Interlevel Influences on the Reconstruction of Professional Role Identity

Research on roles and identities generally represents a micro perspective that does not account for the reconstruction of professional role identity, owing to insufficient attention to institutional forces. We trace institutional influences on professional role identity reconstruction and extend theory by building bridges across institutional, organizational, and individual levels of analysis. Findings indicate that agentic reconstruction of professional role identity is enabled and constrained by an institutional environment that provides interpretive, legitimating, and material resources that professionals adopt and adapt. Institutional forces also impact organizational arrangements that further influence microlevel agency. We elaborate interactions among these three levels of analysis.