96327 - Free Content Course

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module students will: be able to: understand changes in the role of work in people's lives; understand innovation processes in workplaces and organizations, identify contribution of WOP Psychology in the design of innovative interventions, products and services

Course contents

The course focuses on the concepts of employability and job insecurity and aims to improve the students' knowledges about:

-sustainable careers in uncertain times

-job insecurity: definition and main conceptual models

-employability: definition and main conceptual models

- interventions to improve employability and decrease job insecurity

Readings/Bibliography

Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Huibers, M. & Blonk R.W.B. (2013) Competencies for the contemporary career: Development and preliminary validation of the Career Competencies Questionnaire. Journal of Career Development, 40 (3),245-267,

Akkermans,j . Brenninkmeijer, V., Huibers, M., Schaufeli, W.B. & Blonk R.W.B. (2015). It's all about CareerSKILLS: Effectiveness of a career development intervention for young employees. Human Resource Management, 54 (4), 533-551.

Akkermans, J. & Tims, M. (2017)Crafting your Career: How Career Competencies Relate to Career Success via Job Crafting. APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW, 66 (1), 168–195

Brown, T., Hillier, T.-L., & Warren, A. M. (2010). Youth employability training: Two experiments. The Career Development International, 15(2), 166–187.

De Cuyper, N., Piccoli, B., Fontinha, R. and De Witte, H. (2019) Job insecurity, employability and satisfaction among temporary and permanent employees in post­crisis Europe. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 40 (2). pp. 173­192.

De Vos, A., Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M., Akkermans, J. (in press).
Sustainable careers: Towards a conceptual model. Journal of Vocational Behavior.

Fugate, M., Kinicki, A. J., & Ashforth, B. E. (2004). Employability: A psycho-social construct, its dimensions, and applications. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 14.

Forrier, A., De Cuyper, N. & Akkermans, J. (2018) The winner takes it all, the loser has to fall: Provoking the agency perspective in employability research Human Resource Management Journal 28 (4), 511-523

Peeters, E., Nelissen, J., De Cuyper, N., Forrier, A., Verbruggen, A. and De Witte, H.(2019). Employability Capital: A Conceptual Framework Tested Through Expert Analysis. Journal of Career Development, 46 (2): 79–93.

Savickas, M.L. (2012). Constructing Careers: Actors, Agents, and Authors. The Counseling Psychologist, 41(4), 648-662

Shoss, M.K. (2017) Job Insecurity: An Integrative Review and Agenda for Future Research. Journal of Management, 43 (6),1911-1939 

Vanhercke, D., De Cuyper, N., Peeters, E., & De Witte, H. (2014). Defining perceived employability: A psychological approach.Personnel Review, 43(4), 592–605

Teaching methods

The teaching methods used for the course are: lessons, case analysis and discussions, simulations, individual and group assignments.

The course is designed to be very interactive, based on students’ active participation. Therefore, students are requested to attend systematically all the lectures. Exchange students, aiming to choose this course for their learning agreement, should carefully consider – in their own interest – that they are requested to attend the full course.

This course is compulsory for students of Erasmus Mundus WOP-P programme.

The classes will be delivered during the second semester

Assessment methods

The final evaluation will be based on a small group (3 or 4 members) intervention project. The paper should be 2500-3000 words in lenght. A oral presentation of the small group work to the class is requested too.

Small Group paper and presentation Evaluation Criteria: a)Pertinence of theoretical framework; b) consistency of the intervention; c) accuracy of the paper structure and of the oral presentation

The grading scale is from 0 to 30, 18 being the minimum passing grade.

Teaching tools

Scientific papers and assignments will be shared by e-learning platform.

Office hours

See the website of Rita Chiesa

See the website of Luca Pietrantoni