ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0001-6010-4950

Graduation Semester and Year

2017

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Management

Department

Management

First Advisor

Marcus M. Butts

Abstract

While scholars commonly agree that self-concept is a complex set of self-representations, or identities that influences individual’s decisions, evaluations, attitude, and behaviors, little is known about how individual’s multiple identities influence important employee and organizational outcomes because studies to date have typically adopted a static approach to understanding the interrelationship among identities. Research has also rarely examined the interrelationships among more than two identities. Through the introduction of the concept of an identity coactivation episode, a momentary occurrence in which multiple identities are simultaneously triggered and occupied, I recognize that multiple identities might be experienced differently across various situations. Further, integrating tenets from the identity development literature and appraisal theories of emotions, I theorize that distinct emotions are experienced following an individual’s evaluation of an episode regarding whether the elements of an identity help or hinder satisfaction of the identity motives associated with another simultaneously coactivated identity. Various behaviorally-oriented employee outcomes following an emotion-generating identity coactivation episode are also identified. The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 205 employed adults, surveyed twice a day over 10-workday period, in a work-nonwork context. The results of multilevel modeling indicated that the contribution of an identity to the satisfaction of another identity’s motives results in both positive and negative emotions, and subsequently determines daily behaviors at work and outside of work, however, the direction and magnitude of the effect depends on a number of factors, including presence of actors, individual differences, and where the coactivation episode was experienced. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.

Keywords

Identity, Identity coactivation episode, Work-nonwork

Disciplines

Business | Business Administration, Management, and Operations

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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