Are participants in the ‘new career’ good organizational citizens?

Abstract

Research on the ‘new career’ has explored some individual correlates of protean and boundaryless career orientations while largely neglecting their consequences for organizations. Our paper addresses this omission by exploring the link between ‘new career’ orientations and both positive and negative extra-role behaviours based on the argument that these dimensions of performance are potentially more variable given their volitional nature. In addition, it explores the role of organizational commitment and perceived organizational support in shaping this relationship. We present the results of a study with 641 employee-supervisor dyads in nineteen organizations showing that a protean career orientation results in more positive extra-role behaviours, whereas a boundaryless career orientation is associated with less citizenship behaviour and higher deviant behaviour due to its negative impact on commitment. In addition, our findings suggest that organizations can positively influence the behaviour of individuals with high boundaryless career orientations by offering high levels of support.