Zella King

Career self-management: Its nature, causes and consequences☆

Abstract In a recent special issue [Journal of Vocational Behavior 59 (2001) 284], scholars noted that the field of vocational psychology needs a better understanding of career self-management. This article proposes a conceptual framework of career self-management, based on Crites’ [Vocational Psychology, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969] model of vocational adjustment. It argues that people use three types of career self-managing behavior (positioning, influence, and boundary management) as adaptive responses to career development tasks. These behaviors are used to respond to or eliminate thwarting conditions or career barriers, and thereby lead to vocational adjustment. Suggested determinants of this behavior are self-efficacy, desire for control, and career anchors. Career self-management can enhance perceptions of control over the career, leading to career satisfaction, but it may also be associated with negative outcomes and maladjustment. The framework is suggested to apply both to bounded ‘organizational’ careers and to more flexible, improvised careers. The article concludes by considering the implications for research and practice.

The ‘bounded' career: An empirical study of human capital, career mobility and employment outcomes in a mediated labour market

Many scholarly attempts to ascribe meaning to contemporary employment have adopted terms such as ‘new’ or ‘boundaryless’ careers.We argue that it makes more sense to conceptualize careers as ‘bounded’ than as ‘boundaryless’. We argue that careers are bounded by prior career history, occupational identity and by institutional constraints imposed by ‘gatekeepers’ to job opportunities. We present an empirical study of employment outcomes in a mediated labour market. Drawing on placement history and CV data from IT professionals, we examine the impact of occupation-specific human capital, prior career mobility and agency relationships on the probability of being shortlisted for a vacancy. We find that a candidates prior history with the recruitment agency is a more important factor than occupation-specific human capital in determining access to job vacancies, indicating that intermediaries structure labour market opportunities. Even in a high-turnover industry, prior career mobility has a negative effect on access to permanent vacancies.

Anticipatory Sorting and Gender Segregation in Temporary Employment

We examine the roots of gender segregation in the screening process by using a longitudinal data set of candidates considered for temporary projects at a staffing firm and following their progress through the hiring pipeline. Theories invoked to explain gender segregation across jobs traditionally rely on firm-specific human capital and expectations of future commitment to explain this phenomenon. These do not apply in this setting. Yet we find that the staffing firm is more likely to shortlist women for low-paid projects and less likely to do so for high-paid ones. These effects are due to women being considered for different projects than men, and associated at least partially to the level of competition within vacancies. Although client companies also exhibit some gender-sorting behavior in the later steps of the hiring process, they are more likely to prefer women and less likely to sort them into lower-paid projects. Our findings are consistent with “anticipatory gender-sorting” mechanisms, by which first screeners generate segregation when narrowing down the pool of candidates for later decision makers. We discuss the implications of this case for theories of gender stratification and workplace inequality, especially in mediated labor markets. This paper was accepted by Jesper Sorensen, organizations.

Contested terrain in careers: A psychological contract model

In this article we extend consideration of differences of interest in employment relationships to career issues. Two sets of interests — those of employing organizations and of individual workers — often make careers ‘contested terrain’ in which organizations pursue strategic advantages and individuals personal advantages. The contestation is contextualized by current trends to individualized employment relations and a focus on managerial, professional and technical work. The two interest sets mirror a disjuncture between two disciplinary bases, the ‘vocational’ base underpinned by psychology and the ‘strategic human resource management’ (SHRM) base, underpinned by economics. We develop a ‘psychological contract’ model, in which both individuals and organizations invest knowledge capital in the other with a view to obtaining long-term returns. We consider the implications of our analysis and model for career management by both individuals and organizations, for future research on careers, and for the interdisciplinary study of careers in an integrated ‘career studies’.