Occupational image, organizational image and identity in dirty work: Intersections of organizational efforts and media accounts

Abstract

This article proposes that media representations of an occupational category may intersect with organizations’ efforts to construct a positive organizational identity and image. We fuse three streams of literature namely, organizational identity and image, media and the social construction of reality, and dirty work to extend extant literature on organizational identity and image. Attention is drawn to occupational image as the position of an occupational category in society. We contend that occupational image is likely to influence the decisions and actions taken by organizations and its members, in particular when the occupation is central to the organization’s mission. Occupational image is partly informed by the media. We analyse one year of media coverage of a dirty work occupation, specifically exotic dancing, and identify various ways in which the media portrays the exotic dancing occupation and the organizations providing these services. We focus upon two of these categories, namely Public (dis) Order and Art and Entertainment. We also draw upon a variety of data from one organization, For Your Eyes Only, to explore how organizational efforts to construct a positive organizational identity (based upon professionalism and legitimacy) and image (based upon fantasy, exclusivity and high quality service) intersect these media representations.

Identity work in organizations and occupations: Definitions, theories, and pathways forward

“…Individuals also target occupational or professional identities in their identity work, focusing on what it means to be a member of a particular occupational category. Empirical research on identity work has explored a variety of occupational identities ranging from knowledge work occupations such as scientists (e.g., Jain, George, & Maltarich, 2009), investment bankers (e.g., Alvesson & Robertson, 2016), medical professionals (e.g., Reay, Goodrick, Waldorff, & Casebeer, 2017), engineers (e.g., Jorgenson, 2002), architects (e.g., Vough, 2012), lawyers (e.g., Brown & Lewis, 2011), management consultants (e.g., Costas & Kärreman, 2016), academics (e.g., Knights & Clarke, 2014), and accountants (e.g., Gendron & Spira, 2010) to less prestigious occupations such as construction workers (e.g., Styhre, 2012), correctional officers (e.g., Tracy, 2004), exotic dancers (e.g., Grandy & Mavin, 2012), chefs (e.g., Fine, 1996), and miners (e.g., Wicks, 2002). Individuals in both stigmatized occupations (e.g., Ashforth et al, 2007) and well-respected occupations (e.g., Gill, 2015;Knights & Clarke, 2014;Morales & Lambert, 2013;Vough, Cardador, Bednar, Dane, & Pratt, 2013) engage in identity work to deal with identity-based insecurities, anxieties, and misconceptions.…”

“…few broad categories of identity work tactics that will be useful for In addition to adjusting the degree to which they see themselves as members of a collective, individuals also engage in identity work by changing the meanings that they associate with a group. This form of identity work is perhaps most clear in the research on so-called dirtywork occupations (Hughes, 1951), which examines how individuals relate to and overcome the taint associated with the work that they perform (e.g., Grandy & Mavin, 2012;Kreiner, Ashforth, & Sluss, 2006), potentially with help from their managers (Ashforth, Kreiner, Clark, & Fugate, 2017). In this vein, Ashforth and colleagues Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999) (2017) identified three forms of identity work (authenticating, reframing, and cultural repositioning) that established medical professionals used to change their professional identities in the wake of a tumultuous professional logic shift.…”

Disability and dirty workers: stories of physical, social and moral taint

“…The construct of dirty work originally focused on work considered beneath the dignity of those in a particular profession. It was an occupational category (Hughes 1951(Hughes , 1958(Hughes , 1962Ashforth and Kreiner Disability & Society 1357 1999; Grandy and Mavin 2011). Hughes (1958, 21-22) also introduced the notion that such work might be physically, socially or morally tainted, although he did not explore this in detail.…”

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Identity‐Image Interactions for the Sales Force in High Threat Situations

“…Organizational efforts to impress customers are tempered by the impressions customers form from other sources (Hatch and Schultz, ). Indeed, one of these sources, namely, mass media, has been found to be a strong influencer (Grandy and Mavin, ). Customers process the projected image alongside mass media, word‐of‐mouth, competitors’ advertising, and so forth, to develop their judgments and opinion of the organization, which in aggregate, becomes their perceived image of the organization.…”