A Phenomenology of Career Change in the Malaysian Workforce - The Narratives of Rejectors, Navigators and Seekers

Evolution in economy, technology and social institutions over time have given rise to boundaryless and Protean careers that promote mobility and self-direction in managing one's career. This has led to the phenomenon of career change whereby individuals undertake a shift from one field of work to a completely different field of work. In career change research, career changers have been studied as a collective, singular group undergoing a similar change experience, which neglects individual differences that may contrast the experience of change from one changer to another. Furthermore, the emotional experience that accompanies a career change has been examined with a primary focus on the role of positive emotions, which overlooks the role of negative emotions in career change. Thus, this book sheds light on three key narratives of career change; Rejectors, Navigators and Seekers, that were identified in a phenomenological study of career change amongst Malaysian working adults. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 career changers across age, gender and ethnicity with a focus on how they made sense and meaning of their lived experience of career change within their environment and context. Each career change narrative was found to have different characteristics, motivations and behaviors respectively, which shaped their unique career change process. Negative emotions were also revealed as key drivers of the career change process, although each narrative expressed different types of negative emotions.Finally, the book also introduces an adaptive perspective to career development by way of the Adaptive Career Construal Model (ACCM) which was proposed based on the continuous bi-directional relationship between career decisions and career outcomes.

Jennifer Tham is currently a Regional Communications Specialist at Roche Services  Solutions (Asia Pacific) for an ongoing enterprise-wide digital transformation program. She obtained her PhD from Monash University under the supervision of Professor Pervaiz and Dr. Yit Sean Chong. The career change narratives and career construal model introduced in this book are based on the phenomenological study of career change conducted for her doctoral study. Prior to joining Roche, she worked as a management consultant in Deloitte Consulting (SEA) specialising in Organizational Change Management and has contributed to various business and practice development activities in the firm. In the academic space, she has experience in teaching first and second-year university students in Monash University for Business Management units. As an individual, Jennifer has a keen interest in studying the human perception, motivation and emotion that contributes to a unique experience, be it as an employee, customer or individual. And she takes absolute pleasure in translating complex findings into meaningful narratives and practical frameworks that create value for organizations and the community.

 

Yit Sean (Esther) Chong is currently a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director of GraduateResearch in Monash University Malaysia. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Esther worked with Accenture in delivering business solutions to major clients such as Shell Malaysia, Hong Kong Exchange and Sakhalin Energy, Russia. She was also a certified facilitator for the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen Covey) and Development Dimensions International (DDI) programmes. Her broad research interests are in the fields of higher education, service management and career change behaviour. Dr. Chong was awarded a research grant by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia to examine career change intentions of STEM undergraduates via behavioural neuroscience and narrative approaches. In acknowledgement to her endeavours in the scholarly and educational frontiers, she was a recipient of the Highly Commended Award by Journal of Service Management (Emerald Publishing Group), Best Paper Awards by Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) and Academy of Marketing, and Monash University Vice Chancellor's Award (Innovation in Learning and Teaching).
 
Pervaiz K. Ahmed is a management scholar exploring innovation and strategic dynamics of entrepreneurial change. He is currently the Director of The Institute of Global Strategy and Competitiveness at Sunway University, Malaysia. Before coming to Malaysia, Professor Ahmed held academic and professional positions in the UK. He has extensive experience working with and advising blue-chip companies and public sector organizations, such as Unilever, Ford, AT&T, NCR, British Telecommunications, and the NHS in Europe.  He has also been involved with corporate clients in Asia and government agencies, such as the Singapore National Productivity Council.