Contested nature of professional identity in UK construction: performative narratives and anecdotal stories

Aziz, K. (2026) Contested nature of professional identity in UK construction: performative narratives and anecdotal stories. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00129060

Abstract/Summary

This research explores the contested nature of professional identity in the UK construction sector. It adopts a narrative perspective to investigate how professionalism is articulated, negotiated, and contested within a discursive landscape shaped in part by formalised policy narratives. Rather than treating policy documents as quasi-rationalistic strategies for sectoral improvement, they are conceptualised as formalised policy narratives. Each is seen to portray a selective vision of industry improvement. The constituent narratives are seen to have direct consequences for the discursive framing of professionalism. Five major UK construction policy reports are analysed to explore how recurring narrative building blocks (NBBs) are mobilised. The Banwell (1964), Latham (1994), Egan (1998), Farmer (2016) reports and the Construction Playbook (HMG, 2020) are selected because of their supposed influence. Collectively, the five reports span across six decades of acclaimed industry modernisation. The selected NBBs relate to the discursive constructs of integration, innovation, quality, and professionalism. They are analysed in terms of the key narrative elements which comprise the adopted plot structures. The findings highlight how they are invariably characterised by ambiguity and imprecision. Hence, the emergent narrative infrastructure is fragmented, under-developed and often rhetorically inflated. Drawing on narrative interviews with 27 professionals, the research further explores how individuals negotiate their professional identities in relation to the selected policy reports. Practitioners are found to engage selectively with constituent narratives as they seek to navigate the regulatory and commercial pressures which characterise their practice worlds. The selected reports provide discursive resources which are appropriated as part of an ongoing process of identity work. The analysis further derives five recurring identity labels through which practitioners seek to make sense of the contested notion of professionalism. The identified labels are ethical steward, innovation champion, maverick, collaborative professional, and pragmatic professional. Such labels are seen to serve as interpretive devices for the purposes of understanding how professionals reconcile policy expectations with the complexities of everyday practice. The study contributes to understanding professional identity in the UK construction sector as a dynamic and contested discursive process continuously shaped by ongoing negotiation. The research highlights how ambiguity, rhetorical inflation, and fragmentation within policy narratives condition the space in which professionals construct their identities. A further contribution lies in identifying patterned forms of identity positioning, showing recurring patterns in how professionals make sense of unclear or conflicting policy expectations within their interview accounts.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/129060
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00129060
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment
Date on Title Page	September 2025
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