study that are pertinent to role overload and offers suggestions for research and practice. Here overload is defined as a time-based form of role conflict in which an individual perceives that the collective demands imposed by multiple roles (e.g., parent, spouse, employee) are so great that time and energy resources are insufficient to adequately fulfill the requirements of the various roles to the satisfaction of self or others. This definition incorporates a number of noteworthy conceptual points.

Anticipated Discrimination and a Career Choice in Nonprofit: A Study of Early Career Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) Job Seekers

As a stigmatized group, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered (LGBT) individuals are vulnerable to employment discrimination and receive little legal protection. They have had to cope with discrimination and engage in identity management to conceal their sexual identity. This study seeks to determine whether LGBT individuals, in anticipation of discrimination, have lower initial career expectations, espouse more altruistic work values, and make career choices based on those work values, when compared to heterosexual individuals. Using data from a large survey of postsecondary students, we found that LGBT individuals, after controlling for age, visible minority status, and major of study, reported lower salary expectations than heterosexual individuals. LGBT individuals were also more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to espouse “altruistic” work values and to indicate a career choice in the nonprofit sector. We suggest that “altruism” may be an important work value that is related to a career choice in the public and nonprofit sectors.

Changing Demographics and the Shifting Nature of Careers Implications for Research and Human Resource Development

Research on human resource development is needed to empirically document the changing nature of careers among successive generational cohorts of workers. This article offers a conceptual framework for examining shifting careers, which accounts for important demographic shifts occurring in the labor force. Our research framework provides a comprehensive set of career-related variables (including career expectations, experience, and outcomes) for investigation. We illustrate the need to consider confounding influences of other demographic shifts in the study of changing careers, using the Canadian context as an illustrative example. We further argue that generational differences may be confounded with gender, immigration, and socioeconomic effects, and therefore, all three effects need to be considered simultaneously with generation. We identify some of the challenges faced by organizations in adjusting to these shifts and conclude with directions for future research.

Dual-Income Families in the New Millennium: Reconceptualizing Family Type

The problem and the solution. To assist employees in their pursuit of balance, human resource development practitioners must recognize that different family types face different challenges and require different approaches to promoting work—family balance. Early research in this area defined family type very simply: Both partners worked for pay outside the home or both partners had careers. Changes in the demographic profile of families and in the nature of work have rendered this typology obsolete. This article proposes a new, expanded conceptualization of family type that recognizes four family types: dual-career, dual-earner, new-traditional, and status-reversal.

Millennials’ work values: differences across the school to work transition

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether work values vary across different life and career stages in a sample of Millennials. Design/methodology/approach – The sample for this study was comprised of 906 Canadian Millennials (born between 1980 and 1994). Findings – Pre-career and working Millennials varied in terms of the importance they placed on five work values – interesting work, achievement, good co-workers, doing work that helped people and salary – although these differences were small in magnitude. This suggests that Millennials’ work values are relatively stable as they grow older and gain work experience. Research limitations/implications – A large body of research citing generational differences relies upon cross-sectional studies which compares different generations of individuals at different life stages, thus making it impossible to disentangle whether the differences are a result of generational or life-cycle effects. The findings that the importance of work values shift...

Generational career shift: Millennials and the changing nature of careers in Canada

Since the publication of Foot and Stoff man’s (1998) influential work Boom, Bust and Echo, there has been a lot written about understanding the social and economic behaviors among the different generations in Canada. The concept of “generations” is rooted in sociological theories. Members of the same generation share common experiences, such as events and circumstances, and tend to exhibit a general range of shared characteristics, beliefs and behavioral patterns (Howe and Strauss, 2007). Although definitions of specific generations may vary across different countries and cultures (Deal et al., 2010), there is awareness that the Millennials (those born on or after 1980 to 1995) are a unique generation, having beliefs, values and attitudes different from those of previous generations (Loughlin and Barling, 2001; Smola and Sutton, 2002). Members of a generation experience similar life events or circumstances at similar times in their lives (for example, living through the events of September 11, 2011), and thus form similar values, beliefs and attitudes which shape their behaviors (Howe and Strauss, 2007; Verne, 2011). The generational construct has been deemed to be a meaningful variable in organizational research (Lyons et al., 2007) and has been used to predict a host of individual and work-related outcomes such as work values (Cennamo and Gardner, 2008; Parry and Urwin, 2011), employee motivation (Jurkiewicz and Brown, 1998; Wong et al., 2008), career and organizational commitment (Blythe et al., 2008), work ethic (Meriac et al., 2010; Smola and Sutton, 2002), job satisfaction (Westerman and Yamamura, 2007) and turnover intentions (Kowske et al., 2010).

Resilience in the modern career

Purpose – Career resilience (CR) is an increasingly important, but under-researched aspect of modern careers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effect of CR on the relationships between personality factors, career self-evaluations and modern career orientation and the outcome of career satisfaction (CS). The authors hypothesized that CR would be positively associated with the “big-5” personality factors, career self-evaluations (self-efficacy and external locus of control) and modern career orientations (protean and boundaryless orientations) and that CR would mediate those variables’ relationships with CS. Design/methodology/approach – The participants in the study were 1,988 employed managers and professionals. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships and mediation model. Findings – CR mediated the relationships between CS and emotional stability, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, internal work locus of control, career sel...