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Using an interpretive documentary case study, it explores challenges faced by Black industrial and organisational psychologists in developing coherent professional identities. It identifies three identity-related hindering factors—embodied practices, material/institutional arrangements, and group relations/capital—and links interventions (2020–2024) to each factor, arguing that DEI must be reimagined through identity and power.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/transforming-professional-associations-an-identity-perspective-research-article/582220/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/transforming-professional-associations-an-identity-perspective-research-article/582220.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Ophelia","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-14","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":19},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the article’s central focus regarding higher education transformation?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It examines transformation through professional identity, highlighting the vital role of professional associations and how apartheid legacies shape professional spaces.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the study examine professional identity development challenges?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It adopts an interpretive approach and uses a documentary case study to examine challenges Black industrial and organisational psychologists face.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which identity-related factors are proposed to hinder professional identity development?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The article suggests three primary factors: embodied practices, material and institutional arrangements, and group relations and capital.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},582220,1792208742,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":19,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},7971461741311,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826","Transformation in Higher Education  \nISSN: (Online) 2519-5638,(Print) 2415-0991  \n~~ ~~ Page 1 of 11  \nOrigina~~l Research ~~  \nTransforming professional associations: An identity perspective  \nAuthors:  \nAnne Crafford1  Sharon A. Munyaka2  Ruwayne G. Kock3   \nAffiliations:  \n1Department of Human Resource Management, Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa  \n2Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa  \n3Department of Industrial Psychology and People Management, College of Business and Economics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa  \nCorresponding author:  \nAnne Crafford,  \n[anne.crafford@up.ac.za](anne.crafford@up.ac.za)  \nDates:  \nReceived: 28 Feb. 2025  \nAccepted: 03 July 2025  \nPublished: 01 Dec. 2025  \nHow to cite this article:  \nCrafford, A., Munyaka, S.A.& Kock, R.G., 2025,‘Transforming professional associations: An identity perspective’, Transformation in Higher Education 10(0), a552 . [https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/)[ ](https://doi.org/)[10.4102/the.v10i0.552](10.4102/the.v10i0.552)  \nCopyright:  \n© 2025. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.  \nRead online:  \nScan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online.  \nWorking from the lens of professional identity, the article explores transformation in higher education by considering the vital role of professional associations, specifically the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology (SIOPSA) . We contend that, due to the historical and spatial dynamics of apartheid and its legacies, many professional fields in South Africa have been shaped and maintained as predominantly White spaces. For this reason, professional associations, such as SIOPSA, struggle to transform. Adopting an interpretive approach, we employ a documentary case study to examine the challenges Black industrial and organisational psychologists (BIOPs) face in developing their professional identities. While we set the context from 2009, our article focuses on interventions between 2020 and 2024. We suggest three primary identity-related factors that hinder professional identity development: embodied practices, material and institutional arrangements, and group relations and capital. Thereafter, we consider interventions that have been developed to address these challenges, highlighting their relationship with each of the identity-related contributing factors. We argue that meaningful transformation in the professions requires reimagining Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives through the lens of identity and power – acknowledging diverse presences, dismantling structural barriers, and fostering psychologically and relationally safe spaces.  \nContribution: This article is outlining interventions to ensure comprehensive transformation in professional spaces.  \nKeywords: transformation; white spaces; professional associations; psychology; DEI.  \nIntroduction  \nBeing human is not a given but a political potentiality which manifests on an oppression-liberation continuum of enacted harmful negations and salutogenic affirmations of our humanity.(Kronenberg 2018)  \nHistorically, professions and their associations in South Africa have been constructed as primarily white spaces (Crafford 2022), taking on the qualities of the bodies that historically habitually inhabited them (Ahmed 2007). This has made it particularly challenging for aspiring black professionals to develop a coherent and positive professional identity (Crafford 2022; Roberts & Creary 2012; Slay & Smith 2011). Professional identity refers to ‘an individual’s selfdefinition as a member of a profession and is associated with the enactment of a professional role’ (Chreim, Williams & Hinings 2007:1515) . Professional identities are developed in and through social interacti","cbCaiiHM6sG2XQa1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiHM6sG2XQa1","pdf",442593,11,"English","# Introduction\n# Professional identity and white spaces\n## Racism, historical privilege, and agency\n# Case study approach and focus period\n# Identity-related factors hindering development\n# Interventions and their relationship to identity factors\n# Reimagining DEI through identity and power","[{\"question\":\"What is the article’s central focus regarding higher education transformation?\",\"answer\":\"It examines transformation through professional identity, highlighting the vital role of professional associations and how apartheid legacies shape professional spaces.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the study examine professional identity development challenges?\",\"answer\":\"It adopts an interpretive approach and uses a documentary case study to examine challenges Black industrial and organisational psychologists face.\"},{\"question\":\"Which identity-related factors are proposed to hinder professional identity development?\",\"answer\":\"The article suggests three primary factors: embodied practices, material and institutional arrangements, and group relations and capital.\"}]","Transforming professional associations - An identity perspective - Research article | PDF",1792042845,28]