Understanding the Identity Work of LGB Workers Using the Practice Theory Lens

Abstract

Identity management of LGB (lesbian, gay, bisexual) workers is largely portrayed within the decision of (dis)closure in the scholarly literature. Given the multifaceted nature of identity management in everyday organizational life, the overemphasis on the disclosure decision of LGB workers reifies their identity management and cannot highlight how they enact their identity within everyday activities and interactions. Drawing largely on Schatzkian practice theory, this chapter conceptualizes the identity management of LGB individuals as an “identity work”. In this respect, we examine conceptually how they build, maintain and negotiate their identities within everyday work activities. Within this conceptualization, deciding simply whether to disclose or not disclose one’s sexual orientation does not adequately capture the complex, multifaceted and spontaneous nature of the phenomenon since it is rather lived and experienced within situated activities and interactions. The practice theory driven approach proposed in this chapter facilitates addressing the dynamics of everyday organizational life and also gives a detailed account of how situated work activities and interactions within the normative-affective aspects serve to construct LGB work identities.