Coping with information technology challenges to identity: A theoretical framework

Drawing on ideas from identity control theory and coping theory and on a diverse range of social psychology literature, we propose an integrative theoretical framework that unpacks and traces the processes by which information technology comes to affect users’ identity. We define four types of strategies (acting on the situation, adjusting the self, cathartic practices and distancing) through which people cope with technological challenges to the self. We suggest that these strategies may lead to four individual-level outcomes, namely reinforced identity, redefined identity, ambivalent identity and anti-identity. The model is provided with a preliminary support through reference to real life situations, carefully selected from extant empirical IS enquiries.