People seeking independence absorb the identities of those they depend on.

Evidence

The identity of the horse owner takes on elements of those providers that help resolve the owner’s uncertainty and dependence. Precisely because the horse owner seeks to be independent and individualistic, they seek to inherit aspects of providers’ identities that would be needed to fulfill their own desired identity. That is, their identity would strive to take care of their horses by themselves, so they search for attributes needed to be self-made, stand-alone horsemen and women (Hoare, 1991; Cinnirella, 1998; Howard, 2000). — Georg Schreyögg and Jörg Sydow, The Hidden Dynamics of Path Dependence, 659

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A genuine paradox: dependence is the mechanism by which the aspiration to self-sufficiency is filled, so identity is borrowed precisely where autonomy is wanted.
• XREF: Echoes the trust literature’s point that opaque others’ intentions must be coped with — here identity providers are the trusted source that resolves uncertainty.