Article
Shu-Chin Fu1, Kuo-Hua Chen2,*
1 Department of Education and Future Design, Doctoral Program in Foresight for Educational Leadership and Technology Management, Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan
2Department of Education and Futures Design, Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract
Global aging is transforming career development from a linear process to a transitional phase of identity deconstruction and reconstruction, rather than a definite end to life. This study first examines how international research frames post-retirement futures, constructs a knowledge structure map through bibliometric analysis, and interprets it using a future-oriented framework. Narrative–Structural Mapping (NSM) is utilized to transform thematic clusters into interacting structural and narrative forces. Drawing on Jim Dator’s Beyond Identities concept, this study explores the transition from a solid, predictable labor market to a fluid, non-linear transformation characterized by continuous identity negotiation. We employ futures methodologies to identify the key drivers of social and environmental change, to build four scenarios for the fluid identities/ liquid careers of Taiwan’s retired white-collar professionals in 2035. These scenarios demonstrate that a liquid career is not merely continued employment or re-employment, but an evolving process of narrative becoming that supports the reshaping of post-retirement identity. Further, this study extends the radical-change scenario through 2045, in which retirement becomes a lived human practice grounded in liquid identities, intergenerational co-creation, and an ethic of care for oneself, the community, and the planet.
Keywords
Liquid Retirement, Fluid Identity, Second Career, Alternative Futures
Introduction
Influenced by global environmental change and rapid technological advancement, retirement is no longer the final stage of life, but is increasingly reconsidered as a key entry point for rethinking work–retirement–future. Recent reports by the United Nations and the World Health Organization (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2023; World Health Organization, 2021) note that rapid population aging, longer life expectancy, and declining fertility rates are accelerating the reconsideration of retirement systems. Beginning a second career is not only an extension of income or skills, but also a way, through self-awareness, to find methods of reshaping identity within a constantly changing social environment, allowing accumulated professional and life experience to be expressed in personally and socially meaningful ways (Froidevaux & Hirschi, 2015).
In Taiwan, policies such as the Middle-aged and Elderly Employment Promotion Act (Ministry of Labor, 2024) have laid a foundation for reemployment among older adults, yet these policies are largely based on labor market logic and rarely address deeper needs such as retirees’ subjective agency, life experience, and identity transformation; similar conditions appear in global lifelong learning policies (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2020). Under this background, the urgency of developing second careers can be understood, and it becomes necessary to combine existing research with analytical perspectives to respond to long-term future change. However, this article does not view continuing to work as the ultimate goal of later life; rather, it considers a second career as a possible pathway within a broader set of post-retirement development paths. As a future-oriented aging strategy, retirement policy should go beyond short-term labor market responses and incorporate long-term considerations—such as autonomy, meaning, generational responsibility, and care for both oneself and the planet (Inayatullah, 2003)—into the contemplation of a preferred post-retirement future.
Futures studies emphasize understanding the long-term structural forces behind change (Miller, 2018) and exploring multiple possible futures (Inayatullah, 2008); it can provide a critical and forward-looking analytical framework that prompts reconsideration of the possibilities of second career development and the educational context under different scenarios in an aging society. In his 2022 book, Beyond Identities: Human Becomings in Weirding Worlds, legendary futurist Jim Dator challenges the traditional notion of identity as a fixed, static destination. Dator argues that in an era of global weirding and rapid technological acceleration, we must shift our perspective from human beings to human becomings. This research adopts Dator’s notion and argues future shock isn’t just about new gadgets; it’s about the collapse of the self after retirement. Current investigations should move beyond financial pension models to address the identity work required in an era of perpetual transition. The perspective of liquid retirement invites us to stop trying to find ourselves and instead start designing our becomings. The final section of this paper explores possible scenarios of a meaningful post-work life in Taiwan
Objectives and Research Questions
Taiwan officially entered a super-aged society in 2025, and in the foreseeable future, a large number of retired white-collar professionals will emerge, possessing rich professional knowledge and experiential capital. For them, life after retirement no longer means withdrawal from work, but a stage in which personal identity can be reshaped through learning, social participation, and the exploration of second career development. Current research literature indicates that second career transitions often involve processes of identity reconstruction and transformative learning (Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010; Mezirow, 2009).
Although existing studies have accumulated substantial empirical findings and theoretical discussions, they have not been systematically integrated into a body of knowledge capable of supporting reflection on long-term future possibilities. Therefore, applying futures research methods together with the analytical perspective of second career studies is particularly important for exploring multiple possible development paths beyond current institutional or labor market issues. To address this gap, this study reviews and integrates existing international literature on second careers through bibliometric analysis, and introduces futures-oriented analytical methods, transforming the constructed knowledge structure into a basis for examining future development pathways. Ultimately, this study proposes alternative futures for understanding post-work life transformations among retired white-collar professionals, while also reconstructing the fluid identities within specific cultural and institutional contexts.
Within the context of a futures-oriented research context, this study addresses the following three research questions:
Q1: Based on the accumulation of international literature, what are the major thematic configurations and knowledge orientations that characterize research on second careers among retired professionals, and how do these configurations together shape the field’s underlying knowledge structure?
Q2: Building on this identified knowledge structure, how can the possible development paths of second careers among retired white-collar professionals be reinterpreted through a quantitative bibliometric analysis method?
Q3: Utilizing futures research methodology, how do these qualitative reinterpretations reframe the notion of liquid retirement as an evolving and contested futures field across alternative scenarios? And what is the preferred narrative of identity flexibility-the ability to pivot between roles without a fixed occupational anchor?
Theoretical Framework
Retirement is no longer the end: Viewing a second career as a sustainable occupational state
Driven by accelerating population aging and a continually restructuring labor market, retirement is no longer a single exit event in life, but is increasingly redefined as a transitional career state that is extended, interpreted, and reshaped over time (Coile, 2015). Changes in population structure and accumulated institutional pressures have made the boundary between work and retirement increasingly blurred. Retirement is not a withdrawal from paid work, but a key point for rethinking occupational roles and forms of social participation (Higo & Khan, 2015).
Recent international literature, based on this definition, has gradually strengthened the use of the concept of second career to explain how retirees continue to adjust or redesign subsequent occupational participation after leaving their original positions (Hoffmann, 2018). For retired white-collar professionals with rich knowledge and professional capital, existing research lacks a coherent analytical perspective that integrates these diverse development trajectories to explain how, under changing structural conditions, they extend, reorganize, and transform second careers. Based on this gap, it is necessary to move beyond descriptive accounts and towards a more integrated and forward-looking understanding of second careers as an evolving career state.
Identity transformation and action experimentation: Psychological and narrative mechanisms shaping second-career pathways
To understand how white-collar professionals initiate and sustain new occupational actions after retirement, it is difficult to explain solely from structural or institutional conditions. However, from a futures-oriented perspective, how individuals reinterpret their identities, envision future possibilities, and attempt different modes of action gives rise to the emergence of second career pathways. Mezirow’s (1991) theory of transformative learning examines this micro-level dynamic change, viewing it as a key framework for understanding how second careers are initiated through processes of self-awareness and critical reflection. When individuals face the life-turning point of retirement, reflection on socially given assumptions and prior career narratives prompts them to reinterpret their situation, and adjust the direction of future action.
Ibarra (2003) extends this perspective, further emphasizing that identity transformation is not a single decision, but an ongoing process shaped by experimental actions. Individuals need to try different roles, participate in new learning environments, and test different self-narratives to gradually construct a new professional identity. Chen and Hoffman (2017) also discuss: “our own story about the future determines what actions we will take in the present in order to shape our own futures.” (p. 44). This process-oriented view is particularly important for understanding how retired white-collar professionals explore and shape post–second-career pathways.
Conceptualizing retirement as a symbolic transformation of identity also appears in recent research (Bordia et al., 2020). The result suggests that conceptualizing the second career individual’s imagination of the future self plays a decisive role in subsequent career choices and possible actions. Drawing on Dator’s (2022) Beyond Identities, second career pathways are viewed as a shift from inherited roles to fluid, self-designed futures. It indicates that action experimentation—testing provisional selves through low-stakes trials—functions as a vital psychological mechanism for navigating transition.
At the same time, narrative foresight further explains how these provisional selves are supported by shifts in stories, metaphors, and worldviews (Milojević & Inayatullah, 2015). This narrative mechanism is not only an individual cognitive process, but can also be reinforced through interpersonal relationships and collaborative support. Houston (2022) further shows that such inner narrative work is strengthened through relational conditions such as trust, dignity, psychological safety, and supportive questioning. For fluid retirement, this suggests that identity reconstruction after retirement is not just an internal psychological adjustment, but also a relational practice of future planning. This behavioral data is then synthesized through narrative mechanisms, which bridge the gap between past and future selves. By moving beyond fixed professional personas, individuals utilize these recursive loops to maintain continuity amidst flux, transforming career change from a singular event into an ongoing project of evolutionary self-construction.
Consequently, in this study, the second career is understood as a dynamic evolutionary process involving identity experimentation, narrative reconstruction, and continuous learning, rather than a fixed outcome. However, whether these processes can develop into viable and sustainable career pathways depends not only on individual agency, but also on whether existing learning environments and institutional arrangements can recognize, support, and advance these emerging narratives and actions forward.
From identity transformation to institutional succession: Structural conditions enabling lifelong learning and education for older adults
Identity transition and career re-engineering are not solely driven by individual psychological motivations, but are deeply influenced by institutional learning opportunities and mainstream life narratives. The long-standing linear work-retirement mindset has prevented the professional knowledge and experience accumulated by retirees from being recognized within the formal education system. This disconnection between experiential learning and institutional certification makes it difficult to transform career-accumulated experience into competency capital recognized by educational and labor institutions, limiting retirees’ mobility and visibility in second careers (Richards, 2018). From a long-term perspective, these institutional arrangements not only reflect existing norms, but also shape career paths that can be envisioned, legitimized, and sustainably developed after retirement.
Current research on education for the elderly and lifelong learning largely focuses on health promotion and leisure participation, with little attention paid to second careers or career development. This orientation limits the design of learning systems and fails to meet the needs of retirees to enhance their re-employment and identity continuity capabilities (National Taiwan Normal University Sustainability Development Center, 2024). Morris (2018) also indicates that traditional vocational education and training models have structural limitations in cultivating self-directed learning and adaptability. The diverse career backgrounds and transition needs of retirees are also not adequately considered in many lifelong learning and career development programs (McLean, 2016). In contrast, self-directed learning combined with digital technology can offer a more flexible and open learning path, enabling retirees to try different roles and reinvent themselves in various situations. However, formal digital and online courses typically require learners to have certain computer skills and knowledge, which poses a certain barrier (Vareberg & Platt, 2024; Nycyk, 2015).
However, this forward-looking learning practice is limited to individual experimentation; institutional concepts and policy designs for higher education and career transition programs have not yet been integrated into the learning system. The gap between identity shift and institutional inheritance constitutes a key structural problem, which determines whether emerging career transition paths can be stabilized, scaled up, and sustainably developed, ultimately becoming a viable future development direction.
Theoretical integration: Toward a dynamic career regeneration field of structure, psychology, and institutions
This study attempts to conceptualize the second career of retired white-collar professionals as a dynamic and continuously reconstructed career regeneration process rather than a fixed or linear transition. It unfolds within a multi-level field shaped by the interaction of structural conditions, psychological mechanisms, and institutional arrangements. This field encompasses the macro, meso, and micro levels—population aging, labor market restructuring, and retirement systems operate at the macro level, where ongoing changes redefine the social status of retirement, viewing it as a transitional stage whose future characteristics are diversity and contestation (Coile, 2015; Higo & Khan, 2015); individual reflection, role experimentation, and narrative reconstruction exist at the micro level. These actions enable individuals to transform themselves into proactive agents, shaping the future through action and influence, using their vision of the future to change present problems, actively responding to macro-level changes, and reshaping their professional identity and direction (Mezirow, 1991; Ibarra, 2003; Bordia et al., 2020; Chen & Hsu, 2020). While the education system and lifelong learning mechanisms regulate the interaction between the two (macro and micro) at the meso level, and whether accumulated professional experience can be transformed into legitimate learning and career resources, is the most central aspect (Richards, 2018; Morris, 2018; McLean, 2016).
The three interrelated levels together constitute a dynamic field of career regeneration in which structure, psychology, and institutions continuously interact, facilitating or constraining the emergence, stabilization, and transformation of second-career pathways. This integrative framework provides a theoretical basis for diverse development paths and the future possibilities of second careers, and possibility is shaped by evolving configurations of knowledge, agency, and institutional support. Therefore, understanding the second career development of retired white-collar professionals cannot rely solely on predetermined outcomes or linear transitions; it should recognize that this process is shaped by the ongoing interaction of structural conditions, personal meaning-making, and institutional arrangements, occurring within a dynamic field that produces diverse and contingent development paths over time.
Current theoretical studies have already offered important insights into the interaction among the three, yet systematic guidance is lacking regarding the future possibilities of second career development for retired white-collar professionals—how accumulated research knowledge can be re-examined and systematically incorporated into the field of career regeneration under continuously changing conditions of population structure, education, and the labor market. This also highlights the value of an integrative research approach, which treats existing knowledge as a starting point for futures-oriented reinterpretation rather than an endpoint.
Research Methodology
Research design and futures orientation
This study adopts a futures-oriented, theory-driven research design to reinterpret international literature on the second careers of retired white-collar professionals. The aim is not to predict specific career outcomes, but to treat the future as a space of possibilities shaped by changing structural conditions, institutional arrangements, and personal career narratives. Within this perspective, futures methods are used as interpretive and analytical tools to revisit existing knowledge, and to examine how dominant research directions may enable or constrain alternative development paths. Academic literature is therefore approached not only as a record of past findings, but also as a repository of implicit assumptions about possible career futures. From this standpoint, bibliometric analysis is combined with futures methods to transform the constructed knowledge structure into a basis for reflecting on future possibilities, and exploring its implications for lifelong learning and aging education.
Literature collection and bibliometric mapping
To construct an empirical foundation for the knowledge structure of second career research, this study systematically collected literature using the Scopus database. The included literature was limited to English-language, peer-reviewed journal articles and papers published between 2015 and 2025, covering the fields of social sciences and psychology. Firstly, the study used core keywords—second career/career transition, retirement, lifelong learning, adult education, identity/professional identity, older workers, age discrimination, white-collar workers, self-awareness, institutional support, and lifelong learning policy—to construct five sets of search strings. These were then filtered using Boolean logic, resulting in 273 articles as the core dataset for analysis. Secondly, based on this dataset, the study used bibliometric mapping to depict the thematic structure of research in this field. Then, VOSviewer (Van Eck & Waltman, 2010) software was used to analyze the article titles and abstracts, identify core concepts and their association patterns, and conduct keyword co-occurrence analysis. Through an appropriate frequency threshold (keywords appearing at least 5 times), the main topic groups and their associations were visualized, and finally, a structured overview was presented to show how second career research is organized and connected in existing literature.
Knowledge structure interpretation: Narrative–Structural Mapping (NSM)
Moving from descriptive bibliometric mapping to a futures-oriented interpretation requires an intermediate tool. This study adopts Narrative–Structural Mapping (NSM) as a methodological bridge linking the mapped knowledge structure to futures analysis. Rather than reclassifying the identified keywords and thematic clusters, NSM repositions them within a two-axis analytical space defined by structural and narrative forces, highlighting how different research orientations shape—and limit the imagination of second careers.
Within this framework, the horizontal axis represents structural intensity, including institutional arrangements, policy frameworks, and labor market conditions; the vertical axis represents narrative intensity, reflecting the degree of attention given to identity reconstruction, meaning making, and images of the future. The position of each cluster in this two-dimensional space is determined by aggregating the coordinates of its constituent keyword nodes across both dimensions and calculating a statistical centroid, which indicates the overall orientation of the cluster. This procedure ensures that the placement reflects a collective tendency rather than the influence of isolated or extreme keywords. Reference thresholds are also introduced to support interpretive distinctions between relatively dominant structural or narrative patterns and more moderate or hybrid ones. These thresholds function as heuristic aids rather than rigid classification boundaries, clarifying whether certain thematic clusters operate as more stabilizing elements in the literature or point toward more open and futures-oriented directions. Through this process, NSM translates bibliometric patterns into interpretable structural–narrative configurations, providing the analytical basis for the subsequent Futures Triangle analysis and scenario building.
Futures triangle
Based on the results of the narrative-structure mapping, this study further utilizes the futures triangle model to place the identified structural and narrative forces within a time frame. Introducing the time dimension, it reinterprets knowledge structures from the perspectives of past continuity, current dynamics, and future possibilities.
In the futures triangle model, forces with high structural strength and weak narrative orientation are interpreted as the burdens of the past, reflecting the historical inertia inherent in institutional arrangements and established professional norms. Forces in the middle position are understood as the driving forces of the present, representing the continuous driving factors for maintaining or adjusting current second-career practices. Conversely, forces with strong narrative orientation and relatively weak structural constraints are seen as the pull forces of the future, attracting emerging actions, aspirations, and imaginations related to second-career development.
Scenario building
Based on the Futures Triangle model, this study constructs four analytical scenarios within the spatial and temporal frame of Taiwan in 2035. Each scenario reflects a different configuration of the weights of the past, the push of the present, and the pull of the future in shaping the development of second careers among retired white-collar professionals.
In the no change scenario, historical forces remain dominant, and existing institutions together with prevailing career narratives largely hold steady. The marginal change scenario reflects a limited present push, where structural inertia continues to restrict the extent of adjustment. The adaptive change scenario shows a balance between present push and future pull, allowing the system to respond to emerging identities, learning needs, and more flexible forms of career practice. Finally, the radical change scenario is driven by a strong future pull that rethinks and reorganizes existing structures, positioning second careers as a central arena for reshaping professional identity and social roles.
Research Findings
The knowledge structure of second-career research
Analysis of the knowledge structure of second career research, based on 273 publications retrieved from the Scopus database, shows that while the field of retirement and second careers has formed a recognizable structure, notable differences remain within its internal knowledge landscape. Using VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence analysis, 56 core keywords were identified and grouped into six thematic clusters according to their relational strength, forming a research structure that is interconnected yet distinct in orientation. For clarity, these clusters are named identity reconstruction (Figure 1, purple cluster), career transition dynamics (Figure 1, dark blue cluster), longevity learning loop (Figure 1, red cluster), gendered career arena (Figure 1, green cluster), narrative meaning-making (Figure 1, light blue cluster), and extended workforce participation (Figure 1, yellow cluster). These names are interpretively assigned to ensure conceptual consistency across subsequent analytical stages.
The keyword co-occurrence network (Figure 1) shows that topics related to retirement, older workers, lifelong learning, and labor participation occupy central positions, with dense connections both within and across clusters. These themes are mainly concentrated in the longevity learning loop and extended workforce participation clusters, which focus on institutional arrangements and labor market conditions shaping participation in second careers. The gendered career arena functions as a cross-cutting dimension linking structural conditions—such as age discrimination and labor market dynamics—with differentiated career experiences. By contrast, themes related to identity change, meaning-making, and career transformation appear more clearly in the identity reconstruction, identity processes, and narrative meaning-making clusters. Although located toward the periphery, these clusters remain connected to the institutional core.
Fig. 1: Keyword co-occurrence network visual diagram
Cross-observation of the overlay visualization (Figure 2) and density visualization (Figure 3) further supports this core–edge configuration: structure- and institution-oriented clusters display higher density and earlier temporal markers, indicating more established knowledge domains, whereas identity- and narrative-oriented clusters show more recent temporal distributions and lower integration density, suggesting emerging but less consolidated research orientations.
Fig. 2: Keyword co-occurrence overlay visual diagram
Fig. 3: Keyword co-occurrence density visual diagram
Narrative–structural mapping (NSM)
Based on the core-periphery knowledge structures identified through bibliometric analysis, NSM reinterprets six thematic clusters—Identity Reconstruction, Career Transition Dynamics, Longevity Learning Loop, Gendered Career Arena, Narrative Meaning-Making, and Extended Workforce Participation—as configurations of structural and narrative forces, rather than simply thematic groupings. To highlight how literature constructs, stabilizes, and reimagines second careers, NSM transforms the observed differences between institutional cores and narrative peripheries into a mapping analysis space. The horizontal axis represents structural strength, reflecting the relative impact of institutional arrangements, policy frameworks, and labor market conditions; the vertical axis represents narrative strength, reflecting identity and meaning construction, and an emphasis on futures-oriented imagination.
Cluster locations are derived by aggregating the 56 keyword nodes and calculating the cluster center points within this dual-axis space (Figure 4). The reference line at 0.6 on both axes serves as a conceptual threshold for identifying configurations where structural or narrative forces become analytically salient. Instead of relying on a numerical midpoint, this threshold is calibrated to differentiate clusters in which one force exerts a dominant organizing influence from those characterized by more hybrid or balanced dynamics.
The NSM analysis results reveal significant differences in the configuration of second career themes. Clusters closer to the structural axis are primarily associated with institutional continuity and established employment frameworks, while clusters with higher narrative intensity emphasize identity reconstruction, learning processes, and reinterpretations of futures-oriented careers. Some clusters occupy intermediate positions, indicating a mixed configuration of institutional conditions and the interaction of narrative subjects. In summary, these patterns show that second-career research encompasses multiple structure-narrative configurations, providing an explanatory basis for examining how different forces contribute to continuity, adaptation, and transformation in subsequent future analyses. These configurations will be further explained according to futures-oriented forces—the weights of the past, the driving forces of the present, and the pulling forces of the future—as initially shown in Figure 4, and systematically examined in the Futures Triangle analysis below.
Fig. 4: Narrative–Structural Mapping (NSM) of Second-Career Research Based on Six Thematic Clusters
Futures triangle analysis
Based on the narrative-structure configuration identified by Narrative-Structure Mapping (NSM), knowledge structures are reinterpreted as a temporally coexisting force using the Futures Triangle model. Clusters are no longer static themes; they are repositioned as the result of a dynamic interaction among past pressures, present impetus, and future pulls, clearly depicting how the interplay of institutional structures and narrative imagination shapes the second career paths of retired white-collar professionals.
In clusters with relatively high structural strength but medium or low narrative orientation, extended labor force participation is interpreted as the gravity of historical accumulation. They reflect enduring institutional logic, including retirement systems, labor market expectations, productivity-oriented professional norms, and formal lifelong learning systems, clearly showing that second-career paths remain firmly rooted in historically accumulated structures.
Clusters situated between the structural and narrative dimensions, such as gendered career fields, longevity learning cycles, and narrative meaning construction, are related to current driving forces, reflecting ongoing socio-demographic and policy-driven pressures, including rapid population aging, labor shortages, evolving gender norms, and the expansion of lifelong learning programs. They demonstrate adaptive responses within the existing system, in which institutional change and the construction of personal meaning begin to interact, but remain constrained.
In contrast, clusters with high narrative intensity and relatively weak structural embedding, particularly identity reconstruction and identity processes, are seen as future pulls, reflecting emerging imaginations centered on identity renewal, psychological transformation, flexible life trajectories, and autonomous meaning construction. In their current positions, futures-oriented second careers are increasingly shaped by personal narratives rather than predefined institutional paths.
Figure 5 visualizes these three time-oriented forces as a relational structure, highlighting how different clusters occupy different positions in the structural-narrative space. This structure suggests that a single dominant logic does not determine second career development; rather, it stems from a constantly shifting balance among institutional constraints, socioeconomic pressures, and narrative imagination.
By combining the New Narrative Structure Model (NSM) with the Futures Triangle Model, the integrated model bridges knowledge structures and futures possibilities, providing an analytical foundation for the subsequent construction of distinct second-career development scenarios.
Fig. 5: NSM-Based Futures Triangle of Second-Career Development
Note. Adapted from “Six pillars: Futures thinking for transforming,” by S. Inayatullah, 2008, Foresight, 10(1), p. 8 (https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680810855991). Copyright 2008 by Emerald Publishing Limited.
2035 Retired White-Collar Professionals in Taiwan: Four Futures Scenarios
Based on the futures triangle, this study employs scenario analysis to examine the influence of the past, the push forces of the present, and the pull forces of the future. It constructs four different scenarios within the social context of Taiwan in 2035 to explore the second career development paths for retired white-collar professionals. Through the interplay between structural transformation and narrative reshaping presented by these three forces, this study employs the Change Progression Scenario Method to construct four future scenarios: no change, marginal change, adaptive change, and radical change. Developed by Milojević and Inayatullah based on the Futures Triangle theory (Milojević & Inayatullah, 2015; Milojević, 2023), the Change Progression Scenario Method differentiates future pathways according to their relative proximity to past influences versus their attraction toward a preferred future.
These scenarios collectively demonstrate that different balances between institutional continuity, policy-driven adjustments, and emerging identity perceptions, influence the future development path of second careers. This perspective enables us to systematically reflect on how changes of varying degrees affect the second career development of retired white-collar professionals. This understanding also prompts governments, institutions, communities, and individuals to consider how to promote and realize their desired futures (Figure 6).
Fig. 6: 2035 Retired White-Collar Professionals’ Second-Career Development in Taiwan—Four Scenarios
Note. Adapted from “Contextualising conflict: The futures triangle,” by I. Milojević, 2023, World Futures Review, 15(2–4), p. 126 (https://doi.org/10.1177/19467567231203160); and from “Six pillars: Futures thinking for transforming,” by S. Inayatullah, 2008, Foresight, 10(1), p. 8 (https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680810855991). Copyright 2023 by SAGE Publications; Copyright 2008 by Emerald Publishing Limited.
Scenario one: Time frozen—the myth of Sisyphus (No change)
Taipei, 2035. Mr. Lin, 93 years old, sat in his living room, watching his 65-year-old son, dejected and burying his face in his hands. Just days earlier, his son had retired from a high-level management position in a state-owned enterprise. Mr. Lin knew that even with a generous pension, his son was still resentful. The professional skills, experience, and connections he had accumulated in his career were now useless after retirement, leaving him feeling utterly helpless. A familiar look of pain flashed in Mr. Lin’s eyes, as if he were seeing his own retirement.
The same life trajectory repeats itself across generations. Society and institutions still follow a linear life path of work-retirement-exit from society. In this context, education for the elderly mostly focuses on health promotion, leisure activities, or social participation. Institutional designs for transforming professional experience into knowledge assets or second career opportunities are still lacking. The education system primarily serves the younger generation, and the knowledge and skills accumulated by retired professionals are difficult to reintegrate into the social cycle through institutionalized learning platforms.
In this world where time is frozen, retired professionals, like Sisyphus, repeatedly suffer the same fate. Time continues to flow, but society’s imagination of the second half of life has never truly moved forward.
Scenario two: The endless labyrinth—K’s hopeless pursuit (The Castle; Kafka, 1975) (Marginal change)
Kaohsiung, 2035. Ms. Huang, 70 years old, was a senior human resources manager. In the five years after her retirement, she has participated in various government-sponsored skills training programs for the elderly. From AI-assisted marketing to long-term care management, the courses were diverse, and policy promotion constantly emphasized the possibility of re-employment for the elderly. However, the lack of a clear institutional pathway prevented her from translating her learning into new career opportunities. She shuttled between different subsidy programs and short-term contracts, seemingly full of energy, but actually struggling to establish a stable role.
In this context, the government encourages retirees to continue learning through various subsidies and training courses. However, these elderly education programs are mostly focused on short-term skills enhancement, lacking coherence, and failing to integrate long-term accumulated professional experience. Elderly education has become a policy response mechanism to alleviate labor pressure brought about by aging, but the fundamental logic of the retirement system and career structure remains unchanged.
In this institutional environment created by elderly education that promises possible re-employment, Ms. Huang, like K in Kafka’s novel, constantly tries to understand the rules of the system in this labyrinth, but can never find a stable path to re-employment. Learning is no longer a path to new possibilities, but has gradually become a form of self-defense in the face of uncertainty.
Scenario three: The half-built bridge—Leap of faith (Adaptive change)
Taichung, 2035. Ms. Liu worked in marketing for forty years. After retiring at 65, she began consulting to build her personal brand. She gradually realized that Taiwanese society was in a transitional phase—traditional employment systems were becoming more flexible, forming new career models. This phenomenon led many retired professionals to rethink their personal identities and try diverse professional roles. In this transition, new learning platforms and knowledge communities emerged. Senior education shifted from simple skills training to helping retirees integrate their accumulated experience, networks, and tacit knowledge. Through intergenerational collaboration, professional communities, and digital learning platforms, they transformed their experience into new knowledge resources to explore the possibilities of a second career. In this context of adaptive change, institutional change remains weak, and support systems are not yet fully mature. Career transitions after retirement still rely on individual exploration and courage.
Most importantly, the deeper cognitive component requires her to bridge the gap between past self and future self through a coherent story. As Dator’s theory suggests, where traditional structures (like life-long tenure) dissolve, the burden of creating meaning falls entirely on the individual’s ability to narrate their own evolution. Ms. Liu stands on such an unfinished bridge: behind her lies the gradually crumbling old system, and ahead still lies an uncertain future. At this moment, Ms. Liu realized that the real path was not already paved, but rather that the future of her second career/fluid identity after retirement gradually emerged the moment an individual was willing to take that first step.
Scenario Four: The Unbounded Canvas—Everything Everywhere All at Once (Kwan & Scheinert, 2022) (Radical Change)
Nantou, 2035. Seventy-year-old Ms. Zhang sits in her home surrounded by mountains, discussing new cultural projects with global partners through holographic projection. Before retirement, she was a senior university professor; after retirement, she no longer remains confined to a single identity. She is an urban history researcher, a community learning mentor, and an art curator collaborating with young creators.
In this context of radical change, the social system is thoroughly overturned. Careers and identities are no longer limited to a single life stage, and the boundaries among work, learning, and creation become blurred, enabling individuals to shift and combine across different fields freely. The form of later-life education is also transformed accordingly. It is no longer confined to courses or training institutions, but evolves into an open learning ecosystem in which local communities, digital platforms, and intergenerational collaborative networks jointly form a continuously operating space of knowledge exchange. This allows people from different generations and professional backgrounds to co-create new knowledge and practices. Retired professionals can also freely connect different resources and create multiple versions of second careers.
Retirement becomes the opening of a new life stage and a fluid form of living. A second career is no longer the search for another job, but the continuous creation of self-designed versions of life. Past professional experience and age are no longer constraints; instead, they become materials for exploration and creation. At a deeper narrative structure, this transformation reflects a shift from fixed identity to narrative becoming. Ms. Zhang does not need to defend her past academic identity, nor does she need to abandon it to become an entirely new person. Instead, she regards her past career as one chapter within a larger life story, transforming accumulated experience into narrative resources, so that new provisional selves can be imagined, tested, and recombined. This inner transformation is relational. Ms. Zhang’s new roles are supported by communities that provide trust, dignity, psychological safety, and constructive reflection. In such an environment, retired professionals co-design their own futures with others.
Ms. Zhang’s story is precisely a microcosm of a broader and systemic transformation in the structural and narrative landscape of later-life development. To unpack the deeper context driving this radical transformation, Table 1 outlines the evolutionary process of retirement life among Taiwan’s white-collar professionals through the four dimensions of Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), analyzing how they move from the Unbounded Canvas of multi-role exploration in 2035 toward the fully realized and vital Human Practice of 2045.
Table 1: CLA-Based Preferred Futures of Taiwan’s Retired White-Collar Professionals, 2035–2045
| The Preferred Future for Retired White-Collar Professionals in Taiwan | ||
|---|---|---|
| CLA | 2035: Unbounded Canvas | 2045: Human Life Practice |
| Litany | • Retirement is a new fluid life stage
• Fluid identity and multiple roles •Blurred boundaries among work, learning, and creation • Transnational and intergenerational co-creation • Second career: self-designed life |
• Continuous rewriting of identity
• Practices of care become naturally integrated into everyday action |
| Systemic Causes | • Open learning ecosystem
• Multidimensional resource connection |
• Ethics of care embedded in institutional design
• Social ecosystems recognize and legitimize emerging identities • Supportive networks of trust-based communities • Mechanisms of shared social practice |
| Worldview | • Narrative becoming
• Liquid retirement |
• Ethics of care
•Life is an ongoing practice |
| Myth/ Metaphor | • The unbound canvas
Provisional self-recomposed dynamically • Everything everywhere all at once |
• A living, breathing human practice
• Ecosystem gardeners |
Note. Developed by the author based on Causal Layered Analysis (CLA), which examines futures through four layers: litany, systemic/social causes, worldview/discourse, and myth/metaphor (Inayatullah, 1998).
The extended scenario of radical change develops the concept of personal futures into a shared social practice—when the surrounding ecosystem recognizes their stories, supports their experiments, and grants legitimacy to their emerging identities, individuals can reshape the self. At the same time, in this radical-change future, even when work becomes flexible and creative, post-retirement identity will not be exhausted by work. Ms. Zhang’s later-life roles include not only cultural production and knowledge exchange, but also practices of care: caring for herself, others, and the community. Therefore, liquid retirement is not merely a new employment model, but becomes a way of mobilizing accumulated skills, relationships, and interests into a broader ethics of care for the self, community, and planet (Inayatullah, 2003).
At this point, self-life writing represents an ongoing practice of life. Ms. Zhang demonstrates retirement life in 2045, in which narrative becoming and liquid retirement are elevated into a living, breathing human life practice. It is not a single endpoint, but a process that continuously interweaves and recombines roles, relationships, meaning, and futures.
Conclusion
This paper aims to explore possible paths for the development of second careers/identity transformation among retired white-collar professionals based on existing international research literature. Applying a futures-oriented, theory-driven research design, core findings show that academic knowledge structures not only shape the development of research fields, but also, to some extent, define the scope of society’s imagination of future possibilities. Bibliometric analysis reveals an asymmetry in the knowledge structure of international literature—institutional and structure-oriented research occupies the core of the knowledge network. In contrast, research related to identity transformation and narrative meaning is relatively marginal. This reveals the focus of researchers’ attention, implicitly shaping the boundaries of society’s imagination of post-retirement career possibilities. When research has long favored institutions and labor participation, the individual’s need for identity reconstruction and meaning construction during retirement transition is difficult to emphasize in research and policy discussions.
By integrating bibliometric analysis and futures research methods, existing literature is repositioned as a positive cognitive construction, shaping the vision, legitimization, and pursuit of second careers among retired white-collar professionals. Through narrative structure mapping and the futures triangle model, four possible development paths for the second careers/fluid identity of retired white-collar professionals in Taiwan in 2035 are constructed, ranging from institutional continuation to complete transformation. The analysis reveals that a single trend cannot determine the path of self-designed alternative futures; rather, the dynamic evolution among institutional inertia, social push, and narrative imagination is the key driving force. Therefore, these scenarios are not merely possible outcomes, but also analytical tools, revealing how mainstream research directions and policy assumptions construct the realm of future possibilities.
This has significant implications for both academic research and practice. For researchers, this study suggests that, when examining second career literature, attention should be paid not only to its explanatory content, but also to what it reveals or conceals about future possibilities. For policymakers and educators, this indicates that addressing an aging society requires a futures-oriented learning ecosystem, rather than simply extending employment or postponing exit from the labor market. In this ecosystem, identity reconstruction, meaning construction, and institutional recognition become central to career development in later life. In this ecosystem, advanced education is reimagined as a transformative platform that enables retired white-collar professionals to translate their accumulated professional experience, tacit knowledge, and network capital into new forms of work, contributions, and social participation through mentorship, intergenerational collaboration, flexible learning pathways, and recognition of experiential knowledge. As a result, the emerging concept of liquid retirement not only becomes a support mechanism for adapting to a matured society, but also a competitive and productive future arena that allows people to explore, envision, and enhance an evolutionary post-work life path.
This study is situated within Taiwan as a specific research context. Taiwan’s cultural background, social organization, demographic transition, and economic conditions differ from those of many Western societies. Therefore, the scenarios developed in this paper do not simply apply Western assumptions about retirement, reemployment, or individual career choice to Taiwan’s society. Rather, they imagine a short to medium-term future in which retired white-collar professionals in Taiwan negotiate post-retirement possibilities through fluid identity and liquid career pathways. In the long-term future, retirement is no longer imagined only as a problem of later-life employment, but as a continuing practice of becoming, in which individuals and communities co-author new forms of care, meaning, and planetary responsibility.
References
Bordia, P., Read, S., & Bordia, S. (2020). Retiring: Role identity processes in retirement transition. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 41(5), 445–460. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2438
Chen, K.-H., & Hoffman, J. (2017). Serious play: Transforming futures thinking through game-based curriculum design. Journal of Futures Studies, 22(2), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.2017.22(2).A41
Chen, K.-H., & Hsu, L.-P. (2020). Visioning the future: Evaluating learning outcomes and impacts of futures-oriented education. Journal of Futures Studies, 24(4), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202006_24(4).0011
Coile, C. C. (2015). Economic determinants of workers’ retirement decisions. Journal of Economic Surveys, 29(4), 830–853. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12115
Dator, J. A. (2022). Beyond identities: Human becomings in weirding worlds. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11732-9
Froidevaux, A., & Hirschi, A. (2015). Managing the transition to retirement: From meaningful work to meaning in life at retirement. In A. De Vos & B. I. J. M. van der Heijden (Eds.), Handbook of research on sustainable careers (pp. 350–363). Edward Elgar Publishing.
Higo, M., & Khan, H. T. (2015). Global population aging: Unequal distribution of risks in later life between developed and developing countries. Global Social Policy, 15(2), 146–166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018114543157
Hoffmann, A. (2018). Purpose and impact: How executives are creating meaningful second careers. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351048941
Houston, C. (2022). Futures with Friends: The Birthing of Change. Journal of Futures Studies, 27(2), 61–69. https://doi.org/10.6531/JFS.202212_27(2).0007
Ibarra, H. (2003). Working identity: Unconventional strategies for reinventing your career. Harvard Business School Press.
Ibarra, H., & Barbulescu, R. (2010). Identity as narrative: Prevalence, effectiveness, and consequences of narrative identity work in macro work role transitions. Academy of Management Review, 35(1), 135–154. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.35.1.zok135
Inayatullah, S. (1998). Causal layered analysis: Poststructuralism as method. Futures, 30(8), 815–829. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-3287(98)00086-X
Inayatullah, S. (2003). Ageing: Alternative futures and policy choices. Foresight, 5(6), 8–17. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680310698793
Inayatullah, S. (2008). Six pillars: Futures thinking for transforming. Foresight, 10(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/14636680810855991
Kafka, F. (1975). The castle (W. Muir, E. Muir, E. Wilkins, & E. Kaiser, Trans.; Definitive ed.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1926)
Kwan, D., & Scheinert, D. (Directors). (2022). Everything everywhere all at once [Film]. A24.
McLean, G. N. (2016). Reflections on HRD’s and adult education’s roles in the retirement of HRD and adult education faculty. New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development, 28(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1002/nha3.20127
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow, J. (2009). An overview on transformative learning. In K. Illeris (Ed.), Contemporary theories of learning: Learning theorists… in their own words (pp. 90–105). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203870426
Miller, R. (Ed.). (2018). Transforming the future: Anticipation in the 21st century. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351048002
Milojević, I., & Inayatullah, S. (2015). Narrative foresight. Futures, 73, 151–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2015.08.007
Milojević, I. (2023). Contextualising conflict: The futures triangle. World Futures Review, 15(2–4), 122–132. https://doi.org/10.1177/19467567231203160
Ministry of Labor. (2024, July 31). Middle-aged and elderly employment promotion act [Government document]. Law Source Retrieving System of Labor Laws and Regulations. https://laws.mol.gov.tw/eng/EngContent.aspx?msgid=1074
Morris, T. H. (2018). Vocational education of young adults in England: A systemic analysis of teaching-learning transactions that facilitate self-directed learning. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 70(4), 619–643. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2018.1463280
National Taiwan Normal University Sustainability Development Center. (2024, August 13). 臺師大發表中高齡教育政策建議書：邁向精緻的中高齡教育設計 [NTNU releases policy recommendations for middle-aged and elderly education: Towards refined educational design for middle-aged and elderly education]. https://www.sdgs.ntnu.edu.tw/臺師大發表中高齡教育政策建議書-邁向精緻的中高/
Nycyk, M. (2015). Using a futures method to improve an older adult’s computer learning program: Lessons for a beginning futurist. Journal of Futures Studies, 19(3), 87–98.
Richards, C. (2018). Human lifecycle development and the experiential learning foundations of an integrated lifelong education framework. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 24(2), 250–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477971418808688
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. (2020). Embracing a culture of lifelong learning: Contribution to the Futures of Education initiative: A transdisciplinary expert consultation [Report]. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374112
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2023). World population ageing 2023 [Report]. https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/sites/www.un.org.development.desa.pd/files/undesa_pd_2024_wpa2023-report.pdf
Van Eck, N. J., & Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 84, 523–538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-009-0146-3
Vareberg, K. R., & Platt, C. A. (2024). Harnessing the wisdom of YouTube: How self-directed learners achieve personalized learning through technological affordances. Interactive Learning Environments, 32(10), 7141–7155. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2024.2307597
World Health Organization. (2021). Global report on ageism [Report]. https://iris.who.int/server/api/core/bitstreams/71ad96a0-d29a-4457-9d54-52029c24c76c/content