Entrepreneurship–Professionalism–Leadership: A Multidimensional Framework for Human Capital and Career Development in the 21st Century

341 Pages·2020·8.003 MB·English

by  Moon‐Ho Ringo Ho, Jeffrey C. Kennedy, Marilyn A. Uy, Kim-Yin Chan

Moon-Ho Ringo Ho · Jeffrey C. Kennedy ·
Marilyn A. Uy · Kim-Yin Chan Editors
Entrepreneurship–
Professionalism–
Leadership
A Multidimensional Framework for
Human Capital and Career Development
in the 21st Century
– –
Entrepreneurship Professionalism Leadership
‐
Moon Ho Ringo Ho Jeffrey C. Kennedy
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Marilyn A. Uy Kim-Yin Chan
(cid:129)
Editors
–
Entrepreneurship
–
Professionalism Leadership
A Multidimensional Framework for Human
Capital and Career Development
in the 21st Century
123
Editors
Moon‐Ho RingoHo Jeffrey C. Kennedy
Schoolof Humanities andSocial Sciences Schoolof Management
NanyangTechnological University Massey University
Singapore, Singapore Auckland,New Zealand
Marilyn A.Uy Kim-Yin Chan
NanyangBusiness School NanyangBusiness School
NanyangTechnological University NanyangTechnological University
Singapore, Singapore Singapore, Singapore
ISBN978-981-15-3120-0 ISBN978-981-15-3121-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3121-7
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Foreword
Backin1989,HarvardBusinessSchoolProfessorRosabethMossKanterpublished
an article entitled “Careers and the wealth of nations: a macro-perspective on the
structureandnatureofcareerforms.”1Inthatarticle,shedescribedhowchallenges
around careers involved some combination of bureaucratic, professional, and
entrepreneurialcontributions totheworld ofwork.The precise definitions ofthese
forms reflect popular usage and can be found in the introductory chapters to this
book.Kantermadethestraightforwardpointthatdifferentcombinationsofthethree
forms might be found in any single organization. However, she asserted more
broadly that “national differences in career structures” could also be examined
through her framework, and that “the wealth of nations, after all, rests on how the
efforts of people are channeled into jobs” and, over time, into careers.
Entrepreneurship–Professionalism–Leadership takes Kanter’s sociological per-
spective and turns it into an alternative framework to consider individual careers.
Most approaches to the study of careers are psychological. They begin by looking
inside people’s heads, and determining individual differences to account for career
behavior. Popular examples are frameworks for describing an individual’s values,
interests, strengths, psychological type, “big five” personality traits, and more.
Theseapproachesleaveopenthelargerquestionoftheirwidersocialandeconomic
relevance. In contrast, this book begins with Kanter’s sociological view as a point
of departure. It asks, how can combinations of bureaucratic, professional, and
entrepreneurial behaviors become channeled into wider social forces? In turn, it
proposes Entrepreneurship, Professionalism, and Leadership (EPL) theory, where
acts of individual entrepreneurship and professionalism contribute to what Kanter
sawaswidersocialphenomena,andwhereactsofindividualleadershipcontribute
primarily to the functioning of established bureaucracies.
When you engage with this book, you need to be aware that it may challenge
your own assumptions. If you think like a psychologist you may struggle with the
sociological point of departure behind EPL theory. If you think like a sociologist
1Kanter,R.M.Careersandthewealthofnations.InM.B.Arthur,D.T.HallandB.S.Lawrence,
HandbookofCareerTheory,NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,pp.506–521.
v
vi Foreword
you may struggle with the reduction of broad ideas to an individual level of
analysis. If you think like an economist you may wonder about the need for any
behavioral science perspective at all. However, careers—evolving sequences of
work experiences over time—provide a conceptual foundation for looking at what
different viewpoints contributetooneanother.It may nothelp theworldtostay in
thecomfortofyourownassumptions.Incontrast,itmayhelptheworldtopromote
wider conversations about how careers evolve, and in turn contribute to wider
economic and social progress.
I believe Entrepreneurship–Professionalism–Leadership is an important book
that canhelp build anexpandingandessentialinterdisciplinary conversationabout
careers,theirdevelopmentovertime,andtheiroverallsignificancetothewealthof
nations. It is essential reading if you wish to join that conversation.
Andover, Massachusetts, USA Michael B. Arthur
September 2019
Preface
Writing about or researching careers involves making generalizations, of seeking
patterns in structure and ways of distinguishing various forms which usefully
describetherelationshipbetweenpeopleandworkovertime.Changesinthenature
of work, brought about by technological developments, globalization, shifts in
institutional arrangements and the like, are mirrored in changed career patterns.
New patterns emerge, some forms become more or less prevalent, but multiple
formscoexist.Baruch’s(2015)metaphorofacareerecosystemdrawsourattention
to the fact that certain career forms are likely to be more adaptive in some envi-
ronments than others.
Toward the end of the last century, career theorists started to observe the emer-
genceofmoredynamic,non-linearcareers(Arthur,Hall,&Lawrence,1989;Collins
& Young; 2000) alongside existing stable, traditional organizational employment
andcareermanagementarrangements(e.g.,Arnold&Cohen,2007).Today,volatile
and uncertain work environments increasingly compel workers to adopt protean
career mindsets (cf. Hall, 1996). New psycho-social career meta-competencies
(cf. Coetzee, 2013) are needed in order to navigate a less structured, more bound-
aryless(Arthur &Rousseau, 1996; Cortini etal. 2011) career space.
Given the multiplicity of career forms, there is a tendency to focus on
differences—to highlight ways in which a protean career mindset differs from that
ofoneconsistentwithalong-termorganizationalcareer,ortocontrastboundaryless
withtraditionalcareers.Whilethesedifferencesareimportant,itisalsovaluableto
consider commonalities. Chan et al. (2012) proposed three dimensions of career
space(entrepreneurial,professional,leadership)whichcanbeusedtodescribejobs,
and to map people’s trajectory through work experiences over time. These
dimensionsareasusefulindescribingtraditionalorganizationalcareers astheyare
helping us to understand new and more complex career types.
This book brings together both theoretical advances and empirical research
derived from Chan et al. (2012) paper. Chan et al. initial research showed that
entrepreneurial, professional, and leadership (EPL) motivations are collectively
related to protean and boundaryless career attitudes, and to career adaptability
(cf. Chan et al., 2015b) which are relevant to the changing nature of work and
vii
viii Preface
employment in the twenty-first century. Until now, published research (e.g., Chan
etal.,2012;Chanet.al.,2015a,2015b;Uyetal.,2015)ontheEPLframeworkhas
focused primarily on university student data using mainly cross-sectional research
designs.This book updates andextends theEPL framework both theoretically and
empirically.WhileChanetal.(2012,2015b)reportedstudiesattheindividuallevelof
analysis,thisbookhelpsreaderstoappreciatehowEPLcanalsobeaframeworkto
think of careers at the level of organizations, cities, and national workforces.
ThisbookalsoadvancesourunderstandingofthedevelopmentofEPLmotivations
andefficacies.Finally,readerswillappreciatetheapplicationoftheEPLframework
in a wider range of work and educational contexts such as research–innovation–
enterprise, holistic workforce development, and entrepreneurial development
(relativetoleadershipandprofessionaldevelopment).
This book is organized into three sections that reflect the main directions of
development following Chan et al. (2012) initial paper:
(cid:129) Part 1 Theoretical and methodological advances: EPL was initially developed
asawayofhelpingindividualsthinkabouthowtheircareersmightunfoldover
time. It was first used as a means for encouraging university students to think
more broadly about their career aspirations, to challenge their default assump-
tionsaboutcareerprogression,andtogivethematoolforconsideringhowthey
couldbalanceentrepreneurial,professional,andleadershipdevelopmentinways
thatcouldfulfilltheirpersonalaspirations.Chapter1extendsthisintoabroader
consideration of EPL as a conceptual tool for envisioning and describing peo-
ple’s career journeys while recognizing the structural dimensions of work and
careers that exist in nations and societies. It discusses the importance of con-
sidering both personal factors and social context, illustrating how the EPL
framework can complement extant career development approaches such as
intelligent career theory. Chapter 2 recognizes the embeddedness of individual
careersandcareerdevelopmentinmultilevelcontexts.ItdemonstrateshowEPL
can be applied to workgroups, organizations, cities, and even at the national
level, providing a common language for linking individual career aspirations
with collective considerations. Chapters3–6focusonmethodologicaladvances
byreportingastudyofthemeasurementequivalenceofChanetal.(2012)scales
across U.S. and Singapore student samples; three studies conducted in various
samples from both Singapore and New Zealand aimed at developing EPL
motivationscalesforusewithworkingadults;astudyofstabilityandchangein
EPLmotivationovertimeusinglatentdifferencescoreanalysis;andaneffortto
develop measures of developmental readiness in EPL dimensions.
(cid:129) Part2Empiricalapplicationsincareerstudies:Inastudythatfocusesmoreon
EPL efficacies than motivations, Chap. 7 presents empirical evidence to show
how E, P, and L efficacies additively contribute to the prediction of
self-perceived employability in a large sample of undergraduates. The findings
are discussed in terms of how the EPL framework can be represented by the
popular “T-shaped” metaphor which captures the need for broad transferable
skillswithdeeperspecializedknowledge.Chapter8introducesanewconstruct
Preface ix
and measure called “Preferences for Non-standard Work” (PNSW). Options
such as independent contracting, outsourced work, and work in start-up firms
are increasingly common—whether engaged in voluntarily or as a result of
organizational strategies around contingent workforces. The chapter explores
empirical relationships between EPL (motivations and efficacies) and student
preferences for non-standard work. Finally, Chap. 9 identifies relationship
between individually held cultural and universal values and EPL motivations.
(cid:129) Part 3 Applications in Innovation and Enterprise: Chapters 10 and 11 discuss
how the EPL framework is especially valuable in understanding human capital
in the R&D context, and to understanding the career preferences of Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) researchers in the context
ofinnovationeco-systems.ThisisaparticularlyrelevantcontextforEPL,given
the importance ofboth entrepreneurship and leadership inthe management and
commercialization of large scientific research projects. Chapter 12 documents
the origins of Chan et al. EPL research before describing a 3-year
university-wide project to develop an IT system able to support students in
more holistic “T-shaped” EPL career development. The final three chapters in
Part 3 summarize specific contributions of the EPL line of research to our
understanding of entrepreneurship and its development. Specifically, Chap. 13
reports a longitudinal study which examines the influence of social cognitive
and environmental factors in shaping pre-university students’ entrepreneurial
intentions. Chapter 14 uses data from the 2012–2014 Singapore Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor survey to identify how EPL can assist in predicting
engagementinearlyentrepreneurshipactivities.Chapter15usesconstructsfrom
Social Cognitive Career Theory to investigate how these interact with envi-
ronmental factors to affect students’ entrepreneurial career intentions.
Research interest in the EPL framework continues to grow beyond this book.
Recently,Setor,Joseph,andChan(2018)wontheAcademyofManagementCareer
Division’s Best Applied Paper Award for their study of objective longitudinal
career data in EPL dimensions. Looking ahead, we foresee more research utilizing
interdisciplinaryapproachestostudybothcareerandhumancapitaldevelopmentin
twenty-first-century work and career settings using the multidimensional EPL
framework. We also hope to see more research that illuminates the challenges of
professionsandprofessionaldevelopmentinthecontextofincreasingrequirements
for innovation (and ever-present bureaucracy) in the world of work and
organizations.
We hope that the many chapters in this book provide readers with a broader
understanding of Chan et al. (2012) EPL framework, and its utility in describing
vital aspects of career motivation and development. The dimensions capture
important individual differences, but can also be used to describe key elements of
jobs,andofthenatureofsuccessiveworkexperiencesoveracareer.Thesechapters
illustrate how the original “person-centered” framework can be extended to higher
levels of analysis, including organizations and national level workforce develop-
ment. The framework is compatible with traditional (organizational) and
x Preface
contemporary (e.g., protean, boundaryless) conceptualizations of careers. We also
hope that readers will appreciate that measures of EPL motivation, efficacy, and
intentions can provide many new perspectives to phenomena that have hitherto
been studied only within the narrow confines of either the entrepreneurship, pro-
fessionalism, or leadership fields.
Singapore, Singapore Moon‐Ho Ringo Ho
Auckland, New Zealand Jeffrey C. Kennedy
Singapore, Singapore Marilyn A. Uy
Singapore, Singapore Kim-Yin Chan
September 2019
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