Beyond nostalgia: Identity work in corporate alumni networks

Bardon, T; Josserand, E; Villesèche, F

Beyond nostalgia: Identity work in corporate alumni networks

Bardon, T Josserand, E

Villesèche, F

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Human Relations, 2015, 68 (4), pp. 583 - 606
Issue Date:: 2015-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Bardon, T	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Josserand, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6724-2405	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Villesèche, F	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Human Relations, 2015, 68 (4), pp. 583 - 606	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0018-7267	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122054
dc.description.abstract	© The Author(s) 2015. Although corporate alumni networks are a developing practice, academia has said very little about them and their members. In this article, our goal is to provide an account of how members of such networks construct themselves as alumni. To that end, we adopt a narrative approach to identity construction and empirically explore the identity work that the members of one corporate alumni network carry out in order to sustain their identification with a past organizational setting. Our case study leads us to document four ‘identity stratagems’ (Jenkins, 1996) through which members incorporate elements of their past professional experience into their self-narratives: nostalgia, reproduction, validation and combination. It thus allows for a better understanding of corporate alumni networks and their members, while also contributing to the broader identity literature by further documenting how organizational participants can incorporate elements of a past professional experience into their self-narratives.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Human Relations	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1177/0018726714532967	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	Beyond nostalgia: Identity work in corporate alumni networks	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	4	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	68	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1701 Psychology	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	4	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	68	en_US

Abstract:

© The Author(s) 2015. Although corporate alumni networks are a developing practice, academia has said very little about them and their members. In this article, our goal is to provide an account of how members of such networks construct themselves as alumni. To that end, we adopt a narrative approach to identity construction and empirically explore the identity work that the members of one corporate alumni network carry out in order to sustain their identification with a past organizational setting. Our case study leads us to document four ‘identity stratagems’ (Jenkins, 1996) through which members incorporate elements of their past professional experience into their self-narratives: nostalgia, reproduction, validation and combination. It thus allows for a better understanding of corporate alumni networks and their members, while also contributing to the broader identity literature by further documenting how organizational participants can incorporate elements of a past professional experience into their self-narratives.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122054