Exploring identity: a figurative character image-elicitation approach

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of incorporating visual methods in the study of identity and identity work. Design/methodology/approach – Scholars have proposed a range of approaches to the study of identity. However, studies have typically relied on interviews or surveys with little exploration of the dynamic narrating of self-in-situ inherent to identity and identity work. The paper reviews the aforementioned methods, builds on the power of visual approaches, and proposes a method involving figurative character image-elicitation (FCI). FCI uses personal, contextual cartoon-style images to mobilize and encourage the narration of identity. The paper details the development of the approach, drawing on a pilot study, and reports its use in an exploratory study of employee identity. Findings – The results suggest that the use of FCI provides a situated focus for the narration of identity with the signifying – self-insitu – nature of the images providing room for participants to position themselves as subject. These features are also suggested to provide a safe distance for a more in-depth and expressive discussion which transcends impression management. Originality/value – The use of FCI has highlighted the power of visual methods in the exploration of identity and identity work. The approach is personally engaging and contextually adaptable providing methodological opportunities for a range of organizational and societal studies.

The four faces of creative industries: visualising the game industry ecosystem in Helsinki and Tokyo

“…In fact, this approach turned out to be much more fruitful as we felt we were giving 'voice' to each drawing instead of trying to see them as representing certain categories (Davison et al, 2012;Samuels, 1993). What is more, although prior research (Bryans and Mavin, 2006;Butler et al, 2014;Comi et al 2014;Vince and Broussine, 1996) seems to suggest drawings and visuals in general can serve as triggers for further elaboration through talk, here we are treating the drawings as their authors' way of making sense of their local professional context (Ibarra and Andrews, 1993;Meyer 1991;Stigliani and Ravasi, 2012).…”

“…Our purpose here is to contribute to studies looking at creative industries from the clustering perspective (Grodach et al, 2014;Lin, 2017Lin, , 2018. Research has shown that drawings have the potential to make the subconscious tangible (Bryans and Mavin 2006), explore identities and identity work (Butler et al 2014), as well as stimulate interview settings (Comi et al, 2014), but to the best of our knowledge, and apart from the literature on network pictures (Henneberg et al, 2006(Henneberg et al, , 2010, drawings have not been extensively utilised when investigating various organisational forms and phenomena. At the same time, however, a recent study (Boix, Hervás-Oliver, and De Miguel-Molina, 2015) on clustering in the creative industries highlighted the importance of studying clustering by drawing on novel research methods, and as such, one of the aims of this paper is to illustrate how visual methods can increase our body of knowledge on creative industries.…”