Who am I?: The influence of multiple intrapersonal identities on interpersonal problem solving.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Ramarajan, Lakshmi.

Contributor:

Barsade, Sigal G., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Personality.

Management.

Social psychology.

0451.

0454.

0625.

Penn dissertations--Management.

Management--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Management.

Management--Penn dissertations.

0451.

0454.

0625.

Physical Description:

128 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 70-06A.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Social and structural changes in organizations have resulted in individuals' enactments of numerous social roles and group affiliations within the workplace. In such complex environments, the psychological experience of managing multiple identities can present both challenges and opportunities for individuals and organizations. Despite the prevalence of multiple identities, research in organizations has largely focused on one or two identities. In this dissertation, I present a network model of how multiple intrapersonal identities relate to one another in both conflicting and compatible ways. Furthermore, drawing upon theories of role and cultural identities and knowledge activation, I argue that conflict and compatibility among an individual's multiple identities shape access to cognitive and affective processes and hence influence his or her interpersonal problem solving, i.e., the extent to which the person considers both his/her own and the other party's goals and interests in a problem situation. Empirically, in Study 1, I operationalized conflict and compatibility among multiple identities in the form of an intrapersonal identity network. In three subsequent studies I tested the hypotheses that conflict among identities decreases interpersonal problem solving while compatibility among identities increases interpersonal problem solving. The results of Studies 2 and 3 indicate that conflict among one's multiple identities decreases problem solving, but there was no support for the hypothesis that compatibility among identities increases problem solving. An additional finding of Study 3 was that compatibility increases yielding and in Study 4, I confirmed this finding. Thus, the results indicate that conflict and compatibility among an individual's identities differentially influence interpersonal conflict management such that identity conflict decreases problem solving and identity compatibility increases yielding. This research contributes to emerging inquiry on multiple identities in the workplace by providing a novel theoretical model and an empirical test of the effects of multiple identities on organizationally relevant outcomes.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Management) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2009.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2139.

Adviser: Sigal G. Barsade.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781109236200

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.