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Third-World “Sloggers” or Elite Global Professionals? Using Organizational Toolkits to Redefine Work Identity in Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing

Author

Listed:
  • Sharon Koppman

    (Organization and Management Area, The Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine, California 92617)

  • Elisa Mattarelli

    (Department of Sciences and Methods for Engineering, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy)

  • Amar Gupta

    (School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139)

Abstract

Organizations increasingly rely on teams that span national and organizational boundaries, yet team members in emerging countries and vendor firms are not treated as professional peers by their Western and client-based peers. To understand how they respond to this identity threat, we integrate two literatures that suggest two possible answers: an organizational response, based on the critical literature on top-down identity regulation, and an individual response, based on the positive literature on bottom-up identity construction. Drawing on in-depth interviews and archival data from three Indian information technology (IT) offshore outsourcing firms, we examine how organizational and individual identity processes work in tandem to address this threat. We find that firms do not resolve this threat by regulating employee identity directly as they claim, but instead provide workers with an organizational toolkit —a set of organizationally available cultural resources (e.g., frames and stories) and political resources (e.g., policies and procedures) that workers use selectively and strategically to construct positive identities. By bringing a toolkit perspective to identity processes, we contribute to theory and research on cross-level identity linkages, the strategic nature of identity processes, and the local context of global identity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharon Koppman & Elisa Mattarelli & Amar Gupta, 2016. "Third-World “Sloggers” or Elite Global Professionals? Using Organizational Toolkits to Redefine Work Identity in Information Technology Offshore Outsourcing," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(4), pages 825-845, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:27:y:2016:i:4:p:825-845
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2016.1068
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Eisenberg, Julia & Mattarelli, Elisa, 2017. "Building Bridges in Global Virtual Teams: The Role of Multicultural Brokers in Overcoming the Negative Effects of Identity Threats on Knowledge Sharing Across Subgroups," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 399-411.
    2. Paul M. Leonardi & Diane E. Bailey & Casey S. Pierce, 2019. "The Coevolution of Objects and Boundaries over Time: Materiality, Affordances, and Boundary Salience," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 665-686, June.
    3. Šilenskytė, Aušrinė & Kohtamäki, Marko & Dhanaraj, Charles, 2022. "Strategy implementation in the transnational MNC: A critical realist investigation of European and Indian unit collaboration," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 276-289.
    4. Ioana C. Cristea & Paul M. Leonardi, 2019. "Get Noticed and Die Trying: Signals, Sacrifice, and the Production of Face Time in Distributed Work," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 552-572, May.
    5. Mattarelli, Elisa & Tagliaventi, Maria Rita & Carli, Giacomo & Gupta, Amar, 2017. "The Role of Brokers and Social Identities in the Development of Capabilities in Global Virtual Teams," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 382-398.

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