SUSTAINABLE STATUS: HOW IMPACT INVESTORS MANAGE AND PROTECT AMBIVALENT IDENTITIES

Abstract

How do impact investors manage and protect ambivalent identities when mixing financial goals with social and environmental impact? I conducted six months of research in Europe and the United States, investigating how these investors use symbolic boundaries to manage and protect their identities. Data are derived from immersive ethnography of impact investors in social encounters with each other and with other groups, such as philanthropists and traditional investors. Impact investors construct specific identities in different contexts, particularly when they anticipate identity threat. They counter a prevailing stereotype that they sacrifice financial returns for impact. This ‘concessionary’ judgment results in perceptions of unprofessionalism that age and gender can further influence. The mechanisms of boundary-work and status protection used by my subjects suggest important implications for concerns of resource distribution and socio-economic inequality.