Unpacking hybridity: Development and first validation of a multidimensional instrument to profile hybrid professionals

Abstract

Hybrid professionals, that is, professionals who have transitioned to managerial roles, have emerged in numerous public settings. Through in-depth qualitative methodologies, the literature has shown a good degree of heterogeneity in the way hybrid professionals perceive and manage their hybridity. In this study, we aim to develop a theory-based, multidimensional instrument able to capture such heterogeneity in a lean but sensitive way. In this instrument, we combine consolidated scales of identity centrality and integration and vignettes, on the one hand, to measure the perception of hybrid professionals of the relationship between their professional and managerial identities and, on the other hand, to elicit the practices they use to deal with the demands of the professional and managerial logics. We first validate the instrument on a sample of school principals in the Italian context and then describe the six profiles of hybrid professionals derived from the analysis. We suggest three avenues for applying such an instrument.