Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Human Relations
This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wong, A. L. Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Making career choice: A study of Chinese managers

Amy Lai Yu Wong

Hong Kong Polytechnic University, msawong{at}inet.polyu.edu.hk

Compared with the extensive research on managerial careers in the West, little has emerged from China and South-East Asia. This exploratory study used Schein's concept of Career Anchors to investigate how 117 Taiwanese managers made their initial career choice and the values which shaped their subsequent careers. The findings indicate how cultural specificity and political dynamics impacted on the managers' career experience. The Taiwanese subjects valued independence, a balanced lifestyle and entrepreneurial opportunities. The findings further indicate how career pathways can be of an individual's own making, embracing life in its broadest aspects and not exclusively forged within organizations. The study sheds light on the field of vocational choice and adjustment within the Chinese context.

Key Words: Career Anchors • career management • Chinese culture • Chinese managers • Confucian values • family expectations

References

  • Adamson, S., Doherty, N. & Viney, C. 30 years on — what have we learned about career? SWP 6196, Human Resource Management Group, Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University , UK, 1996.
  • Arthur, M.B., Hall, D. & Lawrence, B. Handbook of career theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1991.
  • Arthur, M.B., Inkson, K. & Pringle, J.K. The new careers: Individual action and economic change. London: Sage , 1999.
  • Bond, M.H. & Hofstede, G. The cash value of Confucian values . Human Systems Management, 1989, 8, 195—200 .
  • Brindley, T.A. Socio-psychological values in the Republic of China (I) . Asian Thought and Society, 1989, 14, 98—115 .
  • Brindley, T.A. Socio-psychological values in the Republic of China (ll)-III modern Taiwanese values . Asian Thought and Society, 1990, 15, 1—15 .
  • Cheung, P.C., Conger, A.J., Hau, K.T., Lew, W.J.F. & Lau, S. Development of the Multi-Trait Personality Inventory (MTPI): Comparison among four Chinese populations . Journal of Personality Assessment, 1992, 9(3), 528—51 .
  • Child, J. Management in China: During the age of reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1994.
  • Child, J. & Stewart, S. Regional differences in China and their implications for Sino-Foreign Joint Ventures . Journal of General Management, 1997, 23, 65—86 .
  • Cipd. Work—life balance. Factsheet, January 2007: [www.cipd.co.uk].
  • Custodio, L.P. Career Anchors of Filipino academic executives . School of Commerce, College of Business and Accountancy, Virac, Catanduanes, Philippines. Research paper series 00—13, August 2000, ISSN: 1441—3906.
  • Erdogmus, N. Career orientations of salaried professionals: The case of Turkey . Career Development International, 2004, 9(2), 153—75 .[CrossRef]
  • Hall, D.T. The career is dead — long live the career: A relational approach to careers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Business and Management Series, 1996.
  • Hall, D.T. Careers in and out of organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage , 2002.
  • Herer, W. & Sadowski, W. Informal sector and unemployment issues in Poland . Research Bulletin (Poland), 1996, 5(2), 9—18 .
  • Herriot, P. The career management challenge-balancing individual and organizational needs. London: Sage , 1992.
  • Herriot, P. & Pemberton, C. Contracting careers . Human Relations, 1996, 49(6), 757—79 .[Abstract]
  • Ho, D.Y.F. Filial piety and its psychological consequences. In M. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press , 1996, pp. 155—65.
  • Holland, J.L. Making vocational choices. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall , 1973.
  • Hughes, E.C. Institutional office and the person . American Journal of Sociology, 1938, 43, 404—13 .
  • Hwang, C.H. Studies in Chinese personality: A critical review . Bulletin of Educational Psychology, 1982, 15, 227—42 .
  • Igbaria, M., Kassicieh, S.J. & Silver, M. Career orientations and career success among research, and development and engineering professionals . Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 1999, 16(1), 29—54 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Igbaria, M., Meredith, G. & Smith, D.C. Career orientations of information systems employees in South Africa. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 1995, 4(4), 319—40 .
  • Kahn, H. World economic development: 1979 and beyond. Boulder, CO: Westview Press , 1979.
  • Kao, C., Lee T.Z. & Kuo, S. Career paths in industrial management: A survey of Taiwan's manufacturing industries . Career Development International, 1997, 2(4) (Internet: 2000).
  • King, Z., Burke, S. & Pemberton, J. The `bounded' career: An empirical study of human capital, career mobility and employment outcomes in a mediated labour market . Human Relations, 2005, 58(8), 981—1007 .[Abstract]
  • Kuo, S.W.Y. The Taiwan economy in transition. Boulder, CO: Westview Press , 1983.
  • Lee, K. New East Asian economic development: Interacting capitalism and socialism . London: M.E. Sharpe , 1993.
  • Lee, S.H. & Wong, P.K. An exploratory study of technopreneurial intentions: A career anchor perspective . Journal of Business Venturing, 2004, 19(1), 7—28 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Levinson, D.J., Darrow, C.N., Klein, E.B., Levinson, M.H. & McKee, B. The seasons of a man's life. New York: Knopf , 1978.
  • Lockett, M. Culture and the problems of Chinese management . Organization Studies, 1988, 9, 475—96 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  • Marshall, V. & Bonner, D. Career anchors and the effects of downsizing: Implications for generations and cultures at work. A preliminary investigation . Journal of European Industrial Training, 2003, 27(6), 281—91 .[CrossRef]
  • Mignonac, K. & Herrbach, O. Managing individual career aspirations and corporate needs: A study of software engineers in France . Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 2003, 20(3), 205—30 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Miles, M.B. & Huberman, A.M. Qualitative data analysis. London: Sage , 1994.
  • Mirvis, P.H. & Hall, D.T. Psychological success and the boundaryless career . Journal of Organizational Behavior, 1994, 15, 365—80 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Peiperl, M.A., Arthur, M.B., Goffee, R. & Morris, T. Career frontiers: New conceptions of working lives. New York: Oxford University Press , 2000.
  • Ramakrishna, H.V. & Potosky, D. Conceptualization and exploration of composite career anchors: An analysis of information systems personnel . Human Resource Development Quarterly, 2003, 14(2): 199—214 .[CrossRef]
  • Sarchielli, G. & Toderi, S. Career anchors effects on work transitions: An exploratory longitudinal study . Revista de psicologia Social, 2005, 20(1), 109—23 .[CrossRef]
  • Schein, E.H. Career dynamics: Matching individual and organization needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley , 1978.
  • Schein, E.H. Career anchors: Discovering your real values. San Diego, CA: University Associates , 1985.
  • Schein, E.H. Careers Anchors revisited: Implications for career development in the 21st century . The Academy of Management Executive, 1996, 10, 80—8 .
  • Schein, E.H. From brainwashing to organizational therapy: A conceptual and empirical journey in search of `systemic' health and a general model of change dynamics. A drama in five acts . Organization Studies, 2006, 27(2), 287—301 .[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  • Shaw, C.R. The Jack-Roller: A delinquent boy's own story. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press , 1930.
  • Shaw, C.R. The national history of a delinquent career. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press , 1931.
  • Shaw, C.R. Brothers in crime. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press , 1938.
  • Stake, R. Multiple case study analysis. New York: The Guildford Press , 2006.
  • Tan, H.H. & Quek, B.C. An exploratory study on the career anchors of educators in Singapore . Journal of Psychology, 2001, 135(5), 527—45 .[Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Wang, H.H. Between self and others: A qualitative study of the career construction process of college-track student in Taiwan. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Graduate School of Education of Harvard , 1998.
  • Westwood, R.I. Organizational behaviour: Southeast Asian perspectives. Hong Kong: Longman , 1992.
  • Whitely, R. Business systems in East Asia: Firms, markets and societies. London: Sage , 1992.
  • Whyte, W.H., Jr. The organization man. New York: Simon & Schuster , 1956.
  • Wong, A.L.Y. Type A behaviour at work: An empirical study of Taiwanese managers and entrepreneurs . International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2005, 16(11), 2147—60 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Wong, A.L.Y. & Slater, J.R. Executive development in China: Is there any in a western sense ? International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2002, 13(2), 338—60 .[CrossRef][Web of Science]
  • Wright, L.L. The need for international qualitative research. In B.J. Punnett & O. Shenkar (Eds), Handbook for international management research. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press , 2004, pp. 49—67.
  • Wu, D.Y.H. Chinese children socialization. In M. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press , 1996, pp. 143—54.
  • Yang, K.S. Do traditional and modern values coexist in a modern Chinese society? [in Chinese] . In Proceedings of the Conference on Chinese Perspectives on Values. Taipei: Centre for Sinological Studies, 1992, pp. 117—58.
  • Yang, K.S. The psychological transformation of the Chinese people as a result of societal modernisation. In M.H. Bond (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press , 1996, pp. 478—98.
  • Yang, K.S. & Bond, M.B. Exploring implicit personality theories with indigenous or imported constructs: The Chinese case . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1990, 58, 1087—95 .[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline] [Order article via Infotrieve]
  • Yarnall, J. Career anchors: Results of an organizational study . Career Development International Journal, 1998, 3(2) [Internet].

Human Relations, Vol. 60, No. 8, 1211-1233 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0018726707081661
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow Abstract Freely available
Right arrow Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wong, A. L. Y.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?