Fast Tracks and Inner Journeys: Crafting Portable Selves for Contemporary Careers

Through a longitudinal, qualitative study of 55 managers engaged in mobile careers across organizations, industries, and countries, and pursuing a one-year international master’s of business administration (MBA), we build a process model of the crafting of portable selves in temporary identity workspaces. Our findings reveal that contemporary careers in general, and temporary membership in an institution, fuel people’s efforts to craft portable selves: selves endowed with definitions, motives, and abilities that can be deployed across roles and organizations over time. Two pathways for crafting a portable self—one adaptive, the other exploratory—emerged from the interaction of individuals’ aims and concerns with institutional resources and demands. Each pathway involved developing a coherent understanding of the self in relation to others and to the institution that anchored participants to their current organization while preparing them for future ones. The study shows how institutions that host members temporarily can help them craft selves that afford a sense of agentic direction and enduring connection, tempering anxieties and bolstering hopes associated with mobile working lives. It also suggests that institutions serving as identity workspaces for portable selves may remain attractive and extend their cultural influence in an age of workforce mobility

DS_10.1177_0001839218783174 – Supplemental material for Secure-base Relationships as Drivers of Professional Identity Development in Dual-career Couples

<p>Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0001839218783174 for Secure-base Relationships as Drivers of Professional Identity Development in Dual-career Couples by Jennifer Louise Petriglieri and Otilia Obodaru in Administrative Science Quarterly</p

COVID-19 and the workplace: Implications, issues, and insights for future research and action.

COVID-19's impacts on workers and workplaces across the globe have been dramatic. We present a broad review of prior research rooted in work and organizational psychology, and related fields, for making sense of the implications for employees, teams, and work organizations. Our review and preview of relevant literature focuses on: (i) emergent changes in work practices (e.g. working from home, virtual teams) and (ii) emergent changes for workers (e.g. social distancing, stress and unemployment). In addition, we examine the potential moderating factors of demographic characteristics, individual differences, and organizational norms to generate disparate effects. This broad-scope overview provides an integrative approach for considering the implications of COVID-19 for work and organizations while also identifying issues for future research and insights to inform solutions