Hiding in plain sight: Exploring the complex pathways between tactical concealment and relational wellbeing

We argue that the current environment in higher education is one of the primary drivers for the widespread adoption of concealment tactics with the aim of enhancing wellbeing. To explore the relationship between concealment and wellbeing, we draw upon Scott’s conceptualization of “hidden transcripts...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOrganization (London, England) Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 473 - 489
Main Authors Jones, David Raymond, Wall, Tony, Kenworthy, Amy, Hurd, Fiona, Dyer, Suzette, Hedges, Peggy, Sankaran, Shankar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.05.2023
Sage Publications Ltd
Subjects
Academic staff
Alternative approaches
Concealment
Group identity
Higher education
Interdisciplinary aspects
Organizational culture
Social well being
Tactics
Well being
higher education
relational wellbeing
tactics
Concealment
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Summary:We argue that the current environment in higher education is one of the primary drivers for the widespread adoption of concealment tactics with the aim of enhancing wellbeing. To explore the relationship between concealment and wellbeing, we draw upon Scott’s conceptualization of “hidden transcripts” and Keyes’s five dimensions of social wellbeing. Using a collaborative ethnographic approach, we examine a 2-year period of individual and collective inquiry by an eclectic multidisciplinary, international group of academics. Our empirical and theoretical contributions expose a complex and, at times, seemingly contradictory relationship between tactical concealments and relational wellbeing, with variously generative and destructive pathways between them. Our research offers a lens through which we can critically explore and extend our understanding of alternative pathways to wellbeing in organizational life.
ISSN:1350-5084
1461-7323
DOI:10.1177/13505084221150356