Revisiting Career Aspirations of Panmillennials: An Exploratory Study

Authors

  • Pranu Sharma Research Scholar, Department of Management, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra India-282005
  • Sumita Srivastava Professor, Department of Management, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra India-282005

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69968/ijisem.2025v3si2424-439

Keywords:

Millennials, Work Culture, Generations, Extrinsic Motivation, Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

This study aims to explore the career aspirations of Panmillennials, a unique intersection of the millennial generation that entered the workforce during the transformative impact of COVID-19. Millennials are a highly sought-after workforce in today's job market. Their career aspirations, work attitudes, and technological adaptability are shaping the culture of the 21st-century workplace. The research design involved an extensive literature review and qualitative study using an adapted version of the snowball sampling technique on LinkedIn. The methodology used in this study was robust and well-suited to exploratory research. The study identified the top 5 career aspirations of Panmillennials, which include recognition and meaningful work, work-life balance, personal commitment and interest, learning and growth, and positive organizational culture. The study introduces the concept of "panmillennials," a generation that has entered the workforce during the pandemic, representing a significant contribution to the field of career and generational theories. The study also provides a framework for future research to explore the underlying factors that influence panmillennials' career aspirations and highlights the need to adopt a generational lens when investigating career aspirations.

References

[1]. Atkinson, R., & Flint, J. (2001). Accessing hidden and hard-to-reach populations: Snowball research strategies. Social Research Update, 33(1). http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU33.html

[2]. Babbie, E. R. (2016). The practice of social research. Cengage Learning.

[3]. Barhate, B. (2021). Five generations of employees: A study. Journal of Human Resources Management and Development, 1(1), 45-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/24706502211000204

[4]. Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D. P., & Christian, M. S. (2021). You can't always get what you want, but can you get what you need? Changes to daily demand in response to COVID-19. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106(6), 753–763. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl000089

[5]. Biernacki, P., & Waldorf, D. (1981). Snowball sampling: Problems and techniques of chain referral sampling. Sociological Methods & Research, 10(2), 141-163. https://doi.org/10.1177/004912418101000205

[6]. Casey, D. (1994). Understanding qualitative research: The saturation concept and sample size. Qualitative Health Research, 4(4), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239400400401

[7]. Chaudhary, A., & Rana, N. P. (2021). Millennials' career aspirations: A study of intrinsic factors. Journal of Business Research, 133, 685-695. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.01.008

[8]. Davis, J. (2020). The benefits of using LinkedIn for career management. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/benefits-using-linkedin-career-management-joanna-davis/

[9]. Deloitte. (2021). the 2021 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey. Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/millennialsurvey.html

[10]. Debenedette, N. (2021). The changing nature of millennial careers. Journal of Business and Psychology, 36(2), 345-356. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09699-1

[11]. Demel, B. (2022). New career patterns and hybrid work culture among millennials. Journal of Career Development, 49(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/08948453211000405

[12]. Eddy S.W. Ng, L. S. (2010). New Generation, Great Expectations: A Field Study of the Millennial Generation. Journal of business pschyology, 281-292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9159-4

[13]. Ertas, N. (2015). Public service motivation and millennial career aspirations. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 35(1), 67-85. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X13516312

[14]. Evangeline, S. A., Eswaran, T., & Ragavan, V. G. (2016). A study on career aspirations of postgraduate students in Malaysia. International Journal of Innovation and Business Strategy, 6(1), 37-47. http://ijibs.net/volume6/vol6no1/ijibs-2016-6-1-37-47.pdf

[15]. Gerard, N. (2019). Influence of extrinsic and intrinsic factors on the career aspirations of millennials in Uganda. Journal of Business and Management, 21(8), 85-97. https://doi.org/10.9790/487X-2108018597

[16]. Gorczyca, M., & Hartman, R. L. (2017). Millennials' career aspirations and the perceived importance of work-life balance. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(4), 467-480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-016-9465-7

[17]. Hee, O. C., & Rhung, L. X. (2019). Understanding millennial career aspirations in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Society, 20(1), 107-120. https://www.ijbs.unimas.my/images/repository/pdf/Vol20-no1-paper7.pdf

[18]. Heyns, M. M., & Kerr, M. D. (2018). The aspirations and challenges of the millennial generation. Journal of Education and Work, 31(2), 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2017.1391772

[19]. Ivanović, I. (2019). Job hopping, career risks, and intrinsic and extrinsic career success: The role of perceived organizational support. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 110, 155-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.11.008

[20]. Joanna Davis, H.-G. M. (2020). Netwoking via LinkedIn: An examination of usage and career benefits . Journal of vocational behaviour . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103396

[21]. Kowske, B. J., Rasch, R., & Wiley, J. (2010). Millennials' (lack of) attitude problem: An empirical examination of generational effects on work attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), 265–279. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9159-4

[22]. Kumar, A., & Bhardwaj, G. (2021). Extrinsic factors and millennials' career aspirations: An empirical study. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(3), 581-605. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1507448

[23]. Leonardi, P. M. (2012). When flexible routines meet flexible technologies: Affordance, constraint, and the imbrication of human and material agencies. MIS Quarterly, 36(1), 147-167. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410471

[24]. Linda, I. (2010). A study on factors affecting career development of Malaysian postgraduates. Journal of Social Sciences, 6(4), 490-496. https://doi.org/10.3844/jssp.2010.490.496

[25]. LinkedIn.(2019). LinkedIn usage & demographics statistics. https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog/linkedin-company-pages/2019/linkedin-usage-and-demographics-statistics

[26]. Mahmoud, A. B., Hares, M. A., & Ahmad, A. (2020). Factors affecting millennials' career aspirations: Evidence from Kuwait. International Journal of Business and Management, 15(5), 35-48. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijbm.v15n5p35

[27]. Ng, T. W. H., Eby, L. T., Sorensen, K. L., & Feldman, D. C. (2010). Predictors of objective and subjective career success: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 63(2), 281–342. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01184.x

[28]. Parmar, S., & Chawla, D. (2021). Extrinsic factors affecting career aspirations of millennials: A study of Indian workforce. Management and Labour Studies, 46(2), 228-244. https://doi.org/10.1177/0258042X21996606

[29]. Sharma, P., & Srivastava, S. (2022). Revisiting career aspirations of post-pandemic millennials and their employee experience: A study to explore their retention strategies. Proceedings of the 5th General Management Area Conference (pp. 301–311). KJS Somaiya Vidyavihar University, Mumbai.

[30]. Raines, C. (2022). Generation Z employees: Expectations and attitudes. Business Horizons, 65(3), 347-356. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2022.01.002

[31]. Raghavendran, S., & Joshi, S. (2021). Intrinsic factors influencing career aspirations of millennials: An exploratory study. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(1), 158-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1507448

[32]. Ritchie, J., & Spencer, L. (1994). Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research. In A. Bryman & R. G. Burgess (Eds.), Analyzing qualitative data (pp. 173-194). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203413081_chapter_9

[33]. Rhung, A. (2019). Understanding millennial career aspirations: A qualitative study. Journal of Management Development, 38(1), 2-14. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-06-2017-0153

[34]. Seetharaman, S. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on work culture. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(16), 2019-2031. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2020.1819618

[35]. Repository.somaiya.edu

[36]. Srivastava, S., & Bhandarker, M. (2021). Extrinsic factors affecting millennials' career aspirations: A study of Indian knowledge workers. Journal of Management Research, 21(2), 55-71. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972581420987014

[37]. Sullivan, J. (2021). LinkedIn: A beginner’s guide. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelinesullivan/2021/02/09/linkedin-a-beginners-guide/?sh=15001996527f

[38]. Tariq, H., Abbas, M., Shahzad, K., & Javed, M. (2021). Career aspirations of millennials: An empirical study of intrinsic factors. Management and Labour Studies, 46(2), 252-265. https://doi.org/10.1177/0258042X21996618

[39]. Twenge, J. M. (2010). A review of the empirical evidence on generational differences in work attitudes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(2), 201–210. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9165-6

[40]. Thomas, D. R. (1995). A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 16(2), 237-246. https://doi.org/10.1177/109821409501600207

[41]. Totoro, J. (2017). 25 LinkedIn statistics all businesses should be aware of in 2017. Omnicore Agency. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/linkedin-statistics/

[42]. Utz, S. (2016). The function of self-disclosure on social network sites: Not only intimate, but also positive and entertaining self-disclosures increase the feeling of connection. Computers in Human Behavior, 62, 436-444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.04.047

[43]. Yadav, R., & Kumar, A. (2021). Extrinsic factors influencing career aspirations of millennials in India. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 38(1), 111-136. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-019-09690-1

[44]. Yadav, R., & Singh, D. (2021). Familial factors influencing millennials' career aspirations: An exploratory study. Journal of Management Research, 21(2), 98-118. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972581420987077

Downloads

Published

07-02-2025

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

[1]
Sharma, P. and Srivastava, S. 2025. Revisiting Career Aspirations of Panmillennials: An Exploratory Study. International Journal of Innovations in Science, Engineering And Management. 3, 2 (Feb. 2025), 424–439. DOI:https://doi.org/10.69968/ijisem.2025v3si2424-439.