Identification in Hybrid Organizations: Identity Congruence, Commitment and Exit/Voice/Loyalty

Abstract

Members’ relationships to hybrid identity organizations are relatively understudied, especially in terms of the effects of multiple organizational identity elements on individual outcomes. This study draws on theory in organizational identity and identification to examine how multiple identities affect member commitment, and subsequently exit, voice, and loyalty. Specifically, we take the concept of identity congruence (Brickson, 2012; Foreman & Whetten, 2002) and employ it as a measure of identification, whereby members compare perceptions of their organization’s current identity with an expected identity. The resultant degree of congruence acts like a person-organization fit measure, such that greater gaps result in lower attachment to the organization, with consequences for other outcomes – in particular the Exit-Voice-Loyalty framework derived from Hirschman (1970). We examine these relationships within the context of agricultural cooperatives: a hybrid identity organization (Albert & Whetten, 1985) embodying both normative and utilitarian identities. We test a model whereby commitment mediates the effects of identity congruence on exit, voice, and loyalty. Our analyses indicate that both types of identity congruence affect commitment and have significant indirect effects on all three outcomes. Moreover, the utilitarian form of identity congruence has a stronger influence than the normative one.