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In this practitioner-focused essay, we combine traditional narrative storytelling approaches with Artificial Intelligence’s (AI) innovative abilities to enable career development professionals to support individuals across their lifespan.

We propose a three-phase career exploration approach, developed and tested in a real-world setting for career development professionals to support their clients to consider various career-related options as well as identify strengths and opportunities for personal development.

In phase one, the client recounts 7–10 positive narrative stories about engaging in activities they enjoyed. In phase two, the career development professional uses AI with tailored prompts to generate a personalised client report based on these narrative stories. In phase three, the report serves as the basis for further discussion and exploration with the client.

The approach provides a practical guide for career development professionals to increase their capability to support their clients in response to technological advancement and the contemporary world of work. A training document incorporating a worked example of the approach is provided in “Supplementary Material Appendix 1”.

Our approach acknowledges AI as a new actor and career development professionals as undervalued actors in supporting individuals to foster a sustainable career ecosystem.

This exploratory research aims to unravel how Chinese international students form their decisions regarding the school-to-work transition (sometimes also referred to as the university-to-work transition) when studying abroad.

The authors use the concepts of school-to-work transition and cultural approaches to investigate how Chinese graduate students make career decisions to navigate the school-to-work transition in the context of international mobility. The authors' empirical study is based on 30 semi-structured interviews conducted with Chinese graduate students studying in the Netherlands.

The authors discovered four patterns with two major subgroups among Chinese students studying in the universities in the Netherlands based on their initial intentions: return-return, open-return, open-stay and stay-stay. These patterns made sense when navigating the school-to-work transition: participants experienced varied international experiences, cultural perceptions and acknowledgment influences when enhancing employability and shaping their career decisions. Participants in the return-return and stay-stay groups indicated strong resilience and consistency in achieving their goals and strongly focused on long-term objectives. However, participants' open-return decision demonstrated a thoughtful alignment of personal goals and knowledge of the possible beneficial influence they may have in their home country. Open-stay participants utilized the overseas study opportunity to finalize their decisions and increase their employability in the local labor market, thereby creating a transition from university to work in the host country.

The authors highlight the way Chinese graduate students manage their international experience and provide novel insights into the role played by the cultural characteristics of their home country and host country.

Talent management can provide an organization with a competitive advantage. However, little is known about how human resource practices pertaining to talent management drive positive outcomes. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study investigates the effect of talent management practices usage on employee commitment and intention to leave. Integrating social exchange theory and the theory of met expectations facilitated predicting the mediating role of perceived career growth in the talent management practices usage-employee outcomes relationship.

Data were collected using a survey from 268 employees from eight organizations from the financial and services industries in Jordan.

Talent management practices usage has a significant direct positive effect on employee commitment but no direct effect on employees’ intention to leave. Further, there is pioneering evidence that perceived career growth mediates the following relationships: talent management practices usage and commitment and talent management practices usage and intention to leave.

The study provides unprecedented evidence of the effect of TM practices usage on employee outcomes and the role of perceived career growth in the TM practices usage-employee outcomes relationship from an underexplored context of Jordon. Our research results contribute to theory development in TM by supporting, extending and integrating social exchange theory and the theory of met expectations.

The prevalence of independent contractors in the US workforce is growing. This research examines the social environment and career outcomes of labor and employment arbitrators, a unique profession of high-skilled and high-status independent contractors who play a significant role in facilitating organizational justice. Previous research has focused on the employment relationships that independent contractors have with hiring organizations and the characteristics of individuals who become independent contractors; however, little attention has been given to how relational factors influence the career outcomes of high-skilled independent contractors or how such influences differ by gender. Building upon theories of social networks and unequal network returns (UNR), our study investigates the informal social relationships among arbitrators, the association between interpersonal relationship patterns and arbitrators’ career success, and how these associations vary based on gender.

A social network survey is used to collect the social networks, attitudes and fee information of 407 labor and employment arbitrators working in North America. A multi-level regression analysis was used to examine the proposed relationships among social networks, gender and career outcomes of the arbitrators.

We discovered that occupying a central position within advice networks is positively associated with occupational satisfaction. On the other hand, having strong ties is associated with achieving high employment arbitration fees. Notably, we found that the advantages of strong ties for arbitration fees are comparatively weak for female arbitrators relative to their male counterparts.

This research examines the relationship between social networks and career outcomes for independent contractors in the unique context of arbitrators. It further highlights inequalities experienced by female arbitrators in a male-dominated profession where their social networks offer fewer rewards relative to their male counterparts.

Civil service workers are valuable resources for any nation and play a crucial role in driving their country’s economic development. Per the supervisor, this research examines the impact of mindfulness, proactive personality, and career competencies on employee job performance. The study also analyzes the effects of career adaptability and identity on this aspect.

To test the model of this study, questionnaires were administered to a sample of 500 civil service employees whose career-based knowledge and skills were measured in various cities in the province of Punjab, Pakistan.

Mindfulness and career competencies significantly impact supervisor-rated task performance, whereas a proactive personality does not substantially relate to supervisor-rated task performance. Research indicated that the two hypotheses about mediation were accepted. However, career adaptability does not play a significant role in the link between mindfulness and how well a supervisor rates task performance. Regarding moderation, career identity did not significantly moderate the relation between proactive personality and supervisor-rated task performance. However, the other two moderate hypotheses have been proven to be significant.

The findings offer compelling support for career construction theory (CCT) in this study area by analyzing the connections related to career adaptability and identity within the framework. In the future, researchers can build on this model by adding theories like conservation of resources (COR), looking into possible moderators that might change specific pathways in this network of relationships and using longitudinal designs to find stronger causal relationships.

Considering the evolving workplace due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the study offers fresh perspectives on the post-COVID situation, understanding and integrating various variables. For future studies, more variables can be explored in this model with the expansion of sample size and change of context.

While high-performance work systems (HPWS) are widely viewed as beneficial, some suggest they may have a dark side and be simultaneously detrimental. This is tested toward turnover intentions (reduced by HPWS) in the context of perceived employability because HPWS are expected to enhance employability, which positively influences turnover intentions.

Survey data using two New Zealand employee studies were conducted (n = 525, n = 306). Data were analyzed for mediation (Study 1) and moderated mediation (Study 2) using the PROCESS macro.

Both studies show HPWS are negatively related to turnover intentions and positively to perceived employability, which also positively influences turnover intentions. This provides support for dark side effects. Study two extends the model by including career planning and tests a moderated mediation model, showing the indirect effects of HPWS being positive toward turnover intentions in the context of perceived employability at all levels of career planning. This indirect effect weakens as career planning strengthens.

Highlights that HPWS appear to have a dark side by positively shaping employability and ultimately turnover intentions when career planning is included as a boundary condition.

Flatter organisational structures and nonlinear career trajectories mean intrinsic value and subjective career success are increasingly important for motivating, guiding and rewarding contemporary workers. While objective measures of career success have been well explored, more research is needed to understand the dimensions of subjective career success, their relative importance to graduates and potential variations by personal factors. This is critical for supporting graduates’ transition into work and for organisations to attract and retain graduates amid global talent shortages.

Building on assertions of the power to understand how what one seeks in a career affects career achievement, this study investigated the importance and achievement of subjective career success among 324 recent graduates from two Australian universities.

Results include a notable emphasis on financial security and work-life balance, particularly among mature individuals, underscoring the value of adaptable work arrangements. Results suggest shifting priorities, with reduced importance placed on opportunities for innovation and assisting others, potentially indicating a move from collective to more individualised goals. Distinct graduate profiles emerged, showcasing diverse priorities and achievements in subjective career success, spanning from “humanistic” to “self-made” success.

Results underscore the significance of higher education embedding program-wide career development plans across the curriculum, including value-based assessments, labour market analyses and career planning and review processes. Comprehensively supporting students in career development will empower them to explore, understand and actively pursue their career goals in alignment with their values and motivations, enhancing their person-organisation fit, career satisfaction and organisational commitment.

The purpose of this study is to explore Chinese women’s pursuit of entrepreneurship as a career choice through the intersectional lens of gender and culture. The study aims to identify factors that influenced Chinese women’s decisions to pursue entrepreneurship.

In this exploratory qualitative study, we conducted qualitative, in-depth, semi-structured and one-on-one interviews with 16 Chinese women entrepreneurs.

We identified various factors that influenced Chinese women’s career choice of entrepreneurship. The factors include entrepreneurial attributes, rapid economic growth, societal and cultural influences, the dual role of family influences and strategic entrepreneurship.

Our study provides a contextualized understanding of the experience of Chinese women’s entrepreneurship career choices. It enriches the existing literature on career choices within the career development for Chinese women entrepreneurs. By applying social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to a specific cultural and gendered setting, we proposed the social cognitive women’s entrepreneurial career theory, which offers fresh insights into the interplay of personal, contextual and behavioral dimensions in shaping Chinese women’s entrepreneurial career choices.

Drawing on upper echelons theory, the authors study how the career horizon of a CEO promotes green innovation through the incentive mechanism. Meanwhile, from the perspective of speed and amount of value realization, the authors also identify two sets of shift parameters that reduce or increase incentive gap between short-career-horizon CEOs and long-career-horizon CEOs. Specifically considering the digital trend in China and the heterogeneity of firms and industries, this study aims to examine the moderating effects of firm digitalization, industrial digital transformation, slack resources and polluting firms.

In the context of China’s transitional economy, this study uses all A-share listed companies in China from 2007 to 2021, resulting in a total of 4,286 companies with 29,310 company-year observations.

The results support the hypothesis that CEO career horizon significantly facilitates green innovation at the firm level. The positive effect is attenuated by both firm digitalization and industrial digital transformation, but is amplified by slack resources and by the polluting firms. After a series of robustness tests, the research conclusions remain valid.

To extend the upper echelons perspective of existing research into CEO−green innovation, the authors make important contributions in four ways. First, this study contributes to green innovation literature by adding an unexplored yet increasingly important managerial determinant. Second, it advances research on the role of the CEO in green innovation by revealing a new theoretical mechanism. Third, it deepens the understanding of CEO career horizon by exploring its influence on innovations in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Fourth, it identifies boundary conditions that motivate CEOs in distinguishable ways, to provide a nuanced understanding of the relationship between CEO career horizon and green innovation.

Following the renewed interest to harness the full potential of African female employees in the workplace, this paper aims to explore how patriarchal behaviors relate to career adaptability, subjective career success and job satisfaction among women in Nigerian organizations.

A structured questionnaire was used in collecting quantitative data from 508 middle-level managers in Nigerian organizations. The hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling.

Patriarchal-induced gendered work practices were found to have a significant negative influence on career adaptability among Nigerian career women. Contrary to expectations, patriarchal discrimination was found to have an insignificant negative influence on job satisfaction and subjective career success, suggesting that Nigerian career women still experience significant subjective career success and job satisfaction amid patriarchal practices in the workplace.

For female employees to possess significant career adaptability resources that will enable them to reconstruct their careers to match redesigned job functions in times of innovation in the workplace, organizations should reinvent their human resources (HR) policies that address patriarchal-induced gendered work practices in the workplace.

This current study extends research on how patriarchy affects female employees in African organizations from the traditional research focus of patriarchy and work-life balance relationships to the under-explored area of career experience among women. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first quantitative research that explores how patriarchy influences career adaptability resources, subjective career success and job satisfaction among Nigerian female employees.