Negotiating a New RoleIidentity: The Experiences of First Batches of Female Military Officers

Abstract

How do individuals create and negotiate a professional identity in a newly created liminal role? We explore this question by drawing upon a qualitative study based on fifty-one interviews with India’s first batches of female military officers. These officers joined the military on an experimental basis with time-limited contracts, and their participation was restricted to certain duties. Despite the highly regimented setting of the military, in which identity custodians hold significant power, we find that these new role occupants actively negotiated, shaped, and ultimately aligned this liminal role with how they saw themselves in it (i.e., their role identity). Our key contributions include: (1) elaborating theory on experiences of individuals in liminal roles within organizational boundaries; (2) highlighting the dynamics of role-identity negotiation in an atypical setting; and (3) explaining, counterintuitively, how liminal role identity can be valued and endure post role departure.