Human capital and mobility as competing antecedents of career success: the case of academia

Otmar Varela, Sonya Premeaux and Naeem Bajwa

Management Research Review, 2023, vol. 46, issue 10, 1388-1404

Abstract: Purpose - Human capital and boundaryless career theory prevail in studies that examine objective and subjective career success respectively. However, evidence indicating that each framework offers superior suitability for its respective career outcome is unclear. The purpose of this study is to contrast the predictive validity of the frameworks with respect to both career success criteria. Design/methodology/approach - The sample involved 182 management faculty in the USA. The authors relied on hierarchical regression analyses to test the study hypotheses. Findings - Results indicate that human capital outperforms mobility across career success criteria. Yet, this study found that industry segment amplifies the effect of mobility on career success. Research limitations/implications - While findings primarily speak to the superiority of human capital as a career success antecedent, the significant effect of the industry segment as moderator of mobility calls for a granular definition of the setting where careers are analyzed. Replication of findings across industries are needed before assuming the generalization of results. Practical implications - Findings reveal the relevance of early career movements for professional careers in academe. Originality/value - Despite the extensive use of human capital and mobility as antecedents of career success, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that directly contrasts the predictive validity of these competing antecedents.

Keywords: Careers; Human resource management; Human capital; Mobility; Career success; Academic careers; Boundaryless theory; Career ecosystems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:mrrpps:mrr-05-2022-0396

DOI: 10.1108/MRR-05-2022-0396

Access Statistics for this article

Management Research Review is currently edited by Dr Jay Janney and Prof Lerong He

More articles in Management Research Review from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().