Enacting Possible Selves by Creating New Organizational Arrangements: Identity Work and Institutionalization

This paper investigates how processes of identity work originating from individuals’ efforts to deal with identity challenges can influence the creation of new organizational arrangements, and eventually affect institutional dynamics. Our evidence collected in the context of Italian Community hospitals show how recent perspectives on identity related to possible and alternative selves and to positive identity can help us grasp the motivations that prompt individuals to create new organizational arrangements. Overall, we offer new insights to the streams of research interested in identity work and in exploring the microfoundations of organizational and institutional change.