Abstract:

Freelance careers are often framed as autonomous and boundaryless, placing career development largely outside organisational responsibility. Yet many freelancers—particularly those facing insecurity and market dependence—rely on client organisations for career-relevant resources such as learning opportunities, feedback, visibility, and access to networks. Drawing on 70 interviews with freelancers and managers, this study examines how career support is produced across organisational boundaries. Findings show that support becomes uneven and negotiated through (1) freelancers’ expectations of organisational input, (2) HR’s limited and ambiguous remit for non-employees, and (3) line managers’ discretionary practices that partially substitute for formal HR processes. These dynamics create patterned gaps, including exclusion from HR career practices and reliance on informal, project-level development conversations. The study advances research on nonstandard careers by showing how freelance trajectories are shaped by internal organisational arrangements and extends HR scholarship by theorising HR’s intermediary role in ongoing freelancer–manager relations.

Please choose your submission type: Full Paper

Primary Track: Human Resource Management

Keywords: Training and development

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Prof Aneta Hamza-Orlinska