Organizational identity: components and construction

he study investigates the identity of the organization in conjunction with the image of the organization. In a meta-analytic approach clarifies that the social reality of the organization is subject to internal and external evaluation concern. When internal community members look to the organization, they take into account the identity of the organization. When external audiences relate to the organization, he takes into account the organization's image. Results that the identity of the organization consists of the vision, mission, values, logo, staff organization and organizational culture (myths, beliefs, history, specialized language, symbols, ceremonies, rituals).

Sa Journal of Industrial Psychology, 2006

During the past two decades a steady increase in scholarly contributions in the area of organisation identity have been observed-to the point that the phenomenon is now the subject of a sustainable discourse in several disciplines. Many theoretical and conceptual dilemmas however remain, largely as a result of the low incidence of empirical research in the area. This study reports the results of an exploratory investigation that adapted Schley and Wagenfield's (1979) concept of identity for use in an organisational setting. Interviews were conducted with 152 top managers representing 10 companies. The results indicate that organisational responses to the question "who am I?" elicit distinctive organisational self-descriptions and some awareness of identity issues.

Montenegrin Journal of Economics

Organizational identity is mentioned in different contexts, linked to organizational behavior and culture, company mission, image and communication and as a result, there emerge some problems in terms of definition of its concept and boundaries. Purpose of the article: highlighting of the research fields in organizational identity and creation of a model and methodological base for the conduct of the component empirical research in organizational identity. Research methodology: Two surveys of customers and employees, dealing with them, which enable the assessment of the model relevance for empirical research and the expression of organizational identity components in the selected company. The developed evaluation model of the components for organizational identity unites not only separate components, but also two methodological levels of evaluation, distinguishing the evaluation of identity under employees' level in an organization and the evaluation of identity under the client's level in an organization. The developed evaluation model for the components if organizational identity is relevant to the empirical research.

The Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations, 2020

Conceived as the meanings that individuals attach to their selves, a substantial stockpile of identities-related theorizing, accumulated across the arts, social sciences and humanities over many decades, continues to nourish contemporary research on self-identities in organizations. Moreover, in times which are more reflexive, narcissistic and liquid the identities of participants in organizations are increasingly less fixed, less secure and less certain, making identities issues both more salient and more interesting. Particular attention has focused on processes of identity construction (often styled ‘identity work’), how, why and when such processes occur, and their implications for organizing and individual, group and organizational outcomes. Seemingly intractable debates centred on the nature of identities – their relative stability/fluidity, whether they are best regarded as coherent or fractured, positive (or not) and how they are fabricated within relations of power – combined with other conceptual issues, continue to invigorate the field, but have led also to some scepticism regarding the future potential of identities research. As the chapters in this handbook demonstrate, however, there are considerable grounds for optimism that identity, as root metaphor, nexus concept and means to bridge levels of analysis, has significant generative utility for multiple streams of theorizing in organization and management studies.

International Journal of Management Reviews, 2013

The notion of organizational identity was introduced in management studies in 1985. In the following 25 years, a vibrant debate about how to conceptualize organizational identities and related themes (multiple identities, identity change, interrelations between identity, image and culture) does not seem to have corresponded to explicit reflections about specific methodological issues. In this paper, the authors inductively review research methods adopted by studies of organizational identity published in top-level journals, with the purpose of deriving insights about the current status of research practices, uncovering their often tacit ontological and epistemological assumptions, and stimulating discussion about their possible evolution.

Social science research can play a valuable role in enabling people to understand how their personal predicaments relate to the broader structures and historical circumstances in which they arise. This was argued by Wright Mills (1970, originally 1959) with his concept of the sociological imagination, a notion of considerable relevance to the identity issues which arise in relation to organizational involvement. Using a rare combination of ethnographic, autobiographical and interview research material, a close examination is made of two managers' identity work and the part played in this by their involvement in one specifi c organization in particular structural and historical circumstances. In the course of carrying out this study the concept of 'identity work' has been developed and refi ned. This incorporates a clear analytical distinction between internal personal 'self-identities' and external discursive 'social-identities' with socialidentities being seen as a link or bridge between socially available discourses and self-identities. 'Managerial identities' take their place among the multiplicity of social-identities to which any particular manager may relate in both their 'inward facing' and their 'outward facing' identity work.

2005

The problems relating to unsuccessful organisational identity creation can affect both the individual's and the organisation's chances of attaining successful or satisfactory outcomes. Both the individual and the organisation benefit from the individual being able to carry out appropriate identity work and construct a stable identity that can be incorporated into the pre-existing contents of their “identity portfolio”.

New Horizons in Managerial and Organizational Cognition, 2022

Although the organizational identity (OI) construct (Albert & Whetten, 1985) is now in its fourth decade, research in the field has been somewhat uneven, particularly with respect to an essentialist view and hypothetico- deductive type of studies. Believing that this stems in large part from insufficient construct clarity (Suddaby, 2010), this theory-development initiative presents an expanded conceptual framework. The authors exploit several key elements of individual identity and make the case for using these as the basis for conceptualizing an organizational-level equivalent. Starting with the premise that an individual’s identity is the product of comparisons, two dimensions are identified: the type of comparison (similarity, difference), referred to as the “identity conundrum,” and the object of comparison (self–other, self–self), referred to as the “identity perspective.” The authors then propose a four-cell distinctive conceptual domain for OI and explore its implications for scholarship. Keywords: Organizational identity; individual identity; construct clarity; identity construct; identity conundrum; CREAD framework

International Journal of Social Inquiry, 2014

The article presents the process of grounding a theory about Romanian managers' identity. It shows the manner in which the stages of data collection, data analysis and sampling have been conceived and implemented. It also describes in detail the decisions taken in each of these stages (the choice of methods and techniques, their combining and so on), the procedures followed and the difficulties encountered. The research was done in 2008 having as subjects 20 Romanian managers; it aimed at identifying identity aspects which are typical to managers. The article is based on the idea that describing the way in which the findings were reached is as important as expressing the conclusions themselves. It shows that qualitative research is suitable in understanding managerial aspects.

International Journal of Humanities, Philosophy and Language

In the last few years, the word identity seems to have become a difficult and ambiguous concept. Its difficulty lies in its changeability and transience. Certainly, Identity, be it social, cultural, religious or whatsoever, can be quickly shaped and changed by socio-political, economic, ideological and most importantly cultural forces. Nowadays, it is generally acknowledged that the construction of identity is dramatically increasing in almost every part of the world. Therefore, identity should be dealt with from different perspectives, both locally and globally. The present paper tends to question the concept of identity in the world of business in general, and inside call centers, which are located in Morocco in particular. Definitely, call centers are an increasingly important part of today’s business world; they create new work opportunities for millions of agents across the globe and they serve as a primary customer-facing channel for firms in different countries. Their main ai...

Sustainability

In this study, the effect of transformational leadership and procedural justice on manager trust and sustainable organizational identity is analyzed, also including the role of mediation on manager trust. First, we analyzed what the effect of transformational leadership and procedural justice on trust in the organization and sustainable organizational identity is. Secondly, we examined the mediator effect on organizational trust, in addition to the effects of transformational leadership and procedural justice on sustainable organizational identity. The sample of the study consists of 558 subjects from Turkey, 106 subjects from Azerbaijan, and 95 subjects from Kyrgyzstan—a total of 759 subjects. To analyze the collected data, we used correlation analysis, regression analyses, and ANOVA testing. For these analyses, we used the SPSS statistical software. The results indicate that transformational leadership and procedural justice positively and significantly affect manager trust. Moreo...

Corporate Reputation Review, 2007

This paper proposes a preliminary framework outlining external and intra-organizational factors that contribute to the construction of organizational identity. Organizational identity is a critical organizational perception that guides organizational members ' interpretation of the issues facing the organization. Although much is written about organizational identity and its effects on organizations and organizational members, little is known about how organizational identity is formed. Previous literature suggests that organizational identity, while being durable, is also dynamic and flexible, which indicates the opportunity for organizations to construct a strong organiz ational identity, which will likely lead to competitive advantage.

Academy of Management Review, 2000

Identity and icJentification are powerful terms. Because they speak to the very definition of an entity-an organization, a group, a personthey have been a subtext of many strategy sessions, organization development initiatives, team-building exercises, and socialization efforts. Identity and identification, in short, are root constructs in organizational phenomena and have been a subtext of many organizational behaviors.

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, 2023

HOW THE HANDBOOK CAME ABOUT Handbooks, like other scientific publications, have their own history. Narrating the history of this Handbook, we want to share with you-the readers-the story behind its development. This includes information on how the idea for this Handbook came about and an illustration of the various decisions we had to make in the process of creating it. Handbooks, as we will explain later, are social creations and hence products of social interaction. Therefore, we believe it will be of value for you to gain some insight into why and how the Handbook came into being, how we came to identify as editors, and how we composed it together with the authors, the reviewers and the publisher. In this sense, the introduction provides information on the background, rationales, decisions we made, and also the obstacles we had to overcome. The motivation for the Handbook of Research Methods for Studying Identity In and Around Organizations emerged from a webinar entitled 'Identity inquiry: beyond the usual suspects', which was organized by the Special Interest Group (SIG) 'Identity' of the British Academy of Management (BAM). The event in June 2020 aimed to broaden the methodological focus of identity research in organizational contexts in accordance with the group's interdisciplinary focus. The webinar featured three speakers who introduced the repertory grid technique, characterization sketches and identity drawings, respectively, as innovative research methods for studying identity in and around organizations. After the webinar, the idea to deepen and broaden the discussion of research methods in identity studies gained momentum. In November 2020, the members of the SIG decided to develop an edited collection that would bring together some established and more innovative research methods that have been used to fruitfully study different levels and aspects of identity in and around organizations. Taking charge, Ingo Winkler formulated a call for papers that was distributed amongst the SIG members and the wider BAM community. The initial feedback was very positive, and various scholars indicated their interest in contributing to the collection. At that point, Rosalía Cascón-Pereira and Stefanie Reissner joined what would become the editorial team, enabling us to pool both our respective editorial experiences and methodological interests. We were very pleased to excite Francine O'Sullivan at Edward Elgar Publishing about our idea and contribute to their growing range of research methods handbooks. These were the initial steps of socially constructing this Handbook, and soon afterwards, authors, reviewers and editors contributed to co-creating it through their engagement with a wide range of research methods and approaches. Although you, the reader, now have the finished product in your hands or on screen, we hope the matter does not end here. Indeed, we hope that the Handbook contributes to the social construction of the field of identity research

Corporate Reputation Review, 2014

Purpose-This paper provides a comprehensive and integrative review of academic literature analyzing identity in business. The literature review proposed by the authors helps clearing up theoretical and practical understanding of this concept. Design/methodology/approach-A review of existing literature in organizational behavior and marketing fields is proposed to clarify the meaning of organizational and corporate identity. Based on this review, the authors also identify an integrative perspective proposed for managers to identify and effectively manage all dimensions of their business identities. Findings-Literature on the identity of businesses is extensive and blurred, failing to provide useful guidance for practitioners to manage this concept. A new approach proposes understanding this kind of identity as a global concept that integrates proposals from diverse research fields in order to take advantage of cross-fertilization. Practical implications-This research allows identity and communication managers to understand dimensions of business identity for a more effective management of this concept in their organizations. Originality/value-The line of research that proposes an integrative multidisciplinary approach to the study of identity in business is quite new and, as so, it still needs further contributions to clarify this nascent domain. In this paper, the authors also classify previous studies on business identity according to the theoretical approach they assume (Table 3) just as no other research has done before.