Working as a self-employed professional, freelancer, contractor, consultant … issues, questions … and solutions?

McKeown, Tui; Leighton, Patricia

doi:10.1017/jmo.2016.45

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Increased evidence of boundaryless career orientations among expatriates underlines the growing importance of internal career characteristics for their career decisions (Wechtler, Koveshnikov, & Dejoux, 2017) but there has been limited examination of SIEs' career decisions. Given that Gratton (cited in McKeown & Leighton, 2016) suggested an ageing world population will have multiple stages of life and a much wider array of ways of working into older ages, self-initiated expatriation is likely to form part of working in different life stages.…”

Section: Self-initiated Expatriates (Sies) As Boundaryless Careeristsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business, pleasure or both?: motivations and changing motivation of self-initiated expatriates

Despotovic

Hutchings

McPhail

2022

Journal of Management & Organization

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Responding to calls for more knowledge about the motivations (and changing motivations) of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), this qualitative research examines 58 Australian SIEs working in culturally (dis)similar host contexts, to address the question: Why are Australian SIEs motivated to expatriate to South Korea or the United Kingdom? The findings demonstrate that, although personal/lifestyle considerations are important to SIEs, career-related considerations are either primary or become more prevalent following expatriation. The findings reveal that, while SIEs expatriate with particular motivations, over time their motivations may change as other factors determine desire to stay/leave a host country. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), the research highlights variations in extrinsic and intrinsic motivations of SIEs including those who intended to utilise their expatriation as part of a boundaryless career and those who unintentionally found themselves focused on career. Knowledge of (changing) motivations is salient to organisations' selection decisions and support for international employees.

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Section: Self-initiated Expatriates (Sies) As Boundaryless Careeristsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Business, pleasure or both?: motivations and changing motivation of self-initiated expatriates

Despotovic

Hutchings

McPhail

2022

Journal of Management & Organization

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“…The demand for the listed professions is primarily since both direct and reverse remote communication with these specialists is possible without significant loss of information. The results of the work of these employees are program codes, articles, translations, graphics, etc., and these results can be easily transmitted over the Internet using e-mail and file sharing (McKeown & Leighton, 2016). In addition, modern technologies make it possible for employees and employers to interact online, it also allows more complex communication processes, for example, sessions of simultaneous group work on different versions of the program (Melián-González & Bulchand-Gidumal, 2020).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Problems of agency work during the coronavirus crisis: A case of Kazakhstan

Atsiyeva

Balabiyev²,

Zharkenova

et al. 2021

Problems and Perspectives in Management

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The study was carried out based on a survey among 115 Kazakhstani employees and 49 employers to understand attitudes to online employability during the coronavirus crisis and related problems to such format of work. Employees were presented by 32% of Generation Y (born between 1985 and 2002), 44% of Generation X (born between 1964 and 1984), 13% of Baby Boomers (born between 1944 and 1963), and 11% of Silent Generation (born before 1943). As for employers, they were presented by 28% of Generation Y, 51% of Generation X, 16% of Baby Boomers, and 5% of Silent Generation. The result reveals that the format of work has been 46% full-time online, 49% part-time online, 5% mix of full and part-time format. The same pattern was observed among employers with 60% confirming the use of remote online work of staff within the framework of self-isolation, although 31% switched to the part-time online format of work and 9% used a mix of full and part-time. At the same time, only about 7% of the workers and 11% of employers previously had such a practice, and for the majority, such work became an absolutely new experience. Most of 85% of Generation Y and 76% of Generation X have the sufficiency of digital skills and ability to work online, while 42% of Baby Boomers and 67% of Silent Generation experienced difficulties. In terms of problems, both employees and employers prioritize organization policies, communication, and law relationship.

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“…They have a contract for services rather than of service and do not have the same employment rights and responsibilities as employees. Rather than building an enterprise to grow and then be sold on, they engage in independent and self-supporting work that centres on a product, service or idea (Gratton in McKeown & Leighton, 2016).…”

Section: Self-employmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional Fluidity: Reconceptualising the Professional Status of Self-Employed Neo-professionals

Cross

Swart

2020

Organization Studies

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Current debates and definitions of professionalism are primarily grounded in organisations, either as employing bureaucracies or service firms, that control and structure expert labour. This is problematic as it neglects the many neo-professionals that are self-employed. We draw on interviews with 50 independent consultants and find that, outside of organisational boundaries, they pursue a strategy of professional fluidity. This is a relational and market-driven approach that requires a multiplicity of roles and chameleon-like tactics. As opposed to notions of collegial, organisational and corporate professionalisation, professional fluidity is a co-constructed and agentic approach where validity and legitimacy are achieved primarily through relations with clients and collaborators rather than institutions or employing organisations. Through professional fluidity we contribute to a more holistic understanding of professionalism that is sensitive to the employment mode rather than knowledge domain and develops existing notions of who is a professional. This is important for wider debates on the current and future state of professions.

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Working as a self-employed professional, freelancer, contractor, consultant … issues, questions … and solutions?

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Business, pleasure or both?: motivations and changing motivation of self-initiated expatriates

Business, pleasure or both?: motivations and changing motivation of self-initiated expatriates

Problems of agency work during the coronavirus crisis: A case of Kazakhstan

Professional Fluidity: Reconceptualising the Professional Status of Self-Employed Neo-professionals

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