Freelancers as protean careerists: why and how career meta-competencies lead to career success

ABSTRACTContemporary careers have paved the way for protean careerists. As protean careerists, freelancers are viewed as a new breed of workforce who build their careers independent of any organisational affiliation and thus, hold full responsibility for managing and developing their own career. In this paper, we theoretically elucidate the relationship between the freelancer’s career meta-competencies, perceived employability and career success. We propose a conceptual model of these relationships, along with deciphering the moderating role of occupational embeddedness and individual career stage. Our paper builds on the new career theories through offering a more holistic model of career success for freelancers that showcases the relevance of career identity and adaptability as significant for both subjective and objective career success. The paper also highlights several practical implications for freelancers that act as a guide for their survival and advancement in their protean career path.KEYWORDS: Career meta-competenciescareer successprotean careeristsfreelancers Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.