What if I need you in order to be me? Identity boundary work among scientists in a nanotech laboratory

The issue of multiple professional identities is gaining relevance in organizational studies, as collaboration between heterogeneous and temporary workers has been increasingly characterizing organizations. Literature on identity boundary work has thus far explored how single individuals manage their multiple identities in the workplace, on one hand, and how different groups and subunits negotiate identities at their boundaries, on the other. Largely overlooked is the perspective on how individuals enact their interpretation of selves in their day-to-day interactions with co-workers. Through a field study in a nanotechnology laboratory, we investigated the emergence of scientists’ different professional identities as the recurrent combinations of different visions of science, work, and interactions. Individuals interpreting their profession in different ways engage in a continuous process of identity boundary work. In particular, some definitions of self as scientists tend to be more resilient and obtrusive than others, or in other words, they need other identities in order to be enacted. The reactions to identity intrusions are twofold: some identities reaffirm their practices, while other identities become blurred.