Residing in the Tension between Conflicting Preferred Selves: A Qualitative Study of Swedish Identity Construction

• In Event: Cultural Lessons for Organizational Scholarship

Abstract

In this qualitative study, I approach identity construction as a communicative process by which individuals craft a sense of self with respect to the demands of work and life. I explore how participants drew upon conflicting preferred selves in their identity constructions. I argue that members leveraged the Swedish cultural discourse of lagom to construct a socially acceptable identity that encompassed both conflicting preferred selves, retaining rather than resolving the conflict between them.

Author

• Stacey Wieland, Villanova University