There are a lot of opinions about who Millennials are, what they think and value, and how they will behave as they grow older and gain more experience in the workforce. The relatively sparse empirical research published on Millennials is confusing at best and contradictory at worst. As noted in this article and others in this special issue, however, there are a few topics including work attitudes, long-term health outcomes, and personality factors on which we have reasonably solid data to inform us about current and likely future behavior of Millennials. We address the importance of context for understanding behavior of people in different generations, a subject often missing from the discussion of generational similarities and differences. There are implications for practitioners of what we know and for how context affects behavior. We make suggestions for how practitioners can use the data available to inform decisions they make about working with Millennials. Finally, we discuss the importance of new directions of research on generational differences to help both practitioners and the research community better understand the realities of generational similarities and differences and rely less on urban myths or stereotypes.

Millennials at Work: What We Know and What We Need to Do (If Anything)

Purpose – The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two‐phase, mixed‐methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.Findings – Results from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher‐order composite categories. In addition, findings illus...

An exploratory study of factors affecting undergraduate employability

Purpose – Although Generation Y has been extensively examined in the popular and academic literature, there have not been any studies to date that have identified the psychographic profile of this market segment using the VALS scale. The purpose of the research presented in this paper is to provide a segment characterization of Generation Y using the VALS typology and provide insights into the media habits of this population. Design/methodology/approach – The research sample consisted of subjects from Generation Y that were drawn from a population of college students. To determine the VALS types, participants completed the VALS survey in addition to responding to questions related to demographics and media habits. Originality/value – The results contribute to the literature by providing for the first time a segmented characterization of Generation Y consumers. The research provides a detailed perspective of this important market segment and provides marketers with insights on their values, attitudes, and ...

Generation Y values and lifestyle segments

Self-managing organizations: Exploring the limits of less-hierarchical organizing

Generational challenges to talent management: A framework for talent retention based on the psychological-contract perspective

Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of generational, contextual, and individual influences on Millennials’ career expectations.

Millennials' Career Perspective and Psychological Contract Expectations: Does the Recession Lead to Lowered Expectations?

The prominent role of competency development in enhancing the success of employees and organizations has drawn the attention of practitioners leading them to introduce competency development as a central part of their human resource practices. Unfortunately, this strong managerial interest has not been fully translated into the academic world, creating a gap between theory and practice. The main purpose of this study is to fill this gap by exploring the nature of competency development in 22 Flemish organizations through a longitudinal multiple case study design. By using a grounded theory approach, a framework has emerged mapping out the different steps of competency development in the participating organizations. As such, this study can be an important first step toward closing the gap between practice and theory concerning competency development in organizations.

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An integrative model for competency development in organizations: the Flemish case

Several economic, organizational and societal trends in the new work environment have emphasized the need for contemporary employees to take charge and build sustainable careers in which they remain employable, healthy and happy over the long term. To do so, employees need to proactively shape their own career trajectory through a series of important career decisions, such as the decision to move upwards, to become self-employed or to start working part-time. According to contemporary career theories, such as the kaleidoscope career, a key driver of career decisions is work–home balance. To date, however, it remains unclear how work–home balance drives career decisions. To get an insight into this process, we have developed a model explaining how employees’ experiences of low or high work–home balance induce feelings of frustration or satisfaction respectively, which stimulates employees to make different career decisions focusing on a reduction of job demands and/or an increment of job resources. These different career decisions, in turn, influence the sustainability of careers by impacting employees’ health and employability.

Building a sustainable career: the role of work–home balance in career decision making

The prominent role of competency development in enhancing the success of employees and organizations has drawn the attention of practitioners leading them to introduce competency development as a central part of their human resource practices. Unfortunately, the strong managerial interest in competency development was not fully translated into the academic world, creating a gap between theory and practice. The main purpose of this study was to fill this gap by unraveling the process of competency development in organizations. To this end, we adopted a longitudinal multiple case study design, gathering information from 22 Belgian organizations through organizational records, semi-structured interviews with HR managers and focus groups. By using a grounded theory approach, a framework emerged mapping out the different steps of competency development in organizations. Hence, this study can be an important first step towards closing the existing gap between practice and theory concerning competency development in organizations.

Sara De Hauw

Papers

Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability

Millennials' Career Perspective and Psychological Contract Expectations: Does the Recession Lead to Lowered Expectations?

An integrative model for competency development in organizations: the Flemish case

Building a sustainable career: the role of work–home balance in career decision making

Competency development in organizations: building an integrative model through a qualitative study