Generalizability of career orientations:A comparative study in Switzerland andGreat Britain

Marius Gerber1*, Anette Wittekind2, Gudela Grote1,Neil Conway3 and David Guest41Department of Management, Technology and Economics, ETH Zurich, Zurich,Switzerland

2Hewitt Associates, Zurich, Switzerland3Department of Management and Organizational Psychology, Birkbeck College,University of London, London, UK

4Department of Management, King’s College, London, UK

This study examined the generalizability of types of career orientation. Exploratorylatent class analyses were used to examine whether structurally the same careerorientations can be found across a large sample of Swiss German (N ¼ 737), SwissFrench (N ¼ 319), and British (N ¼ 1; 002) employees. The finding showed that thegeneralizability of career orientations was not supported across the two countries andnot even between the German- and French-speaking parts of Switzerland. At least fourcareer orientations were found in all samples. Country-specific inspection of these fourcareer orientations showed that they differed in terms of their combinations of specificcomponents (boundaryless, protean, advancement, and time orientation). Mixtures oftypes of career orientations exist and make it difficult to identify fully the same typeof career orientation across different cultural contexts. Explanations for differences incareer orientation are discussed focusing on the cultural and economic context ofSwitzerland and Great Britain. Implications for organizational career managementpractices as well as theory of the career orientation concept are discussed.

Research on careers has increased steadily in recent years, both in the USA andelsewhere (Nilsson et al., 2007; Sullivan, 1999). The nature and extent of change in the

world of work and the possible impact on careers are thereby frequently discussed. The

most predicted and most intensively investigated changes are those concerning new

career concepts such as the protean, boundaryless, or portfolio career which were

* Correspondence should be addressed to Marius Gerber, Department of Management Technology and Economics,ETH Zurich, Kreuzplatz 5, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland (e-mail: mgerber@ethz.ch).

TheBritishPsychologicalSociety

779

Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2009), 82, 779–801

q 2009 The British Psychological Society

www.bpsjournals.co.uk

DOI:10.1348/096317909X474740

developed principally by US researchers (e.g. Arthur & Rousseau, 1996; Briscoe, Hall, &

DeMuth, 2006; Hall, 2002).

A question which has received less attention is whether career concepts can be

generalized across countries. Itmay be that theUSA inspired concepts extensively used in

career research have little generalizability to other countries, as the following examples

illustrate. Khapova and Korotov (2007) found that in a Russian context, career successpossesses a meaning different to the original Western meaning, and that this meaning is

continuously changing to reflect the current social and economic environment. Tu,

Forret, and Sullivan (2006) explored predictors of objective and subjective career success

in a sample of Chinese managers. Some of the findings were similar to findings for

managers from Western countries, but interesting differences such as, for example, that

woman were more likely to be highly compensated, emerged. The authors of these

studies, like many others, highlighted the importance of considering the cultural context

when examining career concepts across national borders (e.g. Arthur & Lawrence, 1984;Schein, 1984; Thomas & Inkson, 2007; Young, Valach, & Collin, 2002). Therefore, the

cultural context needs to be taken into account more thoroughly and the generalizability

of career concepts across different cultures needs to be examined further.

The present study examines the similarity of types of career orientations in the

German-speaking, the French-speaking parts of Switzerland and Great Britain and thus

includes different cultural contexts. More precisely, it tests whether the types of career

orientation that are found in one cultural context can be generalized to other cultural

contexts. Until now, few comparative studies have been reported, although they are ofhigh scientific and practical importance. A comparative analysis of career orientations

should provide insights for the conceptualization of career orientations but also for

multinational companies when deciding on how to select and train employees.

Knowledge about employees’ particular career-related needs would also help HR

professionals to adjust their career management practices effectively: it would constitute

an important advantage when attracting and retaining international employees.

Contemporary research on career orientationsCareers may be defined as a sequence of attitudes, activities, or behaviours associated

with work-roles of individuals during the course of their lifetime (Arthur & Lawrence,

1984). According to this definition, careers are comprised of objective elements, such asvisible activities, and subjective elements, such as attitudes and orientations about the

career held by an individual (Gunz, 1988). An orientation is an attitude concerning a

person’s career. It consists of cognitive, affective, and behaviour-related components

and is expressed by superordinate intentions of an individual that will influence career-

related decisions (Gasteiger, 2007; Maier, Rappensperger, von Rosenstiel, & Zwarg,

1994). Thus, by focusing on career orientations, the study adopted a subjective

approach to careers. Moreover, career orientations have been shown to be related to

work attitudes and career success (Gasteiger, 2007; Gerber, Wittekind, Grote, &Staffelbach, 2009; Gerpott, Domsch, & Keller, 1988).

A number of studies of career orientations in single European countries have been

reported. For example, King (2003) studied career orientations among young graduates

in the UK. She found that the endorsement of the ‘new career’ was limited.

Employability was a key concern for the graduates but many expected to progress in a

conventional manner within one organization. In line with these results, Pitcher and

Purcell (1998) and Sturges, Guest, and Machenzie Davey (2000) found that UK graduates

780 Marius Gerber et al.

still had very high expectations of organizational career management despite the current

rhetoric about career self-management. In a similar vein, Guest and Conway (2004)

reported a high prevalence of traditional career orientation in the UK. In Germany,

Rosenstiel and Nerdinger (2000) showed that three types of career orientations were

prevalent among managers and graduates. A traditional career, characterized by vertical

advancement within one organization and long-term employment, was most preferredby the managers but an alternative orientation, characterized by an engagement for a

better and more humane working world, was most prevalent amongst the graduates.

A third so-called leisure orientation was the most widespread in the labour force.

Mayrhofer et al. (2005) showedwith a sample of Austrian graduates that a preference for

a traditional career was still widespread. Similarly, Gerber et al. (2009) and Grote and

Raeder (2009) reported a prevalence of traditional career orientations in Switzerland. In

summary, these studies have shown that traditional career attitudes are still widespread

in Europe.Some of the above mentioned studies are restricted in that they investigate specific

samples in a particular country, and focus mostly on MBA students or graduates. The

studies by Gerber et al. (2009) and Guest and Conway (2004) addressed this issue and

included larger samples of employees. More precisely, Guest and Conway (2004)

studied career orientations of a large representative sample of employees in the UK.

Based on a review of the career literature, they identified a number of dimensions that

appeared to reflect the characteristics of the ‘new’ career. The instrument used was

short and economical in order to enable the survey of a large sample. It consisted of ninedichotomous items built around a broad (1) boundaryless dimension: long-term

employment/job security versus short-term employment/employability, (2) protean

dimension: individual career management/self-responsibility versus organizational

career management, (3) advancement dimension:1 vertical advancement/career success

important versus horizontal advancement/career not important, (4) time-frame

dimension: immediate present orientation/hedonism versus future time orientation.

Guest and Conway (2004) found three career orientations to be present within

these four dimensions: 24.5% of British employees expressed a preference for anindependent career, 31.2% for a disengaged career, and 35.8% for a traditional career.

Some employees did not express any clear preference, while others expressed more

than one. One weakness of the Guest and Conway study was that the allocation of

employees to types of career orientation was based on prior assumptions about

categories. With this approach, it was not possible to allocate each person to one career

orientation type distinctly. Nor was it possible to determine the reliability of

career orientation types.

Gerber et al. (2009) used the same items as Guest and Conway and surveyed twolarge representative samples of employees in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Exploratory and confirmatory latent class analyses (LCAs) were used in order to

distinguish types of career orientations. For both samples, it was shown that types of

career orientations similar to those of Guest and Conways’ (2004) emerged: firstly, a

‘new’ type of independent career orientation was identified, characterized by perceived

employability in a range of jobs, a preference for employment in different organizations,

1 In the literature, a distinction between objective and subjective career success is often proposed (Heslin, 2005). Objectivesuccess is operationalized by criteria such as salary or promotion. The advancement dimension of the instrument of Guest andConway (2004) refers to objective career success (vertical advancement).

Generalizability of career orientations 781

and career self-management. This orientation combines aspects of the ‘boundaryless’

(Arthur & Rousseau, 1996) and the ‘protean’ (Hall, 1996) career. The traditional type

from Guest and Conway (2004) was split up into two types. One type, labelled

traditional-promotion oriented, regarded work, and career success as very important to

life and emphasized climbing up the hierarchical ladder. The other type, labelled

traditional-loyalty oriented career orientation, was characterized by job security, long-term employment, and employer responsibility for career management. For people of

the fourth type, referred to as disengaged, career success was less important to their

lives although work still remains central for people with this career orientation. Thus,

the disengagement refers to vertical career advancement rather than work itself. In line

with Guest and Conway’s study, as well as the European studies mentioned in the

previous section, it was found that most participants were traditional/loyalty career

oriented (32.5% in the first sample; 34.6% in the second sample) or traditional/promo-

tion career oriented (31.0 and 30.3%, respectively). Around 18% (18.6 and 17.6%,respectively) reported an independent or a disengaged career orientation (18.0 and

17.6%, respectively). In summary, the results showed that traditional career orientations

were still the most widespread among Swiss German employees. The study by Gerber

et al. (2009) also provided validation of the instrument of Guest and Conway (2004): the

analyses revealed a reasonably high reliability and criterion validity of types of career

orientations. While Guest and Conway (2004), as well as Gerber et al. (2009),

surveyed large national samples of employees covering different organizations and

professions, both studies took place in one country only, or one region of one country,respectively.

Gasteiger and Briscoe (2005) carried out a comparative study of protean career

orientation in the USA and Germany. The sample consisted of graduate students from an

American and a German university. The results showed that protean career orientation

can be measured reliably in both countries. Also, the relationships between protean

career orientation and preferred organizational culture and life goals were similar across

the countries. Another comparative study at 17 industrial R&D units of private sector

companies in the UK, Germany, and the USA showed that US-based dimensions ofmanagerial and professional career orientations can be identified in the UK and

Germany (Gerpott et al., 1988). Significant differences in levels of career orientations

were however found across countries, with the USA professionals reporting the highest

level of managerial and professional career orientation. There were no country-specific

differences in the relationship between career orientations and socio-demographic and

work-related variables, nor in the relationship between career orientations and work

outcomes. All in all, the results of these comparative studies provide some evidence that

career orientations can be generalized from one country to another. Despite this initialevidence, it is far from clear whether results are universal or merely related to the

economic or employment situation prevailing at the time of the study. Furthermore,

these comparative studies were based on small and/or specific samples in particular

sectors making it difficult to draw general conclusions.

The present studyThe present study builds on the studies of Guest and Conway (2004) and Gerber et al.

(2009). It moves forward their work by comparing responses across countries and

culturally different regions using independent samples of employees. The aim was to

determine whether the same career orientations emerge in each country based on

782 Marius Gerber et al.

careful statistical analysis. Specifically, the present study tested whether the same types

of career orientation can be identified in a Swiss German sample as well as in two other

cultural contexts: the French-speaking part of Switzerland and Great Britain. Switzerland

and Great Britain were chosen for the following reasons: according to the cultural

framework of House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta (2004) Great Britain,2 like

the USA, belongs to the Anglo cluster (cf. Ashkanasy, Trevor-Roberts, & Earnshaw,2002). Switzerland is interesting and unique, because Swiss people typically identify

with either of two different cultures represented by the German and the French

language. According to House et al. (2004) the German-speaking part of Switzerland

belongs to the Germanic Europe cultural cluster (cf. Szabo et al., 2002), while the

French-speaking part of Switzerland to the Latin Europe cluster (cf. Jesuino, 2002).

The two Swiss samples allowed us to test the generalizability within a country where

there are shared political and economic institutions but culturally different regions.

By sampling various countries and regions that differ on cultural dimensions and thusincluding contextual elements, the present study adopted a theory-driven cross-cultural

approach (van de Vijver, 2003). According to House et al. (2004), there are both

similarities and differences between the three cultural clusters. For example, all three

tend to be individualistic, future, and performance oriented. All three are also reported

to be gender egalitarian. However, Swiss German employees show less avoidance of

uncertainty than Swiss French employees who in turn have lower scores on uncertainty

avoidance than British employees. British employees are characterized by a higher level

of assertiveness compared to both Swiss German and Swiss French employees. AlthoughBritish and Swiss French employees score low on power distance, Swiss German

employees score even lower. Thus, on the basis of the House et al. analysis, meaningful

cultural differences exist between the German-speaking and the French-speaking part of

Switzerland.

Although the three cultural regions under investigation represent different cultural

clusters, they are relatively comparable in terms of their labour markets. Examining the

Swiss and British3 labour market, it is apparent that both are highly developed and

competitive. Both Switzerland and Great Britain have, for the years of 2000 to 2007, highrankings on the World Competitiveness Scoreboard (cf. World Competitiveness

Yearbooks of the International Institute for Management Development) as well as high

scores on the Human Development Index (cf. Human Development Reports of the

United Nations Development Program) and the Global competitive Index (cf. Global

Competitive Reports of the World Economic Forum). Based on this extensive

information on economic performance and demographic features, both Switzerland and

Great Britain can be ranked among the world’s leading economies. Moreover, both

Switzerland and Great Britain belong to the highest innovation-driven stage of economicdevelopment (World Economic Forum).

There are important similarities between the labour markets of Switzerland and

the Great Britain (see Table 1) but closer inspection also reveals some differences.

Both countries have a high employment rate with a high percentage of female

employees. At the same time, for several years up to and including the period of data

2 In the cross-cultural research programme of House and others only England was included as a representative of Great Britain.3 Labour market indicators of the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and the International Institute for ManagementDevelopment refer to the United Kingdom. In our analysis of labour market indicators, we still refer to Great Britain, even if itdoes not include Northern Ireland.

Generalizability of career orientations 783

collection, the unemployment rate has been below 5%. The percentage of contingent

workers in Great Britain is lower than in Switzerland. Also, the proportion of part-

time employees is higher in Switzerland. On the other hand, British employees reportmore flexible working hours than Swiss employees. Both countries have long working

hours but Switzerland has a higher level of educational attainment and a somewhat

higher gross domestic product (GDP) per person (taking into account purchasing

power standards). In both countries, income levels are high and employees show long

job tenure.

There are some minor differences between the labour markets of the two regions of

Switzerland (according to national statistics of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office).

For example, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the employment rate and part-time employment is lower (4 and 2%, respectively) and the unemployment rate is higher

(2%). However, looking at all economic indicators and the corresponding size of

differences between the German- and the French-speaking part of Switzerland

compared to other European countries, it can be argued that few marked differences

exist within Switzerland.

It can be concluded from the data presented in this section that the three regions

under investigation appear to be culturally distinct and yet economically similar.

Research questionThe present study examines the generalizability of career orientations in a Swiss

German, a Swiss French, and a British sample. National samples of employees were used

representing all industries and occupations. The study aims to contribute to the

question of generalizability of career orientations across countries. Even if our analysis of

the career context revealed that the three societies under investigation are similar interms of economic indicators, marked cultural differences exist. We therefore address

the following research question:

Are there any differences between the Swiss German, the Swiss French, and the

British sample regarding types of career orientation and if so, what are they?

Table 1. Indicators of the Swiss and British labour markets

Switzerland Great Britain

Employment rate (males/females) (%) 77.2 (83.9/70.4) 71.7 (77.6/65.9)Unemployment rate (%) 4.3 4.8Percentage of temporary workers 12.8 5.7Part-time employment (%) 24.9 17.5Average working hours 42.7 43.2Average employment tenure (years) 9.08 8.25Gross wages (in PPS) 31,972 39,051Labour productivity (GDP) 135 119Education attainment level (%) 86.9 71.7Flexible working hours (males/females) (%) 9.4/8.7 22.0/13.7

Note. All statistics for 2005 based on Eurostats and the Swiss Federal Statistical Office; gross domesticproduct (GDP) is defined as the value of all goods and services produced, less the value of any goods orservices used in their creation. GDP in Purchasing Power Standards is expressed in relation to theEuropean Union (EU-27) average set to equal 100; educational level: the percentage of people havingattained at least upper secondary educational level.

784 Marius Gerber et al.

Method

ParticipantsThe data were collected using a structured interview schedule through telephoneinterviews with people in employment, aged between 16 and 65 years. The survey

cutoff range for age was chosen in order to have a full range of working employees

among the samples. Both the Swiss and British samples consisted of a random sample

of telephone numbers drawn from all telephone numbers of telephone networks.

People were contacted at home, and interviewers checked whether they belonged to

the target group.

The British survey was carried out by a market research organization in cooperation

with the researchers and was conducted in the last week of May and the first 2 weeks ofJune 2004. The Swiss survey was organized by the authors’ research team and took place

between the beginning of May and the end of June 2007. Thirty interviewers, mainly

psychology and economics students, were employed to conduct the interviews and

they took part in extensive preparatory training before carrying out the interviews.

According to national and cross-national statistics (Swiss Federal Statistical Office for

National Statistics, Eurostats), economic conditions in Switzerland and Great Britain did

not significantly change between 2004 and 2007. Therefore, the time lag between the

Swiss and the British data collection should not have affected the results.The sample consisted of three subsamples. Subsample 1was a sample of N ¼ 1; 002

British employees. Subsamples 2 and 3 consisted of N ¼ 737 Swiss German an N ¼319 Swiss French employees. It can be seen from Table 2 that, across all samples, male

and female employees were almost equally represented. About half of the participants

were aged between 35 and 54 years. The average tenure was between 3 and 5 years,

slightly higher however for the Swiss employees. Approximately, one-third of the Swiss

and the British participants held a degree (or degree equivalent) and above. Most of the

employees had a permanent employment contract, working full time. The percentageof employees working part time is higher in Switzerland. This high percentage of

part-time employees corresponds with official statistics showing that Switzerland has

one of the highest rates of part time employment worldwide. Most of the participants

worked in the services sector. The proportion working in organizations employing

more than 250 is higher in Great Britain than in Switzerland.

Table 2. Description of the Swiss and British samples

Switzerland German Switzerland French Great Britain

Gender: male (%) 59.2 52.4 52.6Education: degree (%) 33.8 42.0 31.9Full time (%) 65.1 66.1 80.5Temporary contract (%) 6.8 11.4 10.9Establishment size: more than 250 (%) 42.6 49.2 66.5Sector: services (%) 70.4 74.8 75.0Flexible hours provided (%) 64.6 64.6 61.3Age (six-point scale from 1 to 6) 4.4 4.5 3.8Tenure (10-point scale from 1 to 10) 4.9 5.6 4.3

Note. The scale for age (in years) ranges from 1 (16–24), 2 (25–29), 3 (30–34), 4 (35–44), 5 (45–54) to6 (55–65). The scale for tenure (in years) ranges from 1 (less than a year), 2 (1 year), 3 (2 years), 4 (3–5),5 (6–10), 6 (11–15), 7 (16–20), 8 (21–25), 9 (26–30) to 10 (over 30 years).

Generalizability of career orientations 785

MeasuresCareer orientations were measured by means of nine dichotomous items offering the

participants a choice of contrasting options (forced choice). Sample items were: ‘being

employable in a range of jobs’ versus ‘having job security’ or ‘a career is not important to

you’ versus ‘career success is very important to you’ (all items are shown in Table 3).

The items were developed by Guest and Conway and contain a number of dimensionsreflecting the characteristics of the ‘traditional’ as well as the ‘new’ career. It is a short

instrument and thus especially suited for large survey studies. Participants were asked

the question ‘Looking ahead at your work life, which of the following would you

choose?’ It should be noted that the question refers to orientations rather than current

or past behaviour.

The German and French version of the career orientation items were translated and

back translated, including an iterative process of validation with native speakers. This

approach was chosen in order to guarantee construct equivalence (van de Vijver, 2003;van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).

Multigroup latent class analysisThe data on career orientations were analysed by means of LCA. LCA examines response

patterns across a series of items and aims at identifying groups of individuals whose

response patterns are highly similar. LCA thus explains inter-individual differences initem response patterns by a reduced number of groups (categorical latent variables;

latent classes). In the present study, the latent classes represent different career

orientations preferred by the participants. Within one latent class, subjects are assumed

to have identical patterns of response probabilities (i.e. the same class structure). The

response patterns in turn constitute the content of a particular class: the classes are

typically interpreted in terms of items from which they are derived (see Eid, Langeheine,

& Diener, 2003). However, differences are expected between classes with respect to the

response probabilities. Individuals are assigned to the latent class for which theirassignment probability is maximal.

To analyse in more detail possible (country-specific) differences in career

orientations, exploratory latent analysis was conducted taking into account all three

samples simultaneously. Multigroup latent class analysis (MLCA) with country as the

grouping variable was used for this purpose. In MLCA, one can test whether a latent class

solution is the same for several groups (here countries) or whether the classes differ

across the groups. Using MLCA, the measurement invariance across groups is tested.

Measurement invariance is important for the comparison of class structures and classproportions. The question as to whether there are more independent career-oriented

employees in the British sample, for example, can only be answered if measurement

invariance across the countries is established. In this exploratory approach, the structure

of the latent classes (the particular response profile of the classes) was not set as given.

That is, any kind of latent class structure was allowed to be estimated freely. Thus, with

MLCA we tested whether (1) there were the same classes in all three samples and if yes,

(2) whether the class proportions were the same for Swiss and British employees.

To compare the fit of competing exploratory LCA models, information criteria (IC)like Akaike’s information criterion and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) are

frequently used in testing for the relative fit of the models. When comparing a series of

models the model with the lowest IC value is selected. We used the computer programs

PANMARK 3.09 (van den Pol, Langeheine, & de Jong, 1996) and Mplus 5 (Muthen &

786 Marius Gerber et al.

Table

3.

Perc

enta

ges

ofca

reer

item

sre

sponse

softh

eSw

iss

and

Bri

tish

emplo

yees

Looki

ng

ahea

dat

your

work

life,

whic

hofth

efo

llow

ing

would

you

choose

?

Item

num

ber

Option

1C

H-G

CH

-FG

BC

H-G

CH

-FG

BO

ption

2

1*

Bei

ng

emplo

yable

ina

range

ofjo

bs

54.3

40.8

26.7

45.7

59.2

73.3

Hav

ing

job

secu

rity

2M

anag

ing

your

ow

nca

reer

80.8

79.9

80.6

19.2

20.1

19.4

Hav

ing

your

org

aniz

atio

nm

anag

eyo

ur

care

erfo

ryo

u3*

Ash

ort

tim

ein

lots

oforg

aniz

atio

ns

25.0

29.8

12.1

75.0

70.2

87.9

Alo

ng

tim

ew

ith

one

org

aniz

atio

n4*

Ase

ries

ofjo

bs

atth

esa

me

kind

ofle

vel

49.8

53.6

45.7

50.2

46.4

53.3

Stri

ving

for

pro

motion

into

more

senio

rpost

s5*

Livi

ng

for

the

pre

sent

46.5

51.4

44.9

53.4

48.6

55.1

Pla

nnin

gfo

rth

efu

ture

6*

Work

asm

argi

nal

toyo

ur

life

17.8

36.1

51.4

82.2

63.9

48.6

Work

asce

ntr

alto

your

life

7*

Aca

reer

isnot

import

ant

toyo

u70.3

63.0

41.8

29.7

37.0

58.2

Car

eer

succ

ess

isve

ryim

port

ant

toyo

u8*

Com

mitm

ent

toyo

urs

elfan

dyo

ur

care

er47.8

61.1

80.2

52.1

38.9

19.8

Com

mitm

ent

toth

eorg

aniz

atio

n9*

Spen

dw

hat

you’v

ego

tan

den

joy

it43.9

46.6

47.4

56.1

53.6

52.6

Save

for

the

futu

re

Note.

CH

-Gre

fers

toth

eSw

iss

Ger

man

,C

H-F

toth

eSw

iss

Fren

ch,an

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ple

.*p

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rson;c

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uar

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:05.

Generalizability of career orientations 787

Muthen, 2005) to check whether the exploratory MLCA solutions estimated by the two

programs represented global likelihood maxima solutions and not local optima. When

models with more than two latent classes are estimated and only one single set of

parameter starting values is used, one program may not find the best possible parameter

estimates. The algorithm can converge to a local likelihood maximum, which may not

provide valid parameter solutions. Trying a large number of different starting values foreach model to make sure that the estimation algorithm will find the global maximum of

the likelihood rather than stop at a local optimum is therefore recommended. Thus,

with both programs, we used 500 random sets of starting values for each estimated

model in MLCA. All solutions estimated in the present study showed identical values

both in PANMARK and Mplus. As a further criterion, we used the Pearson chi-squared

statistics for model selection. Unfortunately, the data conditions for chi-squared statistics

(chi-squared distribution) are often violated due to sparse data. Data are considered

sparse if large numbers of unobserved patterns occur, and this is the case even withrelatively few items in relatively large samples. Therefore, the p values derived from the

chi-squared distribution cannot be trusted. The correct p values can be obtained by

using a parametric bootstrap procedure (for details regarding bootstrap procedure see

Langeheine, Pannekoek, & van de Pol, 1996). von Davier (1997) has shown that this

bootstrap works well for the Pearson chi-squared statistic. Generally, the model is

accepted, if the bootstrap probability is larger than .05.

We performed three different LCA models without fixing the exact latent class

response profiles: an unconstrained, a semi-constrained, and a fully-constrainedmultigroup latent class model with country as the grouping variable. In all MLCAs, the

same number of latent classes was chosen for these three models: 2, 3, 4, and 5 classes.

In the unconstrained multigroup model, both conditional response probabilities and

class sizes were allowed to differ across the countries. The number of latent classes,

however, was assumed to be the same for all three countries. If, for example, the 4-class

unconstrained model fitted the data, this would mean that 4 classes could be found in

each country. In the semi-constrained model, also 2, 3, 4, and 5 classes were extracted.

However, the conditional response probabilities in each class were constrained in orderto be equal for Swiss and British employees (measurement invariance). The classes

therefore had exactly the same structure for all countries. Country-specific differences

were allowed, but only in terms of class size. A smaller BIC value for the semi-

constrained model would indicate that the classes were structurally equivalent across

countries. Finally, in the most restrictive models (the fully-constrained MLCA),

both conditional response probabilities and class sizes were fixed to be the same in

all countries. That is, the fully-constrained model assumes that structurally similar career

orientations are present in all countries and that these are of equal size. If the fully-constrained model shows a higher BIC value compared to the semi-constrained model,

this would mean that differences exist in terms of class proportions. Note that for both

semi- and fully-constrained models the response probabilities were to be freely

estimated, although they were equal across all three samples.

Results

Descriptive statistics for the career orientation itemsThe responses of the career orientation items for the three samples investigated are

shown in Table 3 (significant differences across the samples are indicated). Protean

788 Marius Gerber et al.

elements seem to be widespread in all samples: more than three-quarters of all

respondents prefer to manage their own career rather than leave it to the organization

and commitment to oneself and one’s career rather than to the organization is also

important for many employees. Most of the participants still prefer a long tenure within

one organization. Employability is more important for Swiss German employees, as

compared to Swiss French and British employees. Work is very central for Swiss Germanrespondents while, at the same time, career success is not seen as important by almost

three fourths. Organizational commitment is more important for Swiss German

employees than for Swiss French and British employees. Swiss French employees, when

compared to their Swiss German colleagues, prefer more job security but also shorter

tenures. Work is important for them but significantly less so than for Swiss German

employees. Interestingly, career success is more important to Swiss French participants

than to Swiss German employees. Table 3 also makes clear that Swiss French employees

are more in favour of living for the present and feel more committed to themselves thanSwiss German employees. Compared to Swiss German and Swiss French employees,

British employees show a much higher preference for job security and long tenures.

Most noticeably, work is seen as marginal by more than half of the British respondents,

yet career success is seen as very important by more than half. The descriptive results

therefore show contrasting priorities in relation to work and career success for Swiss

and British employees: Swiss employees are characterized by a high work centrality but

lower importance of career success while the opposite can be said for British

employees.Table 4 shows the goodness-of-fit results for the three 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-class multigroup

models. The 5-class semi-constrained model showed the smallest BIC value (26,357.3) of

all models. According to the Pearson chi-squared statistics, the unconstrained 4- and

5-class models were the only acceptable solutions with a bootstrap p value of greater

than .05. The response pattern of the 4-class models could be interpreted more

reasonably and represented more distinguishable classes than that of the 5-class model.

The mean assignment probabilities of the 4-class model are shown in Table 4. In LCA,

average latent class assignment probabilities are used as indicator of reliability withvalues higher than 0.8 representing highly separable and reliable classes (Rost, 2006).

Table 4 makes it clear that the 4-class model represented highly distinct classes. Thus,

the unconstrained 5-class model was rejected in favour of the unconstrained 4-class

model. Altogether, the exploratory results indicate that there is no measurement

invariance across the three samples. Nevertheless, in all samples, the same number of

latent classes can be found. The results therefore show that four types of career

orientations can be identified within and across both countries.

To sum up the findings of the exploratory LCAs, it can be said that structurallydifferent career orientations were found across the Swiss German, Swiss French, and

British samples. The research question, which asked about differences in career

orientations across the three samples, can therefore be answered in the affirmative.

The question as to which particular differences in career orientation exist was

approached by analysing separately the Swiss German, Swiss French, and British 4-class

profiles identified in the (unconstrained) MLCA for each country (see Figures 1–3).

In order to highlight more thoroughly the country-specific differences in career

orientations, the response profiles were classified along four core dimensions in order torelate them to the wider debates on careers (see p. 781): (a) a boundaryless dimension

(long-term vs. short-term employment, employability; questions 1 and 3 from the

questionnaire; see Table 3), (b) a protean dimension (individual vs. organizational career

Generalizability of career orientations 789

Table

4.

Num

ber

of

par

amet

ers

and

goodnes

s-of-

fit

mea

sure

sfo

rco

mpet

ing

multig

roup

LCA

model

susi

ng

the

Swis

sG

erm

an,

the

Swis

sFr

ench

,an

dth

e

Bri

tish

dat

a

Pear

sonx

2

Model

Num

ber

offr

eem

odel

par

amet

erLo

glik

elih

ood

dfSt

atis

tic

Boots

trap

pva

lue

BIC

Fully

-const

rain

ed2

clas

ses

21

2,7

75.3

38

1,5

14

3,7

46.5

94

,.0

01

27,3

57.2

3cl

asse

s31

2,4

57.7

80

1,5

04

3,1

98.9

44

,.0

01

27,1

16.0

4cl

asse

s41

2,2

37.2

95

1,4

94

2,7

79.2

06

,.0

01

26,9

71.8

5cl

asse

s51

2,1

10.5

06

1,4

84

2,5

91.8

22

,.0

01

26,9

21.3

Sem

i-co

nst

rain

ed2

clas

ses

23

2,5

25.3

25

1,5

12

3,4

59.7

18

,.0

01

27,1

22.5

3cl

asse

s35

2,0

51.8

36

1,5

00

2,7

58.0

60

,.0

01

26,7

40.5

4cl

asse

s47

1,6

56.8

22

1,4

88

2,0

26.3

08

,.0

01

26,4

37.1

5cl

asse

s59

1,4

85.5

24

1,4

76

1,8

64.3

18

,.0

01

26,3

57.3

Unco

nst

rain

ed2

clas

ses

59

1,7

64.3

78

1,4

76

2,1

39.2

45

,.0

01

26,6

36.2

3cl

asse

s89

1,4

16.8

54

1,4

46

1,7

14.7

47

,.0

01

26,5

17.6

4classes

119

1,230.043

1,416

1,552.926

.07

26,559.6

5cl

asse

s149

1,1

03.3

66

1,3

86

1,3

27.4

16

.43

26,6

61.8

Note.

N¼

2;0

58.

Inth

efu

lly-c

onst

rain

edm

odel

,th

ecl

asse

sw

ere

the

sam

efo

ral

lco

untr

ies

(mea

sure

men

tin

vari

ance

assu

med

)an

dth

ecl

ass

size

sw

ere

const

rain

edin

ord

erto

be

equal

acro

ssco

untr

ies.

The

clas

ses

had

the

sam

est

ruct

ure

(mea

sure

men

tin

vari

ance

assu

med

)butca

ndiff

erin

term

sofc

lass

size

inth

ese

mi-co

nst

rain

edm

odel

.The

late

nt

clas

ses

could

be

diff

eren

tfo

rSw

iss

and

Bri

tish

emplo

yees

inth

eunco

nst

rain

edm

odel

(no

mea

sure

men

tin

vari

ance

assu

med

).T

he

boots

trap

pva

lues

wer

eobta

ined

from

500

boots

trap

runs

for

each

model

.The

mea

npro

bab

ilities

ofla

tent

clas

sm

ember

ship

ofth

e12

care

erori

enta

tions

from

the

unco

nst

rain

ed4-c

lass

model

are

0.8

3,0.7

6,0.8

1,0.7

9,0.8

2,0.8

0,0.7

6,0.8

9,0.9

1,0.7

6,0.8

3,an

d0.8

9.

790 Marius Gerber et al.

management; questions 2 and 8), (c) an advancement dimension (vertical advancement,career success; questions 4, 6, and 7), and (d) a time-frame dimension (present and

future orientation; questions 5 and 9; see Table 5). The placement of the career

orientations in Table 5 was based on the estimated conditional response probabilities for

the items constituting the dimension: on the corresponding dimension, low assignment

probabilities for the items were considered as a low score, high assignment probabilities

as a high score (i.e. high/low on a dimension means high/low assignment probabilities

across the items constituting the dimension). This approach and the resulting Table 5

facilitated the detailed analysis of the interplay of different elements constituting eachcareer orientation in more detail. The classification along these dimensions thus enables

a summarizing illustration of the 12 career orientations. It highlights the differences and

similarities across the samples and career orientations.

The Swiss German career orientationsFigure 1 presents the response profiles of the Swiss German sample. According to the

classification along the four core dimensions (see Table 5), class 1 is characterized by

low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, high concern for advancement, and a

high focus on the future. Class 2 combines high boundarylessness and a high protean

attitude, with a high concern for advancement and slight tendency to focus on thefuture. Members of class 3 have low boundarylessness and a low protean attitude,

combined with a low concern for advancement and a high focus on the future. Class 4 is

a mix of high boundarylessness and a high protean attitude as well as a low concern for

both advancement and for the future. Drawing these together, two Swiss German career

Figure 1. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the Swiss German sample.

Generalizability of career orientations 791

orientations, which are preferred by 42.1% of the employees, contain a boundaryless

element. At the same time, 71.9% of the Swiss German employees prefer a career

orientation with a protean element. Of the Swiss German employees, 69.2% have a

career orientation which is characterized by a high concern for the future and 40.3%

a career orientation which combines a high concern for the future and a high concernfor advancement. Almost 60% of the Swiss German career orientations do not give high

priority to advancement. Figure 1 makes it clear that the majority of respondents in all

four Swiss German career orientations chose ‘Work as central to your life’, indicating

that work is a key aspect in the life of most Swiss German employees. At the same time,

career success and career progression seems less important to Swiss German employees

(see items 4 and 7). Thus, many Swiss German employees reported overall a low

advancement orientation and disengagement from career success but not from work.

The Swiss French career orientationsFigure 2 (latent class profiles of the Swiss French employees) and the resulting

classification in Table 5 demonstrate that class 1 reflects a strong boundarylessness and

a high protean attitude combined with a relatively low concern for advancement and a

tendency to focus on the present. Members of class 2 are low on both boundarylessness

and a protean attitude, but display a high concern for advancement and a slighttendency to focus on the present. Overall, class 3 can be characterized as low on

boundarylessness, high on protean attitude, high on concern for advancement, and high

on concern for the future. Employees with a class 4 career orientation have low

boundarylessness but a high protean attitude, combined with a low concern for

Figure 2. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the Swiss French sample.

792 Marius Gerber et al.

advancement and high focus on the present. An inspection of the proportions of Swiss

French employees classified under each career orientation makes it clear that career

orientations with low boundaryless (68.2%) or high protean (86.2%) characteristics are

widespread. Career orientations with a mixture of low boundarylessness but high

protean attitude account for 51% of the Swiss French employees. Just over 80% of the

Swiss French sample has career orientations that focus on the present rather than thefuture including 67.1% who combine a high concern for the present with a low concern

for advancement.

The British career orientationsThe response profiles of the British employees (Figure 3 and Table 5) reveal that class 1combines aspects of low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, high concern for

advancement, and a strong focus on the future. The class 2 career orientation consists of

a low boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, a high concern for advancement but a

high focus on the present. The class 3 career orientation is a mixture of low

boundarylessness, a high protean attitude, and a low concern for advancement and a

high concern for the future. Class 4 combines a low boundarylessness, a high protean

attitude, and low concern for both advancement and for the future. The protean and

boundaryless dimensions did not distinguish well between the British classes: all Britishcareer orientations contain a strong protean attitude, but no one of them emphasize a

boundaryless career. Thus, all British career orientations represent a mixture of high

protean and low boundaryless characteristic. Career orientations with a focus on the

future are widespread among the British employees (63.0%). The British career

Figure 3. Response probabilities (option 1 of the items) in the British sample.

Generalizability of career orientations 793

Table

5.

Sum

mar

yofth

eca

reer

ori

enta

tions

iden

tified

inth

eunco

nst

rain

edfo

ur

clas

sM

LCA

(Sw

iss

Ger

man

,Sw

iss

Fren

ch,an

dB

ritish

care

erori

enta

tions)

Dim

ensi

on

Boundar

yles

snes

sLo

ng-

term

emplo

ymen

t/jo

bse

curi

tySh

ort

-ter

mem

plo

ymen

t/em

plo

yabili

ty

Pro

tean

char

acte

rist

icIn

div

idual

care

erm

anag

emen

tO

rgan

izat

ional

care

erm

anag

emen

tIn

div

idual

care

erm

anag

emen

tO

rgan

izat

ional

care

erm

anag

emen

tVer

tica

lad

vance

men

tT

ime-

fram

e

Import

ant

Pre

sent

ori

enta

tion

GB

2(1

2.9

)F2

(13.8

)Fu

ture

ori

enta

tion

G1

(29.0

),F3

(19.2

),G

B1

(42.6

)G

2(1

1.3

)

Not

import

ant

Pre

sent

ori

enta

tion

F4(3

1.8

),G

B4

(24.0

)G

4(3

0.8

),F1

(35.3

)

Futu

reori

enta

tion

GB

3(2

0.4

)G

3(2

8.9

)

Note.

G,F

,and

GB

stan

dfo

rG

erm

an,F

rench

,and

Bri

tish

care

erori

enta

tions.

F1,F

2,a

nd

G2

score

dm

oder

atel

yon

the

item

sco

nst

ituting

the

tim

e-fr

ame

dim

ensi

on

and

could

ther

efore

notcl

earl

ybe

clas

sified

on

this

dim

ensi

on;F

2an

dG

3did

notsc

ore

unifo

rmly

hig

hor

low

acro

ssth

eitem

sco

nst

ituting

the

pro

tean

ori

enta

tion

dim

ensi

on.F

1sc

ore

dm

oder

atel

y/F2

and

G3

did

notsc

ore

unifo

rmly

hig

hor

low

acro

ssth

eitem

sco

nst

ituting

the

adva

nce

men

tori

enta

tion

dim

ensi

on.T

he

size

sof

the

care

erori

enta

tions

are

indic

ated

inbra

cket

s(%

).

794 Marius Gerber et al.

orientation which clearly is most prevalent combines a high priority for advancement

and a focus on the future (42.6%).

Comparing career orientations across the three cultural contextsLooking at Table 5, it can be seen that only one type of career orientation seems to be

present in all three cultural contexts: it combines a low level of boundarylessness with a

high protean attitude and a strong concern for both advancement and for the future

(compare G1, F3 with GB1 in Table 5). Individuals with such a career orientation have a

preference for career self-management but want to pursue this within their current

organization. The proportion in each sample that is characterized by this orientation

ranges from 19.2% among Swiss Germans and 29.0% among Swiss French to 42.6%

among the British.

Discussion

The aim of this study was to examine the generalizability of career orientations within

and between two European countries. We tested in an exploratory manner, whether or

not the same number of career orientations, the same structure, and the same class sizescould be found across the three samples. The exploratory MLCA analyses showed that

four career orientations could be found in all three samples. At the same time, no

measurement invariance for class structure and class size was found across the samples.

This implies that four career orientations could be found within Switzerland and in

Great Britain, but that these four career orientations differed in terms of structure and

size. Thus, even within Switzerland (between the Swiss German and Swiss French

parts), the structure of the four career orientations was found to be different. What can

therefore be concluded from this study is that concepts of career orientation cannot begeneralized from one culture to another – at least not the career orientations of the three

cultural regions investigated in this study. If career orientations are not directly

generalizable from one European country to another, or even among cultural subgroups

within the same country, this calls for caution concerning the generalizability of US

career orientations to Europe and beyond.

Inspection of the Swiss German, Swiss French, and British response profiles of the

MLCA made it clear that the various career orientations differ in terms of their particular

combination of components (e.g. boundaryless or protean elements). It seems thathybrid career orientations exist, containing elements of what have been characterized as

both ‘old’ (e.g. job security) and ‘new’ (e.g. career self-management) career types.

It might be that there is not a clear dichotomy between ‘old’ and ‘new’ career

orientations and a process of blending has taken place. This is illustrated by the fact that

7 out of the 12 career orientations are characterized by low boundarylessness but at the

same time a high protean attitude, illustrating a preference for a mixture of old and new

careers. Overall, only three career orientations emphasized boundarylessness while 10

of the 12 had a protean element. None of the four British career orientations contained aboundaryless element, but all of them strongly featured a protean attitude. In contrast,

two of the Swiss German career orientations reflect a combination of high

boundarylessness and a strong protean attitude. The British career orientations divided

equally with respect to their emphasis on career advancement and time orientation.

However, three of the four Swiss German career orientations are characterized by

Generalizability of career orientations 795

a strong concern for the future, while three of the four Swiss French focus on the

present. Overall, the boundarylessness and the time-frame dimension provided the

clearest differentiation between the three samples.

Explanations for differences in career orientationsIn this section, we discuss potential explanations for the differences in career

orientations identified in the MLCA focusing on cultural and economic features of the

societies under investigation.

Schein (1984) has argued that the specific culture within which career orientations

develop should be taken into account in understanding and explaining these

orientations. Culture could therefore serve as an explanation for the differences in

career orientations found in this study. If we use the approach to the analysis of nationalcultures and subcultures developed by House et al. (2004), we can find some plausible

support for a cultural explanation. For example, House et al. (2004) report a high score

for performance orientation for all three cultural groups and it could therefore be

expected that many employees would show a high preference for vertical career

advancement. What we find is that all three samples were characterized by two career

orientations that emphasized career advancement. It might be expected that high

uncertainty avoidance counteracts the development of a boundaryless orientation. The

British employees have, according to House et al. (2004), the highest score foruncertainty avoidance and indeed, none of their career orientations contained featured

boundarylessness. It might be that the high individualistic orientation found in

intercultural research helps to explain the strong focus on protean career characteristics

since all three cultural regions under investigation have high scores for individualism

(House et al., 2004). However, this cultural analysis can only be taken so far. The cultural

analysis of House et al. (2004) would indicate that a strong concern for the future would

feature strongly in the orientations of all three samples. Yet, while three of the four Swiss

German career orientations contained a strong focus on the future, this was the casewith only one of the four Swiss French career orientations. On this basis, the cultural

explanations for differences in career orientations can, at best, only partially explain the

present findings and we are not in a position to determine where these differences

originate.

Adopting a more institutional approach and looking at the economic context (see

Table 1), it can be seen that, for both Swiss and British employees, long tenure and stable

employment (very high percentage of job permanency) is the norm. The amount of part-

time employment in Switzerland is very high. This might help to explain the relativelylow priority among Swiss employees for career advancement on the grounds that for

part-time employees, work and hierarchical advancement play a more minor role than

for full-time employees. Other data from Switzerland show that job security is high (both

in the Swiss German and Swiss French part) and that Swiss employees report few

organizational changes like reorganizations, staff reductions, or expansions (Brunner

et al., 2008; Gerber, Wittekind, Bannwart, Grote, & Staffelbach, 2007; Henneberger

& Sousa-Poza, 2007). Also, the Swiss economy has been very stable for the last decade

(e.g. unemployment rate, labour productivity). This economic context might explainwhy traditional career attitudes are still widely prevalent in Switzerland (see Gerber

et al., 2009). The analysis above makes it reasonable to assume that the economic

conditions help to determine contemporary career priorities, but specific conclusions

about the particular effects they exert on the development of an individual career

796 Marius Gerber et al.

orientation cannot be drawn from the present study. Moreover, the comparison of the

Swiss and British labour market indicated important similarities between the countries

(see Table 1) and this would challenge an explanation for differences in career

orientations based on analysis of the contemporary economic context of specific

countries. Furthermore, almost no difference was found between the Swiss German and

the Swiss French labour market. This reduces the potential role of economic indicatorsas explanations for differences in career orientations.

To summarize this brief analysis of possible explanations for differences in career

orientations, it can be concluded that the culture of the societies under investigation

possibly exerts an influence on career orientations, even within an economically similar

context in which the German and French Swiss live and work. However, it has not been

possible, using one of the dominant approaches to the analysis of national cultures

(House et al., 2004), to demonstrate this convincingly. The strength and nature of this

cultural influence, therefore, cannot be determined on the basis of the present results.

Strengths and limitationsThe instrument from Guest and Conway (2004) was used because it is suitable for large

telephone surveys and has empirically been shown to be applicable in Switzerland and

Great Britain (Gerber et al., 2009; Guest & Conway, 2004). However, it is a rather

simple instrument and more items would be needed in order to develop a more finegrained taxonomy of career orientations. The instrument does not allow for a

measurement of the boundaryless and protean career concept as fully elaborated by

some researchers (cf. Briscoe et al., 2006). It only captures some core elements central

to these concepts, but others are not or only partly addressed (e.g. psychological

mobility). Moreover, the instrument consists of dichotomous items which include

measurement problems related to their forced-choice nature. The items were back

translated to improve construct equivalence and to establish that observed responses

are the result of a common construct. But this might not be enough to establishconstruct equivalence (Vandenberg & Lance, 2000; van de Vijver & Leung, 1997).

The LCA statistics applied in this article tested for measurement invariance across the

three samples, but did not ensure the equivalence of the constructs. Thus, there is

a possibility that the differences in responses represent differences in meanings

attached to the terms addressed in the interviews. This possible limitation cannot be

fully refuted by the extensive translation process undertaken. A qualitative approach

similar to that of Khapova and Korotov (2007) or a comparison of the network of

associations of types of career orientation across cultures would help to further establishconstruct equivalence. Finally, the dimensions used in this article to illustrate the career

orientations as well as the similarities and differences of career orientations identified

across the samples.

This research examined career-related attitudes. It might be that actual career

patterns are not consistent with the corresponding career preference. For example,

traditional career orientations may not exist alongside traditional career patterns.

Moreover, it is possible that differences in career orientations attributed to the ipsative

nature of the measurement (measurement bias in self-reports due to no generallyaccepted scaling across the samples; Mullen, 1995) rather than to features of the

economic or cultural contexts.

The present results are based on large and totally independent samples of employees

each from different companies, covering all occupations, all sectors, and all areas of

Generalizability of career orientations 797

Switzerland and Great Britain. It is on the basis of this sampling strategy that we have

reason to suggest that the career orientations identified are not the result of particular

Swiss and British samples but constructs present across both countries. This study

focused on the analysis of between-culture differences. However, further research

should more closely examine potential within-culture differences.

Implications for research and practiceBased on the results of the present study it is recommended that our understanding and

analysis of so-called ‘new’ career orientation is refined. More differentiated

specifications of career orientations than have previously been considered may exist.

In a similar vein, Briscoe and Hall (2006) have called for ‘ : : : a more careful examination

of potential career combinations’ (p. 5). Employees might simultaneously hold differingor mixed career orientations (Blickle, 1999; Hall, 2008). It is necessary to identify the

dimensions which constitute the specific elements of career orientations in more detail

before generalizing them to other contexts. It is suggested from the present findings that

future research should examine the specific impact of cultural and economic context on

(differences in) career orientations in more detail. This proposition has already been put

forward in the literature, but it has often been neglected (Tams & Arthur, 2007; Thomas

& Inkson, 2007). Looking at the economic context at the time of the data collection,

both Switzerland and Great Britain had stable and productive labour markets and,compared to other European as well as non-European countries, offered good

employment opportunities. The following questions could therefore be addressed: does

this employment security lead to the development of ‘new’ career orientations? Or does

it, on the contrary, increase the preference for traditional career orientations? Is the

disengagement from a career found in this study the product of good employment

opportunities? These questions deserve further attention but cannot be answered based

on current data. At the same time, the individual factors which lead to the development

of a particular career orientation need to be established. Corresponding findings wouldhelp to overcome the lack of theory about the basis of career orientations: the finding

that career orientations do not generalize across culturally different regions calls for

more research about their determinants, about the role that culture might play and also

about temporal stability.

This study can conclude that the generalizability of career orientations can be by no

means seen as a given. On the contrary, it seems that types of career orientations cannot

be generalized from one European country to another. Even within two parts of the

same country, it was not possible to establish generalizability of career orientations. Thishas clear and important implications for organizational career management. Country or

even region specific career management practices are needed in order to fulfil the

various career-related needs expressed in career orientations. Furthermore, employers’

career management practices should, as far as possible, be brought into alignment with

employees’ career orientations. If, for example, traditional career orientations are still

most widespread in Switzerland then traditional career opportunities are required to

support these needs. Also, for employees whose career orientation contain a mixture of

high protean attitudes and low boundarylessness, corresponding career managementpractices should be developed (e.g. self-responsible tasks, opportunities for

development as well as job security and continuity regarding career development).

It seems that these employees seek to look after themselves but still value organizational

structures and thus rely on boundaries. Presumably, it is this particular combination of

798 Marius Gerber et al.

characteristics which poses new challenges for HR professionals designing practices to

attract and retain employees. The claim for a differential approach to the management of

careers is particularly important for organizations crossing national boundaries, but at

the same time illustrates an important trade off: the balancing act between worldwide

established/standardized HR practices and local applications of HR practices. The

present findings are consistent with the results of Mayrhofer, Meyer, Iellatchitch, andSchiffinger (2004). Mayrhofer and colleagues showed that differences exist in career

management practices in European countries, and this might occur out of necessity

because organizations have adapted their career practices according to the regional or

local career-related needs of employees. The present study therefore, does not support

the claim that there is a universal way of managing careers (cf. Kutschker & Schmid,

2004); nor does it support the emergence of a dominant ‘new’ career orientation. It will

still be interesting to see whether in the future, convergent or divergent developments

can be observed, both in the nature of career orientations and in career managementpractices.

References

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Received 15 September 2008; revised version received 10 August 2009

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