Purpose The purpose of this paper, systematic literature review, is twofold: to identify the factors influencing graduate job choice and to propose a theoretical model that can be useful for future research. Design/methodology/approach Thematic analysis of the literature available till June 2020 has been reviewed using electronic databases such as ABI/INFORM Complete, EBSCO, Emerald Insight, ProQuest, SAGE Journals, Science Direct (Elsevier), Scopus, Springer Link, Taylor and Francis Online, Wiley Online Library. Findings Out of more than 5,000 studies, 14 studies were found addressing the issue of career choice among graduating students. The thematic analysis result explored five themes such as internal factors, external factors, interpersonal factors, institutional factors and socio-demographic factors that can be considered critical for graduates’ career choice decision. Details of the subthemes are also identified. Research limitations/implications Implications for practitioners have been suggested from the internal factors, external factors, interpersonal factors, institutional factors and socio-demographic factors’ perspectives. The study result can be useful for conducting future research using quantitative data on graduate job choice. Originality/value This is the first attempt to present a comprehensive picture of past studies on graduate job choice and exploring the factors influencing graduate job choice.

PurposeThe present study aims to understand the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and outcome variables with mediation role of job stress, psychological empowerment and moderating role of learned helplessness.Design/methodology/approachDescriptive cross-sectional research design was deployed. Data were collected from the Indian public sector bank employees, especially from those who are regularly going to the banks even during the lockdown situation. A total of 239 respondents were contacted via online and offline method.FindingsThe authors reported that bank employees feel the breach of psychological contract which induced job stress. Further, job stress negatively impacts their psychological empowerment and psychological empowered employees exhibit increased innovative behavior and well-being. The authors also found that job stress and psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between PCB and outcome variables, and learned helplessness moderates this relationship. The current study captures the psychological response of employees during the pandemic era.Originality/valueThe study also highlights that during the pandemic, when majority of the employers have given work from home, the public sector employees were regularly going to the banks with fragile mindset. The banks' managers and HR managers can also understand that how the fulfillment of expectations is important not only for employee well-being but also for the health of the organization.

Purpose With changing employment conditions, technological advancement, frequent manpower reduction and global competition, the relevance of the protean and boundaryless career concepts is increasing. With this, the country’s culture plays a pivotal role in career choice. The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate protean and boundaryless career scales for college passing out students and in the Indian context. The protean career scale was measured by self-directed and values-driven dimensions, while the boundaryless career scale was measured by boundaryless mindset and organizational mobility preference. Design/methodology/approach The first step involved defining construct and determining face validity. The data collected via questionnaire from India’s final year engineering students were subjected to exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis in the second and third steps, respectively. Finally, the nomological validity was tested by establishing the relationship between factors influencing career choice and newly developed protean and boundaryless career. Findings The result suggested using a two-factor model with a protean career (combining self-directed and values-driven items) and a boundaryless career as a separate construct for college passing out students. Research limitations/implications The developed scale has nine items that can be used to conduct surveys at the time of campus hiring by academic scholars, HR managers, and practitioners who are working on the identification, development and management of human talent as a part of any human resource management system. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first approach to developing the protean and boundaryless career scale for college passing out students and in the Indian context which can be replicable for South Asian countries.

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