| dc.description.abstract | Career interruptions cause severe penalties such as wage decrease, position loss, and self-doubt. The situation is even worse for women, who are still widely perceived as primary caregivers and housekeepers in many cultures. While the existing literature focuses on the adverse outcomes of career interruptions, little is actually known about individuals’ perceptions of career interruptions, their career interruption experiences, and the strategies that could help individuals successfully reenter the workplace.
Following Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory approach, the present study investigates Chinese women’s career interruption experiences and, more importantly, explores the personal skills, organizational support, and national policies that can ease the reentering process. Three research questions guided my study: What are Chinese women’s experiences with career interruption in urban China? How do Chinese women perceive their career interruptions? And, what strategies can help Chinese women return to work?
To answer these research questions, I collected qualitative data primarily through intensive interviews (in-depth one-to-one interviews). I interviewed 21 urban Chinese women who had a least one interruption in their career. The rich interview accounts revealed the participants’ perceptions of their career interruptions, their experiences with career interruption and reentering, the career decision-making process, the influence of social and cultural contexts, and individuals’ reflections and strategies. Findings suggest that these well-educated women encountered a multitude of challenges such as a bias towards interrupted careers in the hiring process, a lack of organizational support, and limited vocational training resources. Drawing on the participants’ experience and advice, supplemented by relevant studies in the career development literature, I proposed an integrative model of interventions to address the challenges reported by the participants and support future returners. The model includes four intervention aspects: counseling services, organizational efforts, social support, and individual responses. Detailed strategies are provided.
This grounded theory study has three major contributions. First, unlike previous studies that drew heavily on the researchers’ research experience and conceptulization in defining career interruptions, this study expands scholarly understanding of career interruptions by presenting the participants’ own definitions, perceptions, and what they believed were society’s perceptions of career interruptions. Second, this study contributes to the field of human resource development (HRD) by filling several gaps in the career interruption literature. For example, little effort was made to investigate the career interruption experiences. My dissertation delineates the career interruptions in terms of the career decisions leading to a career interruption, the activities during career interruptions, opportunities and challenges, preparation before reentry, and the social and cultural contexts. Third, this exploration of career interruptions provides practical insights for HRD professionals, career counselors, social workers, and individuals who need to help employees and particularly women navigate career breaks. | |
