The components of career capital for knowledge workers in the global economy

Abstract

The literature shows that the way in which knowledge workers manage their careers in the global economy has changed fundamentally in the last twenty years. Career capital is a tradable commodity between and within organisations which impacts both human resource managers and knowledge workers. There is insufficient empirical evidence of the components of career capital and how these are acquired and there has been a dearth of investigation as to whether career capital is managed differently in different industries. The research was conducted in two phases. The first qualitative phase via 21 in-depth interviews identified 27 components of career capital and 23 methods of career capital accrual. In phase two quantitative data was collected, using those constructs, from 200 knowledge workers in four sectors: the public service sector and in manufacturing, financial and high tech research and development industries. The research determined the most important career capital components and methods of their accrual and showed these to differ greatly between the four employment sectors. The data raises questions with regard to two important themes in the career literature.

Lost in time and space: temporal and spatial challenges facing older workers in a global economy from a career capital perspective

“…Table 1 we outline a number of organisational level, HRM issues and societal level, policy issues arising from our research propositions as the basis for further research. These issues derived from our critical synthesis of the literature on intelligent careers, with issues of time and space, contribute a new conceptual framework to debates about career capital (knowing-why, knowing-how, knowing-whom) (DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994;Arthur, DeFillippi and Jones, 2001;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010) with specific reference to older workers. By generating propositions for future research we contribute to crucial debates about the challenges facing older workers in extending their careers and the role of organisations and society in this process.…”

“…Drawing on the career capital literature (DeFillippi and Arthur, 1994;Arthur et al, 1995) which has more significance in dynamic global business contexts (Dickmann and Doherty, 2008;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010) we introduce differential levels of career capital (high versus low) and link these to specific temporal and spatial issues relevant to more globalised labour markets in order to develop a richer understanding of the issues relevant to older workers' careers in those nations which are experiencing population ageing. Thus, the definition of career that we are using is one which broadly assumes that it represents the trace, or path, of the intersection of the individual with the institution of work over time.…”

The driving force of action and the psychology of doing nothing

“…Both share the idea of advantage capitalization and the goal to become an effective career capitalist (Inkson, Arthur, 2001). Career capital (Bańka, 2006) is the main way to overcome procrastination, indecisiveness and negative doing nothing in a knowledge society and global economy (Lamb, Sutherland, 2010;Bloom et al, 2010). It is the basic antidote for recurring driving force collapses in discontinuity and instability.…”

Work innovations: transformation, micro-emancipations, or discursive shift?

“…Rifkin argues that technological advances and global forms of F. Hurd organisation are fundamentally changing the nature and structure of work, and threatening the future of work as it has traditionally been conceived. Concomitant developments in the management of employees, and specifically the development of human resource management practices, has led some to proclaim a transformed workplace for employees (Cappelli and Rogovsky, 1994;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010). Discursive framing of such practices includes such terms as tele-working (Sakamoto and Spinks, 2008), virtual workers, flexible hours, family friendly practices, diversity management (Klarsfeld and Bender, 2009;McVittie et al, 2008;Watson et al, 2009), organisational spirituality (Grzeda, 2008;Lips-Wiersma et al, 2009;Long and Mills, 2010;Pandey et al, 2009;Pawar, 2009;Poole, 2009;Zaidman et al, 2009).…”

“…Proponents argue that these changes constitute a transformation to the work landscape (Cappelli and Rogovsky, 1994;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010), both in terms of skill requirements, and in the underlying assumptions of the very nature of 'work'. Aligned with this view is the proliferation of discussions relating to knowledge work and workers (Alvesson, 2001;Graham, 2005;Lamb and Sutherland, 2010;Shaw et al, 2007;Steven, 2001;Thompson et al, 2001); discussions imbued with assumptions of flexibility and freedom for workers. It is also argued that these organisational conditions have 'created' a fundamentally different type of worker as 'self', 'the knowledge worker/creative worker', who demands different management practices and styles (Abbasi et al, 2009;Mitchell and Meacheam, 2011).…”