ABSTRACT
Striving for biographical consistency is a constituent of ‘identity’. In relation to the world of work, research suggests that individuals are generally able to integrate diverse and conflicting work experiences into a coherent self-image. However, when employees encounter fundamental structural changes that imply the redefinition of their professional profile, job tasks and the skills they identify with, their work identities are being challenged. Drawing on results of qualitative empirical investigations with nurses in Germany and the UK, the chapter explores how nurses sought to create work identity continuities when changing their job or redirecting their career, thereby negotiating over their job profiles and skill portfolio in search of stabilising their professional identity, which has been challenged against the restructuring processes the nursing sector underwent in the past. While nursing has been of ongoing academic and practitioner interest, staff shortages and problems of retaining qualified nurses have made HRM a prominent issue for nursing. Exploring individuals’ strategies of creating work identity continuities provides insight into their motivations to stay in the profession, or to disengage and move on.
