Careers in context: An international study of career goals as mesostructure between societies' career‐related human potential and proactive career behaviour
University of Bamberg1, Athens University of Economics and Business2, University of Toronto3, University of San Andrés4, Waseda University5, VU University Amsterdam6, University of Tennessee7, Pan-Atlantic University8, Bocconi University9, University of Malawi10, University of Belgrade11, Dublin City University12, Northern Illinois University13, Hansung University14, University of Bath15, University of Victoria16, Toulouse Business School17, Cranfield University18, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven19, BI Norwegian Business School20, Donghua University21, University of Padua22, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts23, Boston University24, Macquarie University25, Istanbul University26, University of Ljubljana27, Kookmin University28, Simon Fraser University29, Indian Institute of Management Indore30, University of Salzburg31, University of Los Andes32, International Islamic University, Islamabad33, Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad34, University of Hamburg35, University of Vaasa36, York University37
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters, and national statistical data was used to examine the relationship between societal context and actors' career goals (career mesostructure) and career behaviour (actions).
Abstract: Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organisational‐level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviours are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalise societal context using the career‐related human potential composite and aim to understand if and why career goals and behaviours vary between countries. Drawing on a model of career structuration and using multilevel mediation modelling, we draw on a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters, and national statistical data to examine the relationship between societal context (macrostructure building the career‐opportunity structure) and actors' career goals (career mesostructure) and career behaviour (actions). We show that societal context in terms of societies' career‐related human potential composite is negatively associated with the importance given to financial achievements as a specific career mesostructure in a society that is positively related to individuals' proactive career behaviour. Our career mesostructure fully mediates the relationship between societal context and individuals' proactive career behaviour. In this way, we expand career theory's scope beyond occupation‐ and organisation‐related factors.
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13 Jan 2010
TL;DR: The 2013 Human Development Index (HDI) as discussed by the authors covers 187 countries, the same number of countries as in 2012 and 2011, and is used to assess the human development of a country.
Abstract: How many countries are included in the 2013 HDI? The 2013 HDI covers 187 countries, the same number as in 2012 and 2011. Maintaining the same number of is the result of intensified efforts by the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) to work with international data providers and national statistical agencies to obtain required development indicators for the HDI which had been unavailable for some countries in previous years. For a full explanation of the results and methodology of the 2013HDI and other indexes in the 2014 Human Development Report, please see the Technical Notes 1-5. What does the HDI tell us? The HDI was created to emphasize that people and their capabilities should be the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country, not economic growth alone. The HDI can also be used to question national policy choices, asking how two countries with the same level of GNI per capita can end up with different human development outcomes. For example, Malaysia has GNI per capita higher than Chile but life expectancy at birth is about 5 years shorter, mean years of schooling is shorter and expected years of schooling is 2.5 years shorter resulting in Chile having a much higher HDI value than the Malaysia. These striking contrasts can stimulate debate about government policy priorities. Did the HDI rankings change for many countries in 2013? Based on the consistent data series that were available on 15 November 2013, there are few countries with changed ranks between 2012 and 2013. The HDI values for 2012 and 2013 are given in Table 1 of Statistical Annex. The HDI trends since 1980 are given in Table 2. In this table we also provide the change in ranks between 2008 and 2013. We advise users of the HDR not to compare the results from different Reports, but to use the consistent data given in Table 2 of the latest report. The consistent data are based on the latest data revisions and are obtained using the same methodology. The effect of change in achievements (improvement or declining) in human development indicators of
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21 Jul 2021
TL;DR: The Gini coefficient as discussed by the authors is a more complete measure of income inequality, considering the entire income distribution, and it indicates that income inequality is rising overall, and that the increasing disparity of income in the U.S. over the past 30 years results from skill-biased technological change that has benefited higher-skilled workers.
Abstract: Between 1947 and 1974, income growth was distributed fairly evenly among households in various income groups. However, income inequality has increased over the past 30 or so years. Since the mid-1970s, real income growth for households at the 95th percentile of the distribution has grown at a pace nearly 3/2 times that of households at the 20th percentile. A similar pattern holds between men and women. The Gini coefficient (lower-left chart), a more complete measure of income inequality, considers the entire income distribution. It indicates that income inequality is rising overall. One explanation holds that the increasing disparity of income in the U.S. over the past 30 years results from skill-biased technological change that has benefited higher-skilled workers. The skill-biased hypothesis asserts that technology improvements boost the productivity (and hence the income) of skilled labor by more than it does the unskilled. Since the 1980s, demand for skilled labor has kept pace with the relatively greater supply of skilled workers (as estimated by the rising proportion of college-educated workers), exerting upward pressure on wages for higher-skilled workers. Since the early 1980s, the average real wage has risen roughly 30% for male college graduates and nearly 50% for males with a postgraduate degree. 0 25 50 75 100 125
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References
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Journal Article•
62 citations
TL;DR: In the early 1970s, the international operations of most companies were largely export activities of ethnocentric organizations as discussed by the authors. Expatriate assignments spelt career doom, distancing the exile from the headquarter politics of a successful career.
Abstract: No less than twenty years ago, the international operations of most companies were largely export activities of ethnocentric organizations. Expatriate assignments spelt career doom, distancing the exile from the headquarter politics of a successful career. Surveys in the mid-70s of Fortune 100 companies revealed that 90% of top executives had no foreign experience. There were of course a few exceptions, notably the corporations that were transnational by origin like Shell and Unilever, and firms with most of their turnover outside the smaller mother country. How many consumers realize that Nestle is in fact a Swiss firm, though only 2% of its sales and 4% of its employees are Swiss-based?
61 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the relationship between proactive career behaviors and two aspects of subjective career success (financial success and work-life balance) and the moderating role of national culture and found that career proactivity was relatively more important for subjective financial success in cultures with high in-group collectivism, high power distance, and low uncertainty avoidance.
Abstract: Although career proactivity has positive consequences for an individual's career success, studies mostly examine objective measures of success within single countries. This raises important questions about whether proactivity is equally beneficial for different aspects of subjective career success, and the extent to which these benefits extend across cultures. Drawing on Social Information Processing theory, we examined the relationship between proactive career behaviors and two aspects of subjective career success—financial success and work-life balance—and the moderating role of national culture. We tested our hypotheses using multilevel analyses on a large-scale sample of 11,892 employees from 22 countries covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters. Although we found that proactive career behaviors were positively related to subjective financial success, this relationship was not significant for work-life balance. Furthermore, career proactivity was relatively more important for subjective financial success in cultures with high in-group collectivism, high power distance, and low uncertainty avoidance. For work-life balance, career proactivity was relatively more important in cultures characterized by high in-group collectivism and humane orientation. Our findings underline the need to treat subjective career success as a multidimensional construct and highlight the complex role of national culture in shaping the outcomes of career proactivity.
60 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply and develop Barley's model of career structuration to offer insights into the transition into portfolio working and show how individuals have drawn from existing scripts embedded in institutional forms but have also contributed to developing new career scripts, such as portfolio working.
Abstract: Purpose – To apply and develop Stephen Barley's model of career structuration to offer insights into the transition into portfolio working.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study methodology is used. Interviews were conducted with managers who had left the National Health Service to develop portfolio careers.Findings – The adoption of the Barley model of career structuration as a sensitising device has made it possible to show how individuals have drawn from existing scripts embedded in institutional forms but have also contributed to developing new career scripts, such as portfolio working. Their enactment of career scripts is a dynamic process whereby they impact back on those scripts in both intentional and unintentional ways. Thus the transformative capacity of individual career actions is asserted but, critically, alongside awareness of constraints as bound up in structures which have salience for individuals and for collectives.Research limitations/implications – This is a study based...
59 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors show that low corruption and high female representation are two characteristics of elite quality that go closely together and help make formal democracy increasingly "effective." However, the quality of elites is not an inherently independent phenomenon but is shaped by a pervasive mass factor: rising self-expression values that shift cultural norms toward greater emphasis on responsive and inclusive elites.
Abstract: This article demonstrates that low corruption and high female representation are two characteristics of elite quality that go closely together and help make “formal” democracy increasingly “effective.” However, the quality of elites is not an inherently independent phenomenon but is shaped by a pervasive mass factor: rising self-expression values that shift cultural norms toward greater emphasis on responsive and inclusive elites. Self-expression values, in turn, tend to be strengthened by growing human resources among the masses. Considered in a comprehensive perspective, these various components are linked through the emancipative logic of Human Development: (1) human resources, (2) self-expression values, (3) elite quality, and (4) effective democracy all contribute to widen the scope of human autonomy and choice in several aspects of people’s lives, including their means and skills, their norms and values, as well as their institutions and rights.
57 citations
"Careers in context: An internationa..." refers background in this paper
...Hence, gender equality should improve with socio-economic development (Welzel, 2002), demonstrating how the socio-economic and the institutional components of the CHPC are interrelated....
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