Measuring success around the world

Each society has its own definition of success, as this international survey proves
 

 
Career success is a ubiquitous theme in the world of work, yet there is surprisingly little sound empirical work about how people in different cultures view this issue. Recent research efforts shed more light on this. The Collaboration for the Cross-Cultural study of Contemporary Careers (5C), a multi-national team of careers researchers headed by Prof. Jon Briscoe from Northern Illinois University, USA, takes a culture-comparative perspective and investigates concepts of career success across different cultures (11 countries from all seven culture clusters in the world), occupational groups (business, nursing, and blue collar) and age groups (under 35 and over 50). Based on 224 semi-structured interviews and thorough qualitative content analysis in a culture-comparative setting, this article reports main findings about core dimensions of career success and what this means for the corporate world.

Katharina Chudzikowski

Katharina Chudzikowski works as an assistant professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria, in the Department of Management at the Interdisciplinary Group of Management and Organisational Behaviour. She conducts research in the area of working careers.

Wolfgang Mayrhofer

Wolfgang Mayrhofer is professor of organisational behaviour and management at the Institute of Organisation Studies and Organisational Behaviour, Department of Management, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. After receiving his diploma and doctoral degree in Business Administration, he has held research and teaching positions at the University of Paderborn and at Dresden University of Technology. Among other topics, he conducts research in the area of comparative international human resource management and leadership, as well as work careers.