Facing the Void: Identity and Legitimacy in Emerging Professions
Open Access
- Author:
- Murphy, Chad Benjamin
- Graduate Program:
- Management - Business Adminstration
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 04, 2014
- Committee Members:
- Glen Kreiner, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Glen Kreiner, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Forrest Scott Briscoe, Committee Member
Timothy Grant Pollock, Committee Member
Jonathan Rogers Clark, Committee Member - Keywords:
- identity work
professional identity
legitimacy
authority figures
work and occupations
leadership - Abstract:
- In this two-essay qualitative dissertation, I develop theory around two key questions: 1) How do individuals construct work identities in ambiguous, ill-defined, or fluid work contexts, when such contexts offer few resources to help individuals define themselves? And 2) how do authority figures—leaders, managers, professionals—gain legitimacy in the absence of standard legitimating factors, e.g., a proven track record of positive results, subordinate dependence, institutional authorization, or a legitimating ideology? Using a grounded theory methodology, I explore these questions in the context of health coaching, a new, aspiring profession whose members face these very challenges in constructing an individual sense of occupational identity and legitimacy. In the first essay, I develop a conceptual model of identity work in the context of such an identity resource “void.” The model suggests relationships between three individual-level stages of identity development, identity challenges, identity work tactics, and a key identity-related outcome (i.e., identity clarity). In the second essay, I develop a theoretical model that speaks to how authority figures can gain internal and external legitimacy when they lack demonstrable evidence of their effectiveness and other markers of legitimacy. In each essay, I discuss implications for both research and practice