Bricolage and Identity Work

Abstract

Lévi‐Strauss’ concept of bricolage has been used widely in a variety of management and organizational studies to highlight creative ‘situational tinkering’. Yet, we know little about ‘the bricoleur’ beyond the assumption of a functional agent responding to conditions of resource scarcity or environmental complexity. As such, studies offer limited possibilities in explaining the occurrence of bricolage in the absence of external demands, or much about who the bricoleur is. Drawing on 136 in‐depth interviews with management consultants, this study argues for a richer understanding of bricolage by exploring the identity of the bricoleur. In doing so, the paper achieves three outcomes. First, it uses the original symbolic and cultural insights of bricolage made by Lévi‐Strauss to detail how bricoleur identities are constructed; Second, it highlights how different organizational strategies enable and constrain the pursuit of bricoleur identities; Finally, it emphasizes the bricoleur's status as primarily an aspirational elite identity in the context of consultancy work, in contrast to its usual treatment as a ‘low status’ activity.

Identity Work and Organizational Identification

“…Although sometimes also referred to by cognates such as identity construction (Pratt ), identity quests (Turner ), bricolage (Visscher et al . ) and identity projects (Giddens ), it is the phrase identity work that has achieved widespread acceptance within organization and management studies and is employed occasionally in broader social science literatures (Callero ; Cohen and Taylor ; Snow and Anderson ). It denotes the many ways in which people create, adapt, signify, claim and reject identities from available resources.…”

Bricolage and MSEs in emerging economies

“…Bricolage is also contrasted with the more rational problem-solving approaches that often involve systematic and standardised methods and resources (Visscher et al, 2018), and Baker and Nelson (2005) extended it to include improvisation. Baker and Nelson theorised that bricolage and improvisation have more to do with the strategy of making do with the resources at hand.…”

Hybrids, identity and knowledge boundaries: Creative artists between academic and practitioner communities

“…For example, Elsbach (2009) illustrates how creative workers in design claim their professional identities and assert the value of their artistic knowledge by 'showing' their work in galleries. Visscher et al (2018) examine how consultants construct their 'elite' bricolaged identities by emphasizing their 'craftsmanship' in combining diverse knowledge sources, and by distancing themselves from what is perceived as low-status technical/engineering problem-solving.…”