Professional Identity Threats in Interprofessional Collaborations: A Case of Architects in Professional Service Firms
通过对四家多专业服务公司49位资深建筑师的深度访谈，研究揭示了跨专业合作中建筑师面临的工作碎片化和职业价值观冲突两种身份威胁，以及他们如何通过强调身份差异和调整身份与实践来应对，但最终仍感到认可不足和报酬偏低。
Abstract Increased use of multidisciplinary teams to carry out tasks that were previously seen as the domain of one profession has brought the manner in which professions collaborate to the fore of management interests. Drawing on 49 in‐depth interviews with senior architects in four multidisciplinary professional service firms (PSFs), this article contributes to better understandings of identity threats in interprofessional collaborations. My findings bring to the fore two threats to architects' identity relating to fragmentation of work and competing professional values. I show how architects manage these threats through the simultaneous use of two responses: highlighting identity distinctions and modifying identity and practices . However, despite these strategies to defend against identity threats, respondents presented themselves as under‐recognized and often under‐compensated. These findings suggest that the strength of professional identity may not merely mediate threats to professionals' identity but also be constraining by locking professionals in a kind of futile resistance and disrupting identity transformation. Further, responses to professional identity threats may result in a persistent identity struggle that renders professionals vulnerable to deep insecurities regarding their worth in interprofessional collaborations. The article contributes to recent debates on the unintended consequences of interprofessional collaborations thus highlighting the challenges of finding better ways to work together.