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Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Rahul Mitra

Abstract

Social identity management (SIM) is an inevitable phenomenon in the workplace that everyone engages in some shape or form. However, it plays a unique role for minoritized individuals who engage in it to negotiate their stigmatized identities due to biased expectations of professionalism. This is especially challenging for Black workers in the U.S. who due to historical factors and systemic racism continue to be stigmatized in the workplace. Online professional spaces provide a unique context to study SIM since they can sometimes conceal obvious markers of exclusion through minimized physical interaction. Enterprise social media (ESM) are one such online professional space which provide a unique perspective to study SIM given tensions of professional expectations on the platforms and their technological affordances for users. SIM is enacted through communication behaviors and how these occur and are shaped by ESMs as well professional norms is an area worth exploring for communication scholars. Through semi structured interviews with 29 Black professionals in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), this project examined what contributes to SIM online for them and how this unfolds in practice in ESM platforms. This was guided by an intersectional lens and affordance theory. Findings revealed that participants encountered various forms of exclusion in the workplace both online and offline such as hostility from coworkers, their expertise being doubted, biased standards for promotions and biased performance evaluations. As a result, they engaged in various online identity management strategies. First, participants engaged in strategies that protected their identity such as evading surveillance on ESM, resisting being typecast, dissociating from ESM when they needed privacy, delineating a safe space within the ESM and testing the waters first before engaging on ESM platforms. Secondly, other participants engaged in strategies that promoted aspects of their identity that they wanted to showcase such as using algorithms to build their professional brand and engaging with content on ESMs selectively to manage their online brand and recommendations. Third, participants engaged in strategies that expressed their authentic selves such as being visible for the next generation of Black workers in STEM, sharing their national-ethnic heritage and exemplifying Black excellence. Authenticity was sometimes enabled by the comfort space afforded by ESM platforms. Additionally, professional norms and affordances of ESM also influenced how participants showed up online. Participants engaged with various social expectations online but pointed out the need to show respect, be attentive to one's appearance and ensure confidentiality. They also highlighted the renewed sense of urgency expected with interactions online. Moreover, emotionality was limited online. Expression versus interpretation was a constant challenge for users. Although others appreciated platform affordances such as privacy which allowed them to be vulnerable when needed. Participants also noted that their identity was sometimes centered but most times decentered online since interactions on ESM were depersonalized and mainly focused on the tasks, while professional expectations were sometimes too rigid. Participants were also concerned over the lack of representation on ESM platform designs and content visible to users. The findings have implications for theory and practice which are discussed further in the dissertation.

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