The Structural Dimensions of “Double-Qualified” Teachers’ Work Role Transition Competence and Its Generation Mechanism

Abstract

The competence to change work roles is a key factor for individuals in achieving a successful work role transition. In this study, we analyzed in-depth interview data of 31 “double-qualified” teachers and related teaching managers in higher education institutions using the grounded theory method and constructed a model of the structural dimensions of teachers’ work role transition competence and its generation mechanism. The model was also interpreted using work role transition theory, the Job Demand–Control–Support (JDCS) model, and employee learning theory. The research results show that the work role transition competence of teachers in higher education institutions is mainly composed of four dimensions: old role detachment, psychological adaptation, new role cognition, and resource reserve capacity; the four factors of work role demand (initiation factor), role breadth self-efficacy (internal contextual factor), social support (external contextual factor), and individual learning (direct factor) follow the theoretical logic of “demand–context–learning–competence” to influence the formation of work role transition competence. This study enriches and expands the theory of work role transition, which can help teachers in higher education institutions to effectively apply it in their work role transitions and can help higher education institutions to further improve the corresponding norms of human resource management practice.

1. Introduction

For teachers in higher education institutions, the term “double-qualified” refers to “teachers who can teach both theory and practice” [1]. It is a typical localized concept for teachers in the field of vocational education in China [2]. “Double-qualified” teachers play a pivotal role in promoting the higher development of vocational education in China and are highly valued by the Chinese government. The “Implementation Plan for Deepening the Reform of the Construction of ‘Double-Qualified’ Teacher Teams in Vocational Education in the New Era”, issued by the Ministry of Education and four other departments, states that “building a high-quality ‘double-qualified’ teacher team is a fundamental task for accelerating the modernization of vocational education. The shortage of ‘double-qualified’ teachers and teaching teams has become a bottleneck restricting the reform and development of vocational education [1]. Therefore, helping teachers become “double-qualified” is a hot research topic, and a difficult issue for both practitioners and academics.

Based on an examination of the connotations of the growth of “double-qualified” teachers from the perspective of individual professional adaptability, we consider that becoming a “double-qualified” teacher is essentially a work role transition from being a non-“double-qualified” teacher to being a “double-qualified” teacher. A work role transition refers to a change in an individual’s employment status and job content [3]. After joining a higher education institution, the job content of new teachers from other industries fundamentally changes and the employment status of new teachers who recently graduated from a university changes. The demands of work increase and the nature of the work changes for teachers of theoretical courses who were solely engaged in theoretical teaching or were solely teachers of practical courses with practical training. Therefore, for all non-“double-qualified” teachers, becoming a “double-qualified” teacher is a change in their work role.

From an organizational perspective, some studies suggest that higher education institutions should motivate teachers to change their roles by strengthening quality education, establishing quality communities, realizing “quality as performance”, and promoting a “management philosophy of enjoying work” [4]. This undoubtedly ignores the subjective initiative of the individual as an “actor” in the change in work role and has made it difficult for previous research to answer the question of why the role change from teacher to “double-qualified” teacher in higher education institutions leads to some teachers performing less well than others. Some studies have concluded that individual competence is an important factor in facilitating successful work role transitions. For example, in nursing, the competencies of experienced nurses can ease more aspects of a work role transition than those of novice nurses, who may be more susceptible to negative impacts, such as mood swings [5]. In project-based and project team management models, project members face the challenge of transitioning from functional to management roles [6]. This requires project members to manage a “dual role” and to be able to quickly switch between the two [7]. Scholars refer to this competence of adapting to the process of work role transitions as “work role transition competence” [8,9]. It can be argued that work role transition competence is also a key factor in the successful transition from a non-“double-qualified” teacher to a “double-qualified” teacher.

However, researchers have paid little attention to work role transition competence. Its definition and connotation are not yet clear, and there is a lack of research on its antecedent influences and generation mechanism. Quantitative measurement is an essential part of the process of transforming management experience into management science to further guide practice, and the establishment of conceptual ideas is a fundamental part of conducting quantitative measurements as well as an important step in establishing the legitimacy of a concept [10]. Therefore, in this study, we explore the structural dimensions of work role transition competence and its formation mechanism through an analysis of interview data in order to expand and enrich the existing theoretical and applied research on work role transitions.

2. Literature Review and Concept Definition

2.1. Literature Review

Early research focused more on what a work role transition entails and on its impact. The work role transition was seen as a transitional process. An individual’s career is made up of one work role after another [11]. There is a transition between exiting a past role and entering a new one [12]. This transition process is known as a work role transition. Nicholson (1984) described this process as Replication, Absorption, Determination, and Exploration [13]. It has also been argued that individual work role transitions conform to a four-stage evolutionary logic of role expectation, role empowerment, role perception, and role behaviour [14]. In terms of impact outcomes, both organizations and individuals are impacted by work role transitions. Work role transitions are potentially critical events in the development of individuals and organizations [13]. They have a significant impact on an individuals’ performance, effectiveness, abilities, aspirations, and wellbeing [15]. For example, in addition to work role transitions, there may be a person–environment mismatch, and the corresponding adjustment can have a “double-edged sword” effect; though it might increase role innovation for some people, this effect can also lead to frustration and an intention to leave [16]. Work role transitions from individual entrepreneurs can even affect the development of corporate innovation [17].

How to achieve work role transitions has been a focus of research in recent years. Some studies first focused on the intrinsic connection between the old and new work roles, for example, editors should be transformed into book product planners, book image designers, and active participants in marketing [18], and TV cultural program hosts should become communicators of the program’s deeper intentions and cultural values [19]. A work role transition means that individuals need to break away from the influence of the behavioural patterns and psychological characteristics of the previous role and develop a set of behavioural patterns and psychological characteristics required by the other role, with a view to better achieving the tasks assigned in the new role [20]. Work role transitions usually involve individuals having to adapt to the demands of new work roles [21]. The process of adapting to a new work role comprises two main forms: personal adaptation to the demands of the environment and manipulation of the environment to meet personal needs [13]. The factors that influence this adaptation include role novelty, role ambiguity, role conflict, role load, internal factors such as discretion, and external factors such as family; personal factors are less frequently considered [22]. Organization and environmental factors, such as corporate management situations, can have an impact on individual work role transitions [17]. To achieve a work role transition requires organizations to provide adequate development opportunities and multi-dimensional policy support [23], as well as even higher-level coordination and support among various policies and systems [24]. As research progresses, researchers have found that the individual subjective initiative, involving, e.g., personal traits, has an important role in the process of work role transition [17]. The presence or absence of a role conflict in individuals during role transition is related to psychological well-being and the efficiency of behavioural activities [20]. In the role transition phase, individuals may face dilemmas such as connotation deficit, role dissonance, and distance blockage [9], and fall into mental stress involving, e.g., confusion and anxiety [20]. When faced with multiple role conflicts, strengthening “role awareness” and “role learning” can effectively reconcile some of these conflicts [25]. In addition, changing ways of thinking and means of working promptly can also be beneficial in achieving a work role transition [26]. From the perspective of competence formation, reinforcement, learning, and change all aim to enhance individual competence. Thus, some scholars argue that it is the work role transition competence that is the key factor in the process of work role transition [7,8,9]. However, current research has not yet explored in depth how work role transition competence is conceptually defined and what factors are included in the structural dimension. Therefore, it is necessary to build on existing research to strengthen the understanding and definition of the connotation and composition of work role transition competence and to construct a systematic model of the structure and mechanism of work role transition competence.

2.2. Concept Definition

In this paper, work role transition competence is operationally defined as a set of relevant capabilities that help an individual himself/herself to achieve success during work role transition, such as “status passages” [27], intra- and inter-organizational mobility, changes in job content, and new employment [3]. It is important to note that, although they are both intended to explain the issue of “adaptability” in an individual’s career, there is a fundamental difference between work role transition competence and career adaptability in the field of career studies. For instance, career adaptability refers to an individual’s readiness to cope with predictable career tasks, the career roles in which they are involved, and unpredictable career problems in the face of a career change or career situation, and it is seen as a core competency that integrates the various career roles of the individual [28]. Secondly, the authors of this study propose a cross-sectional concept of work role transition competence, which is oriented towards the current career environment and is based on solving realistic career problems in the process of work role transition, as well as a vertical concept of career adaptability, which is oriented towards solving future-oriented development problems, such as preparing, planning, and exploring one’s career in the context of one’s career development [29]. Finally, the authors of this study propose that work role transition competence is composed of specific competencies related to role disengagement, role perception, and resource reserve capacity. The structural dimensions of career adaptability are composed of psychological resources, such as the four dimensions (concern, responsibility, curiosity, and confidence) proposed by Savickas et al. [30], or they are composed of personality traits, such as the eight dimensions proposed by Hamtiaux et al. (resourcefulness, creativity, cultural, interpersonal, learning, physical, stress tolerance, and uncertainty) [31]. During the transition to a new work role, individuals will face real work problems but may lack the necessary psychological resources or personality traits [29]. Therefore, there is a great need to develop a conceptualization of work role transition competence based on real-life occupational situations of work role transitions, and to further expand the boundaries of individual work role adaptation research.

3. Research Methodology and Research Design

3.1. Research Methodology

Theoretical concepts whose connotations and extensions are unclear or still controversial are more suitable for qualitative research, especially when based on a grounded theory approach [32]. Grounded theory is a qualitative research method that builds a theory of empirical information [33]. The method is based on interviews and other means of obtaining primary data, which are then decomposed, compared, and summarized in several levels of coding before being refined into substantive theories or conceptual hypotheses. As such, it is well suited to studies that lack theoretical explanations or where existing theories have insufficient explanatory power. As mentioned earlier, work role transition competence is a relatively new concept that is missing a relevant theoretical research base. Therefore, in this study, we adopted a grounded theory approach to explore the elements of the structure of work role transition competence and its formation mechanism and to construct a theoretical framework for the structure of work role transition competence through theoretical sampling, data collection, data coding, and conceptual refinement.

3.2. Theoretical Sampling

Theoretical sampling is the purposeful selection of samples based on the need to construct a theory [34], thus allowing researchers to better use chance events. For the objectives of this study, interviews were conducted with teachers who were familiar with the characteristics of vocational education in China and who had obtained a “double-qualified” teaching qualification that was awarded by the government’s education department. To increase the reliability and validity of the interview data, interviews were also conducted with relevant teaching administrators, including the administrators of the university’s teacher development center, the dean of the second-level college, and the deputy dean in charge of teaching. The number of people interviewed was not initially set, and the basic principle of data saturation was adopted. All categories were fully developed in terms of attributes, dimensions, and forms of change at a given point in the analysis, and no new information was provided by the newly drawn sample [33]. The total number of interviewees in this study was 31. The age of the interviewees was between approximately 33 and 55 years, and 17 (54.8%) of them were male, 14 (45.2%) were female. Twenty-six (83.9%) had a master’s degree or above and five (16.1%) had a bachelor’s degree. There were 27 “double-qualified” teachers, accounting for 87.1%, and 4 relevant managers, accounting for 12.9%; there were 26 teachers with senior titles, accounting for 83.9%, and 5 teachers with intermediate titles, accounting for 16.1%.

3.3. Data Collection

The authors of this study mainly used semi-structured in-depth interviews as the main method of data collection, supplemented by the distribution of open-ended interview questionnaires. Face-to-face interviews were conducted if convenient for interviewees, and open-ended interview questionnaires were sent to interviewees who were out of town via QQ or email. Before conducting in-depth interviews, we first invited three teachers that we knew well to conduct pre-interviews according to the initial interview outline, and we then revised and improved the outline based on the first interview data and suggestions from the interviewers. The finalized interview outline included the following: (1) interview outline for teachers—please talk about how you transformed into a “double-qualified” teacher in the light of your own experience. What were the main difficulties you faced in the process? How did you manage to overcome these difficulties? What were some of the events that impressed you during this process? (2) interview outline for managers—in the light of your management experience, what do you think teachers should do to become “double-qualified” teachers? What difficulties do teachers face in this process? What can teachers do to overcome these difficulties?

After a formal interview outline was established, one-to-one semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 20 interviewees, and the remaining 11 interviewees used an open-ended interview questionnaire. Each interview lasted between 30 and 60 min. The interviews were conducted with the aim to collect the most comprehensive information possible about work role transitions. In all cases, the interview process began with the interviewees describing their own experiences and focused on giving examples when answering the interview questions. Where appropriate, we used follow-up questions to dig deeper into points of information that might be relevant to the ability to change roles at work. The interviews were audio-recorded with the consent of the interviewees, and all audio files were converted into text and recorded on a computer within 24 h of the interview, resulting in a final interview profile of over 130,000 words. The researchers randomly selected 23 raw interview text files for data analysis, and the remaining 8 raw files were used to test for theoretical saturation.

3.4. Data Analysis

The data analysis was conducted by strictly following the category induction and model building steps for grounded theory, using back-to-back coding to conceptualize and categorize the textual material. Consistency checks were conducted after coding was completed, and controversial concepts and categories were removed and revised through co-researcher discussions, in order to avoid coding results being influenced by coders’ subjective tendencies as much as possible, thus ensuring the reliability and validity of the study.

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Open Coding

Open coding is the process of coding, labeling, and logging original qualitative data word by word to generate initial concepts and discover conceptual categories [35]. The researchers read the initial content of all of the interviews multiple times. Then, the researchers selected 520 original statements related to work role transition competence and used sentence-by-sentence coding to extract the initial concepts. Under the basic principles of merging similar or similar initial concepts and eliminating contradictory concepts or those that appeared less than twice, 110 initial concepts were finally obtained, and 21 categories were formed based on the internal links between the initial concepts. The results of the open coding of the initial concepts, categories, and corresponding source materials are shown in Appendix A.

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Spindle Coding

Spindle coding is used to discover potential logical links between categories and to develop a main category and its sub-categories [36]. The aim of this study was to explore the content structure of work role transition competence and the mechanism of its generation. Therefore, by categorizing the interrelationships and logical order of the different categories at the conceptual level through spindle coding, eight categories of primary category relationships were obtained, namely: work role demands, social support, individual learning, role breadth self-efficacy, old role disengagement, psychological adjustment skills, power of new role awareness, and resource reserve capacity. The connotations of the relationships between the sub-categories and the main categories are detailed in

Table 1. Master categories formed through spindle coding.

Main Category	Corresponding Categories	Relationship Connotations
Work role demands	Workload	Job demands are indirect factors that trigger the ability to change job roles. They consist of a combination of workload, work time, competency needs, and knowledge and skill needs. Workload determines the demands of work time, individual competencies, knowledge, and skills. Having strong work competencies, knowledge, and skills facilitates a reduction in individuals’ work time and reduces the pressure of work role demands.
	Working hours
	Capacity demands
	Knowledge and skill demands
New role awareness power	Role perception	New role awareness is a dimension of the ability to transition into a work role. It includes the knowledge and understanding of a role’s behavioral norms, the correct perception of the self and role status, and the ability to establish realistic and clear work role goals.
	Self-assessment
	Role goal planning
Old role disengagement	Old role attachment	Role detachment is a dimension of the ability to change roles at work. By detaching from old role attachments and identifying with new role identities, one can truly psychologically embrace the role change and develop the ability to change work roles.
Psychological adjustment skills	Negative emotions	Psychological adjustment is a dimension of the ability to change work roles. During the transition period, individuals need to effectively manage negative emotions that come with changing roles, such as confusion, resistance, and struggle, and develop positive emotions that actively adapt to the change.
	Positive emotions
Resource reserve capacity	Role network construction	The ability to change job roles also includes the ability to build a network of relationships for the new role; to actively maintain existing networks; to be aware of, grasp, and use favorable resources; and to effectively transfer learning and prior experience to the new role, thereby reserving resources for the new job role.
	Access to resources
	Network maintenance
	Knowledge and experience transfer
Social support	Instrumental support	The instrumental, informative, and emotional support provided by supervisors, colleagues, partners, organizations, etc., together constitute social support. Social support is one of the facilitating conditions for the generation and development of the ability to change work roles.
	Informative support
	Emotional support
Role breadth self-efficacy	Role change confidence	A positive sense of role breadth self-efficacy can be developed by dispelling self-doubt associated with job role transitions, resisting undesirable influences, persisting with change, and building confidence in being competent in the new role. Role breadth self-efficacy is one of the conditions that facilitates the ability to change job roles.
Individual learning	Learning guarantee	Having clear learning goals and plans, choosing the right learning style, and ensuring that time and energy are spent on learning are all essential to ensuring that individual learning is effective. In the learning process, new knowledge and skills can only be effectively absorbed if one is truly embedded in the learning situation, participates in real-life projects, conducts in-depth seminars, maintains an active learning mindset and perseverance, expands one’s thinking about learning, accepts new things, and reflects on one’s understanding. Individual learning is a prerequisite for developing the ability to change work roles.
	Level of participation
	Knowledge absorption

.

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Selective Coding

Selective coding is based on open-ended and spindle coding, where primary sources, concepts, categories, and relationships between categories are constantly analyzed and compared to identify the main categories that overlap with other categories and to describe a whole range of phenomena based on the developed categories, relationships, etc. [37]. A “storyline” is then used to describe the phenomena and the conditions of behavior. Once the “story line” has been completed, a new substantive theoretical framework is developed. After repeated analyses and comparisons, we identified the core category of “structural dimensions of teachers” for work role transition competence and its generative mechanism in higher education institutions, around which the “story line” can be summarized as follows: corresponding to the structural dimensions of work role transition, competencies include the ability to detach from the old role, the ability to adjust psychologically, the ability to recognize the new role, and the ability to reserve resources. Teachers’ work role transition competence is influenced by a combination of work role demands, individual learning, social support, and role breadth self-efficacy. Additionally, based on the logical relationships established between the codes of influence on work role transition competence in the open coding process described above, and by combining the different concepts and categories to which these codes belong, the authors of this study constructed a conceptual model of the structural dimensions of work role transition competence and its generative mechanism, as shown in Figure 1.

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Theoretical Saturation Test

A theoretical saturation test is an identification criterion that determines when researchers can stop sampling—generally until the point at which no additional data can be obtained to further develop a category [38]. The textual content of the eight interviewees set aside was coded and analyzed to test for theoretical saturation, and the content of the data still reflected the structural dimensions of the “double-qualified” teachers’ role transition competence, and no new categories and relationships were found [39]. Therefore, the theoretical model can be considered to be saturated. An example of a theoretical saturation test is shown in Appendix B.

4. Results and Discussion

4.1. Structural Dimensions of “Double-Qualified” Teachers’ Work Role Transition Competence

Work role transition theory suggests that the journey between work roles is described as the process of moving out of a previous role and into a new one [12]. Based on the logic of this process, it can be further subdivided into four stages. In sequential order, these are: “disengagement–adaptation–shaping–preparation”. In the detachment stage, the main objective is to detach from attachment to the old role; in the adaptation stage, the adverse emotions associated with detachment from the old role are managed and the new role is psychologically accepted and identified with; in the shaping stage, after psychologically identifying with the new role, the correct perception of the self and the new work role is made, so that realistic and clear work role goals are established; in the preparation phase, after the self has shaped the new role, the appropriate resources are prepared to carry out the work under new work rules, goals, and tasks. As can be seen, the problems that need to be solved in each stage of the transition to a new work role do not converge, and the competencies required to solve them are different. The four stages of the transition, namely, the ability to disengage from the old role, the ability to adjust psychologically, the ability to recognize the new role, and the ability to reserve resources, together constitute the competencies for the transition to a new work role. This is explained in more detail below.

Firstly, work role transition competence includes the ability to disengage from old roles. Transitioning from a previous job to a new job requires detachment from the previous work role [12], especially after a sustained psychological attachment to the previous work role has been formed [21]. This is especially true after a sustained period of psychological attachment to the previous role because the emotional connection to the previous work role can hinder adjustment to the new work role [40]. Therefore, actively releasing attention from thoughts and behaviors associated with the previous work role can buffer the negative consequences of attachment to it [40], a process defined in this study as old role disengagement.

Secondly, work role transition competence also includes the ability to psychologically adjust. There is often a psychological and behavioral adjustment gap between the old and new roles in the process of transition, and there are bound to be psychological and behavioral inconsistencies between the old and new roles before an employee adapts to the new role [41]. The psychological characteristics of this inconsistency are feelings of discomfort, such as anxiety [42], doubt, loss, confusion, and disorientation [43], and individuals need to have the psychological adjustment skills to cope with this discomfort during the process of transition. In this study, psychological adjustment refers to the ability of the teacher to control and adjust negative emotions such as anxiety, compulsion, depression, fear, and confusion, brought about by the change in work role, as well as to channel and cultivate their positive emotions.

Thirdly, teachers should have a new role awareness in the process of work role transition. In this study, new role awareness refers to the ability of teachers to correctly perceive themselves and the current situation of their new work role and to establish realistic and clear work role goals. Role cognition serves the functions of role image, role education, and role guidance. Correct role cognition can help individuals enhance their role awareness, recognize their status, power, and obligations, and strengthen their sense of ownership and responsibility [44]. There is a systematic bias in human cognition, and this biased cognition is usually a feature of natural selection [45]. Therefore, individuals need to overcome the systemic bias, try to correctly perceive the connotation and function of the work role, correctly assess the “role distance” between their real conditions and the conditions required by the new role, and then set work role goals that meet their needs to develop a sense of work role identity and form a “role preference” attitude. According to job identity theory, when an individual’s job is in line with his or her preferences for the job, the individual will find his or her job interesting and important and will develop stronger internal motivation and developmental behavior [46]. This leads to greater internal motivation and developmental behavior.

Fourthly, teachers also need to have the ability to reserve resources during the process of work role transition. In this study, resource reserve capacity refers to the ability of teachers to prepare appropriate work resources to adapt to the work tasks of their new role. According to resource conservation theory, individuals tend to conserve, protect, and acquire resources [47]. In stressful situations of adapting to a new work role, individuals actively construct and maintain their current stock of resources [48], such as information, equipment, and opportunities for cooperation with others. Access to these resources is first and foremost linked to the individual’s network connections. The more informal network connections an individual has, the more information and resources he or she will have access to [49]. Therefore, in transitioning to a new work role, teachers need to actively build and maintain networks of teams, leaders, colleagues, and peers from which they can access information, learning funds, and other resources. Furthermore, to meet the new challenges and demands of a new job, individuals need to acquire new knowledge and skills, mainly through learning [50]. Teachers must, therefore, be able to effectively transfer prior work experience and the knowledge and skills acquired through learning to internalize the competencies and skills needed to perform the tasks of the work role. The ability to construct and maintain network access to appropriate resources, as well as to transfer knowledge and experience, is referred to as resource pooling in this study.

4.2. Mechanism for Generating Work Role Transition Competence for “Double-Qualified” Teachers

The Job Demand–Control–Support (JDCS) model explains the mechanisms of job stress and focuses on the learning effects of stress, with the “learning hypothesis” suggesting that high-demand, high-control situations lead to active learning [51]. At the same time, according to the employee learning theory, individuals who learn actively can effectively improve their capabilities [52]. Therefore, by combining the JDCS model and employee learning theory, the authors of this study found that the integrated “demand–context–learning–competence” model which is shown in Figure 1, can effectively explain the mechanism of teachers’ competence in work role transitions.

Firstly, individual learning (determined by factors such as learning security, level of participation, and knowledge absorption) is a direct factor in the generation of competence for work role transitions. Individual learning refers to the active behavior of individuals in acquiring new knowledge, skills, and competencies in the course of their work [53]. Adaptation to new roles, e.g., “personal change” and “role innovation”, is related to learning [54]. The results of learning in the context of work role transition are a clarification of the new role’s definition, better integration into social networks, and, ultimately, a change in professional identity [55]. For example, new teachers moving from a student role to a professional role need to observe and learn from their colleagues’ specific approaches to their professional roles in order to effectively build new and harmonious interpersonal relationships [56]. For a “veteran” teacher in a new work role, there is also a need to learn the knowledge and skills required for the new role. The learning gained from training is the subject of learning transfer [57]. This can be seen in some of the representative views of the interviewees, e.g., A23: “Professional teachers need to keep abreast of the latest professional and technical knowledge and developments and keep learning to continuously improve their professional practice”, and A6: “You can absorb a lot of things in the process of communicating with them”.

Secondly, work role demands (determined by factors such as capacity needs, knowledge and skill needs, workload, and working hours) are indirect factors and initiators that drive teachers to generate work role transition competence because they stimulate active learning behaviors that lead to competence generation. According to the JDCS model, individuals actively learn skills and knowledge to meet the challenges posed by the demands of the job and to solve problems at work [51]. Entering a new work role often means new task requirements (A28: “When you arrive at school you find that doing projects is very different from teaching students”), new knowledge and skills (A8: “As a ‘double teacher’ I need to have industry knowledge”), new competencies (A2: “You have to organize the students themselves and have some organizational skills to guide them”), etc. The changing demands of the work role and the objective differences between the old and new roles create the need to learn new tasks [55]. In stressful work situations arising from the demands of the new work role, teachers build up their knowledge and skills through adaptive learning (A28: “There are aspects of pedagogy and psychology in the process that we have not been exposed to before, although we can record them through our learning”). However, when the work demands generate too much work pressure (e.g., workload overload and too many working hours), teachers will give up learning, making it difficult to form the appropriate work role transition skills and, ultimately, to successfully realize the work role transition (A6: “I have no way to delve into something, there is simply no time to delve into how to do this lesson well”; A9: “Some teachers may have internal pressure …he doesn’t want to be challenged”).

Third, social support (determined by factors such as informational, instrumental, and emotional support) is an external contextual moderator that drives the generation of work role transition competence. Social support moderates the impact of work demands on individual learning. Adequate systems and leadership support motivate teachers to be more proactive in their learning, and encouragement from colleagues, platforms, and financial support provide teachers with direct access to the help and resources needed for work role transition competence (A14: “Teachers encouraged me by saying it’s okay, just go and practice more, practice always makes perfect”; A27: “We did a basic orientation with teachers first, and then they deepened towards that”). Conversely, without the appropriate social support, teachers’ motivation to learn will be frustrated, thus affecting capacity generation (A3: “Hanging exercise, if you don’t give any lesson time remission, and don’t give leave for anything”; A6: “Anyway, I think it’s pointless to say this kind of thing, the leader he only looks at performance”; A21: “If there is no system to guarantee that teachers have enough time and energy, that will also affect the effect”).

Fourth, role breadth self-efficacy (determined by the role change confidence factor) is an internal moderator that drives the generation of work role transition competence. In this study, role breadth self-efficacy refers to an individual’s perception of their ability to perform a broader and more proactive set of work tasks beyond the prescribed technical requirements [58]. According to social cognitive theory, self-efficacy is a key determinant of how people search for and acquire new skills and determines the amount of effort and persistence that individuals put into overcoming difficulties and accomplishing goals [59]. Therefore, in the process of work role transitions, teachers’ role breadth self-efficacy can directly affect learning outcomes (A9: “If I am a teacher before I learn to master a skill, at this time one is my lack of motivation and the second is my lack of confidence”; A26: “Why should I work so hard to learn an additional craft?”). It also affect teachers’ behavior in stepping out of the old role’s framework to take on challenges (A5: “They were all thinking I’ll just do my lesson, I’ll just do what you’ve set me to do on the line”) and teachers’ resilience in shaping their job role goals (A6: “At the beginning people questioned what the point was, but I just kept thinking I’m on the right track”).

5. Conclusions and Discussion

5.1. Research Findings

The authors of this research identified the unique connotations of the concept of work role transition competence through a comparative study. Primary data obtained from in-depth interviews with 31 “double-qualified” teachers and related teacher managers were coded and analyzed using a grounded theory approach to explore the structural dimensions of teachers’ work role transition competence and the mechanism of its generation. The study revealed that the entire transition period can be divided into four sub-stages: “disengagement–adaptation–shaping–preparation” and the main target needs of each sub-stage. For each sub-stage of the main target requirements, work role transition competence consists of four competency structures: the ability to disengage from the old role, the ability to psychologically adapt, the ability to recognize the new role, and the ability to reserve resources. Work role demands, social support, individual learning, and role breadth self-efficacy are the main antecedent variables that influence the development of teachers’ work role transition competence, following the theoretical framework of “demand–context–learning–competence”. Work role demands, individual learning, and social support are the initiating factor, direct factor, and external contextual factor, respectively, for the development of work role transition competence.

5.2. Theoretical Implications

This study may have several theoretical implications.

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This study breaks away from and extends established theories of work role transitions. Previous work on role transition studies has mainly been focused on cross-industry [60] and transition patterns [61], with no consideration of the factors of individuals themselves [22].The authors of this study developed the concept of work role transition competence from the perspective of individual competence, and they explored the structural elements of work role transition competence and its generation mechanism with a sample of “double-qualified” teachers in higher education institutions, expanding the research boundary of work role transition theory and providing a new theory for the study of “how to successfully achieve work role transition”.

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The results of this study further clarify the conceptual content and structural features of work role transition competence. The success of a work role transition is highly personal and multifactorial [62]. In recent years, many scholars have identified work role transition competence as one of the most important influencing factors in successfully adapting to new roles [8,9]. However, previous research has been focused on work role transition competence in a relatively fragmented manner, and its definitions and connotations are not yet clear. The authors of this study defined and discerned the operationalization of the concept of work role transition competence, clarified its definitional connotations, and used a grounded theory approach to construct a complete structural dimension of work role transition grounded theory, thus laying the foundation for future research in this direction.

(3)

A model of the role of antecedent variables of work role transition competence was constructed based on the JDCS model and employee learning theory, providing a theoretical framework for subsequent research. Previous studies have only been sporadically focused on the role of competence in work role transition [7,63]. Furthermore, there is a lack of in-depth research on the mechanism of generating work role transition competence, and no logical relationship has been constructed between the antecedent and causal variables of work role transition competence. The authors of this study integrated the JDCS model and employee learning theory, and they constructed a model of the influence of antecedent variables on the development of work role transition competence based on the logical framework of “demand–context–learning–competence”, which compensates for the shortcomings of previous studies and provides a systematic theoretical framework for subsequent studies.

(4)

This study is an echo of more qualitative research in the field of organizational behavior (OB) for theoretical construction in China. In recent years, qualitative interview research in the field of OB has received increasing international attention, with the number and quality of studies growing and improving [64]. The number of qualitative studies in the OB and HR disciplines in China is still relatively small [65]. For this reason, scholars have called for a shift towards empirical research as the most legitimate methodological orientation and the use of more diverse research methods to study Chinese management practices [66]. The present study is part of this trend of theoretical inquiry.

5.3. Practical Insights

The findings of this study have positive implications for management practice.

(1)

The structure of work role transition competence explored in this study helps teachers to more objectively and accurately view their work role transition, as well as to apply it in practice. At the first level, teachers will be more aware of the importance of leaving their old roles as soon as possible; at the second level, they will be more aware of and able to manage their negative emotions and to develop positive motivation to change their roles; at the third level, they will be more open to the goals of their new roles; and at the fourth level, they will be more proactive in developing their relationship networks and laying the foundation for the effective use of resources. Awareness and effort at these levels will help teachers achieve faster and more successful work role transitions.

(2)

The model of work role transition competence developed in this study can also help higher education institutions further improve their human resource management practices. According to the study, individual learning is the main driving force of the ability to change work roles, but work role demands, individual self-efficacy, and social support also have important influences. Therefore, in practice, in addition to actively encouraging and motivating teachers to take the initiative to learn, higher education institutions should also further improve the corresponding human resource management practices to stimulate teachers to generate and strengthen their work role transition competence. For instance, more effective communication with teachers can be used in terms of job design and other aspects to form appropriate pressure that can stimulate active learning, forming a situation conducive to teachers’ perceived support in terms of the development platform, work funding, information support, and system construction, as well as building an atmosphere in terms of organizational culture and leadership style that allows teachers to feel respected and accommodated.

5.4. Research Limitations and Future Research Directions

Despite provoking some enlightening ideas, due to the complexity of the subject and the limits of the data, the study also has the following shortcomings: (1) The interviewees were all teaching staff of higher education institutions, so the representativeness of the research sample needs to be enhanced. In China, teachers occupy a kind of institutional work role while enterprise employees occupy an extra-institutional work role. There may be differences between the two different work roles in terms of requirements for individual mental ability, among other factors. Consideration could be given to conducting interviews in more enterprises in the future to improve or revise the findings of the study. (2) When adopting grounded theory, the theoretical model and structural dimensions explored inevitably contain a degree of subjectivity and need to be further validated by quantitative studies with large samples. In the future, quantitative research should be conducted with large amounts of sample data to test the impact and mechanism of the action of job role transition competence, combining qualitative and quantitative research to enhance the reliability and validity of the research findings.