The work readiness–career resilience linkage: implications for project talent management

Abstract

Purpose

There is a need for project management practitioners to adapt and thrive in today's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) project-based workplaces. In this paper, the linkage between work readiness and career resilience is developed, presenting both concepts as critical for effective strategic responses and adaptation to the changing labor market in organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

The resource-based view (RBV) and integrated dynamic capabilities (IDCs) are the theoretical lenses that are used to link the concepts of work readiness and career resilience across the individual and organizational levels.

Findings

A framework and model are proposed to establish a holistic understanding of catalysts for addressing the VUCA context that organizations face. The proposed conceptual linkage adds a chronological dimension to the formation of the interrelated dynamic capabilities during the early career phase of project management practitioners.

Practical implications

The contribution to the project management literature includes a theoretically driven conceptual framework that links two complementary concepts to address the career challenges faced by project managers. Work readiness is positioned as an enabler of career resilience and together they constitute vital attributes which foster talent retention in the current VUCA work environment.

Originality/value

Work readiness and career resilience are underexplored topics in the project management literature, both individually and in conjunction. Specifically, there is a research gap in view of linking these two concepts to present them as a catalyst for project management talent sustainability, and the proposed framework is an initial step in addressing these gaps.

Citation

Borg, J., Borg, N., Scott-Young, C.M. and Naderpajouh, N. (2021), "The work readiness–career resilience linkage: implications for project talent management", International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 917-935. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJMPB-04-2020-0129