What emerges unexpectedly from this study is the role of family in the respondents’ identity construction. This study finds that the role of family includes parents’ occupations influencing how pharmacists choose their professional career, and parents’ role in nurturing personal values.
Regarding the role of parents’ professional careers in respondents’ professional careers, two respondents stated that they chose to study pharmacy because their parents were also pharmacists. These two pharmacists stated that they grew up seeing their parents as owners of drugstore businesses, and this had an impact on their choice of education programme. For example:
I chose to study pharmacy because my parents are also pharmacists. They operate a drugstore and they are successful, and I grew up in the drugstore which is also my house. So it seems I knew since I was very young that I was going to study pharmacy (P04).
This pharmacist returned to his home town and, although he works full-time as a hospital pharmacist, he also operates a drugstore part-time alongside his full-time
job at the hospital. However, he stated that he prefers working in the drugstore as it suits his personality better. He clarified:
I like talking with people. At my drugstore, the work is about advising people about drugs and diseases, whereas in the hospital I basically check the prescriptions (P04).
Another said:
I chose to study a pharmacy because my mother is a pharmacist (P19).
Another pharmacist grew up in a family which runs a retail business. She stated that she has liked selling products and talking to people since she was a child. This pharmacist ran a drugstore business as soon as she graduated because she did not have a contract with the government. When asked why she decided to operate a drugstore straight after graduation, she explained that:
I like to sell and talk to people. Since I was a child I have seen my family running a business. I think I like this kind of job (P21).
Hence, the findings suggest that respondents drew on the professional careers of their parents in deciding their own careers.
With regard to the role of family in nurturing personal values, the findings reveal that family background plays a crucial role in influencing the values of the respondents. The data demonstrate that respondents whose families operated drugstores and retail businesses internalised and drew on the business value of profit to construct their identity as a businessperson, while they also drew on the professional value from their professional education. For example one respondent stated:
A drugstore is also a business, so I have to think about profit, otherwise the business would not survive (P21).
When asked about how she maintained the professional role together with the business owner role, she explained:
As a pharmacist, I choose the right drug for their condition. I make sure that they understand their health condition and I make sure they are
safe in their drug use. So I give advice and counselling. These are the roles of a professional. But as a business owner I also have to make a profit. I will give them some vitamins or supplements together with the drugs, so these products increase sales (P21).
As can be seen, the pharmacists accepted two conflicting values – self-benefit and patient benefit – to guide their practices. The previous respondent constructed her identity by drawing on two conflicting discourses: professional value and business value. Her identity is seen as a hybrid of a businessperson and a pharmacist.
Two pharmacists who were not from a business background used to run their own drugstores. However, they both closed down their drugstores even though they earned more money than from their public hospital jobs. They both stated that they felt guilty about making a profit. One said:
I used to run a drugstore but I closed it down because I think the role at the drugstore does not match myself. I feel guilty about making a profit from my work. I prefer to work in a hospital because I think I can help people (P07).
Similarly, another pharmacist (P08) also explained that the reason she closed down her drugstore business was that she felt guilty.
When asked what made them both more concerned about patient benefit than self- benefit, both identified family as an influential factor on their values. One said:
... Since I was a child, my family taught me to believe in morals. Personally, I also like to help others (P07).
Another respondent (P06) stated that who she has become was rooted in her family:
... And I think part of it, I am the kind of person who would deal with a problem. I don’t like to ignore a problem. I think I am who I am because of my family (P06).
Thus, it can be seen that family also plays a role in nurturing personal values at an early stage of individual identity construction. This value is regarded as a core value on which pharmacists draw to construct their personal identities. If their personal
values were mismatched with their role values, the pharmacists in this study chose to discontinue the role (P07 and P08).
In summary, parents’ professional careers influence pharmacists in choosing their education and future jobs. Family also plays a role in nurturing personal values at an early age. The pharmacists from business families internalised business values at an early age, together with professional values from their education. Thus, they were able to draw on conflicting values to construct hybrid identities. On the other hand, respondents who were not from business families might have found it more difficult to internalise business values. As evidenced in this thesis, they drew on a sense of morality gained from their parents and integrated this value with their professional values. Figure 10 provides a model of identity construction by the pharmacists.