Provisional Selves: Experimenting with Image and Identity in Professional Adaptation
Abstract
This article describes how people adapt to new roles by experimenting with provisional selves that serve as trials for possible but not yet fully elaborated professional identities. Qualitative data collected from professionals in transition to more senior roles reveal that adaptation involves three basic tasks: (1) observing role models to identify potential identities, (2) experimenting with provisional selves, and (3) evaluating experiments against internal standards and external feedback. Choices within tasks are guided by an evolving repertory that includes images about the kind of professional one might become and the styles, skills, attitudes, and routines available to the person for constructing those identities. A conceptual framework is proposed in which individual and situational factors influence adaptation behaviors indirectly by shaping the repertory of possibilities that guides self-construction.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The changes identified in this study are significant as they highlight that learning experiences, such as the science method course and the practicum, have the power to revise PSTs' possible selves.
“The changes identified in this study, therefore, are significant as they highlight that the learning experiences, such as the science method course and the practicum, have the power to revise PSTs' possible selves (Henry 2015; Ibarra 1999).”
From The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching (2022) · cites this paper as Ibarra 1999
Cites
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.41.9.954 · Cited by 5,806 · see citing works
Business planning as pedagogy: Language and control in a changing institutional field
Oakes, L. S., Townley, B., & Cooper, D. J. (1998) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393853 · Cited by 675 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Pratt, M. G., Rockmann, K. W., & Kaufmann, J. B. (2006) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2006.20786060 · Cited by 1,973 · see citing works
Toward a Theory of Paradox: A Dynamic equilibrium Model of Organizing
Smith, W. K., & Lewis, M. W. (2011) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.2009.0223 · Cited by 1,631 · see citing works
Taking gender into account: theory and design for women's leadership development programs
Ely, R. J., Ibarra, H., & Kolb, D. M. (2011) · Academy of Management Learning & Education · doi:10.5465/amle.2010.0046 · Cited by 1,003 · see citing works
Self-citationBerg, J. M., Wrzesniewski, A., & Dutton, J. E. (2010) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.645 · Cited by 890 · see citing works
Petriglieri, G., Ashford, S. J., & Wrzesniewski, A. (2019) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0001839218759646 · Cited by 744 · see citing works
Canrinus, E. T., Helms-Lorenz, M., Beijaard, D., Buitink, J., & Hofman, A. (2012) · European Journal of Psychology of Education · doi:10.1007/s10212-011-0069-2 · Cited by 524 · see citing works
Pratt, M. G., Kaplan, S., & Whittington, R. (2020) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.1177/0001839219887663 · Cited by 458 · see citing works
Interlevel Influences on the Reconstruction of Professional Role Identity
Chreim, S., Williams, B. E. (., & Hinings, C. R. (. (2007) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2007.28226248 · Cited by 443 · see citing works
Reid, E. (2015) · Organization Science · doi:10.1287/orsc.2015.0975 · Cited by 399 · see citing works
Lalor, K., & McElvaney, R. (2010) · Trauma, Violence, & Abuse · doi:10.1177/1524838010378299 · Cited by 376 · see citing works
WALUMBWA, F. O., PETERSON, S. J., AVOLIO, B. J., & HARTNELL, C. A. (2010) · Personnel Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.2010.01193.x · Cited by 350 · see citing works
Working on my own: Measuring the challenges of gig work
Caza, B. B., Reid, E. M., Ashford, S. J., & Granger, S. (2022) · Human Relations · doi:10.1177/00187267211030098 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Strich, F., University of Bayreuth, G., Mayer, A.-S., University of Passau, G., Fiedler, M., & University of Passau, G. (2021) · Journal of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1jais.00663 · Cited by 232 · see citing works
“Studies focusing on the individual level examine how, over time, individual employees develop their own identity through education, training, and experience (Ibarra, 1999; Pratt et al., 2006).”
BackgroundWork identities of nurses: Between caring and efficiency demands
Kirpal, S. (2004) · Career Development International · doi:10.1108/13620430410535850 · Cited by 134 · see citing works
Kislov, R., Harvey, G., & Walshe, K. (2011) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/1748-5908-6-64 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Pop-up to professional: Emerging entrepreneurial identity and evolving vocabularies of motive
Demetry, D. (2017) · Academy of Management Discoveries · doi:10.5465/amd.2015.0152 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Platforms as entrepreneurial incubators? How online labor markets shape work identity
Bellesia, F., Mattarelli, E., Bertolotti, F., & Sobrero, M. (2019) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/jmp-06-2018-0269 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Cai, Z., Zhu, J., & Tian, S. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1070763 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching
Pellikka, A., Lutovac, S., & Kaasila, R. (2022) · European Journal of Teacher Education · doi:10.1080/02619768.2020.1803270 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ibarra, H.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ibarra, Herminia
- ORCID
- Ibarra, Herminia
- Venue
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Publisher
- JSTOR
- Published
- 1999-12
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 764-791
- ISSN
- 0001-8392 (ISSN-L)
- 1930-3815
- OpenAlex
- W2118771233
- Cited by
- 2,702
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 231 · 2025: 159 · 2024: 171 · 2023: 148 · 2022: 149 · 2021: 180 · 2020: 173 · 2019: 166 · 2018: 154 · 2017: 136 · 2016: 146 · 2015: 124 · 2014: 143 · 2013: 109 · 2012: 93
- FWCI
- 9.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Administrative Science Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Innovative Education and Learning Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Keywords
- professional identity, role adaptation, career change, role models, self-construction, feedback, organizational change
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
