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This study addresses the issue of decreasing accounting student interest in the specialized taxation discipline. Using survey responses from accounting students around the United States, the authors find that one of the most important influences on the choice of a taxation specialization over other accounting fields is the fascination and interest created as part of the initial taxation course in the student’s undergraduate education. This finding echoes prior research on how to motivate pre-business students toward accounting as a major area of study. The authors find that the challenging nature of the initial tax course and potential differences in future career options do not deter students from taxation. Other driving forces for pursing taxation include perceptions of entry-level and long-term compensation, long-term career opportunities, and having an interesting and challenging career. This study can be of interest to academic institutions, public accounting recruiters, and the accounting profession in general as it highlights the meaningful role each can play in encouraging accounting students to pursue taxation as a profession.

The process of occupational stress is dynamic, and thus must be conceptualized through an intraindividual perspective. Theories of self-regulation model feedback loops in goal pursuit and have meaningful implications for occupational well-being, from the task-level to years across the career span. In particular, discrepancy (the distance between one’s actual and desired states) and velocity (the speed at which one is moving towards a desired state) influence reactions in goal-striving. We extend theory bridging the self-regulation, occupational health, and career literatures by outlining the effects of discrepancy and velocity feedback for well-being, which we ground in cybernetic theories of stress, coping, and well-being. Further, we consider change at the macro scale by delimiting the impact of velocity, experienced in the pursuit of goals across Super’s (1980) career stages, on worker health. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of velocity and health over the career stages.

In this study, the concept of career, which is one of the most significant functions of human resources, is examined. Toward the end of the twentieth century, restricted models, in which individuals work in a workplace in a classical manner, have been replaced by more flexible models. Due to certain reasons such as changing environmental conditions, increasing education levels, and the impact of employee’s values on his/her work life, individuals’ work life have been dramatically changed. Therefore, some career approaches oriented for these changing conditions and current requirements have been proposed by both academicians and professionals. These approaches mostly include removing workplace limits, offering the opportunity to work from anywhere, using various skills at different departments without any limitations. Basing on the aforementioned changes in theory and practice, this study investigates up-to-date career approaches in a holistic manner. In this context, the background and practicability of these theoretically framed approaches are also discussed in the present study

This chapter examines one of the most contested issues in Public Administration, namely political–administrative relationships. The first part of the chapter begins with a brief overview of the features of an ideal-type bureaucracy. Next is a literature review of political–administrative relationships. This is followed by an analysis of typologies of political–administrative relationships, with particular reference to developing countries. The second part of the chapter analyses the evolution of political–administrative relationships since the dawn of South African democracy in 1994. It examines the growing politicisation of the public service, the weakening of the powers of public officials vis-a-vis Ministers and the emasculation of the PSC. Data indicate that the government is unable to fill posts at the Senior Management Service (SMS) level and that there are a high number of acting HoDs, an indicator of instability. Finally, it uses Dasandi and Esteve’s typology of political–administrative relationships in developing countries to interpret the South African case.

Aging workers are a diverse group yet research on aging infrequently examines the joint effects of age and gender upon various life domains and decisions. In order to fully understand the experience of a person, you must examine her/his roles and identities as they intersect. Intersectionality extends to the work setting, and the notion of intersectionality is presented as a paradigm that can yield significant insights into the joint consideration of age and gender in the workplace. These relationships have the potential to shape identities, which may in turn influence work perceptions and outcomes. As a result there are important considerations, consequences, solutions, and future research topics, as well as Human Resource practices that are discussed in this chapter.

The internationalisation of industries has spilled over to academia, whereby institutions of higher learning (IHL) increasingly compete in the graduate quality and applied graduate knowledge capabilities that they can offer. With increasing global competition for students, combined with the evolving need for lifelong learning in dynamic industries impacted by digital knowledge management, there is an opportunity for IHLs to be able to evolve to ensure their business models enable services and service delivery to cater to and help shape industry demands. This chapter will look at micro-credentialing (MC) and how the provision of MCs has changed along with the evolving IHL education environment. The demands of students, employers and ecosystem considerations will be addressed through a review of the current landscape, pathways to MC and how MC may be operationalised. The Bersteinian approach to pedagogic classification, which identifies the framework of knowledge as being communicable via three axes of singularism, regionalism and a wider generalist approach is referenced as a framework. The resultant recommendations that draw upon these foundations will conclude the chapter.

This chapter explores the impact of employee mobility on career sustainability, that is, the extent to which a career enables an individual to remain happy, healthy, and productive over the life course. I argue that whether employee mobility strengthens or weakens career sustainability depends on the extent to which the mobility experience increases (sustainable) or diminishes (unsustainable) person-career fit. I suggest that different forms of mobility (e.g., upward versus lateral) may have different effects on fit and subsequent career sustainability. Moreover, it is possible that a mobility experience can enhance fit in some respects but still have a negative effect on the long-term sustainability of a career. Research is necessary to address these and other questions regarding the relationship between employee mobility and career sustainability.

Although work has a fundamental role in the individual’s psychological well-being, the vast majority of mental health service users are not in employment. This is the result of various barriers that impede their work re-integration process despite their desire to work. Apart from the illness’ symptoms, these barriers are strongly associated with the negative effects of long-term unemployment, the negative stereotypes and attitudes towards mental health service users and the fear of losing disability benefits. There are several occupational intervention models aiming at vocational rehabilitation of mental health service users. Arguably, the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment has proved to be more effective compared to other models. This chapter presents an innovative career counselling approach that combines elements from the IPS model and from the newly emerged career theories that have been developed to address today’s world of work challenges. This model was developed by the Pan-Hellenic Association for Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Work Integration (PEPSAEE) in Greece during the recent major economic crisis. Further implications of the model’s implementation regarding vocational rehabilitation of mental health users as means for social inclusion are discussed.

Functionality of generating human capital of educated workers and citizens is core to higher education. This chapter explores the long-term relationship for the academy to support the needs for advanced degree and certificate programs, executive education, career preparation, and lifelong service opportunities focused on companies and their needs.

This chapter estimates the impact of a transitory reduction in hours during physicians' early career on their long-term labor supply, using the work-hour regulations on medical residents as the source of exogenous variation. The results show that exposure to the regulations significantly decreases practicing physicians' labor supply by about 4 hours per week on average, with female physicians being more responsive to a given reduction in early career hours. Distributional results using a changes-in-changes model confirm that the regulations primarily affect the upper end of the work-hour distribution. To reveal potential mechanisms of these effects, this study finds that the reform increases the probabilities of marriage and having a child, as well as the total number of children, for female physicians. In contrast, it does not have a significant impact on marriage and fertility outcomes for male physicians. These findings provide a better understanding of physicians' hours of work in response to the reform over time and the role of gender with respect to labor supply behavior and family formation decisions.