Making use of an agile literature review on the career success topic to enhance understanding on the research theme of scholar-practitioner in business management

 

Working paper: jh-2021-03-21-a (https://josephho33.blogspot.com/2021/03/making-use-of-agile-literature-review.html)

 

 

Making use of an agile literature review on the career success topic to enhance understanding on the research theme of scholar-practitioner in business management

 JOSEPH KIM-KEUNG HO

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Dated: March 21, 2021

Abstract: Literature review, done in an agile way, is a highly practical learning and research tool for busy scholar-practitioners. This article presents an agile literature review exercise on the topic of career success, the findings of which is then utilized to enhance knowledge on the research theme of scholar-practitioner in business management (re: Ho, 2014; 2015).  As such, the article offers academic and pedagogical value to managerial intellectual learners and researchers interested in the topics of career success, scholar-practitioner and literature review.

 

Key words: agile literature review, career success, the professional development process model of scholar-practitioner in business management. 

 

Introduction

Literature review is a major topic in Research Methods; for busy scholar-practitioners having a hectic life rhythm, it is more practical to employ an agile literature review, rather than a vigorous and comprehensive one, for intellectual learning and research purpose. This article presents an account on an agile literature review on the topic of career success. The review findings are then employed to enhance intellectual knowledge on the research theme of scholar-practitioner in business management as proposed by Ho (2014; 2015). The following section covers the agile literature review exercise; it is followed by a discussion on the scholar-practitioner in business management with reference to the agile literature review findings.

 

An agile literature review on career success

An agile literature review possesses the characteristic of being nimble, evolutionary, and responsive. This agile exercise is on career success and was conducted from March 18-20, 2021 by the writer. It made use of Google Scholar and two U.K. university e-libraries to carry out the literature search. A number of academic ideas were gathered and grouped into three categories. The findings are presented in Table 1.

 

Table 1:  A set of gathered academic ideas on career success, grouped in three categories

Categories	Academic ideas
Category 1 [idea 1.1]: basic ideas of career success	“Career success is defined as the accumulated outcomes or achievements that result from one’s work experiences (Baruch, 2006; Judge et al., 1995; Ng et al., 2005; Seibert et al., 1999; Wickramasinghe and Jayaweera, 2010) and has been defined primarily by two distinct components: intrinsic (or subjective) and extrinsic (or objective) career success (Heslin, 2005)” (Cheramie, 2013).
Category 1 [idea 1.2]: basic ideas of career success	“Careers have now become a more or less unpredictable series of experiences lived by individuals continuously negotiating work and non-work aspects of their lives throughout different career and life stages (Arthur et al., 2005). Consequently, the definition of career success in the literature has been expanded to include goals much broader (and more personal) than upward advancement alone (Mirvis and Hall, 1994)” (Dries, 2011).
Category 2 [idea 2.1]: Ingredient theories on career success	“The careers literature (and many other streams of literature at that) has, generally speaking, seriously underestimated the weight of cross-cultural differences in describing and explaining career phenomena (Chudzikowski et al., 2009). As a result, there is an overemphasis in the literature on Western career concepts and measures, and especially on concepts and measures developed in the USA (Stead, 2004)” (Dries, 2011).
Category 2 [idea 2.2]: Ingredient theories on career success	“the career plan is a guide for defining success, assessing needs, setting goals to meet stated needs, and comparing actual performance to anticipated personal and career success” (Zajas, 1995).
Category 2 [idea 2.3]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Based on the definition of career success as the accumulated positive work and psychological outcomes that are derived from one’s job or work experiences (Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995), researchers proposed two types of career success: subjective career success (SCS) and objective career success (OCS). OCS is reflected by observable, measurable, and verifiable indicators (Hughes, 1937), such as salary, promotion, managerial level, and so on. SCS, in contrast, refers to an individual’s reaction to unfolding career experiences (Hughes, 1937)” (Pan and Zhou, 2015).
Category 2 [idea 2.4]: Ingredient theories on career success	“In the career success literature, researchers adopt the scales of other constructs, such as job satisfaction, career satisfaction, marketability, and career commitment, to measure SCS [subjective career success] (e.g., Converse, Pathak, DePaul-Haddock, Gotlib, & Merbedone, 2012; Eby et al., 2003; Greenhaus, Parasuraman, & Wormley, 1990; Harris et al., 2001; Judge & Bretz, 1994; Seibert et al., 2001). While these constructs (e.g., career satisfaction, career commitment, job satisfaction) used by previous studies may have connotations similar to those of SCS, they still do not adequately represent the full scope of SCS at the level of the individual” (Pan and Zhou, 2015).
Category 2 [idea 2.5]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Examples of institutional barriers to career success for researchers of color include inadequate research infrastructure, insufficient training and development, and other social, cultural, and environmental barriers (Shavers et al., 2005). Jackson (2008) discusses barriers such as poor departmental support for faculty of color, low investment, ineffective recruitment and retention of faculty of color, and lack of mentoring. Jeste and colleagues (2009) note that ‘‘informal mentoring’’ may not provide the support that early career researchers often need” (Kameny et al., 2014).
Category 2 [idea 2.6]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Since Whyte's (1956) seminal work on the organization man, managerial career success has represented a popular topic for occupational research. Typically this success is equated with progression within a corporation, and assessed in terms of personal income, hierarchical level, and promotions” (Kirchmeyer, 1998).
Category 2 [idea 2.7]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Korman and Korman (1980) coined the phrase career success and personal failure to refer to feehings of work and personal alienation reported by men and women holding positions of high pay, privilege, and status, e.g., managerial and professional, among others” (Burke, 1999).
Category 2 [idea 2.8]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Common to the divergent perspectives on career dynamics is the notion that careers constitute ‘the evolving sequence of a person’s work experiences over time’ (Arthur, Hall and Lawrence 1989, p. 8). These perspectives have moved between orientations focusing on psychology and those aligned with sociology. The former reflects individual subjective construal of his/her career situation and is generally concerned with personality differences (Holland 1985), self-development (Gallos 1989), career anchors (Schein 1978) and self-efficacy (Hackett and Betz 1981). The sociological perspective views a career as a ‘social construction’ in which the individual makes choices within a set of institutional structures and occupational constraints (Barley 1989). This perspective is generally conceptualised in terms of career patterns (Lyness and Thompson 2000), career planning models for organisation (Mallon 1998) and environmental influences on careers (Ragins, Townsend and Mattis 1998)” (Ituma et al. 2011).
Category 2 [idea 2.9]: Ingredient theories on career success	“In today’s fast-paced, global, high-tech environment, one’s willingness and comfort with networking can significantly impact one’s ability to establish contacts, get interviews for jobs, and identify and cultivate mentors. Such networking skills are crucial for career and personal success” (De Janasz and Forret, 2008).
Category 2 [idea 2.10]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Individuals high in Neuroticism tend to make less money (Gelissen & de Graaf, 2006; Judge et al., 1999; Nyhus & Pons, 2005), be employed in lower levels of management (Moutafi, Furnham, & Crump, 2007) and, if they do become CEOs, earn lower salaries (Boudreau, Boswell, & Judge, 2001). Extraverts fare better, obtaining more promotions (Boudreau et al., 2001; Seibert & Kraimer, 2001) and higher positions in management (Moutafi et al., 2007). Extraversion, however, has been found to be positively related (Gelissen & de Graaf, 2006), negatively related (Nyhus & Pons, 2005) and unrelated (Boudreau et al., 2001) to income. Openness has been both positively (Mueller & Plug, 2006) and negatively (Gelissen & de Graaf, 2006; Seibert & Kraimer, 2001) associated with financial success; other evidence suggests that it is unrelated to extrinsic career success (Judge et al., 1999), managerial level (Moutafi et al., 2007) or promotions (Seibert & Kraimer, 2001). Agreeableness is associated with lower extrinsic career success (Boudreau et al., 2001), including lower wages (Nyhus & Pons, 2005), but not all find this relation (Seibert & Kraimer, 2001). Finally, Conscientiousness is unrelated to extrinsic career success (Boudreau et al., 2001), salary and promotions (Seibert & Kraimer, 2001) and hourly wage (Nyhus & Pons, 2005)” (Sutin et al., 2009).
Category 2 [idea 2.11]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Practitioners and researchers are becoming increasingly aware of proactive behaviors (i.e. feedback-seeking behaviors) in the organization and their potential impact on individual outcomes, such as career success (Crant, 2000; Joo and Ready, 2012; Van der Rijt et al., 2012). Proactive individuals take control of their own circumstances instead of accepting ambiguity in their own work situation. For instance, people exhibit proactive behaviors when they seek information and opportunities to improve their own performance and career development; moreover, proactive individuals do not wait for these opportunities” (Cheramie, 2013).
Category 2 [idea 2.12]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Early career theory portrayed career progression as a linear process, where men and women ascended into the managerial ranks through parallel career trajectories. Careers outcomes were associated with established patterns or stages that spanned the lives of employees – usually within one particular organization (Bird, 1994; Greenhaus and Callanan, 1994)” (Orser and Leck, 2010).
Category 2 [idea 2.13]: Ingredient theories on career success	“A contemporary model of career success has been advanced and empirically examined by Judge et al. (1995). …..  the model assumes that gender is one of many personal- and structural-level influences of career outcomes. The model also incorporates as dependent variables, objective and subjective measures of success. The authors define objective success as “[. . .] observable exoteric metrics such as salary and number of promotions” or pay and ascendancy (Judge et al., 1995, p. 486). Subjective success is defined as individuals’ feelings of accomplishment” (Orser and Leck, 2010).
Category 2 [idea 2.14]: Ingredient theories on career success	“Career commitment, organisational commitment and career motivation are some examples of more recent determinants of career success that have been investigated (Kidd and Green, 2006; Day and Allen, 2004). Career commitment is defined as “the strength of one’s motivation to work in a chosen career role” (Hall, 1971, p.59). Changing work environments and the pace of careers in organisations have led employees to exhibit more commitment to their careers and perhaps less or conditional commitment to their organizations (Noordin et al., 2002)” (Ballout, 2009).
Category 3 [idea 3.1]: Applications of the career success notion	“Today’s volatile environmental conditions, resulting from trends of globalisation and technological sophistication, have pressured employers to attract and select employees with portable metaskills that foster their adaptability to successful performance in any environment. Employees have begun to rely on new career strategies and behaviours that help them promote their own career success in order to adapt to a new reality of shorter employment relationships” (Ballout, 2009).
Category 3 [idea 3.2]: Applications of the career success notion	“As a core construct in the career area, career success has been proposed as critically influencing how individuals perceive and respond to their career development within organizations. The importance of career success to individuals as well as organizations has been well documented, and accordingly, it has long been of interest to both career researchers and managerial practitioners (Gunz & Heslin, 2005; Hughes, 1937; Pan & Zhou, 2013; Super, 1990; Verbruggen, 2012; Zacher, 2014)” (Pan and Zhou, 2015).
Category 3 [idea 3.3]: Applications of the career success notion	“Personal investments in education and experience represent the strongest and most consistent predictors of managerial progression (e.g., Dreher & Ash, 1990; Gattiker & Larwood, 1988; Landau & Arthur, 1992; Jaskolka, Beyer, & Trice, 1985; Judge et al., 1995; Tharenou & Cortroy, 1994; Tharenou et al., 1994; Whitely et al., 1991), although they appear to affect career satisfaction to a lesser extent (Judge et al., 1995; Schneer & Reitman, 1990, 1993)” (Kirchmeyer, 1998).
Category 3 [idea 3.4]: Applications of the career success notion	“While many people aspire to high pay, status, and regular promotions, attaining these things does not necessarily make them feel successful. In fact, such ‘‘successes’’ can cause alienation both at work and home, as well as depression. For many, rising through the ranks of the organization brings more demands on their time, energy, and talents, even as it brings external markers of success. Those who cannot delegate adequately can soon become overwhelmed and depressed, potentially leading to both subjective and objective career failure” (Heslin, 2005).
Category 3 [idea 3.5]: Applications of the career success notion	“Organizational trends over the last two decades – such as downsizing and outsourcing – have also lessened the potential for hierarchical progression through promotion. This applies even to M.B.A. graduates: those who have earned a degree widely promoted as the credential for access to a ‘‘successful’’ managerial career, characterized by mobility up a corporate ladder” (Heslin, 2005).

 

With reference to Table 1, the main literature review findings on career success are grouped into the three categories of (1) “basic ideas of career success”, (2) “ingredient theories on career success” and (3) “applications of the career success notion. A summary of the main ideas of the three categories is as follows:

On the “basic ideas of career success” (category 1), career success is the accumulated outcomes of a person’s work experience, which can be divided into subjective and objective career success.

On the “ingredient theories on career success” (category 2), the main ingredient theories and analytical concepts include cross-cultural differences, objective and subjective career success, construct scales, institutional barriers to career success, managerial career success, career success and personal failure, psychological and sociological orientations, networking skills, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, proactive behaviours, linear career progression and the  contemporary model of career success, and determinants of career success, e.g., career commitment and organizational commitment.

On the “applications of the career success notion” (category 3), examples of application topics include alienation, potential for hierarchical progression through promotion, predictors of managerial progression, personal investment in education and experience.

 

All in all, the academic literature on career success offers a comprehensive, analytical, critical and empirical knowledge on the topic. The deep knowledge enables (i) deep-level learning on career success and (ii) conceptual enhancement on other research topics, such as the study of scholar-practitioner in business management of Ho (2014; 2015). Specifically, the next section is going to examine how the career success literature allows for a more complicated understanding on the theme of scholar-practitioner in business management.

 

Informing the study of scholar-practitioner with academic ideas from the career success literature

The research theme on scholar-practitioner in business management was proposed by the writer in 2014 (Ho, 2014; 2015). The managerial intellectual learning to develop scholar-practitioner competence is based on the critical systems and multi-perspective, systems-based research lens (Ho, 1996). The scope of the scholar-practitioner is depicted in the professional development process model on scholar-practitioner in business management (Ho, 2014; 2015), as shown in Figure 1.

 

With reference to the professional development process model of Figure 1, there are a set of five related sub-topics that together depicts a broad-brush process picture.   The sub-topics are: supportive infrastructure (Part A), learning process and motivators (Part B), impacts on skills (Part C), professional identity (Part D) and on personal well-being (Part E). The arrows that connect the sub-topics imply main direction of influences between them. As a high-level conceptual model, there is a need to flesh out the model with more concepts and theories. One way to do so is by literature review. In this article, the main findings on career success are located in Part E (On personal well-being) of the model. The existing Part E of the model (re: Figure 1) includes three items, namely, work-life balance, self-actualization and employability. They are suggestive items and not meant to be exhaustive. With the academic ideas gathered in this agile literature review exercise, the knowledge on Part E of Figure 1 is now further enhanced. The academic value contributed by the agile literature review to the research of scholar-practitioner in business management is thus demonstrated.

 

Concluding remarks

An agile way to conduct literature review is especially useful for managerial intellectual learning and research work to busy scholar-practitioners as it is more in sync with their typical hectic life rhythm. This article demonstrates how it is done on the literature review topic on career success and how the literature review findings contributes to a deeper knowledge on the research theme of scholar-practitioner in business management. Readers interested in the study of scholar-practitioner, managerial intellectual learning and literature review should find this article of academic and pedagogical value.

 

References

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Burke, R.J. 1999. “Career success and personal failure feelings among managers” Psychological Reports 84: 651-653.

Cheramie, R. 2013. “An examination of feedback-seeking behaviors, the feedback source and career success” Career Development International 18(7): 712-731.

De Janasz, S.C. and Forret, M.L. 2008. “Learning The Art of Networking: A Critical Skill for Enhancing Social Capital and Career Success” Journal of Management Education 32(5) October:  629-650.

Dries, N. 2011. “The meaning of career success Avoiding reification through a closer inspection of historical, cultural, and ideological contexts” Career Development International 16(4): 364-384.

Heslin, P.A. 2005. “Experiencing Career Success” Organizational Dynamics 34(4): 376–390.

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Ho, J.K.K. 2014. “A Theoretical Review on the Professional Development to Be a Scholar-Practitioner in Business Management” European Academic Research 1(12) March: 5393-5422.

Ho, J.K.K. 2015. “A survey study of perceptions on the scholar-practitioner notion: the Hong Kong case” American Research Thoughts 1(1) August: 2268-2284.

Ituma, A., Simpson, R., Ovadje, F., Cornelius, N. and Mordi, C. 2011. “Four ‘domains’ of career success: how managers in Nigeria evaluate career outcomes” The International Journal of Human Resource Management 22(17): 3638-3660.

Kameny, R.R., DeRosier, M.E., Taylor, L.C., McMillen, J.S., Knowles, M.M. and Pifer, K. 2014. “Barriers to Career Success for Minority Researchers in the Behavioral Sciences” Journal of Career Development 41(1): 43-61.

Kirchmeyer, C. 1998. “Determinants of Managerial Career Success: Evidence and Explanation of Male~Female Differences” Journal of Management 24(6): 673-692.

Orser, B. and Leck, J. 2010. “Gender influences on career success outcomes” Gender in Management: An International Journal 25(5): 386-407.

Pan, J.Z. and Zhou, W.X. 2015. “How Do Employees Construe Their Career Success: An improved measure of subjective career success” International Journal of Selection and Assessment 23(1) March: 45-58, Wiley.

Sutin, A.R., Costa Jr., P.T., Miech, R. and Eaton, W.W. 2009. “Personality and Career Success: Concurrent and Longitudinal Relations” European Journal of Personality 23: 71–84.

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