Showing papers on "Organizational identification published in 2015"

Identifying Organizational Identification as a Basis for Attitudes and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Abstract: Organizational identification has been argued to have a unique value in explaining individual attitudes and behaviors in organizations, as it involves the essential definition of entities (i.e., individual and organizational identities). This review seeks meta-analytic evidence of the argument by examining how this identity-relevant construct functions in the nexus of attitudinal/behavioral constructs. The findings show that, first, organizational identification is significantly associated with key attitudes (job involvement, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment) and behaviors (in-role performance and extra-role performance) in organizations. Second, in the classic psychological model of attitude-behavior relations (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), organizational identification is positioned as a basis from which general sets of those attitudes and behaviors are engendered; organizational identification has a direct effect on general behavior above and beyond the effect of general attitude. Third, the effects of organizational identification are moderated by national culture, a higher-level social context wherein the organization is embedded, such that the effects are stronger in a collectivistic culture than in an individualistic culture. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Identifying Organizational Identification as a Basis for Attitudes and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review

Abstract: Organizational identification has been argued to have a unique value in explaining individual attitudes and behaviors in organizations, as it involves the essential definition of entities (i.e., individual and organizational identities). This review seeks meta-analytic evidence of the argument by examining how this identity-relevant construct functions in the nexus of attitudinal/behavioral constructs. The findings show that, first, organizational identification is significantly associated with key attitudes (job involvement, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment) and behaviors (in-role performance and extra-role performance) in organizations. Second, in the classic psychological model of attitude-behavior relations (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), organizational identification is positioned as a basis from which general sets of those attitudes and behaviors are engendered; organizational identification has a direct effect on general behavior above and beyond the effect of general attitude. Third, the effects of organizational identification are moderated by national culture, a higher-level social context wherein the organization is embedded, such that the effects are stronger in a collectivistic culture than in an individualistic culture. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Organizational identification, work engagement, and job satisfaction

Abstract: Purpose – Organizational identification refers to a person’s sense of belonging within the organization in which they work. Despite the importance of organizational identification for work-related attitudes and organizational behavior, little research has directly examined the mechanisms that may link these. The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of how organizational identification relates to job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Adopting a social identity perspective, the authors present and test two models that describe work engagement and its constituent dimensions (vigor, dedication, absorption) as mediating the relationship between organizational identification and job satisfaction. Findings – Bootstrapped mediation analyses provided support for full mediation whereby there is an indirect (via work engagement) and positive effect of organizational identification on job satisfaction. Analyses also provided support for the mediating effects of the three dimensions of work e...

Empowering Employee Sustainability: Perceived Organizational Support Toward the Environment

Abstract: This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion of sustainability behaviors by introducing the construct of perceived organizational support toward the environment (POS-E). We propose and empirically test an integrated model whereby we test the association of POS-E with employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors toward the environment (OCB-E) as well as to job attitudes. Results indicated that POS-E was positively related to OCB-E, job satisfaction, organizational identification, and psychological empowerment, and negatively related to turnover intentions. We also found that psychological empowerment partially mediated the relationship between POS-E and the dependent variables. We discuss the theoretical implications as well as practical implications for managers seeking to encourage sustainability in their organizations.

Corporate Social Responsibility, Employee Organizational Identification, and Creative Effort: The Moderating Impact of Corporate Ability

Abstract: A growing body of research examines whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) leads to positive employee attitudes and work behaviors. While previous research suggests that CSR improves employee loyalty, motivation, satisfaction and commitment, little research examines how CSR affects employee creativity. In addition, considerable skepticism remains regarding the significance of CSR in relation to employee attitudes and behaviors and of the potential contingencies that intervene in these relationships. In this study, we argue that the impact of CSR on employee creativity is contingent upon a focal firm’s corporate ability (CA), i.e., its expertise in producing and delivering its products/services. Specifically, we argue that corporate ability not only influences employee organizational identification, hence employee creativity, but also affects how employees react to CSR. We test our arguments within a sample of professional workers in the telecommunication sector in Spain and find strong support for the proposed model.

Organizational justice, trust, and identification and their effects on organizational commitment in hospital nursing staff

Abstract: It is of importance and urgency for hospitals to retain excellent nursing staff in order to improve patient satisfaction and hospital performance. However, it was found that simply increasing the salary is not the best method to resolve the problem of lacking nursing staff; it is necessary to focus on the impact of non-monetary factors. The delicate relationship between organizational justice, organizational trust, organizational identification, and organizational commitment requires investigation and clarification from more studies if application in nursing practice is to be expected. Therefore, this study was to investigate how the organizational justice perception could affect nurses’ organizational trust and organizational identification, and whether the organizational trust and organizational identification could encourage nurses to willingly remain in their jobs and commit themselves to the hospitals. A cross-sectional design was used. Questionnaires were distributed in 2013 to a convenience sample of 400 registered nurses in one teaching hospital in Taiwan: 392 were retrieved. Of these, 386 questionnaires were valid, which was a 96.5 % response rate. The SPSS 17.0 and Amos 17.0 (structural equation modeling) statistical software packages were used for data analysis. The organizational justice perceived by nurses significantly and positively affects their organizational trust (γ11 = 0.49) and organizational identification (γ21 = 0.58). Organizational trust (β31 = 0.62) and organizational identification (β32 = 0.53) significantly and positively affect organizational commitment. Hospital managers can enhance the service concepts and attitudes of frontline nursing personnel by maximizing organizational justice, organizational trust and organizational identification. Nursing personnel would then be motivated to provide feedback to the attention and care provided by hospital management by demonstrating substantial improvements in their extra-role performance. Improved service concepts and attitudes would also facilitate teamwork among colleagues, boost the morale of the nursing faculty and reduce resignations and career changes.

Narcissistic Organizational Identification: Seeing Oneself As Central to the Organization's Identity

Abstract: An unexplored paradox of organizational identification is its possible association with behaviors that exploit the organization for personal benefit. In this article we address why, for some individuals in positions of power and authority in the organization, organizational identification is a path to viewing the organization as eminently exploitable. We introduce “narcissistic organizational identification,” a form of organizational identification that features the individual's tendency to see his/her identity as core to the definition of the organization, in contrast to conventional conceptualizations of organizational identification, where the individual sees the organization as core to the definition of self. We provide theory explaining how antecedents of conventional organizational identification—including a sense of control and influence over the organization, a sense of psychological ownership of the organization, a sense that the organization is regarded highly by others, and a sense that others ...

Ethical leadership and follower voice and performance : the role of follower identifications and entity morality beliefs

Abstract: Previous studies have established the relationship between ethical leadership and a variety of positive follower outcomes. Follower organizational identification has been found to mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and follower job performance. In this research, we incorporate a second distinct and theoretically important type of social identification process, relational identification with the leader, along with organizational identification, and examine their mediating effects on follower performance and voice outcomes. Further, we bring the implicit theory of morality to the behavioral ethics literature and examine follower morality beliefs as a moderator. Using a Romanian sample of 302 followers under the supervision of 27 leaders, we found that ethical leadership has an indirect effect on follower job performance and voice (through the mediating mechanisms of both organizational and relational identifications) and that these relationships are stronger for followers who held the implicit theory that a person's moral character is fixed.

Understanding the work passion–performance relationship: The mediating role of organizational identification and moderating role of fit at work

Abstract: Despite a burgeoning of research that examines work passion, the relationships between harmonious and obsessive work passion and job performance have received insufficient attention. Using data from 233 employee–supervisor dyads from multiple organizations in Russia, this study examines the mediating role of organizational identification and the moderating roles of three different types of fit perceptions on this relationship. Results indicate that organizational identification mediates the effect of harmonious work passion – but not obsessive work passion – on performance. Only two types of fit perceptions – person–organization and demands–abilities – were found to moderate the relationship between work passion and performance. Finally, the results showed that person–organization fit perceptions moderate the indirect effect (through organizational identification) of both types of work passion on performance, whereas needs–supplies fit perceptions only moderate the indirect effect of harmonious work passi...

Why does organizational identification relate to reduced employee burnout? The mediating influence of social support and collective efficacy

Abstract: Although prior studies have consistently shown that organizational identification can reduce employees' stress and burnout, little is known about the mediating processes that underlie this relationship Against this backdrop and building on recent theoretical work on the social identity model of stress, the present research tests a two-step mediation model for the organizational identification–burnout link Specifically, it is hypothesized that employees who strongly identify with their organization are particularly likely to receive social support from their colleagues This, in turn, should promote a sense of collective efficacy and, as a consequence, negatively relate to burnout Data from a study with 192 Italian high schoolteachers supported the hypotheses

Boundary-Spanning Employees and Relationships with External Stakeholders: A Social Identity Approach

Abstract: Boundary-spanning employees can have a substantial impact on organizational performance based on the relationships they build with external stakeholders. Yet there is currently no theoretical lens through which to understand the nature of—and psychological contributors to—these employee-stakeholder relationships at the individual level. Drawing on social identity theory, the proposed framework reveals that when an employee identifies strongly with the organization, this affects the way the employee views external stakeholders in the social landscape at work, resulting in some surprising consequences. Specifically, when organizational identification is heightened, an employee’s engagement with external stakeholders will paradoxically become more adversarial and less collaborative. This effect can be attenuated, or even reversed, to the extent that (a) the employee construes that the stakeholder is an organizational member and (b) the organization’s identity orientation is collectivistic. The proposed frame...

Employees' organizational identification and affective organizational commitment: An integrative approach

Abstract: Although several studies have empirically supported the distinction between organizational identification (OI) and affective commitment (AC), there is still disagreement regarding how they are related. Precisely, little attention has been given to the direction of causality between these two constructs and as to why they have common antecedents and outcomes. This research was designed to fill these gaps. Using a cross-lagged panel design with two measurement times, Study 1 examined the directionality of the relationship between OI and AC, and showed that OI is positively related to temporal change in AC, confirming the antecedence of OI on AC. Using a cross-sectional design, Study 2 investigated the mediating role of OI in the relationship between three work experiences (i.e., perceived organizational support, leader-member exchange, and job autonomy) and AC, and found that OI partially mediates the influence of work experiences on AC. Finally, Study 3 examined longitudinally how OI and AC combine in the prediction of actual turnover, and showed that AC totally mediates the relationship between OI and turnover. Overall, these findings suggest that favorable work experiences operate via OI to increase employees' AC that, in turn, decreases employee turnover.

Co-creating Relationship Repair Pathways to Reconstructing Destabilized Organizational Identification

Abstract: Through a qualitative study of BP executives during and after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and spill, I examine whether and how the relationship between an organization and its members can be repaired once damaged. I found that the incident destabilized executives’ organizational identification, leading them to doubt the alignment between their own identity and BP’s, and generated feelings of ambivalence toward the organization and their role in it. This marked the onset of a process through which members reassessed their identification, leading them either to reidentify and repair their relationship with BP or to deidentify and sever that relationship. Executives resolved their ambivalence and strongly reidentified only when they had organizationally sanctioned opportunities, through working on BPs’ response to the incident, to enact the identity attributes of technical excellence and environmental consciousness that were threatened by the Gulf events, suggesting that full relationship repai...

Professional Personae - How Organizational Identification Shapes Online Identity in the Workplace

Abstract: As organizations become increasingly mediatized, the roles of professionals are reshaped and negotiated, and the boundaries between professional and private relationships are blurred. In this context, the extent to which one identifies with his or her organization might play an important role. This paper investigates how professionals construct their digital identities on social media sites, focusing in particular on their willingness to overlap private and work profiles to create a univocal online persona. Based on a sample of 679 communication and marketing managers, the paper analyzes the self-representational choices of professionals and demonstrates how organizational identification influences professionals' tendency to combine their domains under one online persona, and their confidence to use social media in a professional context.

Competitive intelligence collection and use by sales and service representatives: how managers’ recognition and autonomy moderate individual performance

Abstract: The importance of knowledge to the organization cannot be denied. However, to date little research has investigated the critical role individuals in sales and service representative positions play in the gathering and use of information in the organization and how this information can help them enhance their performance. Using social identity theory as a conceptual background, this paper reports two studies which investigate how organizational identification and role conflict impact the collection and use of individual competitive intelligence (ICI) and how this impacts individual performance. In addition, we look at the impact of managerial recognition and autonomy on these relationships. Tests across two firms using hierarchical linear modeling provide support for the hypothesized relationships. We conclude that firms can create an environment which facilitates the collection and use of ICI and that this, in turn, positively impacts individual performance.

Transformational Leaders’ In-Group versus Out-Group Orientation: Testing the Link Between Leaders’ Organizational Identification, their Willingness to Engage in Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior, and Follower-Perceived Transformational Leadership

Abstract: To further the debate on the ethical dimension of transformational leadership (TFL) from a virtue ethics perspective, this study focused on leaders’ in-group orientation as well as their in-group versus out-group orientation in situations of conflict between organizational interests and broader ethical values. More precisely, the current study captured leaders’ organizational identification (OI) as well as their willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) and tested the relations between these attitudes and follower-perceived TFL behavior. In total, the leadership behaviors of 112 middle- and top-level managers were evaluated by 900 direct-reports. Results showed leaders’ organizational identification to be positively related to TFL. However, we found no relation between leaders’ willingness to engage in unethical pro-organizational behavior and TFL. Implications regarding the ethical dimension of TFL are discussed.

Predicting organizational identification at the CEO level

Abstract: To develop further insight into antecedents of the CEO's psychological orientation toward the firm, we investigate what might lead CEOs to identify with their firms. Although research suggests that CEO organizational identification can be quite consequential for the firm, little research attention has been paid to its determinants. To predict how the special context of the CEO position might lead to identification, we consider a set of motives that members have for identifying with their organizations and consider how unique features of the CEO position might be relevant to those motives. Our theory and supportive findings help explain how the context of the CEO position, including variables often conceptualized as control mechanisms in agency theory research, can have important effects on subsequent CEO organizational identification.

Organizational Identification during a Merger: The Role of Self‐Enhancement and Uncertainty Reduction Motives during a Major Organizational Change

Abstract: Past research focuses predominantly on self-enhancement as a motive underlying organizational identification even though there have been several calls for examining multiple motives of identification. Our research explores the interplay of the self-enhancement and the uncertainty reduction motives in shaping identification during a major organizational change: a merger of a business unit with its parent corporation. Based on analysis of survey responses collected from 751 employees of the merging business unit, we find that the self-enhancement motive, measured via attractiveness of perceived organizational identity and perceived external prestige, continues to influence identification during this merger. However, its effects are diminished when considering the effect of the uncertainty reduction motive. In particular, in addition to affecting identification directly, this latter motive, measured via agreement with projected identity of the business unit and identification with a distal target (i.e., the parent corporation), decreases the effect of perceived external prestige on business unit identification. Our research answers longstanding calls for understanding organizational identification motives beyond self-enhancement, and shows how multiple identification motives work during a major organizational change: a time when identification is strongly needed, yet hard to garner.

Where do I belong? High-intensity teleworkers’ experience of organizational belonging

Abstract: Despite the noted benefits of telework, concerns about distance, employees’ lack of presence, and how individuals remain connected to the organization and its members continue to surface. This is noteworthy because a sense of connectedness and feelings of belonging at work have been linked to engagement, productivity, and performance. The aim of this phenomenological study was to describe and understand the essence of high-intensity teleworkers’ experience of organizational belonging. Notions of identity fulfilment surface as central to how organizational belonging is experienced by high-intensity teleworkers. Expressions of organizational belonging included experiences that reflected self and other awareness, personal and professional fulfilment, support from others and participation. Not belonging was apparent where there was a lack of credibility, conflict, a loss of stability and exclusion from ownership. A definition of organizational belonging is offered, and recommendations for further research and...

Service workers’ job performance: The roles of personality traits, organizational identification, and customer orientation

Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to advance the literature by testing the boundary of this relationship with reference to a key construct in employee performance in the service domain: employee customer orientation. Organizational identification refers to employees’ perceived oneness and belongingness to their work organization, and has been argued to be associated with higher employee performance. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected based on a sample of call center service workers. Employees rated their organizational identification, customer orientation and personality traits. Supervisors independently rated their subordinates’ performance. Variables statistic tools were used to analyze the data and test a series of hypotheses. Findings – It was found that customer orientation strengthens the relationship between organizational identification and service workers’ job performance, and it enhances the mediating effect of organizational identification on the relationship between service workers’ per...

Different identifications cause different types of voice: A role identity approach to the relations between organizational socialization and voice

Abstract: Drawing on role identity theory, this study examines the mediating effects of identifications at two different levels, that is, organizational identification and job involvement (the extent of identification with job) on the relations between the level of organizational socialization and employee voice behavior. To better understand voice behavior, we propose that voice behavior is driven by role identity and categorize employee voice into self-job-concerned voice and self-job-unconcerned voice. A theoretical model is developed and empirically tested using a sample of 231 supervisor–subordinate dyads collected in China. Results show that the level of organizational socialization is positively related to self-job-concerned voice and self-job-unconcerned voice. Organizational identification mediates the relationship between organizational socialization and employee self-job-unconcerned voice. Job involvement mediates the relationship between organizational socialization and self-job-concerned voice. However, we find that the mediating effect of organizational identification between organizational socialization and self-job-concerned voice is not supported. Implication and contributions are discussed.

Dual values-based organizational identification in MNC subsidiaries: A multilevel study

Abstract: Dual organizational identification – with both the whole corporation and the local subsidiary – is considered valuable for subsidiary employees, international assignees, and multinational corporations (MNCs). While extant research has examined antecedents of separate targets of identification, it has not fully addressed the challenge of identifying factors capable of supporting both simultaneously. This study examines the influence of individual- and organizational-level factors on the dual values-based identification of foreign subsidiary employees. Drawing on acculturation and organizational socialization theory, we test hypotheses on multilevel data from 793 managers and professionals in 90 foreign subsidiaries belonging to 11 Nordic MNCs. The results show that dual values-based identification is associated with acculturation and first-hand contact at the individual level, and a supportive social context for affective learning at the organizational level. Through its emphasis on higher-order elements that connect different parts of the MNC, rather than those that lead to the formation of in-groups and out-groups, the values-based approach to identification contributes to our understanding of dual identification in MNC subsidiaries, and represents a more positive treatment of cultural diversity. The findings have heightened practical relevance given the emphasis individuals are placing on values congruence in career choices and MNC efforts at instilling shared values.

Fulfill psychological contract promises to manage in-demand employees

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of three components of the psychological contract (i.e. obligations, fulfillment and breach) and the individual characteristic negative affectivity (NA) onto three key outcomes, namely, job satisfaction, organizational identification and psychological distress. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires were completed by 222 Australian nurses and midwives from a medium-sized metropolitan Australian hospital. The response rate for the study was 39 percent. Findings – Structural equation modeling revealed that perceptions of psychological contract fulfillment were positively linked to organizational identification and job satisfaction, while psychological contract breach was negatively linked to these outcomes. NA was negatively linked to job satisfaction and positively linked to psychological distress. Psychological contract obligations were not associated with any of the employee outcomes. Research limitations/implications – Psychological cont...

Identification and Performance Management An Assessment of Change-Oriented Behavior in Public Organizations

Abstract: This study develops a theoretical framework linking performance management (PM) to change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior, an extra-role employee activity aimed at improving organizati...

The Impact of Principal as Authentic Leader on Teacher Trust in the K-12 Educational Context

Abstract: K-12 principals exhibiting authentic leadership and the benefits derived from teacher trust in the principal beg for attention in today's educational milieu. Authentic leadership scholars proposed a major conceptual framework, which linked authentic leadership to follower's attitudes and behaviors. The framework purported that authentic leadership leads to trust, yet is mediated through personal and organizational identification. The current study empirically tested these relationships within the context of principals and teachers in the K-12 setting. The context is ideal because principals are increasingly called upon to create open, collaborative, and positive learning communities. Nineteen public and private schools in the state of Maryland participated in the study, with 398 teachers (77% response rate) responding. The results support a framework of principals exhibiting authentic leadership where personal identification is a mediator in the causal pathway from authentic leadership to teacher trust. The results do not substantiate the framework regarding organizational identification being a mediator in the same causal pathway. Educational leaders can view the study as prescriptive, thereby building overall trust in the often strained asymmetrical relationship between administrators and teachers.

The Effect of Organizational Justice and Perceived Organizational Support on Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Organizational Identification

Abstract: Problem of Study: Research on social exchange relationships does not take into account another vital component of organizational life—namely an individual’s sense of belonging and identity. Organizational identification is one of the most crucial factors holding employees together and keeping them committed to the organization. Many studies demonstrated that organizational identification is positively related to organizational citizenship behavior. Some researchers have suggested that organizational identification also might play an important role in social exchange processes. In recent years, the dominant approach has been to conceptualize the relationship among perceived organizational justice or perceived organizational support and organizational identification in terms of social identity as well as social exchange processes. Purpose of Study: The purpose of the present study was to investigate how the organizational identification mediates the impact of perceptions of organizational justice and organizational support on organizational citizenship behaviors in the context of Turkish preschool teachers. Methods: Data for this study were collected via a survey of 169 preschool teachers who completed measures of organizational citizenship behavior, organizational identification, organizational justice, and perceived organizational support. In analyzing the collected data, a two-step approach was adopted to test measured variables describing four latent constructs. Findings and Results: The model was specified and tested using structural equation modeling and was found to fit the data reasonably. The study findings show that the model was found to be effective in explaining the variance of organizational citizenship behaviors. Perceived organizational justice and organizational support together explained 70% of the variance in teachers’ organizational identifications. Organizational identification explained 79% of the variance in teachers’ organizational citizenship behaviors. Conclusions and Recommendations : As an overall conclusion, the results of the study demonstrate that teachers’ identification with the school play a significant role in promoting organizational citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, this study’s findings also suggest that organizational identification serves as an integral mediating mechanism among teachers’ organizational citizenship behaviors, perceived organizational justice, and organizational support based on exchange and identity theories. Because teachers’ organizational citizenship behavior improves school effectiveness, principals should understand the antecedents of these behaviors and beable to make use of them. Keywords : Social exchange theory, social identity theory, preschool

Fandom in the Workplace: Multi-target Identification in Professional Team Sports.

Abstract: Team identification has been researched extensively from the perspective of the consumer. The current study proposes that employees working in professional sport may also be fans of their respective teams, and provides insight on the role of team identification in the workplace environment. Over 1100 business operations employees from the top profession sports leagues in North America participated, and results indicate that dual targets of identification exist simultaneously in this setting. Strong support is provided for the discriminant validity between organizational and team identification. Beyond the more established effects of organizational identification, the results provide evidence that team identification independently predicts key outcomes such as commitment, satisfaction, and motivation. The results add to the literature by introducing the concept of a sports team as an additional target of identification in the organizational context.