Careers: Mobility, Embeddedness, and Success

Abstract

This article proposes refinements of the constructs of career mobility and career embeddedness and reviews the array of factors that have been found to energize (discourage) employees to change jobs, organizations, and/or occupations. The article also reviews the literature on career success and identifies which types of mobility (and embeddedness) are most likely to lead to objective career success (e.g., promotions) and subjective career success (e.g., career satisfaction). In the final section, the article revisits the utility of viewing careers as “boundaryless” and suggests alternative frameworks for future research on these topics.

Protean and boundaryless career attitudes: relationships with subjective and objective career success

“…Following the definition of protean and boundaryless career attitudes, subjective career success is often considered as one major indicator of success; consequently, studies in this field focus on subjective career success (De Vos and Soens 2008;Hall 2002). However, research on mobility as well as on predictors of career success suggests that it may be promising to predict objective career success by protean and boundaryless career attitudes (Abele and Spurk 2009b;Feldman and Ng 2007).…”

“…Furthermore, previous research has focused mainly on subjective career success. Yet, considerations from career mobility research (e.g., Feldman and Ng 2007) suggest that career attitudes might also be associated with objective success.…”

Protean and boundaryless career attitudes scales: Spanish translation and validation

“…The boundaryless career focuses on career enactment (Weick, 1996) and has been defined as "a sequence of job opportunities that goes beyond the boundaries of a single employment setting" (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1994: p307), capturing career moves crossing physical and psychological dimensions (Briscoe et al, 2006;Sullivan & Arthur, 2006). Arthur and Rousseau (1996) identified six different meanings of the boundaryless career, arguing that it is a complex concept that, apart from emphasizing inter and intra-organizational mobility, encompasses careers that can be extrapolated to employees' perceptions of the desirability or instrumentality of increased mobility (Feldman & Ng, 2007). Whereas some authors have approached boundaryless careers uniquely considering physical changes in work arrangements (Jones, 1996;Saxenian, 1996), Sullivan and Arthur (2006) emphasize the need of viewing mobility as measured along two continua (physical and psychological), in order to bring greater precision to research endeavours.…”

The Role of High-Performance Work System on Career Success: Evidence from Jordan

“…Objective career success indicators center around career advancement, increased extrinsic motivations and rewards such as bonuses based on work output, movement up the career ladder, prizes and professional honors (Feldman and Ng, 2007;Seibert et al, 2001). Research on career success has traditionally focused on objective career success, using observable and measureable indicators such as pay level and work status, which can be easily noticed by other parties (Afiouni and Karam, 2014).…”

“…Subjective career success is an evaluation of how an employee views their career; criteria are based on pointers regarding commitment and satisfaction; therefore, it is a reflection of their perceptions, emotions, and attitudes toward their career (Feldman and Ng, 2007). When evaluating success based on a subjective scale, employees may also evaluate their success in terms of managing their work-life balance and a sense of fulfillment (Ituma et al, 2011).…”