Constructing alignment for sustainable careers: Insights from the career narratives of management consultants

While prior literature identifies a person's alignment of their career with the interests of their employing organization as a source of career sustainability, we still know little about how individuals construe such alignment. Our study contributes to understanding of the sustainable career framework by conceptualizing individual career alignment as a narrative accomplishment. Building on an interview study of 34 consultants in a large management consulting firm, we identify four narrative approaches for construing alignment within this challenging organizational context: overidentifying, conforming, creating symbiosis, and moving on. Our findings elaborate the sustainable career framework by suggesting alignment narratives as a contextually situated expression of agency in people's striving for sustainable careers. We discuss implications for theory and practice.