Sustainable Career Development in the Turbulent, Boundaryless and Internet Age

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About this Research Topic

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Background

With the impact of globalization and intensification of information technology, the ideas and practices of enterprise management are also changing rapidly nowadays. A practice that was incompletely unheard of yesterday may soon become a model for everyone to learn from tomorrow. The development of information technology has blurred the boundaries between work and non-work, and employees today have more options to work from home. At the same time, the family structure has also become more diversified, with different types of income structures, bringing many possibilities for work and family care models. In addition, the government’s social policies, such as school-to-work transitional regulations and the extended retirement age, suggest that people today may face a quite different labor market situation, compared to other generations. As individuals are facing longer and more complicated working life, it is very important to ensure their long-term employability by creating a healthy and successful career. Career sustainability is a key issue, and it is particularly the case for vulnerable groups, such as the underemployed, (re) employment of laid off workers and those who strive to balance between work and life. In this context, the term of sustainable career has come into being and aroused extensive discussion among many disciplines. It refers to “sequences of career experiences reflected through a variety of patterns of continuity over time, thereby crossing several social spaces, characterized by individual agency, herewith providing meaning to the individual” (Van der Heijden and De Vos, 2015, p. 7). At all key stages of the career life cycle, ranging from career starters, mid-career employees to the elderly, individuals face challenges in terms of career sustainability. As workers shift from the expectation of lifelong employment to the need to enhance their employability, it is crucial to enhance our understandings of the factors that contribute to the sustainable occupations of workers of all stages of life at different levels. Furthermore, the organizations and their human resources departments also face the challenge of career sustainability in terms of providing the welfare to the employees.

Faced with the ever-changing enterprise environment, how to effectively motivate and guide employees, and improve the effectiveness of human resources management in enterprises has become the biggest topic and challenge in the academic and management practices. And this is particularly the case under the current situation, where the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the careers has just begun. The main goal of this research topic is to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of career sustainability in different social contexts, and the practices including social policies that different levels of stakeholders (i.e., companies, schools, governments) use to enhance career sustainability, and the impact of latest changes including the emerging technologies with COVID-19 impacts career development.

The welcome subjects of this research topic include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
• Best practices to maintain the sustainable careers at multiple levels.
• Organizational management and its impact on the sustainability of careers.
• Roles of human resource and policy makers in sustainable career development.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution and sustainable careers.
• Social policy issues in the field of human resource management and career guidance.
• Integration of national culture and organizational culture into the sustainable careers.
• Measurement issues in sustainable careers.
• Platforms and other forms of youth work under the Industry 4.0 revolution;
• Other contemporary hot topics, such as social media, big data, artificial intelligence, globalization, and their applications and impacts on the organizational behavior and human resources management for sustainable career development.

Keywords: Sustainable Career, Employability, Underemployment and Reemployment, Work-life Balance, Organizational Practices, Human Resources Implications, Social Media, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Globalization, COVID-19, HRM Policy

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