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Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece: Implications for

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 Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism

ISSN: 1533-2845 (Print) 1533-2853 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whrh20

Career Development in the Hospitality Industry

in Greece: Implications for Human Resource
Practices

Elina Meliou & Leonidas Maroudas

To cite this article: Elina Meliou & Leonidas Maroudas (2011) Career Development in the
Hospitality Industry in Greece: Implications for Human Resource Practices, Journal of Human
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 Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 10:218–233, 2011
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1533-2845 print / 1533-2853 online
DOI: 10.1080/15332845.2010.536503

Career Development in the Hospitality

Industry in Greece: Implications for Human
Resource Practices

ELINA MELIOU and LEONIDAS MAROUDAS

Department of Business Administration, University of the Aegean, Chios, Greece
Downloaded by [University of Patras] at 01:22 18 March 2016

This study expands research on career development and succession.

The purpose of this article is to understand the beliefs of frontline
employees in the hospitality industry in regards to the meaning of
career. Based on Social Representation Theory, the article highlights
the importance of adopting a social constructionist perspective in
order to identify individuals’ subjective experiences of career. Data
was collected in luxury hotel chains in Athens, Greece using a
word association method. Findings underline important instru-
mental as well as intrinsic values of career. Implications are sug-
gested for developing practices for effective human resources career
management.

KEYWORDS Career development, hotel employees, human re-

sources management, social representation theory

INTRODUCTION

It is generally acknowledged that the success of the hospitality industry de-

pends on human resources and that its effective management can give hotels
a competitive advantage (Baum, 2007). Human resources development en-
ables employees to develop a variety of competences and skills enhancing
productivity and profitability. Systematic human resource management cre-
ates a dynamic work culture in the organization offering opportunities for
continuous learning and career development. The concept of career is cen-
tral in human resources management and its better understanding enables
employers in the hospitality industry to identify practices and succession

Address correspondence to Elina Meliou, PhD, Lecturer of Organizational Behaviour,

Department of Business Administration, University of the Aegean, Michalon, 882100 Chios,
Greece. E-mail: e.meliou@aegean.gr

218
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 219

strategies in order to retain valuable employees, avoiding burnout and

turnover (Nebel, Braunlich, & Zhang, 1994). In this sense career appears
to be “a pervasive and explicit mechanism for the effective management of
human resources” (Adamson, Doherty, & Viney, 1998, p. 252).
Today’s organizational reality, characterized by economic and competi-
tive uncertainties, has led the hospitality industry to change its patterns and
structures in order to meet market needs and face tourists’ expectations of
quality service delivery. This transformation into more flexible structures and
patterns also highlights the need to reexamine traditional concepts in order
to understand its meanings and significance in the new organizational en-
vironment (Young & Collin, 2003). Since in the hospitality industry much
depends on human capital, examining perceptions of those who are cur-
rently involved in it seems of considerable importance.
The present article reports on a study on hotel employees, in luxury
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hotel chains in Athens, Greece, aiming at identifying individuals’ experience

of career. The hospitality industry is one of the fastest growing sectors glob-
ally, but characterized by high turnover and absenteeism (Watson, 2008). In
Greece, a traditional tourism destination, tourism is considered the country’s
largest industry (Sigala & Leslie, 2005). Thus, career management in this cul-
tural and organizational context seems to be of particular importance. The
emphasis is placed on understanding what and how hotel employees think
about career, its subjective construction and its meanings. In particular, the
study aims to identify how they make sense of their career, what they con-
sider to be important for career development, and the significance of these
factors for their personal lives. By revealing and mappinghotel employees’
social representations of career the study adopts a broad perspective in order
to better understand career meanings in the hospitality industry, offering an
interesting insight for human resources planning.
First, considerations on theoretical approaches and definitions of career
are briefly introduced. The article highlights the need for adopting a construc-
tionist perspective and outlines the key points of social representation theory
in understanding individuals’ beliefs. The next part of the article presents the
methodological principles and procedure that lead to the empirical results.
Conclusions are drawn and some prospects for further research on the topic
are discussed. In depth understanding of the lay discourse on “career” sheds
light on the construction of a worldview of the study population, helping
hotel employers to identify real concerns and issues.

REVIEW OF THE LITTERATURE

The definition of career has long been examined by various writers and has
been defined differently by different theoretical disciplines. In the traditional
 220 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas

approaches, deriving from management theory and practice, the concept

of career is related to work events and implies a hierarchical progression
in the organization. The term “career” thus embraces the notions of suc-
cessive positions over time, which involve a long-term employee–employer
relationship. In this management perspective of career individuals and or-
ganizations are seen as independent variables. Career is considered a lin-
ear process, in whichinteraction between individuals and organization has
largely been overlooked (Coupland, 2004). Psychologists and sociologists,
however, emphasized the need to take into consideration individual role
and perspective. The work of the Chicago School of sociology (i.e., Hughes,
1958; Barley, 1989) examined individuals’ experiences and identified differ-
ent dimensions of career such as situational, relational, and chronological.
In this sense, career is seen as historically and culturally embedded, chang-
ing across time. These dimensions are relevant to more recent definitions of
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career and underline the importance of understanding career’s meaning in

its social context.
In recent decades, many theorists have emphasized the significance of
individuals and organizations different goals and intentions and have high-
lighted the need to match these in order to achieve common benefits and
progression (Rousseau, 1989). Hence, a dynamic relationship between indi-
vidual, organization, and society emerges (Arthur, Hall, & Lawrence, 1998).
In this sense the concept of career has an important socio-psychological di-
mension for the individual, establishing one’s social status and self-esteem.
Social norms and values of particular organizational settings which individ-
uals are associated with, shape perceptions and construct career meanings.
In particular, in the context of uncertainty and economic pressure, orga-
nizations are no longer able to offer careers for life. Hence career is no
longer seen as logical progression over time, but as a set of transactions
between employers and employees (Adamson, Doherty, & Viney, 1998).
Organizations offer opportunities for continuous learning and progression,
so that on the one hand individuals increase their skills and competences,
and on the other hand organizations improve their human capital. To this
extent, career lies with individual motivation, wants, and aspirations and
is continuously constructed in the light of organizational and individual
transformations.
It is therefore evident that career has undergone fundamental changes
(Arthur & Rousseau, 1996). In order to understand the meanings that are
attributed to the concept of career and to investigate the source of these
meanings in the social context and the belief and value systems of the
individuals concerned, a socially oriented approach is required. Career is
not a static object but a socially constructed phenomenon, whose meaning
is negotiated in social interactions. In this sense, an individual’s career is
both personally and socially significant (Mignot, 2004).
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 221

Theory of Social Representations

Social representation theory offers the interpretive framework to understand
individuals’ meaning, as it is at the articulation between individual and so-
cial, and between symbolic and real (Moscovici, 1982). Drawing on the
work of Serge Moscovici (1961), social representations are built on shared
knowledge and understanding of common reality. The key point is that so-
cial representations constitute collective systems of meaning which may be
expressed, or whose effects may be observed in values, ideas, and prac-
tices. The importance and value of social representation theory in tourism
studies has been outlined in previous research (i.e., Meliou & Maroudas,
(2010); Andriotis & Vaughan, 2003; Pearce, Moscardo, & Ross, 1996). Ac-
cording to Pearce, Moscardo, and Ross (1991) such an approach high-
lights the contribution of psychologists to this critical issue, by enabling
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researchers with the means to understand individuals’ responses to tourism

proposals.
Social representation theory, developed for the study of lay knowledge
is especially relevant for understanding societal events in a rapid change,
such as the concept of career. This is because “it’s constructionist perspective
and concern with social function are apt to take into account the feedback
loop between social construction and individual thought and practice.” In
this sense, social representation theory studies “social objects in the making
and not as static constructs” (Lahlou, 2001, p. 132).
Social representations are shared by individuals, or groups of individ-
uals who interact, permitting, in this sense, the naming and classification
of social reality. It is through those commonly shared and collectively elab-
orated social representations that we make sense of the world and com-
municate this sense to each other. They are embodied in habitual behav-
ior, in formal and informal communication, and in everyday talk, allowing
us to construct a framework of references that facilitates our interpreta-
tions of reality and guides our relations to the world around us. In other
words, social representations are the products of interconnectedness be-
tween people and processes of references through which we conceive the
world (Deaux & Philogène, 2001). In this sense social representation the-
ory is a constructionist and a discursively oriented approach. As already
suggested by Wagner (1998) “discourse is the means by which reality is
reconstructed according to the more or less indeterminate course of col-
lective thinking and ensuring world-making (p. 84). To this extent “Social
representations are, from this vantage point, “language games”, “forms of
life”, and it is through their interplay that common sense is constructed
and reconstructed.” ( Jesuino, 1998, p. 19). Thus, recognizing career mes-
sages conveyed in language symbols and patterns seems to be of partic-
ular interest. For doing so, the current study adopts the word association
method.
 222 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas

METHODOLOGY
Word Association
To elicit social representations of hotel employees, linguistic material, such as
the free associations of words method, was used. Word associations are used
as a means to identify shared conceptions and beliefs of widely used notions
(Doise, Clemence, & Lorenzi–Cioldi, 1993; Hirsh & Tree, 2001; Hovardas &
Korfiatis, 2006). This technique is not dependent on pre-specified and pre-
graded answers as most questionnaires are; instead the answers produced
are unfiltered and spontaneous (Wagner, Valencia, & Elejabarrieta, 1996).
Given a stimulus word, a respondent is asked to freely associate what ideas
come to his or her mind. The elaborations produced shed light on the mental
representations of the stimulus term. In the case of career the associations
that first come to the respondent’s mind are considered to be the most
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meaningful for the individuals. Therefore, this technique provides a fast and
convenient tool for exploring hotel employees’ social representations and
helps to define in depth the concept of career.

Subjects and Procedure

A random sample of frontline employees was selected from a list of lux-
ury hotel chains to participate in the study. Following the star classification
system the researcher contacted both international and domestic companies,
using a personal network. Luxury hotels have traditionally adopted customer
orientated approaches, providing superior facilities and services. Employees
working in the front office and the food and beverage department were cho-
sen to fill the free association task. Gaining experience in the front office and
acquiring food and beverage skills and knowledge appears to be important
when following a career to hotel manager (Ladkin, 2000). Meeting the needs
of these employees through human resources practices is therefore critical
for the pursuit of service quality.
To elicit free associations, hotel employees, contacted in their workplace
by the authors, were invited to participate in the study and to complete a
word association task anonymously, after the agreement of the hotel man-
ager. This ensured confidentiality and fostered participants’ cooperation. The
survey was run during April and May 2009. Each participant was asked to
provide the first seven thoughts or images coming to his/her mind when
thinking about “career.” Then, respondents were asked to indicate the ex-
tent to which each of the terms provided was important for career attainment.
Each term was rated on a five-point scale from “not at all important” to “very
important.” Finally, respondents were asked to rate on a three-point scale if
their associations had a negative, neutral, or positive meaning for them. The
written instructions accompanying the free association task included a brief
explanation of the study’s purpose and a letter ensuring confidentiality.
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 223

Data Analysis
The associations were qualitatively analysed. Respondents’ answers gener-
ated by this technique took the form of either single word responses or short
statements. Before running the statistical analysis, the responses were slightly
simplified. The associations freely provided by participants were grouped
taking into account word synonymy. Also to have a more manageable num-
ber of associations, data were further coded keeping the most frequently and
all-encompassing associated words, and merged into thematic categories. To
map the representational field of the respondents, a database was built with
the associations obtained. Frequencies in each category were determined by
counting the number of people that used those words to describe the con-
cept. By viewing career in the context of other reference points, it is possible
to see likely anchors and frames people used to make.
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Correspondence Analysis
Correspondence analysis was applied in order to visualize the relationship
between row and column categories. This is an exploratory technique for
analysing multi-way frequency tables. Correspondence analysis can help to
summarize detailed differences between groups/conditions, and is particu-
larly useful when the dimensions and the complexity of relations of the table
make its content difficult to understand (Doise et al., 1993). This technique
converts a table of numbers into a plot of points, usually in two dimensions.
The proximity between a pair of points is used to interpret the underlying
relationship between the points. For instance, closely aligned points reveal
a strong relationship (Chen, 2001). Reading such a data table provides in-
formation on the relations between the two systems (rows and columns).
In this case, correspondence analysis detects a link between various social
representation components but also sheds light on the relationship between
these representational components and individual responses.

Hierarchical Cluster Analysis

As a third step, a hierarchical cluster analysis was used in order to iden-
tify proximities between contents of a social representation. Cluster analysis
groups cases or variables (in this study, associations) are formed in such
a way that those allocated to a particular group are in some sense close
together. In the present study hierarchical cluster analysis was based on
the mean levels of responses. The average linkage method was used and
Euclidean distance was calculated. According to Doise, et al. (1993) “when
adopting a consensual perspective of social representations, only the level of
population’s responses indicating by the means, will be examined” (p. 20).
A dendrogram is built that helps to visualise the classes created and the
 224 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas

TABLE 1 Respondents’ Free Associations

Categories Frequencies

social status 84
soft skills 80
effort 70
money 64
time 60
family 56
technical skills 48
personal satisfaction 46
ambition 40
goods 36
sociability 26
competition 24
security 22
public relations 20
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closeness of the links between their components. Thus, hierarchical cluster

analysis enabled us to group words exhibiting the highest degree of similarity
between them.

RESULTS

A convenience sample of 97 participants completed the survey, a 57% re-

sponse rate. Of the 97 respondents 43% were male and 57% female, ranging
in age from 20–53 years old. Frequencies of appearance of associations
to the stimulus word “career” provided by each group are presented in
Table 1. Among the most frequent associations were words such as “goods”
and “money,” indicating the significance that participants attribute to eco-
nomic rewards and highlighting the material dimension of the concept.
Moreover, participants—without misjudging the significance of “technical
skills”—attributed particular value to “soft skills.” They were rated as very
important for career attainment, as it is discussed in the next section. As
shown in Table 1, respondents also associated career with words such as
“ambition” and “effort.” Both categories imply individual’s role in career de-
velopment and highlight the personal dimension of the concept. Ambition
indicates a desire to achieve professional advancement and could be closely
related to motivation. However effort is associated with pressure and has a
negative meaning for participants. Moreover, for the majority of respondents
career provides a “social status.” This relates respect and recognition from
the social milieu and indicates a societal dimension of the concept. There
is also a high frequency of associations related to “sociability,” which indi-
cates individuals need for affiliation and the importance of supportive work-
ing relationships, implying a relational dimension of the concept. Career
evoked emotive associations as it was related to “personal satisfaction” and
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 225

“security.” In this sense the concept has an affective dimension for partici-
pants who represent career in a set of feelings. The chronological component
of the concept was underlined by participants as they associated career with
“time.” This implies both the time required in years for career success but
also time commitment on a day-to-day basis. It was rated as very important
for career development but had a negative meaning for participants. Apart
from this, career was associated with “public relationships.” In the Greek
context there is a strong perception that personal social networks and in-
fluential people can contribute to career achievement. To this extent, the
concept has a moral dimension for participants, symbolizing a broad range
of issues. Lastly, there were an important number of associations related to
“family.” In this sense participants associated career with what it is not, since
“family” was mentioned as not at all important for career success but had a
positive meaning for participants.
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As mentioned in the methodology section, correspondence analysis was

used to visualize the relationship between categories and individuals’ rating.
Figure 1depicts the relationship between categories and the five-point scale
of importance. Dimension 1 follows the line from “very important” to “not
at all important.” In particular, there is a strong clustering of associations,
consisting of “soft skills,” “personal satisfaction,” “time,” “effort,” “money,”
“public relations,” and “social status” which is rated as very important by the
participants. Looking at the clusters centering around 4 and 5, which consist
of the associations that participants have classified as “important” and “most
important,” one may see the significance of personal and relational orienta-
tion of the concept. It thus seems clear that social representations of career
encompass, apart from an instrumental aspect, personal, relational, affective,
and moral aspects, which are of high significance for the individuals. Finally,
associations rated as not at all important focus mainly on family. Figure 2 de-
picts the relationship between categories and the three-point scale in which
participants were asked to rate the meaning that the associations provided
have for them. Visual inspection shows clearly that family has a positive
significance for participants whereas time and effort are rated negatively.
This contrast reflects participants’ concern of balancing career and personal
life and has important implications for human resources management. In
general, however, career was positively represented.
A third step hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on the categories
of the associations in order to identify proximities between social represen-
tations’ contents. Looking at Figure 3 on the dendrogram the cluster analysis
reveals three clusters which only meet at the final level stage, indicating that
they are relatively distant from one another. The first cluster encompasses
the material, social, and affective dimension of career. In this sense money
and goods, positively rated, are related strongly not only with individuals’
social status but also with satisfaction and security. This is crucial in the hos-
pitality industry, which is characterized by short lifecycles and low wages.
 226 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas
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FIGURE 1 Correspondence analysis bi-plot of categories associated with the five-point scale
of importance. (Color online only.)

Furthermore this cluster highlights individual’s competences and needs of

social interaction as a critical component of career attainment. The second
cluster seems to be organized around important aspects of individual’s life,
such as time and effort, which are mainly characterised negatively, underly-
ing individual’s implication in the process of career. Finally, the third cluster
focuses on family and appears well isolated from the other groups, as can
be seen at the level where it links up with the other clusters.

DISCUSSION

The descriptive analysis, the correspondence analysis, and the hierarchical

cluster analysis permitted a complete understanding of word association re-
lationships. It is generally argued that for the analysis of free associations
data, different methods should be applied together enabling the emergence
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 227
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FIGURE 2 Correspondence analysis bi-plot of categories associated with the three-point scale
of significance. (Color online only.)

of remarkable patterns (Doise et al., 1993). The findings provided an interest-

ing insight into hotel employees’ representations of career, which could be
useful for human resources management. Results suggest that participants
share a common representational field that moves from an instrumental

C A S E0510152025
LabelNum+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
money6-+
sociability10-+
technical skills13-+
soft skills12-+-------+
security9-+|
social status11-++-+
personal satisfaction7-+| +-----------------------+
public relations8---------+ ||
ambition1-----+-----++-------------+
goods5-----+||
effort3-+---+||
time14-++-----------------------------+|
competition2-----+|family4------------------------------------------------

FIGURE 3 Dendrogram using Average Linkage Method.

 228 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas

dimension to a more holistic approach of career, taking in a wider range

of values. These values, no matter how distant they may seem, are intercon-
nected. Recognizing the validity of these perceptions, of which ethical and
moral dimensions are an integral part, implies that they have to be taken
into consideration in human resource management.
Career, apart from being associated with material and economical terms,
has strong social, personal, moral, and affective orientation for participants.
Individuals see themselves as potential actors involved in the process of ca-
reer. Having a career in a luxury hotel requires a high level of motivation
and impetus. To this extent, human resources management should develop
practices and skills in order to reinforce and create passionate employees
(Baum, Amoah, & Spivack, 1997). In order to enhance profitability, organi-
zations should focus on employees and human resources practices should
be employee driven (Bolton & Hoilihan, 2007).
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Individuals consider soft competences as one of the most important fac-

tors that lead to career development. Expectations of today’s labor market
necessitate emphasis on individuals’ personality traits and attitudes (Chan &
Coleman, 2004; Seymour, 2000). According to Baum (1990) soft competences
concern those relating to communication with customers and colleagues,
use of technology and understanding of market and customer needs. In
literature there is considerable debate on skills required in service work
(e.g., Baum and Devine, 2005; Korczynski, 2005). Several scholars have re-
searched industry’s demands and expectations concerning employees’ skills
and knowledge. In their study in Irish hotels, Connolly and McGing (2006)
report industry’s preference to employees with strong practical skills. The
same findings are also supported by Ladkin (2000), who focuses on employ-
ees experience in the food and beverage department. Moreover, the study
of Baum and Odgers (2001) finds that hotels in all quality categories in all
European countries reported that employers give emphasis on non-technical
competences when recruiting front office employees. Lastly, Raybould and
Wilkins (2005) in summarizing the literature on hospitality skills, argue that
increased competition and uncertainty in today’s organizations have reduced
the importance of technical and operation skills and stress the importance
of leadership, corporate, and strategic skills. In particular,areas such as ser-
vice or front office work demand considerable relational and interpersonal
elements in addition to overt technical skills (Baum, 2007). These findings
suggest that individuals, without underestimating the importance of technical
skills, perceive that soft skills are important factors for career attainment. In
line with employers’ expectations, participants set soft skills as a priority for
their progression and career in today’s hospitality industry. To this extent
the focus of career should be on the individual and his or her acquisitions
of skills and competences (Eaton & Bailyn, 2000).
Moreover, the significance of social interaction associated with intrinsic
satisfaction that derives from organizational environment, emerged through
 Career Development in the Hospitality Industry in Greece 229

participants’ associations and appears as a key factor for career success.

This finding highlights the importance of supportive working relationships
and good teamwork that should be employers’ priority. An expressive net-
work of relationships and flexibility by knowing influential people, even
outside the organization where they are currently employed, were found to
be among the most key factors in enhancing careers in our study as well as in
other studies (e.g., Garavan, O’Brien, & O’Hanlon, 2006; D’Annunzio–Green,
2002). Furthermore, Kyriakidou and Gore (2005) in their study on culture and
values in the hospitality industry, stress the importance of social, supportive,
and collegiate environment that build organizational performance.
The concept of career implies a sharp contrast for participants, indi-
cating a broad range of concerns. Family has a positive meaning for the
individual’s life. However, the hospitality industry is characterized by long
and erratic work hours, creating an enormous amount of work and family
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stress (Hsieh, Pearson, & Kline, 2009). The study of Karatepe and Uludag
(2007) in northern Cyprus hotels found that frontline employees who had
difficulties in spending time with their family or in keeping social commit-
ments were more likely to be emotionally exhausted. These findings are also
expressed in the work of Mulvaney, O’Neill, Cleverland, and Crouter (2006)
and Cleveland, O’Neil, Himelright, Harrison, Crouter, and Drago (2007) who
investigated the impact of work and family conflict on job satisfaction and
organizational commitment. Results indicate the influence of those compo-
nents on employee progression in the organization and lead to staff turnover.
Further, the conflict between work and family is increasing today with the
dual-career couples on the one hand, and the single parents on the other
hand (Magnini, 2009). This should motivate employers to adopt human re-
source practices more favorable to the individual’s personal life. Organiza-
tions should afford opportunities for employees to have more freedom by
offering flexible working arrangements and recognition of work–life balance,
which affects job satisfaction and performance (Bolton & Houlihan, 2007).
In conclusion, in order for the hospitality industry to acquire quality ser-
vices and increase employees’ employability, their expectations and feelings
have to be taken into consideration. Interventions based on the needs and
concerns of individuals should be adopted by employers, including personal
development plans. This signifies a change in the organization culture since
quality service delivery doesnot depend only on an isolated training program
(Mahesh, 1993). Fostering excellence depends on the interrelation of hotel
employees’ expectations and the extent to which they are fulfilled.

IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

The current study investigated hotel employees’ social representations

of career using an associative imagery task contributing to a broader
 230 E. Meliou and L. Maroudas

understand of career as a socially constructed phenomenon. The word as-

sociation method allowed the elicitation of career elements relevant to in-
dividuals’ preoccupations. Results indicated that representations of career
move from a work-related perspective to a more holistic approach taking
in a wider range of variables. In the new organizational environment, indi-
viduals’ insertion forms identity and guides behavior. The present findings
established that career is a social construct. As such, individuals’ concerns
and preoccupations should be taken into consideration by employers in or-
der to develop career strategies that lead employees to furnish maximum
personal potential.
Employers could make a substantial contribution to improving career
development in the hospitality sector. Based on participants’ concerns em-
phasis should be given to “soft” human resources practices, such as moti-
vation, team work, and empowerment (Maroudas, Kyriakidou, & Vacharis,
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2008). Flexible salary package, training opportunities, and job enrichment

and enlargement could work to satisfy this need and foster employees’
performance. In this way organizations create the feeling of evolution to
employees and thereby strengthen their feeling of security, keeping better
talent, and lessening turnover. Successful career development is thus the
outcome of a complete appreciation of these perceptions and the way in
which they are incorporated in the management process.
Social representation theory appears therefore to be particularly chal-
lenging in the study of career since it offers an indepth understanding of
social thinking. However it is recognized that the study described here is
limited to a lexical projection of social representations. While this sampling
method may have resulted in some bias in the representations, and the sam-
ple size could limit the extent to which this research can be generalized,
the findings strengthen our knowledge of individuals’ career perceptions.
Taking these associations as a starting point, additional in depth interviews
should be conducted in order to identify differences in the components of
social representations according to indivuals’ positioning and this will be the
object of further research.

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