With the rapid advancement of digital intelligence technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data, there is a large-scale displacement of human work occurring. Unlike the simple replacement of manual labor in the era of mechanization, advanced artificial intelligence is now capable of performing knowledge-intensive or innovative tasks, reducing employees' sense of job security. Moreover, digital technology breaks traditional occupational structures and boundaries, compelling employees to constantly acquire and learn new knowledge and technology to meet the demand of "human-machine symbiosis". Simply stated, digitalization and intellectualization amplify the intricate interplay between individuals and society, resulting in greater diversity, dynamism, and complexity. Given the astonishing influence of digital technology, employees must navigate complex, dynamic knowledge exchange across multiple hierarchies of the whole labor ecosystem to sustain their careers. This makes career sustainability a significant challenge for organizations and individuals nowadays.
Although the concept of career sustainability has garnered increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, it remains in its nascent stages. Moreover, there is a lack of a comprehensive review of current state of extant literature. To address this gap, bibliometric techniques and systematic literature review (SLR) are used to map the thematic, intellectual and conceptual structures latent in 225 articles published in top journals between 1993-2023 from databases of WoS (Web of Science) and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure). More specifically, this paper conducts citation bursts and co-citation network analyses to identify the research fronts and intellectual bases in the research field, and then iteratively codes these related articles to explore the theoretical foundation, antecedents, consequences, and mechanisms of career sustainability, and builds the 2W1H (Why-What-How) knowledge framework so as to identify key research gaps.
The main findings are as follows: First, the current literature still places more emphasis on the conceptualization of relevant notions and the development of effective measurement scales, indicating that career sustainability research remains in its nascent stage while an overarching theoretical foundation has not yet been established. Second, the intellectual bases of career sustainability studies can be classified into four parts: Conceptual development, evolving agenda, psychological foundation, and career ecosystem. Third, the conservation of resources theory, the self-determination theory, the life-span view, and the job demands-Resources model are recognized as key theoretical underpinnings to elucidate the antecedents and consequences of sustainable careers. Fourth, hitherto researchers mostly understand the notion of career sustainability through the lens of individuals or organizations, respectively: the former focuses on elucidating how individual factors change the meaning of career in different phases of life; the latter mainly describes the influences of various contextual factors on the sustainability of careers, such as technological economy and social change.
Upon summarizing the findings, this article further identifies several limitations in the current body of research: First, there is a notable absence of robust theoretical frameworks concerning career sustainability. Second, the investigation of contingency factors and outcomes associated with career sustainability is sparse. Third, a conceptual model specifically designed for the Chinese context has yet to be developed. Fourth, there is a scarcity of studies utilizing mixed methods or advanced analytical techniques.
To address these gaps, future research could (1) advance and refine measurement indicators through the lens of a dynamic career ecosystem, thereby enhancing the conceptual understanding of career sustainability; (2)integrate the theory of Yin-Yang harmony cognition with the concept of "building a community of shared future for mankind" to develop a conceptual model specific to the Chinese context; (3) adopt an interdisciplinary approach, merging career theory with knowledge management theory, to explore the antecedents and outcomes of career sustainability; (4)conduct more extensive studies to examine how career sustainability influences variables such as innovative behavior, career resilience, and future work self; (5)employ mixed-method approaches to investigate the interaction of cross-level variables within the context of sustainable career development, including the impact of macroeconomic factors like the development of "new quality productive forces"; (6) investigate the diverse functions of explicit and tacit knowledge sharing in shaping the mechanisms that underpin career sustainability, drawing from the paradox of knowledge exchange; (7)uncover the operational mechanisms and explore the participatory roles of various stakeholders within the career ecosystem.
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