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The role of the spouse in managers’ family-related career sensemaking

Evgenia I. Lysova, Konstantin Korotov, Svetlana N. Khapova, Paul G. W. Jansen

Career Development International

ISSN: 1362-0436

Article publication date: 14 September 2015

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of literature on the role of family in managers’ career decision making. Specifically, the authors offer an empirical elaboration on a recently proposed concept of the “family-relatedness of work decisions” (FRWD) by illuminating the role of the spouse in managers’ career sensemaking.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 88 managers who were in the final stage of their EMBA program took part in the study. The data were gathered through a personal career inventory.

Findings

The findings revealed that next to family-career salience and parent role identification, spouses also play an important role in shaping managers’ family-related career sensemaking.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should examine the supportive role of spouses in contexts other than that of an international EMBA. Moreover, researchers should examine the role of managers’ boundary management styles in shaping the degree of their family-related career sensemaking.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that when designing and implementing developmental initiatives, organizations should consider that managers’ decisions about their next career steps may be guided by family-related concerns, and the spouse may play a specific role.

Originality/value

This paper offers the first empirical exploration and a refinement of the nascent theory of the “FRWD.” It also introduces a new construct into the theory – spousal career support – that opens new avenues for future research.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jeffrey Greenhaus and Gary Powell for their insightful comments and suggestions on the earlier version of the paper. The authors also thank Joep Cornelissen for his feedback on the theoretical ground of the paper. This paper was presented at the 2014 Academy of Management meeting in Philadelphia and at the 2014 Work-Family Research Network Conference in New York.

Citation

Lysova, E.I., Korotov, K., Khapova, S.N. and Jansen, P.G.W. (2015), "The role of the spouse in managers’ family-related career sensemaking", Career Development International, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 503-524. https://doi.org/10.1108/CDI-10-2014-0142

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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