Spotlight on identity construction among professionals transitioning to an emerging occupation

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Abstract The contemporary work environment is characterized by frequent transitions throughout an individual’s career. A relatively recent trend concerns established professionals relocating in newly emerging occupations. Despite the extensive research conducted on the construction of professional identity, there is still a dearth of knowledge regarding how occupational identity is formed. The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the process through which professionals (re)construct their occupational identity when making a career transition to an emerging occupation. Drawing on twenty-seven interviews with professionals in the accounting and law enforcement fields who have transitioned to the emerging antifraud occupation, we explore how they navigate tensions between different aspirational, professional, and expected identities, and how they employ strategies to establish or blur boundaries to define their emerging occupational identity. This study offers a deeper understanding of the process by which a coherent occupational identity is constructed and shaped by interaction between multiple identities. This research contributes to the literature on career transitions by developing a more nuanced understanding of the occupational boundary strategies that professionals employ to construct a coherent occupational identity during a career transition. Further, our study underscores a pivotal concern regarding the maintenance of professionalism as professionals move into nascent occupational roles. In such circumstances, the definition of occupational identity may be less clearly delineated, and the establishment of rule-setting may be primarily determined by the organization’s management, thus curtailing the autonomy traditionally associated with professionalism.