Table 2

Analytical process of the holistic-content narrative analysis

PhaseDescriptionOutcome
1. Initial reading and identification of core patternsRecognizing the recurring issues, events and strategies as core patterns. Discussing and refining these collaborativelyCore patterns
Training and competing
Committing career
Work community
(Compromises to) civilian life
Individualism and entrepreneurialism
Sport system
2. Coding the core patterns, forming the focal areas and themesStarting an NVivo project. Coding the core patterns and grouping similar together to form focal areas that capture key narrative emphases, focusing on “positive” and “negative” career perspectives. Merging similar focal areas into themes through iterative comparison and discussion12 focal areas6 themes
Psyche and stressMental and physical demands
Competing and training
Meaning of workSignificance of career and achievements
Succeeding and merits
Sociocultural capitalProfessional life
Total commitment
Home and familyPersonal life
Life beyond sports
Work communitySystematic demands
Federations and organizations
Entrepreneurial activitiesIndividualistic mindset
Individualism
3. Interpretation of tensionsMoving between the themes, initial core patterns and research question to find the “so what” of the findings. “Contradicting” pairs of themes are merged as tensions6 themes3 tensions
Mental and physical demandsTension of performance
Significance of career and achievements
Professional lifeTension of identity
Personal life
Systematic demandsTension of work economy
Individualistic mindset
4. Revisiting theoretical ideas with interpreted tensionsGoing back to theory and linking the tensions to the career sustainability dimensions (time, person, context) to strengthen theoretical robustnessTensions with the knots between different career sustainability dimensions
Source(s): Authors’ own work

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