Celebrating Success – Professor Klaus Schoefer

Congratulations to Professor Klaus Schoefer (NUBS), and his co-authors Dr Marek Gnusowski (Poznan University, Poland), Dr Agnieszka Brzozowska (Warsaw University, Poland) and Dr Anders Wappling (Northumbria University),whose paper “Becoming Through Doing: Lived Experiences and Professional Identity Development in Marketing Students’ Industrial Placements”, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Marketing Education.

Abstract

The study explores the lived experiences of marketing students during year-long industrial placements, focusing on how these experiences contribute to professional identity development. Using a qualitative, phenomenological approach and an inductive thematic analysis of students’ reflective reports, the study shows that placements do more than provide opportunities to apply academic knowledge. Instead, they constitute a process of “becoming through doing”, in which students navigate workplace realities, reconstruct their self-understanding and gradually develop a professional identity. The findings identify five interconnected dimensions of professional becoming and highlight the importance of “reality checks”: disorienting but transformative workplace encounters that challenge students’ assumptions and stimulate personal and professional growth. The study concludes that professional identity development is often catalysed by informal and reactive learning rather than planned workplace activities and offers recommendations for business schools and placement providers seeking to support students through the transition from university to professional life.  (DOI: 10.1177/02734753261492729)