Open Access Journal of Economic Research
ISSN: 3065-9035 | DOI: 10.64030/3065-9035
Trinanjan Gupta
Purpose: This paper examines prolonged career stagnation as a potentially under-recognized occupational psychosocial risk. It presents an anonymized longitudinal analytic autoethnography of an experienced communication professional in a large industrial organization whose early progression was followed by an extended period without meaningful advancement or substantial role enrichment despite continued contribution and expanding capability.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The retrospective case is organized as a long-term occupational-health narrative and interpreted through career plateau theory, psychological contract theory, organizational justice, the Job Demands-Resources model, self-determination theory, and conservation of resources theory. The evidence base includes available employment records, role descriptions, performance evaluations, career-related correspondence, project documentation, recognition records, personal reflections, and relevant medical documentation. Because the researcher and participant are the same person, reflexivity and separation among documented events, remembered experience, and interpretation are central.
Findings: The case suggests a cumulative pathway in which sustained contribution and organizational reliance were accompanied by limited career mobility, weak perceived sponsorship, underuse of accumulated human capital, and progressive demoralization. The author-subject describes T-shaped capability combining deep communication expertise with broader contribution across organizational domains. The paper argues that such capability may be deployed through strategic, specialist, cross-functional, mentoring, or leadership pathways, yet the author-subject experienced it as underused. A medically documented acute cardiac event later became a major reflective turning point in the narrative. No causal relationship between occupational experience and cardiovascular disease is claimed.
Originality/Value: The paper reframes prolonged career stagnation as a cumulative psychosocial exposure rather than solely a status or compensation issue. Its primary conceptual contribution is the contribution trap, also expressed as the cost-ofbeing-useful paradox: reliable performance may increase operational dependence while reducing pressure to create mobility or enrichment. T-shaped capability underuse provides an explanatory dimension, and the CARE framework - Career visibility, Advocacy, Recognition, and Enrichment - offers a practical organizational response. The case distinguishes employee retention from employee development.