Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda

Rowena Blokker; Jos Akkermans; Julian Marciniak; Paul G.W. Jansen; Svetlana N. Khapova

doi:10.1093/workar/waad012

Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda

Rowena Blokker^*, Jos Akkermans, Julian Marciniak, Paul G.W. Jansen, Svetlana N. Khapova

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Review article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

A successful school-to-work transition is crucial to an individual's initial entry into the labor market and overall sustainable career development. Scholarly interest in how emerging adults (i.e., late teens to late 20s) can achieve a successful transition to work has grown considerably, stemming from various disciplines, such as educational sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics. These disciplines have all produced valuable knowledge, yet, they mostly exist as separate silos, without clear integration. To create an overview of the literature, we systematically reviewed school-to-work transition literature and used a sustainable career lens to organize it. Based on 365 articles from the past 28 years, our review findings show that there are different conceptual and theoretical approaches to studying school-to-work transitions. We subsequently organize these perspectives into antecedents categorized into the sustainable career perspective's person, context, and time dimensions. Moreover, we categorize school-to-work transition outcomes as proximal and more distal outcomes related to happiness, health, and productivity indicators. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our review article and suggest ways forward for conceptualizing and theorizing modern school-to-work transitions, along with an agenda for future research.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	239-261
Number of pages	23
Journal	Work, Aging and Retirement
Volume	9
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/workar/waad012
Publication status	Published - Jul 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work is part of the "VU to Work" project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding Information:
This work is part of the “VU to Work” project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s).

Funding

This work is part of the "VU to Work" project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This work is part of the “VU to Work” project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Keywords

school-to-work transition
labor market entry
sustainable career
emerging adulthood
youth employment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1093/workar/waad012

Persistent URL (handle)

Persistent link

Cite this

@article{d3d262ceb3244fcba48e1e18b4163e8f,

title = "Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda",

abstract = "A successful school-to-work transition is crucial to an individual's initial entry into the labor market and overall sustainable career development. Scholarly interest in how emerging adults (i.e., late teens to late 20s) can achieve a successful transition to work has grown considerably, stemming from various disciplines, such as educational sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics. These disciplines have all produced valuable knowledge, yet, they mostly exist as separate silos, without clear integration. To create an overview of the literature, we systematically reviewed school-to-work transition literature and used a sustainable career lens to organize it. Based on 365 articles from the past 28 years, our review findings show that there are different conceptual and theoretical approaches to studying school-to-work transitions. We subsequently organize these perspectives into antecedents categorized into the sustainable career perspective's person, context, and time dimensions. Moreover, we categorize school-to-work transition outcomes as proximal and more distal outcomes related to happiness, health, and productivity indicators. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our review article and suggest ways forward for conceptualizing and theorizing modern school-to-work transitions, along with an agenda for future research.",

keywords = "school-to-work transition, labor market entry, sustainable career, emerging adulthood, youth employment",

author = "Rowena Blokker and Jos Akkermans and Julian Marciniak and Jansen, {Paul G.W.} and Khapova, {Svetlana N.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work is part of the {"}VU to Work{"} project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: This work is part of the “VU to Work” project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Author(s).",

year = "2023",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1093/workar/waad012",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

pages = "239--261",

journal = "Work, Aging and Retirement",

issn = "2054-4642",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "3",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective

T2 - A Review and Research Agenda

AU - Blokker, Rowena

AU - Akkermans, Jos

AU - Marciniak, Julian

AU - Jansen, Paul G.W.

AU - Khapova, Svetlana N.

N1 - Funding Information: This work is part of the "VU to Work" project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Funding Information: This work is part of the “VU to Work” project supported by the School of Business and Economics, VU Register Accountant program, and Executive Master of Finance & Control at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We would like to thank Dylan Bayoumi for his valuable contribution to the data collection, and Mo Wang for providing insightful comments to earlier versions of this paper. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s).

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - A successful school-to-work transition is crucial to an individual's initial entry into the labor market and overall sustainable career development. Scholarly interest in how emerging adults (i.e., late teens to late 20s) can achieve a successful transition to work has grown considerably, stemming from various disciplines, such as educational sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics. These disciplines have all produced valuable knowledge, yet, they mostly exist as separate silos, without clear integration. To create an overview of the literature, we systematically reviewed school-to-work transition literature and used a sustainable career lens to organize it. Based on 365 articles from the past 28 years, our review findings show that there are different conceptual and theoretical approaches to studying school-to-work transitions. We subsequently organize these perspectives into antecedents categorized into the sustainable career perspective's person, context, and time dimensions. Moreover, we categorize school-to-work transition outcomes as proximal and more distal outcomes related to happiness, health, and productivity indicators. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our review article and suggest ways forward for conceptualizing and theorizing modern school-to-work transitions, along with an agenda for future research.

AB - A successful school-to-work transition is crucial to an individual's initial entry into the labor market and overall sustainable career development. Scholarly interest in how emerging adults (i.e., late teens to late 20s) can achieve a successful transition to work has grown considerably, stemming from various disciplines, such as educational sciences, psychology, sociology, and economics. These disciplines have all produced valuable knowledge, yet, they mostly exist as separate silos, without clear integration. To create an overview of the literature, we systematically reviewed school-to-work transition literature and used a sustainable career lens to organize it. Based on 365 articles from the past 28 years, our review findings show that there are different conceptual and theoretical approaches to studying school-to-work transitions. We subsequently organize these perspectives into antecedents categorized into the sustainable career perspective's person, context, and time dimensions. Moreover, we categorize school-to-work transition outcomes as proximal and more distal outcomes related to happiness, health, and productivity indicators. Finally, we reflect on the implications of our review article and suggest ways forward for conceptualizing and theorizing modern school-to-work transitions, along with an agenda for future research.

KW - school-to-work transition

KW - labor market entry

KW - sustainable career

KW - emerging adulthood

KW - youth employment

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85163142155&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85163142155&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/workar/waad012

DO - 10.1093/workar/waad012

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85163142155

SN - 2054-4642

VL - 9

SP - 239

EP - 261

JO - Work, Aging and Retirement

JF - Work, Aging and Retirement

IS - 3

ER -

Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

From VU to Work: The School-to-Work Transition in the Contemporary Career

Cite this

Organizing School-to-Work Transition Research from a Sustainable Career Perspective: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Persistent URL (handle)

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

From VU to Work: The School-to-Work Transition in the Contemporary Career

Cite this