Abstract

In this chapter, we identify the factors that contribute to a sustainable career within the context of human sustainability in organizational life. We propose a theoretical framework based on a review and analysis of previous research on sustainable careers. By utilizing Amartya Sen’s capability approach as a foundation, we further develop this framework specifically for career contexts. In the proposed framework, we suggest five crucial factors related to sustainable careers for human sustainability: time, social space, agency, meaning, and well-being. Among these factors, well-being serves a dual role: it is both a key factor in the ongoing construction of sustainability and, in line with the capability approach, an essential functioning of human sustainability in a career context. The framework offers new perspectives relevant to studying and developing careers in the age of polycrisis, where disruptive and sudden social, economic, political, environmental, and technological changes create significant risks in the career landscape of modern organizational life.