Transcript Identity and Identification: Organizational Perspective

Identity and Identification:
An Organizational Perspective
Konstantin Korotov
INSEAD
Identity
• An answer to the “Who Am I?” question
• Various meanings attached to a person by
self and others (Gecas, 1982) that are based
on people’s social roles and membership in
various groups (social identities) and
personal characteristics and traits (personal
identities) (Asforth & Mael, 1989; Gecas,
1982; Ibarra, 1999)
Social Identity
• An individual’s self-concept stemming from
membership in a social group (Tajfel &
Turner, 1986; Turner, 1985)
• Membership in various groups leads to a
variety of social identities linked to various
memberships (Dutton, Dukerich, and
Harquail, 1994)
Organizational Identification
• One of the forms of an individual’s
attachment to an organization (Bamber &
Iyer, 2002) As a specific form of social
identification, it refers to seeing oneself as a
part of an organization, conceptualizing
oneself in terms of membership in this
organization
Organizational Identification
• Enacting self-perceptions related to the
organization as a whole and to oneself as a
member of that organization (Bartel 2003)
• A relatively enduring state that reflects an
individual’s willingness to define him- or
herself as a member of a particular
organization (Haslam, 2001)
Organizational Identification
• “[T]he degree to which a member defines
him- or herself by the same attributes that
he or she believes define the organization”
(Dutton, Dukerich, & Harquail (1994: 239)
• “[T]he process whereby an individual’s
beliefs about an organization become selfreferential or self-defining” (Pratt, 1998:
175)
Organizational Identification
• The strength of an individual’ identification with
an organization is compared with the degree of
this individual’s cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral investment in his or her organization
(Chreim, 2001)
• “[T]o the extent that individuals identify with a
group, they experience the successes and failures
of the group as their own and incorporate the
dominant attitudes and values of the group as their
own.” (Feldman, 1995: 223)
Foundation of Identification with
an Organization
• Knowing that one is a member (Bartel & Dutton,
2001)
• Perceived belongingness to an organization
(Reade, 2001)
• However, to identify with an organization, one
doesn’t need to belong to it formally (Jenkins,
1996; Pratt, 1998)
• Identification may be about realizing the degree to
which one is a member, i. e, perceived
membership (Bartel & Dutton, 2001; Tyler, 1999;
Rafaeli,1997; Bartel, 2003)
Multiple Identifications
• Identifications are extensions of identities
that a person is composed of (Mael and
Ashforth, 1995)
• Multiple identifications stem from a variety
of identities that an individual is composed
of e.g., Kuhn and Nelson, 2002).
Competing Identities and
Identifications
• Identities and identifications of boundary-spanners
• Identities and identifications of temporary
members
• Identities and identifications overlapping in tenure
(c.f.,Scott, 1997; Korotov, 2003)
• “Provisional selves” (Ibarra, 1999) and “identities
in play” or liminal identities (Ibarra, 2003)
• Ambiguous organizational membership and selfcategorization (Bartel and Dutton, 2001; Korotov,
2003)
Research Agenda
• Compatibility of identities and identifications
• Management of competing identities
• Organizational identification maintenance efforts
and identification development efforts
• Identity: defining myself by who I am not
(Dukerich, 2002)
• Liminal (limen – (lat.) threshold) states and
liminal identities