Main Content

Career

Information technology and increasing global competition have triggered radical changes in both organizational structures and individual employees’ careers. Across professions, careers have become less predictable, less structured, and consequently less secure. It has been suggested that 21st century careers will be “protean”, meaning that they will be driven by individuals, rather than by organizations. Hence individuals can enter and exit organizations or career situations when they deem it fit. They also might change their once-chosen career path. Furthermore, assumptions about indicators of career success have changed. Objective indicators as salary or positon cannot comprehensively mirror career success, because they neglect an individual's subjective reactions to his or her own career.

In our research we approach the field of career from different angles looking on various career paths and career-related personal(ity) resources, traits or attitudes (e.g., geographic mobility readiness, entrepreneurial intentions, flexibility) as well as on outcomes of career choices and indicators of career success across professions, employment situations, and countries.

Selected publications

Baluku, M. M., Kikooma, J. F., & Otto, K. (2018). Positive mindset and entrepreneurial outcomes: The magical contributions of psychological resources and autonomy. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 30, 473-498. doi: 10.1080/08276331.2018.1459017

Otto, K., Sobiraj, S., Schladitz, S., Garrido Vásquez, M. E., Roe, R, & Baluku, M. (in press). Do social skills shape career success in the psychological profession? A mixed-method approach. Zeitschrift für Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie.

Rigotti, T., Korek, S., & Otto, K. (in press). Career-related self-efficacy, its antecedents and relationship to subjective career success in a cross-lagged panel study. International Journal of Human Resource Management. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2018.1460858

Baluku, M. M., Löser, D., Otto, K., & Schummer, S. E. (2018). Career mobility in young professionals: How a Protean Career personality and attitude shapes international mobility and entrepreneurial intentions. Journal of Global Mobility, 6, 102-122. Available from: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/JGM-10-2017-0041

Otto, K., Roe, R., Sobiraj, S., Baluku, M., & Garrido Vásquez, M. (2017). The impact of career ambition on psychologists’ extrinsic and intrinsic career success: The less they want, the more they get. Career Development International, 22, 23-36. Available from: https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/CDI-06-2016-0093