Scripting professional identities: how individuals make sense of contradictory institutional logics

Bévort, Frans; Suddaby, Roy

doi:10.1093/jpo/jov007

Cited by 188 publications

(191 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Bévort and Suddaby (2016) demonstrate how the new logic of managerialism changes accounting work and thus challenges the identity of accounting professionals in a study of accountants working in global professional service firms. We seek to build upon Bévort and Suddaby's (2016) study by focusing more closely on the nature of tensions and contradictions professionals experience when facing paradoxical identity demands. Our study provides an in-depth account of the tensions in identity work of architects triggered by changes in their professional practices.…”

Section: Professional Identitymentioning

confidence: 93%

“…While professional organizations have been identified as sites of transformative change over the past two decades (Bévort and Suddaby 2016;Thomas and Davies 2005), architectural firms have also undergone significant changes, due in part to increased pressures of bureaucratization and managerialism as well as to the increasing complexity of city building projects and the client relations entailed. Notably, there remains a paucity of studies in this professional setting particularly vis-à-vis the roles of contemporary architects in large-scale professional organizational practice (Burr and Jones 2010).…”

Section: Architects' Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They may do so by adapting their identity scripts to new identities (Bévort and Suddaby 2016); developing an identity that spans differences (Gurrieri 2012); claiming a meta-identity that addresses paradoxical aspects of identity (Gotsi et al 2010); adopting multiple identities (Paton and Hodgson 2016). (2) By contrast, our research demonstrates how professionals' failure to find a way to adapt to multiple and conflicting identities can lead to their marginalization and alienation, which prevents architects and architectural associations from embracing positive aspects of a transforming identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Paradoxical identity: The changing nature of architectural work and its relation to architects’ identity

Ahuja¹,

Nikolova²,

Clegg³

2017

Journal of Professions and Organization

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In this article we explore what happens in professional formation when the locus of its meaning, as it has been formed, is increasingly contradicted by professional practice.Specifically, we explore the problematic nature of architects' professional identity that is constituted in terms of the primacy of design aesthetics, in contexts where practice denies this identification. We highlight the tensions between identity and practices and suggest that while architects' traditional self-identification enables perpetuation of the profession's identity, it challenges the profession's standing in its relations with other professions and occupations. We refer to this as a paradox of identity. Although much has been written about the profound changes occurring in professional practices and professional jurisdictions, scant attention has been given to the ways in which professionals shape their identities in the context of changing practices. We conducted a year-long ethnography of contemporary architects engaged in large and complex projects in order to examine both the architects' and the profession's identity. Our contributions are threefold. First, we conceptualize misalignments between professional identity and professional practice as identity paradox that has consequences for identity work among professionals. Second, we highlight how professional identity construction is organized around competing and paradoxical identification. Third, the paper contributes to sociological studies of architecture by generating insights about the identity work of architects engaged in large multi-organizational projects.

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Section: Professional Identitymentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Architects' Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Paradoxical identity: The changing nature of architectural work and its relation to architects’ identity

Ahuja¹,

Nikolova²,

Clegg³

2017

Journal of Professions and Organization

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“…However, institutional pressures could also affect individual behavior. Several authors suggested the need for micro-institutionalization research (e.g., [2]). These researchers posit that the assumption that institutions are self-standing entities is an over simplification of reality.…”

Section: Institutional Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organizations are composed of people that over time develop common goals, norms and rules. Neoinstitutional theory "forgot" about the individuals that enact institutions ( [2]). Therefore, "there is still an absence of understanding how individuals subjectively interpret institutional pressures to cognitively generate alternatives" ([2]: p. 4).…”

Section: Institutional Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

How Espoused Culture Influences Misuse Intention: A Micro-Institutional Theory Perspective

Hovav¹

2017

Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (2017)

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‘And what did you do about my emotions during Covid‐19?’ Making sense of negative emotions at work through institutional logics and Critical Systems Heuristics

Tavella

2023

Syst Res Behav Sci

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The literature on Covid‐19 has demonstrated that frontline workers use different coping strategies and engage in sense‐making to address negative emotions. However, we know little about the underlying process of sense‐making. Thus, this paper uses institutional logics to investigate how sense‐making of negative emotions is enabled and constrained. This analysis draws on a diary written by a nurse at an Italian hospital, which represents an account of the emotions experienced by medical staff. The analysis identifies a set of enablers and disablers of sense‐making, as well as, the patterns that alleviate and intensify frontline workers' emotions. Based on these findings and evidence of the Covid‐task force at Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo, Italy, this paper illustrates Critical Systems Heuristics as a means to address the disablers of sense‐making through participatory conversations that consider different institutional logics.

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Scripting professional identities: how individuals make sense of contradictory institutional logics

Cited by 188 publications

References 69 publications

Paradoxical identity: The changing nature of architectural work and its relation to architects’ identity

Paradoxical identity: The changing nature of architectural work and its relation to architects’ identity

How Espoused Culture Influences Misuse Intention: A Micro-Institutional Theory Perspective

‘And what did you do about my emotions during Covid‐19?’ Making sense of negative emotions at work through institutional logics and Critical Systems Heuristics

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