Each month, we select up to ten publications from those that have recently been entered into the Literature Database.

A year ago, there were approximately 8,150 citations in the Literature Database. As of December 2007, we now have over 9,165 citations.

View Sloan Literature Update articles in the Literature Database.

Cheramie, R.A., Sturman, M.C., & Walsh, K. (2007). Executive career management: Switching organizations and the boundaryless career. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71(3), 359-374.

This paper examines issues that may result in executives changing jobs in order to self-manage their careers. Using the boundaryless career concept, the authors collected and considered data for executives who left one organization and began a job at another workplace between 1992 and 1997.Using Standard & Poor’s ExecuComp database, they amassed samples of 91 executives who moved to new organizations and 87 who did not. Findings provide support for both the boundaryless and traditional careers concepts. Switching workplaces appears to be a useful strategy for executives to manage their own careers; such tactics often result in higher bonuses, salaries, and status.

Corrigall, E.A. & Konrad, A.M. (2007). Gender role attitudes and careers: A longitudinal study. Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, 56(11-12), 847-855.
Using the Monitoring the Future Study, which has surveyed 16,000-18,000 U.S. high school seniors every year since 1976, the authors selected a sample of 1,875 women and 1,577 men and examined the impact of early gender role attitudes on later career outcomes. The study also considered the effects of marriage, parenting, and labor market outcomes on changes in gender role attitudes. Findings indicate that women with more egalitarian attitudes tended to seek more education, train for higher paying jobs, put more effort into their jobs, and take less time off after the births of their children than women with more traditional attitudes about gender. Early gender role attitudes were not related to men’s work hours or earnings. The presence of children reduced both men and women’s later gender egalitarianism.
 

Donohue, R. (2007). Examining career persistence and career change intent using the career attitudes and strategies inventory. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70(2), 259-276.

This study investigates the Career Attitudes and Strategies Inventory’s ability to differentiate “career persisters” from “career changers.” Australian career persisters (249) and career changers (200) completed the CASI questionnaire; the authors hypothesized that persisters (who wanted to remain in their current career) would have higher levels of job satisfaction than changers (who wanted to change careers). Findings indicate that changers were more likely to take career-related risks and were more interested in skill development, while persisters were more satisfied with their jobs and had more career concerns.
 

Kossek, E.E. & Lautsch, B. (2007). The CEO of me: Creating a life that works in the flexible job age. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Wharton School Publishers.

Table of contents: Are you the CEO of your working life? -- Knowing your flexstyle -- Weighing the trade-offs -- Trade-offs of using flexibility for higher work-life integration – Trade-offs of compartmentalizing work and personal life -- Trade-offs of volleying between work and family -- Changes everyone can make to improve quality of life -- Tailoring change to your particular flexstyle -- Negotiating a new flexstyle and a life that works on your terms -- Not going it alone: making sustainable change at your workplace -- Appendix.
 

Lips-Wiersma, M. & Hall, D.T. (2007). Organizational career development is not dead: A case study on managing the new career during organizational change. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(6), 771-792.
This case study considers whether workers take responsibility for their career development during times of organizational change, and whether this means the organization takes less responsibility for employees’ career management. Findings reveal that not only were individuals taking more responsibility for their own careers, but that the organization in the case study also became more involved in career development and management. Recommendations and discussion of the case study’s limitations are offered.
 

Global Perspectives - Wong, A.L.Y. (2007). Making career choice: A study of Chinese managers. Human Relations, 60(8), 1211-1233.

Wong used Schein’s concept “career anchors,” which focus on workers’ career choices, reasons for joining or leaving an institution, and reasons for seeking additional schooling or training to study 117 Taiwanese managers’ career paths. Citing the lack of research on Chinese and Southeast Asian managers, the author investigates the effects of culture and politics on the managers’ work experiences by administering Schein’s Career Orientations Inventory, along with a biographical data sheet. The mangers placed a premium on independence, work-life balance, and entrepreneurial opportunities, suggesting that the subjects were interested in forging their own career paths, rather than remaining solely dependent on their employers for career guidance and opportunity.

Global Perspectives - Coles, A. & Fechter, A.-M. (2008). Gender and family among transnational professionals. New York: Routledge.
Introduction / Anne Coles and Anne-Meike Fechter -- The Shell Ladies’ project : Making and remaking home / Leonie Gordon -- Shopping for a hypernational home : How expatriate women in Kathmandu labour to assuage fear / Heather Hindman -- Travelling together?: Work, intimacy, and home amongst British expatriate couples in Dubai / Katie Walsh -- The German school in London, UK : Fostering the next generation of national cosmopolitans? / Fiona Moore -- Moving experiences : Responses to relocation among British military wives / Sue Jervis -- Making multiple migrations : The life of British diplomatic families overseas / Anne Coles -- Becoming a feminist in Aidland / Rosalind Eyben -- At work and at play in the ’fishbowl’ : Gender relations and social reproduction among development expatriates in Madagascar / Ritu Verma -- From 'incorporated wives’ to 'expat girls' : A new generation of expatriate women? / Anne-Meike Fechter -- ’Coming to China changed my life': Gender roles and relations among single British migrants / Katie D. Willis and Brenda S.A. Yeoh.

Kelly, P. ( 2007). New work ethics: The corporate athlete's back end index and organizational performance. Organization, 14(2), 267-285.
This paper examines the “individualizing and normalizing” processes shaping the lives of professionals worldwide in today’s corporate workplaces. The authors argue for the existence of a “New Work Ethics,” in which individuals “must do particular sorts of work on themselves” to be positively identified as professional, entrepreneurial, resilient, athletic and effective. This theory draws from Michel Foucault’s later genealogies of the Self and utilizes the specific case of an IT company that encourages workplace health and fitness in order to create “corporate athletes.” The paper describes the general theories of the development of Self, and then illustrates this in the workplace context of the 21st century by discussing the health program in the sample Australian IT company. This company supports and encourages employee efforts to maintain a healthy mind and body through gym membership, health assessment surveys, and through the distribution of literature of health and fitness. The authors also suggest implications for future research on how today’s employees negotiate their freedom to develop these identities as “corporate athletes” in the workplace. (annotation by Caitlin Sullivan)

Global Perspectives - Tsukahara, I. (2007). The effect of family background on occupational choice. LABOUR, 21(4-5), 871-890.

Using data from Japan's Keio Household Panel Survey, Tsukahara investigates the effects of fathers' occupation and parents' years of schooling on their children's occupational choices. The author used two waves of the KHPS, 2004 and 2005, with sample sizes of 6,294 and 5,783, respectively. If a subject was married, his or her spouse was included in the study. Findings indicate that the surveyed workers tended to enter the same lines of work as their fathers, particularly if they are male. Parents' education does not directly affect their children's occupational choices; however, it does directly affect their children's educational choices and levels, which indirectly contributes to children's occupational decisions.