Cross-Domain Identity Transition during Liminal Periods: Constructing Multiple Selves as Professional and Mother during Pregnancy

Through our grounded theory qualitative research, we explore how women begin to construct and react to images of possible multiple selves as professionals and mothers during the liminal period of pregnancy. Our study makes a contribution to identity transition scholarship by introducing and exploring the intricacies of cross-domain identity transitions, which we define as those identity transitions that occur when an individual's established work identity must be adapted to be integrated with a change in a nonwork identity (e.g., becoming a mother). Our work also contributes to work-family scholarship by demonstrating how women begin to experience and address inherent conflicts and enrichments between their maternal and professional identities during pregnancy, long before a child is born. We do so by demonstrating how organizational and personal context color the vision a woman builds of her possible multiple selves as mother and professional.