Λεπτομέρειες βιβλιογραφικής εγγραφής
| Τίτλος: |
Beyond the corporate ladder: rethinking promotion and departure in professional service firms. |
| Συγγραφείς: |
Garnier, Claire1 (AUTHOR) claire.garnier03@kedgebs.com, Hazgui, Mouna2 (AUTHOR) mouna.hazgui@hec.ca, Chaplais-Chouvier, Christelle3 (AUTHOR) christelle.chouvier@michelin.com |
| Πηγή: |
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal. 2026, Vol. 39 Issue 6, p987-1009. 23p. |
| Θεματικοί όροι: |
*Accounting firms, *Labor turnover, *Professional employees, *Career development, *Professions, *Employment |
| Γεωγραφικοί όροι: |
France |
| Περίληψη: |
Purpose: Early departures have long characterised careers in large professional service firms (PSFs), particularly in accounting firms where high turnover among early-career professionals is common. Yet, research typically explains this turnover through burnout or the structural constraints of the up-or-out model. What remains underexplored is how this transitory nature is constructed, narrated, and made sense of by those experiencing it. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on semi-structured interviews with early-career auditors in large accounting PSFs in France, we use the concept of career scripts to examine how these professionals interpret their careers within the constraints of the up-or-out system. Findings: Participants commonly described their careers in audit as a temporary stage within a broader career trajectory, which we refer to as the "passing auditor" career script. Within this script, exit is anticipated from the outset and mobilised as a recurrent reference point in career sensemaking. Participants used this anticipated exit in three main ways: as a rationale for intensive skill development, as a resource for negotiating working conditions, and as a means of making demanding work situations more tolerable. While these uses help rationalise difficulties and allow individuals to navigate the system more flexibly, they also contribute to the reproduction of the career system by normalising departure as an expected and legitimate trajectory. Originality/value: By shifting attention from why auditors leave to how exit is anticipated and rendered meaningful over time, this study shows that departure is not simply the endpoint of a career trajectory but a constitutive horizon through which early-career professionals interpret work, effort, and future possibilities. In doing so, it reconceptualises the traditional "up-or-out" model as an "up-and-out" system in which departure is anticipated, normalised, and institutionalised as a legitimate career outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Βάση Δεδομένων: |
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