An investigation of career development programs,job satisfaction,professional development and productivity: the case of Taiwan

This study attempts to develop career development programs capable of responding to career needs at different career stages. The current implementation status of these career development programs in Taiwanese businesses is then examined, along with the level of satisfaction of R&D personnel with available career development programs. The relationship between the career development programs and job satisfaction, professional development and productivity is then examined, revealing an association between high satisfaction of R&D personnel with career development programs and high job satisfaction, professional development and productivity.     

The Career Advancement Prospects of Managers and Professionals: Are MIS Employees Unique?

The present study examined the career advancement prospects of MIS and non-MIS employees, as well as the relationships of career advancement prospects with job performance evaluations, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment for MIS and non-MIS professionals and managers. Participants included 134 MIS professionals and managers and 397 non-MIS professionals and managers of a large communications company. The results provided no evidence that MIS employees experience more restricted career advancement prospects than non-MIS employees. In addition, job performance evaluations generally had positive effects on career advancement prospects; career advancement prospects had a number of positive effects on job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment; and job satisfaction and career satisfaction had positive effects on organizational commitment. These findings are related to prior research, suggestions for future research are offered, and implications for the management of MIS employees are identified.     

Employability skills for future marketing professionals

This study investigates how digital transformation has disrupted the marketing career path by analysing the most in-demand marketing skills and identifying opportunities for future marketing professionals. Through a content analysis of job advertisements and a cross-country survey of marketing professionals, the study proposes a framework defining the skillset required of marketing professionals to start and move forward in their career. The study identifies five employability skill categories and 29 skills and capabilities. The relevance of such categories is also analysed across lowly and highly digitalised firms. This research contributes to the debate on the employability of new graduates and provides useful directions to universities, tertiary education institutions, and companies to support the marketing talents of the future.     

Do “protean” employees make better leaders? The answer is in the eye of the beholder

While the protean career (Hall, 1976, 2002) has been lauded for its advantages in helping individuals adapt to changing career contexts, it is not clear how this career orientation may impact how others perceive a person's leadership ability. In this study, we hypothesized that those with a protean career orientation would receive higher leadership ratings from subordinates and superiors, but lower leadership ratings from peers, in part based upon social comparison theory. Using structural equation modeling, our hypotheses regarding subordinates and peers were supported, but not with respect to superiors, who, along with peers, rated those with a protean career orientation lower in terms of transformational leadership as measured by the MLQ. We discuss potential reasons for these findings and the consequences for research and theory. Also, we examine the implications of this research for leadership development, workforce recruitment and retention, and possible generational significance.     

Deus ex machina? Career progress and the contingent benefits of knowledge management systems

Knowledge management (KM) systems are increasingly common in firms which promote self-managed careers and autonomy, such as professional service firms. Yet, whether or not KM systems provide real benefits is underexplored. Our focus is on the impact of KM use on the career progress of service professionals. We use recorded logs of employee KM system use and career progress data over a two-year period within a strategy consultancy to study the effect of KM use on career advancement speed. We present a contingency-based model to KM use effectiveness, showing that, although KM use generally boosts career progress speed, (a) benefits vary by seniority (more junior employees benefit more), (b) benefits vary by knowledge type (encyclopedic vs. social), with social knowledge use mattering more to career progress, and (c) those service professionals who tap a wider range of knowledge sources progress faster in their careers. We also find mediating effects, specifically that KM system use operates partly by accelerating the development of task-related skills. We draw the conclusion that KM systems contain neither a magical Deus ex machine for boosting employee performance and progress but nor do they warrant excessive skepticism, rather their impact on careers is contingent on employee needs.     

Perceived inequity, communal orientation and burnout: The role of helping models

A large amount of empirical evidence has shown that professional helpers who perceive inequity in their relationships with their clients experience burnout. However, in such a situation, communal orientation (a desire to give benefits in response to the perceived needs of others), has been found to buffer burnout. In the present study, this buffering effect was investigated from the perspective of helping models. French nurses ( n =60) and social workers ( n =68) completed a questionnaire designed to evaluate perceived inequity, communal orientation and burnout. The results showed that, as expected, the buffering effect of communal orientation greatly depends on the helping model. Among professionals who endorsed a medical model of helping (wherein recipients are expected to be relatively passive to get better), those high on communal orientation experienced a low level of burnout when they perceived inequity. However, among professionals with a compensatory helping model (wherein recipients are expected to be active to get better), not only had perceived imbalance no buffering effect but also it reduced personal accomplishment. It was speculated that with a medical model, a perceived imbalance in the relationships does not hinder the desire to respond to the perceived needs of others. However, within a compensatory model, a perceived imbalance probably impedes the self efficacy of professionals high in communal orientation, that is who desire to respond to the perceived needs of others.     

Stability and dominance in career success orientation in South Korean employees

This study explored whether career orientation is stable and whether predominant types exist by looking at the differences in specific demographic variables (age, years of work experience, employment level, gender, type of job and education level). These were examined through the framework of career success orientation in a Korean wireless communications company. The findings show that career success orientations were not the same by age, length of work experience, and employment level, and dominant career success orientations were based only on education level. The results imply that there are either generation differences or changes in career orientation and that theoretical re-investigation is needed in researching dominant career orientation by gender.     

An empirical analysis of the role of reference point in justice perception in R&D settings in Korea

This study examines the relationship of the respondent's reference point with regards to distributive and procedural justice in an R&D setting in Korea. The two characteristics: (1) the rewards difference between Korean public and private R&D institutes (the outcome level at the public R&D institutes is much less than that at the private ones), (2) and the similarity of procedures being used to determine R&D professional's rewards at both types of research institutes, provide an excellent real-life setting for studying the role of reference point. To avoid common method variance, we measured distributive and procedural justice separately. Consistent with the previous experiments, R&D professionals at the public R&D institutes indicated differentiated distributive justice levels according to R&D professionals' reference points. Results also showed that the presence of a social comparison other (suggested reference point) leads the R&D professionals at public R&D institutes to perceive procedural injustice. Finally, several theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.     

Employability management practices in the Polish ICT sector

This article examines current career thinking and employability management practices within the Polish Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The aim of this contribution is to identify career management problems and to determine obstacles for implementing employability management practices at a company level. Semi-structured interviews aimed at establishing company needs were conducted with 18 managers of small and medium-sized ICT enterprises in Poland. These firms appear to apply various developmental approaches to stimulate competitive advantage. Faced with a more demanding environment, firms aim for versatility rather than adopting simplified solutions. Managing the careers and employability of ICT professionals is acknowledged as vitally important for the survival and development of ICT companies.     

Career Mobility in a Global Era: Advances in Managing Expatriation and Repatriation

The surge of interest in expatriation and repatriation within the broader discourse on labor mobility of professionals and high-skilled labor, human capital development, and the theory and practice of people management serves as the backdrop to this paper. We propose that expatriation and repatriation be framed in the context of global careers and embedded in the wider social-economic environment of globalization through the lens of a career ecosystem theory. We chart the evolution of scholarly publications on career mobility over the past four decades and highlight current trends, in particular the emergence of self-initiated expatriation as a pivotal change in the direction of expatriation studies and derived practice. We assess the rigor of empirical findings, weigh theoretical underpinnings, offer a research agenda for future research, and outline managerial implications.     

The role of individual and organizational characteristics in feedback seeking behaviour in the initial career stage

The present study investigates whether the frequency by which employees seek informal feedback and the quality of the self-initiated feedback influences perceived career development. Furthermore, we investigated goal orientation and perceived learning culture, as antecedents of feedback seeking behaviour. Data were collected from 116 financial experts from various multinational corporations worldwide. Results show that particularly the quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors positively affects perceived career development. The quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors mediates the relation between the perceived learning culture and perceived career development. Furthermore, learning goal orientation directly relates to perceived career development. Last, our results highlight the significance of creating a learning culture in which informal feedback is stimulated. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Recent advances in HRD in Australia: application and implications for international HRD

Using a sample of 563 Australian professionals currently working overseas, we investigate the relationships between intention to repatriate and national identity, demographic variables, quality of life, career advancement, personal networks, social context, and situational characteristics. Our findings show that national identity, length of time already spent overseas, quality of life available in the home country, employment in a multinational enterprise (MNE) and expatriate location were predictive of intention to repatriate to Australia. This research has implications for individuals, employers and government policy with regard to the management of talent flows of skilled workers.     

Market orientation research: a qualitative synthesis and future research agenda

The prominence of market orientation as a core organizational concept, as well as recent discussions about its contributions and shortcomings, suggest that it is time to assess the large and expanding body of research surrounding the construct. Our research takes a systematic qualitative approach to assessing extant research on market orientation, identifying problems, patterns, and paradoxes in the literature. Specifically, we provide an integration of the burgeoning empirical research on market orientation, based on a thorough synthesis of articles published over more than 25 years of inquiry. Bringing together the different strands of inquiry that have guided knowledge accumulation on market orientation, we are able to identify major theoretical gaps and omissions in the literature. We also find that while market orientation research has made considerable strides over the years, much work still needs to be done as voids remain that need to be addressed in future investigations.

     

Those Glass Chains that Bind You: How British Muslim Women Professionals Experience Career,Faith and Family

This paper contributes to gender and diversity research through proposing a new theoretical construct: glass chains. We develop ‘glass chains’ as a metaphor to illuminate how highly educated British Pakistani Muslim women professionals in the UK negotiate a fine balance between faith, family and personal ambition. Using a qualitative approach, we highlight tensions between religious and familial guidance within Islam, and workplace practices. Drawing upon the construct of ‘glass chains’, we articulate how 37 British Pakistani Muslim career women felt bound, by invisible glass chains, to the tenets of their faith. We show how the pull of glass chains obliged these women to resist certain career‐advancing opportunities. In so doing, we borrow from French philosopher Michel Foucault ideas about self‐oriented moral codes, engaging with his arguments that individuals may prioritize, over other obligations, the ties (or glass chains) which bind them to personal value sets in order that they may become ‘ethical selves’. While previous glass metaphors highlight barriers to female progression from external and structural angles, ‘glass chains’ are, by contrast, concerned with the potential for internal and personal constraints on women's ambitions. The metaphor ‘glass chains’ may be extended to enhance understanding of career constraints among other workers.     

Crescendo Model of Career Motivation and Commitment: Identity, Insight, and Resilience

This paper provides an experiential exercise to increase understanding of employees' career motivation and commitment and its relation to employees' perception of identity, insight, and resilience. Three separate conditions influencing employee attraction to career orientation are self-identity, insight, and resilience. These three component dimensions of employee career motivation are outlined and used to define an eight-phase crescendo model through which individuals tend to pass in their decision to form an affective career commitment. The analysis supports the notion of a stepwise movement from identity to insight to resilience in strengthening employees' career motivation and demonstrates how progressive phases are associated with career commitment. Although the levels and phases are progressively prepotent and valenced in predicting employee propensity to form an enduring career commitment, different patterns and paths through the phases for individuals are indicated.     

Examining the Influence of the Social Cognitive Factors and Relative Autonomous Motivations on Employees’ Knowledge Sharing Behaviors

By incorporating the perspectives of social cognitive theory and relative autonomous motivations, this study examines a model that depicts the influence of personal and environmental factors on employees’ knowledge sharing behaviors (KSBs). Data that were collected from 294 professionals in the industry were analyzed using component‐based structural equation modeling to examine the proposed model. The research results indicate that trust, relationship orientation, knowledge sharing self‐efficacy, and relative autonomous motivation regarding KSBs are the key influencing factors of KSBs of professionals. A key implication is that managers must consider the impact of the level of employee‐perceived autonomous motivation when they seek to facilitate KSBs. Finally, the theoretical and practical contributions are discussed, followed by the suggestions for future research directions.     

Organisation of new product development in Asia and Europe: results from Western multinationals R&D sites in Germany,India, and China

From research on Western new product development (NPD) practices a rich body of literature has emerged. However, the impact of country specific and cultural influences has not been examined in this context yet. This study is a first attempt to identify differences in NPD practices between Research and Development (R&D) subsidiaries in Germany, China and India within multinational companies. Data has been generated by qualitative interviews with R&D executives in those countries across multiple cases. The study samples strategic, organizational and operational aspects indicates definite differences in process coordination, rewarding systems, market orientation and the average age of NPD teams. Other aspects like strategic targets, the management involvement, etc. show rather slight differences across the countries. Hence, findings suggest that while some aspects are universally applicable across cultural frontiers, Western companies have to understand different expectations regarding NPD in India and China by adjusting practices accordingly.     

Professional vitality and career success: Mediation,age and outcomes

We propose a model that explains the complex phenomenon of successful career at work, and focuses on the antecedents of professional vitality at the workplace. The model sheds light on the role of professional vitality as an essential ingredient for successful careers. Using a survey design, we tested our model with a sample of 545 managers and professionals. The findings suggest effects of career attitudes on career outcomes, mediated by professional vitality. The relationship between professional vitality and age at work environment forms an inverse U shape curve, peaking at age of fifties, an optimistic note for the global aging workforce.     

Pot Noodles,Placements and Peer Regard: Creative Career Trajectories and Communities of Practice in the British Advertising Industry

The increasingly unpredictable, individualized and short‐term nature of the labour market is evident in the careers of advertising creatives. We explore the career trajectories of 48 creative professionals in the British advertising industry, using theories of situated learning and communities of practice to illustrate how the collective remains important to individuals' career prospects. Creatives learn their craft by becoming immersed in the multiple, inter‐related communities that constitute the advertising world during the demanding ‘pre‐peripheral’ and ‘peripheral’ stages of their career. Learning through immersion continues throughout the journey from the periphery to the centre, since creatives participate in a competitive, tight‐knit creative community, actively engaged in social networking and constantly monitoring each others' creative output. Creatives' legitimacy (and power) is earned by winning peer regard for their work. The nature of the learning required changes as each stage of the creative trajectory brings different motivations and pressures, but the processes of learning, the mutual shaping of individual and community, and the identity work involved are evident throughout creative career trajectories.