Pathways to Sustainable Employment in the Uncertain World of Work

Masterate Scholarship for a Māori Student

The Labour Market Dynamics Research Group, Massey University, is pleased to offer one MA Scholarship for a Māori student in either the College of Business or the College of Humanities and Social Sciences who is planning a one year thesis.

The LMD programme is funded by the Foundation for Science, Research and Technology and is investigating the impact different pathways into employment has on individuals and communities as well as responses from employers as they seek to organise labour supply. This research into pathways to sustainable employment aims to provide information on cumulative labour market behaviour as well as developing an understanding of individual trajectories into paid work, the extent to which individual experiences are cumulative, how far choices are constrained and how individuals manage employment over time. The scholarship is to fund research which is related to this research focus, and which will contribute to an understanding of sustainable employment. Māori researchers within the LMD team are available to provide support to the successful applicant.

The thesis will be supervised by one of the academic members of the LMD team. For further information about the members of the team and their research, please refer to http://lmd.massey.ac.nz/researchers.htm.

The scholarship is worth $13,000. There will be a Massey University waiver for course fees.

For further information please contact Eva McLaren, (09) 414 0800 ext 9452.

Scholarship Holders

Chris Davidson
MA Scholarship


Research Outline

The research explored the relationship between social capital development through voluntary community initiatives and economic forms of capital. Moreover, it asked about the extent to which such a relationship might be harnessed to aid in the creation of paid employment and the possible roles of central and/or local government in facilitating this process. The French Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's work on social capital fruitfully suggests that financial, social and cultural forms of capital are interchangeable. Advancing this notion, researchers Alejandro Portes and Margarita Mooney note that in this context social capital can facilitate access to employment. Gill Seyfang, Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia, develops this notion further in that she addresses volunteering as an appropriate response to exclusion from employment. Her research suggests that volunteers have the opportunity to develop new skills and improve self-esteem and confidence. This personal development alongside the social networks accrued to individuals from involvement in volunteering provides them with social capital that can be drawn upon to re-insert them into society and the labour market.

Building on these insights, my Master's thesis identified the extent to which transfers are occurring between social and economic forms of capital within local voluntary community initiatives in West Auckland. A pilot study using qualitative research methods was employed to explore any relationships between volunteering and the labour market within the local context. The findings from this pilot study were used to guide the construction of a quantitative form of analysis that explored these relationships across a larger population of volunteers. Motivating the research was the desire to address the question of what constitutes appropriate local and/or central government interventions to most effectively facilitate the development and transfer of social capital from voluntary community initiatives into the labour market.

See the following Working Papers:

Davidson, C. (2006) Volunteering for a Job: Converting Social Capital into Paid Employment. Working Paper No.17.

Davidson, C. (2005) Social Capital in Voluntary Associations: Conceptual and Policy Issues in Relation to the Labour Market. Working Paper No. 16.

Brent Gardiner
PhD Scholarship



Research Outline

How do younger people conceptualise ‘career success’ and what are they doing to acquire ‘career capital’?

“Career success’ is usually defined as ‘desirable work related outcome’ (Arthur, Khapova and Wilderom, 2005, p.183) and Gunz and Heslin (2005) have argued for a better understanding of the construct from both subjective and objective perspectives. The notion of ‘career capital’ was first posited by Arthur, Inkson and Pringle (1999) and the idea of ‘career competencies’, from which it was drawn, had been put forward earlier by Defillippi and Arthur (1994). Inkson and Arthur (2001) further developed the notions of both career competencies and career capital.

In an international review of career guidance, the OECD revealed four particular evidence gaps (OECD, 2004). One of those is the need for more research on people’s career guidance needs and on where and how those needs are being met. In addition, Walton and Mallon (2004) have noted the paucity of studies that focus on individual sense-making in career and argue for more studies with such a focus. This study aims to further address the above knowledge gaps.

I propose to investigate how young people conceptualise ‘career success’, and what they have done, are doing, or plan to do in order to acquire ‘career capital’. This would be a snapshot rather than longitudinal study, using qualitative interviews to gather data from a sample of participants at different career stages and with diverse demographic profiles. The analysis will be primarily qualitative, probably using Nvivo, but final detail of the methodology of the analysis is yet to be determined.

See Gardiner, G. (2006) Young People's Perception of Career Success in Aotearoa/New Zealand: An Exploratory Analysis. Research Report 2006/3.

References:

Arthur, M.B., Inkson, K., Pringle, J.K. (1999). The new careers: Individual
          action and economic change. London: Sage.
Arthur, M. B., Khapova, S. N., & Wilderom, C. P. M. (2005). Career success in a           boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 177-202.
Defillippi, R. J., & Arthur, M. B. (1994). The boundaryless career: a competency-based           perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 15, 307-324.
Gunz, H. P., & Heslin, P. A. (2005). Reconceptualising career success. Journal of           Organizational Behaviour, 26, 105-111.
OECD. (2004). Career Guidance and Public Policy: Bridging the Gap. Paris: OECD.
Inkson, K., & Arthur, M. B. (2001). How to be a successful career capitalist. Organizational           Dynamics, 30, 48-61.
Walton, S., & Mallon, M. (2004). Redefining the boundaries? Making sense of career in           contemporary New Zealand. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 42(1), 75-95.