Religious Social Identities in the Hybrid Self-presentations of Sikh Businesspeople

Citation

Purchase S, Ellis N, Mallett O & Theingi T (2018) Religious Social Identities in the Hybrid Self-presentations of Sikh Businesspeople. British Journal of Management, 29 (1), pp. 99-117. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12268

Abstract
This paper explores the identity work practices of Thai Sikh businesspeople. The paper focuses on two important social identities in participants’ self‐presentations – those derived from religious (Sikh) and western business discourses – and identifies powerful tensions in their hybrid identity work. Conducting discourse analysis on identity work practices within interview settings, the authors explore how participants resolve, accommodate or reject these discursive tensions while attempting stable and coherent hybrid self‐presentations. They identify several different forms of hybridity, including what they term ‘equipollence’, which occurs when two equally powerful, contradictory discourses are incorporated in self‐presentations, producing potentially irresolvable intersections and leading to a lack of coherence. Contributions are made to the literatures on religion and work, hybrid identity work processes and social identities.

Keywords
religion; identity; hybrid; equipollence; Sikh; Western business; discourse

Journal
British Journal of Management: Volume 29, Issue 1

People

Professor Oliver Mallett

Professor of Entrepreneurship, Management, Work and Organisation