Examining the field of protean career and unfolding future research directions through bibliometric and content analysis

Durga Prasad Nayak, Sharada Prasad Sahoo and Shilpa Jain

International Journal of Intelligent Enterprise, 2026, vol. 13, issue 1, 17-47

Abstract: Protean career orientation (PCO) as a career philosophy has gathered scholarly attention in the last three decades, both from industry and academia. This study delves deep into protean career orientations through a knowledge-mapping exercise. The study included 288 articles published between 1990 and 2023, obtained from Scopus and the Web of Science database for the review process. A four-stage analysis, i.e., descriptive, bibliometric, network, and content analysis, has been conducted to portray the research trend, intellectual structure, and scholarship pattern. The content analysis revealed four major clusters: conceptual dynamics, underlying dynamics, protean career mechanism, and career outcomes. We have diagnosed major constraints that inhibit the PCO and furnished future research directions. Our findings have immense managerial implications for crafting human resource strategies to identify and manage employees with PCO. This study also helps frame policies on entrepreneurship and promotes achievement motivation among individuals with a protean career focus.

Keywords: protean career; bibliometric analysis; Web of Science; Scopus; citation analysis; content analysis. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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