Career management tactical innovations and successful interorganizational transitions

Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to identify the major variables that should be studied when exploring the relationship of innovations in career management tactics and successful or unsuccessful interorganizational transitions. Design/methodology/approach ‐ This study takes a conceptual stance, using the careers and diffusion of innovation literature to identify the major variables. Findings ‐ Two innovations and two major refinements in career management tactics suggested by contemporary career concepts are identified, personal criteria for transition success are described, and likely barriers to accepting these tactical innovations are hypothesized. Other factors likely to affect transition success are also revealed by analyzing a conceptual model of interorganizational transition success. Originality/value ‐ The paper introduces the idea that the use of new career management tactics might be related to interorganizational transition success or the lack of it. It proposes one method of developing quantitative data about how personal career management may be changing, as well as providing normative data about perceptions of successful and unsuccessful interorganizational transitions. In addition, a survey based on these concepts would uncover the primary perceptual barriers to the adoption of the new career tactics by employees.