Document Type
Theses, Ph.D
Disciplines
5.2 ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS, Business and Management.
Abstract
This study investigates the career development journey of highly skilled Nigerian, Ghanaian, Kenyan and Tanzanian business postgraduate migrants in Ireland, focusing on the interplay among learning experiences, systemic barriers, and career shocks. Drawing on Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), Situated Learning Theory (SLT), and Career Shock (CS), the study examines how self-efficacy develops through participation in Communities of Practice (CoPs) and how resilience enables skilled migrants to overcome shocks as they progress from education to employment in a Global South to Global North context. It further explores the transfer of knowledge acquired in Ireland to the migrants’ home countries. The study integrates a gender-informed perspective, addressing the overlooked intersection of skilled migration, learning processes, and career integration. Adopting a qualitative phenomenological approach, the study explores the career narratives of thirty-five postgraduate business migrants from four Sub-Saharan African countries where English is an official or co-official language who are now in full-time permanent employment in Ireland, using semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Data were analysed thematically to identify learning mechanisms, the role of CoPs in career development, and strategies for navigating career shocks. The findings indicate that CoPs function as adaptive spaces that help migrants overcome systemic barriers, rebuild self-efficacy, and transition successfully into the Irish professional business domain. This research contributes to the scholarship on skilled migration by uncovering the significant role of informal, migrant-led learning communities in career transitions from the Global South in the Global North. It also extends the growing literature on career shocks by showing how self-efficacy facilitates career resilience (CR) to overcome such shocks. The study also identifies systemic barriers, pointing to the need for policy interventions that support the career transition of highly skilled migrants.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/df0q-t959
Recommended Citation
Adeniji Oseni, Rasidat Adedayo, "Exploring Career Development Through Situated Learning Experiences of Highly Skilled Business Postgraduate Migrants" (2025). Doctoral. 68.
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/busdoc/68
Creative Commons License
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