Depraved, Distracted, Disabled, or Just “Pack Rats”? Workplace Hoarding Personas in Physical and Virtual Realms

Abstract

This article provides some potential directions in exploring the construction of the persona of the “hoarder” and addresses how such a persona can move to the foreground of an individual’s set of workplace-related personas. Hoarding throws into relief some critical concerns about the social standings of individuals in workplaces and the extent to which they have autonomous expression. The article frames hoarding in terms of its capacity to externalize particular social issues (such as environmental problems) and generate public discourse, and examines both physical hoardings (books and papers in academic and office settings, for example) and hoardings of virtual goods (such as digital music, video files, and pornographic images). Virtual hoardings have been constructed as problematic as they create barriers to the free flow of information in the workplace and can challenge organizational interests related to intellectual property concerns. Hoarding as a whole is becoming more tightly circumscribed as a workplace and community condition, in part because the ability to manage physical and virtual items in confined settings is considered central to many forms of competent societal functioning.An assortment of human resource management initiatives to mitigate hoarding concerns has developed, including the consideration of hoarding as a disability. However, hoarding behavior is increasing creating problems for those who are searching for simple definitions or straightforward diagnostic criteria. This article also provides some structures for analysis of the class-related and economic dimensions of workplace hoarding personas, and explores potential implications of lifelogging initiatives and hoarding acceptance approaches.