Career stages and occupations impacts on workers motivations

Purpose The career concept has become fuzzier due to changing work patterns, the ageing workforce and the environmental changes occurring during workers lifespans. Together this requires a renewed and broader reaching contextualization of this concept. The purpose of this paper is to set out an integrative approach arguing that the integration of career stage models with occupational groups proves more explanative of intrinsic and extrinsic worker motivations. Design/methodology/approach Secondary data from 23 European countries were drawn from the European Social Survey 2006. The construct validity and reliability of indicators was analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using discriminant analysis. Findings Results showed that neither occupations nor career stages are determinants per se of intrinsic motivations, but are better explained by their mutual integration. Career stages were shown to predict per se extrinsic motivations. Research limitations/implications The recourse to the European Social Survey pre-determined scales and the application of age ranges as proxies for careers stages suggested the usage of more specific measures in future studies. Practical implications Career management and compensation policies might be better tailored to worker motivations by considering the age ranges (as proxies of career stages) and workers’ occupations. Originality/value Findings evidenced the explanatory value of occupations for worker motivations and allowed putting into perspective the contextualization of not only boundaryless and protean career concepts, but also career stage theories. Data support the ecological validity of applying a career stages and occupations framework to a highly diversified and representative sample of European countries.