Personnel Review Dealing with multiple incompatible work-related identities: the case of artists Sophie Hennekam,
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Dealing with multiple incompatible work-related identities: the case of artists
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Sophie Hennekam ESC La Rochelle School of Business, La Rochelle, France and IRGO, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
Received 14 February 2016 Revised 17 June 2016 Accepted 6 August 2016
Abstract Downloaded by Rennes School of Business At 23:30 12 June 2018 (PT)
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how artists deal with having multiple potentially incompatible work-related identities as a result of a career transition from making a living exclusively as artists to taking on additional work outside the creative industries. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 40 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted by telephone with artists in the Netherlands. A grounded theory approach was used to analyze the findings. Findings – Four different strategies for dealing with multiple potentially incompatible identities were identified: integration, accumulation, separation and dis-identification. The findings suggest that the informal social context, the support of rejection of important others, influenced the strategy adopted by the artists. Invalidation from the environment often leads to stress and separation or dis-identification strategies, while validation seems to lead to integration and accumulation strategies that are less psychologically straining. Practical implications – The findings stress the importance of the external environment. While the workers had to deal with their own psychological stress and regret about not succeeding at working exclusively as artists, they also had to create a feasible story that allowed them to “sell” their transition to others. Originality/value – Careers are becoming increasingly non-linear, and the number of workers who need to juggle multiple (potentially conflicting) work-related identities is rising. However, how workers deal with this has received only limited attention from researchers. Keywords The Netherlands, Artists, Qualitative, Multiple identities, Career transition, Identity transition, Informal social context Paper type Research paper
Personnel Review Vol. 46 No. 5, 2017 pp. 970-987 © Emerald Publishing Limited 0048-3486 DOI 10.1108/PR-02-2016-0025
Introduction In the past, careers were perceived as linear pathways of individual development within one stable employing organization (Schilling, 2012). Nowadays, the working lives of many employees regularly meet interruptions, setbacks and downtime, as well as highlights, and employees follow meandering career paths, often with a number of organizational and thematic changes (Sabelis, 2010). Indeed, a shift toward increasing labor market flexibility can be observed (Michie and Sheehan‐Quinn, 2001), leading to higher risks for unemployment and more job changes. Individuals now have to find new ways to ensure employment security, constantly update their skills and knowledge and be able to move from one occupation to another. The volatility is exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2008 and the ongoing recessions in many European countries. Unemployment is increasing and fewer and fewer people can rely on one full-time position. In the European Union (EU), part-time work has been increasing from 16.7 percent in 2004 to 19.6 percent in 2014 (Eurostat, 2016) and atypical employment is on the rise. This leads to a less stable and less secure situation for workers increasing precariousness among the employed population (Panos et al., 2014). In order to cope with those changes in the labor market, an increasing number of individuals are now holding multiple jobs (Bell et al., 1997; Neumark, 2000). One consequence of the increasing moves in terms of positions, jobs, companies or sectors, leads to changes in their work-related identities (Alvesson et al., 2008). Career transitions and their impact on work-related identities have been studied extensively (Conroy and O’Leary-Kelly, 2014; Ibarra and Barbulescu, 2010). In the past, researchers focused their
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attention on sequential identity transitions, for example, when an individual moves from one position or occupation to another (Ashforth, 2001). In the light of the new economy, where people are increasingly responsible for their own careers, individuals no longer move from one full-time position to the next; they now have to juggle several part-time jobs simultaneously. As a consequence, instead of having one identity, they have multiple identities and need to find ways to construct one coherent identity from the mix of multiple ones. However, dealing with potentially conflicting or incompatible identities has received only limited attention from researchers (Pratt and Foreman, 2000). When several work-related identities are coherent, all goes well. Problems arise, however, when those identities are perceived as being incompatible, leading to stress and identity conflict. Researchers have called for more studies on what sustains a creative identity as artists move across diverse contexts and increasingly find themselves working in non-arts jobs (Pachucki et al., 2010). In addition, researchers have stressed the need to incorporate a theory of identity in the study of creativity (Glaveanu and Tanggaard, 2014). This paper tries to fill this gap in the literature by providing more insights into how individuals cope with multiple, conflicting, and/or ambiguous identities across multiple domains (Roccas et al., 2008). This paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge in two ways. First, it presents a qualitative in-depth examination of how artists who identify strongly with their occupation juggle different activities, commitments and identities. We use a sample of artists in the Netherlands who have moved from working exclusively as full-time artists to being workers who continue to work as artists but are also employed outside the creative industries. Several resolutions or realignments of their different identities and the strategies by which the artists accomplished this are identified. Second, this paper explores the importance of one contextual factor: the informal social context. This exploration takes into consideration the reactions of other people with regard to artists’ decisions to take on other professional activities outside the artistic realm, and how these people’s validation or invalidation influences the strategy the artists use in dealing with their multiple conflicting identities. Third, it provides an indication of the psychological outcome of using those different strategies. Context First, this study focuses on artists. Over 130,000 individuals have been identified as being active as artists in the Netherlands (Statistics Netherlands, 2011). Artists often occupy several jobs: this is the case for 16 percent of all artists vs 7 percent in the total working population (Schreven and De Rijk, 2011; Statistics Netherlands, 2011). This is true not only in the Netherlands, but also in the EU as a whole. It has been estimated that in 2013 3.5 percent of the European working population held a second job, which is eight times more than in 2002 (Eurostat, 2014). Moreover, artists are highly likely to experience career transitions. Researchers have shown that 60-70 percent of relatively recently graduated artists reported having stopped their artistic activities in the first four years after graduation, for economic or familial reasons or because they had been discouraged by the difficulties of accessing the creative sector (Schreven and De Rijk, 2011). Literature review Identity Identity construction in organizations has been conceived as a mutually co-constructive interaction between individuals and social structures (Ybema et al., 2009). Co-construction is enacted in the interplay between individuals’ self-identity (their own notion of who they are) and their social identity (the notion of that person in external discourses, institutions and culture) (Watson, 2009). Previous studies show that the two identities are sometimes in conflict, individuals having an imposed work-related identity and also what they consider as their authentic self (Costas and Fleming, 2009). This study adopts a commonly used
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definition of identity as a self-referential description that provides contextually appropriate answers to the question “Who am I?” (Ashforth et al., 2008). Work-related identity has been defined as “aspects of identity and self-definition that are tied to participation in the activities of work […] or membership in work-related groups, organizations, occupations, or professions” (Dutton et al., 2010, p. 266).
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Multiple identities Researchers are increasingly acknowledging that identities are momentary, fluid and that multiple identities can co-exist in one person (Watson, 2008). In this study, artists reveal several identities: they take on a non-artistic identity, but this does not imply the abandonment of their artistic identity. It is important to note that the artists in this study reported feeling “forced” or “pushed” to take on another job outside the creative industries. While they objectively chose for themselves to take on another job outside the creative industries while continuing their artistic activities, they felt that they did not have a choice as a consequence of financial, physical or psychological difficulties. The accumulation of identities is likely to generate a change in how one sees and experiences the self in an already existing work-related identity. Having multiple identities is increasingly common for artists, as they often have to cross over from their creative work as artists in order to work in other fields, sometimes closely related to their artistic practice but at other times in entirely different domains (Rabkin, 2013). This can lead to competing role demands, but might also result in feelings of fragmentation because they have to make claims regarding who they are and who they would like to become (Ibarra, 2003). While people have many identities, some are more central to a person’s self-definition and are more deeply embedded in his or her daily life, while others are only relevant in specific contexts and situations (Ashforth and Johnson, 2001). There is agreement that these multiple, mutable identities are socially constructed and negotiated but coexist within a self that has some degree of continuity across time and situations (Baumeister, 1998). However, it is sometimes difficult to keep a sense of continuity, such as when one has several conflicting multiple identities. Multiple incompatible identities Multiple identities can trigger tensions, insecurity, anxiety, depression or ill health when experienced as being contradictory or incompatible (Fitzsimmons, 2013). This can give rise to identity conflict (Ibarra, 2003), defined as a “multiply-defined self, whose multiple definitions are incompatible” (Baumeister, 1986 p. 199). For artists, being part of a Bohemian milieu and sharing cultural, rather than materialistic values lies at the core of their artistic self-perception (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2007). However, they also have to make a living and often need additional sources of income, sometimes from work outside the creative realm. As such, seeking to weave together their artistic and non-artistic identities can generates friction through the juxtaposition of conflicting values and expectations (Michlewski, 2008), leading to identity ambivalence (Davis, 1994): contradictions between one’s self-image and the image and expectations that society has of one. Strategies for dealing with multiple potentially incompatible identities Roccas and Brewer (2002) identify four strategies that individuals can pursue in managing their multiple identities: intersection (e.g. a painter who only identifies with painters, but not with all people working in the creative industry); dominance, also called dis-identification (e.g. a consultant/writer who only identifies with other writers, but not with consultants), whereby individuals dis-identify with one or several identities; compartmentalization, also
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called separation (e.g. a guitar player/biology teacher who identifies with other teachers or other guitar players depending on the situation); and merger, also called integration (e.g. a therapist/actor who identifies with both therapists and actors). Merger or identity integration leads individuals to embrace disparate roles as synergistic, thereby coping with their tensions. One way to achieve integration is the use of meta-identity (Gotsi et al., 2010). In a study on product design firms (Gotsi et al., 2010), the interviewees explained that they had to be artists and consultants. They expressed their concerns over each identity in isolation, and they used both separation and integration strategies (Gotsi et al., 2010). Meta-identity offers a superordinate self-categorization within which discrete identities can relate (Pratt and Foreman, 2000). Contradictions between identities may also be reconciled by emphasizing their interdependence; multiple identities can also be made explicit, thereby enabling synergy (Pratt and Foreman, 2000). Others have argued that separation, also called differentiation or compartmentalization, is the most commonly used technique when dealing with multiple identities (Ashforth, 2001). Although this strategy is cognitively straining and may lead to psychological tensions as it seeks to preserve distinct identities (Kuhn, 2006). Finally, being ambiguous about one’s identity is another way of dealing with multiple identities (Corley and Gioia, 2004). The informal social context Much of the research on identity has been influenced by the social constructionist paradigm and the writings of Mead (1934) in which identity is seen as a construction created through interactions between the self and the society in which we live. In line with the looking glass self (Cooley, 1902), a person’s identity grows out of person’s social interactions with others. We gain our identities partly by seeing reflections of what other people think of us. Communicating effectively to others often happens in the form of telling a story. For the artists in this study, who decided to start working simultaneously within and outside the creative industries, the way they created their story was likely to influence how others reacted to this decision (Ibarra and Barbulescu, 2010). More precisely, it was expected that by “selling” their choice as something positive, they increased the chance of being validated by the environment. A study by Oakland et al. (2013) explored the construction of an opera singer identity and its fragmentation as a result of job loss. They highlighted the fragility of artistic identity and its dependence on external validation, particularly from colleagues. The current study examines the role of the informal social context in the form of social interactions with others, such as colleagues within the artistic community, as well as friends and family outside the creative industries. More precisely, the impact of the validation or invalidation of those important individuals is taken into account when it comes to the way in which artists deal with their multiple identities. Methodology This study used a grounded theory approach to gain a more nuanced understanding of how artists deal with multiple conflicting identities. This method is commonly used to delve into an unknown phenomenon and develop further understanding of existing theoretical perspectives (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). Artists are a particular group of workers, since they strongly identify with their profession “I am an artist”, although the same can be said of some other occupational groups such as doctors. This study focuses on individuals who previously worked full time as artists exclusively in the creative industries. However, for financial, physical or psychological reasons, they felt forced to take on another job outside the creative sphere. These artists moved from one professional identity (artist) to having two or multiple identities (artist and driver, for example). Artists can be considered an extreme context since 16 percent of all artists hold several jobs, against 7 percent of the total working
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population in the Netherlands, and because they are more likely to experience career transitions (Schreven and De Rijk, 2011; Statistics Netherlands, 2011, 2014). This context allows us to build a new theory on conflicting multiple work-related identity strategies. It has been argued that theory building can best be examined in extreme contexts because the dynamics being studied are more visible (Eisenhardt, 1989).
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Sample The sample in this study consisted of 40 artists, all of whom are members of the largest trade union in the creative industry in the Netherlands. The researcher was given permission to access the trade union’s membership database and then contacted the interviewees directly in late 2013. The interviewees in the study were between 22 and 61 years old, with an average age of 32; 60 percent were male and 40 percent female, which is fairly similar to the trade union database as a whole. The first selection criterion to be included in the study was that the participants had to be working as artists. The second criterion was that the artists had also to have taken another job outside the creative industries for the first time in their professional life as artists. Table I provides information regarding the background of the interviewees. Their age, gender, educational background, a description of their arts practice and other job(s) are provided. The last column indicates if the interviewees’ new professional activity was perceived to be related or unrelated to their arts practice by the interviewees themselves. Procedure After having removed those who were working exclusively as artists and those who had previously worked both within and outside the creative industries, the researcher contacted 51 individuals randomly from the trade union database. The interviewees were contacted by telephone and the purpose of the study was explained. In all, 40 individuals wished to participate. This gave a response rate of 78 percent, which is considered high. The number of interviews to be conducted was not determined beforehand. However, after 40 interviews, a point of saturation was reached, beyond which little new information was obtained and similar patterns recurred. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were chosen as they provide an opportunity for detailed investigation of the personal views and experiences of each interviewee. An interview guide was used but additional questions were asked as the researchers identified statements by the interviewees that were considered worthy of expansion. The interview questions were open-ended, for example: How do you feel about both working as an artist in the creative industry as well as in another occupation outside this industry? Questions were asked about the interviewees’ artistic and non-artistic activities, their identity as an artist and their identity when performing other professional activities, the transition from an artistic to a non-artistic identity and how they integrated (or not) these two identities. The interviews were conducted by telephone and lasted for about one to one-and-a-half hours. The interviews were conducted in Dutch and translated into English using parallel translations by two native English-Dutch speakers. Analysis All of the interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The analysis was done by hand, without the use of a software package. These data were coded as they were collected and grounded theory techniques used to analyze them (Strauss and Corbin, 1990). The goal was to build a new theory around how artists deal with multiple potentially incompatible identities. A set of general questions guided the research, but more themes and categories emerged from the data and were integrated. The researcher conducted all the
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Participants Age Gender Educational background Description of Other job(s) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
43 29 33 41 39 53 55
Male Female Male Male Male Female Female
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
28 Female Conservatoire Musician 47 Female Higher Voc. Circus Edu. Circus performer 22 Female Dance Academy Ballet dancer 24 Male Journalism Poem writer 31 Male Conservatory Song-writer 32 Male Arts Academy Painter 29 Female Conservatory Opera singer
15 16 17 18 19 20
34 30 34 29 27 32
21
22 Male
Male Male Female Female Female Male
Conservatoire Theater School Theater School Design Arts Academy Design Dance Academy
Dance Academy Arts Academy Arts Academy Conservatory Arts Academy Ceramist School
26 27 28
Intermediate Technical Ed.Instrument repairer 23 Male Intermediate Technical Ed.Hammersmith 29 Female Design School 41 Female Degree in Ceramics/ Glass 33 Male Intermediate Technical Ed 29 Male Conservatory 29 Male Arts Academy 36 Female Design Academy
29 30 31
22 Male Arts Academy 61 Female Arts Academy 24 Male Media Academy
32
26 Male
Conservatory
33 34
28 Male 28 Male
Dance Academy Restaurator Degree
35 36
30 Male Design 26 Female Film Academy
37
32 Male
38 39 40
25 Male Arts Academy 23 Female Theater School 21 Male Design
22 23 24 25
Conservatory
Piano player Actress Actor Web designer Artist Designer Choreographer
Related to artists practices
Consultant Drama teacher Creative therapist Garage Driver Consultant visual Administrative assistant Waitress Call center
No Yes Yes No No Yes No
No No No No Yes
Receptionist
Administrative Nurse Builder Math teacher General arts teacher Cashier Cleaner Renovator Administration Drama teacher Manual arts teacher No
Mail carrier
No
Decorator Glass maker
Administration Typist
No No
Instrument maker Composer Visual artist Interior designer Photographer Sculptor Multimedia designer Flutist
Baker
No
Dancer Sculptor Painter Pianist Producer Potter
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No No
No No No No Yes Yes
Music teacher Yes Gym teacher No Interior consultant Yes Call center Nanny Printer
Machinery assembler Dancer Fitness coach Restaurator of Physiotherapist paintings Web designer ICT teacher Documentary Waitress producer Composer/ Music teacher singer Painter Curator Film maker Childcare Multimedia Pre-press designer technician
No No No No No No Yes No Yes Yes No No
Table I. Sample characteristics
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interviewees, but two researchers took part in the data analysis. It is important to acknowledge our own role as researchers, since we were active in the selection and construction of the data presented. The analysis was inductive in nature. However, various steps were interrelated and going back and forth through the different stages was necessary to explore and analyze the data set fully. This approach is similar to that taken by other qualitative researchers in the area of identity (Kreiner et al., 2009). The methods were consistent with recommendations for establishing the credibility of findings (Lincoln and Guba, 1985): we provided extensive quotations from the data; we used multiple investigators to analyze data, who continually compared and refined this process; we relied on peer examination to corroborate our findings; and we checked with the interviewees for confirmation of the categories, interpretations and conclusions. First, the interviews were transcribed and initial themes identified, such as the perceived incompatibility of several identities, the need to present a coherent self to others, the negative reaction of the artistic community and the different ways in which the interviewees dealt with this. The next step involved coding. Some categories were expected based on previous studies, such as the use of a separation strategy to deal with multiple incompatible identities, while others were not anticipated, such as the important role of the artistic community. Two coders were used to reduce error and bias in coding the transcripts (Mays and Pope, 2000) and inter-coder reliability (Cohen, 1960) was established. Six rounds of discussion between the coders, modification of the codebook and recoding were necessary to obtain reliabilities of 0.86 to 0.95. An inter-coder reliability of 0.80 was used as the cut-off point (Miles and Huberman, 1994). The analysis moved gradually to a higher level of abstraction and we were able to identify two main themes: problems with multiple incompatible identities and strategies for dealing with multiple identities. Finally, the overall theme being discussed was formulated as dealing with multiple potentially incompatible identities, combining the two sub-themes, which, in turn, consisted of a number of categories. These themes are discussed in detail below. The analysis is displayed in Figure 1. A conceptual framework is presented in the following section based on this coding process. Findings Our findings show how artists experience a career transition from working exclusively as artists to having multiple jobs or activities both within and outside the creative industries. We show that this career transition has a strong impact on their work-related identity and we have built a framework illustrating how they deal with having multiple conflicting work-related identities and the role the reaction of others plays in this. Table II provides an overview of the number of interviewees who used the different strategies. The process starts with several triggers that prompted the artists to feel that they had to look for another job outside the creative industries. The trigger was most often financial, since the artists needed additional sources of income, but feelings that they could no longer perform their job physically or that it was too emotionally/psychologically straining also pushed them to start working outside the creative industries. Sometimes, it was a mix of these three push factors (financial, physical and psychological). All the interviewees felt “pushed” in the sense that they felt they had no choice: In the past two years the sales of my piano performances have decreased drastically. Financially, things were getting difficult, so I’ve started to look for another way to earn money. The problem is, however, that because I’m working quite a bit now, I have no time to rehearse, no time to learn new songs and therefore my performances are less good, less innovative, which has decreased in turn the bookings, leading to even less income from my performance and thus an increased reliance on my engineering jobs (Piano player, male, aged 43).
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First-order concepts
Second-order themes
Aggregate dimensions
• Perception that the work-related identities are incompatible • Having to juggle with own multiple demands • Having to present a coherent sense of self to the world
Problems with multiple incompatible identities
• Selling the link between the different activities to the outside world • Rejection of arts community • Encouraged by family/friends outside creative industries
Importance of social informal context
• Dis-identification with non-artistic identity • Sticking to artistic identity • Instrumental attitude towards nonartistic activities and identity • Other ways to express their artistic identities and activities
• Perception of incompatibility of identities • Reliance on non-artistic work to build up artistic activities • Keeping the identities separate • Perception of psychological strain
Dealing with multiple incompatible identities
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Dis-identification
Separation
Strategies of dealing with multiple identities
Integration • Trying to integrate the identities by stressing commonalities and interdependence • Use of meta-identity to which both identities can relate • Creating synergy between identities • Stressing the transferability of skills, knowledge and experiences • Stressing inter-dependence • Focus on personal challenge and growth enhancing creativity
Accumulation
Note: This way of presenting the coding process and data structure is based on Corley and Gioia (2004)
(In)compatibility of multiple identities This trigger then led to the adoption of multiple identities: one as a creative worker and one as a worker outside the creative sector. Individuals had to determine the degree of incompatibility of these identities, which led to different feelings and attitudes about having
Figure 1. Coding process and structure of the date
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multiple identities. More precisely, in the case of the perceived incompatibility, feelings of confusion and anger and questions about how one should deal with the situation emerged. However, these negative emotions were absent when the artists’ identities were perceived as compatible. Their own perception of (in)compatibility and related emotions, as well as the reaction in their environment from friends, family and the artistic community, influenced the strategy used to deal with their multiple conflicting work-related identities, as explained below. It is important to note that the strategies used are not a rational choice, but more likely to be the outcomes of an unconscious interplay of many factors. For some (27.5 percent), their activities were perceived as highly compatible, which was mainly the case for teachers who were now teaching in their area of art. In that case, the link between them was emphasized, trying to present a coherent picture to the outside world. Although they explained they would have preferred to work exclusively in their artistic field, they stated that they “sold” their decision to work outside this area in a different way to the people around them. They reported to others that “diversifying was interesting and challenging” and that “one activity strengthened the other.” Thus, while the interviewee below explained that she felt sad about having to work as a drama teacher, she did not want to threaten her identity as a “successful artist” and, therefore, explained her situation as a choice, rather than one into which she had been forced: I’m trained to be an actress, not to be a drama teacher, that’s clear. Everyone’s dream is to be on stage, but we all know reality is different. However, acknowledging this is difficult, it feels like a failure. A failure to reach the ultimate dream. So instead of presenting it as a failure, you rather present it as a personal choice right? That’s what we all do. I tell others that it’s interesting to do different activities, that I like the interaction with students or that I learn and develop, but that’s not true. Deep inside we don’t want it, but we do it out of necessity (Actress, female, aged 29).
However, for most of the interviewees (72.5 percent), their different activities were not related at all, so integration was not feasible. When any link between the artistic activities and their “other” activities was absent, they often kept their two work-related identities separate. This group reported working in other jobs to support their artistic activities. Interestingly, they often reported that this would be temporary, indicating that they still hoped once again to work exclusively as an artist, as highlighted below: Theater is not my occupation, it’s me, it’s who I am you see? I’m becoming what I am already. Not being able to play or write is just like removing all the air, you die. It’s a vital need for me. OK, I might have to do some other activities in order to have enough income to live from, but just a minimum really, and in the future I won’t need it anymore, it’s a temporary solution to get to my dream (Actor, male, aged 33).
Based on the artists’ perception of the (in)compatibility of their identities, four main strategies were identified: dis-identification, separation, integration and accumulation. When the interviewees perceived their identities as compatible, they mainly used integration and accumulation strategies. However, when they considered their professional identities as being in conflict, they most often used a strategy of dis-identification or separation. The four strategies are explained below.
Strategy Table II. overview of the number of interviews who used the four strategies
Dis-identification Separation Accumulation Integration
Number
%
5 24 4 7
12.5 60 10 17.5
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Dis-identification strategy Despite working outside the creative industries, 24 (60 percent) of the 40 interviewees explained that their identity as an artist continued to be the predominant one. This identity was a central part of who they are and of how they defined themselves. Their “other” identity, as they often referred to it themselves, was much less salient and they had a more distant attitude toward it. This strategy is called dis-identification. Here, people dis-identify with or even deny one or several identities. The non-artistic work-related identity was perceived as a means, not as an end in itself. The artists had rather an instrumental attitude toward their other activities and explained that their “real self,” their creative, artistic self, found expression elsewhere, either in the form of a hobby, but mainly as semi-professionals or professionals. This idea is highlighted below: I love doing it. When I’m working in the garage, my “other” occupation, I can’t wait to get out and get behind my computer. Working in this garage allows me to pay for all my expenses while during the night I’m working on setting up my own business as a web designer. Even if I don’t succeed, I’ll always feel much more affinity with this, than with any other job I’ve had, it’s more than a job, it’s my passion (Web designer, male, aged 41).
Separation strategy In all, 60 percent of the interviewees kept their different work-related identities separate, which is in line with previous studies that show that this is indeed the most commonly used technique (Ashforth, 2001). This process was considered psychologically straining in previous studies (Kuhn, 2006), and this effect seems to be supported by the findings of this study. However, due to the small sample in this study, no inferences can be made regarding the success of the different strategies identified, since psychological strain and stress were not measured directly. The psychologically straining nature of having multiple incompatible identities emerged from the data, however, and was mentioned by ten interviewees, as illustrated in the following statement by one of them: It’s not easy to switch. Creativity doesn’t come just like that, it needs time to ripen in my head. Going from one to the other has a negative effect on my ideas for scripts. It’s mentally hard to go and sit behind my computer after a whole day at the daycare and psychologically it’s even worse. I feel I’m a loser, that I’m going nowhere, that I’m messing up my life, that I lack talent to become what I want to be (Film maker, female, aged 23).
Moreover, juggling these identities was perceived as so stressful by four of the interviewees that they tried to conceal their other occupation. They went as far as lying to friends and colleagues in order not to lose face, as illustrated in the following excerpt: I hide my assembling job. Gosh, no one knows about it, apart from my parents and partner. I’d feel so ashamed to tell them I need to do a shitty job like that in order to make ends meet. But it’s not always easy, friends wonder why I don’t pick up the phone, colleagues ask me what I’m busy with, it’s like a secret and you’re scared that others find out (Flutist, male, 26 years).
Integration strategy Other strategies for realigning identities were identified in the data. One approach consisted of using meta-identity, a strategy previously identified in the literature (Gotsi et al., 2010). It has been argued that meta-identity offers a superordinate self-categorization within which discrete identities can relate (Pratt and Foreman, 2000). One technique was to emphasize the interdependence of the contradictory identities. Pratt and Foreman (2000) state that this strategy could enable synergy. Chasserio et al. (2014) also observe positive intersections between identities that are perceived to be incompatible. They state that social identities do
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not exist separately from each other, but intersect and interact with each other continuously. The following excerpt illustrates this:
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I’m a designer and also a (visual) consultant. One can be seen as more artistic, but they are strongly linked. They cannot stand alone, but seem to go together. I discover things in my consultancy job that I use for my work as a designer and vice versa. Working with other people allows me to see things from a different angle and this inspires me for my own work. It’s a continuous process where both aspects of my identity are enriched (Designer, female, 53 years).
Accumulation strategy In using an accumulation strategy, artists stressed the transferability of the skills obtained in different types of activities. These artists perceived their different projects and jobs as accumulative and felt that they always gained something from this: meeting new people and thus increasing their network, learning to work with new technologies or acquiring new skills, discovering a new industry, drawing inspiration from a different workplace and new colleagues, and so on. Having multiple activities and identities can actually be perceived as a strength, rather than a weakness or threat, as explained by the artist below: It’s not static. I continuously develop myself. I’ve done many different jobs, worked on many different projects, both within and outside the creative industry. Each time I gain something, no matter how small. It’s the accumulation, the addition of all this knowledge, those experiences, those meetings and skills that create who I am and what I can do. Plurality and adaptability are definitely strengths (Choreographer, female, aged 55).
Another aspect of the accumulation strategy relates to the focus on challenge and growth. The interviewees explained that having to deal with multiple identities made them, for example, “richer, broader, more complex and interesting.” They explained that they felt growth, that they had become increasingly open-minded, flexible and adaptable as a result of this constant need to juggle several identities. Similar findings were obtained by Tadmor et al. (2009). The interviewees also explained that this actually increased their creativity, so that having to deal with conflicting multiple work-related identities brought them many positive things: It’s not always easy, but looking back I think struggling as an artist made me a better person. It’s a lonely process, you only have yourself to rely on and through introspection and reflection I feel I have become more tolerant and open-minded. And this new, open attitude has actually been the key to creativity for me. I managed to remove all boundaries, imposed by myself, by society or by the arts community. I’m now working at full power and produce more and better work than ever before (Musician, female, aged 28).
Informal social context The artists’ feelings and attitudes, as well as their strategy for dealing with potentially incompatible multiple identities, were all influenced by their informal social context. This refers to the subtle validations and invalidations the artists received in interactions with others at work (Ladge et al., 2012). To be validated meant that others appeared to approve of their decision to work outside the creative industries. Invalidating interactions felt unsupportive and signaled that others disapproved of this decision. It was found that while individuals outside the creative industries strongly encouraged the artists to get “a proper job,” the artist community strongly rejected the decision to find other sources of income beyond the creative field, as can be seen in the excerpt below: My family was very supportive when I told them I could no longer do this job physically. They fully understood and helped me find another job that I could do until retirement. However, when I told my colleagues in the circus, they were quite hostile really. They told me that leaving the creative arena was something bad and insincere, that I should just keep on going or get an administrative
position at the circus. But still, I would have to travel and that’s tiring, so I just didn’t want it. After all those years of working together I was sad to see how little comprehension they showed (Circus performer, female, aged 47).
The interviewees also explained that they used their observation of others who had transitioned to jobs outside the creative industries to predict how their own situation would be perceived. Reflecting upon others’ experiences and reading or listening to stories shaped their ideas on the judgments they would have to deal with and the challenge of balancing their changing identities. This functioned as an indirect source of validation or invalidation:
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I knew people wouldn’t be keen to see me start working as a sports coach. I’ve seen it happening before and those dancers were highly criticized by the community. These previous experiences prepared me for the negative reactions I got (Dancer, male, aged 28).
However, while three interviewees held negative perceptions of “colleagues” leaving the creative industries, one-third of the interviewees had a more nuanced attitude or at least seemed to understand the reactions of others, as the following two excerpts show: I do understand the reaction of others. Being an artist is not a job, it’s your life. Leaving it is not possible, unless you’ve never been a true artist anyway. It’s like a betrayal. There are some rules if you want to be an artist and leaving the creative industries is definitely not done (Composer/singer, male, aged 32).
The findings seem to suggest that the reaction of others plays a role in the artists’ strategy for dealing with multiple conflicting identities, in the sense that invalidation by the arts community led to the separation of their artistic and non-artistic identities or dis-identification with their non-artistic identity, while validation usually led to integration or accumulation. The two excerpts below provide an example of, respectively, the invalidation-separation/dis-identification pattern and the tendency toward validation/integration-accumulation: The fact that my colleagues rejected the idea of working elsewhere part time in order to earn enough income made me feel even stronger about myself as a musician. I do some admin work to pay the bills, but my heart and soul are in music (Pianist, female, aged 29). Everyone was happy for me. It was a logical step to start working as a teacher. People understood I needed a stable income. It made things easier and also helped me to feel good about myself. I am still a creative worker and teaching is now for me an extension of my own work, it’s different but reinforces my creativity, the two are complementary (Web designer, male, aged 30).
Based on the findings presented above, the model that emerged from the analysis of the data is displayed in Figure 2.
Financial, physical or psychological triggers for feelings of being forced to start working outside creative industries
Perception of (in)compatibility of multiple identities
Feelings/attitudes towards having multiple identities
Strategies to deal with multiple potentially incompatible identities: disidentification, separation, integration and accumulation
Informal social context: validation or invalidation
Figure 2. Dealing with multiple potentially incompatible identities in the light of a career transition
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Discussion This study examined artists who felt they had been forced to start working outside the creative industries and how this resulted in their having to deal with multiple potentially incompatible work-related identities. The interviewees experienced a career transition from working exclusively as artists to operating both within and outside the creative industries, which they perceived as emotionally straining, giving rise to several, sometimes conflicting, feelings and attitudes. These attitudes, together with the reaction from their environment, then determined their strategy for dealing with their multiple conflicting work-related identities. While it has been argued that artists increasingly accept moving across sectors (Ellmeier, 2003), in this study, 29 out of the 40 interviewees perceived their identities as incompatible. They might accept work more easily outside the creative industries, possibly because they understand they cannot do without it, but their attitude toward doing so still seems negative. When the artists felt their identities to be highly incompatible, they reported keeping their identities separate and dis-identified with their activities and identity outside the artistic arena. For these interviewees, their identity as artists was found to be predominant and the artists perceived their other activities as inferior and simply a way to earn money. Our findings are in line with previous studies that found that subjective identity is important and that artists continue to see themselves as artists despite working most of their time outside the creative industries (Costas and Fleming, 2009). Furthermore, this perception of incompatibility was perceived as stressful, which is in accordance with Fitzsimmons (2013), who argued that stress increases when identities are perceived as inconsistent. The interviewees who perceived a certain degree of compatibility between their identities dealt with it by stressing the interdependence of those identities, using meta-identity, emphasizing the need for growth and challenge that enhances their creativity and, finally, focusing on the accumulation of experience and the idea of gaining something from each project or job. This strategy can be related to having a learning orientation, which can be defined as a concern for, and dedication to, developing one’s competence (Dweck, 1986) and can have a positive impact on one’s career as one broadens one’s competences. This confirms a study by Glaveanu and Tanggaard (2014), who state that a creative identity can be fostered by one or several roles, since every role is expressed in a particular context, such as being a teacher in a school but an independent artist in one’s studio. However, in contrast with Throsby and Zednik (2011), who found that artists see themselves increasingly as educators and workers who want above all to be connected to society, the artists in this study found the other roles interesting but still pursued an artistic career with individual creativity being perceived as the highest good. The artists also had to deal with the reactions of their environment. Although individuals “outside” the arts community were positive about someone’s choice to work both within and outside the creative industries, members of the arts community often rejected this decision. A move away from the arts industries is badly perceived by this closed community (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2006). Social identities are socially defined and contain prescribed norms that individuals must adopt in order to be recognized and accepted by others (Chasserio et al., 2014). By adopting those related norms, one “takes on” a social identity (Ashforth, 2001). Since each social identity has its own norms, social identities can be incompatible with each other, leading to conflict. This is what happened in our study, where the norms of the artistic community – do not mix arts with business and work exclusively in the artistic sector – were violated by the interviewees and thus led the community to reject them. In order to avoid this rejection by the community, some artists tried to create a “good story” so that their artistic colleagues would validate it, preventing the psychological stress related to the rejection of their decision, such as the actress who “sold” her decision to
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work as a drama teacher as a “personal choice.” Although they were often dissatisfied about not being able to work exclusively as artists, they “sold” this in a more positive way to the outside world in order to maintain a coherent identity. However, only a few artists who took part in the study were able to create such a story in order to reduce the chance of invalidation. Although career transitions that are “upward,” such as moving from being an employee to a managerial position are unlikely to be problematic and have received a great deal of attention from researchers, discontinuous trajectories or socially unacceptable ones have only been investigated to a limited extent (Ashforth, 2001). While an increasing number of artists work simultaneously as artists and in other sectors (Rabkin, 2013), this study shows that such unacceptable transitions, even if they are partial in that the artists also continued to work as artists, are highly stigmatized. The arts sector is small and is often referred to as a community. A move away from the arts industries is badly perceived by this closed community (Eikhof and Haunschild, 2006). This reaction from the artists’ environment also influenced the strategy to deal with those multiple conflicting identities. In general, when the artists’ stories were not supported by the environment, they separated their work-related identities or used a dis-identification strategy. In that case, they continued to feel strongly attached to their identity as an artist and took an instrumental attitude toward their non-artistic activities. This allowed them to remain member of the arts community. Their creativity was often expressed elsewhere, as a hobby in some cases, but most often in the form of (semi)-professionalism. When their stories about career transition were easily accepted by the environment, the artists usually tried to integrate their identities as much as possible or used an accumulation strategy. Theoretical and practical implications First, starting with the theoretical implications, while most research has focused on sequential transitions (Ashforth, 2001), this study shows the importance of multiple identities. In the light of the new economy and the tendency toward increasing numbers of career transitions throughout one’s professional life, more research needs to be conducted on this matter. Sequential career transitions are less complex than transitions where individuals add another identity to an already existing work-related one (Hennekam, 2016). This phenomenon has therefore implications beyond the artist population as it provides insights in a broader labor market trend. Indeed, there is a rise of atypical employment and an increasing number of people is likely to juggle with multiple jobs. Second, the findings stress the importance of the external environment, or, more precisely, the support or rejection of important others. While the workers had to deal with their own psychological stress and regret about not succeeding at working exclusively as artists (Hennekam and Bennett, 2016), they also had to create a feasible story that allowed them to “sell” their transition to others. This study supports the notion that identity management and negotiation between two competing identities are socially constructed through contextual cues (Kreiner et al., 2009). These findings have some implications for individual workers. First, artistic career developments are often considered to be ahead of larger trends (McRobbie, 2004). Indeed, the number of individuals with protean careers is increasing and there is a trend toward conducting multiple professional activities in different sectors (Statistics Netherlands, 2014). This study examines strategies for dealing with potentially incompatible multiple identities. While the strategies identified are similar to those strategies identified by Roccas and Brewer (2002), we add to the existing body of knowledge by showing that their own perception of (in)compatibility and the (in)validation of their environment determine which strategy they use. In addition, the
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findings suggest that those strategies lead to different psychological outcomes. More precisely, we found that when professional identities were perceived as fairly compatible, individuals were more likely to use integration and accumulation strategies. These two strategies led to less stress than separation and dis-identification, which were perceived as more psychologically straining. For individuals who have to deal with multiple jobs and thus possibly multiple work-related identities, the findings indicate that creating a “story” for their environment can be helpful in “selling” their decision or situation. Having others validate one’s story or decision seems to lead to more positive psychological outcomes. The implications for organizations or managers are that they should be aware of the determinants and outcomes of how individuals deal with multiple work-related identities. For managers, more insights in their workers perceptions and feelings regarding their different jobs are helpful. Knowing if workers perceive their different jobs as compatible or not and how their different jobs are perceived both within the organization and on a personal level can help them to predict the possible emotional and psychological outcomes. A worker who experiences confusion, anger or stress obviously does not perform optimally. However, while multiple jobs that are being perceived as incompatible and that are condemned by the environment of an individual can lead to psychological stress and strain, multiple identities are not only a source of conflict but can also be a strength for organizations. It has been argued that multiple inconsistent identities allow for more complex cognitive schemas, since individuals with such identities have to put more effort into coping with the perceived incompatibility of those identities (Tadmor et al., 2009). It has been found that skills such as adaptability, flexibility and analytical abilities were highest among workers with several conflicting identities, since they have to deal with the dissonance of integrating multiple identities (Tadmor et al., 2009). In addition, behavioral competence, academic achievement, career success and creativity (Nguyen and Benet-Martínez, 2012) were found to be higher among individuals with multicultural identities. This suggests that individuals with multiple incompatible identities might actually benefit from this and present some advantages for organizations, compared to individuals who are not used to juggling multiple identities. Limitations and avenues for future research Although this study provides some insights into how artists deal with multiple potentially incompatible work-related identities, it also has shortcomings. First, while the use of an extreme context is useful for studying certain topics because patterns become visible and variation is reduced, the population under study is also a limitation. We encourage future studies to include other workers that identify strongly with their occupation, as well as those who do not in order to examine if differences exist. In addition, future studies could investigate differences within sub-groups of creative workers or sub-fields within the creative industries. Second, it has been argued that a multidimensional approach is needed to understand the reaction to coping strategies and subsequent results. Research shows that individual factors, such as coping style, social and economic assets, emotional factors, personal factors, as well as self-efficacy and outcome expectations, influence success in career transition (Brewington et al., 2004). Although the present study examined the informal social context, many other contextual factors need to be explored and should be the subjects of future studies. Third, a model including different strategies to deal with multiple identities emerged from the data. This model could be tested in a quantitative manner in future studies. Moreover, while different strategies were identified in the data, it is suggested that subsequent studies try to distinguish the successful from the less successful ones by measuring the levels of psychological strain and stress relating to each.
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Corresponding author Sophie Hennekam can be contacted at:
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1. Dawn Bennett, Sophie Hennekam. 2018. Self-authorship and creative industries workers’ career decision-making. Human Relations 95, 001872671774736. [Crossref]
