No abstract

University students in paid employment have less time for studying, report more stress, and participate in fewer extracurricular activities than non-employed students. These negative outcomes that result from combining work and study can cause employed students to experience the domains of work, study, and social life as practically incompatible, but also to experience a sense of identity incompatibility. Therefore, we used insights from previous quantitative and qualitative data on employed students and previous work on identity incompatibility to generate two research questions (RQs): RQ1. What type(s) of incompatibility (practical, identity or other) do employed students experience? and RQ2. What strategies have they adopted to reduce the experienced incompatibility? In order to answer these questions, we performed a thematic analysis with a deductive approach on transcripts from 21 UK university students who we interviewed. The students reported two types of incompatibilities: practical incompatibility, which stems from the lack of time, lack of energy, and lack of social contact associated with combining work and study; and identity incompatibility, which emanates from status differences and differences between one’s own and others’ perception of oneself. In order to reduce or resolve these incompatibilities, the students also developed practical (e.g. taking paid leave) and cognitive (e.g. compartmentalising contexts) strategies. Finally, the students also noted how the experience of practical incompatibility can reaffirm their values of hard work and productivity and make them resilient learners.

We explored how employed university students experience their relationships with their work colleagues and with non‐employed students. Two research questions (RQs) were considered: RQ1: What experiences and conditions do employed students identify as contributing to a sense that they are a distinct and separate group from (1) their work colleagues and (2) non‐employed students? RQ2: What experiences and conditions do employed students feel facilitate and/or inhibit their social adaptation and integration at work and university? We interviewed 21 part‐time employed students in England, and analyzed the transcripts using reflexive thematic analysis. We adopted a deductive approach, using the Social Identity Approach as a theoretical framework. In relation to work colleagues, employed students identified a lack of empathy, being looked down upon, and experiencing hostility at the workplace as making them feel distinct from their work colleagues. In relation to non‐employed students, employed students identified differences in experiences and values as increasing intergroup differentiation, which then resulted in feelings of not fitting in at university or social exclusion. Identified conditions, which supported social integration in the workplace, were working with colleagues who held positive attitudes toward students, experiencing similar workplace circumstances and a sense of common fate. Employed students felt socially integrated when non‐workers had positive regard for them or by discussing their employment with other employed students.