Career shock Covid-19 and its implications for perceived employability The barriers and opportunities for employees to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as a career shock with regard to their perceived employability
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2021-07-06
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en
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The disruptive and extraordinary nature of the Covid-19 pandemic will most likely affect all types of work outcomes and could be experienced as a career shock. This research aims to discover to what extent employees experience the Covid-19 pandemic as a career shock and whether this influences their perceived employability. Subsequently, it is examined which barriers and opportunities these employees have experienced in order to deal with this. With a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen participants and next the gathered data was analysed using a template analysis. This revealed that ten participants experienced the Covid-19 pandemic as a career shock and that it affected the perceived employability for all of them in the form of growth or decline. Despite the fact that not all ten participants experienced all the characteristics of a career shock, it did influence their perceived employability. Thus, the conclusion can be drawn that Covid-19 can be seen as a career shock for the majority and that it is more important to look at the career outcomes instead of just the characteristics. In particular the image and experience that participants have with the work field influences their perceived employability, both in the form of barriers (i.e. negatively) and opportunities (i.e. positively). This study makes an important contribution to the literature field of career shocks and perceived employability, that even without meeting all characteristics, an event can be experienced as a career shock that triggers a change in perceived employability.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen