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Current literature acknowledges the growth of careers in project management. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of those who choose and continue in project-based careers.

Using social cognitive career theory as the lens to explore project management career journeys, 74 project practitioners were interviewed from across three broad industry sectors. A qualitative research approach was utilized and Atlas.ti was used to analyze and categorize the interview data collected.

Those who choose to continue in project-based roles demonstrate high levels of self-efficacy and coping efficacy and see uncertainty as opportunity. They value challenge, flexibility and variety and take responsibility for their own career progression. Desire for employment security may vary according to personal circumstance. These findings are of value to employers in guiding selection and retention of people for project roles.

This is a qualitative and exploratory study covering only three industry sectors and results are not generalizable. SCCT was found useful as a lens for understanding the nature of project-based careers.

Findings of this research provide valuable guidance for employers and HR practitioners in project-based organizations. For practitioners the study provides a useful framework for reflecting upon their own careers in projects.

The nature of careers is changing. Project-based careers are indicative of this change. This study therefore provides insight into an evolving phenomenon.

This study expands our understanding of careers in projects, going beyond technical skill development to gain a deeper understanding of personal attributes that contribute to selection into and retention in project-based careers.

This study aims to provide an understanding of how directors perceive the relationship between board independence and corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance which has remained under-researched.

The qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews of 19 directors from 14 organisations operating in Australia. Data were analysed following the six-phase process of thematic analysis.

The findings indicate that independent directors contribute to board CSR decisions in two major ways: they bring an outsider view to the board, and they monitor managers in taking decisions that consider the interests of the broader stakeholder groups.

The in-depth analysis of director independence and CSR highlights the structural and behavioural aspects of director independence and CSR playing out in board rooms. Propositions are offered which can be tested to advance the research in this arena.

The findings suggest that efforts are required at organisational policy level to ensure the effectiveness of director independence for CSR.

This study provides insights into the “black box” of boardroom dynamics highlighting important contextual factors influencing director independence and CSR decisions previously under-explored.

The purpose of this paper is to identify issues in the long-term development of project workers, their career paths, their contribution to organizational success and their need for equity of opportunity. The long-term development of project workers, their career paths and their contribution to organizational success is explored.

A qualitative research design using semi-structured interviews was employed to gain an understanding of social and human issues related to careers in project management (PM). By researching the lived experiences and feelings of those pursuing a career in PM the aim was to gain insight into the career journeys and experiences of practicing project managers.

Those who choose to pursue a career in PM have the personal characteristics and sufficiently high levels of self-efficacy to deal effectively with the uncertainty inherent in the nature of projects and of project-based employment.

Participants were drawn from current project practitioners. As a result, the views of those who have worked on projects and chosen not to continue their career in the area have not been gathered.

Predictions are that there will be a continuing demand for project managers with the capabilities required to deliver successful projects. The challenge for organizations is to create an environment that will encourage greater numbers of people to embrace the uncertainty of project. The findings reported provide insight into how organizations might attract, develop and retain the project expertise they require for success.

This research provides further understanding into the lived experience of project managers, with a focus on those who have unexpectedly found themselves pursuing a career in PM.

A narrow focus of past diversity research and inconsistent findings have contributed to a lack of understanding of how to manage diversity for positive outcomes. Focusing on age, gender and ethnic diversity, this paper aims to review literature on group objective demographic diversity and individual perceived demographic diversity to present an integrated multilevel framework for our improved understanding and to present testable propositions.

The authors conducted a thorough review of 51 empirical studies of demographic diversity at individual and group levels to propose a multilevel framework.

Drawing on information elaboration theory, social categorization theory and social identity theory, an integrated multilevel framework is proposed at individual and group levels. The framework suggests that demographic diversity (age, gender and ethnicity) aids positive information elaboration processes, while also causing negative social categorization processes. These processes impact individual and group outcomes. The framework also identifies moderating factors not sufficiently addressed in the demographic diversity literature. Propositions and implications for future research in the field of demographic diversity are presented.

This review provides an integrated multilevel framework of objective and perceived demographic diversity and its positive and negative processes and effects at both individual and group levels, drawn from information elaboration, social categorization and social identity theories.

Past research provides mixed evidence of the various elements of talent management. This review consolidates that research evidence to present a comprehensive evidence-based multilevel framework to inform practice and outline future research directions.

A systematic review of 120 empirical studies, focusing on determinants, practices and/or outcomes of talent management practices, was undertaken.

Our multilevel framework suggests that talent management perspectives determine talent management practices which, in turn, impact organizational, group and employee outcomes. Most studies focused on identifying talent management perspectives or practices within organizations, while few studies investigated how these perspectives influence practices. The inclusive vs exclusive perspective has been the main focus of the research. However, findings indicate that a combination of perspectives generates a hybrid approach which leads to a range of talent management practices. The most studied practices involve talent development and the least studied involve talent engagement. In total, 67 studies focusing on outcomes of talent management identified organizational performance as the most conspicuous outcome of talent management.

This review contributes to the existing knowledge of talent management by consolidating the empirical evidence on determinants and outcomes of talent management practices and provides a comprehensive, integrated and multilevel framework to guide practice and future research.

Networking behaviours are important for a range of work outcomes. Little empirical evidence of how internal vs external networking behaviours influence job commitment and job performance exists and whether political skills moderate these relationships. Using theories of social capital and personal initiative, this study examines the effect of internal and external networking behaviours on job commitment and job performance in the context of political skills.

Based on a sequential mixed-method research design with a four-month time lag, Study 1 data on networking behaviours, political skills and work outcomes were collected via a survey of middle managers and their supervisors from ten private sector organisations operating in Sri Lanka. Study 2 data were collected via interviews of a set of middle managers and their supervisors.

Study 1 findings indicate a positive relationship between internal networking behaviours and both job commitment and job performance. The authors also found a moderating effect of political skills on internal networking behaviours and job commitment. Study 2 findings explained, strengthened and extended results of Study 1.

Middle managers can use these research findings to understand how internal networking behaviours improve their job commitment and job performance. These managers can use their political skills and internal networking behaviours to improve their job commitment. They can also advance their career through improved job commitment and job performance. Senior managers and human resource managers should facilitate and encourage internal networking behaviours. Training and development managers should develop middle managers' networking behaviours and political skills.

This study provides pioneering evidence of how internal networking behaviours impact middle managers' job performance and job commitment, and how internal networking behaviours improve job commitment for middle managers with high political skills.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structural career barriers in project-based construction and property development organizations in Australia, and explore how these affect women and their project careers. It applies the insights of the institutional theory to explain how the process of normative isomorphism continues to reproduce female underrepresentation in those organizations.

Based on an exploratory interpretive approach, this study consisted of 16 in-depth interviews with female project managers from the Australian construction and property industry.

The research shows that organizational practices may contribute to the ongoing female underrepresentation in the Australian construction and property development industries. The structural career barriers unique to project organizations include work practice, presenteeism, reliance on career self-management and the “filtering of personnel” in recruitment and promotion practices.

The results support the institutional theory as an explanation for the factors that influence women’s’ perceptions of their project management careers. Addressing inequity between men and women is perceived as an organizational choice.

To achieve a substantive change in the numbers of women in project management, organizational leaders in male dominated industries such as construction and property development are encouraged to think strategically about how to overcome the access and opportunity that affect women’s career progress.

Drawing on the institutional theory, this study explores how the process of normative isomorphism may reproduce female underrepresentation and gender segregation in traditional project-based organizations.

There is wide acknowledgment that training people from all levels of an organization in process management activities and “process thinking” is a major contributor to the success or failure, and sustainability of business process management (BPM). BPM training is provided in almost all BPM initiatives and involves the investment of valuable financial, human, information and other resources. However, little research has focused on this area. As a result, there is a lack of guidance for organizations in conducting value adding BPM training. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate the current published knowledge on BPM training in the form of a descriptive literature review to paint a picture of the existing work, identify gaps and propose a program of work for the future.

A structured descriptive literature review was conducted to understand the current status of literature on training in the domain of BPM. Of an initial search of 90 publications, 64 publications, published between 1994 and 2015, were filtered and reviewed based on their relevance to answer the research question: What has BPM literature mentioned of training people for BPM? This study proposes a research agenda based on this. A grounded theory coding approach was employed, where NVivo 10 was used as a tool to support the analysis.

A total of 234 codes (representing emerging themes) were inductively identified from the data. These codes were further analyzed, resulting in eight core themes pertaining to training in the BPM context.

The paper presents a vivid descriptive overview of the current status of research in BPM training identifying gaps in the literature and presents a research agenda which supports a call for action.

The paper is the first known of its kind to compile the status of literature focused on BPM training and recommend a research agenda based on such.

Research suggests that engaging in networking behaviors can affect individual work outcomes. However, relatively less is known about how internal versus external networking behaviors influence work outcomes, and whether gender moderates these relationships. Drawing on social capital theory and social role theory, the authors propose a positive relationship between employees' internal and external networking behaviors and their work outcomes (job commitment and career success), and the moderating effect of gender. The authors also explore employee preference in networking.

Based on a sequential mixed-method research design with a four-month time lag, Study 1 data on networking behaviors and employee outcomes were collected via a survey of middle managers and their supervisors from 10 private sector organizations in Sri Lanka. Study 2 data were collected via interviews from a sample of those middle managers and their supervisors.

Study 1 findings indicate a positive relationship between internal networking behaviors and job commitment, and external networking behaviors and career success. The authors also found that internal networking behaviors enhance job commitment. Study 2 findings indicate men and women network differently and benefit differently from that networking but achieve equitable workplace benefits.

This study provides pioneering evidence that internal networking behaviors enhance job commitment among women. It appears that past research did not test the moderating effect of gender for internal versus external networking behaviors separately. Moreover, this study refines the evidence that internal and external networking behaviors differentially impact employee outcomes and explains the processes through a qualitative inquiry.