Managerial Identity Work in the Co-Consumption of Management Ideas: A Narrative Approach

Abstract

Applying a narrative approach, this paper examines the intra- organisational consumption of management ideas through the lens of managerial identity work. Drawing on the co-consumption and managerial identity work literatures, we ask the following: how do top managers practice identity work amidst the co-consumption of new management ideas in their organisations? We conducted 35 semi- structured interviews with the top managers of four multinational corporations (MNCs) and collected archival material, including personnel magazines and annual reports of the MNCs. Based on our analysis, we formed three complementing narratives through which the top managers practised managerial identity work when consuming new management ideas, namely, stability, depreciation and disguise. Further, by examining how managers position themselves in the narratives, we expand the existing literature on co-consumption. We postulate that the personal growth stories of the top managers are entwined with the co-consumption of management ideas. Our findings have wider relevance for how we understand the role of managerial identity work in the co-consumption of management ideas, which has not been addressed in previous research. Keywords: co-consumption, managerial identity work, management ideas, narrative approach, top managers