Boundary Management Tactics and Logics of Action: The Case of Peer-Support Providers

Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 704, December 2000

Posted: 6 Sep 2004

See all articles by Samuel Bacharach

Samuel Bacharach

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Peter Bamberger

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology - The William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Management

Valerie McKinney

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Abstract

From a qualitative study of flight attendants volunteering as support providers in a peer-based employee assistance program, a typology of the boundary management tactics used by peer-support providers to maintain a comfortable distance from help recipients is derived and a grounded theory explaining providers' selection of tactics is proposed. After identifying 2 factors associated with tactic selection (personal experience and social structure), it is demonstrated that support providers' cognitive orientations, or logics of action, mediate the relationship between these factors and tactic selection. There are 4 types of support providers' logics of action identified and it is shown how a provider's logic may predict his or her preference for a particular boundary management tactic.

Note: This is a description of the paper and not the actual abstract.

Keywords: Helping, Social Support, Boundary, Tactics

Suggested Citation

Bacharach, Samuel and Bamberger, Peter and McKinney, Valerie, Boundary Management Tactics and Logics of Action: The Case of Peer-Support Providers. Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 45, No. 4, pp. 704, December 2000, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=585522

Samuel Bacharach

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations ( email )

Institute for Workplace Studies
Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States
212-340-2850 (Phone)
212-340-2893 (Fax)

Peter Bamberger (Contact Author)

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology - The William Davidson Faculty of Industrial Engineering & Management ( email )

Haifa 32000
Israel
972-4-829-4510 (Phone)

Valerie McKinney

Cornell University - School of Industrial and Labor Relations

Ithaca, NY 14853-3901
United States

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