Cristina Gibson Publishes Article in Sage Journal Human Relations on Intrapersonal Indentity Conflict for Global Workers

What happens when global workers identify with their culture, organization, work unit profession, and team all at the same time? What happens when there are conflicts among two identities? Cristina Gibson conducted an empirical examine that identified conflict among 122 workers of a multinational mineral refining firm, who worked across five locations globally. Her findings reveal that the higher the tolerance for ambiguity and resilience, and the stronger the team identification, the less the intrapersonal identity conflict experienced, and the more workers thrived at work.

Thriving at work is important in contemporary work contexts. Global work often involves high levels of learning and processes and can also drain vitality. Identity conflict can lead to several negative outcomes for the worker and the organization. To reduce identity one must understand the possible ways identify conflict might arise. Gibson identified five hypotheses and tested each. Her findings show that when workers were tolerant of ambiguity, resilient to adversity and had a strong team identity, they experienced less identity conflict, and subsequently greater thriving. Gibson suggests that global workers should be selected based on their level of tolerance for ambiguity and resilience to adversity, and/or be trained to develop these attributes.

The full article is available here.