817: Innovating for the Future of Careers: Innovative Pathways for Researching Sustainable Careers (17006)

Organizer(s)

• AD

  Ans De Vos

  U. of Antwerp/ Antwerp Management School, Belgium

Participant(s)

• AK

  Alison Konrad

  Western U., Canada
• LM

  Lucas Monzani

  Ivey Business School, Canada
• JR

  Jenifer Robertson

  U. of Western Ontario, Canada
• MM

  Maria Mouratidou

  U. of Cumbria, UK, United Kingdom

Presenter(s)

• JA

  Jos Akkermans

  Vrije U. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Participant(s)

• BV

  Beatrice Van Der Heijden

  Radboud U. Nijmegen, Netherlands
• AD

  Ans De Vos

  U. of Antwerp/ Antwerp Management School, Belgium
• AH

  Annabelle Hofer

  U. of Cologne, Germany

Organizer(s)

• JA

  Jos Akkermans

  Vrije U. Amsterdam, Netherlands
• BV

  Beatrice Van Der Heijden

  Radboud U. Nijmegen, Netherlands

Presenter(s)

• RM

  Rodrigo Mello

  U. of Vaasa, Finland

Participant(s)

• AF

  Anneleen Forrier

  KU Leuven, Belgium

Presenter(s)

• JZ

  Jelena Zikic

  York U., Canada
• AR

  Aniqa Rehman

  Macquarie Business School, Macquarie U.

Participant(s)

• DJ

  Denise Jepsen

  Macquarie Business School, Macquarie U., Australia

Presenter(s)

• MG

  Mirit Grabarski

  Lakehead U., Canada

In a context of rapid and disruptive change, there is a need for innovations in the way careers are being conceived, researched and managed. In recent years, the topic of sustainable careers has received increased interest from scholars as a promising perspective to understand contemporary careers, as evidenced by various academic publications. Sustainable careers research focuses on the dynamic interplay of person, context, and time to study how person-career fit can enhance the long-term sustainability (i.e., happiness, health, and productivity) and success of people’s careers. Recent research has applied the sustainable career model to, for example, the challenges of career sustainability for different groups of workers, the processes involved in career sustainability over time, and the interplay of multiple stakeholders in different contexts affecting sustainable careers. However, there is a need for further (critical) examination of the key relationships between context, person and time in affecting career sustainability as well as in the meaning of and interplay between its key indicators (health, happiness, productivity). There is a need to further develop and expand existing models with more specific concepts to allow for targeted empirical research testing the basic principles of career sustainability. Therefore, this symposium brings together five state-of-the-art research projects that each add a valuable phenomenon that expands and deepens the model of sustainable careers: (1) digitization, (2) multiple job holding, (3) career empowerment, (4) career sacrifice, and (5) sustainable career orientation. The first paper addresses the pertinent challenges for careers brought along by rapid digitization and provides a comprehensive review of empirical studies addressing how the increase in various types of digital tools impacts individuals' career trajectories. In the second paper, the enriching versus depleting impact of multiple jobholding on career sustainability is explored through a qualitative study, thereby considering the dimensions of person, context and time. The third paper builds upon the interplay between person and context and addresses the role of the leader in stimulating career empowerment as a vehicle for career sustainability. The fourth paper takes a sensemaking perspective to theorize about career sacrifice valuation as a process which may explain whether and how unconventional and sometimes imperfect decisions may still lead to sustainable careers over time. In the fifth paper, the concept of sustainable career orientations is introduced and operationalized via a scale validation study, aimed to further our understanding of who might be more or less likely to focus on establishing high levels of career sustainability. Taken together, the five papers included in this symposium provide new insights into the meaning of sustainable careers, offering suggestions for further refinement, adaptations, and empirical examination.

Presentations:

• 13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  817: Digitalization and Sustainable Careers: A Literature Review and Research Agenda (17006)
  

  Author: Rodrigo Mello – U. of Vaasa
• 13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  817: Multiple Jobholding and Career Sustainability (17006)
  

  Author: Aniqa Rehman – Macquarie Business School, Macquarie U.

  Author: Denise Mary Jepsen – Macquarie Business School, Macquarie U.

  Author: Grant Michelson – Macquarie U.
• 13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  817: Empowering Sustainable Careers (17006)
  

  Author: Mirit K. Grabarski – Lakehead U.

  Author: Alison M. Konrad – Western U.

  Author: Lucas Monzani – Ivey Business School

  Author: Jenifer Lynn Robertson – U. of Western Ontario

  Author: Maria Mouratidou – U. of Cumbria, UK
• 13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  817: How Sustainable are Sacrifices: Career Sacrifice Valuation as Unconventional Career Decision Making (17006)
  

  Author: Jelena Zikic – York U.

  Author: Anneleen Forrier – KU Leuven
• 13:15 – 14:45 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

  817: Conceptualization and Measurement of Sustainable Career Orientations (17006)
  

  Author: Jos Akkermans – Vrije U. Amsterdam

  Author: Beatrice Van Der Heijden – Radboud U. Nijmegen

  Author: Ans De Vos – U. of Antwerp/ Antwerp Management School

  Author: Annabelle Hofer – U. of Cologne