The extended late career phase – examining senior nursing professionals
Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management
ISSN: 1746-5648
Article publication date: 2 December 2021
Issue publication date: 30 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
By relying on a sustainable career perspective and recent studies on senior employees’ late career phase, this study aims to examine senior (50+) nurses’ late career narratives in the context of extending retirement age. Given the current global nursing shortage, there is a pressing need to find ways on how to promote longer and sustainable careers in the health-care field. Yet, there is limited knowledge about the extended late career phase of senior nurses.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were derived from 22 interviews collected among senior (50+) nursing professionals working in a Finnish university hospital. The qualitative interview data were analysed using a narrative analysis method. As a result of the narrative analysis, four career narratives were constructed.
Findings
The findings demonstrated that senior nurses’ late career narratives differed in terms of late career aspirations, constraints, mobility and active agency of one’s own career. The identified career narratives indicate that the building blocks of sustainable late careers in the context of extending retirement age are diverse.
Research limitations/implications
The qualitative interview data were restricted to senior nurses working in one university hospital. Interviews were conducted on site and some nurses were called away leaving some of the interviews shorter than expected.
Practical implications
To support sustainable late careers requires that attention be based on the whole career ecosystem covering individual, organizational and societal aspects and how they are intertwined together.
Originality/value
So far, few studies have investigated the extended late career phase of senior employees in the context of a changing career landscape.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The first author has received funding from the Foundation for Economic Education (grant number 10-5090) and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (30.01.2017). The second author has received support from the Academy of Finland (grant numbers 294530/307114, 320367/326992).
Citation
Salminen, H., von Bonsdorff, M.E., McPhee, D. and Heilmann, P. (2022), "The extended late career phase – examining senior nursing professionals", Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 183-200. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-10-2020-2051
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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