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    Professional identity positioning of internationally qualified nurses during workplace interactions with colleagues in New Zealand healthcare settings : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2024) Taylor, Dana
    The global nursing shortage has been a catalyst for the international migration of nurses. Internationally qualified nurses (IQNs) are valued in New Zealand as capable and competent healthcare professionals. As limited research exists into the professional identity of IQNs in New Zealand, my aim for this study was to explore IQNs’ discursive identity positioning. Research determining ways to support IQNs’ career sustainability was missing in the extant literature, which this study sought to address. Taking a social constructionist perspective, I employed narrative inquiry to empower eight IQN participants to tell stories of challenging and positive workplace interactions with their colleagues. The participants had English as their first or additional language and had been nursing in New Zealand for at least three years. Narrative data from participants were collected during COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in New Zealand by means of semi-structured interviews (‘Story-Led Conversations’) and peer-facilitated conversations via Zoom (‘Zoom Pair Shares’). Participants’ storied experiences were analysed to reveal aspects of IQNs’ discursive positioning. This allowed me to identify: how IQNs positioned themselves and others as they told stories of participating in workplace interactions with colleagues in New Zealand healthcare settings; how they used discursive positioning in their stories to jointly construct aspects of their professional identity; and the implications of understanding, and responding to, participants’ stories for the IQNs themselves and the wider nursing community. I used thematic analysis to construct six themes related to IQNs’ workplace interactions. I also developed an analytical framework based on positioning theory—the multimodal positioning analysis (MPA) model—to analyse participants’ discursive positioning of self and others when telling their stories of workplace interactions. Research findings indicated that IQN participants’ workplace interactions with colleagues impacted upon their professional identity positioning. The nature of this impact included IQNs’ sense of professional self, agency, collegiality, and wellbeing, which are critical for IQNs’ feelings of belonging and career sustainability. Findings from this study may lead to greater understanding and support of IQNs as they build a successful long-term nursing career in New Zealand.
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    Experiences of women of colour who were third culture kids or internationally mobile youth : an exploratory study of implications for global leadership development : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2023) Chatiya Nantham, Rhema Roja
    Global leadership development programmes (GLDPs) are typically focussed on competency development and teaching culturally appropriate etiquette, but, adapting to new contexts often involves challenges to people’s sense of self, addressing an area which is known as identity work. Learning from people who encountered such challenges early in life could assist in developing global leaders by offering insights into the kinds of identity work strategies needed to deal with their offshore posting, and to ensure that identity work processes are designed into such programmes. To address these aims, this study draws on the lived experiences of nine women of colour who lived outside their home country as children or adolescents, a cohort known as Third Culture Kids (TCKs), to identify various identity-related issues they encountered and the lessons these experiences offer for global leadership development. As such, this interdisciplinary study draws on and contributes to literatures related to TCKs and Adult TCKs (ATCKs), global leadership development, and identity work for leadership development. This qualitative study comprised a series of workshops designed specifically to foster identity work amongst the participants. The data was collected via virtual focus group discussions. The study adopted a combination of participatory and emancipatory action research approaches, underpinned by a social constructionist epistemology and is theoretically informed by Critical Race Feminism, anti-racist feminisms, and identity theory as key influences. These decisions reflect the aim of centring attention on a cohort routinely understudied in the TCK, global leadership development and leadership development literatures, namely women of colour. The findings were thematically analysed via an inductive approach to identify the experiences and identity work strategies of participants as TCKs in response to the racist-sexist prejudices they encountered, their implicit leadership theories and their approach to leadership, showing how the focus group process was itself a vehicle for doing identity work in relationship to their leader identities. I identify the lessons that can be drawn from TCKs, and from the methods used in this study, to inform the deployment of identity work in GLDPs. From these findings, I develop frameworks explaining the identity work processes experienced by TCKs and how they internalised their leadership identity via the methods used in my study and build models for GLDPs from these insights.
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    "I am actually doing alright" : a grounded theory exploration of how women's online social support use affects maternal identity construction and wellbeing : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Swale, Lisa Elizabeth
    In the maternal transition constructing a mothering identity is challenging as maternal identities are shaped by socially constructed ideologies of “good” motherhood. These idealised constructions are conveyed through women’s social support – in both online and offline spaces – and ultimately influence wellbeing. Online support is growing in prevalence and women are increasingly going online for maternal support. This study explores how online social support use, particularly the Social Networking Site Facebook, influenced New Zealand women’s maternal identity construction and its potential effects on wellbeing. This grounded theory study analysed in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=14) to capture the experiences of New Zealand women who had recently undergone the transition to motherhood. The constant comparison approach was used for analysis. The findings provide insights into these new mothers’ experiences of using online social support in their maternal identity construction. The produced framework enables understanding of how women used online social support to negotiate their maternal identity construction. Women manage this identity by using online social media to: (1) create a “base” of support in gaining information; (2) create a “village” of support for intimate connections; (3) compare their mothering experiences; and (4) mentor other new mothers in re/constructing their maternal identity. The proposed framework explains how online social support access, particularly Facebook, gave women choice in support and enabled opportunities to create mothering communities. The analysis shows how “villages” were used in the negotiation of maternal identity and re/construction of what it means to be a “good” mother within women’s individual contexts. Thus, women learnt to manage their identity construction online in ways that enhanced perceived connectedness, support, confidence and overall wellbeing. Insights into new mothers’ use of online social support to manage the re/construction of maternal identity and its ability to shape maternal wellbeing have implications for support provision by healthcare professionals.
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    Identity construction by Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals on LinkedIn : a tensional approach : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Communication at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Barnett, Sandra Jane
    This study explores if, and how, the business social media site, LinkedIn, is providing for Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals an alternative site for the construction of identity. The two foci of this study are; firstly, a shift to where we increasingly live our lives, the world of social media; and secondly, the tensions that this shift creates for identity and identity construction, or the basic human need to know ‘who we are’ and ‘how we fit in the social world’. The study began with the observation of family, friends and acquaintances, who had taken up self-employment, and were becoming involved in a virtual world of work-related social media through LinkedIn. The researcher’s interest was in if, and how, this virtual world acts as a site for construction of this new work identity, for an entrepreneur or small-business person. The definition of this identity was widened to include ‘professional’ when participants in the study repeatedly referred to themselves as ‘professionals’; thus, the study became a study of a hybrid identity, i.e. the entrepreneurial professional. The specific group identified was Aotearoa/New Zealand entrepreneurial professionals who engaged on LinkedIn. This research therefore is boundary spanning in that it spans the disciplines of: organisational communication and new forms of organisation; ICT and social media use; identity and identity construction, entrepreneurial, professional and digital; and globalisation, by juxtaposing the globalising effect of social media with local discourse. The research approach was from a social/constructionist paradigm, utilising a qualitative methodology. This methodology was considered appropriate as it emphasises an inductive relationship between theory and research that is consistent with the assumptions of the interpretive/ constructionist paradigm, by foregrounding the ways in which individuals interpret their social world, and embodying a view of social reality that is constantly shifting and emergent (Tracy, 2013). As this was an exploratory interpretive study, the researcher was concerned not to predict or pre-empt the findings. Accordingly, the exploration of the participants’ experience on LinkedIn was not organised around predicted or possible themes, but three interrelated communicative processes on LinkedIn identified by Putnam, Phillips, & Chapman, (1996) as three metaphors of communication itself. These were; ‘engagement’ in general terms, with an emphasis on the participants’ engaging in and making sense of the context of social media, secondly, ‘connecting’ or ‘networking,’ and thirdly, ‘interacting’. All three align with an overarching constructionist approach, but each highlight certain features that other two perspectives neglected and provide important and interrelated insights into identity construction on LinkedIn. Twenty-five in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with those who responded to a request, on NZ SME groups on LinkedIn, to be participants. The interview transcripts analysed through thematic analysis. In the process of analysis, tensions, contradictions and paradoxes emerged as a dominant concern. Tensions, such as identity tensions, have long been identified a part of organisational experience (Trethewey & Ashcraft, 2004), and a growing body of literature posits that irrationality is a normal condition of organisational life, and is reflected in the tensions evident in the discourses around the construction of identity in organisations (C. A. Clarke, Brown, & Hailey, 2009; Larson & Gill, 2017; Tracy & Trethewey, 2005; Trethewey & Ashcraft, 2004).These tensions have increased as work increasingly moves to alternative or “less predictable settings of organizing”(Cheney & Ashcraft, 2007, p. 161). The participants’ discourses revealed evidence that LinkedIn was in fact being utilised as a necessary, and for many a normal, site for the construction of entrepreneurial professional identity, yet one fraught with tensions. The identified tensions were complex and interrelated and were interpreted through the analysis as occurring in different levels and dimensions. Tensions at the first level were: two tensions around engagement in the virtual context of identity construction, four tensions around networking and making connections, and finally, five identity construction tensions around interacting and relationship-building on LinkedIn. Further interpretation of these tensions indicated underlying and overlaying tensions, or meta tensions, woven through the participants’ discourses in two dimensions One dimension identifies the tensions specific to the contexts of LinkedIn, Aotearoa/ New Zealand, and entrepreneurial professionals. This dimension of analysis accords with the advice of Cheney and Ashcraft (2007) to pay “particular sensitivity to institutional and contextual variation” (p.161) when researching identity construction in unpredictable organisational settings. The second dimension of analysis identified meta-tensions or overlaying tensional themes around identity work in organisations, that have taken on a different emphasis and character when experienced in the LinkedIn context. These tensions in two dimensions are presented as an integrated framework of identity construction tensions. For each individual these tensions will intersect at different points, illustrating that identity resides not in the person themselves, but in the context, in the broadest sense, in which they engage. The study makes several contributions. Firstly, it identifies the tensions inherent in engaging in LinkedIn and constructing a digital identity there. Secondly, it provides evidence that LinkedIn has, in fact, become, or at least was in the process of becoming, an alternative organisational site, and thus a site for organisational identity construction. Thirdly, it presents in a multi-level and two-dimensional framework for analysis of identity construction in this context. In one dimension it suggests that identity construction on LinkedIn needs to be understood, in the context of personal work situation of the individual, of a local yet global site of communication, and in the context the unique features of a virtual social world. In another dimension, the identity construction can be understood as the tensions likely in an organisational setting. Lastly it suggests utilising the lenses of three different metaphors of communication to explore communication on LinkedIn, engagement, networking, and interaction, and to analyse identity construction on LinkedIn. The study concludes with a discussion of how an understanding of managing these tensions can be utilised in tertiary education courses and to inform small business owners about LinkedIn use.
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    Narratives of agency : Afghan refugee background students' experience of schooling in New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2018) Abd Rahman, Mastura
    Little is known about the experiences of refugee background students in New Zealand high schools, and more specifically we lack narratives from more recent groups like those from Afghanistan. Research about Afghans in New Zealand does not address the experiences of how young Afghan students engage with schooling and education in the new environment. As schools are often a challenging navigational space during the transition and adaptation for these students, it is imperative to reflect on their experiences for transformative purposes. This study aimed to understand those transitional experiences through the lens of the students’ sense of agency. Data were drawn from a phenomenological research approach that included in-depth interviews with six senior high school students who were former refugees from Afghanistan. The study examined the role and ways in which a sense of agency helped these students to succeed in achieving their educational goals, by identifying the factors that provided impetus for the development of their sense of agency in the educational context. The study’s conceptual framework was built on an ecological model. The ecological perspective illuminated the links between the students’ agency, their funds of knowledge, and their socio-cultural capital. The findings highlighted multiple contexts in which the students illustrated their capacities for agency, and how that ultimately helped them to navigate ways in which they believed, decided and acted. The findings also underscored the need to recognize as well as leverage on refugee background students’ agency and their agentic resources. These students’ narratives can inform and reform underlying premises of current policy, practices and pedagogy for refugee students, which can lead to a more engaged and authentic understanding about their learning and experiences.
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    Māori migration : hau kāinga in relation to tuakiri and hauora : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Psych) at Massey University, Papaoiea, Aotearoa
    (Massey University, 2018) Rahui-Macconnell, Jessica
    Despite the increasing population of Māori born in Australia, there is a lack of research on how our taitamariki experience tuakiri outside Aotearoa. (This research refers to taitamariki and rangatahi interchangeably to refer specifically to Māori youth.) Māori models of health maintain that wairua is essential for Māori wellbeing; and wellbeing required to achieve a secure tuakiri Māori. Based on accepted indicators of wellbeing, achieving a balanced tuakiri Māori might involve nurturing personal relationships with overlapping aspects of Te Ao Māori, such as whenua, whānau and tino rangatiratanga. Many taitamariki living in Australia face challenges accessing these connected dimensions of tuakiri, which may contribute to health inequalities affecting young Māori migrants. Guided by kaupapa Māori principles, this qualitative study aims to contribute knowledge about the identity of young Māori migrants; and contribute towards Māori health development in Australia within a general kaupapa to uplift the oranga of our people collectively. Thematic analysis was conducted using stories from nine taitamariki residing in Melbourne regarding their experiences of migration on tuakiri Māori. The key themes that emerged from the participants korero were tūrangawaewae, oranga, and mauri, which characterised important aspects of participant’s identities. Findings highlighted negative impacts of migration to wairuatanga, yet participants found strength in their relationships to ‘home’ through a sense of belonging, pride, self-awareness, respect, guidance, support, resilience and self-determination. All sub-themes intersected, representative of the holistic nature of hauora and tuakiri. In conclusion, this research explored the importance of ‘home’ in relation to migrant tuakiri Māori to enhance understanding of Māori wellbeing amongst Rangatahi Māori in Australia. The findings call for whānau/hapū/iwi and Government responsivity to the oranga and wairua of taitamariki in Aotearoa; and active acknowledgment of our taitamariki in Australia as mokopuna and taonga. Keywords: Māori migration, Māori identity, Māori wellbeing, urban Māori youth
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    Brain damage and personhood: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Philosophy at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1991) Mackenzie, Anne Jennifer
    In certain cases of specific brain-damage, neurologists are often puzzled about the patient's status as a person. They suggest that the person is changed, diminished, or even absent, but it is not clear why. Can a philosophical account of personhood help answer their questions? My aim is to show that a philosophical understanding of personhood can be improved by taking account of actual cases of brain-damage. At the same time, a philosophical analysis enriched in this way can help to dispel uncertainty and perplexity concerning those cases. I outline a necessary condition of personhood and show reasonable justification for it. The condition combines the notions of consciousness, being a continuing subject of experience, and awareness of being such a subject. Assuming the condition is justified, I go on to consider its application. I suggest that cases of very specific brain-damage may provide clues to capacities which are essential if the condition is to be satisfied. A closer examination of what must be the case if an individual satisfies each of the parts of the condition shows that this is difficult to determine. The main part of my project has two sections. Firstly, I focus on the condition itself. I show that memory for experiences is essential for having a sense of oneself as a continuing subject of experience and I answer possible objections to this claim. Memory alone is insufficient, for the memories need to be processed into something like a narrative. This processing calls for a basic linguistic capacity and so this capacity is also necessary if the condition is to be satisfied. In the second part of my project, I select accounts of brain-damage described in the literature. I choose seven cases where experiential memory is impaired, one case where linguistic capacity is lost, and one case of profound deafness where linguistic capacity did not develop until quite late. A final case is an example of very severe brain-damage where minimal memory and linguistic capacity were recovered while much else remained lost. Considering these two parts together, I point out how the philosophical analysis can help us to understand just what it is that the patients have lost. At the same time, the case studies show that the sense of self is diminished when there are specific memory and linguistic deficits. The patients, despite being mobile, articulate and intelligent, cannot function as persons in many respects. Their difficulties support my claims about the necessity of memory and linguistic capacity. Further support comes from the case where memory and linguistic capacity are recovered to some extent in the face of devastating losses. Overall I try to show that a philosophical analysis of the concept of a person will be enhanced if we take note of cases of specific brain damage. We can gain insights from sympathetic accounts of the lives of these patients and an enhanced philosophical account can contribute to our understanding of the plight of the brain-damaged.
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    Sharing our stories : celebrating critically reflective psychological textual practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2009) Soennichsen, Susan Marie
    This study involves my engaging with ideas through three interweaving, storied strands: some personal experiences of my own, the historical development of the academic discipline of psychology, and the pivotal autobiographical vignettes in five psychological articles. Ethical considerations permeate the overlapping theoretical, metaphorical and analytical processes of this work. I consider how writers and readers can engage together through the reflexive sharing of personal narratives, working toward interpretations of experiences in terms of subject positionings within powerful cultural discourses. A metaphorical perspective is integrated into my research process to help me in my attempts to articulate and evoke some fleeting traces of meaning through the elusive symbolic system of language. My analyses of the five focus pieces of writing attend to their skilfully metaphorical, critically reflective use of language within a supportive, nurturing discursive space. This thesis celebrates the transformational possibilities inherent in these pieces of psychological counter-practice. I believe these writers usefully address social sciences' 'crisis' concerns around the relationship of psychology with 'real' people, enabling re-interpretations of experiences in terms of gender and social power relationships and the fashioning of different, more useful meanings for our storied, culturally directed experiences.
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    Living in the city ain't so bad : cultural diversity of South Auckland rangatahi : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of a Masters of Philosophy in Psychology
    (Massey University, 2005) Borell, Belinda
    Establishing a 'secure' Maori identity based solely on particular criteria of Maori culture (te reo Maori, tikanga, marae, etc.) continues to be problematic for some Maori. Those who are not seen as connected in this way are often defined by what they are seen as lacking, hence terms such as disconnected, distanced, detached and dissociated. Although young Maori may define themselves in terms of difference from others there is an increasing danger of some urban youth being defined as different from Maori who are 'culturally connected' and for this to be seen primarily as a negative demarcation. Although it may be the aspiration of some to have greater cultural connection, what this means for different groups and individuals may have both congruence and divergence with what are usually considered to be markers of cultural inclusion. This thesis presents the findings from a wider research project funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. The project objective was to gather data that can inform and contribute to existing knowledge about cultural identity of rangatahi Maori with a view to establishing a framework(s) for greater youth development and a more positive and embracing perspective of culture. Kaupapa Maori and social constructionist framings are used to centre the focused life story interviews that were conducted with young people aged between 13-21 years, who identified as Maori and lived in the South Auckland area. Findings suggest that conventional and experiential indicators of Maori identity as well as a strong localised identity are key factors in this exploration. Challenges for identity theorists, societal institutions and other Maori are discussed.
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    Hybridising identities by Korean mothers and daughters in New Zealand : a doctoral thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2011) Jeon, Hyunok; Jeon, Hyunok
    The population in the Pacific region is becoming increasingly diverse. In New Zealand, Asian migrants now make up almost 10% of the total population. Among them, women and second generation migrants are often described as most vulnerable to acculturation stress and identity confusions due to cultural conflicts, intergenerational issues and discrimination. However, their resilience to overcome these difficulties and their processes to construct alternative identities are not well understood. My study particularly concerns identity issues of Korean women migrants in New Zealand. The aim of this study is to understand how they deal with the challenges and re-construct their identities. For this purpose, this study draws on theories of hybridizing selves, the dialogical self and the interactive nature of culture. Six Korean mothers and six Korean young adult daughters were interviewed. Photographs and personal items were used to facilitate the interview conversations. To undertake the analyses, this study draws on frameworks suggested by discourse analysis and narrative analysis, and is underpinned by a social constructionist approach. Informed by a discursive approach, the researcher was aware of the potentials and constraints in the social and cultural context of the participants’ everyday lives. Informed by a narrative approach, the researcher could explore participants’ active roles in constructing their own stories. The findings demonstrate that these women are in the process of constructing hybrid identities. By constructing hybrid identities, they can avoid the strictures of being either ‘authentic’ Koreans or ‘assimilated’ Westernised women. Instead, they create flexible, positive selves, negotiating gender, ethnicity, and the power structures experienced in Western dominant society. The findings also show that mothers and daughters negotiate identities in various ways. Mothers construct the sense of being in a minority in ways that allow them to claim their strength and overcome powerlessness attached to their minority status. They also strategically construct others as the same as themselves to restore a sense of equality and to claim their rights in a Western country. Daughters construct themselves as being different from both ‘typical’ Koreans and their western peers, and then this dislocation is used to create a space to allow their own ways of adjustment. Daughters also describe their difficulties in carrying out adult roles in the family, but this construction turns into a sense of worthiness as a valuable contributor to the family. Regarding their future plans, daughters strategically use their hybrid identities to form positive self images as competent young women in an international context. Hybridised identities are also constructed with regard to intergenerational interactions within the family: mothers formulate ways of hybridizing children based on both Korean and Western notions of parenting, which becomes their way to be good mothers in the western society; daughters draw on both the notions of being a good, caring daughter in Korean terms and being an independent woman in New Zealand in order to negotiate their relationships with parents. To conclude, this study documents how culture is not a set of inherent traits of an ethnic group but is interactive, shifting and performative. Also migrant women are to be seen as active negotiators in identity construction rather than victims of acculturation stress. These findings have implications for health professionals in New Zealand who are interested in assisting migrants in developing flexibility and resilience. The implications for appropriate cultural competence in professional psychological practice are discussed in terms of the broader understanding of culture and the importance of reflectivity for practice.