Career Prospects for Human Resource Management Professionals in Portugal

Vitor Gomes; Maria Santos

doi:10.53379/cjcd.2025.402

Authors

Vitor Gomes Independent Researcher
Maria Santos Universidade de Lisboa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53379/cjcd.2025.402

Keywords:

protean career, boundaryless career, career management, human resources management, human resources management professionals, Portugal

Abstract

The research conducted aimed to analyze the attitudes of human resource professionals towards managing their careers. The attitudes of protean and boundaryless careers were investigated, and the extent to which sociodemographic factors, such as salary, gender and academic degree, influence these attitudes. A total of 732 human resources professionals working as employees in private companies in Portugal participated in the study. The methodology involved a non-probabilistic convenience sampling approach, with a detailed survey covering dimensions like self-managed career attitudes, values-driven career attitudes, boundaryless career attitudes and mobility facilitating career attitudes. The results show that most professionals have protean and boundaryless career attitudes. Other research findings show that: (1) those with higher salaries have higher levels of protean and boundaryless career attitudes; (2) male professionals and (3) those with higher education show a higher prevalence of protean and boundaryless attitudes compared to female professionals and those with no higher education. This study sheds light on Portuguese HR professionals' career attitudes. The findings significantly contribute to our understanding of modern career concepts, suggesting avenues for future research.

Author Biographies

Vitor Gomes, Independent Researcher

Correspondence concerning articles should be addressed to Vitor José Larouco Gomes. Rua do Quelhas nº 6 – 1200-781 Lisbon - Portugal.

Email: larouco.gomes@gmail.com

Maria Santos, Universidade de Lisboa

PhD in Economic and Organizational Sociology, Associate Professor at the Institute of Economics and Management at the Universidade de Lisba (ISEG-UL) and Integrated Researcher at the Research Center in Economic and Organization Sociology (SOCIUS-ISEG/UL). Coordinates the MSc in Management and Human Resources and is a member of the ISEG-UL Scientific Committee of the Doctoral Program in Economic and Organizational Sociology. Also, coordinated several research projects in the field of sustainable development and social responsibility of organizations and has several publications in these scientific fields. She is the author and co-author of several books, as well as scientific articles published in international journals. She has received several international awards, namely the Emerald Literati Network 2011 Awards for Excelence.

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