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The British Psychological Society
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2009), 82, 779–801 q 2009 The British Psychological Society
www.bpsjournals.co.uk
Generalizability of career orientations: A comparative study in Switzerland and Great Britain Marius Gerber1*, Anette Wittekind2, Gudela Grote1, Neil Conway3 and David Guest4 1
Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2 Hewitt Associates, Zurich, Switzerland 3 Department of Management and Organizational Psychology, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK 4 Department of Management, King’s College, London, UK This study examined the generalizability of types of career orientation. Exploratory latent class analyses were used to examine whether structurally the same career orientations can be found across a large sample of Swiss German (N ¼ 737), Swiss French (N ¼ 319), and British (N ¼ 1; 002) employees. The finding showed that the generalizability of career orientations was not supported across the two countries and not even between the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. At least four career orientations were found in all samples. Country-specific inspection of these four career orientations showed that they differed in terms of their combinations of specific components (boundaryless, protean, advancement, and time orientation). Mixtures of types of career orientations exist and make it difficult to identify fully the same type of career orientation across different cultural contexts. Explanations for differences in career orientation are discussed focusing on the cultural and economic context of Switzerland and Great Britain. Implications for organizational career management practices as well as theory of the career orientation concept are discussed.
Research on careers has increased steadily in recent years, both in the USA and elsewhere (Nilsson et al., 2007; Sullivan, 1999). The nature and extent of change in the world of work and the possible impact on careers are thereby frequently discussed. The most predicted and most intensively investigated changes are those concerning new career concepts such as the protean, boundaryless, or portfolio career which were * Correspondence should be addressed to Marius Gerber, Department of Management Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, Kreuzplatz 5, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland (e-mail:
[email protected]). DOI:10.1348/096317909X474740
780 Marius Gerber et al.
developed principally by US researchers (e.g. Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Briscoe, Hall, & DeMuth, 2006; Hall, 2002). A question which has received less attention is whether career concepts can be generalized across countries. It may be that the USA inspired concepts extensively used in career research have little generalizability to other countries, as the following examples illustrate. Khapova and Korotov (2007) found that in a Russian context, career success possesses a meaning different to the original Western meaning, and that this meaning is continuously changing to reflect the current social and economic environment. Tu, Forret, and Sullivan (2006) explored predictors of objective and subjective career success in a sample of Chinese managers. Some of the findings were similar to findings for managers from Western countries, but interesting differences such as, for example, that woman were more likely to be highly compensated, emerged. The authors of these studies, like many others, highlighted the importance of considering the cultural context when examining career concepts across national borders (e.g. Arthur & Lawrence, 1984; Schein, 1984; Thomas & Inkson, 2007; Young, Valach, & Collin, 2002). Therefore, the cultural context needs to be taken into account more thoroughly and the generalizability of career concepts across different cultures needs to be examined further. The present study examines the similarity of types of career orientations in the German-speaking, the French-speaking parts of Switzerland and Great Britain and thus includes different cultural contexts. More precisely, it tests whether the types of career orientation that are found in one cultural context can be generalized to other cultural contexts. Until now, few comparative studies have been reported, although they are of high scientific and practical importance. A comparative analysis of career orientations should provide insights for the conceptualization of career orientations but also for multinational companies when deciding on how to select and train employees. Knowledge about employees’ particular career-related needs would also help HR professionals to adjust their career management practices effectively: it would constitute an important advantage when attracting and retaining international employees.
Contemporary research on career orientations Careers may be defined as a sequence of attitudes, activities, or behaviours associated with work-roles of individuals during the course of their lifetime (Arthur & Lawrence, 1984). According to this definition, careers are comprised of objective elements, such as visible activities, and subjective elements, such as attitudes and orientations about the career held by an individual (Gunz, 1988). An orientation is an attitude concerning a person’s career. It consists of cognitive, affective, and behaviour-related components and is expressed by superordinate intentions of an individual that will influence careerrelated decisions (Gasteiger, 2007; Maier, Rappensperger, von Rosenstiel, & Zwarg, 1994). Thus, by focusing on career orientations, the study adopted a subjective approach to careers. Moreover, career orientations have been shown to be related to work attitudes and career success (Gasteiger, 2007; Gerber, Wittekind, Grote, & Staffelbach, 2009; Gerpott, Domsch, & Keller, 1988). A number of studies of career orientations in single European countries have been reported. For example, King (2003) studied career orientations among young graduates in the UK. She found that the endorsement of the ‘new career’ was limited. Employability was a key concern for the graduates but many expected to progress in a conventional manner within one organization. In line with these results, Pitcher and Purcell (1998) and Sturges, Guest, and Machenzie Davey (2000) found that UK graduates
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still had very high expectations of organizational career management despite the current rhetoric about career self-management. In a similar vein, Guest and Conway (2004) reported a high prevalence of traditional career orientation in the UK. In Germany, Rosenstiel and Nerdinger (2000) showed that three types of career orientations were prevalent among managers and graduates. A traditional career, characterized by vertical advancement within one organization and long-term employment, was most preferred by the managers but an alternative orientation, characterized by an engagement for a better and more humane working world, was most prevalent amongst the graduates. A third so-called leisure orientation was the most widespread in the labour force. Mayrhofer et al. (2005) showed with a sample of Austrian graduates that a preference for a traditional career was still widespread. Similarly, Gerber et al. (2009) and Grote and Raeder (2009) reported a prevalence of traditional career orientations in Switzerland. In summary, these studies have shown that traditional career attitudes are still widespread in Europe. Some of the above mentioned studies are restricted in that they investigate specific samples in a particular country, and focus mostly on MBA students or graduates. The studies by Gerber et al. (2009) and Guest and Conway (2004) addressed this issue and included larger samples of employees. More precisely, Guest and Conway (2004) studied career orientations of a large representative sample of employees in the UK. Based on a review of the career literature, they identified a number of dimensions that appeared to reflect the characteristics of the ‘new’ career. The instrument used was short and economical in order to enable the survey of a large sample. It consisted of nine dichotomous items built around a broad (1) boundaryless dimension: long-term employment/job security versus short-term employment/employability, (2) protean dimension: individual career management/self-responsibility versus organizational career management, (3) advancement dimension:1 vertical advancement/career success important versus horizontal advancement/career not important, (4) time-frame dimension: immediate present orientation/hedonism versus future time orientation. Guest and Conway (2004) found three career orientations to be present within these four dimensions: 24.5% of British employees expressed a preference for an independent career, 31.2% for a disengaged career, and 35.8% for a traditional career. Some employees did not express any clear preference, while others expressed more than one. One weakness of the Guest and Conway study was that the allocation of employees to types of career orientation was based on prior assumptions about categories. With this approach, it was not possible to allocate each person to one career orientation type distinctly. Nor was it possible to determine the reliability of career orientation types. Gerber et al. (2009) used the same items as Guest and Conway and surveyed two large representative samples of employees in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Exploratory and confirmatory latent class analyses (LCAs) were used in order to distinguish types of career orientations. For both samples, it was shown that types of career orientations similar to those of Guest and Conways’ (2004) emerged: firstly, a ‘new’ type of independent career orientation was identified, characterized by perceived employability in a range of jobs, a preference for employment in different organizations,
1
In the literature, a distinction between objective and subjective career success is often proposed (Heslin, 2005). Objective success is operationalized by criteria such as salary or promotion. The advancement dimension of the instrument of Guest and Conway (2004) refers to objective career success (vertical advancement).
782 Marius Gerber et al.
and career self-management. This orientation combines aspects of the ‘boundaryless’ (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996) and the ‘protean’ (Hall, 1996) career. The traditional type from Guest and Conway (2004) was split up into two types. One type, labelled traditional-promotion oriented, regarded work, and career success as very important to life and emphasized climbing up the hierarchical ladder. The other type, labelled traditional-loyalty oriented career orientation, was characterized by job security, longterm employment, and employer responsibility for career management. For people of the fourth type, referred to as disengaged, career success was less important to their lives although work still remains central for people with this career orientation. Thus, the disengagement refers to vertical career advancement rather than work itself. In line with Guest and Conway’s study, as well as the European studies mentioned in the previous section, it was found that most participants were traditional/loyalty career oriented (32.5% in the first sample; 34.6% in the second sample) or traditional/promotion career oriented (31.0 and 30.3%, respectively). Around 18% (18.6 and 17.6%, respectively) reported an independent or a disengaged career orientation (18.0 and 17.6%, respectively). In summary, the results showed that traditional career orientations were still the most widespread among Swiss German employees. The study by Gerber et al. (2009) also provided validation of the instrument of Guest and Conway (2004): the analyses revealed a reasonably high reliability and criterion validity of types of career orientations. While Guest and Conway (2004), as well as Gerber et al. (2009), surveyed large national samples of employees covering different organizations and professions, both studies took place in one country only, or one region of one country, respectively. Gasteiger and Briscoe (2005) carried out a comparative study of protean career orientation in the USA and Germany. The sample consisted of graduate students from an American and a German university. The results showed that protean career orientation can be measured reliably in both countries. Also, the relationships between protean career orientation and preferred organizational culture and life goals were similar across the countries. Another comparative study at 17 industrial R&D units of private sector companies in the UK, Germany, and the USA showed that US-based dimensions of managerial and professional career orientations can be identified in the UK and Germany (Gerpott et al., 1988). Significant differences in levels of career orientations were however found across countries, with the USA professionals reporting the highest level of managerial and professional career orientation. There were no country-specific differences in the relationship between career orientations and socio-demographic and work-related variables, nor in the relationship between career orientations and work outcomes. All in all, the results of these comparative studies provide some evidence that career orientations can be generalized from one country to another. Despite this initial evidence, it is far from clear whether results are universal or merely related to the economic or employment situation prevailing at the time of the study. Furthermore, these comparative studies were based on small and/or specific samples in particular sectors making it difficult to draw general conclusions.
The present study The present study builds on the studies of Guest and Conway (2004) and Gerber et al. (2009). It moves forward their work by comparing responses across countries and culturally different regions using independent samples of employees. The aim was to determine whether the same career orientations emerge in each country based on
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careful statistical analysis. Specifically, the present study tested whether the same types of career orientation can be identified in a Swiss German sample as well as in two other cultural contexts: the French-speaking part of Switzerland and Great Britain. Switzerland and Great Britain were chosen for the following reasons: according to the cultural framework of House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta (2004) Great Britain,2 like the USA, belongs to the Anglo cluster (cf. Ashkanasy, Trevor-Roberts, & Earnshaw, 2002). Switzerland is interesting and unique, because Swiss people typically identify with either of two different cultures represented by the German and the French language. According to House et al. (2004) the German-speaking part of Switzerland belongs to the Germanic Europe cultural cluster (cf. Szabo et al., 2002), while the French-speaking part of Switzerland to the Latin Europe cluster (cf. Jesuino, 2002). The two Swiss samples allowed us to test the generalizability within a country where there are shared political and economic institutions but culturally different regions. By sampling various countries and regions that differ on cultural dimensions and thus including contextual elements, the present study adopted a theory-driven cross-cultural approach (van de Vijver, 2003). According to House et al. (2004), there are both similarities and differences between the three cultural clusters. For example, all three tend to be individualistic, future, and performance oriented. All three are also reported to be gender egalitarian. However, Swiss German employees show less avoidance of uncertainty than Swiss French employees who in turn have lower scores on uncertainty avoidance than British employees. British employees are characterized by a higher level of assertiveness compared to both Swiss German and Swiss French employees. Although British and Swiss French employees score low on power distance, Swiss German employees score even lower. Thus, on the basis of the House et al. analysis, meaningful cultural differences exist between the German-speaking and the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Although the three cultural regions under investigation represent different cultural clusters, they are relatively comparable in terms of their labour markets. Examining the Swiss and British3 labour market, it is apparent that both are highly developed and competitive. Both Switzerland and Great Britain have, for the years of 2000 to 2007, high rankings on the World Competitiveness Scoreboard (cf. World Competitiveness Yearbooks of the International Institute for Management Development) as well as high scores on the Human Development Index (cf. Human Development Reports of the United Nations Development Program) and the Global competitive Index (cf. Global Competitive Reports of the World Economic Forum). Based on this extensive information on economic performance and demographic features, both Switzerland and Great Britain can be ranked among the world’s leading economies. Moreover, both Switzerland and Great Britain belong to the highest innovation-driven stage of economic development (World Economic Forum). There are important similarities between the labour markets of Switzerland and the Great Britain (see Table 1) but closer inspection also reveals some differences. Both countries have a high employment rate with a high percentage of female employees. At the same time, for several years up to and including the period of data
2
In the cross-cultural research programme of House and others only England was included as a representative of Great Britain. Labour market indicators of the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and the International Institute for Management Development refer to the United Kingdom. In our analysis of labour market indicators, we still refer to Great Britain, even if it does not include Northern Ireland.
3
784 Marius Gerber et al. Table 1. Indicators of the Swiss and British labour markets
Employment rate (males/females) (%) Unemployment rate (%) Percentage of temporary workers Part-time employment (%) Average working hours Average employment tenure (years) Gross wages (in PPS) Labour productivity (GDP) Education attainment level (%) Flexible working hours (males/females) (%)
Switzerland
Great Britain
77.2 (83.9/70.4) 4.3 12.8 24.9 42.7 9.08 31,972 135 86.9 9.4/8.7
71.7 (77.6/65.9) 4.8 5.7 17.5 43.2 8.25 39,051 119 71.7 22.0/13.7
Note. All statistics for 2005 based on Eurostats and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office; gross domestic product (GDP) is defined as the value of all goods and services produced, less the value of any goods or services used in their creation. GDP in Purchasing Power Standards is expressed in relation to the European Union (EU-27) average set to equal 100; educational level: the percentage of people having attained at least upper secondary educational level.
collection, the unemployment rate has been below 5%. The percentage of contingent workers in Great Britain is lower than in Switzerland. Also, the proportion of parttime employees is higher in Switzerland. On the other hand, British employees report more flexible working hours than Swiss employees. Both countries have long working hours but Switzerland has a higher level of educational attainment and a somewhat higher gross domestic product (GDP) per person (taking into account purchasing power standards). In both countries, income levels are high and employees show long job tenure. There are some minor differences between the labour markets of the two regions of Switzerland (according to national statistics of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office). For example, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the employment rate and parttime employment is lower (4 and 2%, respectively) and the unemployment rate is higher (2%). However, looking at all economic indicators and the corresponding size of differences between the German- and the French-speaking part of Switzerland compared to other European countries, it can be argued that few marked differences exist within Switzerland. It can be concluded from the data presented in this section that the three regions under investigation appear to be culturally distinct and yet economically similar.
Research question The present study examines the generalizability of career orientations in a Swiss German, a Swiss French, and a British sample. National samples of employees were used representing all industries and occupations. The study aims to contribute to the question of generalizability of career orientations across countries. Even if our analysis of the career context revealed that the three societies under investigation are similar in terms of economic indicators, marked cultural differences exist. We therefore address the following research question: Are there any differences between the Swiss German, the Swiss French, and the British sample regarding types of career orientation and if so, what are they?
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785
Method Participants The data were collected using a structured interview schedule through telephone interviews with people in employment, aged between 16 and 65 years. The survey cutoff range for age was chosen in order to have a full range of working employees among the samples. Both the Swiss and British samples consisted of a random sample of telephone numbers drawn from all telephone numbers of telephone networks. People were contacted at home, and interviewers checked whether they belonged to the target group. The British survey was carried out by a market research organization in cooperation with the researchers and was conducted in the last week of May and the first 2 weeks of June 2004. The Swiss survey was organized by the authors’ research team and took place between the beginning of May and the end of June 2007. Thirty interviewers, mainly psychology and economics students, were employed to conduct the interviews and they took part in extensive preparatory training before carrying out the interviews. According to national and cross-national statistics (Swiss Federal Statistical Office for National Statistics, Eurostats), economic conditions in Switzerland and Great Britain did not significantly change between 2004 and 2007. Therefore, the time lag between the Swiss and the British data collection should not have affected the results. The sample consisted of three subsamples. Subsample 1 was a sample of N ¼ 1; 002 British employees. Subsamples 2 and 3 consisted of N ¼ 737 Swiss German an N ¼ 319 Swiss French employees. It can be seen from Table 2 that, across all samples, male and female employees were almost equally represented. About half of the participants were aged between 35 and 54 years. The average tenure was between 3 and 5 years, slightly higher however for the Swiss employees. Approximately, one-third of the Swiss and the British participants held a degree (or degree equivalent) and above. Most of the employees had a permanent employment contract, working full time. The percentage of employees working part time is higher in Switzerland. This high percentage of part-time employees corresponds with official statistics showing that Switzerland has one of the highest rates of part time employment worldwide. Most of the participants worked in the services sector. The proportion working in organizations employing more than 250 is higher in Great Britain than in Switzerland. Table 2. Description of the Swiss and British samples
Gender: male (%) Education: degree (%) Full time (%) Temporary contract (%) Establishment size: more than 250 (%) Sector: services (%) Flexible hours provided (%) Age (six-point scale from 1 to 6) Tenure (10-point scale from 1 to 10)
Switzerland German
Switzerland French
Great Britain
59.2 33.8 65.1 6.8 42.6 70.4 64.6 4.4 4.9
52.4 42.0 66.1 11.4 49.2 74.8 64.6 4.5 5.6
52.6 31.9 80.5 10.9 66.5 75.0 61.3 3.8 4.3
Note. The scale for age (in years) ranges from 1 (16–24), 2 (25–29), 3 (30–34), 4 (35–44), 5 (45–54) to 6 (55–65). The scale for tenure (in years) ranges from 1 (less than a year), 2 (1 year), 3 (2 years), 4 (3–5), 5 (6–10), 6 (11–15), 7 (16–20), 8 (21–25), 9 (26–30) to 10 (over 30 years).
786 Marius Gerber et al.
Measures Career orientations were measured by means of nine dichotomous items offering the participants a choice of contrasting options (forced choice). Sample items were: ‘being employable in a range of jobs’ versus ‘having job security’ or ‘a career is not important to you’ versus ‘career success is very important to you’ (all items are shown in Table 3). The items were developed by Guest and Conway and contain a number of dimensions reflecting the characteristics of the ‘traditional’ as well as the ‘new’ career. It is a short instrument and thus especially suited for large survey studies. Participants were asked the question ‘Looking ahead at your work life, which of the following would you choose?’ It should be noted that the question refers to orientations rather than current or past behaviour. The German and French version of the career orientation items were translated and back translated, including an iterative process of validation with native speakers. This approach was chosen in order to guarantee construct equivalence (van de Vijver, 2003; van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).
Multigroup latent class analysis The data on career orientations were analysed by means of LCA. LCA examines response patterns across a series of items and aims at identifying groups of individuals whose response patterns are highly similar. LCA thus explains inter-individual differences in item response patterns by a reduced number of groups (categorical latent variables; latent classes). In the present study, the latent classes represent different career orientations preferred by the participants. Within one latent class, subjects are assumed to have identical patterns of response probabilities (i.e. the same class structure). The response patterns in turn constitute the content of a particular class: the classes are typically interpreted in terms of items from which they are derived (see Eid, Langeheine, & Diener, 2003). However, differences are expected between classes with respect to the response probabilities. Individuals are assigned to the latent class for which their assignment probability is maximal. To analyse in more detail possible (country-specific) differences in career orientations, exploratory latent analysis was conducted taking into account all three samples simultaneously. Multigroup latent class analysis (MLCA) with country as the grouping variable was used for this purpose. In MLCA, one can test whether a latent class solution is the same for several groups (here countries) or whether the classes differ across the groups. Using MLCA, the measurement invariance across groups is tested. Measurement invariance is important for the comparison of class structures and class proportions. The question as to whether there are more independent career-oriented employees in the British sample, for example, can only be answered if measurement invariance across the countries is established. In this exploratory approach, the structure of the latent classes (the particular response profile of the classes) was not set as given. That is, any kind of latent class structure was allowed to be estimated freely. Thus, with MLCA we tested whether (1) there were the same classes in all three samples and if yes, (2) whether the class proportions were the same for Swiss and British employees. To compare the fit of competing exploratory LCA models, information criteria (IC) like Akaike’s information criterion and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) are frequently used in testing for the relative fit of the models. When comparing a series of models the model with the lowest IC value is selected. We used the computer programs PANMARK 3.09 (van den Pol, Langeheine, & de Jong, 1996) and Mplus 5 (Muthe´n &
A short time in lots of organizations A series of jobs at the same kind of level Living for the present Work as marginal to your life A career is not important to you Commitment to yourself and your career Spend what you’ve got and enjoy it
3* 4* 5* 6* 7* 8* 9*
25.0 49.8 46.5 17.8 70.3 47.8 43.9
54.3 80.8
CH-G
29.8 53.6 51.4 36.1 63.0 61.1 46.6
40.8 79.9
CH-F
12.1 45.7 44.9 51.4 41.8 80.2 47.4
26.7 80.6
GB
75.0 50.2 53.4 82.2 29.7 52.1 56.1
45.7 19.2
CH-G
70.2 46.4 48.6 63.9 37.0 38.9 53.6
59.2 20.1
CH-F
87.9 53.3 55.1 48.6 58.2 19.8 52.6
73.3 19.4
GB
Option 2 Having job security Having your organization manage your career for you A long time with one organization Striving for promotion into more senior posts Planning for the future Work as central to your life Career success is very important to you Commitment to the organization Save for the future
Note. CH-G refers to the Swiss German, CH-F to the Swiss French, and GB to the British sample. *p ðPearson; chi-squareÞ , :05.
Being employable in a range of jobs Managing your own career
Option 1
1* 2
Item number
Looking ahead at your work life, which of the following would you choose?
Table 3. Percentages of career items responses of the Swiss and British employees
Generalizability of career orientations 787
788 Marius Gerber et al.
Muthe´n, 2005) to check whether the exploratory MLCA solutions estimated by the two programs represented global likelihood maxima solutions and not local optima. When models with more than two latent classes are estimated and only one single set of parameter starting values is used, one program may not find the best possible parameter estimates. The algorithm can converge to a local likelihood maximum, which may not provide valid parameter solutions. Trying a large number of different starting values for each model to make sure that the estimation algorithm will find the global maximum of the likelihood rather than stop at a local optimum is therefore recommended. Thus, with both programs, we used 500 random sets of starting values for each estimated model in MLCA. All solutions estimated in the present study showed identical values both in PANMARK and Mplus. As a further criterion, we used the Pearson chi-squared statistics for model selection. Unfortunately, the data conditions for chi-squared statistics (chi-squared distribution) are often violated due to sparse data. Data are considered sparse if large numbers of unobserved patterns occur, and this is the case even with relatively few items in relatively large samples. Therefore, the p values derived from the chi-squared distribution cannot be trusted. The correct p values can be obtained by using a parametric bootstrap procedure (for details regarding bootstrap procedure see Langeheine, Pannekoek, & van de Pol, 1996). von Davier (1997) has shown that this bootstrap works well for the Pearson chi-squared statistic. Generally, the model is accepted, if the bootstrap probability is larger than .05. We performed three different LCA models without fixing the exact latent class response profiles: an unconstrained, a semi-constrained, and a fully-constrained multigroup latent class model with country as the grouping variable. In all MLCAs, the same number of latent classes was chosen for these three models: 2, 3, 4, and 5 classes. In the unconstrained multigroup model, both conditional response probabilities and class sizes were allowed to differ across the countries. The number of latent classes, however, was assumed to be the same for all three countries. If, for example, the 4-class unconstrained model fitted the data, this would mean that 4 classes could be found in each country. In the semi-constrained model, also 2, 3, 4, and 5 classes were extracted. However, the conditional response probabilities in each class were constrained in order to be equal for Swiss and British employees (measurement invariance). The classes therefore had exactly the same structure for all countries. Country-specific differences were allowed, but only in terms of class size. A smaller BIC value for the semiconstrained model would indicate that the classes were structurally equivalent across countries. Finally, in the most restrictive models (the fully-constrained MLCA), both conditional response probabilities and class sizes were fixed to be the same in all countries. That is, the fully-constrained model assumes that structurally similar career orientations are present in all countries and that these are of equal size. If the fullyconstrained model shows a higher BIC value compared to the semi-constrained model, this would mean that differences exist in terms of class proportions. Note that for both semi- and fully-constrained models the response probabilities were to be freely estimated, although they were equal across all three samples.
Results Descriptive statistics for the career orientation items The responses of the career orientation items for the three samples investigated are shown in Table 3 (significant differences across the samples are indicated). Protean
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789
elements seem to be widespread in all samples: more than three-quarters of all respondents prefer to manage their own career rather than leave it to the organization and commitment to oneself and one’s career rather than to the organization is also important for many employees. Most of the participants still prefer a long tenure within one organization. Employability is more important for Swiss German employees, as compared to Swiss French and British employees. Work is very central for Swiss German respondents while, at the same time, career success is not seen as important by almost three fourths. Organizational commitment is more important for Swiss German employees than for Swiss French and British employees. Swiss French employees, when compared to their Swiss German colleagues, prefer more job security but also shorter tenures. Work is important for them but significantly less so than for Swiss German employees. Interestingly, career success is more important to Swiss French participants than to Swiss German employees. Table 3 also makes clear that Swiss French employees are more in favour of living for the present and feel more committed to themselves than Swiss German employees. Compared to Swiss German and Swiss French employees, British employees show a much higher preference for job security and long tenures. Most noticeably, work is seen as marginal by more than half of the British respondents, yet career success is seen as very important by more than half. The descriptive results therefore show contrasting priorities in relation to work and career success for Swiss and British employees: Swiss employees are characterized by a high work centrality but lower importance of career success while the opposite can be said for British employees. Table 4 shows the goodness-of-fit results for the three 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-class multigroup models. The 5-class semi-constrained model showed the smallest BIC value (26,357.3) of all models. According to the Pearson chi-squared statistics, the unconstrained 4- and 5-class models were the only acceptable solutions with a bootstrap p value of greater than .05. The response pattern of the 4-class models could be interpreted more reasonably and represented more distinguishable classes than that of the 5-class model. The mean assignment probabilities of the 4-class model are shown in Table 4. In LCA, average latent class assignment probabilities are used as indicator of reliability with values higher than 0.8 representing highly separable and reliable classes (Rost, 2006). Table 4 makes it clear that the 4-class model represented highly distinct classes. Thus, the unconstrained 5-class model was rejected in favour of the unconstrained 4-class model. Altogether, the exploratory results indicate that there is no measurement invariance across the three samples. Nevertheless, in all samples, the same number of latent classes can be found. The results therefore show that four types of career orientations can be identified within and across both countries. To sum up the findings of the exploratory LCAs, it can be said that structurally different career orientations were found across the Swiss German, Swiss French, and British samples. The research question, which asked about differences in career orientations across the three samples, can therefore be answered in the affirmative. The question as to which particular differences in career orientation exist was approached by analysing separately the Swiss German, Swiss French, and British 4-class profiles identified in the (unconstrained) MLCA for each country (see Figures 1–3). In order to highlight more thoroughly the country-specific differences in career orientations, the response profiles were classified along four core dimensions in order to relate them to the wider debates on careers (see p. 781): (a) a boundaryless dimension (long-term vs. short-term employment, employability; questions 1 and 3 from the questionnaire; see Table 3), (b) a protean dimension (individual vs. organizational career
2,775.338 2,457.780 2,237.295 2,110.506 2,525.325 2,051.836 1,656.822 1,485.524 1,764.378 1,416.854 1,230.043 1,103.366
23 35 47 59
59 89 119 149
Log likelihood
21 31 41 51
Number of free model parameter
1,476 1,446 1,416 1,386
1,512 1,500 1,488 1,476
1,514 1,504 1,494 1,484
df
2,139.245 1,714.747 1,552.926 1,327.416
3,459.718 2,758.060 2,026.308 1,864.318
3,746.594 3,198.944 2,779.206 2,591.822
Statistic
27,357.2 27,116.0 26,971.8 26,921.3 27,122.5 26,740.5 26,437.1 26,357.3 26,636.2 26,517.6 26,559.6 26,661.8
, .001 , .001 , .001 , .001 , .001 , .001 .07 .43
BIC
, .001 , .001 , .001 , .001
Bootstrap p value
Note. N ¼ 2; 058. In the fully-constrained model, the classes were the same for all countries (measurement invariance assumed) and the class sizes were constrained in order to be equal across countries. The classes had the same structure (measurement invariance assumed) but can differ in terms of class size in the semi-constrained model. The latent classes could be different for Swiss and British employees in the unconstrained model (no measurement invariance assumed). The bootstrap p values were obtained from 500 bootstrap runs for each model. The mean probabilities of latent class membership of the 12 career orientations from the unconstrained 4-class model are 0.83, 0.76, 0.81, 0.79, 0.82, 0.80, 0.76, 0.89, 0.91, 0.76, 0.83, and 0.89.
Fully-constrained 2 classes 3 classes 4 classes 5 classes Semi-constrained 2 classes 3 classes 4 classes 5 classes Unconstrained 2 classes 3 classes 4 classes 5 classes
Model
Pearson x2
Table 4. Number of parameters and goodness-of-fit measures for competing multigroup LCA models using the Swiss German, the Swiss French, and the British data
790 Marius Gerber et al.
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Figure 1. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the Swiss German sample.
management; questions 2 and 8), (c) an advancement dimension (vertical advancement, career success; questions 4, 6, and 7), and (d) a time-frame dimension (present and future orientation; questions 5 and 9; see Table 5). The placement of the career orientations in Table 5 was based on the estimated conditional response probabilities for the items constituting the dimension: on the corresponding dimension, low assignment probabilities for the items were considered as a low score, high assignment probabilities as a high score (i.e. high/low on a dimension means high/low assignment probabilities across the items constituting the dimension). This approach and the resulting Table 5 facilitated the detailed analysis of the interplay of different elements constituting each career orientation in more detail. The classification along these dimensions thus enables a summarizing illustration of the 12 career orientations. It highlights the differences and similarities across the samples and career orientations.
The Swiss German career orientations Figure 1 presents the response profiles of the Swiss German sample. According to the classification along the four core dimensions (see Table 5), class 1 is characterized by low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, high concern for advancement, and a high focus on the future. Class 2 combines high boundarylessness and a high protean attitude, with a high concern for advancement and slight tendency to focus on the future. Members of class 3 have low boundarylessness and a low protean attitude, combined with a low concern for advancement and a high focus on the future. Class 4 is a mix of high boundarylessness and a high protean attitude as well as a low concern for both advancement and for the future. Drawing these together, two Swiss German career
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Figure 2. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the Swiss French sample.
orientations, which are preferred by 42.1% of the employees, contain a boundaryless element. At the same time, 71.9% of the Swiss German employees prefer a career orientation with a protean element. Of the Swiss German employees, 69.2% have a career orientation which is characterized by a high concern for the future and 40.3% a career orientation which combines a high concern for the future and a high concern for advancement. Almost 60% of the Swiss German career orientations do not give high priority to advancement. Figure 1 makes it clear that the majority of respondents in all four Swiss German career orientations chose ‘Work as central to your life’, indicating that work is a key aspect in the life of most Swiss German employees. At the same time, career success and career progression seems less important to Swiss German employees (see items 4 and 7). Thus, many Swiss German employees reported overall a low advancement orientation and disengagement from career success but not from work. The Swiss French career orientations Figure 2 (latent class profiles of the Swiss French employees) and the resulting classification in Table 5 demonstrate that class 1 reflects a strong boundarylessness and a high protean attitude combined with a relatively low concern for advancement and a tendency to focus on the present. Members of class 2 are low on both boundarylessness and a protean attitude, but display a high concern for advancement and a slight tendency to focus on the present. Overall, class 3 can be characterized as low on boundarylessness, high on protean attitude, high on concern for advancement, and high on concern for the future. Employees with a class 4 career orientation have low boundarylessness but a high protean attitude, combined with a low concern for
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Figure 3. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the British sample.
advancement and high focus on the present. An inspection of the proportions of Swiss French employees classified under each career orientation makes it clear that career orientations with low boundaryless (68.2%) or high protean (86.2%) characteristics are widespread. Career orientations with a mixture of low boundarylessness but high protean attitude account for 51% of the Swiss French employees. Just over 80% of the Swiss French sample has career orientations that focus on the present rather than the future including 67.1% who combine a high concern for the present with a low concern for advancement. The British career orientations The response profiles of the British employees (Figure 3 and Table 5) reveal that class 1 combines aspects of low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, high concern for advancement, and a strong focus on the future. The class 2 career orientation consists of a low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, a high concern for advancement but a high focus on the present. The class 3 career orientation is a mixture of low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, and a low concern for advancement and a high concern for the future. Class 4 combines a low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, and low concern for both advancement and for the future. The protean and boundaryless dimensions did not distinguish well between the British classes: all British career orientations contain a strong protean attitude, but no one of them emphasize a boundaryless career. Thus, all British career orientations represent a mixture of high protean and low boundaryless characteristic. Career orientations with a focus on the future are widespread among the British employees (63.0%). The British career
GB3 (20.4)
Present orientation
Future orientation
Not important G3 (28.9)
F2 (13.8)
Organizational career management
G4 (30.8), F1 (35.3)
G2 (11.3)
Individual career management
Organizational career management
Short-term employment/employability
Note. G, F, and GB stand for German, French, and British career orientations. F1, F2, and G2 scored moderately on the items constituting the time-frame dimension and could therefore not clearly be classified on this dimension; F2 and G3 did not score uniformly high or low across the items constituting the protean orientation dimension. F1 scored moderately/F2 and G3 did not score uniformly high or low across the items constituting the advancement orientation dimension. The sizes of the career orientations are indicated in brackets (%).
GB2 (12.9) G1 (29.0), F3 (19.2), GB1 (42.6) F4 (31.8), GB4 (24.0)
Individual career management
Long-term employment/job security
Present orientation Future orientation
Time-frame
Protean characteristic
Boundarylessness
Important
Vertical advancement
Dimension
Table 5. Summary of the career orientations identified in the unconstrained four class MLCA (Swiss German, Swiss French, and British career orientations)
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orientation which clearly is most prevalent combines a high priority for advancement and a focus on the future (42.6%).
Comparing career orientations across the three cultural contexts Looking at Table 5, it can be seen that only one type of career orientation seems to be present in all three cultural contexts: it combines a low level of boundarylessness with a high protean attitude and a strong concern for both advancement and for the future (compare G1, F3 with GB1 in Table 5). Individuals with such a career orientation have a preference for career self-management but want to pursue this within their current organization. The proportion in each sample that is characterized by this orientation ranges from 19.2% among Swiss Germans and 29.0% among Swiss French to 42.6% among the British.
Discussion The aim of this study was to examine the generalizability of career orientations within and between two European countries. We tested in an exploratory manner, whether or not the same number of career orientations, the same structure, and the same class sizes could be found across the three samples. The exploratory MLCA analyses showed that four career orientations could be found in all three samples. At the same time, no measurement invariance for class structure and class size was found across the samples. This implies that four career orientations could be found within Switzerland and in Great Britain, but that these four career orientations differed in terms of structure and size. Thus, even within Switzerland (between the Swiss German and Swiss French parts), the structure of the four career orientations was found to be different. What can therefore be concluded from this study is that concepts of career orientation cannot be generalized from one culture to another – at least not the career orientations of the three cultural regions investigated in this study. If career orientations are not directly generalizable from one European country to another, or even among cultural subgroups within the same country, this calls for caution concerning the generalizability of US career orientations to Europe and beyond. Inspection of the Swiss German, Swiss French, and British response profiles of the MLCA made it clear that the various career orientations differ in terms of their particular combination of components (e.g. boundaryless or protean elements). It seems that hybrid career orientations exist, containing elements of what have been characterized as both ‘old’ (e.g. job security) and ‘new’ (e.g. career self-management) career types. It might be that there is not a clear dichotomy between ‘old’ and ‘new’ career orientations and a process of blending has taken place. This is illustrated by the fact that 7 out of the 12 career orientations are characterized by low boundarylessness but at the same time a high protean attitude, illustrating a preference for a mixture of old and new careers. Overall, only three career orientations emphasized boundarylessness while 10 of the 12 had a protean element. None of the four British career orientations contained a boundaryless element, but all of them strongly featured a protean attitude. In contrast, two of the Swiss German career orientations reflect a combination of high boundarylessness and a strong protean attitude. The British career orientations divided equally with respect to their emphasis on career advancement and time orientation. However, three of the four Swiss German career orientations are characterized by
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a strong concern for the future, while three of the four Swiss French focus on the present. Overall, the boundarylessness and the time-frame dimension provided the clearest differentiation between the three samples.
Explanations for differences in career orientations In this section, we discuss potential explanations for the differences in career orientations identified in the MLCA focusing on cultural and economic features of the societies under investigation. Schein (1984) has argued that the specific culture within which career orientations develop should be taken into account in understanding and explaining these orientations. Culture could therefore serve as an explanation for the differences in career orientations found in this study. If we use the approach to the analysis of national cultures and subcultures developed by House et al. (2004), we can find some plausible support for a cultural explanation. For example, House et al. (2004) report a high score for performance orientation for all three cultural groups and it could therefore be expected that many employees would show a high preference for vertical career advancement. What we find is that all three samples were characterized by two career orientations that emphasized career advancement. It might be expected that high uncertainty avoidance counteracts the development of a boundaryless orientation. The British employees have, according to House et al. (2004), the highest score for uncertainty avoidance and indeed, none of their career orientations contained featured boundarylessness. It might be that the high individualistic orientation found in intercultural research helps to explain the strong focus on protean career characteristics since all three cultural regions under investigation have high scores for individualism (House et al., 2004). However, this cultural analysis can only be taken so far. The cultural analysis of House et al. (2004) would indicate that a strong concern for the future would feature strongly in the orientations of all three samples. Yet, while three of the four Swiss German career orientations contained a strong focus on the future, this was the case with only one of the four Swiss French career orientations. On this basis, the cultural explanations for differences in career orientations can, at best, only partially explain the present findings and we are not in a position to determine where these differences originate. Adopting a more institutional approach and looking at the economic context (see Table 1), it can be seen that, for both Swiss and British employees, long tenure and stable employment (very high percentage of job permanency) is the norm. The amount of parttime employment in Switzerland is very high. This might help to explain the relatively low priority among Swiss employees for career advancement on the grounds that for part-time employees, work and hierarchical advancement play a more minor role than for full-time employees. Other data from Switzerland show that job security is high (both in the Swiss German and Swiss French part) and that Swiss employees report few organizational changes like reorganizations, staff reductions, or expansions (Brunner et al., 2008; Gerber, Wittekind, Bannwart, Grote, & Staffelbach, 2007; Henneberger & Sousa-Poza, 2007). Also, the Swiss economy has been very stable for the last decade (e.g. unemployment rate, labour productivity). This economic context might explain why traditional career attitudes are still widely prevalent in Switzerland (see Gerber et al., 2009). The analysis above makes it reasonable to assume that the economic conditions help to determine contemporary career priorities, but specific conclusions about the particular effects they exert on the development of an individual career
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orientation cannot be drawn from the present study. Moreover, the comparison of the Swiss and British labour market indicated important similarities between the countries (see Table 1) and this would challenge an explanation for differences in career orientations based on analysis of the contemporary economic context of specific countries. Furthermore, almost no difference was found between the Swiss German and the Swiss French labour market. This reduces the potential role of economic indicators as explanations for differences in career orientations. To summarize this brief analysis of possible explanations for differences in career orientations, it can be concluded that the culture of the societies under investigation possibly exerts an influence on career orientations, even within an economically similar context in which the German and French Swiss live and work. However, it has not been possible, using one of the dominant approaches to the analysis of national cultures (House et al., 2004), to demonstrate this convincingly. The strength and nature of this cultural influence, therefore, cannot be determined on the basis of the present results.
Strengths and limitations The instrument from Guest and Conway (2004) was used because it is suitable for large telephone surveys and has empirically been shown to be applicable in Switzerland and Great Britain (Gerber et al., 2009; Guest & Conway, 2004). However, it is a rather simple instrument and more items would be needed in order to develop a more fine grained taxonomy of career orientations. The instrument does not allow for a measurement of the boundaryless and protean career concept as fully elaborated by some researchers (cf. Briscoe et al., 2006). It only captures some core elements central to these concepts, but others are not or only partly addressed (e.g. psychological mobility). Moreover, the instrument consists of dichotomous items which include measurement problems related to their forced-choice nature. The items were back translated to improve construct equivalence and to establish that observed responses are the result of a common construct. But this might not be enough to establish construct equivalence (Vandenberg & Lance, 2000; van de Vijver & Leung, 1997). The LCA statistics applied in this article tested for measurement invariance across the three samples, but did not ensure the equivalence of the constructs. Thus, there is a possibility that the differences in responses represent differences in meanings attached to the terms addressed in the interviews. This possible limitation cannot be fully refuted by the extensive translation process undertaken. A qualitative approach similar to that of Khapova and Korotov (2007) or a comparison of the network of associations of types of career orientation across cultures would help to further establish construct equivalence. Finally, the dimensions used in this article to illustrate the career orientations as well as the similarities and differences of career orientations identified across the samples. This research examined career-related attitudes. It might be that actual career patterns are not consistent with the corresponding career preference. For example, traditional career orientations may not exist alongside traditional career patterns. Moreover, it is possible that differences in career orientations attributed to the ipsative nature of the measurement (measurement bias in self-reports due to no generally accepted scaling across the samples; Mullen, 1995) rather than to features of the economic or cultural contexts. The present results are based on large and totally independent samples of employees each from different companies, covering all occupations, all sectors, and all areas of
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Switzerland and Great Britain. It is on the basis of this sampling strategy that we have reason to suggest that the career orientations identified are not the result of particular Swiss and British samples but constructs present across both countries. This study focused on the analysis of between-culture differences. However, further research should more closely examine potential within-culture differences.
Implications for research and practice Based on the results of the present study it is recommended that our understanding and analysis of so-called ‘new’ career orientation is refined. More differentiated specifications of career orientations than have previously been considered may exist. In a similar vein, Briscoe and Hall (2006) have called for ‘ : : : a more careful examination of potential career combinations’ (p. 5). Employees might simultaneously hold differing or mixed career orientations (Blickle, 1999; Hall, 2008). It is necessary to identify the dimensions which constitute the specific elements of career orientations in more detail before generalizing them to other contexts. It is suggested from the present findings that future research should examine the specific impact of cultural and economic context on (differences in) career orientations in more detail. This proposition has already been put forward in the literature, but it has often been neglected (Tams & Arthur, 2007; Thomas & Inkson, 2007). Looking at the economic context at the time of the data collection, both Switzerland and Great Britain had stable and productive labour markets and, compared to other European as well as non-European countries, offered good employment opportunities. The following questions could therefore be addressed: does this employment security lead to the development of ‘new’ career orientations? Or does it, on the contrary, increase the preference for traditional career orientations? Is the disengagement from a career found in this study the product of good employment opportunities? These questions deserve further attention but cannot be answered based on current data. At the same time, the individual factors which lead to the development of a particular career orientation need to be established. Corresponding findings would help to overcome the lack of theory about the basis of career orientations: the finding that career orientations do not generalize across culturally different regions calls for more research about their determinants, about the role that culture might play and also about temporal stability. This study can conclude that the generalizability of career orientations can be by no means seen as a given. On the contrary, it seems that types of career orientations cannot be generalized from one European country to another. Even within two parts of the same country, it was not possible to establish generalizability of career orientations. This has clear and important implications for organizational career management. Country or even region specific career management practices are needed in order to fulfil the various career-related needs expressed in career orientations. Furthermore, employers’ career management practices should, as far as possible, be brought into alignment with employees’ career orientations. If, for example, traditional career orientations are still most widespread in Switzerland then traditional career opportunities are required to support these needs. Also, for employees whose career orientation contain a mixture of high protean attitudes and low boundarylessness, corresponding career management practices should be developed (e.g. self-responsible tasks, opportunities for development as well as job security and continuity regarding career development). It seems that these employees seek to look after themselves but still value organizational structures and thus rely on boundaries. Presumably, it is this particular combination of
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characteristics which poses new challenges for HR professionals designing practices to attract and retain employees. The claim for a differential approach to the management of careers is particularly important for organizations crossing national boundaries, but at the same time illustrates an important trade off: the balancing act between worldwide established/standardized HR practices and local applications of HR practices. The present findings are consistent with the results of Mayrhofer, Meyer, Iellatchitch, and Schiffinger (2004). Mayrhofer and colleagues showed that differences exist in career management practices in European countries, and this might occur out of necessity because organizations have adapted their career practices according to the regional or local career-related needs of employees. The present study therefore, does not support the claim that there is a universal way of managing careers (cf. Kutschker & Schmid, 2004); nor does it support the emergence of a dominant ‘new’ career orientation. It will still be interesting to see whether in the future, convergent or divergent developments can be observed, both in the nature of career orientations and in career management practices.
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