From worker to spender to survivor: Work identity disruption and reconstruction after sudden wealth

Orientation: We examine how financial windfalls transformed the work identities of South Africans who were featured on the television show I Blew It. Research purpose: This study focused on how individuals conceived their work identities and performed work before and after receiving money and how they reconstructed their work identities once the money declined. Motivation for the study: Little research has examined the psychological and occupational meaning of sudden affluence in South Africa. These shifts from worker identities to identities built around spending and social visibility help explain why people disengage from work after receiving windfalls and how some later rebuild their vocational identities. Research approach/design and method: A qualitative, systematic research approach was followed. Ten episodes of I Blew It were purposively selected and analysed thematically using Braun and Clarke’s six-phase process. Reflexivity and investigator triangulation strengthened the rigour. Main findings: Five themes captured the identity shifts of sudden wealth beneficaries, moving from the worker self before sudden wealth, through its dissolution and replacement with non-work identities, to later attempts at entrepreneurship and, eventually, a return to work following financial loss. Practical/managerial implications: The findings show that financial coaching and career counselling could be useful when people receive large sums of money with no prior financial literacy. Contribution/value-add: The study contributes to our understanding of work identity change during rapid socio-economic transitions. It also shows how media-based accounts can be used to examine narrated patterns linking financial shocks and occupational behaviour.