Call for Sumbissions
Long-Term Intra-Individual Developmental Perspectives on Work Behaviour
Deadline: March 30, 2010
The Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (JOOP) invites submissions for a special section on "Long-term intra-individual developmental perspectives on work behaviour". It is anticipated to appear in the March 2011 issue of JOOP (see http://www.bpsjournals.co.uk/journals/joop/joop-developmental-perspectives.cfm, for submission information and other details).
In the current era, characterized by dynamic societal and economic changes, and by an increasingly diverse workforce, previous models on relations between work characteristics, work behaviour and work outcomes are challenged (Schalk & Van Veldhoven et al., 2009). Longitudinal studies provide evidence for the dynamic relations between work and work behaviour, and the diversity of intra-individual change trajectories across time (see, for example De Jonge & Dormann, 2006; Martin & Hofer, 2004). Interpreting these complex results asks for innovative, developmental perspectives, and for more attention for long-term change effects. More in-depth psychological research along these lines is needed to formulate recommendations for 'life-span aware’ Human Resource Management (HRM) policies, and practices at the societal and organizational level.
A developmental perspective towards work and careers portrays the multi-dimensional process that refers to the many changes in psychological, organizational, as well as social and even societal functioning across time (cf. De Lange et al., 2006). Taking a long-term approach acknowledges that people at every point in time have past experiences that they carry with them, and that these experiences influence their choices, behaviour, self-concept or social identity, roles, and outcomes at work. This includes the influence of critical events at work.
With respect to psychological processes age-related changes have been documented in fundamental psychological processes over time, for example with respect to identity, self-determination, work values, future time perspective, job (attribute) preferences, and work motivation. Although there are life-span theories available ((e.g., Super’s Life-span, Life-space conceptual framework (1957, 1963), Vondracek’s Developmental-Contextual model (Vondracek, Lerner, & Schulenberg, 1986), and Carstensen’s Life-span Socio-emotional Selectivity theory (1998)), there is a lack of innovative theory-based studies that examine and explain intra-individual developmental changes in work behaviour, its antecedents and its consequences across longer periods of time.