Navigating conflicting logics: Early or late(r) retirement in the German teaching profession?

Abstract

Drawing on the institutional logics perspective and life course theory, we explore conflicting logics related to retirement: early retirement versus late(r) retirement in line with extended working life policies. Using qualitative interview data collected in a multiple nested case study, we explore how secondary school teachers in a German School District conceptualise these conflicting logics in the context of factors at the micro-individual, meso-organisation and macro-policy level of analysis that enabled and/or constrained retirement transitions. We further explore teachers’ narratives to evaluate how they navigated these multi-level factors and whether they were able to control and/or plan retirement timing. Our findings indicate that conflicting logics were perceived similarly by the individuals in our study, but that they navigated these logics differently depending on existing experiences related to career proactivity and changes to professional identities. Using five narratives based on four extreme cases, we outline how individuals were able to use human agency when navigating factors that influenced their anticipated retirement transitions, but this was mostly seen as a strategic adaptation to their constraining external environment rather than rational choice.