Toleman, Margret (2019) Exploring Voluntary Severance: Putting One’s Hand up to be made Redundant. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This qualitative study explores the experiences of women aged 60 years and over, formerly employed in a professional services capacity as administrators and professional staff in Australian universities, who opted for voluntary severance. Retirement is a significant life change associated with adjustments involving societal roles, income and daily routine adaptations. Research suggests retirement may benefit an individual’s psychological wellbeing. There is a paucity of qualitative studies relating to this sample and topic suggesting a gap in the literature. This study investigates the participants’ experiences of voluntary severance and how they make sense of their experience. The researcher approached one potential participant meeting the inclusion criteria, who subsequently consented to participate. Snowball sampling recruited five additional participants. Semi-structured interviews provided the data. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed by the researcher and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four major themes were identified: (1) The Working Woman, (2) The Time was Right for Savvy Women, (3) Putting One’s Hand Up: Seizing the Opportunity, and (4) On with Life’s Journey. Results from this study may be relevant to researchers in the area of workplace psychology. The researcher will forward to relevant employers any conclusions reached in this research that suggest universities can better prepare their employees for the voluntary severance process.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Jan du Preez |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) |
| Date Deposited: | 14 Nov 2025 02:12 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Nov 2025 02:12 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | voluntary severance; retirement; women; finances; interpretative phenomenological analysis |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52823 |
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