Understanding and addressing unequal career opportunities in the ‘new career’ era: an analysis of the role of structural career boundaries and organizational career management

Abstract

By bringing together the literature on ‘new careers’, career boundaries and organizational career management (OCM),on different social identity groups, and on diversity management, this article aims to contribute to debates on unequal career opportunities and career boundaries in the ‘new career’ era. First, it develops propositions on the way structural career boundaries involving qualifications and labour market scripts contribute to unequal opportunities to share in the promises of the ‘new career’ discourse. We specifically argue that these boundaries affect the careers of different social identity groups to different degrees because common sense views of ‘ideal’ qualifications and‘ideal’ labour market scripts are infused with social identities. Second, this article develops propositions on the way different types of OCM practices address career boundaries and whether they can contribute to equal opportunities. We argue that traditional OCM practices will only result in equal opportunities if common sense views of ‘ideal’ qualifications and ‘ideal’ labour market scripts are changed. Finally, we propose that incorporating inclusive common sense views of qualifications and labour market scripts in bundles of OCM practices enables these to effectively contribute to equal career opportunities.