Features of Career Choices through the Generation Theory: The Results of Empirical Research

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relation between career choice and generational differences in order to understand the professional nature for various age groups. It also offers suggestions for how to estimate career choice using career anchors developed by E. Schein, and level of self-monitoring developed by M. Snyder. The paper reviews the literature on career anchors, self-monitoring and the theory of generation. It also considers their roles for career choice. Our analysis was conducted using two samples; 1) undergraduates studying Management for a second academic year; 2) employees working in two Russian companies. All participants were divided into age groups in line with the theory of generations. Career Orientation Inventory developed by Schein and Self-Monitoring Scale developed by Snyder were used to evaluate the career choice. The study applies factor analysis that separates the leading career anchors for each age group. The findings illustrate differences in attitudes towards career choice across generations. Generation Y both employees and undergraduates demonstrates high self-monitoring and role expectations as the key professional activities. Generation X displays preferences to managerial commitment and independence. Baby Boomers is the only one generation that demonstrates technical/functional competence as a core career anchor. Generation Y both employees and undergraduates, show more similarities than differences in self-monitoring and career orientations thereby proving particular postulates of the generation theory. The research limitations relate to the boundaries of quantitative method. The sample of 240 participants cannot be representative for the whole Russian population. The limited quantity of the research, focusing on differences in career choice across generations in Russia, outlines the importance of future investigations. These findings could become a base for the next studies in this field. Practical implications of these findings are to add potentially major insight into the organizations for selection and training the staff by taking into account career needs of employees relating to their age (generation). Company career management practices should accommodate the differences in career orientations and conform to the organizational needs. The value of the findings is to provide extra opportunities for HR experts in the development of effective career management programme taking into consideration individual characteristics of personnel.