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Published Version (Advanced Access)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Career transitions from work-to-entrepreneurship
Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Vol.37(5), pp.749-777
2025
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Moving from a traditional career to entrepreneurship is a significant shift. It means taking on new responsibilities and dealing with uncertainties. Our research examined what motivates people and the skills they need to make this change. We used career identity theory to understand how people match their motivations, interests, and abilities with their chosen careers. By thematically analyzing 21 in-depth interviews conducted with military veterans and career transition organizations, we find that transition barriers and challenges embedded in career contexts can be overcome by leveraging career capital and social capital through a series of adjustments. The value of career transitions to entrepreneurship was linked to improved well-being, increased autonomy, and satisfaction. We contribute to the entrepreneurship and career literature by proposing an integrative model of work-to-entrepreneurship career pathways, which aids in explaining how occupation contexts shape career aspirations, highlighting the importance of career and social capital and identifying career transition pathways. We propose direction for future research and offer practical implications for employers’ talent management practitioners, individuals considering work-to-entrepreneurship career transitions and interorganizational talent management practices in entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Details
- Title
- Career transitions from work-to-entrepreneurship
- Authors
- Saskia de Klerk (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative IndustriesRetha Scheepers - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative IndustriesMatthew McCormack - UNSW Sydney
- Publication details
- Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Vol.37(5), pp.749-777
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1080/08276331.2024.2412967
- ISSN
- 2169-2610; 0827-6331
- Copyright note
- © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Business and Creative Industries; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991068698602621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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