5.2. Summary

4.2. Summary

In summary, this chapter has shown the importance of the work contexts in shaping the development of the non-permanent worker’s craft identity and exercise of entrepreneurialism and learning to learn capability, which then informs his or her trajectory. It puts forth an initial conceptual frame, named Occupational Affordances, which elucidates the key dimensions in a work context that facilitate or inhibit the non-permanent worker’s navigation of the complex terrain of non-permanent work. Occupational Affordances point to the availability and shape of opportunities within an environment, independent of the actors’ ability to perceive it. Occupational Affordances do not absolve the individual of his or her agentic involvement in seeking out and acting on the affordances, consistent with our analysis in the preceding chapter of the importance of motivations that guide actions of our actors. An understanding of the occupational affordances enables policy-makers and practitioners to leverage the existing affordances or develop new ones for the purposes of learning and development of non-permanent workers.