Bridgework: A Model of Brokering Relationships Across Social Boundaries in Organizations

Relationships are central to organizing, work, and organizations. Yet, in many instances, relationships do not build themselves, and third-party actors are often needed to intervene in situations, persuade individuals, and facilitate connections across disconnected actors in organizations. Little is known about the strategies through which third-party actors can broker relationships across what are considered to be intractable social boundaries- membership in stigmatized or nonstigmatized social identity-based groups.We build a process theory of what we call “bridgework,” the strategy used by third-party agents, intermediaries, and allies to bridge by shifting value-related perceptions about actors on the other side of social identity-based divides. More specifically, we focus on a stigmatizing social identity that can create boundaries that are often reinforced through informal network ties. Based on interviews, participatory observation, and archival data with job coaches for adults with autism spectrum disorders and related developmental disabilities, we showcase a model of bridgework-a combination of internal and external strategies across three stages (adding, stabilizing, and maintaining perceptions of value) to facilitate relationships between stigmatized and nonstigmatized members of organizations. We discuss howour groundedmodel contributes to the rich traditions of research on stigma, brokerage, disability studies, positive relationships, and compassion in organizations.

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Work Title Bridgework: A Model of Brokering Relationships Across Social Boundaries in Organizations
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Tiffany D. Johnson
  2. Aparna Joshi
  3. Glen Kreiner
Keyword
  1. Stigma
  2. Brokerage
  3. Boundaries
  4. Diversity
  5. Disability
  6. Allyship
  7. Qualitative
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Organization Science
Publication Date September 13, 2022
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2022.1631
Deposited November 27, 2023

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Version 1
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  • Created
  • Added johnson-et-al-2022-bridgework-a-model-of-brokering-relationships-across-social-boundaries-in-organizations.pdf
  • Added Creator Tiffany D. Johnson
  • Added Creator Aparna Joshi
  • Added Creator Glen Kreiner
  • Published
  • Updated Keyword, Publication Date Show Changes
    Keyword
    • Stigma, Brokerage, Boundaries, Diversity, Disability, Allyship, Qualitative
    Publication Date
    • 2023-07-01
    • 2022-09-13
  • Updated