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The competing influences of national identity on the negotiation of ideal worker expectations : insights from the Sri Lankan knowledge work industry
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Croft, Charlotte and Fernando, Dulini (2018) The competing influences of national identity on the negotiation of ideal worker expectations : insights from the Sri Lankan knowledge work industry. Human Relations, 71 (8). pp. 1096-1119. doi:10.1177/0018726717733530
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726717733530
Abstract
How does national identity influence the way individuals respond to the demands of their work? Despite an increasing awareness of the complex interplay between intersecting social identities and work demands, our understanding of how they are influenced by national identity is underdeveloped. This paper presents the accounts of employees from two Sri Lankan knowledge work industries, who were attempting to align work demands associated with ideal worker expectations, with the social demands associated with their national identity. Conceptualizing the empirical setting of Sri Lanka as a collectivist national context, we offer two theoretical contributions. First, by showing how a shared national identity significantly influences divergence from, and conformity to, ideal worker expectations in Sri Lankan organizations, we generalize understandings of individuals’ negotiation of ideal worker expectations (Reid, 2015). In doing so we build on and extend the prevailing ‘individualistic’ assumptions in collectivistic settings. Second, we show how ideal worker expectations enabled individuals to fulfill and refine demands associated with their non-western national identity, contesting assumptions that non-western national identities are challenging or constraining in global organizations. These findings lead us to propose a reciprocal influence between ideal worker expectations in global organizations, and expectations associated with national identities.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor | ||||||||
| Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Management Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Operational Research & Management Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School |
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| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Knowledge workers -- Sri Lanka, National characteristics -- Sri Lanka, Group identity -- Sri Lanka, Performance standards, Performance -- Management, Identity (Psychology) -- Sri Lanka | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Human Relations | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Sage Publications Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0018-7267 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 1 August 2018 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Volume: | 71 | ||||||||
| Number: | 8 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 1096-1119 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1177/0018726717733530 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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