The article defines the phenomenon of "career plateau" in the socio-psychological aspect of individual objectification of human and organizational social capital. Career advancement is considered as the accumulation of cognitive and networking social capital in the course of professional life, realized in achieving the desired status, social benefits and correlated to subjective career satisfaction. In the framework of the empirical findings an individual "career plateau" is seen as a reflection of life crises and internal tension of professional and personal growth related to human and organizational social capital. The empirical study engaged 46 people, who were in "career plateau" situation according to their beliefs elicited during the focus group interview. In order to study personal qualities of the respondents the following methods were used: Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) by R. Cattell (form C), SACS (Strategic Approach to Coping Scale) and questionnaire “Career Anchors” (E. Shein). The obtained data showed that the phenomenon of “career plateau” is noticeable at the age of about 30 years for both men and women, with employment for over 10 years. Some gender psychological differences and similarities between men and women in the situation of "career plateau" were established. “Career plateau” related to professional motivation is focused on stability and low mobility; with regard to personal characteristics high sensitivity, low interpersonal sociability and implicit volition should be noted. Concerning coping strategies, the respondents prefer to enjoy social support, individual counseling and coaching help to overcome career crises.
Translated title of the contributionCareer plateau as a reflection of the crisis of accumulation of social capital of personality
Original languageRussian
Pages (from-to)118-149
Number of pages31
JournalПетербургский психологический журнал
Issue number28
StatePublished - 2019

    Research areas

  • CAREER PLATEAU, PERSONAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIAL CAPITAL, CAREER ADVANCEMENT, PROFESSIONAL CRISIS, CAREER COUNSELING, COACHING

ID: 50071146