Mind the Setback! Enacted sensemaking in young workers’ early career transitions

Setbacks at career transitions can have an enduring impact on how people enact their subsequent careers. Drawing enacted sensemaking perspective, we examine the micro-mechanisms of choice and navigation with without a setback experience. Empirically, conducted 42 interviews Austrian apprentices compared through abductive analysis. We found that overcoming setbacks outset careers engaged in more deliberate sensemaking, leading them to aspirations expectations associated thriving growth. Conceptually, present model during transitions, showing lead different kinds possibilities within space. Contributing literature, further show continues shape individuals’ awareness possibility beyond