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Abstract
A rapidly changing society, shaped by demographic changes and a global economy, has created different employment trends and work lives, which in turn require adults to adapt to changes in their careers. This is particularly the case for Korean middle-aged professionals. The combination of the demographic change and socio-economic development has created unprecedented social phenomena, denoting the extension of the working period. For many adults in Korea, this retirement transition presents permeable boundaries between cessation of full-time work and continuous commitment to the workforce. Retirement has become a career transition moving them to another career cycle in which individuals interact with different factors. The purpose of the study was to examine the career transition experiences of Korean middle-aged professionals--who have retired from their primary career and in their post-retirement employment--by investigating their perspectives of the processes involved in their career transition and construction. This interpretative study was guided by the following research questions: (1) What is the process of career transition for Korean middle-aged adults? (2) What contextual factors shape their career construction? (3) How do professionals interpret their career transition processes?Criterion-based sampling was used to select participants for the study. Two female and five male Korean adults in their second careers who had already retired from their primary careers were interviewed for this study; their ages ranged from 48 to 65. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were used to collect the data. The constructivist grounded theory method was used to analyze and interpret data. Three broad categories of themes emerged from the data to address the research questions: (a) the career transition process, (b) contextual factors shaping career transition and construction, and (c) interpretation of career transitions and construction. The findings resulted in two major conclusions. First, career transition and construction was a process which entailed an appraisal of the threads linking person and context. Second, personal values created a balance between personal situations and societal environments and in turn enabled them to employ career adaptability. These conclusions led to implications for research and practice.