A Model for Managers' Career Strategies in the Iranian Insurance Industry

This study aimed to provide a model for the career path strategies of managers in the Iranian insurance industry. The research method is qualitative in terms of the nature of the research and applied in terms of purpose. The Participants whose number was determined based on theoretical saturation are the insurance industry managers selected by systematic sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was performed using a data-based method. The results indicate the identification of causal conditions affecting career path strategies, including career path anchorages, objective and subjective career path plateaus; The main phenomenon in career path strategies, including networking, self-presentation, and interpersonal attractions; Background conditions and environment affecting career path strategies, including clarity of career path steps, costly view of education and gender; Interfering conditions affecting career path strategies such as job-to-job fit, meritocracy system, and job fit to individual interests; Strategies and actions affecting career path strategies such as human capital, communication and technical knowledge of individuals; The consequences of career strategies were such as recognition, independence and flourishing of the talents of insurance industry managers in Iran.
The career path is one of the key and important pillars of human capital because it is related to people's working lives and can play an essential role in the success of employees and organizations (Vos et al., 2021: 286). In this regard, career path management in a new approach is a tool for implementing human resources development programs to establish a balance between individual and organizational needs (Niri et al., 144:1400). In fact, career path management by providing a clear perspective creates conditions in which managers reach a balance between the formation of a psychological contract related to the development of the career path and job security in the path of agreement (Hirschi & Koen, 2021:115).
 In this regard, career path strategies are considered one of the most important topics in career path management. In recent decades, managers and employees have used career path strategies for career advancement and success. They consider themselves among their main work programs (Santos et al., 2019: 418). However, the concept of career path strategies, one of the important aspects of individual career path management, has received less attention in this industry. Based on this, it can be said that one of the research gaps in the development strategies of human resources in this industry is the examination of the strategies for the career advancement of managers with a new approach and considering today's highly competitive and challenging environment. With the investigations carried out in the existing literature in this field, it was found that no study has been conducted to explore the factors and fields affecting managers' career path strategies, and there is a theoretical and research gap in this field. The distinguishing aspect of this research from previous research is that the previous studies have either introduced different types of career path strategies or simply determined the type of strategy used and its effect on job behaviors and attitudes in a limited area. The current research seeks to explain a relatively comprehensive model of career path strategies, factors influencing their emergence, background conditions, mediators, and consequences of career path strategies in the insurance industry in Iran. Based on this, the main question of the research has been stated as follows: What is the career path strategy model of insurance industry managers?
Research According to the purpose, the current research is fundamental and applied and is based on the qualitative method of data-based analysis and the Strauss and Corbin method. It includes the three main stages of open, axial, and selective coding. The statistical population of the research includes all senior managers of the insurance industry in Iran who have five years of management experience. This research used the theoretical sampling method due to the foundation's data theorizing, and theoretical saturation was achieved after conducting the tenth interview.
In this research, the validity and reliability were checked with the criteria of validity, transferability, reliability, and verifiability. The results of these codes showed an overall reliability equal to 89%, which indicates an acceptable reliability.
Discussion and The analysis of the results showed that the causal conditions of this research included the effective factors on career path strategies. Meanwhile, the interviewees confirmed the anchors of the career path, which include the manager's preferences and interests in the field of work.
The first category: The main phenomenon: The main phenomenon in this research is career path strategies. According to experts, the most important strategy insurance industry managers use in their career path is networking. According to the experts, the second strategy that seemed important was to become a candidate or present yourself. The experts also agreed that a person's personality, passion, abilities, and skills can provide them with a better career path.
The second category, Strategies: Based on this, the experts stated that in the insurance industry, people's technical knowledge and skill training are very important. Because the world has moved towards skill training, degree-oriented has no place in organizations.
The third category, Contextual factors, and the governing platform: Experts said this category is not given much attention in the insurance industry in Iran, and the majority agreed that looking at education in this industry is a cost perspective. Therefore, on this basis, they suggested that the academic system should be strengthened in the insurance industry.
The fourth category: In the field of job security, most of the surveyed experts stated that job security is not very important in the insurance industry because the contracts are short-term, and some experts also stated that anyone can understand and interpret job security. They also stated that the concept of balance between work and life is different from the point of view of different people, and the more a person moves to the higher side of the organization, the more this balance is disturbed.
The fifth category, Consequences: According to experts, the more people participate in circles and expand their networking scope, the more they become known, and this knowledge provides more responsibilities for them and causes people to have a higher sense of independence and satisfaction in their career path.
According to the research findings, practical tips are suggested for insurance companies about managers' career path strategies. Since about 90% of the experts stated that each of the managers had different strategies in the context of their career path, organizations have designed their career paths according to their mission and existential philosophy. Therefore, it is suggested that the companies active in Iran's insurance industry provide an atmosphere indicating freedom and diversity in choosing a career path in their organizations to meet managers' expectations.