Crystallizing Nebulous Identities: Identity and Image Formation and Management in Contemporary Work

Abstract

Workers’ identities have implications for motivation at work, relationships with others, innovative performance, and career trajectories. Organizations typically provide structures and socialization practices as scaffolds for worker identity construction—the process of forming, revising, and maintaining a sense of self at work. However, with technological change and increasing economic insecurity, working independently has become a reality for many. Unlike in a traditional organization, the process by which independent workers engage in work identity construction remains underexplored. Using inductive qualitative interview and archival data from 54 content creators on Instagram, we examined how the process of identity construction unfolds for these workers. Phases in the process include identifying nebulous or hitherto unclaimed identities, crystallizing their work identity, and maintaining their work and personal identities through boundary and image work. We found that the independent workers we studied engaged in identity work in two areas: (1) managing spillovers across their permeable work-life boundaries and (2) managing discrepancies between identity—how they view themselves—and image—how others view them. Our work contributes to understanding the role of agency and audiences in identity construction. It also has practical implications for individuals and organizations engaged in these new and emerging forms of independent work.