Abstract
The concepts of organizational identity and identification are attracting greater and greater recognition among scholars and practitioners. An increasing number of researchers in organizational behavior, organizational studies, organizational development, organizational theory and strategic management are turning to these concepts to improve their understanding of the behavior of organizations and their members. This paper summarizes the fundamental issues: the various intellectual roots of organizational identity and identification theory, the interplay between different levels of analysis, the conceptualization of organizational identity, its measurement, and finally, its relevance. Identity appears a promising concept to bridge different levels of analysis, and to analyze apparent paradoxes that arise when organizations confront simultaneous pressures for similarity and uniqueness, sameness and differentiation.References
Albert, S., & Whetten, D. (1985) Organizational identity. In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw, Re-search in organizational behavior (Vol. 6). Greenwich, CT: JAI
Ashforth, B. (2001) Role Transitions in Organizational Life: An Identity-Based Perspective, La-wrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ.
Ashforth, B. E., and Mael, F. (1989), 'Social Identity Theory and the Organization', Academy of Management Review, 14/1: 20-39.
Barth, F. (1970) ‘Pathan identity and its maintenance’, in Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Culture Differences, F. Barth (Ed.), George Allen and Unwin, London, 117–134.
Bergami, M. and Bagozzi, R.P. (2000) Self-categorization, affective commitment, and group self-esteem as distinct aspects of social identity in the organization, British Journal of Social Psycho-logy, 39, 555–577.
Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1966) The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in The So-ciology of Knowledge, Doubleday, Garden City, NY.
Brewer, M.B. (1991) ‘The social self: on being the same and different at the same time’, Persona-lity and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17(5), 475–482
Brewer, M.B. and Gardner, W. (1996) ‘Who is this ‘‘we’’? Levels of collective identity and self-representations’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 83–93.
Brown, A.D. and Starkey, K. (2000) ‘Organizational identity and learning: Apsychodynamic perspective’, Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 102–120.
Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (1991) ‘Organizational learning and communities of practice: Toward a unified view of working, learning and innovation’, Organization Science, 2, 40–57.
Burke, K.D. (1985) Attitudes Toward History, 3rd edn., University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.
Cheney, G. (1983) ‘The rhetoric of identification and the study of organizational communica-tion’, Quarterly Journal of Speech, 69, 143–158.
Cheney, G. and Christensen, L.T. (2001) ‘Organizational identity at issue: linkages between ‘in-ternal’ and ‘external’ organizational communication’, in New Handbook of Organizational Communication, F.M. Jablin and L.L. Putnam Eds), Sage, Newbury Park, 231–269.
Coleman, J.S. (1974) Power and the Structure of Society, Norton, New York.
Czarniawska, B. (1997) Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B. (1994), 'Narratives of Individual and Organizational Identities', in S. A. Deetz (ed.), Communication Yearbook 17(Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage), 193-221.
De Chernatony, L. (1999) ‘Brand management through narrowing the gap between brand identity and brand reputation’, Journal of Marketing Management, 15, 157–179.
Deephouse, D.L. (1999) ‘To be different or the same? It’s a question (and theory) of strategy balance’, Strategic Management Journal, 20, 147–166.
Dowling, G. (2001) ‘Creating Corporate Reputations. Identity, Image and Performance’, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Dutton, J. E., and Dukerich, J. M. (1991), 'Keeping an Eye on the Mirror: Image and Identity in Organizational Adaptation', Academy of Management Journal, 34/3: 517-54.
Dutton, J. E., and Dukerich, J. M. and Harquail, C. V. (1994), 'Organizational Images and Mem-ber Identification', Administrative Science Quarterly, 39: 239-63.
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK.
Fiol, C.M. (1991) ‘Managing culture as a competitive resource: an identity-based view of sustai-nable competitive advantage’, Journal of Management, 17, 191–211.
Fiol, C.M. (2002) ‘Capitalizing on paradox: The role of language in transforming organizational identities’, Organization Science, 13(6), 653–666
Fombrun, C. (1996) Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
Foucault, M. (1972) The Archaeology of Knowledge, Routledge, London.
Gagliardi, P. (1986) ‘The creation and change of organizational cultures: a conceptual frame-work’, Organization Studies, 7, 117–134.
Geertz, Clifford (1983) The interpretation of cultures: selected essays, Basic Books, Nueva York
Giddens, A. (1979) Central Problems in Social Theory. Action, Structure and Contradiction in Social Analysis, MacMillan Press, London.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Universi-ty of California Press, Berkeley.
Gioia, D., and Thomas, J. B. (1996), 'Identity, Image, and Issue Interpretation: Sense making during Strategic Change in Academia', Administrative Science Quarterly, 41/3:370-403.
Gioia, D., and Thomas, J. B., Schultz, M., and Corley, K. (2000), 'Organizational Identity, Image and Adaptive Instability', Academy of Management Review: Special Topic Forum on Identity and Identification, 25/1: 63-81.
Gioia, D.A. (1998) ‘From individual to organizational identity’, in Identity in Organizations: Bui-lding Theory through Conversations, D.A. Whetten and P.C. Godfrey (Eds), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, 17–31.
Gioia, D.A., Thomas, J.B., Clark, S.M. and Chittipeddi, K. (1994) ‘Symbolism and strategic change in academia: the dynamics of sensemaking and influence’, Organization Science, 5(3), 363–383.
Glynn, M.A. (2000) ‘When cymbals become symbols: Conflict over organizational identity within a symphony orchestra’, Organization Science, 11(3), 285–298.
Glynn, M.A. and Abzug, R. (2002) ‘Institutionalizing identity: Symbolic isomorphism and orga-nizational names’, Academy of Management Journal, 45, 267–280.
Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (New York: Doubleday).
Golden-Biddle, K. and Rao, H. (1997) ‘Breaches in the boardroom: organizational identity and conflicts of commitment in a nonprofit organization’, Organization Science, 8, 593–611.
Haslam, A.S. (2001) Psychology in organizations: the Social Identity Approach, Sage, London.
Hatch, M. J. and Schultz, M. (2000) ‘Scaling the Tower of Babel: relational differences between identity, image and culture in organizations’, in The Expressive Organization: Identity, Reputa-tion and the Corporate Brand. M. Schultz, M.J. Hatch and M. Holten Larsen (Eds), Oxford Uni-versity Press, Oxford, 11–35.
Hatch, M.J. and Schultz, M. (2001) ‘Are the strategic stars aligned for your corporate brand?’ Harvard Business Review, 79(2), 128–135.
Hatch, M.J. and Schultz, M. (2002) ‘The dynamics of organizational identity’, Human Relations, 55, 989–1018.
Klimoski, R. and Mohammed, S. (1994) ‘Team mental model: construct or metaphor?’ Journal of Management, 20(2), 403–437.
Labianca, G., Fairbank, J.F., Thomas, J.B., Gioia, D.A. and Umphress, E.E. (2001) ‘Emulation in academia: balancing structure and identity’, Organization Science, 12(3), 312–330.
Mead, G.H. (1934) Mind, Self, and Society: from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist, Univer-sity of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Meyer, J. W., and Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83:340-363.
Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behavior, Sage, London.
Pratt, M.G. (1998) ‘To be or not to be: central questions in organizational identification’, in Iden-tity in Organizations: Building Theory through Conversations, D.A. Whetten and P. Godfrey (Eds), Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Pratt, M.G. (2000) ‘The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: managing identification among Am-way distributors’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 25, 456–493.
Pratt, M.G. (2003) ‘Disentangling collective identity’, in Research in Managing Groups and Teams, Vol. V., J. Polzer, E. Mannix and M. Neale (Eds.), JAI Press, Stamford, CT, in press.
Pratt, M.G. and Foreman, P.O. (2000) ‘The beauty of and barriers to organizational theories of identity’, Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 141–143.
Pratt, M.G., Rock, K.W., Kaufmann, J. (2001) ‘Making sense of socialization: how multiple social identities shape members’ experiences of work’, Academy of Management Proceedings MOC: A1–A6.
Rao, H., G.F. Davis and Ward, A. (2000) ‘Embeddedness, social identity and mobility: why firms leave the NASDAQ and join the New York Stock Exchange’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 45, 268–292.
Ravasi, D., & van Rekom, J. (2003) “Key Issues in Organizational Identity and Identification Theory”; Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 118-132
Reger, R.K., Gustafson, L.T., Demarie, S.M. and Mullane, J.V. (1994) ‘Reframing the organiza-tion: why implementing total quality is easier said than done’, Academy of Management Review, 18, 565–584.
Reynolds, T. J. and Gutman, J. (1988). ‘Laddering theory, method, analysis and interpretation’. Journal of Advertising Research, 28, 1, 11–31.
Russell, B. (1956) Logic and Knowledge, Essays edited by R.C. March, London, George Allen and Unwin, New York, NY.
Schultz, M. and de Chernatony, L. (2002) ‘Introduction: the challenges of corporate branding’, Corporate Reputation Review, 5(2/3), special issue on Corporate Branding.
Stryker, S. and Serpe, R. (1982) ‘Commitment, identity salience, and role behavior: Theory and research example’, in Personality, Roles and Social Behavior, W. Ickers and E. Knowles (Eds), New York: Springer-Verlag, New York, NY, 199– 219.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J.C. (1985) ‘The social identity theory of intergroup behavior’, in Psychol-ogy of Intergroup Relations, 2nd edn., S. Worchel and W.G. Austin (Eds), Nelson-Hall, Chicago, 7–24.
Turner, J.C., Hogg, M.A., Oakes, P.J., Reicher, S.D. and Wetherell, M.S. (1987) Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-categorization Theory, Basil Blackwell, Inc., Oxford, New York.
Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity, Cambridge Uni-versity Press, New York.
Whetten, D. and MacKey (2002) ‘In search of the intersection between organizational identity and reputation: the case of socially responsible business practices’, presentation at ‘Conversazione 2000’, Santa Fe, NM, April.
Williams, C.J.F. (1989) What is Identity?, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2015 Nova Scientia