Where do I belong? Conflicted identities and the paradox of simultaneous stigma and social aggrandizement of military veterans in organizations

Abstract

Military veterans often transition into the civilian workforce after serving in a nation’s armed forces. The process of integrating this unique class into organizations is directly affected by the social exchanges and interactions in the organization. Utilizing an in-depth interviews-based qualitative study of 40 veterans across 12 different organizations, and integrating social identity theory, we use template analysis to identify a paradox existent in social exchanges with other organizational members where veterans are simultaneously stigmatized and socially aggrandized. These paradoxical experiences interact with veterans’ self-conceptualization and social identities to reinforce expectations, cause culture shock and eventual turnover. We present a model of this tension, contributing to literatures on veterans in the workforce, paradox, and social identity theory as well as offering HR perspectives on this phenomenon.

Keywords:

• Military Veterans
• Social Identity
• Paradox
• Stigma
• Social Aggrandizement
• Minority Employees

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Elaine Hollensbe for seeing the potential and for all the guidance along the way with our paper. We would also like to thank Dr. Emma Parry and 2 anonymous reviewers for their dedication to constructive and developmental feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Notes

1 This criterion was added during iterations with our data after initial interviews to account for desired insights resulting in protocol changes.