1.1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last years, research on identity is receiving increasing attention (Brown, 2015). One of the reasons for this is the interest in the dynamics that identity involves in its formation (Ashforth, Rogers, & Corley, 2011).
With specific reference to professional identity, research to date has left a number of questions unanswered relating to the factors that influence the profession, how professionals carry out their tasks, and how they conceive the change in their professions in the face of context and jurisdictional threats. More specifically, although much has been written about the changes occurring in professional practices and jurisdiction, scant attention has been given to professionalsâ changing identities in the context of the ever-expanding pressures and increasing regulatory entropy (Ahuja, Nikolova, & Clegg, 2017). This lack of understanding of who professionals truly are and the challenges surrounding their professions is a notable deficiency, as they fulfil a crucial and well-acknowledged social role (Chreim, Williams, & Hinings, 2007). Indeed, professionals are conventionally recognized as workers who apply their knowledge, skills, and judgement to complete tasks in the pursuit of their own, their customers, and, in some cases, the publicâs interests (e.g. accountants, lawyers, and doctors; Bottery, 1998; Empson, Muzio, Broschak, & Hinings, 2015; Johnson, 1972; Madden & Mitchell, 1993; Samuel, Covalenski, & Dirsmith, 2009; Schön, 1983; Paisey & Paisey, 2000, 2006; Pierce, 2007; Pratt, Rockmann, & Kaufmann, 2006; Preston, Cooper, Scarbrough, & Chilton, 1995; Willmott, 1990).
On the grounds of this social relevance, the worldâs rapidly changing conditions of the last 30 years have increasingly prompted threats to professions as well as challenges to research on professions (e.g. Albu, 2013; Carrington, Johed, & Ăhman, 2011; Caza & Creary, 2016; Lander, Koene, & Linssen, 2013; Sikka & Willmott, 1995; Suddaby, Gendron, & Lam, 2009; Zeff, 2003a, 2003b), allowing for an understanding of professionalsâ reactions in the face of attacks to their jurisdiction and assaults to their professional niches by different actors. Despite the appreciable contributions in literature, which reveal professionalsâ behaviours and reactions, the prominent issue pertaining to the professional identity remains quite hidden (BĂ©vort & Suddaby, 2016; Pratt et al., 2006). For instance, considering the accounting profession, we know little about how professional identity has changed after the repeated corporate scandals (Cappelli & Keller, 2013; Carnegie & Napier, 2010). Indeed, professional identity formation, struggles, and reconstruction may be recognized as prominent aspects in determining how people behave and carry out their work tasks (Ashforth et al., 2011; Caza & Creary, 2016). Also, concerns related to the growing âcommercialismâ of professions (e.g. BĂ©vort & Suddaby, 2016; Carnegie & Napier, 2010; Malsch & Gendron, 2013) raise many questions pertaining professionalsâ reactions to deal with competing logics and the derived struggles that these logics impose on professionalsâ identities. For instance, in reviewing previous studies on the Big Four accounting firms, Malsch and Gendron (2013) signalled how the consolidation of commercial values in the auditing profession has led to a tension between professionalism and commercialism, with the result of accountants doing a step outside the traditional boundaries of the profession but maintaining the barriers protecting its professional privileges. The authors talk about an opposition in practice between the habitus of experts recruited to expand the range of services and the traditional dispositions of accountants due to an increasing commercial organizational culture that is eroding the professional values.
On these grounds, the interest in this study resides in deepening the questions pertaining to the struggles and tensions affecting professional identity. Indeed, an in-depth analysis of the struggles might be of support to a better understanding of how professionals behave and how they could be part of, or resistant to, the processes of organizational change.
The reasons behind the study are manifold. First, there is a reason related to the social relevance and social desirability of the professions (e.g. Chreim et al., 2007). Second, because of the changes that are constantly shaping and reshaping the professions in the last 30 years (e.g. Caza & Creary, 2016; Lander et al., 2013). Third, because little is known about how professional identity is formed (e.g. BĂ©vort & Suddaby, 2016; Pratt et al., 2006). Last but not least, there is a benefit in studying problematic organizations, situations, or occupations where identity and image are in crisis (Kreiner, Hollensbe, & Sheep, 2006).
The chapter aims at exploring the antecedents and threats leading to the struggles in the professional identity, the identity struggles experienced by professionals, and the consequences in terms of coping strategies and behaviours adopted by professionals to cope with these threats and struggles.
In doing so, it provides a full encompassing and multi-level approach to identity struggles and their antecedents and consequences. The literature has many times called for a more complex approach to identity (e.g. Ashforth et al., 2011; Empson, 2004). Therefore, even acknowledging that providing a multi-level approach to identity might be challenging, the chapter points to problematize the literature on professional identity by maintaining that identity, due to its multifaceted nature, might be looked in all of its stances occurring at different levels of analysis (individual, organizational, and contextual).
To this aim, the present chapter will problematize extant literature through a systematic review in order to catch identity struggles with their antecedents and consequences from already existing empirical studies on professional identity. This approach enables the discussion of studies that have not yet been analyzed in the academic debate. It then allows the results to be reorganized with the aim of discovering overlooked issues and possible neglected relationships.
The remainder of the chapter is structured as follows. The next section addresses previous studies on professional identity and defines the gap in the literature, discussing the questions that still have to be tackled. The third section describes the research design. The fourth section provides the multi-level analysis of the struggles in professional identity. The last sections provide the discussion and conclusions.
1.2. PREVIOUS LITERATURE ON PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY
Previous studies have looked at professional identity from many different perspectives and employing different levels of analysis.
There are studies addressing a single-level analysis of identity (e.g. Kreiner et al., 2006) and studies using a multi-level approach (e.g. Ashforth et al., 2011; Chreim et al., 2007).
Focusing on the individual level, Kreiner et al. (2006) showed how the complex interactions between individual and situational influences as individuals strive for optimal balance, employing various tactics to differentiate (segment) or integrate (merge) their individual and social identities. Also, studies on the individual level highlighted how identity is influenced by the âdynamics of being and doingâ (Ahuja et al., 2017), the differences between practice and identity (Ahuja et al., 2017; Pratt et al., 2006), and the role ambiguity (BĂ©vort & Suddaby, 2016; Noordegraaf, 2011). Again, at the firm level, studies analyzed how identity is affected by new organizational practices (Klimkeit & Reihlen, 2016) and âlocal vs globalâ dimension (Klimkeit & Reihlen, 2016). Finally, at the contextual level, studies analyzed the effects of changing market conditions, regulatory context (Albu, 2013; Carrington et al., 2011; Sikka & Willmott, 1995), and other macro-variables such as social and technological conditions (Sharif, 2002).
Most of the literature on professional identity has looked at organizational identity (e.g. Anderson-Gough, Grey, & Robson, 2001, 2006; Bamber & Venkataraman, 2002; Empson, 2004; Suddaby et al., 2009), clarifying that professional identity is related to the context (Empson, 2004; Gammie & Kirkham, 2008; Suddaby et al., 2009) and is made of many overlapping layers (Gendron & Spira, 2010) that may be derived from the process of construction and reconstruction in a constantly changing society. Accountantsâ identity has also been observed by paying attention to the sense of belonging to a community (Jeacle, 2008; Power, 1991; Warren & Parker, 2009).
There are studies analyzing identity as a process (e.g. Caza & Creary, 2016; Pratt et al., 2006), following the considerations by Alvesson and Willmott (2002) and Sveningsson and Alvesson (2003) according to which identity construction can be considered as the process through which a profession comes to be defined. In this regard, there is a look at identity that mainly considers its dynamic and complex nature, rather than a static one, and that implies changes over time and space due to individual reactions to external threats or changing conditions. Indeed, as also stated by the social identity theory (Tajfel, 1981; Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987), personal identity, intended as the self-characteristics that differentiate one individual from others, is influenced by the social identity as the categorization of the self into more inclusive social units (e.g. a specific context in which the individual is inserted). According to Brewer (2003), a struggle between personal identity and the various social identities can exist, as the demands of the social identities affect the uniqueness of the personal identity.
Yet, there are studies concentrating on micro-role (e.g. Ashforth, Kreiner, & Fugate, 2000) and macro-role transitions (e.g. Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010).
Ashforth et al. (2000) argued that micro-role transitions are those frequently and commonly occurring changes such as when an individual commutes from home to work and vice versa, while macro-role transitions are much more infrequent and consist of permanent changes such as a promotion or retirement (Ashforth et al., 2000; Ibarra & Barbulescu, 2010). According to Ashforth et al. (2000), these transitions can be considered as a âboundary-crossing activityâ, with people usually seeking to minimize them to limit the effort required to change from one role to another, thus reducing possible emerging identity struggles. However, this can happen only when an individual has control or the possibility to manage these transitions. Indeed, transitions are much more complex when a contrast between the core features of one identity does exist with the core features of a different identity (Ashforth et al., 2000). This leads to role segmentation, consisting of âthickâ boundaries around roles (Hartmann, 1997). At the opposite, when the features of different identities are much more blurred and overlapping, Hartmann (1997) talks about role integration.
A prominent question pertains to what happens when individual identities are constrained or threatened by the external context and when individuals have to deal with many social demands or expectations (Kreiner et al., 2006). Indeed, another stream of the literature concentrated on role tension and threatened identity (e.g. Breakwell, 1986; Brygola, 2011). When an individual aspires to be identified with a certain organizational identity (Kreiner et al., 2006), or when an individual or organization aims at maintaining identity stable over time, he or she seeks to reduce transitions or defending individual identity from external demands or threats (Breakwell, 1986). However, these identity struggles can only be compartmentalized and confined when an individual or organization has control on the external social forces with the possibility to manage identity threats and role transitions. Indeed, transitions between the above-mentioned roles become complex when a contrast between the core fea...
