Qualitative Approach in Research of the Career Path of Young Successful Workers

Qualitative Approach in Research of the Career Path of Young Successful Workers

1 Career Path of Young Successful Workers

The career path of specifically young and simultaneously successful workers is currently relatively under-researched. Why is it important to pay attention to it and to find out what accompanied individuals from childhood who then achieved early success in their careers?

In recent years, a large number of organizations have been dealing with the persistent problem of a talent shortage, not only within companies but also available on the market. It is therefore becoming increasingly key and urgent to determine what is typical and characteristic of successful talents.

According to the results of the Talent Edge 2020 survey conducted by Deloitte (2010), the most significant talent shortage (72%) was identified by company executives in the field of research and development, but also in the technology, media, and telecommunications industry at 40%, consumer and industrial goods at 39%, and in medicine and healthcare, 37% of managers see a talent shortage in research and development as serious. Of course, there are other areas where organizations reported a lack of talent, specifically in leadership and management (56% of organizations surveyed), sales (52%), strategy and planning (51%), human resources (51%), risk management (49%), procurement and supply chain (48%), processes (48%), finance (48%), information technology (48%), customer service (47%), and marketing (46%). This implies that there is no area where there is a sufficient number of talents and successful workers, despite the fact that many states are fighting unemployment, which the Talent Edge 2020 survey also termed the talent paradox (Deloitte, 2010).

How is it possible that some people do not succeed and remain unemployed, while some young workers become successful, are considered high potentials, and apply their talent? Currently, a successful young worker with high potential is generally associated with the ability to develop and apply their talent in practice, as indicated by various talent development programs in organizations.

Overall, the goal of researching the career path of young successful workers is to determine what characteristics are present in them, both internal, personal prerequisites for success, but primarily external determinants present throughout life, from childhood onwards, influencing their career development, career choices, and future success in their profession.

The current question and simultaneously the topic of this article is what methodological approach is appropriate to choose in this relatively unexplored area, whether to choose a qualitative or quantitative path, and subsequently which specific methods are most suitable to use in researching the career path.

A similar and very extensive study was conducted in the 1980s in the United States by Benjamin S. Bloom and his team. They investigated what family and school influences affected children who later succeeded in the fields of sports, arts, and science. They applied a qualitative approach and collected data using semi-structured interviews with successful individuals, their parents, and teachers, although Bloom (1985) does not elaborate further in his work on the approach and data analysis methods used.

We decided to apply a deductive approach in determining the appropriate methods and to look more closely at the broader area of career development research in general. We chose this approach for the aforementioned reason that in the field of career path research, and specifically the career path of young and successful individuals, few studies have been conducted so far.

2 Quality in Career Development Research

One of the first questions we ask ourselves is whether to choose a qualitative or quantitative approach in research, whether to collect data from a large number of participants or to delve deeper into the issue with fewer participants. It is necessary to consider the suitability of these two approaches and individual methods, but we are also aware of a certain pressure from the scientific community and skepticism regarding the credibility of qualitative methods. Therefore, this issue is also addressed in the article.

Out of a total of 3,279 studies and articles on career development research from 1990 to 2009, only 8.6% used or focused on a qualitative approach and methods, meaning purely quantitative studies and articles in this area accounted for as much as 91.4% (Stead et al., 2012). From this, among other things, we conclude that the qualitative approach is still significantly less used and also less accepted than the quantitative one.

The question remains whether this ratio is a result of the actual suitability of quantitative methods or merely lesser knowledge and experience with the qualitative approach and less trust in its validity and reliability. In our opinion, the latter mentioned possibility largely contributes to this, although we do not doubt that there are issues in this area where the qualitative approach is clearly not suitable.

Our view is also supported by the fact that as many as 37% of qualitative or mixed-method research studies on career development did not specify at all what specific qualitative approach and methods they used (Stead et al., 2012). This inconsistency of researchers may also be a reason why the qualitative approach is less accepted and results are considered less credible.

In researching our relatively under-explored issue of the career path of young successful workers, we consider it unacceptable to shy away from qualitative methods just because most researchers consider this approach to be unreliable or lacking credibility. Rather, we see as essential to ensure, across various qualitative research, that trust in these methods increases and that they receive greater recognition from the scientific community. However, this depends on the researchers conducting qualitative studies.

Overview of Qualitative Methods Applied in Career Development Research

The most commonly used qualitative methods in career development research are the case study (18.5%) and grounded theory (11.9%). Biographical research, which could be an interesting approach for our future investigation, which we will return to later, was used in only 0.7% of studies (Stead et al., 2012).

Now we will briefly look at the individual qualitative methods applied in career development research and assess their suitability for researching the career path of young successful workers.

Case study is one of the methods we perceive as potentially suitable for researching the career path of young successful workers, because it involves a detailed description and analysis of extensive data from a small number of cases, and searching for answers to the question – what are the characteristics of the given cases (Hendl, 2005; Berg, 2008)? In our case, what are the characteristics of young successful workers? Moreover, when dealing with an under-explored issue, the so-called collective case study (Stake, 1995) provides not only insight into the issue but also the opportunity to test, modify, or propose theories.

Grounded theory is also one of the applicable methods because it is based on the behavior and interactions of observed individuals and processes present in their environment, with the goal of the research being to propose a theory for phenomena in a specific situation (Hendl, 2005). Thus, in connection with researching the career path of young successful workers, we are talking about behavior, interactions, and environmental influences during an individual's life, environmental influences from childhood onwards, which may have contributed to their early future career success.

The method of content analysis is not suitable as the main method, but we see the possibility of its complementary use, since it is primarily based on the analysis of the content of texts, documents, and other, e.g., visual sources, such as images (Hendl, 2005), which is insufficient for knowing the influences on individuals' future success, but in the case of such sources being present, they should not be overlooked.

Narrative research was initially considered a possible path, given the use of narrative interviews in biographical research as a type of case study – storytelling about life, but without being limited by supplementary questions (Hendl, 2005), which we ultimately do not consider the most suitable approach precisely due to the specificity of our issue. We see it as essential to guide the interview with the given individual to a certain extent in the contexts of our issue and to expand knowledge of their experiences during life using supplementary questions.

Consensual qualitative research is not chosen as a suitable alternative, even though the use of open questions, small participant samples, the importance of context, and focus on internal experiences, attitudes, and beliefs (Hill, Knox, Thompson, Williams & Hess, 2005) are suitable as an approach for our research. The lack of focus on external influences in the environment, and simultaneously the consensus of multiple reviewers in determining the meaning of data, cannot be applied in the conditions of our research.

Since the goal of phenomenological inquiry is to describe and analyze the lived experience with a specific phenomenon (Hendl, 2005), we do not consider this method suitable for researching the career path of young successful workers. In this area, we do not yet have a defined phenomenon, but we are looking for the presence of various influences potentially related to the achieved future success.

Given that in action research both researchers and participants equally participate in the interpretation of results, and the research process is simultaneously a process of learning and change (Hendl, 2005; Berg, 2008), we also do not select this method as suitable. In researching the career path of young and successful individuals, we are not only addressing the current state but seeking past influences that acted on career success that appears in the future.

We come to biographical research, as a certain type of case study, which uses the reconstruction and interpretation of an individual's life course or part of life to explain certain personal or social phenomena (Hendl, 2005), such as, for example, career success at a young age. Primarily for this reason, we lean towards the biographical research method as one of the significant options suitable for researching the career path of young successful workers.

The last method used in career development research is ethnography, which we also excluded from the suitable methods for researching the career path, because in this approach, it is about describing the culture of a group of people, their values, attitudes, norms, and language (Hendl, 2005), which does not align with the goals and orientation of investigating the life course of workers who achieved career success at a relatively young age.

3 Suitable Methods for Researching the Career Path

Biographical Research (Case Study)

A case study implies greater depth in the issue being researched. Based on our considerations and findings, for the purpose of researching the career path of young successful workers, the most suitable method is a case study focused on investigating events, roles, and relationships (Hendl, 2005) present in the course of an individual's life, and simultaneously those that may have influenced their future career success.

Therefore, we are moving towards biographical research, which focuses on the individual's internal perspectives, interactions in the social context (in career path research, primarily school and family), and experiences in various roles throughout life (Hendl, 2005).

At the same time, by comparing cases and biographies, patterns of life paths can be found. This is when we speak of a collective case study, through which we gain not only deep insight into the issue but can also propose an entire theory (Stake, 1995), which gives us significant room in an issue that is under-researched.

Example of Biographical Research in Career Development Research

An interesting example of the application of the biographical research method is the study by Bloom (1985) and his research team. Through interviews with individuals who achieved success in their field (arts, sports, science), they investigated what factors present during their lives positively influenced the development of their talent and relationship to the field in which they succeeded, focusing primarily on influences in the context of the family, school, and extracurricular activities environment.

Grounded Theory

When considering a collective case study and proposing a theory concerning the career path of young successful workers, we further arrive at the possibility of applying grounded theory as a method for researching this issue. In the case of grounded theory, the research also aims to propose a theory, and this through data gathered by various data collection methods, selected as needed, appropriate for the research and the researcher's possibilities.

At the same time, we know that the grounded theory method is useful in applied research (Hendl, 2005), which is suitable for future career research that should benefit practice and the development of prerequisites for future career success from childhood onwards.

Example of Grounded Theory in Career Development Research

Bimrose, McMahon, and Watson (2015) applied the grounded theory method in research on women's career development throughout the lifespan. The goal of their research was to determine how the career stories of older women could influence practice and policy in career development, and possibly better support women's career development. Although the topic of their study is not entirely close to the issue for which we are seeking a suitable research method, the area is similar and equally our goal is to create a concept or theory that would provide, to some extent, a guide on how to develop individuals from childhood so that in adulthood they can more easily apply their talent and become successful.

4 Conclusion and Recommendations

The need to apply qualitative methods in the project "Career Path of Young Successful Workers" is significant because, given the project's goals, a quantitative approach would not provide sufficiently extensive data with adequate explanatory value (Rowan-Kenyon, Perna & Swan, 2011). Therefore, when evaluating approaches and individual methods, we chose the option of qualitative research and the methods of biographical research and grounded theory as the two most suitable for fulfilling the goals of researching the career path of young successful workers.

At the same time, we consider it very important to mention the need to ensure consistency in conducting qualitative research, so that this approach becomes increasingly accepted and results are considered credible. With an emphasis on research credibility, we plan to approach not only the research of the career path of young and successful individuals, but we also recommend this to every other qualitative researcher whose interest is, among other things, the development of applying the qualitative approach in research in psychology and other social sciences.

Mgr. Martina Urbaašek MBA The author is a doctoral student at the Institute of Applied Psychology, Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava. She is primarily engaged in work and organizational psychology, more specifically in career success, talented young managers/workers, the topic of their identification and subsequent development. The topic of her dissertation is the Career Path of Successful Young Workers, with the goal of identifying the key influences on the success of these individuals. In addition, she has been actively working in human and team management in various fields of business and entrepreneurship for several years. List of References

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