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This article proposes that media representations of an occupational category may intersect with organizations' efforts to construct a positive organizational identity and image. We fuse three streams of literature namely, organizational identity and image, media and the social construction of reality, and dirty work to extend extant literature on organizational identity and image. Attention is drawn to occupational image as the position of an occupational category in society. We contend that occupational image is likely to influence the decisions and actions taken by organizations and its members, in particular when the occupation is central to the organization's mission. Occupational image is partly informed by the media. We analyse one year of media coverage of a dirty work occupation, specifically exotic dancing, and identify various ways in which the media portrays the exotic dancing occupation and the organizations providing these services. We focus upon two of these categories, namely Public (dis) Order and Art and Entertainment. We also draw upon a variety of data from one organization, For Your Eyes Only, to explore how organizational efforts to construct a positive organizational identity (based upon professionalism and legitimacy) and image (based upon fantasy, exclusivity and high quality service) intersect these media representations.

PurposeThis study adopts the popular culture lens to investigate the collective understanding behind the human resources (HR) occupations.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study analyzes 129 characters from 87 movies, television (TV) series, books and comics. The measurement model was tested using structural equation modeling and cluster analysis identified five HR representations in the popular culture.FindingsPopular culture reflects five HR representations: The Executor, the Hero, the Buddy, the Bore, and the Good-time person. Results suggest that public opinion pays scarce attention to the so-called HR "strategic position" while underlining the need for a more socially responsible HR approach.Originality/valueThe authors' study serves as a means for integrating past research on HR role and reputation, occupational image, self-identity and popular media. While most scholars have addressed popular culture as a single case and paid almost no attention to the HR domain, this article complements the literature by offering a fruitful way to distil HR summative popular culture representations, thus advocating for both a theoretical and a methodological contribution.

The occupational image subcultures associated with the nursing role (professional, traditional, bureaucratic, and utilitarian) affected job attitudes and the job attitude-performance relationship, but did not seem to have a direct effect on job performance. Implications of these findings are discussed and a model linking occupational and organizational socialization to job attitudes and job performance is presented.

Die ungeklärte Stellung der 'Soziologie als Profession' ist nach Ansicht des Verfassers zu einem existentiellen Problem der Soziologen geworden. Ausgehend vom soziologischen Verständnis des Berufs charakterisiert er die Beschäftigung mit normativen Ordnungen als das Spezifikum der Soziologie. Grundlegende Aufgaben der Soziologie werden in folgenden Themenbereichen gesehen: Kommunikation, Berechenbarkeit des Verhaltens im Zusammenleben der Menschen, institutionelle Entlastungen und Absicherungen, organisatorischen Probleme, Ordnung als Zivilisation. Konkrete Tätigkeitsbereiche für Soziologen sind dabei die Erhebung und Beschreibung, die Ursachenforschung, die Prognose sowie das Aufzeigen von Alternativen. Berufliche Leistungen der Soziologie werden exemplarisch für die Konzentration auf die Ordnungs- und Regelungsperspektive als das spezifisch Soziologische deutlich gemacht. (ICE)

This article presents a model explaining how refugee communities help their members accept downward occupational mobility usually associated with refugee resettlement. The article describes how refugees shape an image of themselves consistent with the occupational role, while they shape an image of the role consistent with their self-images.