Sustainable Careers

With careers becoming ever more volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA), individuals are faced with increasing challenges to become and remain happy, healthy, and productive throughout their working life. In our research on career sustainability, we aim to better understand how individual, contextual, and temporal elements interact to shape the sustainability of people's careers. What are the key career resources (such as career competencies) that individuals can acquire to enhance their person-career fit? How can employers support employees in their sustainable career development? And what is the role of changes in people's motivations and external circumstances (such as career shocks) in their long-term happiness, health, and productivity? These are just a few examples of research questions that we try to answer within this line of research.

In 2020, we published a special issue dedicated to the topic of sustainable careers. The full special issue can be found HERE. Our introduction article with a future research agenda can be found HERE.

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Publications in this area include (see "Publications" section for full details):

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Retkowsky, J., Nijs, S., Akkermans, J., Jansen, P., & Khapova, S. N. (2023). Toward a sustainable career perspective on contingent work: A critical review and a research agenda. Career Development International, 28(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-06-2022-0181

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Van den Groenendaal, S. M. E., Akkermans, J., Fleisher, C., Kooij, D. T., Poell, R. F., & Freese, C. (2022). A qualitative exploration of solo self-employed workers' career sustainability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 134, 103692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2022.103692

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De Vos, A., Van der Heijden, B. I. J. M., & Akkermans, J. (2020). Sustainable careers: Towards a conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117, Article 103196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.06.011

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Van der Heijden, B., De Vos, A., Akkermans, J., Spurk, D., Semeijn, J., Van der Velde, M., & Fugate, M. (2020). Sustainable career across the lifespan: Moving the field forward. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 117, 103344, Article 103344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2019.103344

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Akkermans, J. (2019). Sustainable careers. In W. De Lange, P. De Prins, & B. Van der Heijden (Eds.), Canon HRM (pp. 864-881). Vakmedianet.

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