Low-Qualified Labors’ Job Mobility, Boundary Crossing, and Career Success: A Cross-Industry HRM Perspective

Abstract

This cross-industry study explored human resource professionals’ experiences with low-qualified labors’ job mobility within and across organizations. Ten organizations from various industries were represented including manufacturing, higher education, medical, retail, warehouse and transportation, and information technology. Findings suggest major influencers’ impacts on job mobility were distinctly different across industries and dependent on organizations’ job composition by educational attainment. Findings extend current literature delineating negative outcomes from low-qualified labor employing misinformed protean and boundaryless behaviors and suggest a unique phenomenon may exist for lowqualified labor related to job mobility, job mobility plateaus, and boundary crossing. Suggestions for future research are discussed.