Impossible Selves: Image Strategies And Identity Threat In Professional - Women~s Career Transitions

This paper uses the notion of identify threat to explain gender differences in responses to the image and identity gap created by professional's transition into client advisory roles. While both men and women experienced this gap, the strategies used to bridge it differed by gender, and so did their consequences. women were likely than men to report access to suitable roll models, and accordingly were less likely that men to use imitation strategies in fashioning :provisional selves" to fill the gap.