Digital Leadership

8.2 Leader-follower multi-role identities

In today's information and digital age, single identity ("I am a leader" or "I am a follower") of the industrial leadership era has shifted to multiple-role identity paradigm of leader-followership ("I function as a leader and a follower"). Multiple-role identity theories explain how multiple roles may function in today's multifunctional and diverse workforce. For instance, individuals often occupy more than one social position and play more than one role in society. Hence, people develop multiple identities (e.g., parent, worker, volunteer, etc). that are naturally activated in various social interactions. Burke and Stets put it this way: "A person could be a student in one context, a friend in another, a mother, a daughter, a teacher, a blood donor, a homeowner, and so on". Multiple identities, according to them, "function together within the self and within the overall identity verification process ". Multiple identities exist within the person and across persons. These multiple identities among multiple individuals may interact in a given situation (e.g., individuals working together to accomplish a group task). Thus, multiple-role identity theories explain how one may operate in both leader and follower roles and multiple competencies in organizations, especially in the digital age.