Narrative inquiry documents ‘… a segment of one’s life that is of interest to the narrator and researcher’ (Girden, 2001). It entails ‘… the symbolic presentation of a sequence of events connected by subject matter and related by time’ (Scholes, 1981). The narrative inquiry approach facilitates documenting stories that are contextually rich and temporally bounded. The contextually rich concept suggests that those events, which are experienced first hand, are the ones that are most vividly remembered (Tulving, 1972). As Swap et al. (2001) suggest, employing an approach where research participants relate stories about their personal experiences ‘… would be more memorable, be given more weight, and be more likely to guide behaviour’. (Swap et al., 2001). The second concept, temporally bounded, suggests that narratives should have a beginning and an ending, along with a chronological description of intervening events. Research suggests that the sequential aspect of relating events contributes to the appropriateness of the narrative (Bruner, 1990; Czarniawska-Joerges, 1995; Vendelo, 1998).

Narrative inquiry has been employed to investigate behavioural science (Rappaport, 1993), fiction and film (Chatman, 1978), and strategic management (Barry and Elmes, 1997). It has been employed to investigate various aspects of information systems by Boland and Day (1989), and Hirschheim and Newman (1991). Further, Hunter and Tan (2001) employed narrative inquiry to identify the major career path impacts of information systems professionals. They interviewed a number of information systems professionals at various stages of their career to determine why these individuals changed jobs. In order to ground the discussion in the research participants’ personal experiences, individual résumés were employed as the main instrument to guide the interview and to elicit the narratives. The résumé was employed to assist research participants to reflect upon their work experiences and report these experiences in a sequential account of events as they transpired throughout their careers. The résumé approach has been used previously in information systems research (Young, 2000). The résumé is readily available and an untapped source of data (Dex, 1991), as well as acting as a milestone reference to assist human memory recall (Baker, 1991). While the résumé was used to guide the interview, the next paragraph describes a generic technique upon which the interview was organised.

The long interview technique (McCracken, 1988) may be used in association with narrative inquiry. During the course of the interview research participants were asked to reflect upon past work experiences. Initially, ‘grand tour’ (McCracken, 1988) questions were asked. These questions are general in nature and non-directive in manner, allowing the research participant to specify much of the substance or perspective of the interview. With reference to the research participant’s résumé, questions were asked that focused the discussion on activities of the current position, why the research participant found the current position attractive and why the research participant left a previous position. This process was followed in reverse chronological order, employing the research participant’s résumé as a guide to sequential dates. The discussion continued through the dates until the time of initial entry into the information systems profession. Throughout this section of the interview, ‘floating prompt’ (McCracken, 1988) questions were asked. The nature of these questions depends upon the content of each interview and, generally, relate to the researcher’s decision to pursue a thread of discussion in more detail. Specific, or ‘planned prompt’ (McCracken, 1988) questions were asked near the end of the interview in order to address issues gleaned from the literature or previous investigations.

The objective of this research project was to document the factors surrounding job changes among a number of information systems professionals at various stages of their careers. It was anticipated that analysis of the interview data would help to identify and categorise events surrounding career path changes and career advancement. The results of this research have provided a more thorough understanding of the events within an individual’s career path, which have resulted in the research participant’s current social positioning within the occupational community. Finally, trends have been identified that indicate the more beneficial aspects relating to career advancement for information systems professionals. Suggestions have been made for the information systems professional, the organisations that employ these individuals, and societies to which information systems professionals may belong.

Based upon the transcripts of the interviews, common themes were identified. These themes represented two common trends for the profession. First, the information systems professionals interviewed tended to associate more closely with the profession than with a specific organisation. Second, there was an increased desire to remain current with technology and to have experience with the leading edge technologies. Hunter and Tan (2001) were able to provide recommendations and suggest implications for various stakeholders, including information systems professionals, and organisations.