Making sense from the in-between state : Immigrants’ identity work and the micro-processes of resistance

Purpose This paper sets out to understand how immigrants to Canada (specifically Hong Kong immigrants) deal with competing senses of their situation in deciding how or whether to adjust to their new environment. In particular, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the “in-between state” of mind where individuals try to manage competing senses of their experiences in Canada. Design/methodology/approach The authors draw on critical sensemaking (CSM) in the study of the micro-processes of identity work at play among a group of 19 Hong Kong Chinese skilled immigrants to Canada. Findings The study’s findings indicate that immigrant experiences are often filtered through the competing sensemaking of the immigrants themselves and those of the so-called “host” community. As the study of Hong Kong immigrants suggests, this can lead to confused and compromised experiences of being an immigrant in the Canadian context. Research limitations/implications The study was confined to immigrants to Canada from Hong Kong. Further study of different immigrant groups may throw light on the extent to which competing sensemaking is related to cultural differences that affect not only the distance in understanding but the management of that distance. Practical implications The paper contributes to the diversity management literature and practice through understanding immigrants’ identity construction and its oscillations, influences, and restrictions as agency in context. Social implications The paper helps diversity managers, policy makers, and social activists to understand the role of sensemaking when providing social and structural support in workplace contexts. Originality/value The study reveals the importance of sensemaking in the experiences of immigrants to Canada. In particular, it broadens knowledge of the problems of adjusting to a new (national) environment from structural constraints to micro-processes of making sense. In the process, the study of the management of competing senses of an environment contributes to the development of CSM with the focus on, what we call, the state of in-betweeness.