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ICP ’08 July 22nd. Has the meaning of "career" shifted? A vignette study exploring four generations’ career-related attitudes. Nicky Dries, Roland Pepermans & Evelien De Kerpel. « Career » is…. societal context.
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ICP ’08 July 22nd Has the meaning of "career" shifted?A vignette study exploring four generations’ career-related attitudes Nicky Dries, Roland Pepermans & Evelien De Kerpel
« Career » is… societal context … a succession of related jobs, arranged in a hierarchy of prestige, through which persons move in an ordered sequence (Wilensky, 1961) political economic historical socio-cultural … the combination and sequence of roles played by a person during the course of a lifetime (Super, 1980) shared social understanding of « career » … the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time (Arthur, Hall & Lawrence, 1989) generations < trends
Four generations … an identifiable group that shares birth year, age location, and significant life events at critical development stages (Kupperschmidt, 2000) W O R K V A L U E S G E N E R A L V A L U E S Silent Generation 1925-1945 Obedience Loyalty Obligation Security Conformism Maturity Conscientiousness Thrift Great Depression World War II Baby Boomers 1946-1964 Idealism Creativity Tolerance Freedom Self-fulfillment Challenge Workaholism Criticism Innovativeness Materialism Kennedy-King assassinations Moon landing Vietnam War 1960s social revolution Generation X 1965-1980 Free agency Learning Entrepreneurship Balance Individualism Skepticism Flexibility Control Fun AIDS First contraceptive pills 1973 oil crisis Cold War Balance Passion Learning Willingness to work Collectivism Positivity Moralism Confidence Civic mindedness Generation Y 1981-2001 Fall of the Berlin Wall Internet 9/11- War on Terror
Research questions (N = 750) 1. Do people from different generations have different career types? Pearson chi-square test of independence: differences were found ► Relative decrease of bounded (traditional) career type with generation ►In overall sample, 57% had a bounded career type 2. Does the importance attached to organizational security differ between generations? One-way ANOVA: differences were found ►Silent Generation: more importance attached than Baby Boomers and Generation X ►Generation X: less importance attached than Generation Y ►Silent Generation (oldest) and Generation Y (youngest) value organizational security most! 3. Do people from different generations evaluate career success differently? One-way repeated measures ANOVAs: effects were found 4 (generations) x 5 (level/salary/promotions/promotion speed/satisfaction) x 2 (low/high) ►Overall, satisfaction and salary had the largest main effects ►Interaction effects were quite small, but main effects get more prominent with each generation ► Prominence of satisfaction in all generations + an increase over generations
Limitations and implications Limitations Vignettes = abstract task, high cognitive load Influence « current climate » vs « climate growing up »? Influence of social desirability and cognitive dissonance reduction? Implications: Operationalization and measurement of career success Need for more research on subjective measures of success Organizations: more diversified approach to « career success »
Any feedback? nicky.dries@vub.ac.be downloads available at http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ndries/