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I Contain Multitudes: How Identity Complexity Informs Meaning Making and Identity Work
Abstract   Open access

I Contain Multitudes: How Identity Complexity Informs Meaning Making and Identity Work

Drew Jauron, Amy E. Colbert, Stacy Lyn Astrove, Bethany Cockburn, Lindsey Greco, Erin Johnson, Maya Anikiej, Aleksandra Majkowska-Smith, Jordan Nielsen, Jingran (Mia) Zhou, …
Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings, Vol.2025(1)
07/2025
DOI: 10.5465/AMPROC.2025.13352symposium
url
https://doi.org/10.5465/AMPROC.2025.13352symposiumView
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Abstract only This symposium brings together four papers that introduce new ways to examine people’s complex understandings of their identities and show how considering the interrelationships between identities advances our understanding of meaning making, identity work, and work outcomes. Two of the papers in this symposium (Astrove, Cockburn, & Greco; Johnson, Anikiej, & Majkowska-Smith) advance the literature on identity complexity by focusing on specific identities (avocational callings) and disruptive events (immigration) that have reverberating effects across multiple identities. Two of the papers in this symposium (Nielsen, Zhou, Hedrick, & Thompson; Jauron & Colbert) examine an identity (i.e., called professional, artisan) that possesses multiple meanings, an identity that is complex within itself. The complexity that exists within a single identity may complicate the meaning that is derived from the complex identity and the ways in which the complex identity influences behavior and decisions. We believe that this symposium will generate productive discussions about the ways in which complexity can be integrated into future identity research to provide a more complete understanding of the meaning making and identity work that is required to manage identity complexity.

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