Entering the professorate: when individual identity construction meets institutional habituation

Abstract

Doctoral students seek to discover their identity within academia through professional interactions. Involvement in professional conferences affords opportunities for interaction that are used in the process of socially negotiating the construction of reality and as the cornerstone of identity creation. Based on Weick’s belief in understanding through storytelling, this study will examine the experiences of junior researchers at the Atlantic Schools of Business, exploring their process of identity creation when interacting with academic professionals who are embedded within the habituated practices of the institutionalized professorate.