Identity Gap Research Articles

Moving beyond us-versus-them polarization towards constructive conversations

ABSTRACT The global surge of political polarization poses a significant threat to liberal democracies. The prevailing “us-versus-them” mentality prevents leaders from effectively addressing societal issues. While intergroup dialogue shows promise in bridging divisions among diverse identity groups, the dynamics of real-life conversations between individuals with opposing political identities remain underexplored. This study investigates a unique case study of constructive face-to-face interactions among American political elites on a contentious issue. By examining how opposing leaders collaborate towards shared goals, the research identifies communicative actions that can reduce polarization. This study delves into the complex dynamics of polarization, as both an issue-based and identity-based conflict, focusing on interactional framing strategies leaders use to navigate their differences. The findings reveal that political leaders bridge ideological divides by embracing multiple frames, reconnecting conflicting frames, and developing neutral non-political frames. They also foster positive relations, use superordinate identities, and decrease social distance, thereby bridging their identity gap. By fostering convergence rather than accentuating differences, they effectively counteract polarization. Studying rare examples of constructive bipartisan collaboration offers valuable insights into reducing polarization, restoring political trust among the general public, and mitigating broader societal impacts, ultimately strengthening the foundations of a healthy democracy.

Organizational attachment in hybrids: identification, commitment and exit/voice/loyalty

PurposeThis study aims to examine member attachment in hybrid identity organizations (HIOs), assessing the distinct effects of identification with respect to two elements (normative and utilitarian) of a hybrid’s identity. Specifically, the author explored how such dual identifications influence commitment and exit/voice/loyalty.Design/methodology/approachTo distinguish the effects of the two identities, the author used the mechanism of identity congruence – the gap between identity perceptions and expectations – as an analog of identification. The models of identity gap, commitment and exit/voice/loyalty were examined via a survey of agricultural cooperative members.FindingsBoth the social and economic forms of identity gap were significantly related to commitment and exit/voice/loyalty. In addition, commitment mediated the relationship between identity gap and exit/voice/loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe results demonstrate the distinctive effects of the dual identities and reinforce the importance of delineating such differences when examining identification in hybrid organizations.Practical implicationsManagers should recognize the duality inherent in hybrid organizational identification and understand the potential for different outcomes stemming from the separate identities.Originality/valueThis study represents the first quantitative examination of an integrated model of dual identification and commitment in HIOs. It is also unique in exploring the exit/voice/loyalty framework as a consequent of identification.

Effects of acculturation stress and identity gaps on Mexican-heritage adolescent depressive symptoms and substance use behavior

ABSTRACT Children of immigrant families are placed at high risk of acculturation stress due to their role serving as a cultural broker for their family members. Communication theory of identity (CTI) explains that the discrepancies between one’s personal, enacted, relational, and communal layers of identity lead to negative health outcomes. Guided by CTI, the present study investigated indirect effects of acculturation stress on Mexican-heritage adolescents’ depressive symptoms and substance use behaviors via identity gaps. Using the cross-sectional survey data (N = 210), path analysis revealed direct effects of acculturation stress on the personal-enacted identity gap and on the personal-relational identity gap. Indirect effects of acculturation stress on depressive symptoms via the personal-relational identity gap were also detected.

A stranger in a strange land: Promises and identity

One's social identity tends to favor those belonging to one's group. At the same time, communication has had beneficial social consequences in controlled laboratory experiments. Can communication improve trust and outcomes between out-group members by making them more familiar? We construct a simple weak mechanism of group favoritism (different assigned colors) that induces in-group favoritism. Communication increases cooperation but does not affect per se the social identity gap, i.e., people make more favorable choices for in-group members. However, mutual promises are more effective for out-groups than in-groups, reducing or eliminating the social-identity gap. So perhaps, in some sense, out-group members are seen as more like in-group members when they have experienced mutual promises. We also find evidence that the two groups’ decisions are driven by different motivations, one based on expectations in-groups and one based on moral commitment in the case of out-groups.

Identity veiling: Theorizing identity gap negotiation post-intimate partner violence

Within the United States, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 10 men experience intimate partner violence (IPV): psychological aggression, sexual violence, physical violence, and/or stalking from an intimate partner. Although some studies highlight the complexity of post-IPV recovery, the role of communication in post-IPV recovery remains underexplored. This study employs Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) to analyze in-depth interviews with post-IPV adults. Analysis reveals how individuals negotiate post-IPV identity gaps between the personal-personal and personal-relational layers of identity. The forwarded concept of identity veiling explicates how IPV tactics cause the relational layer of identity to eclipse the personal layer in IPV relationships. Therefore, post-IPV recovery involves unveiling the personal layer of identity—communicatively (re)constructing self-image beyond the IPV relationship and the identity gaps it engendered. This study conceptualizes the role of violent communication in the construction of identity gaps and identity gap negotiation.

Cue Brexit: Performing Global Britain at the UN Security Council

AbstractThe role of performance in ontological security seeking is underdeveloped, despite the fact that many elements of such behaviour – narratives, rituals, routinised meetings – carry a distinctive performative quality. Drawing on Butlerian performance theory, this article makes the case that performances are essential to re-establishing coherence and a sense of self following ontologically critical situations. The reproduction of the self, especially while directly addressing fundamental existential questions, is an important way to overcome critical situations. At the state level, this reproduction of self also includes a reproduction of the international system, a task which is best enacted in everyday diplomatic practice. To explore this theory, I use Brexit as an illustrative case study. Brexit was a moment of profound crisis for the United Kingdom (UK) and an ontologically critical situation. It forced the UK to reposition itself on the world stage and confront significant challenges to its self-understanding. In Westminster, these efforts centred on ‘Global Britain’ – a narrative shift that bridged the identity gap and provided a thin framework for foreign policy. At the same time, British diplomats were tasked with international realignment post-Brexit. In this way, everyday diplomatic practice became Brexit performances.

Does feeling caught between parents magnify or reduce the association between parents’ nonaccommodation and sexual minorities’ personal-enacted identity gap with family?

ABSTRACT This study examined the degree to which the association between parents’ nonaccommodation and sexual minorities’ personal-enacted identity gap (PEIG) with their family depends upon feelings of being caught between parents. Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents’ unwanted advice about their sexual identity and the degree to which they emphasized divergent values in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. Reports of both mother’s and father’s nonaccommodation were positively associated with feeling caught between parents. Feeling caught diminished the magnitude of association between parental nonaccommodation and PEIG, although the association remained significant across all levels of feeling caught.

Positional identities negotiated within a collective identity

Abstract This qualitative study explores Japanese students’ positional identities in EMI contexts. Their positioning act is operated by the sociocultural norms of a program shared among community members. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of 13 first-year students enrolled in an undergraduate English-taught program (ETP) at a Japanese national university. A thematic analysis of the interview data produced four main themes: (a) acting self-identification as a peripheral position, (b) hierarchy in a Japanese cohort, (c) an identity gap between the ideal self and reality, and (d) the ETP-A collective identity for membership negotiation. The study shows how participants position themselves and others based on English proficiency and academic culture, whereby students force themselves to acculturate for legitimate full participation. Such traits reflect collective identities and function as forms of sociocultural norms that determine legitimate membership. Furthermore, such norms lead to stratification between students: Japanese students identify themselves as inactive members of the ETP group with limited second-language (L2) English. Conversely, the collective identity helps them reclaim their ETP membership in Japanese-medium instruction classes with Japanese students from outside of the ETP. Japanese students’ positional identities are discussed in terms of L2 English competence and classroom culture.

Being Creative Within (or Outside) the Box: Bridging Occupational Identity Gaps

This study advances organizational communication scholarship by introducing the notion of an occupational identity gap as a misalignment among the personal, relational, communal, and enacted frames of identity. Despite knowledge that occupational identity gaps exist, scholars know little about how people manage them. Interviews with 31 graphic designers explain how occupational identity gaps were forged by personal frames (e.g., “I am a creative person”) that contradicted enacted (e.g., “I do boring template work”) and relational frames (e.g., “It’s the client’s decision which [design] he or she will like”). Workers managed this misalignment by employing two novel strategies—reappraising and repositioning—that bridged personal-enacted and personal-relational occupational identity gaps. Our analysis contributes to scholarship by a) theorizing these two occupational identity gap bridging strategies, (b) extending CTI research, and (c) offering a novel conceptualization of occupational identity.

Polyamory and Christianity: Navigating Identity Gaps and Hegemonic Discourses

ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study was to understand the identity negotiation of Christians who practice polyamory. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eighteen polyamorous Christians. The data was then qualitatively analyzed using the communication theory of identity. The findings indicated that identity gaps in the personal, relational, and communal frames were produced by mononormative discourses of Christian identity. Participants navigated these identity gaps by redefining the boundaries of Christian identity and utilizing various strategies to maintain, strengthen, and assert these redefined boundaries. This study contributes to critical interpersonal and family communication research by applying CTI to polyamorous Christians, supporting and extending research on identity gap navigation, and focusing on processes of hegemony and resistance in identity gap navigation.

The Challenges and Potential of Economy-Wide Islamic Finance - The Case of Pakistan

Efforts for transforming the interest based to interest free financial system at national levels were made in the early 1980s in Pakistan, Iran and Sudan. In Pakistan, a gigantic move for Islamization of economy culminating into a system based generally on ‘bai‘al‘inah and sale and purchase of debt instruments. That system was declared un-Islamic by the country’s Shariah Court. As from 2002, the government switched to the dual system of conventional and Islamic banking, leaving other areas of finance, almost unattended. Since then, Islamic banking in Pakistan evolved in faith-sensitive market in terms of deposits, assets, financing and profitability. Of course, this growth was coupled with an increasing identity gap as Islamic banks replicated almost all products that conventional banks used under lesser regulatory requirements, particularly on deposits side. At global level as well, focus during last three decades had been at promoting Islamic banking operating parallel with the conventional banking. A little research has been conducted on the possibility, potential and implication of economy-wide introduction of Islamic finance, also including the money creation and monetary policy. This qualitative paper is aimed at discussing the potential of expanding the scope of Islamic banking and finance to the economy-wide operations / at national levels in the backdrop of the Judgment of the Federal Shariat Court, Pakistan (April 28, 2022). It presents an evaluation of the progress made in terms of achieving the objectives of introducing Islamic finance, taking Pakistan as a case study. It then suggests some major policy and regulatory steps and strategy to be implemented if the objective of transformation of the system is to be achieved. The suggested strategy can be used for other OIC member countries, with some changes specific to every economy, particularly the countries that have gained sufficient experience and have visible presence of Islamic banking and finance.

A communication and identity process that mediates parents’ nonaccommodation and sexual minorities’ mental well-being

This study tested sexual minorities’ (SM) surface acting with parents, identity gaps with family, and perceived stress as serial mediators of parents’ nonaccommodation and SM’s mental well-being (i.e., mental health and self-esteem). Participants included 205 sexual minorities who reported on their parents’ unwanted advice about their sexual identity and the degree to which they emphasized divergent values in conversations about LGBTQ+ issues. For both mental health and self-esteem, significant and negative indirect effects emerged for both mother’s and father’s nonaccommodation through a sequence of SM’s surface acting, to personal-enacted identity gap, to perceived stress. These indirect effects, however, were moderated by relational closeness with each parent. Consequently, unwanted advice about children’s SM identities and messages that emphasize divergent values may be harmful even if family relations do not appear overtly contentious or hostile.

“If You Were a Good Christian…”

This narrative study investigated the perceived experience and navigation of identity gaps in intrafaith Protestant dating relationships. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 self-identified Christians. Guided by the communication theory of identity, the analyses revealed identity-rooted dilemmas that disrupted the ideal Christian relationship trajectory. Under two identity gap motifs, four themes were uncovered: personal identity dissonance via enacted identity, perceived partner identity dissonance, church prescriptions and expectations, and intimacy boundary regulation and synchronization dilemmas. Three communication strategies were identified as attempts to navigate identity gaps: reinforcing faith-based identity awareness, practicing multiple interaction pathways, and tracking and sustaining third-party viewpoints.

“I changed, I had to realize that I was wrong”: Identity gap management amidst evolving illness uncertainty

Doubt that a family member’s health issues are real, severe, or even possible entwines some of the most challenging aspects of medical, personal, and social uncertainty. Although several studies have examined doubt, this investigation focuses on how doubt evolves and foregrounds the identity implications of uncertainty. Guided by Communication Theory of Identity (CTI), the purpose of this study was to explore the identity gaps people experience as they navigate evolving doubt about a family member’s health and how they manage those identity gaps. We interviewed 33 individuals in the U.S. about a family member’s health issues that they doubted but began to believe. Our analysis uncovered three identity gaps among personal, relational, and enacted layers of identity: personal-enacted, relational-enacted, and personal-relational-enacted identity gaps. Participants managed identity gaps in two primary ways: (a) closing gaps by altering personal, relational, or enacted layers of their own identity; and (b) maintaining identity gaps by putting the locus of responsibility for identity change within their family member’s relational identities. This study offers theoretical implications for CTI as well as practical implications for individuals navigating doubt and evolving illness uncertainty in their family relationships.

Exploring the gendered entrepreneurial identity gap: implications for entrepreneurship education

PurposeWomen are underrepresented in most university entrepreneurship education (EE) programmes and less likely than men to pursue business venturing as a career. One reason may be the “entrepreneurial identity gap”, whereby female students do not see themselves as successful entrepreneurs. This paper aims to explore the nature of this identity gap and its relationship to entrepreneurial intent and entrepreneurship education.Design/methodology/approachA set of contemporary, gender-inclusive entrepreneurial attributes was developed using entrepreneurial subject matter experts and tested with 591 university students to explore the nature of the gendered entrepreneurial identity gap.FindingsWhile masculine stereotypes persist and the entrepreneurial identity gap is larger for female students, results suggest that a more gender-inclusive vocabulary of entrepreneurship is emerging among the student population and an androgynous perception of the idealized entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship education had a positive influence on entrepreneurial intent.Research limitations/implicationsStudy findings advance the conversation about entrepreneurial identity, the nature of the gendered identity gap and the role of education in closing that gap. The questionnaire and set of gender-inclusive attributes should continue to be tested beyond student samples.Practical implicationsBased on this study, entrepreneurship education could benefit from more gender-inclusive instructional practices and vocabulary and a broadened definition of what it means to be entrepreneurial. More students – both men and women – will see themselves as entrepreneurs and be inspired to participate in the innovation economy.Originality/valueThis study takes a novel approach to the study of entrepreneurial identity, developing a new set of attributes and contemporary vocabulary around business venturing.

The Dark Side of Comedy

The Dark Side of Comedy

Auditor's Communication Identity in Carrying Out Audit Tasks

The purpose of this research is to find out how the identity of the auditor's communication when carrying out an examination task. The research was conducted with qualitative method using a case study and interviews for for collecting the data. The research samples were five auditors at BPK RI Representatives of DIY Province. The research concluded using four layers, which are the personal layer, enacted layer, relational layer, and communal layer cited from the in the Theory of Communication of Identity by Michael Hecht. The theory stated that participants' personal identity is formed by several factors i.e. self-character, code of ethics, and environmental factors. Participants demonstrate their code of ethics through the communication process between the auditor and the audite, which is then manifested in the form of behavior when carrying out the audit tasks. By understanding each other's identity, it can create a harmonious relationship between the auditor and the audite through mutual support between the auditor and the audite. The attitudes and behaviors shown by the auditors when conducting the audit tasks reflect the identity of the BPK institution in the community as a free and independent audit institution, so that the negative stereotypes of auditors are minimized. There is also an identity gap in: (1) the personal layer and the personal layer, the personal and enacted layers, and the relational and enacted layers.

Legally Belonging in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Status of Legal Identity (Conference (Re)Imagining Belonging in Latin America and Beyond)

The days that one could belong in their country without having a legal identity to actually be(long) legally in that country seem well behind us, except for minorities that have no other place to go than, perhaps, a refugee camp, or underground. “Leaving no one behind” — the motto of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda — is a hollow phrase until each and everyone one of us has a legal identity and basic rights for our interaction with governments. The Latin American and Caribbean region has arguably done the most to reach a state in which the proportion of those excluded from legal identity is down to a level very close to that in high-income countries, and lower than in any other part of the world. Birth registration coverage of children 0–4 years old is 96% (and higher still for children and youth 5–18 years old). ID-coverage is 95%. But this paper also shows that whether it is the World Bank (ID4D), the United Nations Statistics Division or UNICEF, their statistics on civil registration and national ID coverage leave much to be desired in terms of timeliness, coverage, veracity and compliance with adequate statistical practice. For a randomly chosen sample of seven countries in the LAC region we found that the World Bank’s “2018” dataset was in error to the extent that the actual number of “unidentified” people in those seven countries, by 2016, is just 15% of the World Bank number. All three actors release data that are, disappointingly, representative of the situation of 5 to 7 years ago. The World Bank, UNSD and UNICEF also treat high-income countries as VIP-countries that, “of course”, do not have people without a legal identity. Hence those countries are let off the hook and are not required to establish and report the problem of their “unidentified” people. “One UN” is not what we see either. That also applies to the tussle within the UN (including the World Bank Group) over what role “digital ID” systems could play for legal identity, if at all. The LAC region shows (to the extent available statistics allow) that, when it comes to legal identity, ID coverage tends to be, and become, more exclusionary than civil (=birth) registration coverage. The region also shows that universal coverage can be achieved, not by “leapfrogging” to eliminate “the identity gap” or “quack-fixes”, but by serious study and judicious policy and implementation. Much of this paper zooms in on the quantitative, empirical data on the regional coverage of civil registration and national ID-systems. The region deserves to be commended for the sophisticated-but-pragmatic, organization-focused research, and implementation follow-through largely with local resources. Reaching legal identity for all by 2030 in the LAC region is feasible.

Мультикультурна ідентичність у сучасній англомовній художній літературі

The article is focused on the representation of the phenomenon of multicultural identity in modern English cross-cultural literature. Literary texts are seen as one of the main tools of reflecting the identity, especially when it is depicted in the cross-cultural texts. Such texts bring to the forefront the concepts of “split” consciousness, cross-cultural (multicultural) identity, self-identification, sense of belonging. They bring to life the topics of belonging, of one’s own otherness that are revealed thanks to “the century of the great experiment” (Z. Smith). The opposition “we”–“they” is the key structure of the social world and the foundation stone of the concept of identity as any identity obtains its distinctive features when seen in comparison with another identity, the process of self-identification needs the figure of “them” as opposed to “us”. It’s really quite natural to presume that the sense of belonging should be determined by some unifying markers or markers of identity that will allow to bring people together or to exclude them from the group. On the basis of the numerous definitions of identity we have structured the information and singled out the key words around which the definition is built, and have arranged them in 3 large groups which contain as their constituents the key elements of identity. Among them are values, myths, language, traditions, symbols, memories. Some markers are constant, some, like symbols, myths, values etc. are changeable and determined by other markers (e.g. language or religion). Depending on the situation these markers can be regarded as either something very important or less significant thus making the concept of identity quite flexible. In the novels the process of formation of multicultural identity is accompanied and characterized by a number of factors, such as the state of struggle that is reinforced by the stereotypes and expectations of other people (“personal-relational identity gap”); the feelings of “in-betweenness” and uncertainty that are shown through the variety of metaphors and comparisons (e.g. the country as a mirror and the characters without reflection in it; Zulfikar, a double-edged sword; chameleon as a symbol of variability). Language is seen as one of the most efficient ways and a flexible tool of defining one's own identity (e.g. faking the accent or pronunciation in order to meet expectations of other people or show one's belonging to the “us” group). The concept of “Englishness” appears as the embodiment of “otherness”, as the criterion according to which the things are compared or opposed to. It can be seen as something desired, absolutely required for one’s own sense of wholeness or as something completely opposite – strange and hostile.

Investigating the Welfare Deservingness of Single Mothers: Public Image and Deservingness Perceptions in Hungary

The literature on single mothers’ welfare deservingness is dominated by analyses carried out in Anglo-Saxon countries. Those analyses tend to point to an undeserving public image of single mothers. This negative perception is often explained by the identity gap between middle-class voters and poor single mothers, which is partly fuelled by conservative family values in mainstream society. This study investigates the issue in Hungary, where the government has strongly promoted traditional family ideals and significantly increased the support for affluent two-parent families in the past decade. First, the study explores the public image of single mothers based on open-ended and closed-ended survey questions. Second, it measures the perceived deservingness of the group based on five criteria (control, attitude, reciprocity, identity, and need) (van Oorschot 2000) by using the same open-ended question data and a series of other survey data. The results show that single mothers have a coherent deserving public image in Hungary: they have a hard life, do everything to make a living for their family, and lack appropriate financial and emotional support. Results, however, also show that public attitudes are in line with the government’s conservative family policy, and there is, indeed, an identity gap between single-mother families and the public. Nevertheless, this identity gap is not enough to generate negative welfare attitudes towards single mothers because they are perceived as deserving regarding the other four deservingness criteria.