Emotions and identity work: Emotions as discursive resources in the constitution of junior professionals’ identities
Abstract
For junior professionals, notions of professional identity established during their education are often called into question in the early stages of their professional careers. The workplace gives rise to identity challenges that manifest in significant emotional struggles. However, although extant literature highlights how emotions trigger and accompany identity work, the constitutive role of emotions in identity work is under-researched. In this article, we analyse how junior professionals mobilize emotions as discursive resources for identity work. Drawing on an empirical study of junior architects employed in professional service firms, we examine how professional identities, imbued with varying forms of discipline and agency, are discursively represented. The study makes two contributions to the literature on emotions and identity work. First, we identify three key identity work strategies (idealizing, reframing and distancing) that are bound up in junior architects’ emotion talk. We suggest that these strategies act simultaneously as a coping mechanism and as a disciplinary force in junior architects’ efforts to constitute themselves as professionals. Second, we argue that identity work may not always lead to the accomplishment of a positive sense of self but can express a sense of disillusionment that leads to the constitution of dejected professional identities.
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Biographies
Sumati Ahuja is currently finishing her doctoral research in Management at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Her research interests include the changing nature of work, professional identity, status and the future of professions more broadly. Her recent publication in Journal of Professions and Organizations won the best paper award. Prior to joining the academic world, Sumati worked for 30 years as an architect in the UK and Australia. [Email: [email protected]]
Helena Heizmann is a Senior Lecturer in Management and Organization Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Drawing on critical perspectives, her research focuses on issues of identity, leadership and communication in various professional, organizational and cultural contexts. Her research has been published in a range of leading journals, including Management Learning, Journal of International Management and The International Journal of Human Resource Management. [Email: [email protected]]
Stewart Clegg is Distinguished Professor of Management and Organization Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He has published widely in the sociology, management and politics literatures in most of the leading journals. He is a Visiting Professor at EM-Lyon, France, and at Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisboa, Portugal. Widely acknowledged as one of the most significant contemporary theorists of power relations, he is also one of the most influential contributors to organization studies. [Email: [email protected]]
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