Suchergebnisse

We apply the exploitation/exploration dichotomy faced by organizations in business strategy to the decisions of individual executives as to whether to continue in their current organization and exploit career opportunities there or explore new ones through the avenue of job search. Specifically, we observe whether executives pursue offers from an executive search firm to be considered for positions at other organizations. Insights from the multi-armed bandit problem help explain who searches and who does not, focusing on the structural attributes of each individual's situation. Individuals are more likely to search where their current roles are less certain and where broader career experience makes search more useful because the array of possible opportunities is greater. The results also shed light on the operations of executive search firms, who are central actors in executive careers.

Seeking employment was the other major area of activity. In some cases, the delays already referred to — legal proceedings and continuing involvement in the previous job — delayed the seeking of a new job. Several men commented also on other uncontrollable factors that enforced a delay, particularly public holiday periods when employers were not interested and strikes, both in related industries and in one case in the printing industry where relevant journals were not published. Hence, it was not always possible to start looking for a job straight away. However, excluding these delays, the pattern of job hunting was as follows:

We hypothesized that individuals' proactive personality would moderate the relationships among job search self-efficacy, job search clarity, and job search activities. However, for those with a strong proactive personality, active job search activity was predicted to be positively related
to job search self-efficacy and clarity. Participants were 400 undergraduates randomly selected from various main cities in China. We conducted hierarchical regression analyses and found support for our hypotheses. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for job searching
practice presented.