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Validating Sustainable Career Indicators: A Case Study in a European Energy Company

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  • Carla Curado

    (ADVANCE/CSG, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Miguel Lupi 20, 1200-109 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Tiago Gonçalves

    (ADVANCE/CSG, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Miguel Lupi 20, 1200-109 Lisbon, Portugal)

  • Cláudia Ribeiro

    (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão (ISEG), Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-004 Lisbon, Portugal)

Abstract

The literature on careers is rapidly evolving, presenting relevant academic developments. Considering the volatility of the environment and the workforce and the search for sustainability, a new research avenue concerning sustainable careers is emerging. Sustainable careers are regarded as a complex mental schema represented by experiences and continuity patterns grounded on individual subjective evaluations, such as happiness, health and productivity. According to conceptual models, these are fundamental individual indicators that allow the attainment of a sustainable career. By following this theoretical proposal, the work tests the conceptual model using proxies for its indicators (job satisfaction, well-being and organizational citizenship behavior). We validate the use of these proxies by performing association, variance, and cluster analysis on data coming from a survey conducted on employees of a European energy company. The results corroborate our hypotheses and support the choice of the selected proxies as adequate operationalization of the indicators. This study contributes to theory and practice alike by validating measures to represent each indicator and their association with sustainable careers. The study contributes to the development of research on sustainable careers by providing a set of measures that can be used to profit from an existing theoretical model and operationalize it in future studies exploring its contribution to several other variables. There are managerial implications that arise from our results and may help human resources managers contribute to the sustainable careers of their employees. We acknowledge the study’s limitations at the end of the paper and offer future directions for research.

Suggested Citation

  • Carla Curado & Tiago Gonçalves & Cláudia Ribeiro, 2023. "Validating Sustainable Career Indicators: A Case Study in a European Energy Company," Merits, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmerit:v:3:y:2023:i:1:p:14-247:d:1102304
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Pfeffer, Jeffrey, 2010. "Building Sustainable Organizations: The Human Factor," Research Papers 2017r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    3. Ali Rizwan & Suhail H. Serbaya & Muhammad Saleem & Hemaid Alsulami & Dimitrios A. Karras & Zobia Alamgir, 2021. "A Preliminary Analysis of the Perception Gap between Employers and Vocational Students for Career Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-21, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ayşegül Karaca-Atik & Marjan J. Gorgievski & Marieke Meeuwisse & Guus Smeets, 2024. "Possessing 21st-Century Skills and Building Sustainable Careers: Early-Career Social Sciences Graduates’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-21, April.
    2. Ruoyan Wang & Yanli Hu, 2025. "Green Behaviors Among Employees in Chinese E-Commerce Companies: Impact of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-21, January.

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