UCL School of Management is delighted to welcome Gerardo Patriotta, Bath University, to host a research seminar discussing: ‘Snap’ identity work in times of adversity: Pharmacists’ role identity shifting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract:

Abstract

Scholars have explained how professionals may experience identity tensions when their professional role changes, and how they engage in identity work to re-establish a sense of coherence. Existing literature, however, has primarily investigated instances of incremental identity change that takes place over lengthy periods of time, for example as a result of career transitions. Less attention has been paid to identity dynamics in situations of emergent crises or turmoil, where change happens very suddenly and requires a rapid rethinking of professional role identities. In this paper, we conceptualize the intensification in the tempo of identity work as ‘snap identity work’ and we use this concept to investigate how fast change in professional role identity can occur. We address this issue by using interview data gathered from pharmacists in France before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the sudden manifestation of a previously unknown form of contagion, the pandemic constituted a ‘cosmology episode’, which designated pharmacists as being the main points of contact with the population regarding healthcare. Pharmacists’ new professional mandate motivated them to conform to what people expected them to be in this situation (healthcare frontline workers), while simultaneously reassessing the salience of their different identities (shopkeepers versus healthcare experts). Our findings contribute to theorizing snap identity work as reflection in action and shed new light on role dynamics of professionals during crises.