South Asian Journal of Management

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access
Open Access Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Restricted Access Subscription Access

Organizational Identification (OID):A Review of Major Developments in the Field and Recommendations for Future Research


Affiliations
1 Lecturer, Xavier School of Human Resource Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, Harirajpur-752 050,, India
2 Professor, Department of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751 004, India
     

   Subscribe/Renew Journal


The concept of Organizational Identification (OID) has had an interesting history, spanning across almost seven decades (1951- till date). Although proposed in the 1950s, the construct remained dormant till the early 1990s. In fact, in the 1970s, this construct lost its identity and got subsumed within the definition of Attitudinal Commitment (ATOC). Hence, it is often referred to as the ‘Cinderella of Organizational Studies’. It was only in late the 1980s that OID was recognized as a unique construct, distinct from other related constructs with differential influence on individual and organizational outcomes. Thereafter, the research body on OID has grown to encompass multiple dimensions, multiple foci and multiple ways of identifying with organizations. In a comprehensive review of literature, this study consolidates the major milestones in the OID developmental phases over the past seven decades. This paper highlights the present research trends in OID, raising questions on certain trends that could pose a threat to the seminal OID definition from the past, and concludes by providing directions for future research on OID.

Keywords

Ambivalent Identification, Attitudinal Commitment (ATOC), Dis-Identification, Organizational Identification (OID), Split Identification.
User
Subscription Login to verify subscription
Notifications
Font Size

  • Abrams, D., & Hogg, M. A. (1988). Comments on the motivational status of selfesteem in social identity and intergroup discrimination. European Journal of Social Psychology, 18(4), 317-334.

  • Alaganandan, P. (2016). What rewards would look like in workplace of the future? People matters. Retrieved from https://www.peoplematters.in/article/redefiningrewards/ what-rewards-would-look-workplace-future-13215

  • Allen, N. J., & Meyer, J. P. (1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63(1), 1-18.

  • Ashforth, B. (2001). Role transitions in organizational life: An identity-based perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

  • Ashforth, B. E., & Mael, F. (1989). Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 20-39.

  • Ashforth, B. E., Harrison, S. H., & Corley, K. G. (2008). Identification in organizations: An examination of four fundamental questions. Journal of Management, 34(3), 325-374.

  • Ashforth, B. E., Rogers, K. M., Pratt, M. G., & Pradies, C. (2014). Ambivalence in organizations: A multilevel approach. Organization Science, 25(5), 1453-1478.

  • Avanzi, L., van Dick, R., Fraccaroli, F., & Sarchielli, G. (2012). The downside of organizational identification: Relations between identification, workaholism and well-being. Work & Stress, 26(3), 289-307.

  • Benkhoff, B. (1997). A test of the HRM model: Good for employers and employees. Human Resource Management Journal, 7(4), 44-60.

  • Bergami, M., & Bagozzi, R. P. (2000). Self-categorization, affective commitment and group self-esteem as distinct predictors of social identity in the organization. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39(4), 555-577.

  • Boros, S. (2008). Organizational Identification: Theoretical and empirical analyses of competing conceptualizations. Cognition, Brain, Behaviour, 12(1), 1-27.

  • Brown, M. E. (1969). Identification and some conditions of organizational involvement. Administrative Science Quarterly, 14(3), 346-355.

  • Buchanan, B. (1974). Building organizational commitment: The socialization of managers in work organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 19(4), 533-546.

  • Burke, P. J., & Franzoi, S. L. (1988). Studying situations and identities using experiential sampling methodology. American Sociological Review, 53(4), 559-568.

  • Chen, C. H. (2015). Organizational identification in sports contexts: a review of the literature on social media, psychological states, and consumption (Doctoral dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX). Retrieved from https:// repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/32242.

  • Cheney, G. (1983). On the various and changing meanings of organizational membership: A field study of organizational identification. Communication Monographs, 50(4), 343-362.

  • Christ, O., van Dick, R., Wagner, U., & Stellmacher, J. (2003). When teachers go the extra mile: Foci of organisational identification as determinants of different forms of organisational citizenship behaviour among schoolteachers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 73(3), 329-341.

  • Chughtai, A. A., & Buckley, F. (2010). Assessing the effects of organizational identification on in-role job performance and learning behaviour: The mediating role of learning goal orientation. Personnel Review, 39(2), 242-258.

  • Cohen, A. (1992). Antecedents of organizational commitment across occupational groups: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 13(6), 539-558.

  • Conroy, S., Henle, C. A., Shore, L., & Stelman, S. (2017). Where there is light, there is dark: A review of the detrimental outcomes of high organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 38(2), 184-203.

  • Cornwell, T. B., Howard-Grenville, J., & Hampel, C. (2018). The Company You Keep: How an Organization’s Horizontal Partnerships affect Employee Organizational Identification. Academy of Management Review, 43(4), 1-51.

  • Coyle-Shapiro, J. A., & Conway, N. (2005). Exchange relationships: Examining psychological contracts and perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(4), 774-781.

  • Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874-900.

  • DiSanza, J. R., & Bullis, C. (1999). Everybody Identitiefies with Smokey the Bear Employee Responses to Newsletter Identification Inducements at the US Forest Service. Management Communication Quarterly, 12(3), 347-399.

  • Dukerich, J. M., Kramer, R., & McLean Parks, J. (1998). The dark side of organizational identification. In D. A. Whetten, & P. C. Godfrey (Eds.), Identity in organizations: Building theory through conversations (pp. 245-256). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

  • Dutton, J. E., Dukerich, J. M., & Harquail, C. V. (1994). Organizational images and member identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 39(2), 239-63.

  • Edwards, M. R. (2005). Organizational identification: A conceptual and operational review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 7(4), 207-230.

  • Ellemers, N., Kortekaas, P., & Ouwerkerk, J. W. (1999). Self-categorisation, commitment to the group and group self-esteem as related but distinct aspects of social identity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29(2-3), 371-389.

  • Elsbach, K. D. (1999). An expanded model of organizational identification. Research in Organizational Behavior, 21, 163-200.

  • Elsbach, K. D., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Defining who you are by what you’re not: Organizational disidentification and the National Rifle Association. Organization Science, 12(4), 393-413.

  • Eury, J. L., Kreiner, G. E., Treviño, L. K., & Gioia, D. A. (2018). The past is not dead: Legacy identification and alumni ambivalence in the wake of the Sandusky scandal at Penn State. Academy of Management Journal, 61(3), 826-856.

  • Foote, N. N. (1951). Identification as the basis for a theory of motivation. American Sociological Review, 16(1), 14-21.

  • Galvin, B. M., Lange, D., & Ashforth, B. E. (2015). Narcissistic organizational identification: Seeing oneself as central to the organization’s identity. Academy of Management Review, 40(2), 163-181.

  • Gautam, T., van Dick, R., & Wagner, U. (2004). Organizational identification and organizational commitment: Distinct aspects of two related concepts. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7(3), 301-315.

  • Gobena, L. B., & Van Dijke, M. (2017). Fear and caring: Procedural justice, trust, and collective identification as antecedents of voluntary tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology, 62, 1-16.

  • Griffin, R. W., & Bateman, T. S. (1986). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In C. L. Cooper, & I. Robertson (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 157-188). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

  • Gu, Q., Tang, T. L. P., & Jiang, W. (2015). Does moral leadership enhance employee creativity? Employee identification with leader and leader–member exchange (LMX) in the Chinese context. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(3), 513-529.

  • Hall, D. T., Schneider, B., & Nygren, H. T. (1970). Personal factors in organizational identification. Administrative Science Quarterly, 15(2), 176-190.

  • Harquail, C. V. (1998). Organizational identification and the ‘‘whole person’’: Considering affect, behavior, and cognition. In D. A. Whetten., & P. C. Godfrey (Eds.), Identity in organizations (pp. 223-231). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.

  • Haslam, S. A. (2001). Psychology in organizations: The social identity approach. London, UK: Sage Publication.

  • He, H. & Brown, A. D. (2013). Organizational Identity and Organizational Identification: A Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Future Research. Group & Organization Management, 38(1), 3-35.

  • Hekman, D. R., Steensma, H. K., Bigley, G. A., & Hereford, J. F. (2009). Effects of organizational and professional identification on the relationship between administrators’ social influence and professional employees’ adoption of new work behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1325-1335.

  • Hekman, D. R., van Knippenberg, D., & Pratt, M. G. (2016). Channeling identification: How perceived regulatory focus moderates the influence of organizational and professional identification on professional employees’ diagnosis and treatment behaviors. Human Relations, 69(3), 753-780.

  • Jackson, J. W. (2002). Intergroup attitudes as a function of different dimensions of group identification and perceived intergroup conflict. Self and Identity, 1(1), 11-33.

  • Jiang, R., Liu, R. D., Ding, Y., Zhen, R., Sun, Y., & Fu, X. (2018). Teacher justice and students’ class identification: Belief in a just world and teacher-student relationship as mediators. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 802-812.

  • Johnson, M. D., Morgeson, F. P., Ilgen, D. R., Meyer, C. J., & Lloyd, J. W. (2006). Multiple professional identities: examining differences in identification across work-related targets. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(2), 498-506.

  • Jones, C., & Volpe, E. H. (2011). Organizational identification: Extending our understanding of social identities through social networks. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(3), 413-434.

  • Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The social psychology of organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

  • Kreiner, G.E., & Ashforth, B.E. (2004). Evidence toward an expanded model of organizational identification. Journal of Organization Behavior, 25(1), 1-27.

  • Lee, S. M. (1969). Organizational identification of scientists. Academy of Management Journal, 12(3), 327-337.

  • Levinson, H. (1970). A Psychologist diagnoses merger failures. Harvard Business Review, 48(2), 139-147.

  • Mael, F. (1988). Organizational identification: Construct redefinition and a field application with organizational alumni. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Wayne State University, Detroit, MA.

  • Mael, F., & Ashforth, B.E. (1992). Alumni and their alma mater: a partial test of the reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 13(2), 103-23.

  • Mael, F. A., & Tetrick, L. E. (1992). Identifying organizational identification. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52(4), 813-824.

  • March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

  • Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin, 108(2), 171-194.

  • McLean, B., & Elkind, P. (2003). The smartest guys in the room: The amazing rise and scandalous fall of Enron. New York, NY: Portfolio.

  • Michel, A. A., & Jehn, K. E. (2003). The dark side of identification: Overcoming identification-induced performance impediments. Research on Managing Groups and Teams, 5, 189-219.

  • Milton, S. A. A., Sinclair, M. M., & Vakalahi, H. O. (2016). Organizational identification: Perspectives of dispersed social workers. Advances in Social Work, 17(2), 285-303.

  • Mottola, G. R., Bachman, B. A., Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (1997). How groups merge: The effects of merger integration patterns on anticipated commitment to the merged organization. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27(15), 1335-1358.

  • Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., & Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14(2), 224-247.

  • Ng, E. S., & McGinnis Johnson, J. (2015). Millennials: Who are they, how are they different, and why should we care. In R. J. Burke, C. L. Cooper, & A-S G. Antoniou (Eds.), The multigenerational workforce: Challenges and opportunities for organisations (pp. 121-137). Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

  • Olkkonen, M. E., & Lipponen, J. (2006). Relationships between organizational justice, identification with organization and work unit, and group-related outcomes. Organization Behavior and Human Decision Process, 100(2), 202-215.

  • Ouwerkerk, J. W., Ellemers, N., & de Gilder, D. (1999). Group commitment and individual effort in experimental and organizational contexts. In N. Ellemers, R. Spears., & B. Doosje. (Eds.), Social identity (pp. 185-204). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

  • Patchen, M. (1970). Participation, achievement, and involvement on the job. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Quarterly, 45(3), 456-493.

  • Pratt, M. G., & Doucet, L. (2000). Ambivalent feelings in organizational relationship. In S. Fineman (Ed.), Emotion in organizations (2nd ed.) (pp. 204-226). London, UK: Sage.

  • Riketta, M. (2005). Organizational identification: a meta-analysis. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(2), 358-384.

  • Riketta, M., & van Dick, R. (2005). Foci of attachment in organizations: A metaanalytic comparison of the strength and correlates of workgroup versus organizational identification and commitment. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 67(3), 490-510.

  • Rotondi, T. (1975a). Organizational identification: Issues and implications. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 13(1), 95-109.

  • Rotondi, T. (1975b). Organizational identification and group involvement. Academy of Management Journal, 18(4), 892–897.

  • Sass, J. S., & Canary, D. J. (1991). Organizational commitment and identification: An examination of conceptual and operational convergence. Western Journal of Communication (includes Communication Reports), 55(3), 275-293.

  • Schaubroeck, J. M., Lam, L. W., Lai, J. Y., Lennard, A. C., Peng, A. C., & Chan, K. W. (2018). Changing experiences of work dirtiness, occupational disidentification, and employee withdrawal. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(10), 1086-1100.

  • Schneider, B., Hall, D. T., & Nygren, H. T. (1971). Self image and job characteristics as correlates of changing organizational identification. Human Relations, 24(5), 397-416.

  • Smith, T. J., & Nichols, T. (2015). Understanding the millennial generation. The Journal of Business Diversity, 15(1), 39-47.

  • Staw, B. M. (1984). Organizational behavior: A review and reformulation of the field’s outcome variables. Annual Review of Psychology, 35(1), 627-666.

  • Tajfel, H. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (Vol. 1, pp. 61-76). London, UK: Academic Press.

  • Tajfel, H., & Turner, J.C. (1985). The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In S. Worchel, & W. G. Austin (Eds), Psychology of Intergroup Relations, 1, 7-24. Chicago, IL: Nelson Hall.

  • Taylor, S. G., Griffith, M. D., Vadera, A. K., Folger, R., & Letwin, C. R. (2018). Breaking the cycle of abusive supervision: How disidentification and moral identity help the trickle-down change course. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(1), 164-182.

  • Tolman, E. C. (1943). Identification and the post-war world. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 38(2), 141-148.

  • Turner, J. C. (1981). The experimental social psychology of intergroup behavior. In J. C. Turner., & H. Gile.s (Eds.). Intergroup behaviour, 1, 66-101. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Turner, J. C, Hogg, M. A., Oakes, P. J., Reicher, S. D., & Wetherell, M. S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

  • Tyler, T. R., & Blader, S. L. (2000). Cooperation in Groups: Procedural Justice, Social Identity and Behavioural Engagement. Philadelphia, PA: Psychological Press.

  • van Dick, R. (2001). Identification in organizational contexts: Linking theory and research from social and organizational psychology. International Journal of Management Reviews, 3(4), 265-283.

  • van Dick, R. (2004). My job is my castle: Identification in organizational contexts. In C. L. Cooper., & I. T. Robertson. (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology, 19, 171-204. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

  • van Dick, R., van Knippenberg, D., Kerschreiter, R., Hertel, G., & Wieseke, J. (2008). Interactive effects of work group and organizational identification on job satisfaction and extra-role behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 72(3), 388-399.

  • van Dick, R., & Wagner, U. (2002). Social identification among school teachers: Dimensions, foci, and correlates. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 11(2), 129-149.

  • van Dick, R., Wagner, U., Stellmacher, J., & Christ, O. (2004). The utility of a broader conceptualization of organizational identification: Which aspects really matter?. Journal of Occupational and Organizational psychology, 77(2), 171-191.

  • van Knippenberg, D. (2000). Work motivation and performance: a social identity perspective. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49(3), 357-371.

  • van Knippenberg, D., & Hogg, M. A. (2018). Social identifications in organizational behavior. In D. L. Ferris, R. E. Johnson., & C. Sedikides. (Eds.), The self at work: Fundamental theory and research, 1, 72-90. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • van Knippenberg, D. & Sleebos, E. (2006) Organizational identification versus organizational commitment: self-definition, social exchange, and job attitudes. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(5), 571–584.

  • van Knippenberg, D., & van Schie, C. M. (2000). Foci and correlates of organizational identification. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(2), 137-47.

  • Wallace, J. E. (1993). Professional and organizational commitment: compatible or incompatible?. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 42(3), 333-349.

  • Walsh, I. J., Pazzaglia, F., & Ergene, E. (2019). Loyal after the end: Understanding organizational identification in the wake of failure. Human Relations, 72(2), 163-187.


Abstract Views: 175

PDF Views: 1




  • Organizational Identification (OID):A Review of Major Developments in the Field and Recommendations for Future Research

Abstract Views: 175  |  PDF Views: 1

Authors

Subhra Pattnaik
Lecturer, Xavier School of Human Resource Management, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar, Harirajpur-752 050,, India
Santosh Kumar Tripathy
Professor, Department of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar-751 004, India

Abstract


The concept of Organizational Identification (OID) has had an interesting history, spanning across almost seven decades (1951- till date). Although proposed in the 1950s, the construct remained dormant till the early 1990s. In fact, in the 1970s, this construct lost its identity and got subsumed within the definition of Attitudinal Commitment (ATOC). Hence, it is often referred to as the ‘Cinderella of Organizational Studies’. It was only in late the 1980s that OID was recognized as a unique construct, distinct from other related constructs with differential influence on individual and organizational outcomes. Thereafter, the research body on OID has grown to encompass multiple dimensions, multiple foci and multiple ways of identifying with organizations. In a comprehensive review of literature, this study consolidates the major milestones in the OID developmental phases over the past seven decades. This paper highlights the present research trends in OID, raising questions on certain trends that could pose a threat to the seminal OID definition from the past, and concludes by providing directions for future research on OID.

Keywords


Ambivalent Identification, Attitudinal Commitment (ATOC), Dis-Identification, Organizational Identification (OID), Split Identification.

References