Publication: Opting out and opting in : understanding the complexities of women's career transitions
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2007
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Emerald
Abstract
Purpose This study aims to explore the reasons why women are leaving the workplace. Are they
opting out of the workforce to stay at home with their children as current media reports suggest, or are
the reasons more complex as the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) suggests? A second objective is to
examine whether or not women’s primary career motives change over time as predicted by the KCM.
Lastly, the potential barriers or boundaries faced by women pursuing boundaryless careers will be
identified.
Design/methodology/approach A survey was sent to 2,000 randomly selected women graduates
of an international business school located in the USA. The response rate was 25 percent, or 497
women.
Findings The results revealed that 47 percent of the women surveyed had stopped working at
some point in their career. Numerous reasons were cited for leaving. Only 35 percent of the women
who stopped working cited rearing children as their sole reason for opting out. Sixty two percent of the
women reported that their career focus had changed. In line with the KCM predictions, mid career
women were most interested in finding balance in their lives and the desire for authenticity increased
across the lifespan. Finally, 70 percent of the women who left eventually returned to work, debunking
the myth that women opt out and do not return to the workforce. Our findings show that there are
barriers that make it difficult to move across organizations, especially if time is taken off between jobs.
Research limitations/implications All of the respondents in this study have a graduate degree
in international business; thus, the results may have limited generalizability to other populations.
Nonetheless, this study provides valuable data that helps us to better understand the complexities of
women’s career paths.
Originality/value This study makes contributions to two different areas of career theory. First, it
provides one of the first empirical tests of the KCM. In addition to showing that women are leaving
companies for more complex reasons than for family reasons alone, it also shows that women’s
primary career motives shift over time in the manner predicted by the KCM. Second, the study
contributes to the literature on boundaryless careers by showing that there are in fact barriers or
boundaries faced by women attempting to pursue careers across organizations
Description
Keywords
Women workers, Careers
Bibliographic citation
Career Development International, 2007, v. 12, n. 3, p. 218-237