Using personal narratives to explore multiple identities in organisational contexts

Abstract

Purpose: This paper explores and incorporates personal narratives as a new methodological tool into the qualitative research of complex organisational issues such as identity. Particularly, this study provides a fresh methodological perspective on organisational identity exploration by using personal narratives to examine multiple identities that occur in dynamic organisational contexts. Methodology:In order to examine multiple identities, personal narratives found in the 43 semi-structured in-depth interviews collected were analysed. These narratives were examined following a textual and performative analysis. Findings:The paper furthers methodological discussions in organisations in three ways. Firstly, it responds to the need for a methodological approach that allows multiple identity exploration in organisations while it presents personal narratives as a valuable methodological perspective within organisational research. Secondly, it extends the methodological use of personal narratives for the in-depth qualitative study of complex organisational issues such as identity. Finally, the study stretches the boundaries of mainstream organisational research by illustrating that personal narratives can be used as a methodological approach to explore organisational identities. Originality/value:This research integrates personal narratives as a methodological tool into the qualitative research of dynamic organisational issues. Employing personal narratives has allowed the exploration of multiple identities that take place in organisations in a manner not previously achieved in organisational studies. The study, therefore, challenges 2 previous organisational research and expands the boundaries of organisational identity studies, offering a new qualitative methodological account for identity exploration in organisations.

Managing the interactions between multiple identities in inter-organizational collaborations: an identity work perspective

“…For the second analysis, we followed the organisational identity research that theorises identities as texts construed through language, discourses and narratives (Brockmeier & Harré, 2001;Kourti, 2016). We focused particularly on personal narratives, where partners described the context of the collaboration and positioned themselves within particular collaborative events and in relation to other significant IOC actors (Riessman, 2015).…”

“…We focused particularly on personal narratives, where partners described the context of the collaboration and positioned themselves within particular collaborative events and in relation to other significant IOC actors (Riessman, 2015). The personal stories illustrated the narrators' ability to produce and recreate identities through identity work (Kourti, 2016;McAdams & McLean, 2013). These personal stories were approached with a performative lens (Goffman, 1981), looking both at what was told (the events that the language described) and at the telling process (the positions of characters, listeners, self etc.)…”

Why should we collaborate? Exploring partners’ interactions in the psychosocial spaces of an inter-organisational collaboration

“…The study focused particularly on personal narratives where partners not only described the psychosocial space of the collaboration but also positioned particular collaborative events and actors (Czarniawska, 1997), organising their experiences and actions from their particular point of view (Riessman, 2008;Wells, 2011). The analysis of personal narratives also offered information about partners' identities (Kourti, 2016) and illustrated 'the active, self-shaping quality of human thought' to produce and recreate identities (Hinchman and Hinchman, 1997: xiv).…”

Supplementing Q-method with narratives: Contextualizing CEOs’ values for family firms

“…Instead of focusing on causal explanations based on objective facts, as the positivist tradition argues, this view sees participants’ experience as the heart of research (Cope, 2005). Thus, this approach has mixed two methods that emphasize subjectivity: narratives reflect the inner working of individuals and provide insight into identity-building processes (Sarbin, 1986; Cope, 2005; Kourti, 2016), whereas Q-method allows a sorter to order their subjective feelings and experiences (Stenner, 2009). Thus, both methods emphasize subjectivity.…”