Personal identity: How it moderates the relation between social identity and workplace performance

Abstract

Abstract The present study benefits from social identity theory to argue that employees' organizational identity interacts with their trust propensity to predict affective organizational commitment and creativity. It used random coefficient regression procedures or multilevel modeling through the generalized linear mixed models command to test its hypothesis because the data that were collected in two of the studies were the nested or dependent data. Employing longitudinal data gathered from 153 participants and their 71 direct managers at a public organization in Study 1, the present study revealed that organizational identity had stronger positive influences on organizational commitment and creativity when participants' trust propensity was high. Employing longitudinal data collected from 210 employees of 32 business organizations and from 49 direct supervisors of the employees in Study 2, the present study reassured that trust propensity moderates the relationship between organizational identity and creativity. The present study contributes to the theory that employees' personal identity accentuates the positive relationship between their social identity and workplace outcomes such that the relationship becomes stronger as employees' personal identity increases.