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Conversational identity work in everyday interaction

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  • McInnes, Peter
  • Corlett, Sandra

Abstract

Increasing numbers of studies are identifying ‘identity work’ in research participants’ efforts to establish, maintain, deny or change the identity positions being ascribed to self and other. However, as authors variously emphasize how far identity is negotiated between people, on the one hand, and how far it is determined by prevailing discourses and local ideational notions of who people are, on the other, we are arguably no closer to understanding how identity work gets done in everyday organizational talk. To address this issue we present a conceptualisation of identity work that contrasts these two aspects. Through an analysis of talk in a mundane, everyday, meeting we identify and illustrate five prevalent identity work forms. Taken together, these forms and the conceptualisation represent an important first-step towards developing a more nuanced understanding of the different ways in which people's identities are engaged in, reproduced through, and altered by their participation in their everyday routine organizing practices.

Suggested Citation

  • McInnes, Peter & Corlett, Sandra, 2012. "Conversational identity work in everyday interaction," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 27-38.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:scaman:v:28:y:2012:i:1:p:27-38
    DOI: 10.1016/j.scaman.2011.12.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Clarke, Caroline & Knights, David & Jarvis, Carol, 2012. "A Labour of Love? Academics in Business Schools," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 5-15.
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    8. Ybema, Sierk & Vroemisse, Marlous & van Marrewijk, Alfons, 2012. "Constructing identity by deconstructing differences: Building partnerships across cultural and hierarchical divides," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 48-59.
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    1. Ybema, Sierk & Vroemisse, Marlous & van Marrewijk, Alfons, 2012. "Constructing identity by deconstructing differences: Building partnerships across cultural and hierarchical divides," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 48-59.
    2. Wåhlin-Jacobsen, Christian Dyrlund, 2019. "The terms of “becoming empowered”: How ascriptions and negotiations of employee identities shape the outcomes of workplace voice activities," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).
    3. Breit, Eric, 2014. "Discursive practices of remedial organizational identity work: A study of the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 231-241.
    4. Kourti, Isidora, 2017. "Why should we collaborate? Exploring partners’ interactions in the psychosocial spaces of an inter-organisational collaboration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 93-101.
    5. Fortin, Israël & Oliver, David, 2016. "To imitate or differentiate: Cross-level identity work in an innovation network," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 197-208.
    6. Hoyer, Patrizia, 2016. "Making space for ambiguity: Rethinking organizational identification from a career perspective," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 166-177.
    7. van Amsterdam, Noortje & van Eck, Dide, 2019. "“I have to go the extra mile”. How fat female employees manage their stigmatized identity at work," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 46-55.
    8. Ossenkop, Carolin & Vinkenburg, Claartje J. & Jansen, Paul G.W. & Ghorashi, Halleh, 2015. "Ethnic identity positioning at work: Understanding professional career experiences," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 515-525.
    9. Ainsworth, Susan & Grant, David, 2012. "Revitalizing scholarship in identity studies," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 60-62.
    10. Rachel Lara Cohen, 2020. "‘We’re not like that’: Crusader and Maverick Occupational Identity Resistance," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 25(1), pages 136-153, March.
    11. Ericson, Mona & Kjellander, Björn, 2018. "The temporal becoming self—towards a Ricoeurian conceptualization of identity," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 205-214.
    12. Luca Carollo & Marco Guerci, 2018. "‘Activists in a Suit’: Paradoxes and Metaphors in Sustainability Managers’ Identity Work," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(2), pages 249-268, March.
    13. Victoria Wells & Nick Ellis & Richard Slack & Mona Moufahim, 2019. "“It’s Us, You Know, There’s a Feeling of Community”: Exploring Notions of Community in a Consumer Co-operative," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 617-635, September.
    14. Cascón-Pereira, Rosalía & Chillas, Shiona & Hallier, Jerry, 2016. "Role-meanings as a critical factor in understanding doctor managers' identity work and different role identities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 18-25.

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