A cross-country analysis on career insecurity: the role of context in early career perceptions and coping

Purpose Given the perspectives of the cultural transactional theory of stress and coping (Chun et al., 2006) and sustainable career ecosystem theory (Donald et al., 2024), career insecurity in the early career stage was examined in this study by considering national and global contexts. Early career individuals' career insecurity, as well as the strategies they use to cope with it (i.e. avoidance and approach coping), were expected to differ between Italy, Norway, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. The significant relations between career insecurity, coping strategies, and sustainable career outcomes (i.e. psychological wellbeing, subjective career success) were also compared between individualistic and collectivist contexts. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected among early career individuals from Italy, Norway, Bangladesh, and Indonesia using a two-wave study design (N = 492). Findings The results of the one-way analysis of variance observed significant variable differences between the four countries. Path analysis results showed that the positive relationship between career insecurity and avoidance coping was stronger in the collectivist context. Whereas the negative direct effect and indirect effect of career insecurity on both sustainable career outcomes were only significant in the individualistic context. Practical implications The study findings provide practical implications in managing the career insecurity of young people and labor market entrants amidst the precarious nature of modern careers. Originality/value The study offers cross-country insights on coping with career insecurity and highlights the role of context in extension of previous conceptualizations about the topic.