Determinants of job mobility: A theoretical integration and extension (original) (raw)

Determinants of Voluntary Job-to-Job Mobility

This paper explores both observable and unobservable variables that would affect employed workers' decisions on job change. A survey was conducted through one-to-one interviews, and the sample consists of 965 full-time employed workers. The logistic regression models are employed to analyze the two binary measures of job-to-job mobility: i) whether an individual is considering a job change, and ii) whether an individual is actively looking for another job. We find that age, job satisfaction, satisfaction with working environment or job security, and firm size are among the major factors determining workers' job-to-job mobility. Younger workers and workers in smaller firms are more mobile. Workers with lower level of job satisfaction are more likely to consider a change in employment and to actively look for other jobs, and so are workers with lower level of satisfaction with their working environment or job security. We also find that men are more likely to consider a change in job than women, but when actually looking for another job is concerned, men and women do not differ. Furthermore, monthly income and working sector contribute significantly to looking for other jobs but not to considering job change.

Individuals' openness to migrate and job mobility

2014

In this article we extend the scope of the interdependence between migration and job mobility: We investigate whether an individual's openness to migrate not only increases the probability of migration but also the likelihood to conduct a job search and exhibit job mobility. Using data from a three-wave panel study, which allows the analysis of temporal links between decision-making and subsequent events regarding migration and job mobility, a joint estimation of multiple equations is performed. We show that considering migration as an option for the future, which is our indicator of individuals' openness to migrate, is positively associated with both migration and job mobility. It even increases job mobility independently of whether migration takes place or not. These findings contribute significantly to our body of knowledge about the interdependence of migration and job mobility. Additionally, they enhance our understanding of the mechanisms behind a common selectivity of migrants and job mobile individuals.

Determinants of occupational mobility: the importance of place of work

Regional Studies

This research focuses on individual and place-based determinants of occupational mobility in Scotland 2001-2011. The originality of the paper relates to the importance of workplace location, rather than residential locations, on occupational mobility, and in the questioning of the idea that spatial mobility accelerates occupational mobility. The findings also indicate that skill level and employment in 'knowledge intensive' sectors are key determinants of career progression. Urban career escalator effects are found to be particularly evident for higher skilled workers. The findings point to the importance of spatial sophistication and sectoral sensitivity in understandings of occupational mobility.

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEES' WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT MOBILITY OPPORTUNITIES

Personnel Psychology, 1988

Previous research on employee willingness to accept mobility opportunities involving geographic relocation has generally not specified characteristics of potential destination communities. However, studies of employee adjustment following relocation suggest that community characteristics are critical to employee satisfaction. In order to better understand the factors that influence employees' acceptance of mobility opportunities, we investigated differences in both levels and antecedents of willingness to accept mobility opportunities involving relocation between similar communities and relocation between dissimilar communities. Results suggest that employees were particularly reluctant to accept moves between dissimilar communities, and that the role of career factors, community attachment, and location preferences as antecedents varied depending on the specific nature of the mobility opportunity. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Be prepared for the unexpected: The gap between (im)mobility intentions and subsequent behaviour of recent higher education graduates

Population, Space and Place

Research on the relationship between mobility intentions and actual mobility behaviour is scarce. This study analyses the factors explaining the gap between (im)mobility intentions and behaviour of recent higher education graduates in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, a cross-border region spanning the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. The analysis is based on mixed methods, including survey data collected in 2015 and 2017 as well as semistructured interviews to find out more about respondents' personal mobility trajectories and the extent to which their behaviour reflects their actual (im)mobility preferences. The findings indicate that location-specific capital impacts the probability to realise one's (im)mobility intention, as do other forms of capital, such as previous mobility experience and an internship during the study. Furthermore, personality traits and unexpected events, such as a change in relationship status, influence if respondents realise their initial (im)mobility intention.

Structural impediments to managerial mobility in industrialised nations

Women in Management Review, 2000

The relationship between gender and managerial mobility is explored by examining distinct structural elements unique to industrialized nations that have been overlooked in prior occupational opportunity research. Using country specific files of the database,``Comparative project on class structure and class consciousness'' the analysis provides a multicultural comparison of female managerial attainment in the UK, Sweden, and the USA. By examining managerial attainment by gender, the findings suggest that the combined associational effects of gender and labor force participation patterns by nation better assess the severity of occupational barriers to managerial mobility experienced by women, than when examining gender participation patterns alone. The data indicate that barriers for female occupational mobility are not merely limited to decision making at the interpersonal level, but provide empirical evidence to suggest that impediments are more institutionally ingrained and culturally distinct than previously imagined.

Workplace mobility and occupational achievement

International Journal of Population Geography, 2001

This paper reports an investigation of the effects on occupational achievement of workplace mobility, that is, accepting a job over a longer distance. We extend the classical conceptualization of the relationship between spatial flexibility and occupational achievement by including not only long-distance migration, but also long-distance commuting as an instrument of career advancement. Using longitudinal data, with job change as the unit of analysis, career advancement is measured directly by comparing the level of the accepted job with the level of the former job. The results show that workplace mobility is indeed instrumental in career advancement. Workers who accept jobs over a longer distance make more career advancement after a job change than workers who accept jobs closer to their residence. Women with a partner form an exception. For them, workplace mobility has no effect on career advancement. A probable explanation is a tied-mover effect. Some women with a partner accept a job over a longer distance for the sake of the career of the male spouse and because the household as a whole migrates. So the conclusion is that for women workplace mobility is only instrumental in career advancement when a job is accepted over a long distance for one's own career.

Desired mobility or satisfied immobility? Migratory aspirations among knowledge workers

Journal of Education and Work, 2006

Actually, I'm pleased to be working here in Romania and just be virtually mobile.' These short sentences portray the potential immigrant status and condition related to highly skilled labour mobility today. To what extent do IT knowledge workers want, desire and expect (or not) to migrate, and what are the circumstances that enable them to do so? These are the aspects we intend to investigate in this study.