Fostering Sustainable Careers: Conceptual and Empirical Research on Different Categories of Workers

This symposium aims to bring forward scientific knowledge about fostering sustainable careers, thereby incorporating both conceptual and empirical contributions on different categories of workers. As such, it builds on last year’s symposium at AOM 2018, which focused on conceptual research related to career sustainability. Technological, societal, and labor market developments – such as digitalization, the rapidly changing and unpredictable economic environment in which careers evolve (Lawrence, Hall, & Arthur, 2015), and an increasing retirement age – have caused scholars to focus on studying the sustainability of careers across the life-span (see for example De Vos, Van der Heijden, & Akkermans, 2018). Although the conceptualization of a sustainable career has received increasing momentum in scientific journals (e.g., De Vos & Van der Heijden, 2017; De Vos et al., 2018; McDonald & Hite, 2018) and also at previous, major academic conferences, the scholarly topic of sustainable careers is still in its infancy, and, as a result, there is still a serious lack of scholarly work – especially on different categories of workers – in this field. Therefore, in this symposium, we will present five research papers that all contribute to this aim, by taking a multiple-stakeholder perspective, and focusing on how career sustainability can be fostered among different types of workers. Papers 1 and 3 comprise, respectively, a conceptual and an empirical contribution into the important role of leadership in the light of fostering sustainable careers. Paper 2 offers empirical work on how professional jobs can be redesigned, by collaborative crafting roles of employees and their employers, in order to effectively reduce workloads. Papers 4 and 5 offer conceptual work on career sustainability of temporary workers (paper 4) and project and dual earner workers (paper 5). More specifically, paper 4 reflects on the interplay between different types of flexible contracts, psychological contract formation, and career sustainability. In Paper 5, a multiple-stakeholder perspective (i.e., employee, private life context, supervisor, organization, and broader labor market) on sustainable careers of project-based and dual earner workers is reflected in several propositions. There will be an explicit attention for integrating the conceptual and empirical insights from the five papers and linking them with sound practical recommendations, thereby drawing implications for both future scholarly work in this field and for practice. This will be done through an active discussion with presenters and participants, wherein attendees are engaged to distill both scientific and practical knowledge on fostering sustainable careers of different categories of workers. Together, this should lead to moving the research field of sustainable careers forward, and to provide guidance for future researchers and practitioners with interests across a variety of disciplines, such as careers, HR, OB, and aging across the life-span. Keywords: Sustainable Careers, Leadership, Job Redesign, Career Management, Flexible Work, Psychological Contract, Multiple-Stakeholder Perspective, Project Work, Different Categories of Workers Participant Agreements: We have received statements from all intended participants agreeing to participate in the entire symposium, AND stating that they are not in violation of the “Rule of Three + Three”. Purposeful Sustaining: The Role of Purpose and Relational Leadership in the Sustainable Career Presenter: Jon P. Briscoe; Northern Illinois U. Presenter: Brittany Buis; U. of Illinois at Chicago Desperately Seeking Sustainable Careers: Redesigning Professional Jobs for the Collaborative Crafting of Reduced-Load Work Presenter: Ellen Ernst Kossek; Purdue U. Presenter: Ariane Ollier-Malaterre; UQAM U. of Quebec in Montreal, Canada The Role of Sustainable Leadership in the Relation between Career Management and Indicators of Sustainable Careers Presenter: Daniel Kooistra; The Open U., Netherlands Presenter: Sara De Hauw; The Open U., Netherlands Presenter: Judith Hilde Semeijn; The Open U., Netherlands Presenter: Beatrice Van Der Heijden; Radboud U. Nijmegen Flexible Work Arrangements and Psychological Contracts in Light of Sustainable Careers Presenter: Jana Retkowsky; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Jos Akkermans; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Sanne Nijs; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Paul G W Jansen; Vrije U. Amsterdam Presenter: Svetlana Khapova; Vrije U. Amsterdam Applying a Multiple Stakeholders’ Perspective on Career Management to Foster Sustainable Careers: The Cases of Project-Based Workers and Dual Earner Employees Presenter: Marijke Verbruggen; KU Leuven Presenter: Ans De Vos; U. of Antwerp/ Antwerp Management School Presenter: Marie Antoine; U. Catholique de Louvain Presenter: Lynn Germeys; KU Leuven Presenter: Francois Pichault; U. of Liege Presenter: Elisabeth Abraham; KU Leuven Presenter: Sofie Jacobs; U. of Liège Presenter: David Stuer; U. of Antwerp/ Antwerp Management School Presenter: Jérôme Sulbout; U. of Liege

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