Special Issue "The Factor Time in Research on Sustainable Employability?: Results of Theory-Based Organizational Research"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Annet de Lange
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Psychology, Open University Heerlen, 6419 AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Interests: human resources; human capital management; sustainable employability; successful aging at work
Prof. Dr. Dorien Kooij
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, The Netherlands
Interests: human resource management; aging and work; work motivation; work psychology
Prof. Dr. Trude Furunes
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Social Sciences, Norwegian School of Hotel Management, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway
Interests: leadership; health-promoting leadership; age discrimination; ageing; diversity
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable employability is a well-studied topic in the literature. Several important aspects have been distinguished in earlier research as operationalization of the concept [1–5], such as:

  1. work ability [6],
  2. vitality [7,8], and
  3. employability of workers in organizations [9,10].

Nonetheless, few longitudinal studies have been published on the influence of stability and change, or the time factor in relation to sustainable employability of workers in organizations, as most studies have been cross-sectional in nature and the concepts under study are mostly considered to be static concepts, while in practice, both jobs and people are subject to change across time.

As a result, it remains unclear how fluctuations in different micro-, meso-, or macro-level antecedents affect indicators of sustainable employability across time, and how research can best methodologically design studies on sustainable employability that address the time factor.

We therefore call for new research that pays attention to the time factor and possible fluctuations in antecedents of sustainable employability on:

  • micro- or worker-level (e.g., time perspective, personality, significant life-events, self-management, resilience, psychosocial work),
  • meso- or team level (e.g., team cohesion, informal learning in teams), or
  • macro-level (e.g., leadership, human resource management, culture).

Furthermore, the literature on sustainable employability is limited in the sense that few theories explicitly address or hypothesize about the time factor or time perspective in relation to sustainable employability. Theories such as the socioemotional selectivity theory [11], construal level theory [12], and temporal motivation theory [13] could therefore add to our understanding of how sustainable employability develops across time.

In short, we do not yet know what the role of the time factor is in relation to the development of sustainable employability across time.

In this Special Issue, we call for new:

  1. Theoretical perspectives that shed new light on the time factor or time perspective in relation to sustainable employability of workers in different sectors and organizations;
  2. Longitudinal research that tests relevant theory-based hypotheses on relations between time or the time perspective and micro-, meso- or macro-level antecedents of sustainable employability of workers in different sectors and organizations;
  3. Methodological papers discussing different methodologies (longitudinal survey research, narratives, experimental research, case studies etc.) to investigate the time factor or time perspective in relation to sustainable employability of workers;
  4. Empirical research that introduces new measures for operationalizing the time factor or time perspective in research on antecedents of sustainable employability of workers;
  5. Intervention research in which time is manipulated to influence antecedents of sustainable employability of workers.

Prof. Dr. Annet de Lange
Prof. Dr. Dorien Kooij
Prof. Trude Furunes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • time
  • time perspective
  • sustainable employability
  • longitudinal research
  • socioemotional selectivity theory
  • construal-level theory

Published Papers (5 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Article
Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Employability: Empirical Evidence from Korea
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 8114; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148114 - 20 Jul 2021
Viewed by 476
Abstract
A firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) aids in social well-being, but it is costly. It is thus necessary to study whether a firm’s CSR activities are valuable in terms of costs and benefits for shareholders’ interest. Recent studies reported that firms’ CSR activities [...] Read more.
A firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) aids in social well-being, but it is costly. It is thus necessary to study whether a firm’s CSR activities are valuable in terms of costs and benefits for shareholders’ interest. Recent studies reported that firms’ CSR activities help to develop the corporate environment and improve financial performance. In addition, prior studies explained that a firm’s CSR activities can have a positive effect on financial performance by increasing employees’ commitment to their firm. The purpose of this study research is to examine the effect of CSR activities on sustainable employability through empirical analysis. We measured the sustainable employability using the percentage of regular employees and then examined the effect of CSR activities on sustainable employability using 3802 firm-year data for Korean listed firms. From the empirical results, we found that firms engaging in CSR activities improve more in terms of sustainable employability than do firms who are not engaging in CSR activities. We also found that the companies engaging in a high CSR index score showed greater sustainable employability than did those with a low CSR index score. The results of this study suggested a way to increase sustainability in terms of employment by supporting a rational basis for companies to adopt CSR. These findings are expected to contribute to academia and the capital market by providing empirical evidence that a company’s CSR activities have a positive impact on sustainable employability. Full article
Article
The Dynamics of Subjective Career Success: A Qualitative Inquiry
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7638; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147638 - 08 Jul 2021
Viewed by 571
Abstract
Current perspectives on career success have yet to show whether and how subjective career success evaluations may change over time and across career phases. By adopting a retrospective life-span approach to careers, our qualitative inquiry into the career experiences of 63 professionals contributes [...] Read more.
Current perspectives on career success have yet to show whether and how subjective career success evaluations may change over time and across career phases. By adopting a retrospective life-span approach to careers, our qualitative inquiry into the career experiences of 63 professionals contributes to the temporal understanding of subjective career success by exploring patterns in how subjective career success perceptions and priorities may change over time. The temporal development of subjective career success was explored among early-career, mid-career, and late-career workers by piecing together retrospective evaluations of career success perceptions. Our findings point to common patterns in career success perceptions across the lifespan. Specifically, we found five shift components of career success perceptions during people’s careers: (1) quitting striving for financial success and recognition; (2) an increased focus on personal development across the career; (3) a stronger emphasis on work–life balance across the career; (4) a shift toward being of service to others; and (5) no change in subjective career success components across the career. These patterns reflect ways in which workers engage in motivational self-regulation and the corresponding career goal-setting across the lifespan. The theoretical implications are discussed. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
Employable through Social Media: An Intervention Study
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5093; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095093 - 01 May 2021
Viewed by 485
Abstract
This longitudinal, quantitative study contributes to the debate on technology-based professional development by examining the extent to which a learning (LinkedIn) intervention in a university setting affects an individual’s social media use for professional development, and the extent to which this relates to [...] Read more.
This longitudinal, quantitative study contributes to the debate on technology-based professional development by examining the extent to which a learning (LinkedIn) intervention in a university setting affects an individual’s social media use for professional development, and the extent to which this relates to self-reported employability. In addition, we investigated how this relationship is moderated by an individual’s motivation to communicate through social media (LinkedIn). Based on social capital theory and the conservation of resources theory, we developed a set of hypotheses that were tested based on longitudinal data collected from university employees (N = 101) in middle- and high-level jobs. First, in line with our expectations, social media use for professional development was significantly higher after the learning intervention than before. Second, partially in line with our expectations, social media use for professional development was positively related with the employability dimension anticipation and optimization. Third, contrary to our expectations, motivation to communicate through social media (LinkedIn) did not have a moderating role in this relationship. We concluded that the learning intervention has the potential to foster social media use for professional development, and in turn, can contribute to individuals’ human capital in terms of their employability. Hence, the intervention that forms the core of this empirical research can be a sustainable and promising human resource management (HRM) practice that fits the human capital agenda. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
Job Design to Extend Working Time: Work Characteristics to Enable Sustainable Employment of Older Employees in Different Job Types
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4719; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094719 - 23 Apr 2021
Viewed by 590
Abstract
Due to an aging workforce and an increasing structural labor shortage across Western economies, it is important to design jobs for older workers that support their continued employability. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how job type (operational, professional and [...] Read more.
Due to an aging workforce and an increasing structural labor shortage across Western economies, it is important to design jobs for older workers that support their continued employability. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate how job type (operational, professional and managerial jobs) influences work characteristics older workers need to continue working. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 21 older (55+) Dutch employees working in the health and education sector. A full thematic analysis of interview transcripts was performed, and work characteristics were identified, coded, categorized and compared to discover patterns of similarities and differences between job types. The results show that job types have a number of work characteristics in common: operational job types share autonomy with managers and client interaction with professionals, and professionals and managers share mentorship. Unique work characteristics for operational roles are supervisor support and comfortable workspace. Professionals especially want to use their expertise and flexible working hours, and managers are different because they value personal development and contact with colleagues. In conclusion, the results show that certain work characteristics have a different impact on the design of future jobs for older workers, depending on the type of job of the employee. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Article
The Impact of Work Engagement on Future Occupational Rankings, Wages, Unemployment, and Disability Pensions—A Register-Based Study of a Representative Sample of Finnish Employees
Sustainability 2021, 13(4), 1626; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041626 - 03 Feb 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1430
Abstract
Despite ample interest in the potential consequences of work engagement over the last two decades, the question of whether work engagement predicts proximal and more distal career-related outcomes has gained surprisingly little attention. Using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and a sustainable careers [...] Read more.
Despite ample interest in the potential consequences of work engagement over the last two decades, the question of whether work engagement predicts proximal and more distal career-related outcomes has gained surprisingly little attention. Using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and a sustainable careers framework, the aim of this study was to investigate whether work engagement predicts register-based outcomes of wages, moves in occupational rankings, unemployment, and disability pensions. We used nationally representative survey data (n = 4876; response rate 68.7%) on Finnish employees derived from the Quality of Work Life Survey (QWLS) and matched respondent data to the Finnish Longitudinal Employer–Employee Data (FLEED), which covered the period 2013–2015. We utilized ordinary least squares (OLS) and instrumental variable (IV) estimations to strengthen causality in the analyses. Even after controlling for outcomes at baseline and several covariates, e.g., health, we found that work engagement positively predicted future wages and the probability of rising in occupational rankings, and negatively predicted future unemployment and disability pensions. This study extends the scope of the possible benefits of work engagement for employees, organizations, and society at large and contributes to career research by indicating the importance of work engagement for objectively measured indicators of sustainable careers. Full article
Back to TopTop