G5 Doctoral dissertation (article)
Career-themed life narratives of sports graduates : intertwinement of careers and nonwork elements of life (2023)
Urien sekä elämän ei-ammatillisten elementtien yhteenkietoutuminen liikunta-alan tutkinnon suorittaneiden urateemaisissa elämänkertomuksissa

Jama, K.-M. (2023). Career-themed life narratives of sports graduates : intertwinement of careers and nonwork elements of life [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Jyväskylä. JYU dissertations, 642. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9565-2

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Jama, Kaisa-Mari

eISBN: 978-951-39-9565-2

Journal or series: JYU dissertations

eISSN: 2489-9003

Publication year: 2023

Number in series: 642

Number of pages in the book: 1 verkkoaineisto (87, 9 sivua, 34 numeroimatonta sivua)

Publisher: University of Jyväskylä

Place of Publication: Jyväskylä

Publication country: Finland

Publication language: English

Persistent website address: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-9565-2

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Abstract

This study focused on career-themed life narratives of Finnish sports degree graduates. The aim of the study was to holistically understand graduates’ education and career experiences, taking into consideration the complexity, context and subjectivity of modern careers. The main research question was: How do sports graduates’ career experiences intertwine with their life narratives? Data were collected as written, career-themed life stories (n=60) through an open writing invitation to sports degree graduates from years 2004-2015. The study consists of three sub-studies. The first sub-study described the qualitative variation in the different meanings that the graduates attributed to formal sport education as a part of their career-themed life narratives. The second sub-study described the typical career story models of the participants. The third sub-study aimed to understand what meanings were attributed to difficulties in the narratives. Data were analysed using phenomenography (sub-study I), narrative analysis (sub-study II), and reflexive thematic analysis (sub-study III). Drawing together, the findings suggest that work and nonwork were interwoven in many ways, and that hobbyism and identity were especially relevant. These also contributed to pondering career change, which was a notable element in the narratives. Reflections on realized and potential career change were influenced by both experiences of unpleasant characteristics of the sports industry and more personal reasons for looking for a career path that is fitting in more than just a practical sense. Difficult experiences were also meaningful in multiple ways, both professionally and personally. In conclusion, the findings indicate that graduates’ search for a personally meaningful career path should be considered when discussing sports graduates’ careers.

Keywords: physical exercise sector; graduates; career; career development; career planning; work; leisure; combining; chaos theory; doctoral dissertations

Free keywords: sports graduates; narrative research; chaos theory of careers; career paths; intertwinement of work and nonwork

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2023