Dealing with Personal Identity Threats: The Case of Negative Media Coverage

Abstract

Despite its theoretical and practical importance, empirical research on how employees deal with threats to their personal identity is surprisingly scarce. Using negative media coverage as an example, this study seeks to fill this void by shedding light on how employees make sense of and decide how to respond to such threats. To address this question, we conducted an in-depth case study in the context of professional football organizations in Germany. Our key contribution lies in developing a grounded process model and propositions that clarify employees’ responses to media-induced identity threats. We identify strategies that employees use for dealing with the media, ranging from disregard to active attempts to influence the coverage. We also show when employees respond with which of these strategies. Our findings have important implications for the growing body of research on personal identity threats and organizational identity research more broadly.