Career adaptability: A qualitative understanding from the stories of older women

This article reports on an international qualitative study investigating career pathways through the stories of transition and adaptability of older women. Informed by grounded theory, the study explored how this group of women coped with and adapted to changes and transitions related to career. Data were gathered by means of interviews with 36 older women from Australia, England and South Africa. An inductive data analysis informed by grounded theory produced nine themes with 19 subthemes of which one subtheme was career adaptability. A second stage deductive data analysis of the career adaptability subtheme was conducted using qualitative descriptors developed by the researchers of the five dimensions of concern, control, curiosity, confidence, and cooperation as well as three levels of career adaptability proposed by Savickas (2008). Three case studies are discussed. The results support a qualitative interpretation of career adaptability.

► Describes a qualitative interpretation of career adaptability.
► Reports the development of qualitative descriptors of five dimensions of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale.
► Examines the three levels of career adaptability proposed by Savickas (2008).