The performative office: applying dramatic theory to workplace relationships and impression management

Abstract

In the field of organizational studies, employee identity and impression management has become a major field of research that builds upon the works of English dramatic theory and Goffman's dramaturgical theory to explain the nature of creating, negotiating and performing identity in organizational contexts. This study examines the growth, intellectual structure, influential figures and thematic development of a literature on English dramatic theory, employee identity, and impression management, which is presented in a comprehensive bibliometric review. They were searched from the Scopus database and included 682 journal articles from 2000 to 2026. Bibliometric analyses using Biblioshiny in R Studio and VOSviewer were carried out to assess the publication trends, leading authors, publication journals, countries, citation patterns, co-citation networks, keyword co-occurrence relationship, and thematic issues. The results show that the volume of research has significantly risen during the period of the study, indicating the growing academic interest in the study of identity performance and self-presentation in the modern working contexts. The most influential contributors were the United States and the United Kingdom, and the top source of publications was Computers in Human Behavior. The analyses of the citations and co-citations reveal that Goffman's dramaturgical approach remains significant and that the field of sociological, psychological and organizational concerns are interwoven. In addition, the impression management, self-presentation, identity, psychology and social media themes emerge as the most prominent, while digital identity management, online self-presentation, gender-related identity problems and technology-mediated workplace interactions are also emerging foci of research. The systematic mapping of the field and developmental trajectory of the field contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of dramaturgical perspectives in contemporary research on employee identity and impression management and offer directions for future research in growingly digital and interconnected organizational settings.