Final Report Summary - API (The selves we could have been: the impact of alternative professional identities on career choices and work-life balance)
Imagine a world where Barack Obama was not a politician, but a banker. This is a world that could have easily existed - in his autobiography, he describes how he might have 'given myself over to stocks and bonds and the pull of respectability', which would have allowed 'my ambitions to travel a narrower, more personal course', and would have changed not only his professional identity, but also the face of world politics. Of course, Barack Obama did not have a career in stocks and bonds; and yet, he has a vivid image of what his life would have been like and of who he would have become if he had travelled this alternative career path. This reveals an intriguing fact, yet unexplored in social science: most of us, like Barack Obama, have the amazing capacity to define ourselves not only by what we actually are, but also by what we could have been. This component of people's identities, called alternative selves (referred to as alternative professional identities in the original proposal), form the core focus of the research of this project.
During the outgoing phase of this project, a theoretical paper introducing the construct of alternative selves to the scientific community has been accepted for publication in Academy of Management Review, the premier theoretical academic journal in management. This paper, entitled 'The self not taken: how alternative selves develop and how they influence people's professional lives' provides the theoretical foundation of this entire research programme. The paper defines the construct of alternative selves, differentiates it from other related constructs, develops a theory of how alternative selves are formed and how they influence people's professional lives, and outlines the implications of this theory for social science research. Two other papers are in preparation for submission to top management academic journals.
Alternative selves are likely to be increasingly prevalent in today's world, and therefore, increasingly consequential. It is vital to understand their impact, as they are part of a current trend in society and an emerging research stream in social sciences. Furthermore, it is vital to leverage this knowledge in order to offer answers to current challenges and anticipate future implications of changes in the labour market. Consequently, this project is aimed to both advance our understanding of alternative selves and at exploring how this understanding can be leveraged to help people make better career choices and achieve a better work-family balance, two of the most important social challenges that confront today's European population. This research could therefore offer insight not only to social scientists, but also educators, career counsellors, and policy makers.
Firstly, career paths in Europe today are becoming increasingly sinuous, traversing several occupations, industries, countries, and organisations. People frequently experience involuntary job loss, lateral job movement both within and across organisations, and career interruptions. Most managers and professionals change jobs every six years. Careers today therefore require frequent and difficult decisions. How can we choose from the wide array of possibilities that are open to us? This question has generated an explosion of sources offering guidance (e.g. self-help books, motivational speakers, personal coaches, consultants, life-style experts) as well as a lot of interest from social scientists. Knowledge of alternative selves can assist people in understanding their career choices and in making better career decisions, as alternative selves represent comparison points for the current selves (i.e. we understand where we are better when we juxtapose it onto where we could have been).
Secondly over the past few decades, the composition of the workforce in Europe has changed dramatically, with women now representing almost half of the workforce. Consequently, the vast majority of employees are members of dual-career couples, and the vast majority of children grow up in households with two working parents. The increasing demands of the workplace, and the cultural shift towards intensive parenting and elder care, place significant pressures on the working population. Consequently, many people find it hard to balance the demands of their work and family roles. Work-family conflict - perceiving that role pressures of work and life outside of work are mutually incompatible - has become prevalent. The prevalence of this phenomenon is reflected in the attention it has received from the popular press, as well as from policy makers (work-life balance is a European Union policy priority), and social science researchers (the European Social Survey, and academically-driven social survey designed to chart the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes and beliefs of its diverse populations, has a special module on work-family conflict). The research developed in this project shows that alternative selves are one way to maintain a balance between work and life outside of work, i.e. people who chose to focus on their careers often form an alternative self-capturing what their life might have been if they had chosen to focus on family instead, and vice-versa.
During the outgoing phase of this project, a theoretical paper introducing the construct of alternative selves to the scientific community has been accepted for publication in Academy of Management Review, the premier theoretical academic journal in management. This paper, entitled 'The self not taken: how alternative selves develop and how they influence people's professional lives' provides the theoretical foundation of this entire research programme. The paper defines the construct of alternative selves, differentiates it from other related constructs, develops a theory of how alternative selves are formed and how they influence people's professional lives, and outlines the implications of this theory for social science research. Two other papers are in preparation for submission to top management academic journals.
Alternative selves are likely to be increasingly prevalent in today's world, and therefore, increasingly consequential. It is vital to understand their impact, as they are part of a current trend in society and an emerging research stream in social sciences. Furthermore, it is vital to leverage this knowledge in order to offer answers to current challenges and anticipate future implications of changes in the labour market. Consequently, this project is aimed to both advance our understanding of alternative selves and at exploring how this understanding can be leveraged to help people make better career choices and achieve a better work-family balance, two of the most important social challenges that confront today's European population. This research could therefore offer insight not only to social scientists, but also educators, career counsellors, and policy makers.
Firstly, career paths in Europe today are becoming increasingly sinuous, traversing several occupations, industries, countries, and organisations. People frequently experience involuntary job loss, lateral job movement both within and across organisations, and career interruptions. Most managers and professionals change jobs every six years. Careers today therefore require frequent and difficult decisions. How can we choose from the wide array of possibilities that are open to us? This question has generated an explosion of sources offering guidance (e.g. self-help books, motivational speakers, personal coaches, consultants, life-style experts) as well as a lot of interest from social scientists. Knowledge of alternative selves can assist people in understanding their career choices and in making better career decisions, as alternative selves represent comparison points for the current selves (i.e. we understand where we are better when we juxtapose it onto where we could have been).
Secondly over the past few decades, the composition of the workforce in Europe has changed dramatically, with women now representing almost half of the workforce. Consequently, the vast majority of employees are members of dual-career couples, and the vast majority of children grow up in households with two working parents. The increasing demands of the workplace, and the cultural shift towards intensive parenting and elder care, place significant pressures on the working population. Consequently, many people find it hard to balance the demands of their work and family roles. Work-family conflict - perceiving that role pressures of work and life outside of work are mutually incompatible - has become prevalent. The prevalence of this phenomenon is reflected in the attention it has received from the popular press, as well as from policy makers (work-life balance is a European Union policy priority), and social science researchers (the European Social Survey, and academically-driven social survey designed to chart the interaction between Europe's changing institutions and the attitudes and beliefs of its diverse populations, has a special module on work-family conflict). The research developed in this project shows that alternative selves are one way to maintain a balance between work and life outside of work, i.e. people who chose to focus on their careers often form an alternative self-capturing what their life might have been if they had chosen to focus on family instead, and vice-versa.