Turnover in careerists: a new perspective on careerism through the lens of Human Capital Theory

Keywords

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Issue Date

2024-06-27

Language

en

Document type

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Title

ISSN

Volume

Issue

Startpage

Endpage

DOI

Abstract

This thesis aims to shed a new light on careerism using human capital theory. Careerism is defined as “The propensity to pursue career advancement through non-performance based means” (Feldman & Weitz, 1991, p. 238). The thesis discusses the problem of high-employability-related turnover. The risk of this type of turnover for careerists is assessed and compared to that of other employees. Then, a possible solution is explored. Since careerists aim for career advancement and, since human capital theory holds that an employee will base their decision to stay at a certain organization or leave on which organization offers them the best returns on their human capital, the presence of growth opportunities in the organization could possibly prevent turnover. This effect is analyzed using data from the Healthy Brain Study. It was confirmed that the risk of turnover is higher when employability is higher. This effect was not significantly different for careerists and the effect of growth opportunities was also not statistically significant, though methodological limitations may have influenced the results.

Description

Citation

Faculty

Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen