New ways of fostering sustainable employability in inter-organizational networks: an explorative study to understand the factors and mechanisms for their success
| Date | 27 June 2024 |
| Pages | 115-140 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2023-0462 |
| Published date | 27 June 2024 |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
| Author | Sarah A. Courchesne,Dave Stynen,Judith H. Semeijn,Marjolein C.J. Caniëls |
New ways of fostering sustainable
employability in inter-
organizational networks:
an explorative study to understand
the factors and mechanisms
for their success
Sarah A. Courchesne and Dave Stynen
Department of Organization, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands
Judith H. Semeijn
Department of Organization, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands and
Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, Maastricht University,
Maastricht, Netherlands, and
Marjolein C.J. Cani€
els
Department of Organization, Open Universiteit, Heerlen, Netherlands
Abstract
Purpose –Organizations are increasingly joining inter-organizational networks to foster sustainable
employability for their employees. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors and mechanisms central
to their success as experienced by key stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach –An explorative, qualitative approach was adopted, using four focus
groups with network coordinators (N518) and HR professionals (N514). Fourteen Dutch inter-organizational
networks were represented. Respondents were recruited through purposive and snowballing sampling
techniques. Thematic analysis was applied using open coding to generate themes.
Findings –The results of this study outline environmental, structural, and inter-personal factors and
mechanisms that contribute to the success of inter-organizational networks that aim to foster sustainable
employability for their employees. The environmental factors and mechanisms consist of challenges stemming
from the labor market. The structural factors and mechanisms include: a network’s flat structure, flat fee, lack
of informal rules, the allocation of roles and expectations for stakeholders and shared network activities. Lastly,
the inter-personal factors and mechanisms are: communication among stakeholders, establishing reciprocity,
interactionand collaborationbetween stakeholders,the valuationof trust,a convivialculture andshared vision
among stakeholders. The dynamics between these factors and mechanisms are compared to other forms of
inter-organizational netwo rks. Furthermore, several reco mmendations for network coord inators and
practitioners regarding the development of networks are presented.
Originality/value –This study provides insights into the factors and mechanisms that are regarded by
stakeholders as influencing the success of inter-organizational networks in their ability to foster sustainable
employability for workers. We have identified a unique model that captures this new way of inter-
organizational collaboration and builds on insights from literature on collaborative governance regimes,
institutional fields and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Specifically, the model provides a framework that consists
of environmental, structural and interpersonal factors and mechanisms for network success. This study
Employee
Relations: The
International
Journal
115
© Sarah A. Courchesne, Dave Stynen, Judith H. Semeijn and Marjolein C.J. Cani€
els. Published by
Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for
both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication
and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/
legalcode
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0142-5455.htm
Received 11 September 2023
Revised 2 February 2024
9 May 2024
Accepted 13 May 2024
Employee Relations: The
International Journal
Vol. 46 No. 9, 2024
pp. 115-140
Emerald Publishing Limited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2023-0462
increases our understanding of how collaborative efforts can be fostered beyond organizational boundaries
and existing Human Resource Management practices.
Keywords Inter-organizational networks, Sustainable employability, Human capital, Career development,
Employee development, Shared HRM practices, Multi-stakeholder perspective
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Within Europe, the workforce is aging (van Dam et al., 2017) and the availability of skilled
employees is lower than pre-COVID-19 levels (Eurostat, 2022). These trends create difficulties
for organizations to attract and retain human capital in a sustainable way. Additionally,
technological developments make various jobs and skills obsolete, thereby creating a skill
mismatch between employees and their job requirements (Brunello and Wruuck, 2021). A
lack of skilled employees implies difficulties for organizations to simply replace under-skilled
employees and may, if insufficiently addressed, result in reduced organizational performance
(Brunello and Wruuck, 2021;Molloy and Barney, 2015;Martini et al., 2023). Also, public
policymakers regard these developments as threats to increased labor participation
throughout the European Union (Eurofond, 2022).
In response to these challenges, initiatives to foster sustainable employability are
high on governmental and corporate agendas (Semeijn et al., 2015;Ybema et al.,2017;
Podgorodnichenko et al., 2022). Within the literature, sustainable employability is
defined as “the extent to which workers are able and willing to remain working, now and
in the future”(Ybema et al., 2017,p.888).Furthermore,sustainableemployabilityis
shaped by the interaction between workers (e.g. their characteristics) and their
environment (e.g. work context and labor market) (Gazier, 1998). Organizations can
shape the work context by implementing (sustainable) HRM (Human Resource
Management) practices (Semeijn et al.,2015;Ybema et al., 2017;Martini et al., 2023).
Organizations that support their employees by offering (sustainable) HRM practices
increase their employees’human capital and subsequently their organizational
performance (Utrilla et al., 2022). Yet, from a single organizational perspective the
implementation of such practices may be financially expensive, difficult to align with
employee and organizational interests, and incur unintended consequences (van Holland
et al., 2017;Stynen et al., 2019;Podgorodnichenko et al.,2022).
Due to these difficulties and organizations’tendency to focus more on their core activities,
organizations in Western countries are increasingly recognizing the need to form
partnerships with othe r companies, and may joi n collaborative inter- organizational
networks to tackle common human capital issues and challenges in the labor market
(Bakker et al., 2018;Ingold and Valizade, 2017). When stakeholders, like employers who are
interconnected or dependent on one another to address a common grand challenge, the
formation of inter-organizational networks becomes more likely (Ferraro et al., 2015;Gray
et al., 2022). These inter-organizational networks can then create an environment that extends
beyond its own boundaries and positively affects employees’sustainable employability (de
Vos et al., 2020;Donald et al., 2020;Curs
¸eu et al., 2021). This fits with the enhanced attention in
the career literature on environments that consist of multiple actors and institutions (e.g.
employees, organizations, governments, etc.) shaping workers’careers (Donald et al., 2020).
Inter-organizational networks often operate in a regional context whereby organizations,
either public or private, collaborate to co-create practices that go beyond organizational
boundaries to increase job mobility and foster employees’personal and career development
(Curs
¸eu et al., 2021;van Gestel et al., 2018). This innovative approach creates pathways to help
organizations attract, maintain and retain skilled workers by optimizing labor mobility in
regions (Ingold and Valizade, 2017). Furthermore, inter-organizational networks can help
ER
46,9
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