Career commitment among social workers: The contribution of personal, organizational, and vocational factors

Despite today’s considerable changes in the labor market, studies on the career commitment of social workers remain scarce. The current study focuses on the personal, organizational, and vocational factors of social workers’ career commitment. The study included 251 social workers from various organizations in Israel. Findings show that their career commitment is positively correlated with Protean and Boundaryless career patterns, as well as with their perceived career success. These findings could contribute in developing tools that could increase social workers’ career commitment, which in turn would enable them to be more effective at work, to the benefit of their clients.

Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitude as Determinants of Well-being Among Indian IT Temporary Agency Workers

The growth of temporary and non-standard employment arrangements post liberalization drives temporary agency workers (TAWs), especially of the information technology (IT) sector, to be agents of their own career identities. As a result, TAWs embrace self-managed/adaptable career management approaches namely protean career (PCO) and boundaryless career (BCO) orientations for their long-term sustainability and well-being. This study investigated the direct effects of PCO and BCO on TAW’s well-being, also, their indirect effects thorough perceived employability (PE). Study participants were 246 TAWs employed by leading Indian IT recruitment agencies and deployed to work for various IT clients. Data were collected through validated questionnaire and analysed through structural equation modelling. Findings confirm direct effects of PCO and BCO on TAW well-being and partial mediation effects of PE. Thus, to boost TAWs’ well-being, organizations may consider developing their protean attitudes via employee engagement programmes, staff agencies through counselling to map workers values/interest with their assigned projects, TAWs workers themselves proactively participating in the challenging assignment at the client place.

Work Engagement of Employees in Moonlighting: A Moderated Mediation Model From a Boundaryless Career Perspective

Using a panel of 324 Chinese employees in public sectors, this paper examines the work engagement of employees in moonlighting with the proxy of boundaryless career orientations. We divided work engagement into job engagement and organizational engagement and test their relation to boundaryless career orientations. The results demonstrate that boundaryless career orientations are positively related to job engagement via the mediating effects of role conflicts, and negatively related to organizational engagement through the mediating effects of the relational psychological contracts. Moreover, organizational climate for openness moderates the negative correlation between boundaryless career orientations and role conflicts. There is no significant evidence provided for a moderating effect of organizational climate for openness between boundaryless career orientations and relational psychological contracts.

Influence of Protean and Boundaryless Career Dimensions on Career Satisfaction

The aim of the article is to assess the extent to which employee career satisfaction depends on the implementation of new career models, i.e. the protean career and the boundaryless career. In order to achieve this goal, the article reviews the literature and research in this area and formulates research hypotheses assuming the impact of each dimension of both career models on career satisfaction. To test the hypotheses, an empirical PAPI study was conducted among 239 postgraduate students. Statistical analyses carried out on the collected empirical data show that a self–directness and boundaryless mindset have a positive impact on career satisfaction, while organizational mobility has a negative impact.

A retrospective view from traditional to boundaryless career and career success

An increasingly dynamic career context has changed the nature of careers and led to the emergence of more autonomous and self-directed boundaryless careers. The common idea in different forms of boundaryless careers is mobility. Psychologically and physically mobile individuals start to manage their own careers in terms of their personal pursuits. In such a career environment, the nature of career success has also changed. The importance of subjective career success has been emphasized more than objective career success because only individuals themselves can meaningfully define and assess their career success with reference to their own self-defined standards, needs, and values in such an unstable environment. With the transmission of career responsibility to the individuals, the need to develop career competencies as knowing why competencies, knowing whom competencies, and knowing how competencies emerge in order to survive and become successful. This study reviews career concept and the new perspectives as a boundaryless career within a constantly changing environment which makes it impossible to become successful unless gaining new competencies and survival methods and the new perspectives on career success with a growing increase in subjective career success instead of objective career success

The route to well-being at workplace: examining the role of job insecurity and its antecedents

PurposeThe current study focuses on the role of antecedents to prevent perceived job insecurity and mitigate its negative impacts on work-related well-being. The study examined variables of the resourceful environment (effective organizational communication and involvement), conserved resources (perceived employability and emotional exhaustion) and resource loss (job insecurity) by drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory for predicting the work-related well-being adding the moderating role of boundaryless career orientation.Design/methodology/approachA sample of 306 salespersons of pharmaceutical companies working in Pakistan was obtained. The hypothesized relationships were tested through structural equation modeling in SmartPLS.FindingsThe results confirmed showed that the organizational communication, employee involvement and perceived employability reduce the perceived job insecurity; however, the emotional exhaustion was positively related. It also confirmed the moderating effect of boundaryless career orientation on relationship of job insecurity and well-being.Practical implicationsTo make employees engaged, the organizations are required to involve employees by sharing knowledge, information and power to make decisions, value their opinion and ensuring the employability. Further, salespersons having a preference of a boundaryless career proved to mitigate negative impact of job insecurity on work-related well-being.Originality/valueMany empirical studies have identified that the perceived job insecurity is one of the major concerns affecting employee's well-being. However, few studies simultaneously have sought to prevent the perceived job insecurity among employees. The findings are important in developing the understanding that how salespersons perceive their capabilities and the work environment of the organization, this perception; resultantly, can influence their behaviors particularly the work engagement dimension of well-being.

Turkish Academicians' Doctoral Processes

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the doctoral adventure of academicians working in Turkish higher education institutions within the framework of boundaryless career theory. Qualitative method was used to collect in-depth information. A two-stage process was followed in determining the participants of the study. Firstly, academicians who have completed their doctoral studies abroad will differentiate in social and human capital care, the ones who completed their doctorate in Turkey. Secondly, as the foundation of the independent identity of academicians, which is the most fundamental basis of boundaryless career theory, may change according to the institutionalization level of the universities. Participants were selected from a university with high-level institutionalization and a university with low-level institutionalization. The topics that stand out in the research can be listed as enjoyable aspects and difficulties of being an academician, competence of academics, relationship between advisor and academic career, meaning of the doctorate thesis, academic resistance.