Professional, academic and researcher identities in nursing: A theory synthesis of shared foundations and analytical distinctions

Nwambo, JC ORCID: 0000-0002-1002-8117, Warrick, K, Badu, S ORCID: 0000-0001-8953-5738, Vann, M and Bifarin, O (2026) Professional, academic and researcher identities in nursing: A theory synthesis of shared foundations and analytical distinctions. Nurse Education Today. ISSN 0260-6917

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Abstract

Background
Nursing literature sometimes conflates or inconsistently defines three identities: professional nurse, academic, and researcher. Professional nurse identity is well theorised, yet academic and researcher identities remain less clearly conceptualised. Limited comparative theoretical attention leaves their shared foundations and differences insufficiently explained, with implications for educator workforce sustainability.

Aim
To clarify how these identities are used in the literature, examine whether they can be analytically differentiated, and consider what clearer definitions mean for educator workforce sustainability.

Methods
Theory synthesis (Walker and Avant, 2011), informed by Wenger's (1998) social theory of learning. We analysed twenty-four sources on professional nurse (n = 5), academic (n = 10), and researcher identity (n = 9), synthesising each domain separately before comparing convergence and divergence.

Results
The synthesis yielded the Identity Architecture Framework (IAF), comprising three constructs. Structural Formation Capacity describes conditions for identity development as well established for professional nurse identity, variable for academic identity, and constrained for researcher identity. Anchor and Divergence positions nursing selfhood, formed through professional education, as the shared foundation in relation to which academic and researcher identities may develop within different communities. Identity Coherence Structure describes how selfhood is organised in each domain. Professional nurse identity tends towards consolidation. Academic identity involves continuing negotiation between nursing and university communities (communal duality). Researcher identity involves negotiation between nursing's ethical commitments and the demands of knowledge production, alongside potential discrepancies between perceived contribution and external recognition (epistemological duality). Researcher identity was often subsumed within other domains.

Conclusions
These identities are analytically distinct but not separate. Academic and researcher identities do not replace professional nursing selfhood but develop in continuing relation to it. The IAF offers a conceptual foundation for examining how identity formation, belonging, and recognition may inform educator and researcher development and workforce sustainability.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1110 Nursing; 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy; Nursing; 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy; 4204 Midwifery; 4205 Nursing
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) R Medicine > RT Nursing
Divisions:	Nursing, Public and Allied Health
Publisher:	Elsevier BV
Date of acceptance:	1 November 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	9 November 2026
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2026 14:10
Last Modified:	09 Nov 2026 14:10
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.nedt.2026.107498
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/29848

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