Work does not speak for itself:Examining the incremental validity of personal branding in predicting knowledge workers’ employability

The changing context of contemporary knowledge work, including the massive adoption of home office work arrangements and a great resignation, calls for new research on the employability of knowledge workers. In this paper, we suggest that knowledge workers can no longer rely on developing their human capital and being intrapreneurial at work to secure their employability. With the aim to offer a new perspective, we test the incremental validity of personal branding in predicting employability over and above established predictors (i.e., human capital and intrapreneurship behaviours) and test the relationships in three studies (total N = 883), consisting of a supervisor sample (Study 1), a student sample (Study 2), and a time-lagged employee sample (Study 3). Results show that personal branding explains variance in employability over and above human capital and intrapreneurship behaviours. The results also show that the relationship between personal branding and employability is fully mediated by personal brand equity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the opportunities the concept of personal branding offers for employability research in the context of the contemporary world of work

Exploring the associations of culture with careers and the mediating role of HR practices:A conceptual model

Purpose: The conceptual framework developed in the present study aims to highlight the importance of human resource (HR) practices as a mediator between national culture and employees' careers. Design/methodology/approach: The approach taken is a literature review and the development of a conceptual model. Findings: The paper contributes to the literature by focusing on how culture via HR practices might influence career success. Drawing on Hofstede's cultural dimensions, five propositions are developed regarding the impact of culture on career‐relevant HR practices, and how these practices are likely to influence employee career success. Research limitations/implications: Culture's effect should not be overstated. Looking at the propositions, it is possible that the influence of HR practices on career success is more pronounced than the direct effects of culture on career success. Future work is needed to measure and compare the relative strength of different associations as well as the possibility that other HR dimensions relevant to the study of career success may exist. Originality/value: At a general level, there is ample evidence of the impact of culture on the effectiveness of a variety of individual outcomes. The paper focused on the mediating role of HR practices as opposed to advancing hypotheses about direct relationships between culture and career success

Careers in context: An international study of career goals as mesostructure between societies' career-related human potential and proactive career behaviour

Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organisational-level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviours are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalise societal context using the career-related human potential composite and aim to understand if and why career goals and behaviours vary between countries. Drawing on a model of career structuration and using multilevel mediation modelling, we draw on a survey of 17,986 employees from 27 countries, covering nine of GLOBE's 10 cultural clusters, and national statistical data to examine the relationship between societal context (macrostructure building the career-opportunity structure) and actors' career goals (career mesostructure) and career behaviour (actions). We show that societal context in terms of societies' career-related human potential composite is negatively associated with the importance given to financial achievements as a specific career mesostructure in a society that is positively related to individuals' proactive career behaviour. Our career mesostructure fully mediates the relationship between societal context and individuals' proactive career behaviour. In this way, we expand career theory's scope beyond occupation- and organisation-related factors

An Intelligent Career: Taking Ownership of Your Work and Your Life

Ultimately, the goal of this book is to help knowledge workers from architects to lawyers learn to work on their own terms and to assume ownership of work and career