Integrating Organization Studies and Community Psychology: A Process Model of an Organizing Sense of Place in Working Lives

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, I propose to advance thinking about organization theory in community contexts

The Placing of Identity and the Identification of Place: “Place-Identity” in Community Lifeboating

“…That reason is that place as a theoretical concept is only meaningful when attention is given to the specific meanings attaching to it (Guthey et al, 2014). This is at the heart of the distinction between place and space which, following Gieryn (2000), Larson and Pearson (2012) and Calvard (2015), we suggested was to do with the unique conjunctures of things in a particular space which make it a place. This has important implications for conducting research into place-identity: we have to go to the places where those conjunctures occur.…”

“…On the one hand place can be seen as part of "how the images and representations (physical, symbolic, verbal, textual, and behavioural) become imbued with meaning and are taken as being part of one's identity" (Beech, 2008, p. 52). On the other hand, identity is part of how a space becomes socially transformed, mobilized and produced into a place (Calvard, 2015;Cresswell, 2004;Panayiotou & Kafiris, 2011); not just somewhere but, specifically, here. Our research contributes to both sides of this enquiry -how place itself is socially constructed, and indeed, how identity is constructed in relation to place.…”

“…Their work highlights the interplay between transcendent (e.g., national) and locale-specific (e.g., Silicon Valley) discourses in creating the “ideal entrepreneurial self” (Gill & Larson, 2014, p. 519). At a higher level of abstraction, both Calvard (2015) and Lawrence and Dover (2015) argue for a process model for an organizing sense of place in working lives, and in recent insightful articles, Panayiotou and Kafiris (2011) and Courpasson et al (2017) call for better theorizations of place in understanding the production and consumption of resistance.…”

“…The sociologist Thomas Gieryn (2000) proposes that “space is what place becomes when the unique gathering of things, meanings, and values are sucked out” (p. 465). Place in this sense is a subset of space, with space “arguably being more abstract, factual, geometric, far-reaching, physical, and/or nomothetic” (Calvard, 2015, p. 655). In a similar way, Larson and Pearson (2012) conceptualize place as “space infused with people, objects, symbols and meaning” (p. 245).…”

“…In advancing place-identity research, we join a small but growing group of management scholars who argue that place is a key element in understandings of identity formation and maintenance (Brown & Humphreys, 2006; Calvard, 2015; Elsbach, 2003; Gill & Larson, 2014; Larson & Pearson, 2012; Rooney, Paulson, & Callan, 2010) and seek to respond to the call from Calvard (2015, p. 654) for “more humanistic, ecological understandings of how workers occupy and make use of various places for supporting their well-being and sense of self.” Our article contributes to theory by showing the intertwining and recursive nature of place with other salient identity resources such as (in this case) family, community, and tradition and demonstrating how these cultural resources interconnect and combine to provide a sense of rootedness, coherence, and distinctiveness for organizational members. These deeply meaningful attachments enable the voluntary organization at the center of our empirical investigation to survive (in terms of recruiting workers, fundraising, and carrying out its operational mission).…”