Career Sustainability: Framing the Past to Adapt in the Present for a Sustainable Future

Linda Schweitzer (), Sean Lyons and Chelsie J. Smith
Additional contact information
Linda Schweitzer: Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada
Sean Lyons: Gordon S. Lang School of Business, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 1M8, Canada
Chelsie J. Smith: Sprott School of Business, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: The emerging literature concerning sustainable careers posits that career development is an adaptive and dynamic process of creating person–career fit, in pursuit of a career that is happy, healthy, and productive. Our goal is to advance this literature by delving deeper into the intrapersonal processes involved in constructing career sustainability—which involves meeting one’s needs in the present without sacrificing one’s needs in the future—and clarifying the role of time in this process. We articulate a fundamentally subjective, intrapersonal process of enacting career sustainability that draws upon career construction theory, prospective and adaptive sensemaking, conservation of resources theory, and career adaptability to articulate how individuals reflect, frame, envision, re-frame, and ultimately, adapt to effect and maintain their career sustainability over time. This expansion brings added conceptual depth to earlier sustainable careers models by situating the career firmly within the agency of the career actor and articulating how this process unfolds with specific recognition of the past, present, and future. Educators, career counselors, HR representatives, and community organizations are called upon to promote and support career sustainability and support individuals through this dynamic and adaptive process.

Keywords: career sustainability; modern careers; career construction; intrapersonal career perspective; prospective sensemaking; career adaptation; employee well-being; decent work (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11800/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/15/11800/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:15:p:11800-:d:1207726

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().