The objective of this paper is to investigate how professionals cope with identity tensions inherent to their profession on a daily basis. We address this issue by studying identity tensions and identity work of well-established professionals in a stable profession. Using interview data gathered from 42 pharmacists in France, we found that professional identity encompassed different facets, and that being a professional involved a routine identity work of ‘fitting’ the different facets together. We showed that this routine work occurred in parallel to – and in association with - a more reactive appraisal of professional identity, as environment-generated identity tensions led pharmacists to reappraise who they were as pharmacists. We also revealed that professionals can exert their agency and invent their own way of ‘being’ a professional through crafting their own practices. Thus the multiplicity of identity facets, although a source of ambiguity and tensions, also constitutes a space for agency. Theoretical contributions are twofold. First, we shed new light on the bricolage of identity work by professionals. Second, we reveal the role of agency in this ongoing bricolage and untangle the links between identity and practice.
