Academic careers: The limits of the ‘boundaryless approach’ and the power of promotion scripts

Dany, Françoise; Louvel, Séverine; Valette, Annick

doi:10.1177/0018726710393537

Cited by 138 publications

(154 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…However, research indicates, compared to objective factors, subjective evaluations more strongly affect individual career decisions (Huang et al 2010) and job outcomes (De Witte and Näswall 2003). Also in the context of higher education, academics differ in their subjective assessments of objective insecurity and in their behavioural responses (Dany et al, 2011;Dowd and Kaplan 2005). A theoretical rationale for the high significance of subjective evaluations is provided by the theory of reasoned action by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975).…”

Section: Conceptualising Career Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes academic careers less insecure? The role of individual-level antecedents

Ortlieb

Weiss

2018

High Educ

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The early stages of an academic career are fraught with insecurity. By focusing on the individual and his or her background, this article sets out to analyse and develop theories for this insecurity. We see academic career insecurity as a mix of how much someone wants to pursue a job in academia and what they feel is the probability of reaching their goal. The article draws on concepts of boundaryless careers and protean careers to theorise about the antecedents of insecurity. Empirical analysis is based on survey data from early-career researchers at a large Austrian university. The findings indicate that the most important individual factors that reduce academic career insecurity are the willingness to be geographically mobile, self-attribution of previous career success, a high proportion of working time devoted to research and networking, as well as being at an advanced career stage. The article demonstrates the potential and limits of the boundaryless and protean career concepts for studying academic careers. Practical measures are that universities should provide early-career researchers with temporal space for research and networking, facilitate stays at other universities, inform them about career success factors, and tailor faculty development programmes to the distinct stages of academic careers.

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Section: Conceptualising Career Insecuritymentioning

confidence: 99%

What makes academic careers less insecure? The role of individual-level antecedents

Ortlieb

Weiss

2018

High Educ

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“…The importance of social structure in shaping careers is also reflected in the presence of more or less clearly defined career scripts (Dany, Louvel and Valette, 2011) depicting expected actions, guidelines and career trajectories to follow. For example the careers of academics are often viewed as unfolding across the boundaries of different research projects and universities.…”

Section: Towards a New Understanding Of Career Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bounded or boundaryless? An empirical investigation of career boundaries and boundary crossing

Rodrigues¹,

Guest

Budjanovcanin

2016

Work, Employment and Society

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The article argues that the long-running debate between organizationally bounded and boundaryless careers has been too narrow and neglects the variety and distinctive characteristics of career boundaries. Drawing on boundary theory, it investigates the main career-relevant domains and boundaries, and the motivations and structural conditions that influence boundary crossing or having a career within a specific domain among a sample of professional pharmacists. The qualitative study shows that careers are enacted within a number of relevant domains and are shaped by a range of boundaries such that boundarylessness and embeddedness are coexisting career dimensions. It also reveals how even within a professional population careers are embedded within diverse social and cultural contexts that impose differing constraints on career mobility. The article therefore provides a fuller, more nuanced understanding of career boundaries and contemporary careers.

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“…With regard to how the two professional fields are organized, flexibilisation, deregulation and liberalisation tendencies have been observed (Dany et al, 2011).…”

Section: The Mobile Work and Careers Of Academics And Artistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Moving to stay in the same place?’ Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’

Loacker

Śliwa

2016

Organization

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This paper provides insights into mobility in the context of geographical, economic, professional, temporal and imaginary movements of academics and theatrical artists.It explores how these dimensions of mobility intersect in the narratives of academics and theatrical artists, thereby producing a position 'in between' choice and necessity, and privilege and disadvantage with regard to movement. The analysis shows how both academics and theatrical artists engage in mobility to secure, maintain or improve their professional and economic position. On this basis, we suggest that they are part of an emerging category of professionals: the 'mobile middle', for whom mobility is a crucial part and principle of life. We argue that the phenomenon of the 'mobile middle' and mobility in general have wide-ranging implications for our understanding of contemporary careers, work and life organization.

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Academic careers: The limits of the ‘boundaryless approach’ and the power of promotion scripts

Cited by 138 publications

References 45 publications

What makes academic careers less insecure? The role of individual-level antecedents

What makes academic careers less insecure? The role of individual-level antecedents

Bounded or boundaryless? An empirical investigation of career boundaries and boundary crossing

‘Moving to stay in the same place?’ Academics and theatrical artists as exemplars of the ‘mobile middle’

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