Whilst it is recognised that the organisational career is still prevalent within today's career landscape, there is a lack of research exploring the career capital needed to ease intra-organisational transitions. This thesis reviews this gap and explores the career capital required by business leaders to facilitate their own voluntary, sideward or upward macro work role transitions. The research questions include: 1. What aspects of career capital facilitate such role transitions? 2. How and to what extent are these role moves supported by career capital? 3. What barriers inhibit such role transitions? 4. What are the implications for business leaders and organisations of these role transition experiences? Drawing upon an interpretivist research approach, with a social constructionist stance and using event-based narrative interviews, this study explores the experiences of 36 business leaders who have undertaken a role transition within a UK business within the previous three years. This case organisation operates within the construction sector and is part of an international establishment. This research study enhances our appreciation of career capital; it offers unique contributions to knowledge from theoretical, empirical and practice perspectives. By developing a new career capital theoretical framework, our understanding of the career capital aspects that ease organisational role transitions is deepened. Such findings reaffirm the relevance of context and emphasise the importance of the Bourdieusian notion of the field and symbolic capital. Moreover, the insights offered by this research study recognise the relevance of Bourdieu's capital convertibility within the context of career capital. Furthermore, this research study identifies new characteristics, including where career capital can: act as a barrier, overcome barriers, be eroded, be influenced by the role holder's levels of personal agency and organisational attachment, and connect together to increase impact. Conclusively, this research study confirms the relevance of career capital within transition management. Additionally, given the importance of transitions within career theories, career capital is an important concept for the career management field as a whole.

Becoming a mother derails many women’s chances for career progression. One reason for this is that women leave organisations when they become mothers, or reduce their working hours. Another reason is that people within the organisation start to view them as less career-orientated as a result of being mothers. At the core of this issue is that who a woman is – her identity – is being redefined in the transition to motherhood, by herself and by those around her. But, little is known about how her professional identity develops during the transition to motherhood, or whether its development is related to her growing maternal identity. This paper, therefore, presents a systematic review of the literature concerning changes in maternal and professional identities, as well as the relationship between them. Based on the evidence, this review concludes that although the development of maternal identity has been well documented in the literature, little is known about how a woman’s professional identity develops, as she becomes a mother. Suggestions for further research and practice are discussed.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the ways that spouses of persons with ABI experience a process of change in roles, routine, and overall lifestyle and the subsequent implications for their support needs. The present study used a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology to examine the process of the experiences of this population of spouses. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 spouses, each of whom was engaged in a heterosexual relationship. There were 10 female and five male participants whose ages ranged from 40 to 61. Twelve of the participants were formally married, and three were in a common law relationship. In the interviews, the participants were asked about the changes in their lives after the onset of their spouses’ brain injuries. The data analysis was informed by narrative inquiry with attention paid to the structure of the participants’ stories. A three phase trajectory of caregiving emerged from the analysis which provided details regarding the process of change in the spousal caregiving role and how various role transitions within this role were intertwined with stressors and other feelings. The research highlighted three phases of caregiving including an Embryonic, Immersed and Modified Caregiver phase. The findings were theoretically important for identifying: how these spouses situate themselves within role transitions; coping strategies; various support needs; and future directions for research in this area.

The purpose of the present study was to explore the ways that spouses of persons with ABI experience a process of change in roles, routine, and overall lifestyle and the subsequent implications for their support needs. The present study used a qualitative narrative inquiry methodology to examine the process of the experiences of this population of spouses. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 spouses, each of whom was engaged in a heterosexual relationship. There were 10 female and five male participants whose ages ranged from 40 to 61. Twelve of the participants were formally married, and three were in a common law relationship. In the interviews, the participants were asked about the changes in their lives after the onset of their spouses’ brain injuries. The data analysis was informed by narrative inquiry with attention paid to the structure of the participants’ stories. A three phase trajectory of caregiving emerged from the analysis which provided details regarding the process of change in the spousal caregiving role and how various role transitions within this role were intertwined with stressors and other feelings. The research highlighted three phases of caregiving including an Embryonic, Immersed and Modified Caregiver phase. The findings were theoretically important for identifying: how these spouses situate themselves within role transitions; coping strategies; various support needs; and future directions for research in this area.

En fotbollskarriär kan innebära en stor påverkan på identiteten och de som utövat fotboll en längre period av sitt liv kan utveckla en fotbollsidentitet. Den starka känsla av samhörighet och socialt stöd som fotbollslaget bidrar med kan skapa svårigheter hos individen när fotbollstiden sedan är över. Studiens syfte är att undersöka upplevelsen av rollövergången hos före detta fotbollsspelare och hur det kan påverka identiteten i relation till självförtroende och självkänsla. Studien utgick från en socialpsykologisk ansats som analyserades med hjälp av teorier om Social jämförelse, Social- och Personlig identitet, Roller och Rollkonflikter. Studien tog grund i en kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer användes som instrument för insamling av data. Urvalet var tio respondenter som var över tjugo år, hade spelat fotboll i minst tio år, hade avslutat sin fotbollskarriär och spelat i minst division två för kvinnor och fyra för män. Efter datainsamlingen genomfördes en tematisk analys där teman och subteman formulerades. Resultatet visade att de respondenter som hade en positiv upplevelse under och efter rollövergången hade bekräftelse och en tydlig roll utanför fotbollen. De respondenter som upplevde negativa känslor vid rollövergången upplevde ofrivillig avgång, brist på socialt stöd och sociala identiteter. / A football career can have a major impact on identity and those who have played football for a longer period of their lives can develop a football identity. The strong sense of belonging and social support that the football team contributes can create difficulties for the individual when the football time is over. The purpose of this study is to investigate the experience of role transition in former football players and how it can affect identity in relation to selfconfidence and self-esteem. The study was based on a social psychological approach that was analyzed using theories of Social comparison, Social and Personal Identity, Roles and Role Conflicts. The study was based on a qualitative method where semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The sample consisted of ten respondents who were over twenty years old, had played football for at least ten years, had finished their football career and played in at least division two for women and four for men. After the data collection, a thematic analysis was carried out in which themes and subthemes were formulated. The results showed that the respondents who had a positive experience during and after the role transition had confirmation and a clear role outside football. Those respondents who experienced negative emotions at the time of the role transition experienced involuntary departure, lack of social support, and social identities.