Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Pages: 83-101

Journal: Journal of Vocational Behavior

Volume number: 105

ISSN: 0001-8791

eISSN: 1095-9084

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.10.010

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 
Trying to re-establish their lives in a host country, refugees face multiple integration barriers in relation to work and society. This study, derived from 31 semi-structured interviews with refugees residing in Germany, explores how these barriers also threaten refugees' fundamental identity needs for worth, distinctiveness, continuity, and control. Faced with such threats, refugees tried both to protect their previous identities and/or to restructure them to adjust to their new situation. Findings also highlight identity threat jujitsu to both support refugees' identity protection and create better connections between themselves and their environments. Further, we point to resourcing as a form of buffering potential future hardships. Finally, both refugees' resourcing and coping with adversity were related to the potential for psychological growth. This study offers new insights into how transition experiences impact refugees' personal and career related growth in the new country.

Harvard Citation style: Wehrle, K., Klehe, U., Kira, M. and Zikic, J. (2018) Can I come as I am? Refugees' vocational identity threats, coping, and growth, Journal of Vocational Behavior, 105, pp. 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.10.010

APA Citation style: Wehrle, K., Klehe, U., Kira, M., & Zikic, J. (2018). Can I come as I am? Refugees' vocational identity threats, coping, and growth. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 105, 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.10.010