QUEEN’S BUSINESS SCHOOL ACCOUNTING SEMINAR SERIES

Friday 6^th June

11am

“Cross-domain Identity Growth: the Dynamics of IT-driven Professional Transformation”

Abstract

It is unclear how professionals voluntarily (re)construct their identities in varied institutionalised liminal contexts when career development is impacted by information technology (IT) advances. Contrasting purposeful identity work or involutory liminality experience, our research on voluntary identity reconstruction adopted an individual-level, career narrative methodology, guided by the lens of identity growth through liminality, to trace three accountants’ career evolution. It examined their interactions with IT experts, functional managers, professional training, and evolving IT systems within a company over a long period. The study depicts the identity growth as a dynamic stage process model, from initial coping in one domain, to exploring new possibilities, and then stabilising reconstructed identities in a new domain. It shows how an effective liminal space, co-created by the individuals and the organisation through mental and physical separation, facilitates creative identity play in an evolving environment. It provides empirical evidence on how new identities are co-constructed by individuals, organisations and social groups. The findings contribute to the literature on identity work in general and identity work in liminality in particular and carry important practical implications for accounting, IT, and other professionals facing a new wave of AI advancement.

Dr Pingli Li

University of Southampton

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