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The purpose of this paper is to identify the major variables that should be studied when exploring the relationship of innovations in career management tactics and successful or unsuccessful interorganizational transitions.

This study takes a conceptual stance, using the careers and diffusion of innovation literature to identify the major variables.

Two innovations and two major refinements in career management tactics suggested by contemporary career concepts are identified, personal criteria for transition success are described, and likely barriers to accepting these tactical innovations are hypothesized. Other factors likely to affect transition success are also revealed by analyzing a conceptual model of interorganizational transition success.

The paper introduces the idea that the use of new career management tactics might be related to interorganizational transition success or the lack of it. It proposes one method of developing quantitative data about how personal career management may be changing, as well as providing normative data about perceptions of successful and unsuccessful interorganizational transitions. In addition, a survey based on these concepts would uncover the primary perceptual barriers to the adoption of the new career tactics by employees.

Career theorists have been increasingly occupied with role transitions across organisations, neglecting role transitions undertaken within single organisations. By exploring in depth the aspects of career capital that role holders need to facilitate their own organisational role transition, this article builds upon career capital theory.

Adopting an interpretivist approach, this study explores the experiences of 36 business leaders who have undertaken a recent role transition within a UK construction business.

The article empirically characterises 24 career capital aspects, clustered into Knowing Self, Knowing How and Knowing Whom. It argues that these aspects are important to internal role transitions and compares them to mainstream career capital theory. In addition, the concepts of connecting, crossing and investing career capital are introduced to explain how career capital supports such transitions.

This study proposes a new career capital framework and refocuses debate on organisational careers. It is based on a single organisation, and it would be beneficial for future researchers to explore its applicability within other organisations.

The article explores the implications of the new career capital framework for business leaders and organisational managers who wish to build individual and organisational career mobility.

This study proposes a new, empirically grounded, career capital theoretical framework particularly attending to organisational role transitions.

Disruptive technologies often disrupt the careers of middle-skilled workers. The purpose of this paper is to investigate career transition strategies of middle-skilled workers that partially continue or expand their careers under the condition of disruptive technologies.

This paper established a conceptual framework of career transition strategies for middle-skilled workers by integrating the existing studies of disruptive technologies, technological trajectory transition, boundaryless and protean careers, and careers as repositories of knowledge.

The authors proposed three types of career transition strategies to partially prolong middle-skilled workers’ careers, namely, industry-oriented transition strategy which refers to a transfer to other occupations in the original industry, technology-oriented transition strategy which refers to a transfer to occupations with original technical skills in other industries, and comprehensive transition strategy which refers to a transfer to other occupations in the related industries. Further, this paper discusses the external conditions and individual competencies for each career transition strategy, and timing for implementing a career transition strategy from the perspective of the technology life cycle.

This paper focused on sustainable careers of middle-skilled workers under the condition of disruptive technologies, which received very little attention from the current literature. The findings also suggested for middle-skilled workers to develop a sustainable or long-term career in the current era of many disruptive technologies. The findings may also imply on how firms and government should contribute to help workers on handling scenarios of technological disruption.

The multidisciplinary research on the phenomena of voluntary career transition (VCT) and voluntary turnover (VTO) remains disparate. This integrative review examines literatures in these two areas in relation to research in the Chinese context. The purpose of this paper is to identify future research directions for Chinese indigenous research in this area.

This review adopted an integrative literature review approach.

The authors found that research on VCT and VTO in different disciplines has shared identical or similar constructs and produced complementary empirical findings. This suggests that combining the disparate research in VCT and VTO in the Western literature to address the large‐scale career phenomenon in China may produce unexpected research outcomes, particularly when integrating the research with Chinese‐specific contexts in socioeconomic, cultural, and organization dynamics.

Taking advantage of, and linking existing literature in, VCT and VTO while considering the Chinese context may generate new knowledge to understand the massive career phenomenon in China. The authors offer a number of specific research questions based on the review and analysis of the literatures.

This paper offers insights for organizations to develop strategies and policies in balancing talent management and employees career concerns.

The paper is the first in the literature proposing an integrated research strategy on VCT and VTO to study the same phenomenon in organizations, particularly in the Chinese context.

Modern careers have become increasingly non‐predictable, characterized by many occupational changes and transitions. Given this background, this paper analyses the potential contributions of the anthropological concept of rites of passage in scientific as well as practical terms. It is argued that, while this concept is not a fully developed theory, it qualifies as a useful model for specific aspects of career transitions.

After a general introduction of the concept of rites of passage, the paper examines how it has already been applied to career research, and proposes some fresh developments in order to interpret the role of transitions in modern careers.

Although the concept of rites de passage has mostly been applied to very traditional career paths, this paper argues for its validity for modern careers. In particular, the emphasis on a particular rite de passage, namely the rite de marge, allows one to focus on the non‐stability of careers today and its consequences for individuals.

Even if the effects of their application are neither mechanical nor calculable, nevertheless rites de passage present interesting possibilities for management purposes.

Introducing the concept of rites de passage shows that modern careers especially, because of their lack of stability, need transitional rites for occupational identity and the entering of new groups. To be aware of this is of great relevance for individuals and for career management.

The authors contribute to scholarship on motivation for late-career transition, by examining how older executives drew on individual ambidexterity (IA) in the stigmatized, Canadian-licensed recreational cannabis industry.

The methodology utilizes a qualitative method, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 15 late-career executives. Inductive examination of data uncovered subthemes related to motivations for late-career transition, exploring and exploiting competencies, and known and unknown boundary conditions.

Motivations explained the impetus to join, while ambidexterity allowed executives to employ explorative and exploitive competencies to weather boundary conditions. Late-career transitioning to a stigmatized emerging industry presents an unprecedented mode of bridging employment for older workers.

This small exploratory study of a nascent industry is limited in its generalization across different contexts but relevant to others in cannabis and other emerging industries. Increased focus on Human resources management (HRM) related research on late-career transition due to limited studies and IA.

Cannabis can be a risky employment venture for older workers that may affect future job prospects due to stigmatized views or present devastating financial risk. Older workers with knowledge, experience and skill remain relevant utilizing IA and their ability to manage difficult boundary conditions. Older experienced workers can bridge novel new opportunities before retiring.

The authors incorporated IA, expanding on literature related to boundary conditions in the late-career transition of executives into stigmatized recreational Cannabis. The authors introduce a new mode of bridge employment for late-career workers.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the subjective perspective via the transition approach to organizational career planning so that employees’ individual transition phases can be evaluated, planned and guided.

A theoretical–conceptual analysis is conducted in this paper.

The individual perspective can be included in career planning via the transition approach. By dividing the transition into individual phases, the different requirements of employees over the course of time can be analysed individually and corresponding measures (for example coaching) can be derived.

The added value of this paper is that organizational career planning can individually analyse employees’ transitions, using a transition approach, increasing the likelihood of a successful transition.

Although top‐down interventions have the potential to reduce repatriate turnover, most organizations have not been very accommodating and repatriate turnover continues to remain high. Drawing from career transitions theory and the protean perspective of career management, this paper proposes a model of repatriate proactivity as an alternate approach. A “successful” repatriation transition outcome is defined as one in which, upon return, the repatriate: gains access to a job which recognizes any newly acquired international competencies; experiences minimal cross‐cultural re‐adjustment difficulties; and reports low turnover intentions. Individual antecedents are posited to include proactive repatriation behaviors and the personality characteristics which are suggested to drive the use of these behaviors. The strength/weakness of the repatriation situation is posited to moderate the relationship between personality and the emergence of proactive repatriation behaviors. Practical and theoretical implications for both the repatriation problem, and the career development literature in general, are discussed.

Employment transitions are an integral part of an individual’s career path. However, not every individual can cope with these changes. Some may not know how to mobilise their capacities in order to return to work. Consequently, various countries have devised policies aimed at supporting the unemployed, in programmes that are led by consultants. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of career transition consultants who work for a private consulting firm. It examines how consultants perceive their role and how these perceptions influence the support they provide to beneficiaries.

In total, 20 French career transition consultants took part in the interviews. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews.

Ideal types of career consultants were drawn up, based on the distinction between the agent model and the community model. Depending on their perceived role, consultants set up different career transition strategies and develop different capacities among their beneficiaries.

Consultants advocate for flexible support for people seeking employment. This research aims to question the policy of distributing beneficiaries among consultants’ portfolios. In France, the approach is made without considering the beneficiary’s profile. A better approach would be to find common ground between the consultant’s profile and the beneficiary’s expectations (e.g. help with business start-up, a career plan, or psychological support). Further, the differentiation of profiles and practices opens up other research opportunities (in corporate coaching, tutoring, and vocational guidance).

From a managerial point of view, this research questions the policy of distribution of the beneficiaries in consultants’ portfolios. Indeed, in France, the approach is made a priori (without exact knowledge of the beneficiary’s profile). Yet, it seems that the approach would be more effective if consulting firms looked for common ground between the consultant’s profile and the beneficiary’s specific expectation (e.g. help with a new business start-up, the creation of a career plan, or a specific need for psychological support).

This research investigates a little known and important fact in career transition management: the heterogeneous nature of consultancy service and the capacities consultants highlight as being helpful to beneficiaries in career transition.

Military officials who become accustomed to the distinct culture of the military face a variety of challenges when attempting to transition into the civilian workforce as veterans. These hardships even pertain to short- and mid-term veterans (SMVs) who leave the military at early career stages to pursue alternative career options. In this study, the authors explored the career construction decisions made by South Korean SMVs who left their military careers and successfully transitioned into the civilian workforce.

The authors used a phenomenology approach and conducted a semi-structured interview with 19 SMVs to unpack their career transition experiences.

The authors identified the motivational factors that encourage SMVs to develop their four career adaptabilities and illustrated the necessity for such qualities pre- and post-transition. Furthermore, the authors characterized each individual experience by the theoretical constructs of career adaptability and highlighted the contextual characteristics that prompted the emergence of career adaptability.

This study contributes to the understanding of career mobility at early career stages and how career adaptability is developed and manifested in the context of transitioning from the military to civilian society.