Across Europe and internationally, professionals working in complex organizational and innovation contexts are increasingly expected to navigate uncertainty, ethical tensions, and rapidly changing societal expectations. Research on professional learning and development has shown that sustainable professional practice cannot be reduced to competence acquisition alone but involves deeper processes of professional identity learning, professional agency, and meaning-making through reflection and reinterpretation of experience (Beijaard et al., 2004; Eteläpelto et al., 2014; Mezirow, 2000). 

Building on this body of research, this paper examines professional identity learning as an ongoing and dynamic process situated within professional learning and development (Beijaard et al., 2004; Beijaard et al., 2023). The study focuses on participants engaged in a holistic, coaching-based innovation and entrepreneurship program in Vietnam. Participants occupy leadership and coordination roles across higher education institutions, innovation ecosystems, and industry-related contexts. Rather than approaching leadership as a positional attribute, the study conceptualizes leadership as an enacted outcome of professional learning, emerging through identity negotiation, reflective practice, and the development of professional agency and responsibility (Ibarra, 1999; Raelin, 2016; Biesta, 2020).

The paper addresses a gap in professional learning and development research by exploring how coaching-based educational designs support professional identity learning processes among adult professionals operating in high-pressure and polarized contexts. By focusing on identity-learning trajectories rather than predefined roles or competencies, the study contributes to international debates on how professionals develop reflective agency, purpose, and relational responsibility through learning.

The following research questions guide the study:

1. How do professionals participating in a coaching-based innovation program experience professional identity learning over time?
2. What forms of identity-learning processes are associated with increased reflective agency, purpose, and relational responsibility in complex professional contexts?

The theoretical framework integrates three complementary perspectives on professional learning.

First, professional identity learning theory conceptualizes identity as a dynamic and socially situated process shaped through participation, reflection, and dialogue (Beijaard et al., 2004). From this perspective, professional learning involves ongoing negotiation of who professionals are and who they are becoming in relation to changing work demands, roles, and expectations (Ibarra, 1999).

Second, transformative learning theory provides a lens for understanding how critical reflection and disorienting professional experiences can lead to shifts in meaning-making and self-understanding (Mezirow, 2000). Such transformations are particularly relevant in innovation and leadership contexts characterised by uncertainty, ambiguity, and competing value systems.

Third, perspectives on professional agency and practice-based learning frame learning as embedded in professional action rather than detached from practice. From this viewpoint, professional learning is understood as participation in and engagement with work practices shaped by social and contextual conditions (Billett, 2001). Research on professional agency further highlights how professionals develop the capacity to influence their work, relationships, and professional trajectories through reflective, purposeful, and contextually situated action (Eteläpelto et al., 2014).

Within this integrative framework, coaching is conceptualized as a pedagogical and relational learning mechanism that supports reflective dialogue, identity negotiation, and experimentation with new ways of being and acting professionally (Bachkirova, 2022; Garvey et al., 2018).

The international relevance of the study lies in its contribution to broadening professional learning theory beyond Western-centric contexts. Drawing on empirical data from Vietnam, a rapidly developing context shaped by globalization and local cultural traditions, the paper offers insights into how professional identity learning unfolds under conditions of systemic transition. These insights are discussed in relation to research on professional learning and development, inviting reflection on how identity, agency, and purpose might be more explicitly integrated into professional learning initiatives (Nguyen & Walker, 2024).

This study adopts a qualitative, longitudinal research design to examine professional identity learning processes among adult professionals participating in a coaching-based innovation and entrepreneurship program in Vietnam. The program was implemented over an initial six-week intensive phase, during which participants engaged in individual coaching sessions, facilitated group reflections, and practice-based learning activities designed to support leadership and professional development in complex innovation contexts. This phase was followed by a three-month consolidation period, involving regular community-based reflective practices to support the integration of learning into participants’ professional work. The empirical material comprises 18 purposefully selected participants working across higher education institutions, research centers, entrepreneurial ventures, and innovation-support organizations. Participants occupied leadership or coordination roles at the intersection of education, industry, and innovation. Selection criteria included professional responsibility, sustained engagement in the program, and willingness to participate in reflective inquiry over time. Multiple data sources were collected to capture professional identity learning longitudinally and to enable triangulation. These included: • pre- and post-programme self-assessment forms focusing on professional identity, purpose, and perceived agency; • in-depth individual coaching interviews conducted before and after the programme; • reflective journals produced during the programme; • peer and stakeholder feedback collected during group learning activities; and • final narrative presentations in which participants articulated their professional learning journeys. Data analysis followed a narrative–thematic approach, combining narrative analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. First, individual before-after professional identity narratives were constructed for each participant to examine changes in self-understanding, professional agency, leadership enactment, and sense of purpose over time (Riessman, 2008). Second, a cross-case thematic analysis was conducted to identify shared patterns and variations across narratives, following the principles of reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Analytical attention was paid to moments of tension, critical reflection, and reorientation that signalled shifts in identity learning and professional practice. Ethical considerations were addressed in accordance with Tampere University institutional guidelines and national research ethics regulations, including GDPR. All participants provided informed consent, personal data were pseudonymized, and reflexive practices were employed throughout the research process to support transparency and methodological rigor. Language clarity and stylistic consistency were supported through limited AI-assisted editing, while all conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and analytical work was conducted by the author in accordance with Tampere University guidelines on responsible AI use.

The findings identify three narrative professional identity learning trajectories, each representing a distinct way in which participants experienced professional identity learning over time and developed reflective agency, purpose, and relational responsibility in complex professional contexts. Addressing Research Question 1, the trajectories illustrate how professional identity learning unfolded longitudinally during and after participation in the coaching-based program. Rather than following a linear progression, identity learning emerged as an iterative process of negotiation, reflection, and reorientation in response to changing professional demands and ethical tensions. Addressing Research Question 2, the three trajectories capture qualitatively different identity-learning processes associated with professional agency and responsibility. First, a purpose-oriented identity trajectory reflects a shift from role- and task-focused identities toward purpose-driven identities. Participants clarified personal and societal values, reframed success beyond performance metrics, and aligned professional action with broader social contribution. Second, a reflective agency trajectory centers on the development of reflective professional agency. Participants learned to pause, reinterpret uncertainty, and act with greater confidence in ambiguous situations, with leadership emerging through sense-making rather than formal authority. Third, a relational responsibility trajectory emphasizes identity learning as relational and dialogical. Participants reframed professional practice as grounded in trust-building, shared responsibility, and collective meaning-making across organizational boundaries. Across all trajectories, leadership is conceptualized not as a predefined role but as an enacted outcome of professional identity learning. Coaching functioned as a key learning mechanism by creating reflective spaces that supported identity negotiation, agency development, and relational sense-making. Overall, the study contributes to research on professional learning and development by demonstrating how coaching-based programs can function as identity-learning environments, enabling professionals to act responsibly and meaningfully under conditions of complexity. By offering empirically grounded insights from a Global South context, the study enriches European and international discussions on professional learning, agency, and leadership beyond competence-based models.

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