Intelligent careers and human resource management practices: qualitative insights from the public sector in a clientelistic culture Open Access

The intelligent career framework describes a set of essential competencies drawn from the competency-based view of the firm, including culture, know-how and networks (Arthur et al., 1995). According to Parker et al. (2009), the theory posits that an individual invests in their careers through relationships and reputation (knowing whom), skills and expertise (knowing how), and motivation and identity (knowing why). Examples include family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues (knowing-whom), training opportunities, access to information, feedback and appraisals, promotions (knowing-how), safety, money, family and personality (knowing-why). The intelligent career framework also acknowledges links between the three competencies (Parker et al., 2009). These include the dyadic relationships between (1) knowing-whom and knowing-how, (2) knowing-whom and knowing-why, and (3) knowing-how and knowing-why.

According to Amundson et al. (2002), each of the three competencies must be equally developed for satisfactory career development. However, the intelligent career framework has predominantly been designed and empirically tested in the private sector, which is problematic since the idiosyncrasies of the public sector have yet to be fully explored (Mayrhofer et al., 2020). Moreover, integrating the fields of career studies and public personnel administration that conventionally have been studied separately addresses calls for career research in the public sector (Hart and Baruch, 2022).

Additionally, context and culture in management research can influence findings (Baruch and Vardi, 2016). While studies exploring the intelligent career framework are often carried out in individualistic societies (e.g., Australia, Canada, United Kingdom (UK) and United States of America (USA)), there still needs to be more emphasis on empirical testing in countries with more clientelistic practices (e.g., Brazil, Greece, Namibia, Türkiye) (Hofstede et al., 2010; Kyriacou, 2023). Clientelism is characterised by an environment in which contingent exchange plays out on a quid-pro-quo basis (Hicken, 2011). Greece offers an excellent case to explore of the significant reliance on social networks of power where clientelism has become “an organic part of the Greek polity” (Marangudakis, 2019, p. 81).

Consequently, our study aims to empirically test the intelligent career framework in a public sector setting in a country with a clientelistic culture to inform human resource management practices.

Greece is characterised by a large public sector, accounting for 21.3% of the labour market (International Labour Organization, 2019). During the 1980s, working in the public sector became the “Greek dream” (Saiti and Papadopoulos, 2015). The Greek civil service is a bureaucratic, highly centralised and inflexible system that has operated under monopolist conditions for several decades (Michalopoulos and Psychogios, 2003). The clientelistic culture means that the careers of public sector workers in Greece are heavily influenced by political considerations and nepotism (Bozionelos, 2014).

Following the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis, Greece adopted austerity reforms that led to the largest-scale privatisation in the country's history (Brewer and Kellough, 2016). Efforts were made to improve the Greek public sector and develop a workforce capable of delivering cost-effective and efficient services to the public. The key goals of the program were (1) to maintain low levels of recruitment in the public sector, (2) to cut spending (a minimum 30% cut was applied to public servants' salaries) and (3) to adopt a unified remuneration system that would cover basic wages and allowances of all public sector employees (Ladi, 2014). To ensure cost savings, the public sector introduced forced distribution performance appraisals, wage reduction and merit-based rather than seniority-based promotions (Papadopoulou and Dimitriadis, 2019). In reality, wage and promotion freezes often took place instead of merit-based promotions to control salary-related costs during austerity (Ladi, 2014). More than anything, the new changes required the civil servants to re-evaluate their career competencies, as the expected stability and security were no longer guaranteed.

Yet, Katsikas (2022) observed that by the end of 2018, “the most important objectives according to their own evaluation -the incorporation of the remuneration system in an integrated human resources management system and its link with employee tasks, responsibilities, and productivity, were the least realized” (p. 18). Consequently, we adopt the case of civil servants in Greece, per the approach recently adopted by Mouratidou and Grabarski (2021), who tested the kaleidoscope career model in such a setting.

Based on interviews with 33 Greek civil servants, we address the following research question:

The theoretical contribution comes from understanding how emphasis across each of the three competencies of the intelligent career framework can influence work satisfaction, career success and organisational performance. The practical contribution offers recommendations for human resource management practices in the public sector, including training, mentoring, performance evaluations and fostering trust.

Our study employed an interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative methodology, whereby the data generation method involved in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The interpretive approach enabled us to explore individuals' perceptions, interpretations, and experiences (Merriam, 2009). Consequently, the perceptions, interpretations and experiences of individuals working for the Greek civil service enabled us to empirically test the intelligent career framework in a public sector setting in a country with a clientelistic culture to inform human resource management practices. Moreover, as the study touches on personnel management reforms in specific organisations, it is vital to understand how these reforms are perceived by employees (Rubin and Baker, 2019). By understanding the perceptions, interpretations and experiences of individuals working for the Greek civil service, we could address our research aim of empirically testing the intelligent career framework in a public sector setting in a country with a clientelistic culture to inform human resource management practices.

The lead author conducted 33 in-person interviews with employees in two of Greece's most prominent social insurance organisations before the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethical approval was obtained via the Institutional Review Board, and all participants provided informed consent. Our recruitment approach initially entailed approaching employees via email or social media and subsequently adopting a purposive and subsequent snowballing sampling until no new unique insights emerged and suggestions for new informants became repetitive, thus reaching saturation (Morse, 2000). The sample consisted of 23 women and 10 men, with an average age of 44. The average years of work experience was 17. Table 1 provides demographic details about the participants (names have been replaced with pseudonyms).

The sample was reflective of the population under study. The homogeneity of the sample of civil servants had limited within-group differences in demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, length of service, education level), which was ideal to avoid the effects of respondents' different socioeconomic status that a heterogeneous sample might bring (Qu and Zhao, 2012; Wong and Lin, 2007).

Semi-structured interviews enabled participants to describe in their own words their career development since graduation from high school and their career experiences (Elliott, 2005). Throughout telling their career story, participants were asked to expand on issues such as (1) motivation for specific work-related decisions and activities (e.g. initial vocational choice, entering or leaving jobs), (2) their values (e.g., the meaning of work), (3) the satisfaction of work-related needs, (4) the career support received from their employer, (5) relationships and (6) meaning of important career events. The interviews were conducted in Greek across two distinct organisations, lasted an average of 46 min and were subsequently transcribed and translated into English by the first author. The risk of intragroup contamination was minimised by asking each interviewee to discuss the interview with their co-workers only after the data collection phase had concluded.

In qualitative research, the degree of confidence in data, interpretation and techniques adopted is demonstrated by trustworthiness (Lincoln and Guba, 1985). To ensure trustworthiness, we took the following steps: Authors one and two held frequent meetings to discuss the data analysis and maintained an audit trail of process logs, including the analysis process, which added to the study's rigour. After the interviews were transcribed, the participants checked the transcripts to confirm the credibility of the information; this step allowed them to examine their interview, comment on their data and discuss potential ideas that may have been missed (Choi and Roulston, 2015). Moreover, after each interview, the lead author recorded their ideas, thoughts and observations in a diary (Krefting, 1991).

Once the interviews had been transcribed and approved by the participants for accuracy, the researchers analysed the data set separately and systematically, treating each interview as a separate analytical unit (Elliott, 2005). Our analytical process combined deductive and inductive approaches. First-level coding was done freely after familiarising ourselves with the data. Examples of first-level codes included connections, family, balance, safety and money. Then, the analysis was theory-driven, and codes were classified using a template analysis procedure following King's (2012) protocol. For various reasons, template analysis is appropriate for a qualitative interpretive study; it allows the researchers to analyse large quantities of data, encourages priori coding and is systematic (Davis and Van der Heijden, 2018).

A coding template was developed based on the three intelligent career dimensions: knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom, and decisions were made regarding connections between themes (e.g., why-whom or whom-how) based on a similar approach by Parker et al. (2009). Individual data extracts were coded into as many different themes as they fitted and as often as deemed relevant by the researchers. Frequent online meetings were held to discuss classification decisions until a consensus was reached (Saldaña, 2015).

Figure 1 offers a “Public Sector and Clientelistic Culture-Intelligent Career Framework” (PSCC-ICF). The circles represent the three competencies (Arthur et al., 1995) from the original intelligent career framework, while the connecting lines capture the interconnectedness of the three competencies (Parker et al., 2009). Our findings support the existence of these three competencies and the connections between them.

However, our findings also indicated that in a public sector setting in a country with a clientelistic culture, the three dimensions of knowing-whom, knowing-how and knowing-why are less balanced than those reported in studies based on the private sector or in individualistic cultures. Instead, knowing-whom is the dominant competency and a necessary condition for career development, whereby the knowing-whom to knowing-how and the knowing-whom to knowing-why dyadic relationships are the most influential. The words along the interconnecting lines in our model evidence the dominant themes from the interviews.

We now examine the knowing-whom to knowing-how and the knowing-whom to knowing-why dyadic relationships and provide participant quotes for each theme. The themes are presented in italics for clarity.

From the knowing-whom to the knowing-how direction, participants in our study spoke of the significant influence of connections and networking, including the role of politics. As Sofia explained

Additionally, politics continues to play an influential role throughout one's career in the civil service, as captured by Urania, who reflected

Makis further captured the influential role of politics:

From the knowing-how to knowing-whom direction, Eva also raised concerns about access to learning opportunities due to cliques:

Parthena spoke about issues with bias within the performance appraisal:

Subsequently, there were issues of mistrust, as reported by Nikos:

Taken together, these findings also show the dark side of careers (Baruch and Vardi, 2016). We see how performance appraisal outcomes, access to training and development, promotion and information are linked to political connections with decision-makers, whereby knowing-who determines access to knowing-how elements. This, in turn, results in negative career experiences for employees who lack the necessary social capital whilst also stimulating feelings of mistrust. Consequently, lower motivation levels in these employees impact the organisation's performance.

From the knowing-whom to knowing-why direction, participants in our study regularly mentioned job security and work-life balance as the key drivers of working in the civil service. As Liza explained

Irene also shared how:

While Nikos explained

However, the aftermath of the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis continues to limit pay increases, as captured by Eleni:

Additionally, from the knowing-why to knowing-whom direction, Illianna raised concerns about complacency:

Taken together, these findings further develop the dark side of careers (Baruch and Vardi, 2016). We see how knowing-why can provide a counterbalance to an individual who is politically blocked in their careers by being denied access to skills development (knowing-how), promotion (due to knowing-whom) and the complacency some participants witness in their colleagues.

Having set out the findings, our attention now shifts to addressing the research question, identifying the theoretical and managerial implications, and stating limitations and opportunities for future work.

Our original research question asked, What are the relationships between the three intelligent career framework competencies of knowing-whom, knowing-how and knowing-why within the public sector in countries with more clientelistic cultures?

Outcomes of the study indicate that the three dimensions of knowing-whom, knowing-how and knowing-why are less balanced than those reported by findings from private sector settings in countries with an individualistic culture. Instead, knowing-whom is a critical dimension and a necessary condition for career development that affects knowing-how and knowing-why. Consequently, a “Public Sector and Clientelistic Culture-Intelligent Career Framework” (PSCC-ICF) is presented in Figure 1.

Interestingly, in the context of our study, social capital (knowing-whom) was highly influential in securing employment in the public sector and securing promotion during one's career. While social capital also plays a role in individualistic cultures [e.g. as a form of employability capital (Donald et al., 2023) or enhancing managerial proficiency by developing informal networks (Ekonen and Heilmann, 2021)], it is less influential (at least in overt terms). Additionally, the influence of social capital to facilitate opportunities and identify threats has also been observed in employees in Uganda (Najjinda et al., 2023). However, this comes more from the opportunities to interact at work and develop networks whilst in employment rather than the need for such networks to secure employment or access promotion opportunities.

In Greece, we observed how acquiring knowledge depended on relational social capital (Gubbins and Dooley, 2021). People with strong personal networks had access to many benefits such as information, training, promotions, improved job opportunities and quality of work-life (placements in elite departments). On the other hand, people who are not part of a network (often based on politics) have limited chances to progress or be rewarded. The austerity measures significantly exacerbated the situation, as managerial layers were cut and funds were frozen. Thus, there were reduced incentives for individuals to invest in improving their performance since rewards, if available, were saved for well-connected individuals. As Beigi et al. (2018) demonstrated these connections included people outside the professional network. Subsequently, performance evaluations, which were supposed to provide valuable feedback for performance improvement, were perceived as uninformative; or were not conducted at all and were replaced by forced ranking distributions. In general, there was mistrust in the performance management system, resulting in demotivation and weakening workplace morale.

Previous studies in the private sector often portrayed the knowing-why as a career insight linked with being proactive, open to experience and seeking challenges (Beigi et al., 2018). Our study, therefore, addresses national human resource development in the context of Greece and advances the career development cluster of human resource development research by focussing on underrepresented actors of public civil servants (Shirmohammadi et al., 2021). Our findings extend the notion of knowing-why beyond the job content to include elements associated with employment in the public sector. These include permanency (job security), stable pay and reasonable working hours for spending time with loved ones (Perry, 1990). These findings also support the claim that despite the public sector's movement toward private sector practices, there are still notable differences between the two (Soares et al., 2021). For example, job security was not guaranteed due to the financial crisis and its aftermath. However, the Greek public sector could still provide some assurances compared to the domestic private sector. Consequently, our findings align with studies in other countries and cultures that emphasise the desirability of public sector roles for people who value work-life balance and job security (Choi and Chung, 2017; Ng and Gossett, 2013).

Our study addresses calls to explore the idiosyncrasies of the public sector (Mayrhofer et al., 2020) and conduct career research in the public sector (Hart and Baruch, 2022). The focus on civil servants in Greece as a case for a public sector setting in a clientelistic culture is appropriate since clientelism has become “an organic part of the Greek polity” (Marangudakis, 2019, p. 81). The theoretical contribution comes from providing evidence of the dark side of careers and how imbalances between the three dimensions of the intelligent career framework reduce work satisfaction, hinder career success and affect organisational performance.

Whilst balancing the three competencies can lead to satisfying careers, this is only sometimes the case, mainly because career perceptions are socially constructed and context-dependent (Andresen et al., 2020). In our study, knowing-whom became the dominant competency, and its dyadic interactions with knowing-how and knowing-why determined the chance of initially securing employment and subsequent career success. For those lacking the knowing-whom competency, the emphasis on social capital becomes a source of stress and insecurity, creating a rift and a sense of mistrust among and between employees and the system (Peeters et al., 2019). Thus, the links between the competencies can have negative consequences if one competency becomes a necessary condition, especially if acquiring that competency sits beyond an individual's agency.

Collectivism in Greece often means that individuals of a particular group cooperate while remaining competitive and suspicious towards people outside their group (Papalexandris, 2008). Thus, even those who have strong competencies of knowing-why and knowing-how might not be able to have a satisfying and successful career if they do not belong to a strong in-group (e.g., family, friends, people with similar political views) (Benson et al., 2020; Bozionelos, 2014; Dello Russo et al., 2017). Thus, our findings support the view of Peeters et al. (2019) that personal resources can form from two distinct sources (1) employability (e.g. job-related, career-related and development-related capital): and (2) social capital.

The findings also illustrate the dark side of careers. While idealistic images of successful careers characterised by competencies are highly sought after, major-scale events like the financial crisis emphasise pre-existing challenges, including job insecurity (Creed et al., 2021). Looking at the dark side allows us to provide a more balanced view of careers and address understudied issues (Baruch and Vardi, 2016). By identifying factors that shape individual perceptions, we may see that some factors are determined at an organisational or systemic level via personnel selection practices. Despite the tendency to view the individual agency as a central element of career development, many issues are caused by the system, indicating a shared responsibility between individuals and systems to address challenges (Van der Heijden and De Vos, 2015). This emphasises the need for practical human resource development policies to support employees, particularly given the increased focus on the significance of employee well-being (Nimmi and Donald, 2023; Nimmi et al., 2021, 2022, 2023).

Furthermore, person-organisation fit can evolve over time either from the employee perspective, the employer perspective, or both (Donald, 2023). This was evidenced in the interviews where participants spoke of the evolving nature of the civil service in Greece, predominantly driven by the impacts of the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis and the close links to political parties. Again, this interaction of individual and contextual factors can influence the success or failure of specific initiatives. This likely explains the Greek civil service's failure to incorporate “the remuneration system in an integrated human resources management system and its link with employee tasks, responsibilities, and productivity” (Katsikas, 2022, p. 18).

The practical contribution offers recommendations for human resource management practices in the public sector, including access for all employees to training and mentoring opportunities, transparent criteria for performance evaluations and fostering trust.

The absence of access to training opportunities impeded the participants' career development, with potential consequences to themselves and the organisations. Previous findings show that failure to provide training results in reduced performance, decreased job satisfaction and increased withdrawal from the organisation (e.g., Garavan et al., 2021; Sitzmann and Weinhardt, 2018). If budget constraints are challenging, learning opportunities can come through work-based or work-applied learning to enhance intellectual capital (Garnett et al., 2016). Internal organisational resources (e.g. supervision, mentoring, peer support and coaching) can also contribute to relationship building, fostering social mobility and career success (Donald and Ford, 2023; Martin, 2010; Singh et al., 2009). However, these approaches need to consider contextual factors since, according to Wang et al. (2022),

Additionally, we recommend transparent criteria for performance evaluations to ensure they are used effectively and fairly. The performance appraisal is a vital human resource development tool which, if implemented correctly, leads to improved individual and organisational performance (Amygdalos et al., 2014; Brewer and Kellough, 2016). On the other hand, unfair procedures can lead to mistrust towards the manager and disappointment in the organisation (Cho and Sai, 2013; Dello Russo et al., 2017). Thus, fairness in salary, performance appraisals, reward allocation and availability of career paths is crucial as it can also impact the satisfaction levels of employees (Boswell and Boudreau, 2000; Mariani et al., 2021).

Furthermore, while civil servants who are cynical about their organisation are inclined to mistrust it, receiving specific, consistent and high-quality feedback enhances trust in the leader (Audenaert et al., 2021). Building trust benefits the employees' motivation and engagement and contributes to their mental health, alleviating their fear of the unknown and reducing stress. Investing in a fair and effective performance appraisal process will also help employees develop their knowing-how competence, weakening dependence on the knowing-whom and benefiting all the employees equally (Mylona and Mihail, 2019).

Finally, Wall et al. (2017) also provide evidence of how appreciative enquiry through the role of positive emotions using work-based projects can enhance organisations facing austerity measures. However, they also note that organisational culture and climate can limit long-term benefits. For the managerial implications to be practical, support will likely be required from political institutions and national governments, which might prove tricky in a clientelistic culture. Nevertheless, as we have done in this manuscript, it is important to make a case for the benefits of a more balanced intelligent career framework by highlighting the dark side of careers (Baruch and Vardi, 2016) and offering pragmatic strategies for real-world implementation. This is particularly true given the influential role that employee perceptions play in life well-being and the sustainability of their careers and the organisations that employ them (Nimmi et al., 2022).

Our study was conducted in the context of public sector employees operating within a clientelistic culture. Therefore, our findings cannot be generalised to private sector employees, self-employed individuals or public sector employees operating within an individualist culture. Additionally, our findings were generated from civil servants in Greece. Therefore, future research may benefit from comparing our findings with those of different public sector employees in Greece and/or conducting cross-national comparisons between countries with and/or without more clientelistic cultures. Furthermore, our data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, repeating the study to see what changes (if any) have occurred due to this global-level chance event may be of interest. However, since Greece continues to face the aftermath of the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis, our findings are representative of the legacy of a previous global-level chance event. Finally, future research may consider using different approaches to generate data, acquire data from various sources and deploy a longitudinal study designs to observe the impacts of human resource management interventions over time across various political, economic and social contexts.

Our study aimed to empirically test the intelligent career framework in a public sector setting in a country with a clientelistic culture to inform human resource management strategies. Based on findings from 33 in-depth interviews with Greek civil servants, we observed that knowing-whom is the critical dimension of the intelligent career framework and a necessary condition for career development that affects knowing-how and knowing-why. The theoretical contribution comes from evidencing the dark side of careers and how imbalances between the three dimensions of the intelligent career framework reduce work satisfaction, hinder career success and affect organisational performance. The practical contribution offers recommendations for human resource management practices in the public sector, including training, mentoring, performance evaluations and fostering trust.