Organizational identification

About: Organizational identification is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1988 publications have been published within this topic receiving 97047 citations.

Psychological Contracts and Organizational Identification: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support

Abstract: Understanding the processes through which employees incorporate the organization’s identity into their own identity is critical to building positive employer-employee relationships. We draw primarily on organizational support theory to advance the argument that psychological contract breach is negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification because it makes employees believe that their organizations do not value their contributions or care about their well-being (reduces perceived organizational support). Results from two studies generally provide support for our hypotheses: in Study 1, perceived organizational support fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification. In Study 2, Time 2 perceived organizational support fully mediated the relationship between Time 1 relational psychological contract breach (e.g., promises related to training, development, job security) and organizational identification, but not the relationship between transactional psychological contract breach (e.g., promises related to pay and work hours) and organizational identification. Time 2 perceived organizational support partially mediated the relationship between relational psychological contract breach and organizational disidentification, but not the relationship between transactional psychological contract breach and organizational disidentification. We conclude that organizations should be concerned with this erosion of the positive employer-employee relationship (organizational identification) and fostering of a negative employer-employee relationship (disidentification).

Perceived procedural justice and employee responses to an organizational merger

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of procedural justice perceptions on employee responses to an organizational merger. On the basis of research on organizational justice and the social psychological theory of intergroup relations, our main hypothesis was that perceived justice of the merger implementation is positively related to post-merger organizational identification and perceptions of common ingroup identity. post-merger identification and common ingroup identity, in turn, were hypothesized to be related to positive attitudes towards the employees of the merger partner and to extra-role behaviour. Results based on a sample of 189 employees from a merged organization indicated partial support for our hypotheses. Implications for further research and merger management are discussed.

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...

Not All Identifications Are Created Equal: Exploring Employee Accounts for Workgroup, Organizational, and Professional Identification

Abstract: Scholars are increasingly interested in understanding the content and process of employee identification. In this paper, I contribute to this discussion by performing a qualitative case study investigating the accounts employees provide as they make sense of their identification with their workgroup, organization, and profession. Analyses of accounts from 31 members of an architecture firm reveal nine explanations individuals use to make sense of their identifications, which can be categorized using four sensemaking logics: similarity, familiarity, benefits, and investment. The explanations that informants provided differed markedly across targets. Whereas individuals relied heavily on personal relationships, and that their work actually happens in their workgroup in their accounts of workgroup identification, organizational identification was often explained based on the ideology of the organization, the support provided by the organization, the prestige of the organization, and the input the individual had into the organization. In further contrast, accounts of professional identification rested on explanations based in professional archetypes, the enjoyment informants found in their work, and professional norms about the work/life interface. These findings suggest that individuals may construct their identifications differently across targets. I theorize that these patterns are a function of target proximity and the characteristics that distinguish between targets. These findings open up the black box of identification by providing insight into how individuals interpret information about workplace targets. In doing so, the findings illustrate how sensemaking about identification is the result of firsthand experiences with a target in addition to sensegiving.

One foot in each camp: The dual identification of contract workers

Abstract: We examine the organizational identification of contract workers who are associated with two organizations, their primary employer and their client. We conducted a study of contract workers in the information technology industry to address three questions: (1) What are the antecedents of contract workers' identification with the work organizations with which they are associated? (2) Do these antecedents differentially predict identification with each of the target organizations? and (3) What is the relationship between contract workers' identification with their employing organization and their identification with their client organization? Results indicate that contract workers identify with both the employing and client organizations based on perceived characteristics of the organization as well as social relations within the organization. Perceived characteristics of the organization are more closely related with identification with the employer, and social relations variables are more closely related ...