When the role model falls: occupational identity threats and individual responses among coaches

Purpose This study investigates how Brazilian career coaches interpreted and responded to a reputational scandal involving Pablo Marçal, a celebrity coach who became national news when he took clients on a controversial high-risk expedition. We explore why some professionals perceived this incident as a symbolic threat to their occupational identity, while others did not and theorize the identity responses that emerged among those who felt implicated. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts a grounded theory approach, drawing on data from 43 interviews with Brazilian career coaches. Findings The study finds that not all professionals interpreted the scandal as a threat to their occupational identity as a coach. Among those who perceived a threat, three distinct response strategies emerged: symbolic insulation (minimizing perceived association), semantic dissociation (redefining the profession's boundaries) and advocacy-oriented repositioning (engaging in reputational repair through proactive discourse). The study also introduces the construct of celebrity stigma transference to explain how reputational damage migrates across symbolic boundaries within an occupation. Originality/value The paper extends identity threat theory to loosely regulated occupations that are shaped by media exposure. It theorizes how symbolic threats are interpreted in the absence of formal ties and introduces the concept of celebrity stigma transference as a mechanism of reputational contagion.