Identities in Context: How Does Where We Are Affect Who We Are?

Abstract

Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings includes abstracts of all papers and symposia presented at the annual conference, plus 6-page abridged versions of the “Best Papers” accepted for inclusion in the program (approximately 10%). Papers published in the Proceedings are abridged because presenting papers at their full length could preclude subsequent journal publication. Please contact the author(s) directly for the full papers. Identities in Context: How Does Where We Are Affect Who We Are?Jordana Moser, Kristen Raney, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Bryant A. Hudson, Jordana Moser, Kathrina Robotham, Veronica C. Rabelo and Romain VacquierJordana Moser Arizona State U., Kristen Raney Arizona State U., Kimberly D. Elsbach U. of California, Davis, Bryant A. Hudson IÉSEG School of Management, Jordana Moser Arizona State U., Kathrina Robotham U. of Michigan, Veronica C. Rabelo San Francisco State U. and Romain Vacquier -Published Online:1 Aug 2019https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.15120symposiumAboutSections ToolsDownload CitationsAdd to favoritesTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail AbstractThe need for more attention to be paid to context in conducting research is not new (e.g. Capelli and Sherer, 1991; Mowday and Sutton, 1993). Defined as ""both the setting in which individuals, groups, or organizations operate as well as their constitutive parts” (House, Rousseau, and Thomas-Hunt, 1995: 73), context informs effectively all social life. A typology of context by Johns (2006) divided contextual elements into two broad categories: omnibus contextual factors, which encompasses more macro-level contextual factors that describe exactly what surrounds the phenomena being studied (e.g. who, where, when, and why), and discrete contextual factors, which are comprised of elements more traditionally studied in social and environmental psychology (e.g. job characteristics, social structure, physical environment). As Rousseau and Fried (2001) pointed out, study of context is hindered by “its invisibility in the face of the scholar’s bounded rationality” (3); thus, in order to elevate our ability to create inclusive environments, it is all the more important that extra work be taken to expand our rational boundaries. This symposium endeavors to do just that by assessing how identities can serve as grounds for organizing: if identities are as “the campfire that we gather around,” it is important, then, to consider with equal weight the meaning of and process by which the location for the campfire is chosen.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Vol. 2019, No. 1 Permissions Metrics in the past 12 months History Published online 1 August 2019 Published in print 1 August 2019 InformationCopyright of Academy of Management Journal is the property of Academy of Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.KeywordsAOM Annual Meeting Proceedings 2019AOM Boston 2019