How can boundaryless careers contribute to the foundations of clusters? An enactment perspective

Purpose Much recent research attention has been given to the consequences of the workplace on careers but much less has been done to understand the consequences of individual career behaviors on working contexts. With a growing shift of organizations to inter-organizational and regional cluster collaborations, careers evolve beyond boundaries of a single employer, that is commonly referred to as the boundaryless career. Considering that boundaryless careers could have consequences on this context, our paper addresses the question: How can boundaryless careers contribute to enact foundations of a cluster, i.e. how do individuals, by building a boundaryless career, contribute to produce structuring elements of a cluster? Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from the hi-tech French regional cluster Minalogic (micro-nanotechnologies and embedded software) located in Grenoble, during the phase of emergence of the cluster. We conducted interviews with 30 researchers working for organizations that were members of Minalogic and who were personally participating to activities linked with the cluster (setting up and/or realization of collaborative R&D projects certified by Minalogic, involvement to the governance bodies of the cluster). Findings Mobilizing the notion of enactment, we examine accounts of typical boundaryless career behaviors and observe how these behaviors trigger interactions that contribute to enact foundations of the cluster. Specifically, we identify three levers underlying boundaryless career interactions: expertise sharing, sense sharing and localizing passion. These interactions give rise to collective constructs and leave “traces” (Weick, 1996) that strengthen foundations of the cluster by way of innovation projects, company creation and consolidating the governance bodies of the cluster. Originality/value We explore a phenomenon rarely mobilized empirically. We highlight a complete process of enactment, from individual behaviors leading to collective interactions that in turn, leave concrete outputs within the environment.