Who's behind the red suit? Exploring role prototypicality within calling enactment among professional Santas

This study provides insight into how role prototypicality shapes calling enactment. Taking an interpretivist grounded theory approach, we harness the professional Santa Claus context to investigate our research question. Drawing upon interviews, observation, archival documents, and survey data, we find that a called role prototype distills role expectations shared by called workers and valued others relevant to the work context (member community, beneficiaries). Preceding the peak work season, a claiming and granting process among prospective role occupants and the member community sorts called workers into three categories of role prototypicality (prototypical, semi-prototypical, non-prototypical). Upon formal role entrance during the peak work season, called workers engage in intrapersonal and interpersonal sensemaking to facilitate claiming of the called role identity and granting of it from beneficiaries, enabling calling enactment. Qualitatively different cognitive and embodied sensemaking approaches by role prototypicality category indicate paths for called workers to enact their calling. Outside of the peak work season, called workers express further variation in how they identify with their called role and enact their calling according to their role prototypicality. These findings contribute to literature on callings and embodied experiences of work.