Anchor identification – navigating the digital workplace as a novice ethnographer

Purpose This paper examines how the dynamics of a researcher’s self-presentation in digital workplaces, especially on social media, impact the research process and explores reflexive practices to address these challenges. Design/methodology/approach This paper employs autobiographical and autoethnographic narratives, reflecting on how the researcher’s digital self-presentation influences participant recruitment and interviews. Findings The findings demonstrate the explanatory power of anchor identification in understanding how a researcher’s digital self-presentation affects the research process. Grounded in asynchronous interactions via social media, anchor identification can facilitate access and rapport, but it may also skew the research by emphasizing specific aspects of participants’ lives. Research limitations/implications This research implies that dynamic positionality requires refined methods, such as business-life-history approaches, to fully capture the complexity of entrepreneurial experiences in digital workplaces. Originality/value This paper presents the concept of anchor identification, exploring its positive and negative impacts on the research process and proposes reflexive practices to mitigate these effects.