Managing “Who I Am”: An Exploration of Chinese Employees’ Identity Tension Management Strategies in MNCs

ABSTRACT

This exploratory qualitative study aims to examine Chinese employees’ identity tensions in multinational companies (MNCs) in China, more specifically, how Chinese business professionals communicate to organize various identities while managing identity tensions from a cultural insider’s perspective. Guided by a grounded theory approach, 20 in-depth individual interviews with Chinese employees in MNCs revealed four identity tensions: work-life identity tensions, task-relational interrole tensions, friend-professional interrole tensions, and cultural-professional tensions. It was through defining, communicating, and organizing these identity tensions that Chinese participants displayed one of two identity structuring models: holistic (interdependent) and kaleidoscope (independent) models. This study contributes to identity and communication literature with its cross-level examination of identity tensions and the identity structuring models in multicultural organizational communication. The findings suggest that MNCs and global teams should focus more on navigating identity clashes in global collaborations with institutional communication training moving beyond cultural awareness exercises.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese employees
• identity structure
• workplace identity management
• qualitative research
• communication in multinational corporations

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yijia Guo

Yijia Guo, Associate Professor, Department of Business Communication, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California (Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 2017). Dr. Guo’s research focuses on organizational and intercultural communication in business. She is particularly interested and specialized in identity development and strategic negotiation in various international organizational contexts. Her current research focuses on new technologies such as generative AI and identity in multicultural organizational settings.

Michael W. Kramer

Michael W. Kramer, Professor Emeritus and Retired Chair, OU Department of Communication (Ph.D., University of Texas, 1991). Dr. Kramer’s research focuses on how individuals join, participate in, experience transitions, and exit as employees or voluntary members of organizations as part of the socialization/assimilation process. He also has published scholarship on leadership, decision making, and collaborations among government and nonprofit organizations.