Rowing without an Oar: Identity Reconstruction Following Organizational and Occupational Loss

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Rowing without an OarIdentity Reconstruction
Following Organizational and Occupational Loss

• Jen Tosti
• New York University
• March 30, 2007

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Status of Research and My Goals for Today

• I welcome any and all suggestions for
• Additional literatures to which this research
  contributes
• Other constructs that I should measure
• Relevant samples beyond those that I have
  considered

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A Tale To Tell
I have a little tale to tell Its called my
working life My skills I soon will have to
sell Shut up demanding wife!!! The job I have
has paid me well I thought it was for good I
dont know what to do right now Ive only 12
months left Painter, decorator Candlestick
maker Which one will suit me best?

• I dont know how to sign on
• Ive always earnt a crust
• But moving on to pastures new
• Certainly seems a must
• Youve heard my little tale
• Of my shortened working life
• Well, so long Norsk Hydro
• I thought it was for life.
• Beesley, Meltdown, 2004

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Job Loss as Identity Loss

• Benefits of working (Jahoda, 1982)
• Economic and psychological benefits
• Among psychological benefits are individual
  identity and status
• Work is a core domain of peoples lives (Casey,
  1995 Wrzesniewski, McCauley, Rozin Schwartz,
  1997)
• One way people define themselves is in terms of
  their work (Ashforth Mael, 1989 Pratt, 1998)

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Collective Identity at Work

• Two primary collective identity referents, or
  groups to which the individual may form a
  self-defining attachment
• Organizations (Ashforth Mael, 1989)
• Occupations (Van Maanen Barley, 1984)
• What do we get from group identification?
• Meet needs for assimilation and differentiation
  (Brewer, 1991)
• Inform attitudes, values and behavior (Tajfel
  Turner, 1982)
• Act in line with organizations interest (Pratt,
  1998)

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Loss of Collective Referents

• Primary assumption of social identity theory is
  that referents are stable and enduring (Glynn,
  1998 Somers, 1994)
• Changes to modern workplace question these
  assumptions (Sennett, 1998, 2006 Friedman, 2005
  Ciulla, 2000)
• Short-term commitment by organizations
• What happens when an organization or occupation
  goes away?
• Organizational death (Harris Sutton, 1986
  Sutton, 1987)

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Research Questions

• When people have lost a collective social
  identity referent, what resources do they draw
  upon to reconstruct their identities?
• Specifically concerned with the loss of the work
  organization or occupation
• How do the resources utilized relate to
  psychological health and success in the domain of
  the lost referent?
• Specifically well-being and career success

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Identity Content

• Resources forms of wealthsupplies (e.g.,
  money or goods) or supports (e.g., information,
  status, affiliation or love) having economic,
  social or emotional value (Rousseau Ling,
  2007 374)
• Recent interest in content as well as process of
  identity construction (McAdams, 1985 Pratt,
  Kaufmann Rockmann, 2006)

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Identity Construction

• In developmental psychology
• Identity construction is crucial in adolescence,
  although a lifelong pursuit (Erikson, 1959 1963)
• In organizational behavior
• Professional identity construction (Ibarra, 1999
  Pratt, Kaufmann Rockmann, 2006)
• Identity work (Sveningsson Alvesson, 2003)
• Although a burgeoning topic, identity
  construction remains relatively unexplored

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Identity Reconstruction

• In clinical psychology
• Loss of a relational identity referent (e.g.,
  spouse, child, parent) (Bagnoli, 2003 Riches
  Dawson, 1996)
• In social and personality psychology
• Construction of a life story creates continuity
  out of instability (McAdams, 1985, 1996)
• Contexts divorce (King Raspin, 2004), career
  and religion change (Bauer McAdams, 2004)
• In sociology of health and illness
• Loss of a valued self (e.g., healthy person)
  (Yoshida, 1993 Radley, 1989)

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Identity Resources

• Death of significant other causes all other
  relationships to be reexamined (Bagnoli, 2003)
• Having multiple identities to draw upon may
  buffer the loss of any one (Sieber, 1974 Koch
  Sheppard, 2004)
• Identification with extant collective referents
  will positively relate to SWB and career success
• Occupation if organization lost
• Organization if occupation lost

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Identity Resources

• People differ in their ability to balance old
  and new views of the self following the loss of
  a valued self (King Raspin, 2004 Yoshida,
  1993 Radley, 1989)
• Possible selves are personalized representations
  of goals investment in a future that is unlikely
  to happen is maladaptive (King Raspin, 2004
  King Smith, 2004)
• Salience of new possible self will positively
  relate to SWB and career success

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Identity Resources

• People differ in their narration of turning
  points as being redemptive versus contaminative
  (McAdams et al., 1997 McAdams et al., 2001
  McAdams Bowman, 2001)
• Importance of finding positive meaning despite
  adverse circumstances in rebuilding identity
  following loss (Bagnoli, 2003 Yoshida, 1993
  Affleck Tennen, 1996 Tedeschi Calhoun, 1995)
  
• Redemptive turning points will positively relate
  to SWB and career success

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Identity Resources

• Two dominant themes tend to emerge in life
  stories (McAdams, 1985, 1996)
• Agency highlight power of the individual
  relative to all others
• Communion emphasize intimacy and connection
• Emphasizing connection to other people is
  positively related to well-being, while agency is
  not related (Bauer McAdams, 2004 McAdams et
  al., 2001 Riches Dawson, 1996)
• Narratives of communion will positively relate to
  SWB and career success

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Hypothesized Model
_

• Investment in the Lost Referent
• Identification
• Work Centrality

Subjective Well-Being



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• Career Success
• Objective
• Subjective

• IDENTITY RESOURCES
• Identification w/ Extant Referent
• New Possible Self
• Redemptive Turning Point
• Communal Themes

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Proposed Approach

• Study 1
• Interviews with people who have lost their
  organization or occupation (2 separate samples)
• Purpose gain an understanding from participants
  of what resources are used and in what
  combination inform Study 2 (Sieber, 1973)
• Study 2
• Survey of people who have lost the same
  organization and occupation as in Study 1
• Purpose hypothesis testing

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Sample

• Former accountants for Audit Corp
• Audit, tax and consulting firm
• Ceased accounting operations in 2002
• Audit Corp is gone, but accounting remains
• Former research scientists for Tech Lab
• Industrial research laboratory
• Strategic change in 2001
• 2/3 of research science group laid off
• Research science is gone, but Tech Lab remains

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Measures DVs

• Subjective Well-Being
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons,
  Larsen Griffin, 1985)
• Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1987)
• Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression
  (CES-D) Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen Griffin,
  1985)
• Subjective Career Success (Gunz Heslin, 2005)
• What is your definition of career success?
• In general, how satisfied are you with your
  career thus far?
• Objective Career Success
• Annual Income
• Promotion Rate

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Measures IVs

• Identification with the Lost Referent
• Organizational/Occupational Identification Scale
  (Mael Ashforth, 1992)
• Overlapping Circles Identification Measure
  (Bergami Bagozzi, 2000)
• Work Centrality Scale (Paullay, Alliger
  Stone-Romero, 1994)

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Measures Identity Resources

• Identification with Extant Collective
• Organizational/Occupational Identification Scale
  (Mael Ashforth, 1992)
• Overlapping Circles Identification Measure
  (Bergami Bagozzi, 2000)
• Salience of New Possible Self (King Raspin,
  2004)
• Possible Self Narrative
• How easy was it for you to imagine your life in
  this scenario?
• How clear was the mental picture you imagined?
• How often do you think about this possible
  future?

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Measures Identity Resources

• Narrative of Loss of Organization/ Occupation
  (McAdams, 1985 McAdams et al., 2001 Bauer
  McAdams, 2004)
• I would like you to think back to the time in
  your life when you stopped working at Audit
  Corp/as a research scientist. It is likely that
  this event marked the end of one chapter in your
  life, and the beginning of another, as is
  consistent with a turning point. In the space
  below, please write a description of this time in
  as much detail as you can, including what
  happened, who was involved, what you were
  thinking and feeling at the time, and how (if at
  all) that experience changed your life?

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Measures Identity Resources

• Redemptive Turning Points (McAdams Bowman,
  2001)
• Negative situation turns positive or results in a
  positive outcome
• Examples progress, growth, learning, recovery
• Communal Themes (McAdams, 1985)
• Episodes communication, sharing, sympathy,
  friendship, love, touch, physical closeness
• Characters mother, spouse, teacher, mentor
• Ideologies care, responsibility

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What Do I Expect to Find?

• The resources people draw upon to rebuild
  identity partially explain differential outcomes
  following the loss of an organization or
  occupation
• Subjective well-being
• Subjective and objective career success
• Although investment in the lost referent hurts,
  identity resources can help!

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Theoretical Contributions

• Identity Construction in the Domain of Work
• Better understand the content of individual
  identities at work
• In turn, individual identities are resources to
  the organization and occupation
• Identity Construction Following Loss of a
  Collective Referent
• Can be applied more broadly (e.g., fall of
  nations, ethnic groups, religions)
• Unemployment and Job Loss
• Additional lens to understand differential
  experience and outcomes of job loss

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Limitations of Proposed Study

• One-time, cross-sectional design
• Does not allow us to understand process
• Directionality unclear do people choose action
  that is in line with their self-narrative or do
  they construct a narrative post-hoc based on
  course of action?
• Asking people to recall an event that occurred
  several years prior
• Susceptible to retrospective biases

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THANK YOUAND HAPPY ROWING!