Social-symbolic work of Italian architectural studio leaders during their idea journeys

This study examines power dynamics and identity negotiation in architectural firms, a competitive sector within the creative industries. While creative industries are often portrayed as flat in structure, architecture reveals significant hierarchies between starchitects, studio leaders, and employees. Based on 19 interviews with Italian professionals and analyzed through grounded theory, the findings show that starchitects mainly provide symbolic value, while studio leaders drive the actual architectural processes and decision-making. Such hierarchies become particularly visible during contingencies, where leaders’ experience and authority prevail. The research highlights how professionals actively construct their subjectivities through discourse, rather than passively accepting roles. It explores how studio leaders engage in identity-based boundary work—through relational, material, and discursive practices—to maintain positionality. Importantly, the study identifies a cognitive dimension to social-symbolic work, offering a novel contribution to existing literature on organizational power and identity.