The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research

• Author: Nele De Cuyper,Anneleen Forrier,Jos Akkermans
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12206
• Published date: 01 November 2018
• Date: 01 November 2018

PROVOCATION PAPER

The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall:

Provoking the agency perspective in employability

research

Anneleen Forrier

1

*|Nele De Cuyper

2

*|Jos Akkermans

3

1

Department of Work and Organisation

Studies, Faculty of Economics and Business,

KU Leuven, Antwerp, Belgium

2

Research Group for Work, Organizational

and Personnel Psychology, KU Leuven,

Leuven, Belgium

3

School of Business and Economics, Vrije

Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The

Netherlands

Correspondence

Prof. Anneleen Forrier, Department of Work

and Organisation Studies, Faculty of

Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Korte

Nieuwstraat 33, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.

Email: anneleen.forrier@kuleuven.be

Abstract

In this paper, we provoke the strong focus on personal

agency in employability research. We counter three domi-

nant assumptions in the literature, namely, (a) that employ-

ability is an individual asset, (b) that employability is

owned by the individual, and (c) that employability leads

to positive outcomes. A key observation is that the three

dominant theories that are being used in employability stud-

ies, namely, human capital theory, conservation of resources

theory, and social exchange theory, also question these core

agency assumptions that form the basis of those studies.

Based on these theories, we identify three blind spots in

employability research: Employability is (a) contextual, (b)

relational, and (3) polarising. Taken together, we make the

case that the agency perspective overlooks a potential dark

side of employability: The winner takes it all, the loser has to

fall. We outline a future research agenda on this potential

dark side of employability.

KEYWORDS

agency, conservation of resources theory, employability, human

capital theory, social exchange theory,structure

1|INTRODUCTION

Although employability is not a new concept, it commands now more than before a central place on both the pol-

icy and research agenda (Akkermans & Kubasch, 2017). This aligns with the move towards neoliberalism in most

Western societies and the associated emphasis on personal agency: Individuals are held responsible for their

*

Anneleen Forrier and Nele De Cuyper are shared first author.

Received: 12 December 2017 Revised: 12 July 2018 Accepted: 13 July 2018

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12206

Hum Resour Manag J. 2018;28:511–523. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltdwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj 511